Alone

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CHAPTER THIRTEEN:

Five minutes earlier Une had got to her feet as casually as if she was going to stroll down to the break room for coffee, gestured for Hernbeck to follow, and glided down the hall, down the lift, out the door to the landing strip. Sally had trailed along behind them, her bag firmly in her hand. All she wanted was to get Wufei and plunge him into a tub of disinfectant, then give him every shot he should have had a month ago, possibly doubled. She giggled a little at herself. She was definitely insane if she thought Chang Wufei would stand still for that.

Her eyes automatically assessed each of the five Preventers as they got out of the mini-shuttle, seeing no damage on four - Wufei was last out, and they closed ranks around him, but she saw enough. He was thin, far, *far* too thin, but he didn’t have the swollen look of starvation, and his face had some color to it. It could have been worse. He was tired, but he’d rested recently. She saw how stiffly he held himself, listing in her mind all the injuries Duo had cataloged, professional eyes searching for evidence of any he’d missed.

Wufei just concentrated on keeping his head up and his eyes emotionless. He was astonished at seeing Commander Une - why was she here? He’d heard nothing about an inspection tour. Sally, too - odd. Hernbeck right beside her - of course - the man’s eyes hot and hard as they looked at him.

The Major didn’t wait for anyone else to speak, even though he saw Une opening her mouth. He decided to take as much control of the situation as he could, and the first thing he intended to do was get Chang into the worst light possible. “Agent Chang!” His voice was almost a roar. “Where *exactly* is Agent Osborne? Your orders were to meet with him, not return to base!”

Duo snickered. ‘Way to dig your own grave, man!’

Wufei’s voice was an excellent imitation of Heero’s flat tones. “I received no orders.”

“They were sent by standard code two days ago.”

“I had no radio to receive any orders.”

“You were sent out with a perfectly good radio - perhaps you should learn to better care for your equipment? In any case...”

“In any case, I will handle this.” Une’s voice was low, but stopped Major Hernbeck as easily as if she’d screamed.

“Ma’am?”

“I will handle this. Wufei, please show us the way to the nearest debriefing room. Sally, you’ll accompany us? Major, I will thank you to wait outside for me.” She swept off majestically, walking beside of Wufei like he was a prince, not a tired, bedraggled boy in ragged pants and a borrowed sweatshirt.

Wufei could have done cartwheels. No debriefing with Hernbeck, at least not yet! He ought to be able to get a good night’s sleep and some decent food before he had to face the man. He felt tension flow out of him like water. His friends noticed, and looked at each other solemnly. They liked the change, realized vaguely what caused it, and proceeded to spend their walk glaring at Hernbeck until he wanted to run for his life.

They left him outside the door to a tiny conference room, Une giving him one look that pinned him in place. The door shut firmly, and he heard a lock click. He looked around wildly, saw the hulking form of Agent Burks not far down the hall, and gestured to him frantically. Five minutes and several muttered instructions later, the man strode away and left Hernbeck feeling immeasurably better.

Inside the conference room Wufei felt much the same way. So far no one had commented on his current record of back to back missions, and he wondered if they even knew about them. There had been some rather gentle comments from Une about taking ridiculous missions no one could complete properly, and he just grinned at her. She had shaken her head and smiled back. Sally had been rather annoying, took his blood pressure, pulse, temperature, stuck a needle in his arm for a blood sample, stuck more in his other arm and murmured about vaccinations. He knew he had more to face from her in med bay after this debriefing was over, but it couldn’t take forever. He was looking forward to the tiny, barren apartment for once.

Une used as few words as she needed to get as much information about the Mercenary group as possible - she was an old hand at interrogations, and it didn’t take much skill to turn that talent around to the most rapid debriefings in the history of law enforcement. Wufei gave her the info freely, not in the clipped, grudging sentences he used for Hernbeck. He only skimmed lightly over his own struggle for survival, forming it into a much milder production than it had actually been. Une gave him a few sharp looks, but didn’t argue.

Heero, Duo, Trowa and Quatre sat in silence, watching him so intently he felt uncomfortable. Une turned to them suddenly, after he finished repeating, verbatim, the meeting Boss Man had been at and had started sketching her a rapid picture of the man - after Sally handed him a small pair of gold-framed reading glasses. He stared at her, then them, sure they were locked up in his desk. She just smirked and turned away.

“Now you four.” Une ‘requested’ his friends input. Wufei glanced up from his drawing, watching them. They started in, listing in detail everything that had happened, and he was astonished to realize that their mission had been simply to find him, nothing more, nothing less. He flushed bright red when Duo repeated certain conversations he’d overhead among two mercenaries - he would never have thought they’d been talking about *him* when he overheard them by the river - Une’s sharp eyes came back to Wufei.

“Wufei?” There was a lot of meaning in that single word, and he shook his head quickly.

“No.”

“Good.” Her eyes were still settled on him, then flashed suddenly to Sally, who was standing behind his chair. There was an order in them, and he turned quickly to catch Sally’s response, but she was already turning away. He frowned, and looked back at his Commander. She was focused on the others again, so he bent back over his drawing, trying to look like he wasn’t listening with every fibre of his being.

He got to be embarrassed again and again, although he managed to hide it better. First when they told her how Osborne had disparaged him - although they left out the bit about his claiming Wufei was gay - then when Duo told, in angry detail, how the man had hurt him, grinding his hands into ‘Fei’s ribs. Une’s face went dark, and Sally took a step closer to Wufei’s chair, her own hands itching to examine him fully. The embarrassment was milder when the other four praised him for getting away from Osborne, leading them to a hideout and then out of the jungle. That wasn’t so bad - any agent should have been able to do that.

He allowed his full attention to settle back on the sketch when they started discussing the town and the shuttle port - he didn’t see the quick glance Quatre shot at him. The blond had been waiting for Wufei’s attention to wander, his intrinsic empathy letting him know at once when it was no longer focused on their words. He scribbled rapidly on a piece of paper, and passed it down the line of his friends, who each read it, realizing that was his intention, then Heero handed it to Une.

‘Agent Osborne claimed the Major shared
the results of Wufei’s last psychological
evaluation with the entire Post, including
what the psych felt was his sexual orientation.’

Une’s eyebrows climbed up her forehead, and she looked sharply at Wufei. The Chinese boy was studying his nearly-finished sketch, tapping his eraser against his chin as he tried to decide if it was a good likeness. She looked back at the others, who were all caught between scowls and smiles, and realized what the ‘sexual orientation’ was supposed to be. She felt a moment’s fury at Hernbeck over something so private being made public by a man who was supposed to make sure that if an Agent wanted to keep that information to themselves, their decision was protected. She had to let it go for a moment, however, in light of the fact that the grins had won on Duo and Heero’s faces.

She knew what that meant. Spared one glance at an oblivious Wufei, and exchanged her own scowl for a wide smile. She had a feeling they wouldn’t leave him oblivious for long - and knew her fifth Agent well enough to realize the depression she’d realized he was suffering from would soon be over. If he didn’t make an idiot out of himself. Seeing as it was Chang Wufei, that was entirely possible. She’d have to keep a sharp lookout. It was time someone made sure he wasn’t *allowed* to ruin his own life any more. If Yuy and Maxwell couldn’t convince him, she’d have to have a stern talk with that young man.

Wufei decided the sketch was as good as he could make it, and looked up. And blinked. All of the others, Une included, were beaming at him.

“Did I miss something?”