Things Are Not as They Seem
The Year was After Colony 200
Man Kind has lived peacefully, under the support of Preventers and The Earth Sphere Unified Nation, led by Relena Darlian.
Chapter one:
I shifted my body slightly from the awkward position that it had been in to look at the screen. The screen showed me what was out there, a raging battle, gun fire whirled around in an attempt to wound, more then likely kill be. The sudden impact of the last attack had knocked me for one. A warning blared loudly in on my right. I turned the machine as best as I could and clicked the fire button on one of my controls.
There was an explosion in front of my face and a bight light flared in my screens. I worked on getting my mobile suit to stand. It was more of a task then it sounded. I managed, but then my right screen blared again, this time a video feed came to life on the side.
"Stay down Trowa," he said. "Or we're not walkin away."
I stopped trying to make my gundam move then. The screen cut off as more explosions erupted on either side of me. I knew that we wouldn't lay low for long; that simply wasn't Duo's way.
I had been right, when the enemy was standing over us, we attacked and we got out of there.
Waking up Trowa sat up in the bed a hand on his armed hand gun. He had had another dream from the war, or rather wars. The person beside him shifted. He looked down to the woman that had stayed the night. Melissa he had met her at the Preventers where he worked currently having left the circus when Catherine had married and started a family. The woman didn't seem to notice that he had pulled a gun or that he had woken up. That didn't appeal to his mercenary like nature. He shifted and got out of the bed.
His dreams were starting to bother him. Not in a way that would mess with his sanity or his work. They just bother him. He had never had dreams about the wars before.
The woman lay in bed completely unaware of her surroundings.
He walked down the stairs and into the kitchen; he was getting a glass of water when a ringing reached his ears. He set the glass down and moved to the show case of things from the war. A piece of mobile suit plating from Heavyarms his clown mask and a few other random items lay behind the glass. Including a cell phone that he could have sworn was off line. Placing items in a case had been Duo's idea, that one should never forget the good or bad times, and be proud of what they had done.
It rang again. That unique ring that was pilot 02, Deathscythe's pilot.
Trowa reached for the phone and opened it.
The screen was black. The phone was long dead he hadn't charged it in years. Why had he thought it was ringing now?
Setting the phone back, he looked at the woman that walked down the stairs and blinked at him.
"Trowa?" she questioned. He didn't reply to her as he closed the case and watched the phone. "Trowa it's late." He looked at the clock in the kitchen. Oh-five hundred and some odd minutes it wasn't late, it was early. He walked to his video phone and pushed the screen on. The soft blue light flared on illuminating him, the woman went back upstairs. He had a feeling it wouldn't have lasted long.
The screen switched to dialing when he pressed oh-two on the touch screen. Soon it answered and Hilde looked back at Trowa. "Hey," she said, "Oh-two Scrap how can I help?"
"Duo?" he asked. Hilde frowned.
"He hasn't been here for a while Trowa, went out with the Sweepers the other day to help collect scrap in space." Trowa nodded though he didn't respond to her. "I'll inform him that you called. Or you can call the shuttle if it's important." Trowa seemed to think about it and then nodded his head, he got the number for the shuttle and called right after a quick good bye from him.
"Hello," Duo said over the video and then smiled wide when he saw Trowa. "Hey Tro," he leaned on something in the shuttle. "What do I owe the pleasure?"
Trowa looked at him from his side of the screen and he relaxed. He looked over to the case again and then back down to Duo. "Just checking up."
"Okay so check up, how is everyone?"
"As far as I know good. Wufei is on a mission currently, Heero is still with Relena and being her body guard, Quatre is head of Winner Corp and engaged." Trowa said.
"Yeah, I knew that about Quat, pretty little thing he got too, I deal a lot with him seeing as how he's building another resource satellite out here by L2," Duo said. "I see Relena on broadcast quite a bit, Wufei I see from time to time because of his missions take him out here to examine some of the metal I bring in. How about you Trowa how are you?"
The former Heavyarms pilot shrugged his shoulders. He didn't know how to answer that. "I have been here."
"Alive and well?" Trowa nodded his head, he wasn't normally the talker. "Well hey, how about this, I have some work ta do on Earth in a few days, how bout we meet up for lunch or something?" he asked with a grin on his face. Trowa thought this over and then nodded his head in agreement, lunch sounded good to him. He hasn't really seen Duo in the past couple of years where as the other more than likely have. He seemed to have a good business as well. "I'll call when I get to Earth, maybe I can crash at your place."
Trowa seemed to consider Duo's idea of crashing with him for the time he was down on Earth. He nodded his head after that moment. "Fine."
"Great! I'll be down in a few days," he said and then waved at him through the vid screen before closing his end.
I am not overly sure why I asked to crash with Trowa, it wasn't like I couldn't get a hotel room or anything. But something inside me just wanted to. I stood staring at the black screen of the videophone when someone came up behind me. "We there?" I asked without turning from where I was standing.
"Yes sir and it's a graveyard of mobile suits," he said. I nod knowing it would be, space had been home of many battles, and a few of them took place around the Lunar Base. We needed to get this area cleaned up for Quatre and his resource satellite.
"Yep, and its all for the pickins," I said and turned to one of the sweepers.
"Got permission from Commander Une?" he asked me with a smile on his face. I grunted my reply the sweeper nodded and left the room. Officially I had free reign over any scrap in space that I could find, mainly because Commander Une didn't want to send her own hard workin people to do the job I was willin to. I just had to dismantle anything really big and take all the nice little mobile weapon controls to a special little place so that the preventers could destroy them. A lot of this metal was gonna go in for Quatre's project here, and havin a resource satellite this close to L2, well I hope to have that help the colony.
Unofficially I did what I want with the scrap, I knew the difference between neo titanium and Gundanium. I admit to myself that I keep it too.
But still I wonder why I even said I was going to Earth. It's not like I didn't have business there. I did, I needed to check up with Command Une and Noin about the amount of battle scrap up here and give my year report as well as have that meeting with Quatre on when he can start building. See I didn't join preventers like they thought I would. Yes I work with them and help em out, but that's not the same. Folding my arms I tapped my foot. Time to give Quatre a call and see if we can bring the gang together for a day or so. Of course, it would be all his idea.
Trowa watched the screen for a long moment after it went black. Nothing seemed to be wrong with Duo. Maybe it was a lack of sleep that was making him think that the phone rang with Duo's old number. Letting out a breath he moved upstairs to get ready for his day of work. The uniform long ago forgotten as he worked best in jeans and a long sleeve turtle neck shirt, and his work he wore what he liked. Having dressed he would make a quick breakfast of oatmeal and coffee and then be heading out the door before Melissa ever woke up again.
Driving down to the Preventer's office, he knew trouble when he saw it and this was trouble. Une and Noin were waiting for him to exit the car and walk over to them and when he did he greeted them with a nod of his head.
"Trowa," Commander Une started. "I have a mission for you," she said. "You can choose your partner but I do not believe Melissa would be a good choice. The mission is for you to plant yourself into an organization; it's in the L3 area. We believe from contacts in the colonies that there is a group there that is trying to build mobile suits once more."
Une handed him a vanilla folder and he opened it to look at the details of the mission. He had three days to choose a partner and then head up into space.
Une really hit me with this. I had been hoping to see the others. But this was my job now, and if this was true then I was looking at a very real possible threat. I walked into my office at the Preventer building. I had an idea of who I would want as my back up, even if he didn't work for the Preventers I was sure he was a little bored. So when I once more dialed that shuttle number. I saw his face appear once more on the screen as he looked at him hands in a fist on his hips, eyes closed with a big grin.
"What do I owe the pleasure of a preventer… oh hey again Tro," he corrected once he opened his eyes at me. I nodded my head to him.
"Where are you?" I asked.
"Near the Lunar Base, L2 colony cluster 34, 187," Duo replied to me easily. I remembered that place; he was following the trail of mobile dolls.
"What is your eta to L3?"
Duo looked at me; a hand went to his head and scratched as he looked at a couple of screens. "If I had to push it, man, that's on the other side of Earth Tro," Duo frowned at the screens he was looking at. "47 hours if I pushed hard, 55 to be safe." That would give me enough time to go over a few things with him and make it to L3.
"Duo," I said calmly he looked at me, "I need a partner."
Duo stood there for a moment and then nodded his head to Trowa. "Yeah you got it Tro, I'll start my way over to L3," he said and moved to turn off the screen. He looked once more to Trowa and then nodded once before the screen went black. Now all Trowa had to do was tell Commander Une that he had gotten a partner. Signing off his and Duo's name on the team assigned line, he filled in the requirements, equipment that may be needed if Duo didn't already have them. Once he was finished he took it up to Commander Une and handed it to her. She opened it and scanned the names.
"Duo Maxwell? He's not a preventer," she said.
"No," Trowa agreed, "he's not."
"He didn't ask for anything?" she questioned him. Trowa shook his head. "Fine." She agreed and signed off on the mission that he was going to take.
That left him the rest of the day to prepare.