19-Dec-2000
Category: Humour, OOC, AU, X-over, Non-Yaoi (well, technically. But this isn't a romance at all so who knows ::shrugs:: after all, it really depends on the eye of the reader right?)
Notes: After Endless Waltz 197
All the Gundams were destroyed at the end of 'Endless Waltz'. This is a 'what-if' look at what the GW boys would do if they had to use other mechas. I'm not going to reference the shows the other mechas come from, until the end of the story arc. At this stage, I'm not planning character cross overs but. never say never! I hope you have as much fun reading as I had in writing.
Quatre smiled confidently, discreetly hiding his crossed fingers behind his back as he stared innocently back at the three pairs of suspicious eyes fixed on him.
'Who did you say was going to be responsible for finding the replacements?' Wufei asked accusingly, as he folded his arms firmly across his chest.
'Duo.' Heero grunted softly, never taking his eyes off the sweetly smiling blond who nodded complacently.
'I still think that you are acting precipitously Quatre. We haven't even agreed to rejoin the Preventers, that is,' Trowa amended with a quick glance at Wufei in his Preventer uniform, 'Heero and I haven't. And anyway, what was the point of destroying our Gundams, if we replace them?'
'That's just it.' Quatre beamed happily, 'we aren't going to replace our Gundams.' He took pity on his friends as the three exchanged confused looks. 'It's like this. We're elite mobile suit pilots, right?' Quatre continued smoothly as the others nodded grudgingly. 'Well, so it's kind of a pity to waste all that talent and besides which, I've been asked to take over Lady Une's position as the head of the Preventer Unit.'
Heero and Trowa stared at Wufei, who twitched involuntarily at finding out that Quatre was now going to be his superior.
'And I've been asked to increase our effectiveness as a fighting unit.' Quatre's voice turned brisk as his attention turned to the display behind him. 'As you can see, although we now live in a more peaceful world, where war, or rather organised warfare is a thing of the past, there are still many trouble spots that require intervention of force. And that's where we come in.'
'With these new replacements.' Heero added, neither his voice nor his face betraying any emotion.
'Yes.' Quatre fixed his eyes firmly on his friends, hoping to win their support. 'We decided it would be best if we don't recreate the Gundams. Instead, Duo's been looking for suitable replacements that we can pilot. After all, we really only need enough power to deal with minor terrorists and such.'
Trowa nudged Wufei, who was glaring sullenly at a sublime Quatre who had dragged Heero over to the tactical display and was absorbed in trying to explain the details of his strategy to the silent youth, in an excited voice. He whispered softly, 'so what do you think about all this?'
Wufei scowled, 'what does it matter? It looks like I'm going to be piloting another mobile suit. It can't be that different from a Gundam. And what about you? Are you going to join the Preventers like Quatre wants?'
Trowa hesitated, staring at the silent dark haired youth listening patiently to the exuberant blond. 'Maybe.' He answered softly, lost in his own thoughts. 'It sort of depends...'
'This colour scheme is a bit... garish.' Quatre managed to finish at last.
Duo looked hurt as he re-examined his prize, reminding himself of his own initial reaction on beholding the green and purple mecha. 'We can always repaint it in more subdued colours later. Besides which, colour's not really all that important. Wait till you see how this EVA unit manoeuvres! It's incredible!'
'Okay.' Quatre's voice still sounded doubtful, even as the blond examined the accompanying schematics of the EVA carefully. 'And you say that the pilot is in an independent control unit, which is called the entry plug? So the pilot is far better protected than in the Gundam design, where the cockpit is vulnerable.'
Duo nodded smugly. 'That's right. And that's not all. The pilot wears a special suit that links his nervous system to the EVA, allowing for improved reaction times. I've asked Wufei to trial both the pilot uniform and the EVA. He should be here any minute now.'
'Maaaaxweeeeeeeell!'
Quatre and Duo started as a loud scream echoed down from the changing room and after a while Trowa appeared from the room with a faintly harassed look on his face.
'He's not coming out.' Trowa stated flatly, carefully avoiding eye contact with Duo, who was starting to look annoyed.
'What'd you mean he's not coming out!' Duo started to raise his voice, his violet eyes sparking furiously.
'It's the uniform.' Trowa answered with a shrug. 'He doesn't like it. He screamed when he saw his reflection after trying it on. And he got a little. upset when he saw the head attachments.'
'Head attachments?' Quatre asked curiously. 'What does it look like?'
'Never mind about that.' Duo studied the tall red head speculatively. 'Trowa, I want to you go back in there and put the uniform on instead. We still have an EVA to trial. I'll deal with that coward later.'
'No.' Trowa responded shortly. 'If you want someone to wear that uniform, you'll have to do it yourself. I'm not too keen on that design either to be honest.'
'Okay, if that's how you want it.' Duo stuck his hands on his hips and turned his head to the left. 'Heero.' He called out loudly. He winked at the slim figure that approached them. 'I have a mission for you. I want you to put on that pilot uniform and show us what the EVA is capable of.'
'Nimryu Rokai.' Heero responded tonelessly.
Duo smirked at Trowa, 'and afterwards, when Mr Perfect's done, we'll all take turns in the EVA. NERV is giving us a special deal with these EVA units. It's a real bargain, even if I do say so myself.'
'So why is NERV willing to sell these EVAs so cheaply?' Quatre asked curiously, still busy leafing through the manual.
'Apparently they don't need them anymore. They were originally created to fight Angels.' Duo answered absently as he started to play with the end of his braid, tapping his foot impatiently while waiting for Heero to reappear.
'Angels.?' Quatre started to ask then stopped, his eyes wide as the door of the changing room opened and Heero stepped out, followed by a still flushed looking Wufei. 'Ahhh..' He gasped as he took in the figure hugging blue suit and opened his mouth to say something when he spotted the silver triangle shaped hair clips that pinned back Heero's unruly dark brown hair on the sides of his head, and fell silent.
'Hey you look great Heero!' Duo scampered happily to the stoic pilot who completely ignored the intense stares he was getting from all occupants in the hanger bay, as he walked over to the capsule shaped entry plug. 'Now just remember that once you're inside the plug, you'll have to wait till we insert it into the EVA, and then wait for the compartment to be flooded, before you can start her up.'
Heero stopped in the middle of sitting down and his eyes widened in shock. 'Did you say that the compartment was going to be flooded?' He asked with an agitated look on his face, even as Duo started to push him into his seat.
'Yeah, yeah. It's not a problem. Just remember to breath normally and your lungs will adjust in seconds. Okay? Good luck' Duo called out cheerfully as he slammed shut the hatch of the entry plug, completely ignoring the faint protests coming from Heero who started tug at his seatbelt, which had been locked around him.
'You never said anything about the compartment being flooded before.'
Duo widened his eyes innocently as Wufei growled in his face. 'Didn't I? It doesn't matter now anyway. You aren't in the plug. I can't believe you chickened out because you were embarrassed to wear that uniform. What a wuss.'
'Kisama!' Wufei darted forward, only to frail futilely against the empty air as Duo ducked out of his way with ease. 'Maxwell, you dishonourable cur! How dare you call me a coward! I refuse to have anything to do with this pathetic excuse for a mobile suit. Only someone with no sense of propriety or modesty would wear that travesty of a uniform. And you can't tell me those ridiculous hair clips are a vital part of the uniform!'
'You do realise that you've just managed to insult Heero, don't you?' Duo answered with a teasing grin, as he pointed to the towering figure of the EVA, whose eyes began to glow ominously.
'Heero! Breathe! Don't panic! The fluid is completely oxygenated! Take a deep breath and saturate your lungs! Heero!'
Duo and Wufei stared at each other blankly as Trowa continued to scream at the monitor, trying to reassure a terrified looking Heero, who was starting to turn purple from the effort of holding his breath.
'Why didn't anyone ever tell me that he's afraid of the water?' Duo wailed anxiously as he dashed to Trowa's side.
Wufei glared at the agitated brunette who joined Trowa in loudly cajoling Heero into accepting his new environment. 'What kind of an idiot wouldn't be afraid at the thought of trying to breath water?' He muttered to himself sourly, even as he backed slowly away from the gradually awakening giant, hoping that Heero had been too preoccupied by his predicament to hear his little tirade earlier.
The three friends stared worriedly at the monitor as finally a desperate Heero was forced to expel the remaining air in his lungs and gradually his breathing calmed.
'Duo.' Heero managed to speak at last, massaging his sore chest, 'Omae o korosu.'
'Heeey! He's going to be just fine. I knew he'd great at this. Don't worry Heero, I'll help you beat up Wufei when you finish. I don't think you look like a woman or a pervert.'
'What!' Wufei yelled in loud protest even as Heero turned cold eyes on him. 'No, that's not what I said. He's just twisting my words to distract you, Yuy. Don't let him manipulate you.'
'Huh, he's just sore because he lost out on this fantastic opportunity to test pilot the EVA. That's what you get for being such a prude Wufei.' Duo grinned cheerfully at the black haired pilot who looked ready to kill him.
'I'm not sore, as you put it, at not being stupid enough to put on that ridiculous outfit and getting into that monstrosity.' Wufei snapped impulsively then winced as he turned back to the monitor where a pair of icy eyes was boring into his back. 'Somehow, it didn't come out exactly the way I intended.' He muttered to himself, even as Heero placed his hands on the control panel and the slim giant began to lumber into movement.
The three watched spellbound from the control centre as the EVA gracefully stood up, then executed a series of acrobatic manoeuvres that simulated the smooth movement of a living organism rather than the more stiff, jagged manoeuvres they were used to from their Gundams.
'So what'd you think guys?' Duo held out his hands proudly as they observed how the EVA was able to generate an AT field, an impenetrable shield against which neither the explosives nor the beam weapons had any effect. 'Not too shabby eh? Shall I tell the NERV guys that we've got a deal?'
Trowa and Wufei exchanged resigned looks behind the gleeful brunette who watched Heero playing with the various accompanying armaments with gloating pride.
'I really hate that outfit.' Wufei scowled.
'I'm not too keen on that entry plug myself.' Trowa added dryly. 'But.'
'But.' Wufei agreed reluctantly. 'It does look pretty good, doesn't it?'
'I think Heero likes it.' Trowa observed quietly as the EVA began to run and execute somersaults.
'Am I good, or am I good?' Duo chirped happily as he slung his arms around both of them. 'Lets call NERV now and tell them that we'll take all four EVA units today.'
'Four? They only have four units? Then we are going to be one short.'
'Actually, we're only going to get one.'
Duo, Trowa and Wufei turned around as Quatre snapped shut the manual and joined them at the observation window.
'EVA unit four is not functional and we don't want units zero and two.'
'Why not?' Wufei asked curiously.
Quatre opened up the manual and showed them the schematics for the uniforms of the pilots of zero and two. 'Because their uniforms don't suit us.'
'Errrrr. right.' Duo agreed after taking a long look at the chest panels of the red and white uniforms. 'I think we'll just let Heero keep unit one. He seems to be handling it pretty well. And I'll look into some other possibilities that I've lined up for the rest of us.'
'And next time Maxwell, get something that knows how to fly. And doesn't need a skin tight uniform.' Wufei growled disapprovingly as he stared at Heero's picture in the monitor screen. 'And definitely no hair clips.'
To be continued..
So, what kind of mecha is Duo going to get for the rest of the Gundam pilots? ^_~ Stay tuned for the next exciting instalment of 'Leave it to Duo'. Ja neh.
Katana Rey
Please send comments to: apriori21@yahoo.com