Ch 25

Part One

Duo hung suspended in the darkness for short time until the speaking and movement below had ceased. He wasn't sure if the chamber below was unoccupied, but he was now willing to risk a peek. He plucked his gloves from his hands and shoved them in his pack. The metal rungs of the ladder were freezing and his damp, bare skin burned as they made contact with the icy bars. He winced at the sensation but knew he couldn't fight or shoot effectively with his gloves on, so it was a discomfort he would have to endure. He grabbed the end of his braid and tucked its length into the back of his black padded jacket to keep it from swinging around as he began to invert his body in an attempt to peer through the opening. He tucked his feet through the rungs and like a kid on the monkey bars and tipped backwards until he was hanging completely upside down. His popped his head into the chamber and took in the scene below.

There was nothing. It was just an empty room about twelve by twenty feet with a single, narrow door metal on the far right side. The door had a traditional as opposed to a keypad and appeared to be completely closed. Duo frowned and pulled himself upright before shimmying down the rest of the ladder with his Glock in hand. He scanned the room again for any cameras or sensor devices but found none.

Okay, this is fucking weird, Duo thought with a frown as he inched over to the door. He leaned against it and pressed his ear to the chilled metal surface and listened. He couldn't hear anything. He reached down to gently try the lever handle. It was locked. He holstered his Glock and fished out his lock kit and knelt in front of the lock to study its type and composition. It appeared to be a basic pin tumbler lock. He had a couple of options as far as picking it. He could spend the time using his "C" and "W" rake picks* to press the pins, or he could try bumping** the lock. Bumping required the use of a specialized key and a small hammer to trip the pins inside while at the same time applying pressure to turn the key. He had ten such specialized keys and a small hammer in his kit, but if someone was on the opposite side of the door there was the potential that the sound of the hammer striking against the key would give up his position. He had no way of knowing what lie beyond the door.

He sighed and plucked out his rake picks and slipped them carefully inside the lock. This method was more time consuming but it was the stealthier option. He took his time finding the correct resistance and position and eventually managed to trip the lock and turn over the tumbler inside despite the numbness of his cold fingertips.

The lock rolled open with a faint click. He pulled the door ajar just enough to allow the latchbolt to slip free of the striking plate before pocketing his tools and snatching up his handgun again. He carefully let the door swing back by on its own and peered through the opening.

Inside he saw a vast mobile suit hangar partially lit by enormous round bowl-shaped lights suspended from the high beamed ceiling. The door he had entered through was close to the ceiling and connected to a narrow ledge of an opaque catwalk. There wasn't anything he could use as cover beyond the door so he knelt down low and dropped his body into a belly crawl before making his way slowly out onto the solid catwalk. He peered over the edge to the floor and saw that he was over twenty meters up. A maze of walkways and ladders created a chaotic web below him leading to the floor where a two-person private space shuttle was parked in the center of the floor. Duo fished out a pair of compact binoculars from his jacket pocket and peered down at the shuttle. He couldn't see any movement. He scanned the surrounding area for any sign of Alex and his companion but found none.

He blinked and worried the corner of his lower lip with his teeth as he considered his surroundings. What was the purpose of the room he had just exited from? There was nothing in there, so he could only assume it served as an antechamber for this hangar. Maybe Alex and whoever was with him entered this place the same way he and Heero had by sneaking through the Underground. It made sense as it was a well hidden pathway.

This place is fucking enormous for housing just one mobile suit, Duo thought as he scanned the area with his naked eye. There were four docking platforms in the hangar situated with two on each side. The rearmost platform on the right was unlit but occupied. He felt his heart skip a beat as he saw the faint, shadowy outline of something standing between sixteen and eighteen meters tall*** looming ominously in the gloom.

That's gotta be the Gundam, Duo reasoned quickly, though he had no other evidence aside from gut instinct. He began assessing how to get to it and saw that the maze below him led to a series of larger, more solid catwalk systems that were attached to the walls and lead directly to the suit platforms. He would have to descend to the level of the chest where he assumed the cockpit would be and make a beeline for the suit. He let his eyes scan the hangar again for any sign of life or cameras. He couldn't see anything, but he knew that didn't mean that he was in the clear. Alex and whoever was accompanying him had entered the hangar from high upon the catwalk and as far as Duo could tell there was only one way in and out of the place on foot. The only other way out that Duo could see was through the massive two-piece mobile suit launch door situated in the center wall between the pairs of mobile suit docking platforms.

He marveled at the setup and couldn't believe that the hangar even existed. He knew there had to be someone in power on L2 who had the resources and clout to facilitate this kind of construction and maintenance. He felt angry at the very thought.

Everyone I know is fighting for peace and disarmament, and these fucktards are literally digging their own graves right from under their feet.

He sighed and tried to tamp his anger into the back of his mind. First order of business is to find a flight suit.

He pushed himself to his feet with some difficulty. He had been so wrapped up in climbing, lock picking and spying that he hadn't noticed how much more pull the colony's artificial gravity had on his body here. He had never been this deep below the surface of the inner ring before and now that he was so close to the colony's outer edge the centrifugal force from its spin had caused the gravity to increase. As he moved parallel with the outer edge he could really feel the difference. He took a deep breath and flexed his arms and legs against the stronger gravitational pull before beginning his sneak along the catwalk.

Duo had mastered the silent creep at a young age. Each step was dropped with a precise rolling motion that began with a vertical lift with the toe of his boot pointed down to keep from snagging against the ground, followed by pressing the outside of his foot on the ground gently. Next he consciously pressed the ball of his foot down to roll from the outside in. Finally he landed his heel to the ground before shifting the entirety of his weight onto the foot before beginning the process again with the next step. This quick and precise rolling movement came as natural as breathing to him, so when Hilde's wedge heels had given him such a hard time walking it had been frustrating. When he had tripped in front of Heero he thought he would die of embarrassment. Nope, heels just weren't his cup of tea but give him a worn out, smelly pair of combat boots any day.

Part Two

Heero had worked his way back through the Underground without running into any resistance. Upon surfacing to the colony's street level he casually caught the bus in the direction of Hilde's scrap yard. He found that wearing Duo's clothes made it much easier to blend in than wearing his own.^* He looked down at the demonic image printed in white on his black shirt and sighed. He would have rather worn something less Satanic but Duo had insisted, saying that this shirt fit him because Heero was his "Ace of Spades". Memory loss or not, he was certain he never got any of Duo's seemingly random references. He plucked at the snarling horned tusked creature on his chest and found himself imagining this shirt stretched across his lover's body instead. He sighed in frustration and frowned. He didn't know why he was acting so obsessive about the American pilot.

He looked out the bus window at the dingy downtown of L2 as it passed by. He was still in awe of the things he had seen since arriving here. He knew that he didn't have all of his memories, and that he was only gradually coming to know the former Deathscythe pilot again but he had a feeling that much of what Duo had shown him he had never seen before.

He reflected on the two times he had first met Duo Maxwell. The first in the hangar's workshop on the Lennon and the second (and actual first) time when the other pilot had shot him at the naval base while trying to protect Relena from him.

In the hangar he had observed Duo as being a goofy, smiling, somewhat unintelligent person who blabbered on like a schoolgirl and who spoke with his hands entirely too much. It had taken some time for him to see how complex and intelligent the former Deathscythe pilot actually was. This memory was starkly juxtaposed with his first true memory of his partner. When he had first encountered Duo at the naval base during Operation Meteor he had feared him. Initially he had feared for his life, but more importantly he feared that the other pilot had taken his Gundam.

He had attempted to detonate Wing on the ocean floor with the intention of destroying it to keep it out of the hands of the OZ soldiers who had attacked him in the atmosphere. When he saw that it had had been dragged to the surface by a similar suit and noticed Duo checking its arrival status on his watch he had become stunned with pure, unadulterated fear. It was that fear that had driven him to attempt to blow up both suits with the missiles.

He sighed and saw the bus stop by Hilde's place come into view. He disembarked the bus after paying his fare and made his way to the shop's front entrance. As he entered he was met by an automatic greeting from Duo's former girlfriend.

"Welcome to Sweeper Depot! You want it, we got it!" Hilde chirped warmly from behind the desk. Her face was buried within a complex rotary engine. She had a torque wrench in her hand and hadn't looked up from her work until Heero was on opposite side of the desk. Once recognized him her casual, carefree expression transformed into that of worry and deep concern.

"Oh my God, where is he?" Hilde's voice was tinged with panic.

"He'll be fine. We need to leave," Heero replied firmly. "Pack your things."

Hilde had put her hands up as if to stop the walls from closing in on her. Her eyes were narrowed and she was shaking her head.

"Wait… wait a minute. Where am I going? Where's Duo? What the hell is going on?"

"Your boyfriend is an enemy agent. He has been tracking us. He's a danger to you and possibly to others. We don't know the details. Duo is underground retrieving a Gundam for Ouroboros. I promised him I would get you off of the colony."

Hilde's eyes were wide with disbelief. "You left him alone!?"

Heero knew that it was a lot to take in, but he also knew that at any moment Alex could walk into the shop and catch him trying to make an escape with her. He reached a hand out to grasp her shoulder firmly in an attempt to show her that he was serious.

"I'm sorry, I had to. It was the only way. We don't have time to discuss this. You need to trust me."

Hilde's eyes widened and she shook her head, clearly angry with him. However she said nothing more before vanishing out the back of the shop to the house to get her things. Heero sighed as she left and went to lock the front door of the shop. When he turned around he was met by a pair of wide, green eyes. A large, fluffy tabby was crouched on the desk Hilde had been working at. It was glaring at him from its perch. He couldn't recall there being a cat in the shop before. Heero narrowed his eyes back at it and they stared off for an entire minute before the cat gave him a slow blink and instantly relaxed. It hopped heavily from the desk and walked over to rub its plumed tail on his leg.

"Oh, jeez. I forgot about Milo. Shit. What am I going to do? I can't just leave him here." Hilde rambled as she entered the room. She paused and raised an eyebrow at the sight of the cat happily rubbing its chin against his shoe. "Weird. He used to really hate you."

Heero blinked and looked down at the cat as it continued to molest his leg. "Bring it."

Hilde hesitated before rushing off to a side room. She returned with a small cat carrier. When the cat caught sight of the compact carrier it stiffened and began backing up. Heero reached down to snatch it beneath its furry arms and picked it up before it could escape. He felt it kicking and clawing at his wrists with its back feet and heard it yowl at the betrayal. He shoved it into the carrier and avoided looking at it as it glowered at him from behind the cage door.

Hilde handed him the carrier and shouldered her backpack. She paused beside the desk. "Alex has my truck. How are we going to get to the spaceport?"

Heero frowned and looked down at cat carrier in his hand.

Part Three

Duo had been lucky enough to find a locker on the main wall catwalk at the level of the mobile suit's chest. He had quickly exchanged his black coat for a nondescript black flight suit and tucked his hip bag under his arm before rushing as fast as his weary body could down the central catwalk with his gun in hand. As he drew close to the hidden mobile suit he could make out its details more clearly.

Holy shit. He stopped dead in his tracks as the Gundam finally revealed itself to him.

He was tired from the resistance from the increased gravity and the sight of the new suit had made his legs turn to Jello. He braced himself on the catwalk railing and stared wide-eyed up Gundam Warlock, nay Gundam Lucifer. It was the spitting image of his old Deathscythe Hell.

The distinctive Gundam face mask was tilted down as if it were acknowledging his presence. The new suit's face was identical to Hell's in design except that it bore highlights in grey and gold rather than black and red. The distinctive Gundam V-fin transmitter^^ situated just above the dimmed green ocular cameras was of the same design and color as his old suit. He couldn't see much else other than two enormous bat-shaped wings coated with flat black paint and tucked neatly over its torso. Two giant black feet poked out from beneath its wings with the same sharp spikes projecting sharply upward from the toe.

He had expected it to somewhat resemble Deathscythe considering the scientists had it built with Deathscythe's spare parts. However, he hadn't anticipated how it would effect him to see it.

His heart ached. He never thought he could be this attached to something inanimate, but he had spent a large chunk of his childhood training on and fighting in Deathscythe. Some kids had playhouses, creeks in their backyards or a favorite bike that they could remember fondly. Duo had a giant gundanium killing machine.

"Sorry it took me so long," Duo said softly under his breath as he finally found his feet and began to carefully approach the suit. "But I'm here now, and I'm gonna get you out of here, okay?"

He had only taken two laborious steps toward it before something struck him hard in the center of his back and knocked him to his knees.

Part Four

Heero frowned into the rear view mirror at the L2 CPD cruiser that had been following them for nearly a mile. He downshifted the Cobra Mustang to engine brake in an attempt to keep the car well under the speed limit. He knew that the officers would have run the car's plates and according to Hilde it was registered under her name. He wondered how long it would take before the police would make the connection and pull them over.

He passed the street that led to the spaceport and tried to formulate a new plan. The original plan was to catch the next shuttle off of the colony and just blend in with the crowd but now that they were being tailed Heero knew that the moment they pulled over the CPD was going to try to apprehend him. He was wanted, and once he stopped they had every right to restrain him once they were certain of his identity. Hilde could easily be hit with an aiding and abetting charge if she was caught with him. He glanced at the woman in the passenger seat. She had the cat carrier clutched tightly on her lap and the furious tabby was silently glowering at him from between the bars.

"We need to find another way," Heero said flatly as he checked the mirror again. "Where is the police headquarters?"

Hilde frowned and raised an eyebrow at him. "Back in the other direction, why?"

Part Five

Duo felt a knee drop hard between his shoulder blades to pin him to the floor while a second pair of legs had appeared from beside him to kick his pistol out of his hand. He watched it fly over the edge of the catwalk and few seconds later heard it clatter to the floor below. His body slipped into fight mode and he felt the floodgates of adrenaline release. His weak muscles were instantly swollen with energy. He reached out to snatch the leg that had kicked his gun and pinched the inside of the knee hard. He saw the leg reflexively bend and the body that it belonged to stumbled and fell forward. Duo grabbed the back of the white shirt that landed in front of him and somehow managed to pull the fallen body closer. He barely processed who he was grappling. It didn't matter. His arms slid automatically around the neck of the individual in front of him into a choke hold. He began crushing the throat within his arms.

"Hell….p." A thin male voice said as the figure in Duo's arms struggled weakly against him. He felt the knee in his back dig deeper into his spine but he refused to let go. The pain in his back only forced his arms to tighten more.

"Fuck!" Suddenly the pressure against his back was released and he felt the body's weight leave him and heard the figure behind him scrambling away. "Okay, fine! There. Shit."

Duo pulled at the neck within his arms and guided the figure beneath him to a sit while he propped himself up onto his knees. He spun the man around and faced his other attacker with his arms still firmly set around the throat of his hostage and human shield.

"Miles?" Duo's voice blurted from his mouth just as his brain recognized the figure standing on the catwalk ten feet away from him. "What the fuck… what the fuck is all this shit!?" He squeezed the man in his arms forcefully, causing him to claw desperately at his forearms for release. The Underground leader was standing on the catwalk with his hands raised to show he wasn't armed.

"Now Duo… calm down. You don't want to kill that guy, do you? He's just an innocent. You're not like that-"

"You shut the fuck up!" Duo snarled. He released the pressure on the man in his arms only to let him suck in a choked breath before strangling him again. "Don't you dare. Who the hell are you to presume anything about me? You can't manipulate me so just quit. Who the hell is this guy and what the fuck are you doing down here?"

Miles was looking down at the man in his choke hold with a borderline frantic expression, giving Duo the information he needed. He wasn't going to kill the guy because obviously he was important. Important enough for him not to let go. He released the pressure again but this time let the man catch his breath. He stole a glance at the face in front of him and saw that he was holding a skinny, bald man with a brown mustache and beard. He looked to be in his fifties. There was nothing strong or imposing about the skinny creature at all.

"Well? You got five seconds to tell me before I snap his fucking neck."

"You're bluffing," Miles hissed. Duo squeezed. The little man in his arms flailed helplessly.

"One Mississippi. Two Mississippi. Three Mississippi. Four Miss-"

"Fine! Fine, just relax okay. I'll tell you." Miles said quickly. Duo frowned and released his arms a fraction to allow his hostage to struggle to breathe.

"He's a scientist. He helped to build this mobile suit." Miles explained meekly, as if telling Duo this information would be the death of him. "His name is Aeolia Schenberg."^^^

"Scientist, huh? So this brain of his is important? Would hate to see this head come off of its shoulders, then." Duo said menacingly. Miles was glaring at him.

"You're not that kind of person. Maxwell taught you better than that. I know you." The older man said. Duo couldn't help but laugh. His dark chuckle shook the shoulders of his helpless hostage.

"You have no idea what I am now or the shit I've done. You may think you're some tough motherfucker sitting in your hole in the ground drugging up your friends to keep them from disobeying you, but you're fucking nothing. You sicken me. Now stop trying to appeal to my humanity, because I'm tellin' you now you're barkin' up the wrong tree. What the fuck are you doing here and where is Alex Duran?"

Suddenly Duo felt cold steel press into the side of his head. He smirked, narrowed his eyes at the sensation and saw the familiar dark shadow of the figure standing behind him.

"About time you came out to see me," Duo said in a low voice. He released his hostage and shoved him forward. The old man fell onto his face on the catwalk.

"I was wondering if one of you faggots would show up," Alex's voice spoke from behind him with venom. Duo shrugged a shoulder and held his hands up.

"Yeah, well I didn't want to disappoint you. I know how much you missed me." He said in his cheeriest voice. He felt the gun push harder into his temple. His smile widened. "And if you think holdin' me at gunpoint is gonna scare me, you'd better think of something else. I fall in love with anyone who holds a gun to my head."^`

* "C" and "W" style rake picks are specialized tools that are used to pick locks. They are generally thought as a faster solution than traditional picks, and I have read in multiple forums that people tend to use them when they are in time sensitive situations.

** Lock Bumping is a technique used for opening pin tumbler locks. By using the correct bump or rapping key that corresponds with a certain lock it is possible to insert the key one notch short of full insertion and then tapping the key with a specialized lever and hammer to force it in and insert the pins in the correct order to trip the lock. It's much more complicated than that, but you get the idea. This method is fast, but has the potential to be noisy.

*** Deathscythe Hell was 16.3 meters tall. Wing Zero was 16.7m. Tallgeese III stood a 17.4 m. Interestingly the Arche Gundam from 00 Gundam series is the tallest at 20.9m.

^* Seriously, Heero, what about spandex and tank tops isn't conspicuous? (This is Op. Meteor Heero, before he discovers the magic of jeans and denim jackets.)

^^ Gundam V-fins have different functions in different series. In this we will say it was not only used to signify that the suit was a Gundam, but also to transmit data.

^^^ Aeolia Schenberg: Celestial Being Founder, Electric Mechanical Engineer, Quantum Physicist. (from 00Gundam)

^` Hilde and Heero both held him at gunpoint.

/AN: Thanks for the input and the high-fives and feedback! Hope everyone has a good weekend. :3/