Counterpoint - 2/?

[calic0cat]

Well, since I posted a TS fic Friday night, that makes this the fic posting for the upcoming week. So, without further ado, here it is:


***

"Heero? What are you doing here at the Guild Hall? I thought you were attending the unveiling of Winner's latest donation to the museum tonight."

"I had a slight change of plans," Heero remarked drily, looking up from the file cabinet that he'd been rather unsuccessfully rifling through. It appeared that everything that the Guild knew about one Duo Maxwell, ruin rat and freelance tangler, amounted to virtually nothing. There was a rather skimpy file on the Sweeper group itself, or rather on the non-Guild ghost-hunters associated with it, but that was practically the sum total of the Guild's ruin rat knowledge in general. They had entire volumes on file for every member of the Society of Para-archaeologists, but any tanglers who were not Society members might as well not exist as far as the Guild was concerned. A major oversight, and one that Heero had every intention of correcting as soon as possible.

"You're here rather late yourself, Odin," he commented, noting the weary droop of the Guild boss's shoulders. "Anything I should be aware of?"

Odin grimaced. "Nothing new; just Khushrenada up to his usual power games." He pinched the bridge of his nose with one hand, clearly suffering from a bad headache.

Reaching a decision, Heero shoved the filing cabinet drawer shut. He wasn't going to accomplish anything here tonight anyway. "Come on, I'll drive you home and you can fill me in on the way."

The lack of even a half-hearted protest was a bit alarming and told Heero just how tough Odin must be feeling. His mentor wasn't getting any younger, and the pressure of his position as Guild boss had been steadily increasing since Treize Khushrenada had managed to worm his way onto the Guild Council. While Odin was trying to steer the Counterpoint Guild onto the same path towards social respectability and, more importantly, accountability, that the Resonance Guild had successfully followed, Khushrenada was pressing for a return to the more traditional practices that had given the Ghost-hunter Guilds their mobster reputations in the first place.

Sooner or later, it would come down to a confrontation, probably a formal challenge duel. Odin wasn't quite ready to step down yet and, frankly, Heero wasn't quite ready to take over, either, but he could only hope that he would be in charge before that day arrived.

A Council challenge duel, fought deep underground where large, dangerous ghosts - Unstable Dissonance Energy Manifestations - could be summoned by powerful hunters like those on the Council, had a very high probability of ending with the loser either dead or a permanent resident of a para-psych asylum. Odin had been a very strong hunter in his prime, but his health was far from its best, and Heero wasn't too sure that the older man could handle Khushrenada in a duel. If he tried and failed, not only was he likely to end up psi-fried, but Khushrenada would automatically gain control of the Guild, and getting it away from him would be virtually impossible. Khushrenada was in a two-year Marriage of Convenience, and it was a sure bet that his wife would exercise her spousal right to halt any challenge involving her husband, once he was successfully established as Guild boss. Most Guild bosses were married for that very reason.

Odin, unfortunately, was not. He'd been happily wed in a Covenant Marriage for twenty-five years and, after his wife's death, had refused to consider even a Marriage of Convenience. Heero could understand that, despite the fact that it was a poor decision from a tactical perspective. After all, he was equally resistant to the idea of entering into an MC purely for the sake of his role in the Guild, despite knowing that his marital status was one reason that Odin was reluctant to turn things over to him.

Male or female, MC or CM, the only thing that really mattered was that he be married. The colony's social planners had created a very rigid social structure when the energy Curtain that served as a gateway between the planets had unexpectedly closed two hundred years ago, cutting it off from Earth. In order to ensure the colony's survival, they'd passed strict legislation intended to help establish strong, stable social units. That legislation had included the Covenant Marriage - intended as a lifelong bond, it was a legal and financial nightmare to dissolve - and the more pragmatic Marriage of Convenience - a limited-term, contractual relationship intended to fill needs of business or passion for which the CM was ill-suited.

A married Guild boss was more secure in his position, both because of Guild spousal rights and because of the general perception that marriage meant stability. A young, unmarried Guild boss was an invitation to disaster. Heero knew that.

He still didn't want to get married solely for that reason. But if it was the only way to protect Odin and the Guild itself from Khushrenada...

Well, an MC wouldn't last forever.

***

"I really am sorry that I was late," Duo apologized yet again. He'd barely arrived in time for the unveiling of the pair of small dreamstone jars, and he'd unfortunately completely missed meeting the Guild ghost-hunter that Quatre Winner had insisted on contracting to oversee the exploration and excavation team that he was sponsoring. While a small part of him resented having an outsider imposed on his team, the rest of him was quite happy to let someone else to look after general safety and security, allowing him to concentrate on the real work at hand. His one lingering concern was that most Guild hunters tended to be rather arrogant, especially around ruin rats. Since his entire team was made up of ruin rats, that could be a rather large issue. He'd really wanted to meet the man that Quatre had hand-picked for the job prior to the actual official briefing, while there might have still been a chance to persuade Quatre to change his mind if the hunter had turned out to be an arrogant jerk.

"No apology necessary," Quatre assured him, gazing in delight at the beautiful little dreamstone box that Duo had given him a few minutes earlier. "I'm surprised that you managed to tear yourself away in time to get here at all."

Duo chuckled sheepishly, running one hand through his long bangs. "It wasn't easy," he admitted. The temptation to see just what else was buried in that pile of rubble had been tremendous. Hilde had virtually dragged him back to base to get ready while Howard had taken care of packing the day's find for transport.

"This is an exquisite piece," Quatre murmured, tilting the object in question to better catch the light. A river of vibrant colours rippled over its intricately-carved surface.

"Yeah, it is," Duo agreed. It was a much nicer piece than the pair of unguent jars that had been unveiled earlier. Deciding to take advantage of Quatre's apparent good humour - and of Trowa's absence as he made arrangements for the box's secure storage - he began cautiously, "Uh, Quatre, is there any chance I could still meet this Heero Yuy before the briefing? I'd just like to make sure that he can handle working with ruin rats without one of us wantin' to gut him before the day's out. Most Guild hunters don't get along with us too well."

"You get along fine with Trowa," Quatre observed, carefully setting the box down on the desk of the office they'd borrowed to examine it.

"He's Guild?" Duo demanded in disbelief. He'd know that Quatre was a musical-harmonic para-rez, and, having heard the two of them play together, he'd assumed that Trowa was as well. He'd have never pegged him as a Guild hunter; they tended to be brash, flashy, and arrogant, rather than calm and quietly self-assured.

Quatre inclined his head in silent acknowledgement.

"Huh. Whadda ya know." Maybe the 'typical' Guild hunter that he'd encountered in the past wasn't quite as typical as commonly held tradition would imply. Or maybe Trowa was just the exception that proved the rule. "I don't suppose you could just let Trowa do the job instead, seein' as we already know that we can get along..." he suggested hopefully.

"Trowa has plenty of other things to keep him busy," Trowa remarked calmly from the doorway, startling Duo, who hadn't heard him return. "Why don't you want to work with Heero?"

Hastily, Duo corrected him, "It's not that I don't want to work with him specifically. It's just that, since I don't know him, I'm a little concerned about how well we're going to get along."

"Duo would like to meet Heero before the team briefing," Quatre elaborated. "Would that be possible?"

Trowa gave him a non-committal shrug. "Depends what his schedule's like, but it should be." Turning his attention back to Duo, Trowa offered, "I'll be taking the contract over to the Guild Hall tomorrow. He should be around then, and I can introduce you if you'd like."

Oh great. First meeting on Guild territory rather than neutral territory, like an introduction at the museum would have been. Well, at least it should be a good indicator of Yuy's attitude.

"Yeah, sure, why not."

Visiting the Guild Hall wasn't exactly on his top ten list of things he'd always wanted to do, but it was necessary. He'd survive.

He always did.

***