FicWad

I spent all day and that night in solitary. And it sucked. The worst thing about solitary isn't the fact that you're alone; I've been alone lots of times before, and frankly, I prefer it. But in solitary, there's nothing to do. No windows, no TVs, no books, no freaking anything. Even the screen in the wall didn't do anything beyond that one phone call. I could see the buttons on its front panel, but a wall of unbreakable polymer was built into the cinderblocks. I could barely make out my own reflection, and tried clumsily for a while to fix my hair and wipe away the worst of my makeup. Even without a decent mirror, I could tell I was only making it worse.

To pass the time, I slept, until my door was opened- not just a crack, but completely. Foggily, I struggled to sit up, and the man held the door open for me without speaking. Warily, I gave him a wide berth, and then followed him to the station's main area.

There sat Officer Xia, looking no more cheerful than she had when she addressed me in the cell. "Chang Wumei?"

"Whatcha want?" I asked impudently. She waited. "Yes, I'm Chang Wumei," I sighed. No one had a sense of humor anymore.

"You're being released from solitary and will go into normal facilities. No more cheekiness, though, or you'll go right back in," she glared. I set my jaw and returned her gaze. "First, you're to be interviewed." She sniffed, "Play nicely with them, too."

"Yes, madam," I replied, bowing far lower than anyone in her position warranted. When I righted myself, she was scowling. I followed her pointing finger, escorted by solemn wardens. Neither gave me a second glance, and that irritated me. I had spent forever trying to make myself attractive, and they just weren't interested. Then, at the end of the hallway, in the ugly yellow light, I spotted a Preventor jacket draped on a hook beside a closed door. Preventors? Didn't they only get involved in high profile crimes? Like, maniacs trying to start another war sort of thing? Maybe there was a big bust planned here in the city; maybe I'd even be let out in time to see it! As I imagined this scenario, boasting to my friends that I knew ahead of time that the local mob boss had it coming, I expected to be steered past the inconspicuous, yet forceful-looking doorway. Instead, Guard One stopped behind me, and Guard Two prevented me from moving further. I blinked, and looked at them in surprise. Guard One opened the door, and motioned for me to go in. Now thoroughly puzzled, and having little preference, I did.

It was a small room, barely 8x12ft, but it felt large, with only a table and two chairs positioned on opposing sides. They stood in the center, and one of the guards pointed to the seat facing what looked to be a giant mirror. At last! Ignoring him, I went straight for it, and began adjusting my clothing. My face was a DISASTER. That lump of cardboard they'd given me for a pillow had smeared everything all over the place. My hair was too horrible to think about, and my uniform was now so wrinkled, it would need three passes under Genji Ma's iron to sort itself out. I was so engrossed in my appearance that it barely registered when Guard Two closed the door behind me, and I was left in the white room alone. Then I turned around, and realized I had been moved from one cell to another.

The floor was concrete, the walls made of more cinderblocks. Everything was white-washed to a pale, discomfiting gray. The chairs were the folding kind, made of gray metal that had chipped in places to reveal under layers of paint in a variety of shades, including green. The table seemed harmless enough: cheap. In fact, all I could think was, 'These people are cheap as hell. Somebody must have cut their budget.' Like a tourist, I edged around the table, staring at the ceiling, which was peppered with the corpses of insects who had somehow made it this far into the building only to be zapped by the fluorescent light tacked up there. As my hand brushed the table, I looked over my shoulder at the mirror. I was huge, easily almost as long as the room itself, except for a door beside it. I frowned. Something about that mirror was not right.



On the other side of the wall, Wufei swallowed around a sudden lump in his throat. It was dimly lit on his side, the majority of the light coming from a large window that took up most of the wall, making room only for a single door leading into the sparse room where a teenager wandered, bewildered and hostile.

He had thought he would have a heart attack when she entered. Without hesitation, she flew for the glass and he was certain she had seen through to him. The specter of the woman who had made him a widower at fifteen came less than six inches from his face, and in a very un-Meiran-like way, began to fuss with her hair. At that, he blanched, and realized that someone was speaking to him.

"She's all yours," said Officer Xia, with all the false courtesy typically bestowed upon Preventors who visited local jurisdictions to 'butt in.'

Wufei gave her a lukewarm smile. "Thank you. I have everything I need." The words hung there, an indirect dismissal. With a sniff, she finally left, and Wufei turned back to the glass. Beside him, a server recorded every sound and sight from within the whitewashed room. Really, there should have been a technician or another agent with him, but there was no way Sally would have agreed to come with him, never mind the short notice.

The girl was getting restless, staring mistrustfully at the two-way mirror. Again, the similarities struck him: the set of her shoulders, the suspicious anger in her eyes. Shaking his head, he opened the door and stepped into the light.

She jumped at the sight of him, and scowled. That, too, dredged up old memories. Wufei kept his features closely schooled, and indicated the chair on the far side of the table. Like a hunted dog, her eyes never left him as she sat. They watched one another for a moment, before she spoke.

"You came."

"Yes."

She puzzled that over, looking comical with mascara forming dark rings around her eyes. "Why?"

It was Wufei's turn to be cautious, phrasing his words carefully. "You asked for my help."

That obviously did little to convince her. "So? The homeless guy outside the bottle store asks for help every day. Or do you actually give money to those people?"

"'Those people,' often have less control over their circumstances than you may think," scolded Wufei coolly. "And, no, I don't give them money. I do what sensible people do and feed them when I can, or when I feel generous."

She snorted, continuing to glare at him. "So you're just feeling 'generous' today, huh?"

"Much as it may surprise you, I lack the resources to be merely 'generous' where it concerns a teenage prostitute on a planet I haven't set foot on in ten years." She winced, and Wufei relaxed somewhat; their roles had been better established. Folding his hands on the table, he said, "I do want to help you if I can. Can you tell me what you were doing the other night?"

Wumei squirmed inwardly- damn him for finding a way to make her the weaker player. She shot him a glare before opening her mouth. "Trying to make some money. I ran away from home, ok? There aren't a lot of options work-wise for a girl who's still in school."

That was certainly true. Wufei watched her carefully, noting her body language and defiant eye contact. She was telling the truth. "Why did you leave home?"

"Why does anybody leave? I hate my Genji Ma," she huffed, before realizing that she sounded like a child. "She's-"Certainly not her mother. What was Genji Ma to her? "My aunt. She raised me. But she obviously doesn't want me."

Wufei sighed, sensing a headache coming on. "So you had a fight and hightailed it to the big city, with a pretty face and no money."

There was no reason to mock her! Wumei scowled her fiercest scowl. "Guess you got my number."

"Remember who's in trouble here," he said, raising an eyebrow in a way that clearly read, 'Do you really want to do that?' Her glare was an obvious reply- he had the upper hand she knew it. "Look. I'll pull some strings for you, remind them that this is a first offense. With any luck, we can get you home to your Ge- your Aunt- in a few..."

"NO. No, no, no, no, NO," for the first time she looked positively stricken. She couldn't have shocked him more if she had fallen to her knees and begged for his mercy. "I can't go back to Genji Ma- I don't want to! Didn't you hear me? She doesn't want me! She-"wants to use me, is delusional, puts me down one second and tries to puff me up the next. Wumei deadpanned, utterly serious. "I'm not going back there."

That eyebrow rose again. "You know, the adolescent years are reportedly a difficult time between children and..."

"This isn't normal fighting!" she shouted, exasperation setting in. "She really doesn't want me!"

"I know it can seem like she doesn't... love you..." Where had he come up with this bullshit? Had his Psych training really been this preachy? He would have to reread his homework when he got back...

"The woman is a nutso!" They both stopped speaking for a moment, and Wumei jumped straight in. "She's delusional, ok? She thinks we're royal blood or something- like if I go to the right school I can become a princess and take over the world. She's /nuts/."

"What?" That definitely topped some of the stories Wufei had heard.

"She thinks I'm the sole survivor of some ancient family! She thinks I'm its heir- and she really believes this." Wumei took his contorted expression for confusion. "You see? She's insane! And we live in the crappiest place- I mean, you get better places in closets in the slums here! She spends all our money on my school and we don't have anything to eat, I have no clothes- you see why I needed the money? I sure wouldn't've gotten any from her!" That was it, she was sure that had to be the key. They didn't let kids stay with people who couldn't take care of them, did they? They wouldn't make her go back if she could make them see that Genji Ma was crazy, would they?

But no one would believe any of the truth is this man, who was himself crazy enough to come all the way here from L5 just to 'help her out,' didn't first. Wumei waited, leaning forward in her seat, her black, chipped nails clamped onto the edge of the table.

But Wufei's mind was far, far away...

The moments slid by, until she thought she would scream. His inky black eyes rose to stare straight into hers. "Do you swear, on your name, that everything you have told me is true?" She nodded. "Do you swear, on your name, that if I help you out of here, you will work toward a better future? Go back to school, get a real job, start acting like a mature adult and not some reckless teenager?"

Wumei nodded vigorously. 'How did he know I dropped out of school...?'

"Do you swear, on your name and your life, that if I help you, you will not make me regret my decision?" His eyes were like coals, cold to the touch, but fiery and molten on the inside. In the back of her mind, she wondered if the devil have been known to take the form of a young Chinese man, but she took the hand he extended, and they shook on it.

Wufei rose, ignoring the single strand of hair that had fall free of his ponytail. "Soon." Just as abruptly, he left through the door.

The server was still processing as he closed out the extra light. It was the work of a moment to switch out the tapes and do a little 'permanent damage' to the machine's hard drive. Before he left, he glanced one last time at the girl through the special glass, sitting in the same place, a bewildered expression on her face. As Guard One and Guard Two lead her out, Wufei shook his head at his own foolishness, and went to speak to Officer Xia.