Hawks of Peace
Chapter 1:
Peg

By: F.C. Noventa

Time period: AC 199-200
Place: L2 Colony
Based on minor character(s) from Episode 35: The Return of Wufei, and Endless Waltz Special Edition. (We named one Frank Lobos)
Material was also taken from the mangas Blind Target and Episode Zero.


January, AC 199

On colony L2, Frank Lobos wandered the rundown streets which tourists never saw, hands stuck in his pockets staring off into the distance. As he rounded the corner, a scruffy teen ran up to him. They talked in muffled, frustrated tones. Frank appeared to give a command. Off the boy ran. From a darkened doorway in the next block, a scrawny child led Frank by the hand to her mother. Half hidden in the shadows of a large box, her careworn face pleaded silently to Frank. He touched her tangled mat of hair, whispered something comforting and walked onto the commons area between darkly towering tenements.

The sight would have sickened most colonists. In fact, many would refuse to believe it even existed. On this carefully orchestrated, snowy winter night in space, most L2 citizens were snug in their warm and comfortable homes. Out here, amidst darkened, high-rise, low-income dwellings, the forgotten remains of White Fang's L2 cell huddled around trash can fireplaces, sheltered by only ragged tents and oversized boxes - home - in a narrow courtyard optimistically dubbed 'Paradise Plaza'.

Suddenly a flicker of a smile crossed Frank's face as he watched a slim figure moving among a group of children, passing out hot chocolate and a few donated blankets. He moved closer to watch. Peg glanced his way, grinned and waved. He smiled, then returned to surveying the scene silently, much as a commander observes his battle-weary troops. His keen eyes took in every heart-sickening detail. Peg suddenly came up beside him. "You've got to stop this lone patrol of yours day in and day out. You're not helping them and you're not helping yourself!" she chided.

"No choice, Peg," he shrugged as he reached down to scratch the bony frame of a scruffy dog that nuzzled his leg, tail wagging, "I feel responsible for the fate of every man, woman, child, and pet exiled to this god-forsaken island of poverty."

Peg started to contradict him as usual. Ignoring her, Frank turned away and continued on, chiding himself, "And why shouldn't I? Wasn't I the one that urged these people to break the stranglehold Earth held them all in? Wasn't I the one who started the secret meetings, met with Quinze, Ralph, and the other colony underground leaders?"

Frank's mind drifted back to the glory days when White Fang became a major force in outer space. Wonderfully heady times they were! He glanced wistfully upwards as he indulged in some fond memories. "I felt like king of the colony! Commanding hundreds, controlling the fate of the colonies, . . . I thought nothing would stand in the way of colonist's freedom. I even saw myself as head of the colony someday after the war.

"But our defeat changed all that, even though White Fang never accepted the new Unified Nation. To tell the truth, Peg, I never cared much for politics. I just wanted peace and freedom for us colonists. To me that meant total independence from Earth. I hated Earth, the way Earth oppressed all the colonies. So when White Fang decided to join forces with Sogran after the war, I leapt at the chance."

Frank sank deep into painful memories which he shared with no one. He recalled the plummeting fall of White Fang members after Earth capitulated. Perhaps it was the ruthless tactics White Fang used during the war and subsequent revolt, but those were ruthless times.

He whirled around suddenly and met Peg's gaze. "What I hadn't counted on, my friend, was the hatred the pacifists on the colonies would have for White Fang. When they came into power after the war, I could see my people slipping through the cracks in their 'True Peace' society. No one wanted to associate with anyone labeled White Fang. We had to form an alliance with Sogran. He seemed to be the only hope for White Fang families. But after that abortive revolt, even family members distanced themselves from uncles and cousins and children who belonged to our group. And the kids! Do you remember when the kids started throwing rocks through windows, painting death signs on White Fang houses? Neighbor turned against a neighbor, friend against friend, brother against brother! A vicious, spiraling cycle that brought us finally to this. Yeah, some leader I make. They'll probably nominate me King of the Colony any day now!" He let out a sharp, bitter laugh.

Frank, defacto mayor of this tent city lurking in the shadows of a most prosperous colony, spread his arms wide as if hugging the tattered remains of his once glorious organization.

"Frank, you did everything humanly possible," Peg chimed in. She had to get him out of this depressing litany he kept falling into. "And I can see you as a colony leader," she commented looking around at the sorry lot of people huddling around trash can fires for warmth, "You certainly have a way with these people."

"Right! Sure! Great ideas, bad techniques. Duo Maxwell was right. I have a way of teaming up with the wrong people to accomplish my high ideals." How Frank regretted that shattered friendship. He had known Duo since their childhood days under Father Maxwell's care. The feisty, braided orphan was one of the few guys he had ever called 'friend'. Sadly, after Frank was adopted, they lost touch with each other . . . until he discovered his old friend had become one of the famed Gundam pilots.

"Huh?" Peg turned toward him with sudden surprise, "You mean the Gundam pilot?"

"Yep." Frank frowned remembering their last meeting, "I was sure the pilot of Deathscythe would join our righteous revolution. After all, the Gundams had begun it. We were just following their lead. Seems I've followed Duo's lead a lot in my life. But in that reunion in a warehouse meeting, with all my top men around me, I was stunned when he suddenly left saying, 'I'll just continue to go it alone.' He didn't even look at me when he said it. It hurt. I called to him to wait but he just walked out on me - on all of us - leaving us no alternative but to join White Fang." Frank sighed and shook his head, "We needed him, Peg - we need the likes of him now." With sudden determination Frank looked right through his destitute followers to a brighter future. "I'll bet Maxwell could pull a miracle or two out of his braid. He was always talented that way." Frank laughed out loud at a distant memory.

Delighted to see Frank laugh for the first time, Peg joined in and tried to keep him on the happy track. "He must've been quite a character when you knew him. Tell me about him."

Frank chuckled to himself, visualizing happier days. "Well, when I first arrived at the orphanage, I felt my life was over. My folks had just died in an Alliance raid on our neighborhood. I got tossed in with this wild bunch of strange kids. They totally ignored me - except for Maxwell. Yeah, Duo Maxwell. We called him The Braid. You wouldn't believe what he used to carry in that hair of his - apples, cookies, knives, you name it!"

"Sounds like quite the little thief," Peg commented.

"Nah, not really. He had been a thief before coming to Father Maxwell's place - that was how he survived living in the streets. No, this was just 'friendly snitching' he used to call it. One day Father Maxwell caught him snitching a handful of chocolate cake fresh out of the oven while the cook had her back turned. He just stuck his hand in." Frank gestured animatedly as he described his rascally comrade, "And ran off with a fistful. Well, Cook screamed when she saw her mangled cake. Father Maxwell came running out of his office to see what the fuss was all about. He spied the trail of crumbs, sighed 'Duo!', and followed the trail to a closet. He pulled open the door. Duo grinned up at him with a mouthful of cake crumbs, 'Hey, Father, wanna bite?' Father Maxwell grabbed him by the braid. A small white object fell out of it. 'This wouldn't be Bouncer's missing tooth by any chance would it, Duo?' Father said. Duo replied with pride, 'Sure is. I gave him my famous right cross!' Before he could demonstrate his technique, Father gave The Braid a yank that made him squeal and dragged him to the kitchen to apologize to Cook."

Frank smiled and shook his head at the thought. "And you know, when he got back to our dormitory, he called me over to his bunk. We tented under the covers and he pulled another piece of cake out of his pocket and gave it to me-hair, fuzz and all. I wolfed it down. Best cake I ever ate." He paused and the smile faded as his mind returned to the present, "Sure wish I had that grubby piece of cake about now." Frank squared his shoulders as if trying to shake off the black mood, "Anyway, that's the Duo Maxwell who became my best buddy. He never gave me a minute's peace to mourn or mope. In between bites of swiped goodies, I was too busy ducking his spit balls, explaining my way out of the trouble he framed on me, dodging his overeager right cross." Frank rubbed his cheek remembering one of his first battle scars. "Yeah, Duo Maxwell has a way of making you forget all your troubles."

"By replacing them with new ones, huh?" Peg and Frank both broke out in loud and long laughs which drew stares of disbelief from the people of Paradise Plaza.

If only she could do more to help, spend a little more time assisting the group, bring more supplies, talk with Frank about better times. But her position was precarious. She had to maintain a very distant, anonymous role . . . which reminded her of the time. "Frank, I gotta go." She gave him a quick hug and a smile, "Hang in there . . . and take care of yourself, please! You're all these people have to look up to, you know." She squeezed his arm, then off she ran.

"Yeah," he muttered to himself as he watched her leave for brighter places, "That's what scares me." After standing there staring after her for the longest time, he took off with a determined stride down the same path.

* * *

The artificial sun dawned bright on a neat little suburb of single story homes and sleepy, fenced-in yards. The serenity of the scene was suddenly shattered by the usual clattering and clanking from a shiny metal mountain jutting high above the landscape. It loomed ominously over the tranquil area like some gigantic thistle weed in the middle of a perfect grassy lawn. From the top of his mountain Duo Maxwell looked every bit the king of suburbia.

"I know I sniffed that fuel pump somewhere up here," he told himself, nose sniffing like a bloodhound as he rummaged through the mangled heap of scrap metal and other space junk. "Business sure has been booming lately," he said to thin air, "Getting harder and harder to find the right . . . Aha! There you are!" he proudly held aloft the battered part, then raced and leaped down the hill like a mountain goat. He landed at the door of the shop-which he called home-just as Hilde arrived to open it for the day's business.

With a mischievous gleam, the errant part hidden behind his back, he snuck up behind her and shouted "Morning, Hilde!"

She leaped in the air and nearly fell on her way back down, "Duo! Why do you do that? You know it scares me outta my shoes," she whined.

"Yep," he grinned, "That's why I do it!" he leaned forward as if confiding a secret, "Hilde, I got somethin' special for ya'."

"Why, Duo, you didn't have to get me anythi . . ." her voice trailed off as he whipped out the disgustingly dirty fuel pump from behind his back and proudly thrust it up to her face for inspection. A big glob of grease dripped onto her shoe.

"It's the fuel pump for Besera's Shuttle Service. Whaddaya think? It only took me a week to find it. Have I got the touch or what." He grinned and gave her a greasy thumbs up.

Hilde only smiled and shook her head as she walked inside looking for a rag to wipe her shoe. "Duo, you are the most totally hopeless person I've ever known."

Duo struggled to get the pump inside without dripping on all the furniture. A trail of grease drizzled across the floor. He looked at her bewildered and hurt, wondering what he had done wrong this time. But before he could object, they were interrupted by a customer at the door.

"Excuse me . . . Duo Maxwell?" The stranger had on a frayed overcoat with the collar pulled up high, partially obscuring his face.

"Yeah, that's me. The one and only!" He mustered his usual exuberance for the new audience, "Who wants to know?"

The stranger took off his coat revealing even scragglier clothes underneath, much too little for the season. "It's me . . ." he paused as if reconsidering his reason for coming, "Frank Lobos."

* * *

Duo and Hilde stared in disbelief at this shadow of the once-proud man who had headed the White Fang organization on L2. Duo remembered their last meeting when he had ordered them out of this very shop. Wanted to use my Gundam as a symbol for their terrorism. The nerve! Duo's blood boiled at the thought and anger took over his tongue as usual.

"You have your nerve showing your face here after all you put my colony through!" Duo stormed menacingly close to Frank. He glared at him eyeball to eyeball. "I don't wanna have to say this again . . . get outta my house NOW and don't EVER come back again."

Hilde wedged herself between the two retired warriors, using all the strength she could muster to push them apart. "Duo! Hear him out, please! Frank must have had a very important reason for coming here."

"Yeah, he must have a death wish" Duo leaned hard against Hilde's arm, chomping at the bit, "I'll be happy to oblige him."

"Duo," Frank interjected, "You have every reason to hate me - just like most everyone else in the colony - but I had to risk coming here. There's a serous problem on L2. You're the only one I know who might be able to solve it."

"There's a serious problem on L2 all right," Duo agreed as he wound up his arm for a right-cross, "And I'm about to get rid of it!"

"Duo!"

"Aw, all right, Hilde." Duo switched gears and stormed away from Frank to pace in a circle. Then wagged a menacing finger at Frank, "But you better be on the level!"

Hilde took advantage of the break in tension to escort Frank to the table where she proceeded to fuss over his lack of weight and started to place the breakfast intended for Duo in front of him. "Now before you two discuss anything I want you both to eat a good breakfast. Here, Frank, you look like you haven't had a decent meal in a month."

Duo stood stock-still staring amazed at the enemy sitting in his seat eating his breakfast, served by his girl. "Now wait a minute, Hilde, this is goin' too far. I'm not sittin' at the same table with . . ."

Hilde started to push Duo towards the table and plopped him in her chair, slamming a plateful of cold food in front of him. "Sit! Eat! Shush!" She glared until he complied

"Hilde!" He started to whine, then thought better of it and sharply saluted her instead. "Yessir, Cadet Hilde." As she smugly smiled and turned to go back to the kitchen, he muttered, "You tyrant." He noticed Frank's hint of a smile and barked, "Well, what are you smirking at, haven't you ever seen a henpecked rooster before?" Frank raised an eyebrow above a wide grin and buried his head in a glass of milk. Hilde blew Duo a kiss.

With breakfast over, Hilde cleared the table and Duo gave Frank a long appraising stare. "So what's so important that it brings you to Death's door, Frank?"

Frank took in a deep breath and gathered his thoughts. How could he possibly make this enemy, who he once counted as a friend long ago, see the need as he saw it? He drew a deep breath, "The only way to make you understand is to show you. Duo, you have to come with me." He closed his eyes and braced himself for the storm.

"What! You gotta be kiddin'. I'm not goin' anywhere with you except to the front door." With that, Duo grabbed Frank by the collar and hauled him out of his chair, half dragging him to the exit.

"Duo!" Hilde and Frank shouted simultaneously. As the three of them scuffled and fumbled in the doorway, an elderly couple walked by staring in amazement. Duo caught them out of the corner of his eye as he was about to stuff his fist into Frank's jaw. "Oh, hi, Mr. Applebee . . . Mrs. Applebee. Great morning, huh?" Nodding nervously, they hurriedly passed on by.

Hilde took advantage of the lull to escort Frank out the door, dexterously gathering his coat in one hand and Frank in the other. They were at the end of the block parting before Duo realized his prey was gone.

Shrugging his shoulders, he ambled back to the kitchen scrounging around for a snack. Hilde came back, closing the door with a slam.

"Duo Maxwell! I have never been so embarrassed in all my . . . What's gotten into you? "Before he could answer, she cut him off with his mouth hanging open in reply. "Never mind. Just never mind!" She wagged a finger under his nose, "There's no excuse for such behavior. Honestly, Duo, I thought you had matured so much lately. But now . . . Didn't you see how down and out he looked? My gosh, he must be going through such terribly hard times." She turned on him with a fresh vengeance. "And you had to make things even tougher for him, didn't you? DIDN'T YOU?"

Too besieged to reply, Duo simply looked at Hilde, grabbed his favorite fuel pump and headed out the door, leaving a slick black trail in his wake.

Beginning to regret her harsh words - she made a mental note to stop picking up Duo's bad qualities - Hilde hurried down the street after him. "I'm sorry, Duo, really I am. It's just that he looked so pathetic, so desperate, so . . ."

"Cute?" Duo offered, staring straight ahead hugging his dripping fuel pump. He hardly noticed the expected 'THWACK' on the side of his head, but let out a loud "Yowl!" anyway.

"Duo, you're impossible!" They headed down the street toward Besera's Shuttle Service, affectionately bumping each other off the sidewalk.

After dropping off the part, Hilde grabbed Duo's arm and, bouncing in front of him, pleaded, "Duo! How about a soda? I know a great spot just a little way from here. C'mon," she called over her shoulder as she dragged him down the street.

"Okay! Okay! You know my weak spot!" he laughed.

"Yeah!" she laughed back, "All 25 of them!" she replied with a wink.

"What?!? What weak spots? Me? No way!" Duo contorted his face in disbelief.

On a roll she smirked and added, "In fact, I'm sure if we checked that braid of yours we'd find a couple more even . . . maybe a few apples or cookies - or worse - lurking in there."

After several twists and turns, a few more "No way" mutterings, and many more blocks than expected, Duo and Hilde shared a large ice cream soda with two straws. As they were leaving, they passed by a narrow passage between two towering apartment buildings, surprisingly dilapidated for L2.

"Hey, Hilde!" Duo touched her on the shoulder and steered her toward the glowing fires of a string of trash cans amidst a sprawl of large boxes and tents. "Would you look at this?"

Before she could reply, he heard a voice from behind him. "Pretty unbelievable, isn't it?"

Whirling around Duo lowered his gaze at Frank, fire dancing in his eyes. "You! I've been set up, haven't I?" he turned a stabbing look at Hilde, "Haven't I, partner."

"I-I'm sorry, Duo, but it seemed so very important." She fumbled for the right words, eyes cast down to the cracked concrete.

Duo turned his back to them, starting to walk away. He raising his arm in a "leave me alone" gesture, leaving Hilde and Frank staring after him helplessly.

* * *

The next morning Hilde was late coming in. She quietly opened the door, turning on the lights in the darkened main room with closed curtains. Duo sat slumped at the table. He looked like he'd spent the whole night in that chair. Sympathetically Hilde walked over to him, "Poor Duo, you look terrible!" She rested her hand on his head. He yanked away abruptly. Hilde drew back in surprise. This was definitely not the Duo she knew.

"How long have you known about those people?" he asked in a slow monotone, staring straight ahead, not looking at Hilde at all.

"A while," she replied in a timid voice.

"And were you ever going to tell me?"

"Ah . . ."

"And Frank . . ." There was a painfully long pause, "How long have you been working with him?"

"Well . . ."

"Well?" He finally turned slowly and looked her straight in the eyes. Hilde saw a touch of pain behind the Great Destroyer's withering glare.

"He didn't really know it was me."

"How's that?"

"I . . . I wore a disguise," she stammered, embarrassed, "I used another name there, too. They all called me Peg."