Activities on the colony had resumed but there was still a palpable tension in the air. Shops had opened but were still relatively empty. The occasional colonist made their way cautiously down the street. Everyone Duo saw seemed to be weighed down by the possibility that another attack could happen. Everyone he passed seemed preoccupied in their own thoughts, distracted by their own anxiety or grief. The feeling of fear and oppression reminded Duo of how life had been on L2 as a kid. The faces of the colonists on X-18999 were exactly the same as the dejected people of L2 in late AC180.
He made his way across his housing area and to the college campus. He managed to get through the guards at the perimeter with no problems. Apparently Wufei had warned them that he was coming and had arranged for him to pass through unhindered. He walked past the decimated administration center and to the central quad of campus. Various government officials were walking through the grass taking photographs or measurements on handheld devices. A bomb sniffing dog and its handler were drifting through the rubble of the dormitory that had been partially blasted out.
Duo didn't know where he was headed, only that he needed to find Wufei. Nobody had directed him anywhere so he found himself drifting aimlessly through the destruction in hopes of running into someone he knew. He stopped in front of the technology lab that had been completely leveled.
Why this building? He looked just forty feet across a cement walkway to the literature and arts department building that was standing primly nearby completely unscathed. Why the technology building and then a dorm? What could those two possibly have in common? A specific student? Maybe it was aimed at a student in the dorm, and that student's corresponding instructor? But then what about the administration building? Who could have possibly been targeted from there? Unless of course the person was jaded? If I were the bomber I would have wanted something at the tech lab but couldn't have it because of something the administration had done to me. The dorm would have to be revenge against someone who got it instead. A scholarship? A grant? Placement in a specific program?
His thoughts were interrupted by a strong hand against his back. He automatically tensed and swung around, prepared to defend himself when he found himself nose to nose with a smiling and stunningly handsome blond businessman.
"Quatre," Duo blurted. He took a step back and stared in surprise. Quatre was smiling brightly at him.
"I called your name a few times but you didn't hear me," Quatre explained, his personable smile never leaving his face. Duo couldn't help but smile back.
"Yeah, I am sorry. I was just thinking."
"Heaven help us." Duo swung around at the sound of a smooth female voice from down the walkway. It was Esme, his lead tech from his maintenance team. Duo nearly jumped out of his skin at the sight of her. He rushed over and greeted her with a hug.
"Jesus, Esme. Thank God you are alive. Why the hell didn't you answer your phone?"
The middle-aged woman smiled warmly and chuckled. "I'm sorry. I had left it in the office. I was just on my way back into the admin building to get it when the blast went off."
Duo tensed. "What about the others?"
Esme shook her head. "Don't worry about it. Everyone is fine. Nobody was in at the time except for me. I had released them all for lunch."
Duo breathed a long sigh of relief. "That is awesome. Great. That is really great. Shit." He felt like 100 lbs had been lifted from his shoulders. He could finally relax. He was sure he had to have known one of the 62 casualties. That was still a lot of victims, but Duo knew it could have easily been many more if it hadn't have detonated during the lunch hour.
He looked at Quatre who was standing nearby with his usual trademark friendly and approachable expression. He seemed out of place here. Everyone else was wearing a uniform or clothes appropriate for moving debris but Quatre was as formal as ever. He was wearing khaki colored slacks with a pale blue shirt buttoned up all the way to his throat. He looked sharp and well tailored. Now that he was built like an underwear model the guy looked more like something out of a designer watch advertisement than a Gundam pilot.
"So what have you found out?" Duo asked Quatre. He noticed that the blond holding a file brimming with paperwork in his left hand. Quatre's eyes shifted from Duo to Esme before returning back to lock eyes with him.
"Actually, I came to tell you the investigation is closed. They caught the bomber last night around midnight UTC on a shuttle headed to the Lunar Spaceport headed to Earth." Quatre smiled and handed Duo the file. Duo saw Esme shift uncomfortably behind him.
"Who was he?" She asked, clearly concerned about it. This whole exchange was giving Duo a strange feeling. He began to study Quatre's face closely. The former Sandrock pilot didn't seem like himself. Something was off. Duo watched as Quatre pushed his hands into his pockets and smiled a little harder than usual.
"I am not sure. Some student from the tech lab." Quatre looked down at his watch and sighed. "Sorry guys, I have a lot of stops to make today. When you are done with that file could you drop it off at my office, Duo?" Duo didn't get a chance to respond. Quatre was waving at him and striding off down the sidewalk towards a large group of investigators and a couple of Maganacs. He said a few words to them and shook a couple of hands before vanishing around the corner with his personal entourage.
Duo saw that Esme watching him. He didn't know if she knew about his previous relationship with Quatre or not, but she seemed to sense that something was wrong between them, too.
"I was wondering if you want me to make a proposal for a replacement server for the campus?" She asked dutifully. Duo nodded.
"Yeah, of course. But don't burden yourself too much. Take a couple of days off. You deserve it." Duo smiled at her and bid her farewell. He hurried back down the path he had come down previously, past the tech lab and the dormitory to the administration building. He found an empty bench beside the rubble of the admin building and sat down and began thumbing through the file folder Quatre had given him.
According to the file the bomber was a nineteen-year-old student named Ira Tull from District 4. That colony district Duo knew was a lower income area. Since the colonies were run on a moderately socialist platform there were no extreme poverty areas. Everyone was either just skating by or was average middle-class, except the ridiculously rich who ran the councils or conglomerates. Duo knew this area. He had been to a scrap yard a few blocks away on the hunt for old circuitry for Hilde about a month ago.
Hilde. Duo grabbed his phone quickly from his pocket and checked his messages. Hilde had texted him.
Leaving for Earth at noon.
Duo checked the time. It was 1038 UTC. He closed the file and tucked it under his arm and began to jog in the direction of the spaceport. He couldn't let Hilde leave the colony without making up with her.
He arrived at the spaceport within fifteen minutes. The stretch of sidewalk where the barricade had been the day before was bare save the occasional confused tourist. Duo rushed through the security line and ran through the spaceport looking for his friend. He finally found her slouched in a seat by a window looking out on the empty space where the shuttle would eventually dock. She had her ear buds in and was checking something on her phone. He took a deep breath and tried to strengthen his resolve before approaching her. He tapped her softly on the shoulder and then backed up to give her some space. He knew Hilde. She was capable of holding a grudge as hard as he did.
Hilde yanked her ear buds out and jumped up from her seat to face him. "About damn time. Took you long enough."
Duo frowned. "I ran all the way over here." He put the file folder Quatre had given him on an empty seat before walking around the row of chairs to stand beside her. "I can't believe you stayed in a hotel last night. You should have come over to my place. I wanted you to meet Milo."
Hilde scowled. "Really? You could have come and found me. Nope, you were to content to have me out of the way."
"Hilde…"
"No, Duo. I know you. I knew from the minute Heero showed up in that uniform that I was going to be cast into the wind. It's okay, I'm used to it." Duo winced. He knew exactly what Hilde was referring to. She was right. He had abandoned her many times to go off on assignments and Preventer missions. More times than he cared to think about. Hilde gestured to the file Duo had set down. "You don't work for them, and yet I bet you are going to be doing all kinds of crazy leg work. I thought you hated the Preventers. Why are you doing this?"
He crossed his arms over his chest. "It isn't a Preventer thing." He couldn't tell her the whole situation, because he really didn't know what to think. Quatre, the bomber, the school and the arms dealing. His head began to ache from the thought.
Hilde didn't seem convinced. They stood in silence for a couple long minutes, avoiding eye contact before Duo finally broke.
"You are right, okay?" He grumbled, feeling like asshole. "You are right about everything. I'm sorry. I just… feel like by doing this I am worth something. That I am making a difference." He was surprised at the words that came flowing out. The abrupt realization was new to him, too. Hilde softened at his words and dropped the arms that she had propped angrily up on her hips and closed the distance between them to hug him tightly around the waist. Duo folded his arms around her shoulders and rested his chin on her soft, fluffy hair.
"Just don't make any stupid choices," Hilde said sternly. Duo smiled. She really was the best friend he could have asked for.
"Do I ever?"
She raised an eyebrow at him. He couldn't help but laugh. "Fine! Fine. I won't, I promise."
Hilde smiled sincerely and shoved Duo off of her. "You owe me nine days of vacation, so don't go and get yourself killed."
Duo waited with her until she boarded the shuttle and then stood in the departure window and waved until the shuttle had vanished into nothing more than a speck of dust in the infinitely speckled darkness of space. He grabbed the file and made his way out of the spaceport, feeling fortunate that Hilde had forgiven him. He wasn't sure he would have forgiven him if he were in her shoes.
It was 1304 UTC by the time he had gotten back to the campus. Aside from the security around the perimeter there didn't seem to be anyone else around. He pulled his phone out and texted Wufei to ask him where he was.
Home. Left campus an hour ago. Saw Quatre, was Wufei's reply.
Duo texted back and asked if he could stop by and was immediately granted permission. He began making his way towards Wufei's neighborhood. It was eight blocks north of the campus in a quiet neighborhood attached to one of the colony's many quaint wooded parks. He stepped up to the door of Wufei's town home and gave it a sharp knock. A minute later he heard the lock turn and saw the door open. Wufei was standing on the opposite side wearing a dark navy and white Chinese style jacket with a matching pair of slacks. He had his glasses on but upon seeing Duo had taken them off and folded them to tuck into his coat pocket.
"Come in," he said plainly before moving out of the way to give Duo clearance. Duo stepped inside and kicked off his shoes, leaving them in a haphazard pile beside Wufei's neatly organized shoe rack. Normally Wufei scolded him for it but the former Shelong pilot seemed too preoccupied to focus on such trivialities.
"So, you saw Quatre too, huh?" Duo wasted no time getting to the topic he knew Wufei had to be mulling over. The Chinese man nodded before padding down the hall towards his superbly decorated living room. A rectangular elm coffee table in front of Wufei's modern white couch was covered in files and folders. A cup of black coffee sat in the center of the pile. Wufei had clearly been busy. Duo took a seat on the couch and added his file to Wufei's assortment. Wufei sat on the opposite side of the short table in a carved half-moon chair and grabbed his cup. He took a long sip before speaking.
"Yes. He found me on campus. He had a large group with him so we didn't say much to each other." Wufei gestured to the file Duo had tossed on the table. "What is that?"
"Quatre gave it to me." Duo explained. He opened it and pulled out the top sheet of paper with the identity of the bomber on it. "He said the investigation was over and that they caught the guy. Listen to this: Ira Tull, 19, Male, Fourth District."
Wufei looked up from his cup, his normally narrowed eyes widened. "Fourth?"
Duo nodded. Wufei frowned and got up from his seat. He began walking towards the kitchen. "Can I get you something to drink?" He knew better than to ask Duo if he wanted something to eat. The last time Duo had come over and had lunch Wufei had eaten him out of house and home.
"Some of that honey coffee you made me last time," Duo answered automatically. "Oh, and those hong-shoe pyen things if you have some."
Duo heard Wufei grumble before he rummaged through his cupboards. "You mean hongshupian."
Duo flipped through the file folder. "Yeah, that is what I said." He looked over the file carefully. There was a list of the casualties. Duo scanned it slowly, reading each name aloud. He didn't recognize any of the names in particular, but that didn't mean he hadn't seen any of the victims around campus. He flipped to the next page. It was a photograph of the kid who had set off the bomb. He was a young, fresh faced bio-chemical student who would have been 100 lbs soaking wet. He scanned the file. There was nothing really pointing to the kid aside from the fact he was picked up on at the Lunar Spaceport headed to the Lunar Earth Transit point and that when he was stopped to be questioned he had apparently confessed to the whole thing. There was no real motive outlined yet.
Duo frowned and folded the file and set it back on the table just in time to receive his offering from Wufei. The Chinese man had made him a large mug of steaming cream-colored coffee and had filled a bowl with large, crispy sweet potato chips. Duo dug into them noisily as Wufei took the file and began flipping through it. He began to say what Duo had been thinking all along, "none of this makes sense."
"You're tellin' me," Duo mumbled between chips. Wufei had pulled his glasses out of his pocket and was peering through their round lenses at the information in the file. He sighed and tossed it onto the table.
"Then why was the threat called in from the Twelfth District the day before? Where is the connection there?" Wufei began digging through the piles he had stacked on the table. "Why the administration building? Why the dorm? His admission says nothing about why he did any of it, aside from a 'yes I bombed the school' and his height and weight. This is wrong. Why would Quatre give this to you, anyway? You aren't a Preventer or a police officer."
Duo shrugged and started to slurp up his creamy coffee. "Maybe he thought I would want to know?"
Wufei shook his head. "I saw him earlier this morning. He never said anything about this to me. He never mentioned that the case was closed." He picked up an aerial photograph of the campus and pointed at the picture of the tech lab. In the photograph the building was still intact. "Bio-Chemical Engineering doesn't have any classes or labs in the tech building. They generally use the basement of the language arts building because of space restrictions in tech. So, why would this kid bomb the tech building? He lived in the dormitory that was bombed. Why would he bomb his own room?" Duo blinked. He hadn't read that part in the file.
"I don't know, man. I have the same problems with this that you do. None of this adds up." Duo picked the last few crumbs from the bottom of the bowl and gratefully swallowed the last gulp of his coffee. "You want to know what I think? I think someone rich is covering for someone."
Wufei leaned back in his chair and steepled his fingers. He was staring up at an abstract calligraphy drawing just behind Duo's head. His eyes were dark. "That would be a reasonable theory."
"Exactly. The bomb threat was in Twelfth District, right? The day before. Only rich fuckers live in that neighborhood. Let's just say some rich kid was mad at someone and threatened the school, but then he actually bombed it this time. Revenge? Anger? Being spoiled? Whatever it was, someone high up found out and is trying to cover it up." Duo began bouncing his knees as his mind began to race with thoughts. "And what if they just told Quatre whatever they wanted to and he didn't question them because they are his peers?"
Wufei nodded. "I hope that is true. I would hate to think Quatre is an active part of this."
Duo straightened on the couch. His knees stopped bouncing. "Yeah, me too."
** Author's Note: I was thinking about the placement of the colonies the other night and calculated that if Duo and Hilde were to leave California for the Lagrange 3 point it would take them approximately two years to get there with our current shuttle technology. To make up for the fact that they arrived less than a day later, I am going to play my "FUTURE TECHNOLOGY" card here. This is fic, we won't let silly mathematical rules hinder our plot.**
