Okay, so here's the next chapter, and the mystery person is introduced here! Aren't you all happy? And …since one of you told me something that bothered me, I need to make it stop bothering me. I'm a very sensitive person like that, you know. So, if any of you think I'm copying a certain episode of the certain TV-show, they're wrong. Well, partly wrong. I've never seen the episode, but my friend who wanted me to write this and told me the things that she wanted in it, has seen it. It's very hard to copy something you've never seen…

The Prince, the Hero and the Mystery of the Falcon

Chapter 14: Cowboy Mighty Joe

Hilde was thinking feverishly of all the possibilities to save her hot-tempered friend. She could drop in another piano, but she didn't like repeating herself. So maybe couple of violins? A toaster?

She was happy Duo had left the two lying siblings, but then again, was Duo an idiot? He had left Heero too! She thought for a while, then snapped her fingers as a thought brightened her day. She begun to write.

-----in the book-----

A shadow ran down the streets. You could see feet, clad in black sandal-like shoes, every other moment, when the person who owned the shadow touched the ground with them. He was fast and deadly. He was an assassin called Chang Wufei.

Damn, he liked the sound of that. He might even write it down in his next poem if he ever got to write them again. The justice didn't wait, neither did he. He only had time to think about how poetic the world was. When he was running.

It wasn't justice that he, the only son of an honorable man, greeted to write poetry in a beautiful garden where wind blew softly on his cheeks, where the sweet scent of jasmine beneath the beautiful trees would lure him into the most lovely dream, and where his beautiful wife would wake him up for dinner, made by her loving white hands... That he, Chang Wufei, was forced to live his life in this dishonorable way, abusing the tradition of his clan: to only fight for self defense, and even then to avoid killing.

But here he was, in America. Banished from his home country. His wife was dead and all he wanted was to kill the man who had raped and murdered her, framing him guilty for it. His honor stripped from him he didn't care how many people he had to kill to stay alive till that moment. That moment of revenge.

In this strangely nostalgic morning he happened across a very familiar scene. A young street girl struggling again three bigger and stronger men. He found himself watching approvingly as the kid didn't give up. She fought hard, tugging herself free time after time to draw her punches and kicks to the men. If they had been any less persistent they would've probably been down already. She surely knew how to use her fists and feet. Every time she got free she ran closer to her silent observer.

"Will you fuck off! I'm not in the mood for drunken old men! And what the fuck do you think your doing, ripping my fucking shirt?! This was my only one!" She managed to kick one of them on the balls. The man cursed.

"You little bitch!"

"Didn't I already tell you?! I'm not a fucking girl! You have some serious visual problems, mister!"

So, she wasn't a girl then. Wufei felt slightly sick thinking that the men were pestering a boy. It wasn't unusual, but it still made him sick. All together he felt sick thinking he might've just let the boy get raped if he hadn't been A BOY. So, he jumped off the roof he was watching the scene from and gave the men a taste of his personal justice.

The fight was over in five minutes.

The boy had fallen to his knees when Wufei had appeared all the sudden and taken care of his opponents. Now he lifted his head and looked straight at him, saying something that startled him good time. "You're Chang Wufei." It hadn't been a question.

"You know me. How?" He had thought to just leave once he was done with the men, but the boy's words made him stop and think again. All kinds of scenarios whirled in his mind; the boy was a son of someone he had killed, or a lover, or...

"You look like a nice man and the doctor lady wouldn't care for for a guy who isn't nice. I was sure the moment you appeared. Everything in you screamed 'Super Hero'. It sounds like Chang Wufei, in a way. And I know another man with the name Chang. He has the same eyes and style of fighting that you have." 'Not to mention you're an exact copy of him...' "He saved me once too."

"Are you hurt?" The assassin asked after a small silence. He wanted to hear more about that man, but this really wasn't the place for it.

"Not too bad. Only one of them had a knife and I kinda kicked it away in a handshake. It really wasn't funny, just now. Who knows what might've happened had you not come and rescued me. I mean, I can start a street fight and I can defend myself okay, but it's years since I've been in any real fight."

"You fight okay. Come with me, please." Wufei started walking and sure enough the boy followed.

"Where?"

"To the doctor lady."

Those frighteningly big and long lashed eyes lit up with a burst of inner light.

"Yay! Sally's a good girl, she'll help me out, I'm sure." Wufei frowned.

"Help you with what?" The boy smiled a slanting smile.

"To hide from certain people and to keep my sanity."

It was probably a joke. Yes, that's it. But if it was a joke, then why did the boy's eyes burn with desperation?

"What's your name?" he asked realizing he had forgot to ask it and the boy hadn't told him. The boy flashed him a smile and all he could think was: 'Aaagh! Too bright!' The smile was way too pretty for a boy.

"I'm Duo. Duo Maxwell. I may run and hide but I tell you no lies. That's me in a nut shell. It's nice to meet you, Chang Wufei."

-----in the real world-----

"Am I a genius or what?" Hilde made a victory pose before realizing no one could see or hear her. She blushed. "Duo... You're making me lose whatever small hope I had of sanity. But you gotta admit that sending Master Chang to your help was pure genius."

Minni had it all figured out and all Hilde had to do was follow the plan: keep Duo in one piece and with the right people. Every character in the book had a substitute in the real world. They were all people who Heero Yoy had known. So, to catch more information about those people she needed internet.

Hopefully Duo wouldn't get too hurt in the process... The boy was strong but no one enjoyed having their heart broken...

"Cowboy mighty Joe, my hero. He's a mighty, mighty hero. He's the super cowboy Joe..." One of Duo's irritating favorites started playing in his head. Duo seriously needed to change the music he listened to...

-----in the book-----

"Cowboy mighty Joe, my hero..." Duo murmured. God, he missed his cds...

"What did you say?" his silent companion stared at him. He grinned sheepishly.

"It's a song. You probably haven't ever heard of it. I don't know why I remembered it all the sudden." His grin grew wider. "Have you heard the story 'bout the bad boy in town? Bob is his name and he can get down... Nananaa... I can't remember all the words, but it's hilarious!" Duo's spirits were slowly climbing back up. "Is it further much?"

Wufei shook his head defeated. This boy... Duo, was something else completely. The Chinese man was doubting if Duo had any sanity in his brain. That is, if he had brain.

"Not much..."

"Lala lala lala lala, nananaa, so somebody catch him please!" The boy was singing again. Had he even listened to the answer? "'I'm your man, I know I can. Bob is history, ma'am.' 'Mighty Joe, I know, I know. You're not gonna let him goo-u-oh!' Cowboy mighty Joe, my hero. He's a mighty, mighty hero. He's the super cowboy Joe. Cowboy mighty Joe is super. Mighty mighty super-duper and I really love him so!"

What didn't kill you made you stronger. Wufei closed his eyes for a while, trying to endure the sound of the boy singing. Not that Duo's voice was bad, but the song...! Wufei could feel a headache building behind his ears...

"We're here", he said hoping to shut Duo up. It worked. Wufei stopped in front of a door that read "Doctor Sally Po" in it. Thought Wufei would never admit it, he was glad to come back here, to be able to see Sally again. Too bad that in his mind he was still married to his dead wife.

TBC………

Author Notes:

When I wrote this, I was so hooked to Toybox (That's a band) that I had to mix it in this. I disclaim all the rights to the lyrics I've written here and will write in the future.