A Dangerous Pair
It took several vehicles to get all the Noins, relatives and Wufei to the fairgrounds where everything was held but they all got there in one piece which was what was important. Everyone was bundled up to stay warm and the children were eager to ride the rides and over dose on sugar while the adults were thinking about how empty their wallets were going to be by the end of the day. In the whole group Wufei and Max were pretty much the only ones looking forward to the main attraction which were the books. They both carefully placed their books in small suitcases and tenderly placed them in the trunk, both making sure that they were safe and secure before getting into the van. Noin found this amusing and cute as she got out of the van after Wufei who was already behind the van waiting to retrieve his precious cargo. Rolling her eyes she watched her grandfather and Wufei remove their suitcases, both looking towards the large hall where the books were being displayed and shown. "Like two kids about to go into a toy store with their allowance huh?" Marcus whispered to his daughter, amused and pleased that his father had taken such a shine to Lucy's young man.
"Yeah. They're so cute when they're like this, Daddy." Noin agreed with a laugh before wandering over to link arms with Wufei. The entire family was going to look around the fair and take in the sights and sounds while Noin, Wufei and her grandfather headed into the hall to look at books.
"If you'd rather go with them we could and come back here later in the day." Wufei said quietly, feeling a tad guilty that he was dragging her away from her family time to go do something he knew she didn't really enjoy at all. "The books will still be here." Of course a lot of the ones he wanted would be sold by then but he'd do it for her.
"But all the good ones will be gone or in the process of being sold by then." Noin pointed out as she leaned over to kiss his cheek, delighting at the fact that his cheeks went a bit pink and that he'd bothered to think to ask. "And I have plenty of time to spend with my family and we can spend some of it with them later. Now lets get in there and buy some books." Noin said with a grin.
"Don't argue with her. It's like arguing with a wall only you'll have more luck with the wall." Max said with a chuckle as he watched the two with interest. He knew how eager the boy was to get in there but he'd been willing to wait for Lucy's sake. The boy had character even if he was a little reserved and cool for Max's taste. Why when he was that age he'd been quite the ladies man and he was pretty sure Lucy's young man could take a lesson or two on how to snag a girl's heart even if Lucy seemed to be snagged already. He'd never quite seen her with this type of guy but he had to admit that they fit and obviously cared for each other..
"'If you're sure.." Wufei said hesitantly then when she nodded he smiled too and keeping a firm grip on his case walked in, past the regular book sealers towards the area advertised as selling rare books. Watching Noin fish out her wallet she pulled out her membership card and soon they were in with Max waiting behind for his friend who was going to be his guest. The room was a lot quieter then Noin remembered with around a half a dozen people in front of each table, many reading or examining their book of choice while the seller tried to sell and trade with all of them at once. Watching Wufei scan the area Noin smirked when his eyes lit up on something he'd spotted and soon they were in the thick of things, his grip on her as gentle and firm as his grip on his case. Neither were getting out of his sight for a minute and both were equally precious to him.
)
Wufei and Noin sat outside with their hot apple cider and beaver tails five hours later. Noin couldn't begin to remember even a quarter of the books she'd had stuck under her nose but she was willing to bet that Wufei remembered every single one in detail. It had been interesting watching him in action, how he agonized over every single trade he made like his books were dear friends he hated to part with. His new books were now safely locked away in his case and Noin had no doubt he was going to want to go back into the fray sooner rather then later. Thank god for comfortable boots, Noin thought with a smirk as she looked down at her feet before taking another healthy bite of her tail, heavy on the maple syrup and icing sugar. "Yummy, yummy, yummy." Noin said as she licked her lips happily. "See I told ya they were good, Wufei. And you didn't even want to try one."
"Well when you said lets get beaver tails I assumed you meant the tails of real beavers." Wufei said with a dark look in her direction. He'd never heard of a treat called beaver tails and you really did have to wonder about whoever had come up with the name.
"That's gotta be gross." Noin agreed with a smirk. The beaver tails she'd meant were delicious treats, not yucky, lord only knows what they tasted like animal tails. They were kinda like a waffle with toppings like ice cream, maple syrup, chocolate sauce or whatever you wanted and though they had no nutritional value they were very yummy and a favorite of hers. "But you have to admit it is shaped like a beaver's tail so it's appropriately named."
"The name's too disgusting for something this good." Wufei disagreed after he'd finished off the rest of his apple cider which had likely burned his tongue but had been too good to wait until it had cooled. "There had to be a better name for it."
"Like what?" Noin wanted to know as they continued to eat, finishing up their snack quickly before the tails got cold.
"I don't know but something better. If the man was smart enough to invent them then he should have been smart enough to come up with a better name." Wufei said as he used his napkin to wipe off his fingers though he'd need to wash them thoroughly before he handled another book. He couldn't think of a more appropriate name for the treat either right now but there had to be one. "Ready to head back in?" Wufei asked as he turned to look at her then had to bit back a grin. She'd gotten some icing sugar on her upper lip and it almost looked like sugar's version of a milk mustache.
"Ready when you are." Noin agreed as she hopped to her feet then looked at Wufei quizzingly since he looked like he was biting back a laugh. "What?"
)
"Hold on a sec." Wufei said as he got to his feet, brushing off the crumbs while he tried not to break out laughing at the picture she made. The distinguished commander of Preventers with an icing mustache was not a picture he was going to forget any time soon. Moving closer he lifted a finger and brushed the icing away for her. "You had icing on your face." Wufei said with a smirk as he leaned closer to make sure he'd gotten it all only to have Lucrezia kiss him with a smirk on her own face. Forgetting about looking for any remaining grains Wufei wrapped his free arm around her, pulling her closer to deepen the kiss as they stood there in the autumn sunlight, a pretty picture to be sure. Pulling away shortly since they were in public Wufei opened his eyes to see Lucrezia's looking back at him with a sparkle of mischief as well as passion in her eyes.
"Well that certainly finished warming us up." Noin said with a grin as she leaned forward to give him a quick butterfly kiss on the mouth before leaning forward to whisper into his ear. "I like the taste of you mixed with maple syrup, it's yummy." Watching his cheeks go even pinker and not from the cold Noin just had to hug him. He was just so cute.
"Lucy?" Came a voice that sounded decidedly urgent having Noin and Wufei pull away from each other to turn to watch a man in a security uniform coming running towards them looking pale and sweaty. "Lucy, that you?"
"Uhm ya but..Linkin? Linkin Weiss?" Noin asked as she slowly put the pieces together, the face ten years older but still the face of one of her former school mates. "Hey, how are you? Are you okay? Do you need to sit down?"
"Not now. You're still in the army right? In Preventers with a task force that occasionally handles hostage situations?" Linkin demanded to know and when Noin nodded with a confused look on her face he explained. "We have a situation in the east area of the fair grounds. These five guys robbed a jewelry store in the town over and were driving this way in two separate cars with the police on their tails. One of the cars ran over something and got a flat, the two guys in it were forced to flee on foot rather then get into the other car which wouldn't stop for them. They came straight this way and the cops have them surrounded but they grabbed a little girl..they've taken her hostage. They're making demands and threatening to kill her if they don't get it. I knew you were coming home for this and I told my supervisor about you and that you had training in this sort of thing and might be able to help."
"Take us there now." Noin demanded and nodding Linkin took off running with them right behind him, both already formulating plans. This was not going to be easy, that was for damn sure.
)
Arriving at the scene things didn't look good. Linkin running over to get his superior he soon came back with his boss plus the officer in charge of the police that were standing around trying to keep the civilians away and under control. "Sir this is Commander Noin and Lieutenant Chang from Preventers. They've both offered their services." Linkin said as he introduced them.
"Preventers huh?" The officer in charge said slowly, not at all sure about this. He wasn't familiar with the organization having never worked with them but they had a rep for handling life and death situations and coming out on top. "Well we can use all the help we can get. The girl's name is Amanda Cross, she's two and was here with her family. We have her father in a squad car and we're still looking for her mother who went off shopping with a friend. The robbers are demanding a helicopter be brought here and to be flown out of the country as well as said coptor being full of a hell of a lot of money. Even if we give in odds are the girl dies. They said they'll take her with her then leave her with the pilot once they land but..this isn't the first time they've broken the law and they've used violence before. Killing an innocent little girl isn't going to mean much to them and she's a loose end."
"Damn. Too much like the Donovan case." Wufei muttered, explaining when he got questioning looks from the others. "It happened in Germany with some terrorists who tried to blow up a senator there. The guy made a break for it when he realized we were closing in, grabbed a four year old boy as a shield while he was at it. We had him surrounded and he tried to use the boy as a bargaining chip. The boy's mother broke through the crowds though and ran at the guy, too hysterical and scared to realize what she was doing. The terrorist shot her through the head but she was enough distraction that one of us got a shot off, killed the son of a bitch though the kid had to see his mother killed in front of him in order to come out of it alive." Wufei said in a cold and emotionless voice though there was pity and grief in his eyes if you knew where to look. "This is not going to be easy."
"I remember Heero telling me about that one. Linkin said that one of them has a gun to her head and the other is armed as well, keeping everyone back right?" Noin said slowly, a plan slowly forming in her head as she remembered some of the other comments Heero had made about that incident. When the officer nodded Noin chewed on her lip knowing every second counted in situations like this. These guys had to realize they weren't going anywhere and that would make them inclined to take as many down with them as possible. "I have a plan..sorta."
)
"Why do I get the feeling I'm not going to like this plan, Onna?" Wufei said with a look in his eye that said he was dreading whatever little bombshell he expected her to drop.
"Because odds are you won't." Noin replied with a shrug before turning her attention back to the other three. "I know that this operation is currently under your controls, gentlemen but I'd like to ask you to put them in mine. I realize that you all have more of a legal and lawful right then I do here but the Lieutenant and I have what it takes to get her out of there. Both the lieutenant and I have dealt with this sort of situation more times then we'd like to remember and we know what we're doing. This is what we do. I don't mean to sound conceited or egotistic when I say that however skilled you and your men are at your jobs this isn't a job that's within your ability to accomplish with that girl still breathing at the end. The handling of life or death situations is what Preventers was started for and we're damn good at it. Will you trust us to handle it without interfering, Officer Manning? Supervisor Tatem?"
"That little girl dies, Commander...well I'll see that you pay for it." Officer Manning said slowly, his eyes never leaving hers. "Frankly I don't have any experience with this sort of thing and neither do my men. You two think you can get her out..well then I say you're our best bet at the moment."
"I'll trust you on this one as well, Commander. Way I see it you two are this girl's best bet if you're as good as you say you are." Tatem said after thinking it over.
"Okay then this is the plan as I'm seeing it now. These men have yet to see this girl's mother which means she could be anyone in this crowd for all they know. My suggestion is to have me run at them as if I'm the mother, too stupid to know any better. The guy not holding the girl is going to point his gun at me and likely try to shoot me when I'm about half way there while the other guy is stuck because he knows the snipers will shoot him as soon as the gun is no longer pointed at Amanda. Meanwhile, Wufei, you come at the guy from the side, he's been doing this a while, he's got the instincts to know you're coming. So he thinks he's dealing with a crazy mother and a trained officer so he'll turn the gun on you because you're the one who poses the most threat. But he'll hesitate on it because he'll think about shooting me first then shooting you. Once his attention is on Wufei I either shoot the other man's arm or throw a knife threw it, something to immobilize the hand and make him drop the gun he's pointing at Amanda in which case I use that advantage to get ahold of Amanda and throw her to someone waiting for the catch who then can get her the hell out of the area while Wufei and I finish dismantling the bad guys. Hopefully. Either way Amanda is out of the equation."
)
"That pretty much puts both your and your lieutenant's heads on a platter. Not to mention a lot of this will come down to perfect timing and team work." Tatem said as he looked at the girl wondering if she had all her marbles. What she was suggesting was near suicide.
"I knew I'd hate this plan...and damn but it could work." Wufei said with a fierce look in Lucrezia's direction, angry that she'd put him in between a rock and a hard place. On the one hand as a soldier he viewed it as a great plan that had a lot of potential but as a man the thought of allowing, of watching Lucrezia do this scared the hell out of him. He couldn't lose her. He couldn't take it if he lost her now. Now that he'd discovered the kind of happiness only she could bring him. But this little girl...they were her only hope. If they didn't do something she was going to die. If she died then it would be his fault for not letting Lucrezia do this. Not that she'd listen to him if he forbid her to do it or let someone go in her place. Damn it...all he could do was pray this worked and do his part...do his part and hope that the gods would be merciful this one time and let her remain with him.