Chapter
5
"I can't believe that you're
doing this, Quatre." Duo mumbled for what had to have been the millionth time
that day as he, Quatre, Shinji, and Asuka walked around the local mall.
"What's not to believe, Duo?"
Quatre retorted in a rather exasperated tone.
"You! You're too damn generous
for your own good, kid…" Duo sighed, folding his arms behind his head and
looking up at the ceiling, "You act like money grows on trees."
"Just because I don't work like
you do for your income doesn't mean that I think money grows on trees."
"He's just trying to be nice,
right, Quatre?" Shinji suddenly defended, earning a rather cold look from Duo.
"That's right, Shinji. I'm being
nice, something you should do more often, Duo." Quatre scolded with a playful
grin. Duo deflated instantly, his arms falling at his sides and his mouth agape
as the other three walked on ahead of him.
"I am too nice!" he was finally
able to sputter out, running to catch up with them. Asuka giggled at the rather
hurt look on Duo's face.
"Sure…the man who calls him self
Shinigami actually believes that he can be 'nice'." She ridiculed.
"Asuka!"
Later…
"My credit card is screaming…"
Quatre moaned as he threw his head back on the seat and eyed the bags lying
around him, Duo, and Shinji. Somewhere in the jungle of racks and clothes Asuka
was indulging herself in the latest fashions. The majority of what was in those
bags Asuka now had claim to, despite the fact that either Quatre or Duo had
forked over the money to pay for it. All though Shinji had bought a whole new
wardrobe himself, Asuka beat him out by buying at least five. There were other
things, too, like school supplies, things for their rooms, and other accessories.
"YOUR credit card is
screaming?!" Duo shot back, eyeing his now empty wallet, "Dude…I swear I just
saw a moth…" he added, peering in closer and causing Shinji to chuckle.
"I warned you guys what would
happen if we took Asuka with us." He said in a very
'I-told-you-so-but-no-one-ever-listens-to-me' voice.
"Ah shadup…" Duo grumbled,
closing his wallet and puffing at his bangs tiredly.
"I wasn't even going to attempt
to buy clothes for some one with a figure like that." Quatre mentioned, hiding
his face with his hand to hide his reddening cheeks.
"Quatre!" Duo exclaimed with a
tiny smirk, "That's the most blunt thing I've ever heard you say!"
"Quiet, Duo…it's the truth!" the
blonde Arab whined, still refusing to remove his hand. Shinji chuckled again
and rolled his blue eyes.
"Oh boys!" Asuka suddenly called
in a singsong voice from near the dressing rooms. Asuka poked her head out as
all the boys moaned and looked in her direction.
"What is it, Asuka?" Duo
demanded. Asuka grinned wide and pulled out a very, very skimpy black mini
skirt.
"How 'bout this?" she chirped
cheerfully. Three collective jaws dropped, and three pairs of eyes nearly
bugged out of their sockets.
"A…As…As…" Quatre stammered, his
cheeks beginning to resemble a tomato.
"Asuka!" Duo nearly shrieked,
jumping out of his chair. Asuka blinked rapidly, a confused expression suddenly
adorning her face.
"What?" she asked innocently.
Duo sighed and walked over to the girl, despite the fact that he mentally
admitted that her confused look was incredibly cute.
"Hold it up to your body." He
ordered. Her face still showing absolute confusion, Asuka did as she was told,
holding the skirt where she'd have it had she put it on, "Now hold your arm
down at your side." Once again, Asuka did as she was told. Just as Duo
suspected, the tips of her fingers went far past the end of the skirt. Duo
scoffed, folded his arms over his chest, and leaned forward until their noses
were nearly touching and said in a firm voice, "No way," and started walking
back to the other two boys. '
"W…what?!" Asuka shrieked,
"Why?"
"Because it's too short." Duo
replied in his best fatherly tone as he continued to walk away.
"No it's not!" Asuka protested again,
causing Duo to stop and turn around. Just then Quatre's cell phone rang and
Quatre scrambled to pick the thing up.
"The tips of your fingers go at
least and inch past the end of that skirt. It's too short!"
As the arguing over whether or
not the skirt was indeed too short, Quatre argued with Sally Po on the other
line of his cell phone. When Sally finally hung up on the boy, Quatre stared at
the phone until Shinji snapped him out of his trance. He looked up at Duo and
Asuka, who were still arguing rather vehemently.
"Duo." Quatre said, never being
heard, "Duo!" he snapped this time, still not being audible over the loud
yelling, "DUO!" Quatre suddenly screamed, getting everyone in the shop,
including Duo and Asuka to stop what he or she was doing and stare in amazement
at the normally soft spoken Winner.
"Sorry…" Quatre mumbled,
scratching the back of his head and getting up to talk to Duo.
"What is it, Quat?" Duo asked,
suddenly worried.
"That was Sally. We need to get
down to the HQ right now." Quatre informed him in a low voice, putting extra
emphasis on the words 'right now'.
"What?" Duo hissed, "Why?"
Quatre looked at Duo, fear
flooding his kind aquamarine eyes, and said in a frightened tone, "They're
going back…"
At
the Preventers Headquarters'
Duo slammed through the swinging
double doors, an incredibly pissed off look on his face. Asuka and Shinji
struggled to keep up with Duo's racing pace. The Deathscythe pilot didn't
easily loose his calm, cool, laughing exterior, but what the Preventers were
planning on doing was unacceptable and this time Duo was allowing him self to
show his actual emotions.
"Duo it's not that bad!" Shinji
tried to reason.
"We almost got killed out there
last time, Shinji. They're smokin' something if they think they're gonna send
us back out there." Duo growled, marching right up to Lady Une's office,
despite the officials around him yelling for him to stop, and slammed the door
open with all his strength, nearly knocking the thing right off it's hinges. Lady
Une yelped and jumped out of her chair.
"Maxwell!" she cried out when
she realized whom she was dealing with, "What in God's name do you think you're
doing?"
"I'd like to ask you the same
God Damn question, Une." Duo spat. Lady Une gasped at his vulgarity.
"Well I never-"
"Are you completely loony, Une?!
Why the hell are you sending us back to that God forsaken reality?! Are you
trying to get us killed?!" Duo yelled before the Preventer chief even had a
chance to breathe.
"Oh…so that's what this is all
about." Lady Une said in a much calmer tone, brushing her dress off as though
Duo's presence in the room was contaminating it.
"That is exactly what this is
all about." Duo seethed, "And I demand to know what the fuck is going on in
that pretty little brown head of yours."
Lady Une pretended not to notice
Duo's rather colorful choice of words and evenly explained, "We have gone over
the survivors records and we have reason to believe that the EVA Unit-01 is
still orbiting in space."
"So you're gonna risk our necks
to go and get something that you're not even sure is there?!" Duo howled in
frustration, "I can't believe you people! We're just some kind of…of…expendable
asset to you aren't we?"
"I don't see why you believe
there is any danger." Duo's eyes flamed in anger as he walked closer to her
desk and pulled down the collar of his blue t-shirt, revealing a nicely sized
red scar there. Asuka gasped and Shinji moaned, both making sound for the first
time since they'd arrived in Lady Une's office. "This
is why I believe there's danger, Une. Open your eyes, woman! We almost got
ourselves killed out there last time! ONE of those damn mass EVA's took
Deathscythe down!"
"But you made it out alive last
time, and that's more than the other teams we sent can say." Lady Une resounded
in a very bored tone.
"Don't you get it! We barely survived
last time! Those things are dangerous. They are worse than any number of
Gundams, Mobile suits, and battle ships combined! And you're willing to
sacrifice our lives in order to retrieve something that…you don't even know how
to run!" Duo argued, knowing good and well his point was not getting across. He
narrowed his eyes at Lady Une and growled under his breath, "Just what exactly
is it that the RRCO* does anyway?"
"It's simple. Search out other
realities, decide if they are a threat or an asset, and acquire any new
technology that could be of use to us." Lady Une explained as though it were
easy arithmetic.
"And for that stupid reason
you're going to put our lives on the line?!" Duo yelled, "You are so full of
shit, Une…" he spun on his heel and headed out the door, "Come on Shinji,
Asuka, we're going home."
Asuka quickly dashed after the
angry pilot, but Shinji lagged behind, glancing nervously at Lady Une before rushing
after the other two, just barely seeing the woman press a button on her desk.
"Hold it, Mr. Maxwell." Lady
Une's voice came from behind them. Duo, despite everything that told him to
turn around, did. He was surprised to see two very large guards standing at her
sides.
"What the hell is it now, Une?"
he snapped, trying to his shock. The two guards moved forward, one grabbing
Shinji and the other grabbing Asuka, who instantly begin to protest.
"You may not be willing to
cooperate with us on this mission, but it's going through with or without you."
Une told him with a rather sadistic smile.
"What? What are you doing with
them?!" Duo demanded angrily.
"We need them." Was Une's
clipped response.
"I am their legal guardian! You
can't take them without my consent!" Duo bellowed.
"DUO! Don't let them take us!"
Asuka pleaded, trying to fight against the guard's strong hold.
"They may be under your care,
but they are products of a mission conducted here on this base. They are our
property."
"Property my ASS! They're just
kids!" Duo screamed. His argument fell on deaf ears as Une turned on her heel
and begin to walk way.
"As are you, Duo Maxwell."
Duo suddenly felt something
incredible come over him. It was like all of his pent up anger and hidden
emotions just came out in a giant adrenaline rush and he felt like he could do
anything.
"UNE!" he hollered in a war cry
like voice. His voice echoed off the walls and the ceiling and the floor. The
lights flickered over head as though they were possessed. Une, the two guards,
Shinji and Asuka all turned warily around only to see Duo, shadowed by some
un-seen light, standing there looking like a demon.
"Oh My God…" Lady Une muttered
in awe. Without any warning a sudden wind blew through the hallway, sending
papers and hair flying all over the place.
"Let…them…go…" Duo growled, his
voice sounding completely inhuman. The lights flickered again and Asuka swore
she saw the outline of wings behind the braided boy.
As quickly as it had come, the
rush left Duo's body. His knees quaked underneath him and the world started to
spin.
"Duo!" Asuka screamed out,
seeing him weaken as the place returned back to normal. She didn't even have to
put up a fight to get away from the guard, seeing as he was just standing
there, completely dumbfounded. Asuka rushed forward, and Duo hit his knees on
the floor, holding his throbbing head in his hands.
"Asuka, don't! You don't know
what he is!" Shinji begged the girl, knowing good and well she wasn't going to
listen to him.
Asuka grabbed Duo's shoulders
and struggled to hold his listless body up.
"Duo! Duo say something!" she
pleaded, gently shaking him. He groaned and looked at her with glazed over
eyes.
"Sorry…Asuka…" he was able to
rasp before falling lifelessly in her arms.
"DUO!" Asuka screamed, tears
filling her eyes.
"Get a medic down here, NOW!"
Une ordered the guards. They took off down the hallway, both calling in to the
radios attached to their shirts. Une then rushed over to Duo and Asuka, quickly
checking for a pulse and breath.
"He's breathing, but his heart
beat is erratic. He needs medical attention and I mean now." She informed the
shaking Asuka. Shinji walked over and was some how able to pry Asuka away from
Duo's limp body.
Asuka broke down right there,
burying her face in her hands and sobbing. Shinji wrapped his arms around the
girl and pulled her close, and for once Asuka actually allowed him to do this
move.
Lady Une brushed Duo's brown
spiky bangs away from his closed eyes and stared at the pale face before her.
Duo Maxwell…I always thought
your kind was dead…
*RROC – Reality Research Control Operations
An organization within Preventers that Lady Une heads up. It's similar to the SCG (Stargate Command) in the show Stargate SG-1
A/N: IIEEK!! I'm evil! Actually I'm not trying to be evil right now, I just have to be going some where in about five minutes…
Anyway,
I wanted to give a little shout out to Elf, cause she's the only one who's
reviewed this story so far!!
Hey
Elf, advertise this story to some of your friends or something! PLEASE! I want
some more reviews! You're the only person who's even said this story is any
good! But…well I'm glad you do think this story is good cause honestly I think
you are a writer among writers! Not only do you come up with some sweet ideas,
A Shade Darker kicked copious amounts of ass, as my boyfriend would say. So,
anywayz, I really must go now. Sorry to leave this hanging like this, but DOH!
I gotta go! *giggles* That rhymes…YES! I am in an incredibly weird mood today.
I'll try to get more soon, promise!!!
Oh,
a little credit is due to my boyfriend who came up with the whole 'my
wallet/credit card is screaming' bit last night when he took me out to dinner.
*giggles* Az, you rock!!