06-Jul-2002
"You know it's the beginning of a bad day when the message you receive at the very crack of dawn is heavily and artfully encrypted and includes an unreadable map, a hunk of C-4, and a gray, grainy, surveillance tape."
"So are you ready, then?"
Duo schooled his features into his most bored expression even though the butterflies he felt flitting around in his stomach made him want to throw up the acid remnants of his mornings' coffee onto Quatre's brushed, brown suede shoes. "I just want to say for the record that this is ridiculous. My memory may be in question, but my skills as a pilot most certainly are not."
"You know that I completely agree with you Duo. Just treat this like any other mission, I suppose."
"So what happens if I screw up? Not that I'm going to, mind you."
Quatre frowned and stared at his shoes for a few long moments before returning his gaze to Duo. "I don't really know. I suppose we wait and see what happens."
"Not much of an answer."
Quatre shrugged and smiled. "Unfortunately it's the only one I have to give."
Heero Yuy was not happy. He was frowning fiercely and staring at the screen in front of him as if he could will the person away. With no such luck.
"Heero."
"Howard."
"Is he there?" The joy in Howard's voice was enough to make Heero look away from the screen for the tiniest of moments.
"You wouldn't have called if you thought he was someplace else."
"Damn it Heero!" Howard's snapped. "I just find out the kid is alive, and that you haven't blown your brains out in grief like I almost did, and that's all you can say?!"
"02 isn't here. He is with pilot 04."
"WHAT?!" Howard tore the dark shaded glasses from his face and tossed them on the desk he sat at as he stared at Heero incredulously. "Why isn't he with you?"
"We have parted ways."
"Heero... I know that all of this must be a shock, but the kid's alive. He's back. And I know I'm not the boy's father, but don't you think you two should be together right now and figuring out what to do next?" He asked, huffing out an exhausted sigh at the end as he put his sunglasses back on.
Heero studied the face of this man who claimed the right to Duo's paternity and frowned. He wanted to talk out things with someone, but his brain was screaming at him that he would be ignoring every protocol he had learned in doing so. Howard looked as worn out as he himself must look, with dark circles under his eyes hidden by the sunglasses he wore. He seemed to have aged since the last time he had spoken to the man, and grown both paler and thinner as well. The bright red of his flowered shirt stood out shockingly next to his pale skin and gray hair. He had been worried and had the look of a grieving man about him. It was enough to make Heero speak his mind. "You are aware that he had to undergo a treatment to cure him of his illness, correct?"
"Yeah. I heard that G had been monkey fucking with his head again, if that's what you're getting at."
Heero frowned as his mind veered off into another direction. One that seemed so much darker. "Again?"
"With the whole L2 disaster, and then the subsequent matter of his joining our cause before his illness, the kid was taking something for mild depression. But he went off them when he started hanging out with you guys. I never thought he needed anything, but the doc insisted that with all the stresses of being a Gundam pilot, he would need them to keep level. He used to do some other mind-altering exercise, but I'll be damned if I knew what they were. I think it's bullshit, myself, but Du -02- never seemed to have a problem with taking them or jumping through G's flaming hoops."
Heero let out a heart weary sigh. It was just another thing that confirmed to him that Duo never really trusted him with his heart, or he would have confided in him about the depression. It wasn't unusual after all to suffer from something like that given the extreme nature of their circumstances. He shook his head and brought his train of thought back to where he was going originally. "I was not aware of any drugs that 02 may have been using prior to the illness that forced him to seek treatment from the A-55 or L2 plague. However, as a result of the treatment he received from G most recently to cure him of those both, he has lost portions of his memory."
"Oh really?" Howard's eyes narrowed as he leaned forward in his chair. "Like what parts?"
Heero turned away from the screen again and took a deep breath. He, after all, did bring it up. He could always kill the master sweeper later if he had to. "All memories that had anything to do with our... relationship."
"ALL of them?"
"Correct."
"Those damned harpies! Those mind fucking, puppet string wielding, meddling, harpies!"
Heero quirked an eyebrow. "You are not surprised then."
"That they would fuck around in his head while trying to save their precious little Gundam toy, of course not! But I am surprised that you're sitting there with you're thumb up your ass and not out there doing something to jog his memory back!"
Heero let out an uncharacteristic snort at that. "And what would you have me do? Hit him in the head with a rock?"
"You know what I'm saying here Heero. You two belong... "
"This conversation is pointless. Whatever relationship that 02 and I had; is over. My objectives are to continue on with the directives I have been given with my decent to earth. Those directives do not include any further involvement with you or any other pilot. 01 out."
Howard stared at the black screen for a few moments before he leaned back in his chair and laced his fingers together across his stomach. "You can tell yourself whatever you want kid, but I know you're ripped up about him. And Duo deserves more than this. He deserves whatever little punk he fell for and I for one am not going to sit idly by and watch his chance for happiness slip through his fingers, whether he realizes it or not. I damn you both for fools."
Heero sat motionless for several long moments before checking his security network and opening an email program then scanned the data that was flashing quickly across his screen. It was kind for Quatre to keep him posted, even if it was on the sly. He had no doubts that Duo would be successful on his "test". He had the skills and the desire to take what he needed when he wanted to. Except for the offer that Heero had made to him. Some promises were never meant to be kept. He heaved a heavy sigh and shut down all the programs and made his way over to the small bed where his weapons were laid out neatly for his inspection. The fifth one in so many minutes. There were no entanglements now and perhaps that really was for the best. Once Oz discovered that Deathscythe was back in action, things would no doubt heat up again and that meant there were plenty of things for him to do to prepare for it.
He closed the small suitcase, silently cursing the pressed and starched uniform contained therein, and gathered up the guns and knives. He dumped them unceremoniously into his duffel and tucked his laptop under his arm before making his way out of the tiny room.
"I told you there wouldn't be any problems Quatre, there was no need to call in the guards." Duo flipped through a magazine with his long legs stretched out over the end of the sofa with his feet hanging off the cushions and bobbing up and down in rhythm to the music he was playing.
"I was nearby. Quatre did not call me."
"Funny thing about that, Tro. You always seem to be 'nearby' Quatre. Do ya have something ya wanna say?" He chuckled darkly over the top of his magazine, noting Quatre's flushed face. Trowa however remained expressionless and silent.
"Knock it off, Duo." Wufei had entered the room silently and headed directly for the small refrigerator on the far side of the room. He glanced at the contents contained inside, mumbled something inaudible and settled on the half-gallon container of skim milk.
"Hey! That's mine 'Fei!" Duo huffed as he watched Wufei chug down the last few gulps of milk before tossing the container in the garbage.
"So when are we leaving?" Quatre asked Trowa quietly.
"With in the hour. All preparations have been made."
"Took time to prep for him, huh Tro?" Duo winked and tossed the magazine over the back of the couch standing up and stretched languidly.
"SHUT UP!" All three pilots yelled at him, only causing him to burst out in a round of laughter.
"Sometimes I wonder if it wouldn't have been better if you hadn't come back." Wufei said hotly around the end of a cheese sandwich.
They all heard the slight intake of breath and the abrupt end to Duo's cackling laughter and turned to him. Wufei had already put the half-eaten sandwich down on the counter and was approaching Duo with his hands up in a gesture of surrender. Duo looked positively crushed by the statement, but the damage had been done.
"Maxwell, I apologize. I don't know why I said that. You know that I... "
Duo held his hand up and cut off the rest of the apology. He quirked a tiny smile that didn't seem to reach his eyes and bent to gather his bag from where it had landed on the floor next to the couch when he had returned from his retrieval mission with Quatre. "S'alright 'Fei. I know you didn't mean it." He swung his bag over his shoulder and grabbed his cap off the back of the couch and made for the door, picking up the rest of Wufei's sandwich on the way. "I gotta get goin'. People to see, places to be, things to blow up and all that. Good luck and I'll be in touch soon."
"Duo wait... " But before Quatre could say anything else the door was closing behind him with a soft click.
He had only made it about fifteen feet down the hallway of the tiny hotel when his arm flung out to the side and his fist connected with the wall with enough force to punch a hole in the plaster. "Damn it, damn it damn it! You're trying too hard, you idiot." He cursed himself and breathed a heavy sigh. "How long is it going to take to get things back to the way they should be?"
He tried to smooth the wallpaper back over the dent in the wall he had made and left. He had passed his test and did have somewhere to be or he would have left enough credits at the front desk to cover the damage. As he made it to the parking lot his cell phone buzzed in his inside jacket pocket. He couldn't help the small groan that escaped after he pulled out the tiny phone and saw Howard's number flashing on the display.
"02-go."
"You little prick, you. Shinigami's back and you didn't have the decency to call me?" Howard laughed over the link.
"Hey Howie. How's it hangin'?" Duo chirped back without his usual mirth.
"I'm not even going to get into the how's or why's but I wanted to tell you that me and the guys are really glad you're back in black. When you coming this way so we can chew the fat?"
"I dunno. I've been thrown into quite a few things since my... inpromptu return."
"You don't sound good kid, is everything all right?"
"As all right as it can be." He paused as he waited for the bus to slow to a stop in front of him. "Look, man I gotta go. We'll catch up later, k?"
"Duo... the reason I called, well it's kinda on the sly... " Howard said quietly, causing Duo to pause before climbing the three stairs onto the bus. He flashed the nice looking lady driver a grand smile and gestured to her for one more minute which she seemed to allow with the nod of her head and a sip of her coffee.
"Is the channel secure?" He asked as he glanced to the driver who was trying her very best not to look his way while the other passengers got themselves settled.
"Duo... don't be moron, kid." Howard laughed again and then continued in his quiet conspiratorial like voice. "It's about 01."
This time Duo didn't try to stop the groan and frowned darkly. "What?" He growled out.
"I just received word on the sly of course ... that 01 is heading to an abandoned resource satellite in the L5 colony quadrant. Only it ain't abandoned. Some ex-military types used to work out of that location as work for hire guys, you know, odd jobs, things that aren't quite regulated, if you know what I mean, kid. Anyway, 01 is going there to stop the transport of some mecha parts that I could find very useful for our side. Ya think ya could team up with him and see if you can get them for me, instead of blowing the place to space dust?"
It was an odd request, but he and Howard had gone back a long way. He did owe the guy for all the times he'd bailed Deathscythe and him out. He wasn't relishing the thought of having to deal with Heero after their last meeting, but he had to see the guy again sometime. Maybe this was the way to clear the air, once and for all and get things back to normal between them. Then again it was Heero they were talking about. Single-minded driven bastard that he was. "Do the higher ups know about this?"
"Not exactly."
"Figures. And you seriously think that Hee... 01, would change his objectives to steal for you instead of following orders?" Duo laughed pleasantly glancing up to the bus driver who was returning to her seat at the front. "I'll see what I can do, but no promises, Howard. Getting 01 to deviate from his mission plan is more painful than a root canal without novocaine."
"But you'll try?"
"Yeah, yeah, I'll try. Geesh. But we're even after this one."
"No way kid, you still owe me for not calling me the instant you returned from Hades. Once you get to Deathscythe, check you're email. I'll send you the information I have and the co-ordinates. Don't tell 01 you're coming, I don't want him to change his plans, I'm counting on the info I got from my source about when he'll be there."
"And how did you find out that?" He asked very skeptical of any source that could Intel from one of Heero's missions.
"A little bird told me."
"Uh-huh."
"I'll also send you a map of the layout of the place and schematics of what parts I'm looking for. They're not that big and should fit into a regular size duffel bag or two."
"Any resistance?"
"The only thing you may run into there are some of the old mercenary-types, but if they think they've been found they'll clear out pretty damn quick. They're more afraid of you guys than Ozzies. Hopefully they won't take it all with them."
"This whole thing sounds like it's got a lot of holes, man. Are you sure that this information is solid?"
"As far as I can tell. Don't forget, this ain't no mission from your sources. This is a pre-faction stash that we old space dogs used to use. Oz don't know about it, nor does the resistance. It's a Sweeper thing."
"Right." He grinned. Good old Howard always had the heart of a mercenary. Or in Sweeper circles, an 'Adventure Capitalist'.
"I expect you to check in with me every twelve hours, got it kid? Howard, out."
"Crap." Duo gusted as he climbed aboard, thanked the lady for letting him finish his call, and made his way to the rear of the bus and an empty row of seats. He had a long bus ride to the shuttle port to try to figure out just how he was going to get Heero to listen to him, much less change his mission plans for a payback no less.
End Part 7
(:./ebony/red7)
