Intruder - Part Thirty three
Playtime...
Half an hour later and the Gundam gang were shooting around the skies above L6, for the third time that week. Duo was enjoying himself, right in the middle of the fray.
"WHOA YEAH! TAKE THAT YOU FOOLISH THINGY!"
On the screen Quatre cringed.
"Uh, Duo, if you're going to yell like that can you please turn down your com-link?"
"Thingy?" Trowa raised an eyebrow.
"Maxwell, the only foolish 'thingy' out here at the moment is you."
"Hey, Heero, there's one behind you!"
The Wing Zero spun around, only to find a lone mobile doll, with a smiley face painted across the front of it. He stopped, staring for a moment, then pointed a small cylinder at it. There was a bright flash of neon green light, then both the glow and the MD had gone.
"Hey! I like it! What was that Heero?"
"Beam saber set for 2 seconds at max power."
"Oh yeah! Very cool!"
"Actually, I doubt that, Duo. Beam weapons are powered by thermal -"
"It's a phrase, Trowa, for Shingami's sake!"
He was about to reply, but 02's attention had been caught by something else.
As he had glanced out of the view port, Hilde's Taurus had gone cartwheeling past him, at quite a strong pace.
"Uh, Hilde babe, what cha doin'?"
Her grinning face appeared on his screen.
"Playin'. Why, you got a problem with that?"
"Yeah."
"Oh, and which one's that then?"
"I wanna join in!" he said, as the fastest Gundam sped off after the spinning MS.
"Immature." Said Wufei, as he slashed through another set of mines in one sweep.
"Yet interesting to watch." Replied Trowa, as he turned to get a better view.
"If you are that - yah! (He smashed a mine) - interested in Maxwell's antics, then perhaps - hah! (He hit another) - you could go join him."
"I think I will, it's about time we did something fun." Quatre headed for the two dark MS.
"Foolishness. It is pathetic that you find the need to have 'fun'." He muttered.
Duo came back on over the vid screen. A smile lit his face.
"Hey Chang, Lighten up will ya? A little playin' don't hurt y' know."
"What exactly are you doing?"
"What exactly are we doing?" he grinned. "Well, I guess I'd call it play fighting, but you'd prob'ly call it training practice or somethin'."
"..." There was no answer from 05, but his face on the vid screen appeared to be contemplating this idea. "I will watch."
"Great, you can watch me trash Hilde."
"You going to fight - " he realized who he was talking to and what he was about to say.
"Sure I'm gonna fight a 'woman'. That's what you were gonna say, isn't it? Like I said, it's play fighting, practice. It doesn't matter if she loses, she enjoys the challenge, and she learns from her mistakes. She knows it's practically impossible for her to beat me, 'specially in her Taurus, but she'll have a go anyway, she doesn't care."
"She must have no pride."
"Sure she does. And when she does eventually beat me, we'll never hear the end of it."
"...Hmm...I will watch." He answered, as a faint smile crossed his face.
"Great! Come on over."
Fifteen minutes later, Wufei was watching them. Hilde in her slightly customized Taurus was going at it with the Deathscythe Hell. Surprisingly, he found she was actually pretty good, and although she couldn't defeat him, she was giving as good as she got.
~ Not bad. Not bad at all. ~
The only things that he couldn't see from his point of view, were their faces as they fought each other.
~ That can be easily corrected. ~
He flicked on his vid screens, and established contact with the combatants. Again, they surprised him, as they both were grinning madly as they each taunted the other.
Hand to hand combat in a mobile suit shouldn't be a laughing matter, but then, this was Duo's game, what else could you expect.
The Taurus swiped a kick at its opponent, which moved out of the way.
"Aw, c'mon babe, you can do better than that."
"I assure you...I will." She feigned to the left, and as he moved away, she clouted him on the right. Wufei watched as Duo threw himself onto the controls, and deftly swung away from the coming volley.
"Hey, no fair!" Hilde complained, as he activated the cloak. "Surely that's not going to work at this close a range?!"
The grin faded into a smile, as she spun around, looking for her rival. She stopped suddenly, and Wufei could see from her expression that it wasn't her that had caused it.
The Deathscythe had returned to view, directly behind her, and had her arms pinned at her sides in a bear hug.
"Game over, Hilde." Duo smiled sweetly.
"Aw, Duo, we've only been going for about ten -" she checked her watch. "Half an hour!"
"Yep, I think you deserve a rest now." He loosened his grip on the Taurus, and let go.
He knew what would happen next. It span around kicking, foot aimed to strike its head.
He caught the leg, and twisted it around. The whole mobile suit circled on its own axis.
Then he gently pushed it away. She spun off, turning slowly, and heading towards 04.
"Hey Quatre! Catch!"
'I don't think so.' Hilde muttered, activating the boosters to move out of his path. She was just passing him as he disappeared. She stopped spinning and was stood upright.
"Hey! This is really getting old."
Sandrock came back into sight. Quatre's face on the vid screen was apologetic.
"Hey, you can't avoid what you can't see." Duo smirked.
"Sorry Hilde. But I didn't think you'd want to interrupt Heero."
There was a silent explosion behind them, but they all saw the cause. 01 was floating in a cloud of dust and debris. He'd just destroyed an asteroid, which had just happened to obstruct his view of some mines, so he'd blasted it into them.
"I think I'll agree with you there, Quatre." She said, glancing cautiously across at
Wing Zero. It was eerily silhouetted against the backdrop of flame.
"Ok, now we've got that over with, I'm starving! What's closer, base or L6?"
"L-" Quatre stopped himself as he realized his mistake.
"Right then! It looks like we're going to the colonies for lunch." Duo grinned.
Quatre sighed softly; he wondered how exactly he planned to 'sneak' five Gundams and a Taurus onto L6.
~ They must have seen us already, they could still be watching us now. There's no- ~
His thoughts were interrupted by Hilde's voice.
"Hey, where's Trowa?"
"I haven't seen him since we got here." Heero entered the conversation; satisfied that he'd destroyed enough mines, for now at least.
"04 to 03, do you read?" he waited for a reply.
There was none.
"Hey, Trowa! What d' you think you're playin' at?"
No response.
"Well, we're all going to lunch now, so we'll see ya when we get back, right?"
They looked at each other, nervously.
"Do you think there could be a full size Intruder round here somewhere? I mean, it could be programmed to look like one of our suits, couldn't it? Or there could be more than one, and he could think it was us, and he could-"
"That's enough. I'm sure Trowa would not be foolish enough to make that mistake."
Wufei needed to cut him off, before he convinced himself. Duo confirmed this opinion.
"Yeah, he's prob'ly round here someplace, right now."
Since there was no wind in space, the dust cloud still hung in the area, like a brown fog.
They all looked around, but there was no saying which direction he may have gone in, space was completely 3d, there were no limits as to how high or low you could go.
Their radar wasn't completely functioning; the meteor's dust seemed to mess up the sensors. Quatre had an idea, and immediately tried it.
"Hey! Quatre, what's the big idea, huh? Just cause your circus pal Trowa does a disappearin' act, it don't mean y' gotta follow suit."
Sandrock came back into view, as Quatre came back on screen, smiling.
"He's just over there, somewhere behind the cloud."
Duo was about to ask how the hell he found him, but Heero got in first.
"Good."
Hilde didn't think now would be a good time to ask how, so she kept quiet.
~ Must just be a Gundam thing. ~
They were about to go through the cloud, when HeavyArms' shadow appeared in it.
"Hey Trowa! What were you doing?"
His face came up on the vid screens, non-emotional as ever.
"What do you mean? I was just taking care of some more mines."
"But we tried contacting you, there was no answer."
"I turned it off, I didn't think we'd need it on, I was in visual and sensor distance."
"Visual?! Visual my-" Duo was cut out again, as Quatre explained.
"Heero blew up an asteroid, the dust was so thick, we couldn't see you anywhere."
"Oh." He looked down for a minute, and adjusted the set. "I'm hungry. When's lunch?"
Playtime...
Half an hour later and the Gundam gang were shooting around the skies above L6, for the third time that week. Duo was enjoying himself, right in the middle of the fray.
"WHOA YEAH! TAKE THAT YOU FOOLISH THINGY!"
On the screen Quatre cringed.
"Uh, Duo, if you're going to yell like that can you please turn down your com-link?"
"Thingy?" Trowa raised an eyebrow.
"Maxwell, the only foolish 'thingy' out here at the moment is you."
"Hey, Heero, there's one behind you!"
The Wing Zero spun around, only to find a lone mobile doll, with a smiley face painted across the front of it. He stopped, staring for a moment, then pointed a small cylinder at it. There was a bright flash of neon green light, then both the glow and the MD had gone.
"Hey! I like it! What was that Heero?"
"Beam saber set for 2 seconds at max power."
"Oh yeah! Very cool!"
"Actually, I doubt that, Duo. Beam weapons are powered by thermal -"
"It's a phrase, Trowa, for Shingami's sake!"
He was about to reply, but 02's attention had been caught by something else.
As he had glanced out of the view port, Hilde's Taurus had gone cartwheeling past him, at quite a strong pace.
"Uh, Hilde babe, what cha doin'?"
Her grinning face appeared on his screen.
"Playin'. Why, you got a problem with that?"
"Yeah."
"Oh, and which one's that then?"
"I wanna join in!" he said, as the fastest Gundam sped off after the spinning MS.
"Immature." Said Wufei, as he slashed through another set of mines in one sweep.
"Yet interesting to watch." Replied Trowa, as he turned to get a better view.
"If you are that - yah! (He smashed a mine) - interested in Maxwell's antics, then perhaps - hah! (He hit another) - you could go join him."
"I think I will, it's about time we did something fun." Quatre headed for the two dark MS.
"Foolishness. It is pathetic that you find the need to have 'fun'." He muttered.
Duo came back on over the vid screen. A smile lit his face.
"Hey Chang, Lighten up will ya? A little playin' don't hurt y' know."
"What exactly are you doing?"
"What exactly are we doing?" he grinned. "Well, I guess I'd call it play fighting, but you'd prob'ly call it training practice or somethin'."
"..." There was no answer from 05, but his face on the vid screen appeared to be contemplating this idea. "I will watch."
"Great, you can watch me trash Hilde."
"You going to fight - " he realized who he was talking to and what he was about to say.
"Sure I'm gonna fight a 'woman'. That's what you were gonna say, isn't it? Like I said, it's play fighting, practice. It doesn't matter if she loses, she enjoys the challenge, and she learns from her mistakes. She knows it's practically impossible for her to beat me, 'specially in her Taurus, but she'll have a go anyway, she doesn't care."
"She must have no pride."
"Sure she does. And when she does eventually beat me, we'll never hear the end of it."
"...Hmm...I will watch." He answered, as a faint smile crossed his face.
"Great! Come on over."
Fifteen minutes later, Wufei was watching them. Hilde in her slightly customized Taurus was going at it with the Deathscythe Hell. Surprisingly, he found she was actually pretty good, and although she couldn't defeat him, she was giving as good as she got.
~ Not bad. Not bad at all. ~
The only things that he couldn't see from his point of view, were their faces as they fought each other.
~ That can be easily corrected. ~
He flicked on his vid screens, and established contact with the combatants. Again, they surprised him, as they both were grinning madly as they each taunted the other.
Hand to hand combat in a mobile suit shouldn't be a laughing matter, but then, this was Duo's game, what else could you expect.
The Taurus swiped a kick at its opponent, which moved out of the way.
"Aw, c'mon babe, you can do better than that."
"I assure you...I will." She feigned to the left, and as he moved away, she clouted him on the right. Wufei watched as Duo threw himself onto the controls, and deftly swung away from the coming volley.
"Hey, no fair!" Hilde complained, as he activated the cloak. "Surely that's not going to work at this close a range?!"
The grin faded into a smile, as she spun around, looking for her rival. She stopped suddenly, and Wufei could see from her expression that it wasn't her that had caused it.
The Deathscythe had returned to view, directly behind her, and had her arms pinned at her sides in a bear hug.
"Game over, Hilde." Duo smiled sweetly.
"Aw, Duo, we've only been going for about ten -" she checked her watch. "Half an hour!"
"Yep, I think you deserve a rest now." He loosened his grip on the Taurus, and let go.
He knew what would happen next. It span around kicking, foot aimed to strike its head.
He caught the leg, and twisted it around. The whole mobile suit circled on its own axis.
Then he gently pushed it away. She spun off, turning slowly, and heading towards 04.
"Hey Quatre! Catch!"
'I don't think so.' Hilde muttered, activating the boosters to move out of his path. She was just passing him as he disappeared. She stopped spinning and was stood upright.
"Hey! This is really getting old."
Sandrock came back into sight. Quatre's face on the vid screen was apologetic.
"Hey, you can't avoid what you can't see." Duo smirked.
"Sorry Hilde. But I didn't think you'd want to interrupt Heero."
There was a silent explosion behind them, but they all saw the cause. 01 was floating in a cloud of dust and debris. He'd just destroyed an asteroid, which had just happened to obstruct his view of some mines, so he'd blasted it into them.
"I think I'll agree with you there, Quatre." She said, glancing cautiously across at
Wing Zero. It was eerily silhouetted against the backdrop of flame.
"Ok, now we've got that over with, I'm starving! What's closer, base or L6?"
"L-" Quatre stopped himself as he realized his mistake.
"Right then! It looks like we're going to the colonies for lunch." Duo grinned.
Quatre sighed softly; he wondered how exactly he planned to 'sneak' five Gundams and a Taurus onto L6.
~ They must have seen us already, they could still be watching us now. There's no- ~
His thoughts were interrupted by Hilde's voice.
"Hey, where's Trowa?"
"I haven't seen him since we got here." Heero entered the conversation; satisfied that he'd destroyed enough mines, for now at least.
"04 to 03, do you read?" he waited for a reply.
There was none.
"Hey, Trowa! What d' you think you're playin' at?"
No response.
"Well, we're all going to lunch now, so we'll see ya when we get back, right?"
They looked at each other, nervously.
"Do you think there could be a full size Intruder round here somewhere? I mean, it could be programmed to look like one of our suits, couldn't it? Or there could be more than one, and he could think it was us, and he could-"
"That's enough. I'm sure Trowa would not be foolish enough to make that mistake."
Wufei needed to cut him off, before he convinced himself. Duo confirmed this opinion.
"Yeah, he's prob'ly round here someplace, right now."
Since there was no wind in space, the dust cloud still hung in the area, like a brown fog.
They all looked around, but there was no saying which direction he may have gone in, space was completely 3d, there were no limits as to how high or low you could go.
Their radar wasn't completely functioning; the meteor's dust seemed to mess up the sensors. Quatre had an idea, and immediately tried it.
"Hey! Quatre, what's the big idea, huh? Just cause your circus pal Trowa does a disappearin' act, it don't mean y' gotta follow suit."
Sandrock came back into view, as Quatre came back on screen, smiling.
"He's just over there, somewhere behind the cloud."
Duo was about to ask how the hell he found him, but Heero got in first.
"Good."
Hilde didn't think now would be a good time to ask how, so she kept quiet.
~ Must just be a Gundam thing. ~
They were about to go through the cloud, when HeavyArms' shadow appeared in it.
"Hey Trowa! What were you doing?"
His face came up on the vid screens, non-emotional as ever.
"What do you mean? I was just taking care of some more mines."
"But we tried contacting you, there was no answer."
"I turned it off, I didn't think we'd need it on, I was in visual and sensor distance."
"Visual?! Visual my-" Duo was cut out again, as Quatre explained.
"Heero blew up an asteroid, the dust was so thick, we couldn't see you anywhere."
"Oh." He looked down for a minute, and adjusted the set. "I'm hungry. When's lunch?"