Terminal Velocity: Duo and the Spark 1/?

by Max

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing

Note: The Terminal Velocity Heero and Duo have been on my mind, so this is them, even though it's years earlier.

"Okay." Une said, a smile on lifting her lips that was part Duo-mimicry and part serial killer with the blade already deep between the victim's ribs. "I'm going to take you off suspension, as long as you accept the next mission without complaint and you complete it successfully, without undue violence or property damage."

"Great! Awesome! So me and Heero gonna get this thing done," Duo said, his grin this bright second cousin of the sun, as he chewed up her blade and spit the tip back at her.

"You," Une said, pointing a well-manicured finger at him, "Are going undercover."

"With Heero as my backup, right?"

"No. Heero has a different assignment."

Eating blades for breakfast is very fortifying. Duo's eyes went to a stormy dark twilight color. "What'chu mean?"

"Are you complaining," Une asked, her supply of blades never short.

"Nope," Duo said, lips squishing up, nose a raisin.

"Wonderful! I'm loaning you to Seattle Narcotics. You'll be undercover at a Walmart for six months. Don't get fired. If you get fired, you fail, and I'll have to terminate you from the Preventer's program. Also, you'll be wearing a yellow badge, as you're still a minor."

For a couple seconds, the only sound was Duo trying to breathe through a nose that had twisted up so much as to become an origami raisin.

"Okay. Drug dealers. I can do drug dealers."

"You're there as an inside informant, only. No weapons, no explosives, no acid, not fists, not violence. No one there knows who you really are. Wufei will be your backup."

Duo's head felt like it was going to just float away, like one of those lanterns for the dead, or something. He'd been to a Walmart, several times during the war. Wartime shopping entailed heavy stealth and no money though. Those was good times. Yup. "Wufei's great."

"Wonderful," Une said, Duo's discharge papers already drawn up, just not dated yet. "Have a good time!"

Two weeks later

Duo in his blue vest and running on a breakfast of coffee with a side of coffee and painkillers - like how was it even legal to threaten to fire someone if they sat down? Was that legal? Made the Sweepers look positively luxurious. No beer, no sitting, be nice - fuck MAH life - no shooting anyone, no snark, no buying homeless folk phone chargers that the were clearly shit at stealing.

"Yes, I'd be happy to help," Duo said as the woman at the photo kiosk stared at the screen for another thirty seconds before turning to him.

She took another couple seconds to hold her breath, her eyes sliding up and down him, before she sniffed, sighed, and dealt with her approaching dissatisfaction. "How big is a 4x6?"

Duo blinked, keeping his face relaxed, calm. "It is four inches by six inches."

"Yes, I know that," she said, giving him another sigh like he was an idiot who couldn't speak English properly. Probably from one of the colonies. She touched a fingertip to the inside curve of her manicured eyebrow, "But how big is it?"

Duo stared, one eye drawing down into a squint, "Uh, it's four inches, by six inches, so like one side is four inches long and the other side is six inches long."

Her eyes rolled up to look up at the industrial gray of the ceiling. "I just can't visualize it. Don't you have some... display that shows me how big it is."

Jaw slowly sinking, Duo focused on not letting his lips twist up, don't show any emotion, no emotion, and don't say it's four inches by six inches again, no emotion. Heartburn. Yup, that's heartburn. "Sure."

If one set the charges right, the entire building would go and then there'd be no drug dealers in there. Yup. If done right, there could be beautiful swirling columns of flame. Heero would appreciate the artistry of it. But. He wouldn't appreciate it if he never heard about it, which is what would happen if Duo lost all his clearances and was kicked out of Preventers... and then he might actually have to work at a Walmart.

He fished another customer's photo envelope out, pulled a 4x6 and showed the woman the back of it. "There. This is a 4x6."

"Well, why didn't you do that in the first place?"

Beautiful columns of flame. "Sorry."