Intruder - Part Sixteen
Nanashi...
A lion came in through the door, quickly followed by Hilde.
"Uh, hi guys, sorry- 'you shouldn't be in here now Charlie, they're busy' my apologies-"
She was about to lead him out of the door, but Trowa came in and blocked his way, so he went to the other two instead. To her surprise, Wufei didn't frown at her, just glanced her way, then turned his attention to the lion who was trying to lay it's head on his lap.
He smiled faintly ~ Foolish beast. ~ He ran his fingers through Charlie's mane, who rumbled in reply. She smiled, Wufei did have some compassion after all.
Duo and Quatre were sitting at the table, which was now cleared of Heero's debris. The blonde, liking his space, had put all the pieces of the intruder in a cardboard box, and sat it on a spare chair.
"So they think the bit that Heero found is from Sandrock, and that there's more than one of these guys." He finished, motioning at the box of parts.
Duo's eyes were wide. "So if they're in my room, discoverin' what's goin' on, then what the hell are we doin' in here? You wanna know don't ya? 'specially as its Sandrock."
He stood up, almost knocking over his chair, then winced as it knocked against his shin.
"Yes, but they work better alone, and..." Quatre looked at the table.
Duo gave him a questioning glance.
"...and I'm not sure if I want to know." He gazed up, with those wide pale blue eyes, and reminded Duo of, well something, but he wasn't sure what. Something innocent and caring anyway. Maybe his opponent had bounced his head on the wall harder than he'd thought. "Aw, c'mon Cat, course y' wanna find out, I mean, we can't finish this till we know everythin' that's goin' down, can we? An' anyway, if I'm not in bed, I should at least have supervision, right? Which means as I'm goin' then you've gotta come too."
"Quatre." He said "and yes, I'll come."
"Sorry, Cat-re, can y' pass me my stick?"
Quatre picked up a battered piece of metal, and gave it to Duo.
"Thanks. All set?"
He nodded
"'k, lets go then."
About to pick up the box of bits, he saw his friend's expression.
"Wha'd'ya want that for? Heero's perfectly able to get it himself. Remember, we're injured." He grinned and winked at him. Duo Maxwell was back with a vengeance.
Trowa had entered the door behind Hilde. He walked straight over to Heero, and sat down. Heero made no acknowledgment that he was there, but continued his work.
"What have you found?"
"You. Apparently."
Trowa looked interested more than confused. Possibly because of Heero's explanation of Duo's outburst to him before, in the Mess. He watched as Heero backed up the tape. He saw Duo leaving the Hangar, except being in reverse, he seemed to run into it backwards, then hid behind Sandrock. Altron took off, and Trowa Barton emerged out of the silent shadow of 04.
"Hmm..."
Hilde stared at him as he just stood, gazing into the pixels of the screen.
"So, what do you think?" Heero asked, without looking up.
"Hmm..." he replied.
"Trowa? Trowa Barton?" Hilde said "Come in 03?!"
Now it was Heero's turn to frown at her, while Chang watched for the reaction.
"Yes. Yes, definitely strange. How one person can be two. Was Duo there before? And then when Nanashi went in, he came out? It's almost funny, isn't it."
'Nana-who?' Hilde asked in a whisper.
Heero explained "'Nanashi' It means 'No name'."
Wufei was still watching Trowa. He had rewound the recording further, and was watching 'Nanashi' climbing around on Sandrock.
"Well you can't see what he's doing from this angle, isn't there another view?"
"This is the best one. No."
For the second time the door opened.
"Yes, there is actually, mister perfect soldier." Duo Maxwell stood, framed by the doorway, with Quatre behind him.
"I thought he was supposed to stay in bed, Quatre." Heero stated, ignoring Duo.
Wufei however was not, and neither was Hilde or Charlie. The lion recognized his combat partner's scent that was now apparent in the room, (although it had been all along, cause its Duo's room, right?) and jumped up off the floor, and straight at Duo's chest. Duo saw the flying cat, and sidestepped him quickly, not eager to play right now.
Hilde also jumped up to Maxwell, who was slightly off balance, and she knocked him over, into her waiting arms. He winced.
"We've gotta stop doin' this babe."
"Aw, I don't see why."
"'cause I'm gonna ruin all your shirts."
She let go, and backed off slightly. He had a few faint dots of red that barely showed on his black top. Oblivious to his complaints, she lifted it, and although he tried, he couldn't stop her, as it would only aggravate it more. The few faint dots on him shirt were echoed here, only slightly larger, and seeming brighter on the white cotton.
"Aha! Time to change them I think." She smirked.
He pulled it down roughly, and regretted it. Wufei had an odd expression on his face, but it could possibly be translated as a mixture of disgust, amusement, and pity. Disgust for Duo being abused by this woman, amusement of his situation, but pity for it also. Maxwell took a strong step back, and stood up straight.
"No-one makes me do anything I don't want to. You won't succeed were neither Oz or she could either. I am Duo Maxwell, and I am my own boss."
~ She? ~
He nodded curtly, then strode with pride across to his bed, where he sat down, and thumped the headboard. The bed lifted up about 2 meters, then stopped. Duo smiled for two reasons, one, because he was now out of her reach, and two, because he'd surprised Heero (and everyone else) yet again. Under the bed was another load of vidscreens and electrical equipment, as well as a slightly bloody pair of jeans, and a selection of wanted posters of 'Pilot 02' 'Pilot 05' and all 5 of the original 'Project Meteor' Gundams.
*ahem * He cleared his throat. "As I said, there is another view."
Heero looked up at those glittering blue eyes, and raised an eyebrow, as if in question.
Quatre was also looking at him suspiciously.
"So, where am I then?"
"Huh?" now it was Duo's turn to be confused. He sighed and slid off the bed, landing on his feet. "Oh, them, yeah, well y' gotta be wanted t' have a wanted poster, an' no-one knew who 'Pilot 04' looked like. There's no point havin' a poster for the invisible man."
Quatre smiled inwardly, ~ He always manages to put it so simply. ~ Wufei however frowned, outwardly. ~ Foolishness ~
"Hey, gimme a break, Chang, it seemed a shame to throw 'em out after I took 'em off the wall. Not bad pictures either, well of the Gundams anyway, on the pilot ones you can't see the faces very well, my cap's in the way, an' yours is kinda blurry."
"I believe you have me to thank for that." Trowa said.
~ He came back to us. ~
"As I was working for Oz at the time, I managed to prevent any better ones from being issued as wanted posters."
"Aw, so you ruined all the fun. Hey, 's cool, no worries. How come they didn't do you an' Heero?"
"We were piloting their suits, Vayeate and Mercurius. They were using us, so having us hunted in the meanwhile would have been, counterproductive."
"Vayeate and Mercurius? Oh, yeah, the two mobile dolls I destroyed when Hilde was escaping from Libra? Or was it Barge? Well I don't know which, but I seem to remember beating them both times anyway."
"So there's another view?" Heero prompted, ignoring his last jab. Duo found it amusing that he had succeeded in destroying both the Vayeate and the Mercurius it the same battle, two on one, especially when these two particular MDs were programmed using data from expert pilots, Gundam pilots in fact, Heero and Trowa personally. He knew that Duo understood that they had not been recorded at their 'full potential' and had been refraining from fighting at their best, so the resulting mobile dolls would not be as dangerous as they themselves. He recalled his ally's only statement on the battle;
"...Should have programmed my data."
Quatre had found the new view of the hangar bay, and was watching 'Trowa' climbing around on his Gundam. The intruder, disguised as pilot 03, had removed a small panel of Gundanium, and had replaced it with something else.
"I know where that is. Right under the armor plate. Sneaky little-"
"So if you know where it is, why don't we go and find it?" Duo asked, "It's not like there's anything more important at the moment."
"We'll go, but you're not allowed on Sandrock, you could fall. So could Quatre. Trowa might as well check it out, as he probably knows the Gundam best, after Quatre."
Duo pulled a face, and Quatre looked disappointed, but Heero always spoke sense.
So, they obeyed, and they all went off to the hangar, Duo and Hilde included.
Charlie however had fallen asleep on the couch, and Hilde didn't want him woken.
"He probably needs his rest. Lions usually sleep all day anyway, particularly males."
She glanced at Duo, who shrugged. Trowa raised an eyebrow at her knowledge of such things, but said nothing, as usual.
Heero left, and was quickly followed by the others. ~ When the got to their destination, would they actually find what they were looking for? Would they find an answer? ~
Nanashi...
A lion came in through the door, quickly followed by Hilde.
"Uh, hi guys, sorry- 'you shouldn't be in here now Charlie, they're busy' my apologies-"
She was about to lead him out of the door, but Trowa came in and blocked his way, so he went to the other two instead. To her surprise, Wufei didn't frown at her, just glanced her way, then turned his attention to the lion who was trying to lay it's head on his lap.
He smiled faintly ~ Foolish beast. ~ He ran his fingers through Charlie's mane, who rumbled in reply. She smiled, Wufei did have some compassion after all.
Duo and Quatre were sitting at the table, which was now cleared of Heero's debris. The blonde, liking his space, had put all the pieces of the intruder in a cardboard box, and sat it on a spare chair.
"So they think the bit that Heero found is from Sandrock, and that there's more than one of these guys." He finished, motioning at the box of parts.
Duo's eyes were wide. "So if they're in my room, discoverin' what's goin' on, then what the hell are we doin' in here? You wanna know don't ya? 'specially as its Sandrock."
He stood up, almost knocking over his chair, then winced as it knocked against his shin.
"Yes, but they work better alone, and..." Quatre looked at the table.
Duo gave him a questioning glance.
"...and I'm not sure if I want to know." He gazed up, with those wide pale blue eyes, and reminded Duo of, well something, but he wasn't sure what. Something innocent and caring anyway. Maybe his opponent had bounced his head on the wall harder than he'd thought. "Aw, c'mon Cat, course y' wanna find out, I mean, we can't finish this till we know everythin' that's goin' down, can we? An' anyway, if I'm not in bed, I should at least have supervision, right? Which means as I'm goin' then you've gotta come too."
"Quatre." He said "and yes, I'll come."
"Sorry, Cat-re, can y' pass me my stick?"
Quatre picked up a battered piece of metal, and gave it to Duo.
"Thanks. All set?"
He nodded
"'k, lets go then."
About to pick up the box of bits, he saw his friend's expression.
"Wha'd'ya want that for? Heero's perfectly able to get it himself. Remember, we're injured." He grinned and winked at him. Duo Maxwell was back with a vengeance.
Trowa had entered the door behind Hilde. He walked straight over to Heero, and sat down. Heero made no acknowledgment that he was there, but continued his work.
"What have you found?"
"You. Apparently."
Trowa looked interested more than confused. Possibly because of Heero's explanation of Duo's outburst to him before, in the Mess. He watched as Heero backed up the tape. He saw Duo leaving the Hangar, except being in reverse, he seemed to run into it backwards, then hid behind Sandrock. Altron took off, and Trowa Barton emerged out of the silent shadow of 04.
"Hmm..."
Hilde stared at him as he just stood, gazing into the pixels of the screen.
"So, what do you think?" Heero asked, without looking up.
"Hmm..." he replied.
"Trowa? Trowa Barton?" Hilde said "Come in 03?!"
Now it was Heero's turn to frown at her, while Chang watched for the reaction.
"Yes. Yes, definitely strange. How one person can be two. Was Duo there before? And then when Nanashi went in, he came out? It's almost funny, isn't it."
'Nana-who?' Hilde asked in a whisper.
Heero explained "'Nanashi' It means 'No name'."
Wufei was still watching Trowa. He had rewound the recording further, and was watching 'Nanashi' climbing around on Sandrock.
"Well you can't see what he's doing from this angle, isn't there another view?"
"This is the best one. No."
For the second time the door opened.
"Yes, there is actually, mister perfect soldier." Duo Maxwell stood, framed by the doorway, with Quatre behind him.
"I thought he was supposed to stay in bed, Quatre." Heero stated, ignoring Duo.
Wufei however was not, and neither was Hilde or Charlie. The lion recognized his combat partner's scent that was now apparent in the room, (although it had been all along, cause its Duo's room, right?) and jumped up off the floor, and straight at Duo's chest. Duo saw the flying cat, and sidestepped him quickly, not eager to play right now.
Hilde also jumped up to Maxwell, who was slightly off balance, and she knocked him over, into her waiting arms. He winced.
"We've gotta stop doin' this babe."
"Aw, I don't see why."
"'cause I'm gonna ruin all your shirts."
She let go, and backed off slightly. He had a few faint dots of red that barely showed on his black top. Oblivious to his complaints, she lifted it, and although he tried, he couldn't stop her, as it would only aggravate it more. The few faint dots on him shirt were echoed here, only slightly larger, and seeming brighter on the white cotton.
"Aha! Time to change them I think." She smirked.
He pulled it down roughly, and regretted it. Wufei had an odd expression on his face, but it could possibly be translated as a mixture of disgust, amusement, and pity. Disgust for Duo being abused by this woman, amusement of his situation, but pity for it also. Maxwell took a strong step back, and stood up straight.
"No-one makes me do anything I don't want to. You won't succeed were neither Oz or she could either. I am Duo Maxwell, and I am my own boss."
~ She? ~
He nodded curtly, then strode with pride across to his bed, where he sat down, and thumped the headboard. The bed lifted up about 2 meters, then stopped. Duo smiled for two reasons, one, because he was now out of her reach, and two, because he'd surprised Heero (and everyone else) yet again. Under the bed was another load of vidscreens and electrical equipment, as well as a slightly bloody pair of jeans, and a selection of wanted posters of 'Pilot 02' 'Pilot 05' and all 5 of the original 'Project Meteor' Gundams.
*ahem * He cleared his throat. "As I said, there is another view."
Heero looked up at those glittering blue eyes, and raised an eyebrow, as if in question.
Quatre was also looking at him suspiciously.
"So, where am I then?"
"Huh?" now it was Duo's turn to be confused. He sighed and slid off the bed, landing on his feet. "Oh, them, yeah, well y' gotta be wanted t' have a wanted poster, an' no-one knew who 'Pilot 04' looked like. There's no point havin' a poster for the invisible man."
Quatre smiled inwardly, ~ He always manages to put it so simply. ~ Wufei however frowned, outwardly. ~ Foolishness ~
"Hey, gimme a break, Chang, it seemed a shame to throw 'em out after I took 'em off the wall. Not bad pictures either, well of the Gundams anyway, on the pilot ones you can't see the faces very well, my cap's in the way, an' yours is kinda blurry."
"I believe you have me to thank for that." Trowa said.
~ He came back to us. ~
"As I was working for Oz at the time, I managed to prevent any better ones from being issued as wanted posters."
"Aw, so you ruined all the fun. Hey, 's cool, no worries. How come they didn't do you an' Heero?"
"We were piloting their suits, Vayeate and Mercurius. They were using us, so having us hunted in the meanwhile would have been, counterproductive."
"Vayeate and Mercurius? Oh, yeah, the two mobile dolls I destroyed when Hilde was escaping from Libra? Or was it Barge? Well I don't know which, but I seem to remember beating them both times anyway."
"So there's another view?" Heero prompted, ignoring his last jab. Duo found it amusing that he had succeeded in destroying both the Vayeate and the Mercurius it the same battle, two on one, especially when these two particular MDs were programmed using data from expert pilots, Gundam pilots in fact, Heero and Trowa personally. He knew that Duo understood that they had not been recorded at their 'full potential' and had been refraining from fighting at their best, so the resulting mobile dolls would not be as dangerous as they themselves. He recalled his ally's only statement on the battle;
"...Should have programmed my data."
Quatre had found the new view of the hangar bay, and was watching 'Trowa' climbing around on his Gundam. The intruder, disguised as pilot 03, had removed a small panel of Gundanium, and had replaced it with something else.
"I know where that is. Right under the armor plate. Sneaky little-"
"So if you know where it is, why don't we go and find it?" Duo asked, "It's not like there's anything more important at the moment."
"We'll go, but you're not allowed on Sandrock, you could fall. So could Quatre. Trowa might as well check it out, as he probably knows the Gundam best, after Quatre."
Duo pulled a face, and Quatre looked disappointed, but Heero always spoke sense.
So, they obeyed, and they all went off to the hangar, Duo and Hilde included.
Charlie however had fallen asleep on the couch, and Hilde didn't want him woken.
"He probably needs his rest. Lions usually sleep all day anyway, particularly males."
She glanced at Duo, who shrugged. Trowa raised an eyebrow at her knowledge of such things, but said nothing, as usual.
Heero left, and was quickly followed by the others. ~ When the got to their destination, would they actually find what they were looking for? Would they find an answer? ~