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"Alternative Directions: Options "Written By: Karina Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing or the lovely
boys and their girls in the series. Wish I did. Please don't sue me.
I haven't even got a brass razoo to give you. Rating: Deffinately PG in Australia, at the moment,
but probably safer to say R for later chapters. Not sure about international
ratings Warnings: It will be 6x2, even though it does
not start out that way. After all, Zechs and Duo never met in Gundam
Wing and only spoke briefly over a com line in Endless Waltz. I've
tried to keep them in character as I saw them in the series. A bit
of language creeping in under stressful conditions. Pairings: eventual 6x2, past 2xH, 2+H,6x9, 1+R
Summary: Directions is set post Endless Waltz
and roughly 2 years have passed. Zechs and Noin are on Mars and Duo,
after spending some time with Hilde in a relationship leaves L2 to
join Preventers. Hilde was not happy about his decision. I guess enough
said. Here t'is, and I hope you like it. This is also AU for the standard
setting, as well as the series and Endless Waltz. Spoilers: Gundam Wing Series and Endless Waltz Many thanks to Dulin for volunteering to beta this. //... // thoughts
"Alternative Directions: Options"
Chapter 94 2nd March AC 198 Sanc New Port City Time: 00:57 Chang Wu Fei //I am so going to kill someone. At this point in time I have little doubt that it will be Lady Une who will feel the wrath of the Dragon Clan. Yes, it will be Lady Une. When I am warm again. When I dare to stop to breathe. As soon as I can figure out where it is that I am. It all looks the same.// The howling wind and driving snow that battered his slender form afforded little in the way of vision accept the never ending white close at hand and the darkness it blended into. The torch he used might as well have been switched off it shed so little light in the night which, curiously enough was not as dark as he had expected it to be. The snow storm seemed to have a curious illumination of its own that permitted him to at least see where each snow drift was that he must blindly thrust his feet into. He had even considered giving up on using the torch, but that weak glow was a small psychological comfort he was reluctant to give up at this time. His world had reduced itself down to that tiny circle of weak illumination in an odd world of white and gray, where his feet sank into the ever deepening snow and the growing chill that numbed his very bones surrounded him with an odd comfort. That odd sense of comfort was what worried him the most. Might it not lead to someone finding a frozen corpse in the light of day or perhaps in a few days, when the snow melted? Certainly at some point Lady Une would send Preventer agents out after him, but that would be cold comfort for a frozen corpse. // I do not even know why this idiocy is necessary. If I am correct in my suspicions then I have to ask myself why it is that she would want this story of Raiders on Mars buried. It is a flashy, expensive exercise to play terrorist just to turn people's attention from a news story that can only be speculated upon and not acted on. Mars is months away from the Earth Sphere. Yes, Preventers has ships in the general area, but they could be hours or days away from the planet and are obviously of no effect in beating off what amounts to modern day pirates. Space is just too large to be effectively policed and it is ideal for the unscrupulous to prey on the weak. I need to know more to determine what it is she hopes to accomplish by having me play the terrorist, a role I had no wish to take up again. The more I think on it the more convinced I am that it must be to do with the Raiders and Mars. It would take a big story closer to home to turn speculation from Raiders terrorizing the space lanes and terrorist attacks on the Preventer chief and Relena Peacecraft would certainly accomplish that, but why did she have to point her bony finger at me? Why me? I could be on a nice warm shuttle craft by now, toasting my toes which I can not even feel any more I might add, winging my way to the colonies and their air conditioned comfort instead of slogging my way through a blizzard. Where is the sense in this action? Where is the justice? // The howling of the wind filled his ears and he sought to bury himself deeper into his coat, not that that was physically possible nor did it make a whit of difference to the temperature. If he did not find shelter soon he would make a fine corpse before too much longer, but he was certain that he must be near the outskirts of New Port City. The problem was that he could not see through the wind driven snow and he might actually have passed within a few meters of houses and he might not have seen that welcome shape in this weird world of cold white and gray. He might have been only a few meters from shelter and a by street lamps and that light would surely be noticeable to his seeking eyes. Wu Fei stumbled to a stop, shuddering within the small warmth offered by his coat. He was wet, chilled to the bone, his feet were numb with cold and he feared frost bite was nibbling on his toes he had been walking so long and was that a shadow to his left? No, he was sure it was no deeper darkness, only wishful thinking and he stumbled on again, just a few more steps would bring him to a house or to something that would offer him protection. He bemoaned the fact that in compliance with space flight regulations he had turned in his mobile phone in preparation for leaving on the evening shuttle craft and he had not thought to pick the device back up before he had left Preventer Headquarters. Life could have been so much easier if he had had the device on him. Something dark, large and offering some small shelter from the wind loomed before him. He paused, glaring at the dark bulk for a moment, affronted that anything should stand in his way when he had somewhere to be before his numbed brain registered that the wind had eased because of this darkness. With a small huffed breath of disbelief at his own stupidity and no small worry that it was taking so long for things to register in his tired brain, he peered myopically at the darkness from the shelter of the scarf wrapped around his lower face. It seemed an alien, otherworldly shape in the all consuming white and he stumbled forward, trying to make sense of the shape that could mean life to him. He was too cold and he knew that he must not rest now, he must investigate this shape and determine if it offered him sufficient shelter to survive this bitter night. His investigation proved that the dark bulk was a shed, a small building and as he rounded a corner he stumbled, falling to his knees as he tripped over a pile of wood three quarters buried in the snow. Stupidly he stared at the neatly cut logs before the association between the wood pile and the large dark shape registered in his sluggish thoughts. // Wood shed. It's a wood shed and if there is a wood shed here then there must be a house nearby. That means heat and the chance to call in and get some transport. // Clambering to his feet he stumbled forward until reaching fingers contacted the solidity of the structure and he could not help the grin. It was real. Solid. It was not a figment of wish thinking and that meant that he knew roughly where he had to be. He had most likely found himself in the back of a small house on the outskirts of New Port City, perhaps in one of the residential districts set aside for the itinerate workers or lower income families so recently making their way to the city. It was certain not to be one of the richer houses which would be surrounded with high fences designed to keep the world out. That he had encountered no fence and reached the wood shed suggested that he had most likely found one of the shared housing department developments, where the houses were small but comfortable, spaced reasonably well apart and the residents shared the one large area for vegetable gardens, play areas and washing lines. With that in mind he would need to be careful that he did not hang himself on a clothes line as he sought out the house that claimed this woodshed. A quick search on feet that seemed suddenly to be less like ice blocks and more like feet with the advent of rescue at hand, revealed the adjacent car port to be empty but it did bring him to a footpath marked by solar lights. The closest of the small glowing orbs were just barely visible in the snow fall and were only just above the depth of snow that hid the actual footpath. He grinned as he stared at the first of those small amber tinted lights. While there was no car that he could borrow and have returned at a later time or abandon where it could easily be located and returned to the owner by local authorities, there was at least a path and paths were made to be followed. It had to lead somewhere and in this case it ought to lead him to the house. // It is not good that I am taking so long to think of these things. Feet, move. I am going to give Lady Une a piece of my mind over this idiocy. Yes, that will warm me up, thinking about just what I am going to say to Preventer Earth when next I see her. The least she could have done was ensured that I had a reserve vehicle or two in the vicinity of the Palace.// He scowled at that thought, wondering if perhaps he had not missed something. Lady Une was not one to miss details, but he had the impression that this was a quickly arranged diversion and perhaps the details of his escape she had left entirely up to him, trusting in his ingenuity to effect a timely and no doubt brilliant escape. If that was the case he would have a few choice and carefully chosen words to say on the vagaries of having a female commander. He grinned into his scarf, knowing that he had nothing to complain about in having Lady Une as his commander in chief. Preventer Earth, onna that she was, was perhaps the best commander he had served under and far more fair to her employees than his teachers had been to their students in the past. She may have been an unholy monster in his view during the One Year War, but he had come to appreciate that she was actually very efficient at her job. He did have to wonder though if she would have ordered that missile strike on the colonies during the war, but then, as she was mentally unstable, by her own admission at that time, he decided that the likely answer had to be an emphatic yes. She might have been an onna, but she was not weak. He could respect her, even while he thought of roasting her over hot coals while he toasted his feet and sipped piping hot coffee that scalded his throat on the way down. His feet stumbled in the snow, slipping and threatening to pitch him on his knees at best and at worst face first into the icy embrace of the snow drifts. Panting with exertion he steadied himself, placing his feet with more care, trying to feel his way along the path with feet that really could not tell what it was that he walked on. When he found the house this path would lead him to he could call Une on her private number and have her send a car to pick him up. He dared not contact Preventers itself as it was possible that someone might ask what he was doing on the wrong side of town to the shuttle port. If Lady Une had not let it be known that he was recalled from his assigned mission he would have to come up with a plausible explanation as to what he was doing on the opposite side of town, an explanation which eluded him just now. What was of more concern to him was that he escape the blizzard. The bulk of the house looming out of the gloom cut off the remaining wind and he found himself in an island of calm, snow falling around him in a gentle blanket and the bulk of a dark-coloured house before him. He stumbled a step or too until he compensated for not having to lean into the wind, fighting with a bush when he found himself off the hidden footpath and then he was stomping up the steps and onto a veranda. To one side a small white painted outdoor setting was stacked in the far corner, pushed there while not in use during the winter months and a small amber-coloured night lamp clearly illuminated the door painted in a tasteful mid ranged blue and white. The absence of snow was a delight and it seemed to him that the temperature had risen considerably just with him getting out of the wind and snow. Gloved fingers fumbled and pushed on the door bell and he huddled in his coat, waiting, listening to the chime ring through the house. He huffed into his scarf when no lights came on in answer and no sounds of movement could be heard from within and with a grunt he leaned on the bell a second time. Again the house remained silent and dark and he resorted to banging on the door with his fist. If no one had moved within the house to the count of thirty he was going to be taking drastic steps as he was not going to be locked out in the cold when shelter was so close. Was it fortunate for him that he had lucked out and found an empty house or was the owner simply a heavy sleeper? The night seemed eerily quiet, the snow muffling all sound save for the wind that seemed muted from this shelter and he decided that since his fingers were frozen and he would take an uncommonly long time to pick the lock because of his loss of dexterity, he would try just once more to determine if the house was empty or not. “Preventer! Open up.” He pounded on the door again, bending down to peer at the key hole. It was of course, quite dark and he could see nothing and he straightened with a curse, fumbling in a pocket for his lock picks. He was not going to stay out here in the cold any longer and numbed fingers or not that door was going to be opened. A light snapped on in the room beyond the door, shining like a golden beacon through the curtained windows and Wu Fei cursed softly, hastily pushing his picks back into his pocket, fumbling now for his Preventer ID. He noticed a peep hole in the door, a small shaft of light quickly blocked out as whoever was on the other side peered through at him. He no doubt would not make a reassuring sight. “Who is it?” the voice sounded young and was definitely female and understandably sounded a little frightened by this early morning visitation. “Preventer Agent. I need to use your vid system.” gloved fingers fumbled with his identity card and he cursed softly as he almost dropped it, managing to snatch it before it fell to the floor. The door opened just enough for him to hand in the card, affording him a glimpse of a heavy security chain that would have taken a solid blow to break and he approved of the simple security precaution. The fingers that emerged through the gap were long and slender, a woman's hands but they were hands that were not unaccustomed to work, with neat natural nails, not the false claws he had noted to be the height of fashion. He heard a faint gasp from the other side of the door as she read his identification and the door closed, the chain rattled and then the door opened wide enough for him to enter. His first overwhelming impression as he stumbled through the door was one of blessed warmth. A banked fire smouldered in the room, offering a warmth that was wonderful to his frozen frame. His second impression was that the mass of copper golden curls would be a luxurious warmth he would delight to run his fingers through at the first opportunity that should present itself. Bundled in an oversized dressing gown, her hair a shimmering mass of copper gold was a small, delicate featured woman who would be no older than himself he decided. Her sky blue eyes were blinking at him owlishly as she handed him back his identity papers and took a cautious step back from this apparition from out of a winter night. Wu Fei refused categorically to call this fickle season spring. “Wicked night to be out walking, Mr Chang. The vid system is in the corner over there. Can I get you a hot cup of coffee or tea?” her voice was a husky whisper in the night, low and pleasing to the ear. “Could you shut the door please?” Wu Fei blinked, forcing himself not to stare and instead scanned the room to locate the vid system. “That would be much appreciated, Miss …?” “Birmingham. Sandra Birmingham, but I am generally called Sandy.” she offered a small smile, a quick flash of even white teeth and moved over to the banked fire and began to stir up the blaze, adding wood carefully. “You must be frozen.” He detected an accent he was unfamiliar with, a suggestion of a British accent but not quite right to his ear, something more, not quite a drawl and certainly not a lilt, but just something distinctively different. “You are not local to New Port City?” he forced himself to look away from her yet again, disturbed that his eyes seemed to have a will of his own where she was concerned and quickly knocked the snow from his shoes and shut the door, closing out the bitter chill and relishing the warmer air in the small living room. “No, I am not local. I am an exchange student and working a scholarship. I come from Australia and attend the Sanc university as part of the cultural exchange program.” She rose from the fire which began to crackle merrily and turned, blushing slightly at finding his dark gaze firmly centred on her. “Ahm, if you would like to take your coat off and to make your call I will see about making a hot drink. Tea or coffee? Perhaps even hot chocolate?” She was exquisite, he reflected, finding the very delicacy of her form fascinating. Something about that coppery blonde hair continually drew his eye and at her deepening blush he pulled himself up quickly, a dark blush suffusing his own face. What did he think he was doing? He was Chang Wu Fei, the best that Preventers had to offer and he had a job to do and right now he needed to get back to Preventer Headquarters. “Coffee at this hour, if you would not mind. I have a long night ahead of me still.” he knew he was blushing and he just hoped that she did not notice. “The kitchen is through that door if you finish with your call before I come back.” again the light blush tinted golden tanned skin and she hurried from the room with a quick glance at him as she swept through the door. //Pretty.// the thought drew a raging blush from him and he huffed to himself, rushing to the vid system to make the call that he had come here to make. He really did not know why she drew his attention, unless it was a reaction to being out in a white out that he had been beginning to think he would not emerge from alive. //Get real, Chang. She is an Onna. A woman and you have too much on your mind just now to even think that she is an interesting little thing, all delicate and … Get a life, Chang.// Wincing he keyed in the private code for Lady Une and waited, inching toward the nearby fire, trying to turn as much of his body to that heat as possible. He considered the vid unit with a rueful sigh, mindful that this was an unsecured system and that he must guard what he said. He also realized that he had no real idea where he was. “Ms Birmingham, exactly where am I?” he called, one eye on the screen as the Preventer logo flashed to life. “Venti Drive. Three twenty one, Venti Drive.” she appeared in the doorway to the kitchen, glancing at him. “You don't know where you are?” // Damn.// “My car broke down and I became lost in the blizzard.” he said by way of explaining. “Ah. Wicked night for a walk.” flashing a smile that for some reason seemed to melt the Preventer agents knees she vanished back into the kitchen with a flick of copper hair. Wu Fei stared at the door, his fingers twitching at the thought of burying his hands in that curly mass. //Ah, what is the matter with me? A pretty girl smiles at me and I imitate jelly?// “Chang? Where are you?” Lady Une's face filled the screen and his head snapped around in response to the snap of command in her voice. He noted that she was in her car and using her wrist com, the wind screen wipers beating madly as they struggled against the driving snow. She looked tired and drawn and he wondered just how he must look to her after his encounter with the blizzard. Likely he looked far worse than she did and he wondered just what she had been doing while he had fought the weather. “Three twenty one, Venti Drive. I have had car trouble.” Her brown eyes shuttered for an instant and he could guess she was placing distance and the time required to reach his location. By way of his abrupt comment she knew that he was using an unsecured line and would say very little. “I wondered where you were when they closed down the shuttle port. I will be there if fifteen minutes to pick you up and give you your briefing on your new assignment. Unsecured location?” at his affirmative nod she nodded in turn. “Very well. I will accompany you to your first location to assess the damage and have a car waiting for you on our arrival. Fifteen minutes, Chang. Earth out.” He sighed, turning from the dark screen and allowing his gaze to wander around the room as he sidled close to the fire. The living room was furnished in an assortment of old but comfortable looking furniture, nothing matching but nothing clashing either, a carefully chosen assortment of functional and comfortable furnishings. There were family pictures scattered about the room, depicting a family of considerable size and he wondered if it was all the one family or if the bulk of the photos had been taken at some kind of family reunion. In this age no family from a developed country such as Australia would have so many children. There did appear to be two sets of identical twins in the pictures and at a quick count he determined that the family portrait that took pride of place on the mantle boasted some forty members. An entertainment unit that was of a cheap but reliable brand and the vid system completed the furnishings. He noticed a pile of hard cover books stacked neatly beside the couch and on investigating found them all to be on Ancient Egyptian culture. “Mr Chang? How do you have your coffee? I thought you might like to use this.” Sandy Birmingham stood by the kitchen door, a towel draped in her hands and a smile curving her full lips into a cute bow. Wu Fei fought down the urge to grin like a lunatic and managed to contain it to a slight curve of his own lips as he walked forward. “Thank you. I would just like some sugar, please. One teaspoon.” Her smile brightened as he took the towel from her and he pulled out the band holding his hair back from his face. Too much hair had escaped the band after his tussle with the blizzard and it needed combing again anyway, but the towel was very welcome and he buried his head in its folds working out the water from the melting snow. “You are studying ancient Egypt?” Her eyes sparkled with lively intelligence and she nodded, slipping back into the kitchen. “Ancient History and the Ancient Cultures of the World.” He found his comb and brought order to his hair which now fell past his shoulders in a shimmering black waterfall, moving to the kitchen door to better watch as she filled two mugs with steaming freshly brewed coffee. While he secured his hair he took the time to study her and in particular the slight bulge in the pocket of her dressing gown. To his experienced eye it had the suggestive outline of a gun, but she had made no threatening moves and he suspected she had had it in hand when she had answered the door. He found that he approved her caution in not leaving the gun in open sight even when he had identified himself as a Preventer and keeping it to hand. She did not know him, after all, and she was a young woman on her own, a very pretty young woman, he mused and surmised that she was alone as no one else had put in an appearance at his abrupt arrival. “Are you enjoying your time in Sanc?” “Oh, yes, immensely. It is so different to Australia. Please, have as seat. Would you prefer in here or in the lounge?” “I would imagine the climate would definitely be a change from Australia for you. Here is fine, thank you.” he settled in the chair opposite her side of the table. “We do have snow and blizzards too, you know. In Australia, I mean. I come from the highlands of Tasmania and I have seen my share of blizzards, some in the middle of summer.” She settled in the opposite chair, pushing the first of the mugs across the table towards him. “I will be picked up soon and I thank you for your hospitality.” his fingers closed eagerly around the mug and he sighed at the warmth of the brew, sipping it eagerly and the sigh almost became a moan of pleasure. “Especially for the coffee. It is good.” A blush tinted her cheeks with rose and she sipped her coffee. “It must be interesting, being a Preventer.” “It has its moments. Good and bad.” he kept his eyes firmly on his coffee cup, knowing that if he looked at her he would blush. This was definitely one of the better moments he had known. What was with his hormones, anyway? He never reacted to women like this. They were all just … women. He had no time for the distraction that women were. Distractions from his duty he had dedicated his life to and for the penance he served for the mistakes made in the past. He was a Preventer and he had his own personal atonement to make for his part in so many deaths to deal in his past. Deaths that he had not given a thought to at the time, but which weighed on him when he had the time to think and look at the world through the eyes of a young man who was very tired of war. Being a Preventer was a part of that atonement and it was also his chance to find a place where he could fit in. Without Preventers he literally had no place to go. He had gone to China repeatedly in the last few years and while the country was lovely and had reminded him a little of his home colony, it simply had not felt like home. He had not been comfortable there. “You must get to see exotic places? Travel a lot. Even go to the Colonies?” Her eyes danced with genuine interest and she seemed to forget her coffee, watching him with eagerness to learn more. “I was supposed to be going to the colonies tonight, but the blizzard has grounded all shuttles and I have been reassigned. I am uncertain now where I will find myself tomorrow, but yes, I tend to travel a great deal in my work, though not usually because I wish to go there, wherever there may be. It can prove to be … tedious.” The blue eyes drank in the exotic beauty of him and she sighed, wishing that she could get to see this particular Preventer agent again, but knowing that such would be extremely unlikely. Preventers were few, although with New Port City being their headquarters at this time there were more agents resident here than in most cities of the world. That he traveled so much suggested he was either a field agent or perhaps a member of their diplomatic service, and either way he was not likely to be in the city long enough to bother with a silly student who had a liking for the exotic. He was certainly deliciously exotic looking. “I suppose with the explosion at the home of your chief you will be busy.” “Undoubtedly something will be found to keep me occupied. Lady Une does not like her agents to sit idle.” She grinned at the droll tone of his voice and sipped her coffee. “I wondered what it takes to be a Preventer when I first moved here, but I guess I chickened out. I'm not the 'save the world from evil and corruption type'. Give me a book on ancient history and I am in seventh heaven.” “It would be a boring world if we were all the same.” he almost whispered, remembering the days when he had been a scholar in training, before he had been married and before he even knew intimately about mobile suits. “It is good that there are people who simply want to learn for the love of learning and who enjoy the peace that we have. That is why Preventers exists, to see that you can enjoy that peace so that you have the opportunity to study what it is you wish to learn. Knowing that you are a student of History and that it is what you enjoy makes my job worth while.” She pursed her lips slightly, avidly studying those enchanting, exotic dark eyes. She wished he would let down his hair from that tight ponytail, as it had looked so wonderful when she had glimpsed its satin fall. “Were you born in China, Mr Chang?” “Wu Fei, please. No, I was not born in China. I am from the L5 cluster. My home colony was destroyed in the war.” “Ah.” a soft breath of sound and he had the impression she knew exactly which colony he originated from. Thankfully she said nothing, perhaps understanding that he did not like speaking of his past and instead she offered him a refill. “More coffee?” “Thank you. What is your home in Australia like?” A faint shrug of slender shoulders. “I'm a country girl from a small town in the central highlands of Tasmania. I wanted something bigger, more meaningful and different, I guess, so I put all of my effort into my study and ended up with a scholarship and an exchange opportunity to just about the furthest place from home I could think of. Sanc is very different to my home town, but I love it. Not at all homesick yet, but I guess it will strike at some time.” “Yes. No doubt you will feel it when you are least expecting it and most likely it will be triggered because of something small. It is the small things that you do not expect that I have found have the most profound effect on you.” “I guess so.” Searching for something to say to keep the handsome young Preventer agent talking she groped for any crumb, knowing that his lift would come soon and she would never see the man again. A pity that, as he was so exotic and very handsome indeed and she needed her head examined. What did she think she was doing? He was a stranger and she knew nothing about him accept that he worked for Preventers. //It's a start though.// “How long do you have at the University?” “I have a year and then I must decide what I will do. Probably another course if I have good enough grades. I am taking Archaeology as well as ancient cultures and eventually I want to get in with a really remote dig. Get the chance, I suppose, to discover something that has not been discovered.” “That would prove to be interesting, discovering something old and unknown and learning about those who lived so long ago. I have some interest in archaeology.” “Really?” her smile beamed into life. Wu Fei found himself nodding, mesmerized by the smile that glowed at him from across the table, but any return comment was stilled by the sound of a car horn demanding his attention and he silently cursed, but he could not keep the Lady waiting and he did want an explanation for this work she had had him performing. “Oh.” Sandy glanced at the living room with a small sigh of disappointment. “I guess that is your ride.” “Yes. Yes, it would be. I wish to thank you for your hospitality.” he stood and offered a bow to her. “You have been most kind to this unexpected traveler.” She blushed at his formal bow and followed him to the door, drifting, quite certain that her feet were not even touching the floor. He paused at the door and again offered a bow. “Thank you.” “Any time.” a sigh and she coloured in a furious blush at the dreamy sound. “Ah, I mean, you are welcome. I was only too happy to help.” A blinding smile flashed at her and then vanished behind the scarf he wound around his neck and lower face. Wu Fei nodded briefly and slipped out of the house into the blizzard again, thankful that he could see the lights of the car through the drifting snow. Was it his imagination that the storm was a little less violent? Could the storm be breaking? Or was it just the memory of a conversation over coffee that lightened the night for him? //She is pretty.// t.b.c.
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