Just a warning, all the chapters up until 21 will be material that you've probably seen before.
CHAPTER THREE: A friend? An ally? (Raliena)
Duo looked around at the destruction he had caused, his music still blaring through his speakers.
"Good thing Howie's looking after the Kid." Duo breathed, "No way I'm letting him see this… ever!"
Duo looked around, his mission was almost over. All he had to do now was leave and rendezvous with Howard.
"We best go by sea, Buddy." Duo decided, "Nice and quiet. Don't want to kick up too much fuss."
Luck didn't appear to be on the braided pilot's side, as it seemed that the sea was even more crowded than the air.
"What the hell is going on down here?" Duo asked rhetorically, as he cut down all opposition. "This is the sea, you dimwits! Ain't nothing interesting down here!"
As the fight died down, Duo looked around, trying to find some reason for all the Mobile Suits to be in the water. His eyes caught a flash of light reflecting off metal. He moved Deathscythe closer to look at the object.
"So that's what they're searching for." He muttered, staring at the Mobile Suit… No, Gundam Suit, he realized. The shape was unmistakable. So similar to his own Buddy, and yet different.
The lights and siren were distorted by the water, but Duo recognized the self-destruct alert. He quickly disabled it.
"No need to destroy a good Gundam," Duo shrugged, "It'll be a good back up."
For a moment Duo thought about training Harry to fly it, for when he was older, but then he dismissed the idea.
"No way." Duo swore, "No fights. No battles. No wars. I'm keeping him safe. I'm not letting him get hurt. I'll protect him."
Duo hadn't quite realized it yet, but at some point since he had met the scared little boy, the child had found a space in his heart. A space that until then had only been inhabited by those who had since died. He was Family.
"Now, I'm sure Howie is around here somewhere," Duo stated, "And I can't drag this thing through water easily. So I guess I'll have to surface."
Deathscythe picked up the strange, yet similar suit, and started for the surface.
Duo managed to get out of Deathscythe and surface before his Buddy. He needed to check the area, after all. It wouldn't do him any good to be spotted. He didn't mind killing soldiers. But he was not going to kill civilians if he could possibly help it.
For the second time in only a couple of days, he came across a scene he could not leave alone. Two kids, both about his age, were standing on a harbored submarine. A boy and a girl. The girl was dressed all in finery, while the boy looked like he was out for a jog.
The only thing wrong with the scene was the gun that the boy had pointed at the girl. It wasn't too hard for Duo in the half-light that the moon provided to notice that the trigger was being tightened, ready to kill the girl.
No time to think.
Duo aimed and fired, almost instinctively. But he wouldn't kill. Not this time. He didn't need to kill the boy. Just get the gun away from the boy. Hit him in the shoulder. Let the girl run away. Everything would be fine.
It wasn't surprising that they heard the shot… that the boy turned towards the greater threat… Duo had anticipated that, despite not having time to think. The way the boy held himself was a red-flag to the street-wise Pilot. The girl dropped to the ground, the noise startling her.
"Heero!" the girl called out, naming the boy for Duo.
"Who are you?" Heero demanded to know, despite his wound.
"It's pretty obvious to anyone that you're the bad guy here." Duo repressed a smirk as he spoke, "Are you alright, lady?"
This would be the point, Duo would declare later, that he realized that while he was working off one script… Everyone else had been given a different copy.
"Heero!" the girl dashed to the wounded boy, "Are you okay?"
The boy ignored her, and dove for the gun that he had earlier dropped. Instinct made Duo fire again. Still only aiming to injure. Not to kill. He could not hide the death from the girl's eyes, like he had for Harry. And the boy was no fully grown man.
Duo would not kill them, unless he had no choice.
"Don't over do it," He warned, "Remember, you're injured."
'Just stay down,' Duo wanted to say, 'Just stay down! Don't make me have to kill you.'
But Heero was oblivious to Duo's internal monologue. He tried to rise again. Stumbling slightly as his wounded leg refused to take his weight at first.
"Stop it!" the girl demanded, placing herself between the two boys, "What do you want to shoot him for?"
"Hey, wait a minute!" Duo protested. Things were not following his script, and he had no way to sneak a look at anyone else's.
Duo watched in shock as the girl tore up her dress to bandage Heero's gunshot wounds. Though judging by Heero's slightly dazed look, he wasn't the only one confused.
"Wait," Duo muttered to himself, "How did I end up as the bad guy here?" The alarm on his watch alerted him to Deathscythe's position, "It's already reached the surface."
He didn't need this. Not now. Not when he was so confused he didn't understand what was going on. His calculations said he would have another ten minutes…
He couldn't let them see Deathscythe… "No one shall see a Gundam and live" and all that.
A magnesium flare would disrupt their night vision, allowing it not to be seen (if Pestilence had only known the number of loop-holes he had left Duo…).
"Don't look, lady." Duo ordered, as he saw the girl try to spot the movement on the water. "I'm sure you've got your reasons for being here, but you'd better just walk away. Save yourself a lot of grief."
It was times like this that Duo was glad he wore a baseball cap. He wasn't as blinded as the others.
What happened next, Duo would never quite be able to get clear in his head; somehow Heero not only managed to get to his feet, but he managed to jump onto a missile platform and fire a bound trio of the things at the two suits.
"It's my Mobile Suit." Heero was possessive in his statement. However the drama of the statement was somewhat spoiled by the force that propelled him backwards.
"What are you doing, you fool?" Duo demanded, knowing that the boy would never answer him.
The explosion rocked Duo's world to the core… There was no way that the boy just happened to find the only rockets that could harm his Buddy… There was only one conclusion to draw from it.
"Aw man," Duo breathed, "He knows Gundaniam's impact tolerance. Which means… he's the Mobile Suit's Pilot."
The problem was that Heero now lay face down in the water, and the explosion had alerted nearby guards. Hell! It had alerted everyone within a mile radius… at least!
Duo fled. It wasn't that he was scared. He knew the boy was alive. And he knew that the girl would rescue him and get him to a hospital. The problem would be which one.
"After all, I can't just leave such an interesting guy behind, can I?" Duo chuckled to himself, as he watched unnoticed from the shadows. "He's a Pilot. Has to be. He's like me… I can't just leave him behind."
Duo followed the ambulance to the hospital. The Alliance Military Hospital.
"You don't make things easy, do you buddy?" Duo sighed looking at the problem.
But problems were Duo's specialty. Always had been.
Need a cure? Rob a hospital, run by the Alliance.
Need food? Rob the Alliance.
Need a Suit? Rob the Alliance.
Spotting a theme here?
Need a boy? Rob the Alliance.
Only this time, he would go in prepared. And would make some arrangements before hand.
It was about eleven when he used a pay-phone to call Howard.
"Hey Uncle Howie!" Duo chirped.
"Hey, kid." Howard replied, "How you doing?"
"Oh, I'm great. How's my baby brother?"
"Missing you bad, kid. He's settled in well though, these past three days."
"That's good to hear."
"You coming home, kid?"
"I've got the harvest to pull in." Duo slipped easily into the code that he'd organized with Howard previously, "And I found another pole-cart. I'm bringing it home with me, along with the horse. Is that okay?"
"I can clear some extra space in the stable. But the horse will have to share a stall with yours."
"Yeah, that'll do." Duo shrugged, "Also both the pole-carts are broken. So I'd like you to have my lunch ready at the back of the wheat field, if you would."
"Sure thing, boy."
"Thanks." Duo smiled, "I'll help you thresh the wheat later."
They both hung up. Duo looked up at the tall building in front of him.
"Now," He smirked, "I should go visit that patient."
Sometimes Duo wondered if the entire Sphere was blind. It wasn't as if he was hard to spot, what with his braid and all. But he could slip past even the most alert guards without any trouble whatsoever.
It didn't take him long to reach the correct room, or at least the adjoining room. Where he could observe Heero for a moment, after knocking out the orderly, of course.
"Whoa," Duo whistled lowly, "He's something else." All the monitors indicated unconsciousness… But the video footage was clearly showing a different story.
It was habit, more than choice that allowed Duo to engage his smart mouth. In reality he wanted to praise this Heero. But that wasn't Duo's way. Though the respect and awe did come through, he thought… if you read between the lines.
Explosives had come naturally to Duo during his training, much like piloting. So the explosive used to enter the room didn't really cause much peripheral damage. However it caused a fair bit of disturbance just to slow the guards down.
Duo watched his new companion as they fled together. He had always believed that you could tell a lot from a person by the way they moved. Heero was silent. But the silence was due to practice and training… not necessity, like his own.
Heero's movements were… economical. Nothing wasted.
He was also fearless. Trusting that he could complete a Low Opening jump from a building. Even if it was the fiftieth floor. And even if it was on top of a cliff.
Heero was also crazy… or stupid. Not pulling the parachute until it was far too late… He must have passed out, or something Duo thought. If he'd only told Duo he couldn't manage it… Duo would have switched with him. The laser parachute was far more gentle a landing, after all.
"Now I can understand you wanting to take your own life," Duo snarled, "But maybe, just maybe, you should think of another way of committing suicide, buddy."
Broken bones were nothing to shrug off. And even though Duo was mad at Heero for the stupidity of his actions, he wasn't going to leave the guy on a beach for the soldiers.
He saw Heero tense as he approached him. So like Harry, Duo noted. Expecting a blow. Not the helping hand that was offered.
"Now, I'm not asking you to trust me, or anything. But right now, I'm the only friend you've got, pal."
Dredging up both Deathscythe and the other Gundam (as Duo was starting to think of it) wasn't too hard, with the salvage equipment Howard had left for him.
What was difficult was not punching Heero after he set his own leg.
Duo could fully understand the need to be independent. But there was independence and then there was taking it too far. Heero had not only crossed that thin line, but he was about a hundred miles into its territory.
But the look Heero gave his Gundam… Well, Duo knew they were on the same page there. They both loved their machines.
The look that Heero gave the Sweepers, when they transferred the Gundams to the ship, though, was cold and calculating.
Not that Duo had long to spot it, as he was tackled by a small, black-haired boy.
"Hey kiddo!" Duo chirped, "You been okay?"
"You came back." Harry murmured into Duo's shoulder.
"I said I would." Duo replied.
"People lie." Harry could barely be heard.
"Hey now!" Duo protested quietly, "I don't lie, little one. And I swear that unless there is nothing else possible I will never break a promise or my word to you."
Duo carefully lifted Harry up, so that he was snuggled into his shoulder.
"Hey, Howie." Duo nodded to the old man.
"Good to see you're alright," Howard smiled, "You know you're not the only one, Kid."
"Yeah, I know."
"There were four simultaneous attacks last night." Howard stated.
"So there's five of us." Duo realized.
"Five?"
"His Gundam crashed into the sea from a great height… Atmosphere high. It's a pity."
"Why?"
"We're one too many to be the Four Horsemen."
"But there's always the one who left before they became famous." Howard grinned, as he led Duo through the ship to the mess hall.
"Ah, yes." Duo smirked, "Chaos. Five Gundams… Five Colonies… That's no coincidence."
They entered the mess hall.
"Wow, Howie." Duo breathed, "Business so slow that you've got them scrubbing the ship? I ain't never seen anything this clean."
"I need to talk to you about that." Howard muttered, "It's worse than you think."
The look on Howard's face told Duo that he would have to ask later, when Harry wasn't around. The same look was brought out along with the food.
It was half-way through the meal that Duo noticed that Heero was missing.
"Bet I know where he is." Duo declared as he got up from the table.
Duo was spot on. Heero was sitting on his Gundam, typing away on his laptop. By the mutterings Duo could just about hear, Heero was trying to work out what needed mending.
"Hey you!" Duo called out, "I'm calling you. You won't even acknowledge our help. Here I am, Mister Nice Guy, offering to fix your Mobile Suit with mine, but you just brush me right off."
"I don't want anyone touching my Mobile Suit. That's all pal."
"Well, that's a joke." Duo sighed, as he climbed up the Suit.
"Do you want some food?" Harry held up a tray, from where he had managed to climb up the Suit as well.
Heero's hand shot out, grabbing Harry's wrist and twisting it slightly, causing the younger boy to cry out in pain… though he clung determinedly onto the tray, not spilling the food. Held in place, Harry's hand brushed against Heero's broken leg.
"No." Heero growled, before releasing the wrist.
Harry scuttled away in fear, clutching his hand to his chest.
"What'd you do that for?" Duo shouted, "He's just a kid!"
"He could be Alliance." Heero replied, "Using you to get to me."
"Now you listen here," Duo snarled slightly, "One, he's just a kid. No way he's Alliance. Two, no one had any way to know that I would pick him and bring him here. Three, no one had any way to know that I would find him. Four, I didn't know I wasn't the only one. So either the Alliance has got amazing intel on us – and therefore should probably have just killed me and replaced me with one of their own – or the kid is just what he appears to be. An innocent. And I will not let you harm him!
"I don't know why I bothered to rescue you in the first place. You're antisocial, think you're Evil Knievel and hardly speak. You've got such a gloomy personality, why don't you give up and stop pretending to be human!"
"Hey!" Heero stated, "Could you keep it down over there?"
"Yeah, sure," Duo shrugged, "Forgive me for interrupting."
An alarm went off inside Heero's Gundam; he slipped inside to look at the screens.
"What is it?" Duo asked.
"I'm on call. An enemy carrier is transporting Gundanium Alloy. I'll see to it first thing in the morning."
"Hey! You can't go any where with your machine in this shape! We're talkin' miracles here!"
"It'd take a miracle for you, but I can handle it."
"Well, excuse me for being a mere mortal!" Duo started to stalk away.
'If you screw up, you'll be blown to smithereens.' Duo thought, 'Your missions have no room for failure, just like mine. Who are you any way?'
Inside the Gundam, Heero reached down to his makeshift splint. His leg had stopped hurting, the moment the tiny boy had touched it. Prodding it carefully, he was forced to acknowledge that it was healed.
He brought up the picture of the little child.
"Who are you?" He murmured, "What are you?"
TBC...
