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Traveling never went smoothly, which was something that Wufei couldn't understand. Board, sit, and leave. The simplicity of the system was triumphantly advertised on every talk-screen between the drop-off point and the space craft. How the process became a comedy of errors was beyond him, but it happened every time.
So he should have been more suspicious when he made it to his private quarters with no trouble at all. He put his luggage in the closet, tested the hideaway bed, and then went to wash his hands.
Which was when he discovered the plumbing was broken.
He stared at the unyielding faucet as if the frustration in his glare could repair the equipment without needing to call for transport support, some skin-pocked boy in a uniform who smelled like space and Wufei would never stop smelling it for the rest of the trip. He hated travel, but the Order had elected him as their representative to the galactic government, a government that only met on the capital planet and had a habit of ignoring any advocate who didn't breathe the same air that they did.
He'd made the journey several times. Convinced that the elected officials were deaf as well as incompetent, Wufei planned on staying until the motion carried this time.
If he ever made it to the capital planet in one piece. Or washed.
Wufei tried the faucet a second time. An empty hiss came first then a rush of nearly visible air, but nothing liquid emerged. He turned it off and pressed the call button for transport support.
***
Instead of an ugly teenager of questionable gender, Wufei opened his door to a rather attractive dark-headed girl with bright blue eyes, pale complexion and a noticeably up-turned nose.
"Name is Hilde." She wore her hat backwards so the plastic band was nearly covered by a forelock of revealed black hair. "Oh," she said, noticing Wufei's all black attire. "I didn't realize you were part of the Order. I can have Heero come instead."
"No." Wufei hardly cared about that out-dated and unsupported tradition. He wondered if she practiced the faith and deferring to that possibility he said, "I could step outside until you're finished." Some of the working class couldn't do anything with a priest-agent around.
"Okay," she sighed in relief. "Not that I would care either way, really. I'm New Legacy practicing, myself. But I can work a lot faster without someone watching over my shoulder."
Wufei grabbed his satchel with his laptop inside and went to find the level of the food court. He walked several steps before he heard Hilde finally go inside and close the door to his room.
***
Wufei found a place to access his files and, sitting, reviewed his paperwork for the meetings. Not much had changed from the original drafts, but he needed to make certain a few points did not get altered or he'd wasted his time completely.
A chorus of raised voices interrupted his concentration. "I can't believe this is happening. I had all of the recordings the way I wanted them and you're telling me that they're lost?" The woman shrieked into registers that caused pain to anyone in proximity. Her blonde hair swung out furiously as she shook her head. "This is unacceptable, Walker. You have to retrieve that data." Then she paced away. The heels of her shoes making sharp noises not unlike gunshots.
Her assistant, a young man with brown hair and a rather plain appearance all around, stared after her with one hand raised. To Wufei's knowledge the woman's staff hadn't been able to get a word in edgewise.
Then Walker looked around as if to see who might have been listening. While most people went back to whatever they had been doing, eating, shopping, conversing, Wufei held the young man's gaze and he let his shoulders drop under Wufei's scrutiny.
Wufei shouldn't have been surprised to see the young man walk over to his table. The robes of the Order were an invitation to conversations with strangers.
"I need a blessing, sir." He sat opposite of Wufei, glancing between the priest and his fingertips on the tabletop.
Wufei lifted his hands and made the symbol of two hearts joined. "As is your intention, so shall you receive."
Walker chuckled, "Maybe the blessing was a bad idea."
"Excuse me?" Wufei said, somewhat intrigued.
"The best way put, I want an escape... but I'm pretty certain that the Order would guide me to serve my employer better." He looked toward the ceiling of the room. His face when illuminated by the lights seemed older than Wufei first guessed.
"That's only one way of looking at a problem," Wufei shrugged. "Perhaps the best way for you to serve your employer is to leave her service."
Walker chuckled, "Fair enough. I guess I'll find out. Thank you, agent."
Wufei watched the other man leave to do whatever he needed to do. He went back to studying his screen.
***
When he went back to his rooms he noticed his shoes sank into the completely drenched carpet just outside the door. He heard clanking and hammering as if someone were beating the plumbing like drums. Wufei hesitated to open the door, but if he needed to be reassigned he might as well know sooner rather than later.
He saw Hilde's rump sticking out from an open panel. She balanced on her knees as the upper part of her torso seemed to be twisted around and upward. He saw her shoulder move swinging her arm and the punctuation of the metal striking metal was more noticeable without the wall between.
Wufei cleared his throat a few times. When Hilde noticed, she pulled herself out of the wall and stood up. Her face was smeared with tears made more noticeable once it had tracked through the grime that had built up on her cheeks.
"I suppose you want to know what happened," she sniffled. "I did turn the water off. But someone didn't read the order sheet and turned it back on while I was working the pipes. I'm so sorry, agent. I tried to save your luggage."
Wufei looked at where she pointed to his baggage held above the ground on the fold out bed. He was glad he'd had his laptop with him.
"With how awful these trips become, I wonder if I'm not supposed to survive," Wufei chuckled. His eerily good cheer mixed with the ridiculous circumstances caused Hilde to sniffle loudly again. He quickly added, "That's not your fault. I'm certain you're simply caught up in the peculiar justice of this all."
"Doesn't seem like justice," Hilde said, despondently. Her pants were completely drenched and pulled low on her trim hips.
"Unfortunate events fall on the just and the unjust alike. But," Wufei grinned for her benefit. "In hindsight, there's always a reason."
At that moment, Wufei heard a voice from the corridor. "Oh my gosh, what happened in here? Agent?" It was the man from before. Walker. He leaned against the doorway, keeping his feet back as if he could avoid the expanding water damage. "Can I help?" he asked.
Wufei lifted his bag, "Do you have room in your quarters?"
Walker nodded.
"Then take this there. I'll follow." Wufei turned to Hilde. "Save the mess for whoever turned on the water. I know that young man needs help recovering some lost electronic data. Can you do that?"
"Sure, I can," Hilde nodded.
***
"It feels so good to actually accomplish something," Hilde sat back from the terminal station and cracked her knuckles as far over her head as her arms could reach. Walker leaned in nearby and whistled, "That's them, alright. Now Miss Dorothy won't fire me."
Wufei glanced up from responding to correspondence from the Order HQ. The way the glow of the screen surrounded the other two seemed rather... Wufei shook his head. No need to meddle more than he had already. People had to find their own paths.
***
Due to overcrowding, Wufei remained bunked with Miss Dorothy's assistant. As he learned, she was a talk show host traveling to the capital planet to run interviews with several political giants there. Her data files had been previous interviews and she wanted the evidence to catch the incumbents in violation of their election oaths.
"Kind of a shady approach," Walker confided. "But I suppose people have the right to know."
Wufei finished putting his belongings into his luggage. The shift pilot had gone on the speaker announcing their arrival in less than three hours.
"I haven't always felt comfortable with her techniques, though. She has this way of editing things so it sounds like you're saying something completely different than what you original intended," Walker mumbled.
"Are you getting off at the station?" Wufei asked.
"I don't know what else to do," Walker sighed heavily.
Then someone rang the chime on their door. Hilde stood outside. "I got you both free tickets for another flight on our space-lines. I'm so very sorry about all the damages that happened on your trip."
"I don't know about that," Walker grinned shyly. "More like it that you saved me."
Hilde blushed furiously.
Wufei looked at his ticket before handing it to Walker too. "Two free flights. And a really charming member of transport support on this ship. I'd say that's a blessing if you want it to be."
Turned out that Walker could blush too.
***
The lines for exit were ridiculously long, so Wufei postponed joining them. He could wait. His roommate, Walker, had left with Hilde some time before. Wufei assumed Walker had joined up with his employer, but found out that wasn't the case when a tall, blonde burst open the door, "Walker, where are you?"
She saw Wufei and blinked a few times.
"Miss Catalonia," Wufei said without looking up from his laptop. "You'll find your files were recovered, but you should release your assistant without any trouble. And possibly consider changing your tactics. It's hard to find good, honest help when your practices are neither good nor honest."
With a huff of indignation, Dorothy Catalonia went back the way she had come.
***
In line, Wufei half-listened to the talk-screens advertising the ease and comfort of life on the capital planet. He shrugged, better balancing the weight of his bags.
"Agent!"
He heard the title repeated twice, in familiar voices. Turning, he saw Hilde and Walker waving at him from the end of the line.
Why not? Wufei thought, giving up his place and moving to the back of the line again.
"Will you marry us, agent? Please?" Hilde asked.
"That's sudden," Wufei observed. Then before their smiles could falter, he added, "Or perhaps not a surprise at all."
"Please," Walker asked. "I'm staying on board for the next two flights until we can sort out what we'd like to do next."
"It'd be easier if we could stay together," Hilde's eyes sparkled.
"From two to one." Wufei reached out both arms then clasped his palms. "My signature." He offered a small pen like device and applied it to each of their wrist chips.
Hilde grabbed Walker in a sideways hug. "Thank you, Agent."
"Just promise me that you'll make sure someone addresses that plumbing issue."
"Of course."
***
Wufei was the absolute last person off the ship. He glanced at the clocks and decided that he wasn't going to make it to the proceedings for that day and could use a rest. Nothing went according to his plan, but it did feel good to see something like happiness happen to those around him. Quiet justice.
"Wufei Chang?"
He turned and for a moment time stood still as he found the most enchanting woman standing to one side. She tilted her head with a charming smile on her lips.
"I am," he replied.
"Good, because we've needed you." She offered her hand. "I'm Sally. Sally Po."
"As is your intention, so shall you receive," he said formally.
"That's what they say," Sally chuckled. "We've got a vehicle waiting for you if you'll follow me."
And he did.