The Urchin: Part Thirteen

By Banshi

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Duo had been quiet during dinner. Not a depressed quiet, but quiet, only speaking when spoken to. Though, most of the speaking had been joking around with the kids.

Trowa knew that Duo's behavior was at least in part because of his omitting Martin Gibraltar. Fortunately, Duo wasn't completely ignoring him, and even smiled at him once in a while, so he knew that the other man couldn't be too angry. Or there was something else going on.

After they had packed the kids away to their own current "homes" and settled in for the night, Trowa lay on his futon so that he was looking strait at Duo. Duo avoided his gaze.

"I'm sorry." Trowa hadn't realized that he was going to speak until the words were out of his mouth. Though, they seemed to have been the right words, as Duo turned to look at him with those wide indigo eyes. Point for the subconscious.

"It's ok Tro. After looking at that file, I can see that I wouldn't have given him serious-threat status. It wasn't until all the stuff this afternoon, with not finding G and everything."

"Why did you want to talk to G right away? I know he has his sources, but yours are probably better. People trust you."

Duo smiled slightly at the last comment before answering. "He's the only guy who has my file, which is the only place that the info Gibraltar was spouting off could have come from. His base being cleaned out the way it was has me worried, but you couldn't have helped that either."

They both sighed and turned to look at the ceiling, lost in thought. Soon Trowa gave up trying to puzzle out the situation with Gibraltar and Duo's records and the kids. He turned his attention to the strange conversation that had begun the day.

Duo asking about dream interpretation. Duo saying that the kiss had meant something. It had made Trowa's heart leap, and the feeling hadn't all disappeared while he was fearing Duo's wrath. Not that he thought his friend would hurt him, but he didn't really like the idea of going the next two months with blue or pink hair. And changing his hair color was a very Duo way of getting even.

His own dream had lead to his showings of affection. Could Duo's mind be giving him the same message? Only one way to find out.

"Duo?"

"Hmm?"

"Why did you ask about dreams this morning?"

There was a long pause, and Trowa thought that Duo wasn't going to answer him. Then the other man gave a big sigh and turned back on his side so that they faced each other.

"I had this weird dream about you last night. The first dream I've had since I got Deathscyth. They all went away after that. I just..." He stopped and shifted uncomfortably. Trowa wanted to reach out to him, but didn't want to break whatever trust had been established. "I wanted to know what it meant. Why were you my first dream? Why wasn't it some nightmare about the kids and the church and the universe going to hell? I hear you guys talking about those dreams you have, and I wonder what's wrong with me that I don't have them too. Instead, I get this weirdo dream about having my hair down, which never happens, and you smiling like I've only ever seen on Quatre's face." Duo sighed again, looking down at his blanket, smoothing out the wrinkles.

"Smiling, hmm?" Trowa couldn't help teasing his friend a little. It sounded a lot like his dream. Instead of having a hair-related vulnerability, his reflection had been alone. And he then had held Duo.

"Yeah, you were smiling. Actually, you were smirking sorta, but your eyes were smiling." The breathy quality of Duo's voice conveyed more to Trowa's heart than he thought possible.

"Actually, I had a weird dream about you too. You didn't have a reflection." Duo looked back up at him, and the sudden laughter in his eyes was the only warning Trowa got.

"This wasn't some horror-erotic necking vampire dream was it?"

Trowa threw his pillow, smacking Duo in the chest. Duo whapped him upside the head with a pillow I return. If they hadn't been synthetic-cotton pillows, there would have been feathers flying about the room. The pillow fight lasted until "dawn".

Trowa knew that he hadn't laughed so hard in his entire life. It made the muscles on his stomach hurt more than any number of sit-ups ever had. And he wouldn't have traded that night for anything, not even his wildest dreams.

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Duo started the next day dead tired, and happier than he had been in a long time. Something had changed with the half-conversation last night, and he was anxious to see what it had changed to.

After coffee, Heero, Trowa and the kids all helped him come up with ways to find G. Hopefully they would have some idea what was going on by the end of the day.

Heero and one gang were going to the ritzy neighborhoods, posing as a school group taking surveys. Duo nearly laughed at the idea of Heero coaxing information rather than demanding it. The kids all had instructions not to let the former Gundam pilot terrorize anyone, no matter how much they deserved it.

Trowa was going to the clinic, to see if anyone from the lab had made it there. Leslie would know who they were on sight, after all, G had helped her set up the place.

More kids were going from place to place with a picture of G, trying to see if anybody gave it a second glance. They would follow the suspicious ones, but not give them any trouble.

Duo was going to do what he did best: sneak around and give the bad- guys hell. Starting back at the old lab, he would do the detective thing and figure out where everyone had gone. Talking to the old contacts and helpers was bound to be fun.

They finished breakfast and split up.

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Duo searched the warehouse from top to bottom, hoping that someone had left him a note or clue or something. No such luck, but he did find that even the machines that were still here had been moved recently. Long scratches ran along the floor, but hadn't been covered in dust and dirt yet. Duo knew that the secret compartments in the walls had been cleared out too, and that disturbed him more than he cared to admit.

The compartments that he had helped G install were even more of a secret than the Gundam had been. The one on the far left corner, opposite the door had been where Duo and G's records had been kept, along with the blueprints to Deathscyth, the original.

Suddenly this was no longer just about Duo's past, and some idiot mouthing off, or even a disappearing professor. This was about someone having the plans for a weapon of mass destruction. The plans to his Deathscyth.

"God damn it! Why can't we ever get a bad-guy who doesn't want a Gundam."

Duo ran to call Une, it was time to call in the big guns.

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Heero was ready to kill someone, although he refrained from telling anybody that. The kids were looking at him warily, and seemed to be debating whether they should actually try to calm him down, or leave the rich boobs to their fate.

Heero knew that the decision boiled down to what Duo and Trowa would be happier with. So he knew that he wasn't going to kill anyone.

They had been walking around for hours, asking carefully guarded questions about what people thought of the makers of the Gundams, what people thought about having one of them here on the colony. Things like that.

There had been a great deal of venom towards G, and glowing praises for the pilots. Heero had been torn between growling at their opinion of the mechs themselves, and snapping because these people were idiots for thinking that the pilots would forget the abandonment in the middle of the war.

Neither reaction was good for getting answers willingly out of people.

"I think the builders were great! I mean, without the Gundams we wouldn't have survived all that nonsense with Oz. It would have helped if all the pilots were a good as 01, but I suppose if you get a pilot from this colony, you can't be too picky."

It was the same voice, and the ass was talking about Duo on the pilot's home turf. Several of the children glared at the man, right along with Heero. Fortunately cooler heads prevailed and a little girl, Marien, was asking the man more questions, so that Heero could get a good look at him.

"What about the builder from this colony. Wasn't he good?"

"Yes he was, but he isn't from here. He wouldn't have been a genius if he was from here. It isn't the people's fault that this place is incapable of supporting the best and the brightest. That's just the way it is. If you want someone competent, you need to look elsewhere. That's where the Professor failed with 02."

It was Gibraltar, looking very pleased with himself, and preening as he shared his inside information. The man was only a little taller than Heero, and not nearly as tall as Trowa, or even Duo had gotten, and pudgy. He was glowing with the attention he was getting for all his insight, and it made Heero sick, until he analyzed what the bastard had said.

"The Professor." Heero whispered to himself, anger overwhelming him. The poof in front of him had G, and Duo's records and was using them for some selfish fantasy of his own.

Only a small hand on his arm kept him from storming over and making the man talk. Heero looked down into Ben's eyes, and saw an echo of his own anger. He knew that the boy only knew a portion of what was going on, but understood enough to realize that the man was hurting, or planning to hurt Duo in some way.

Heero leaned down, as if reassuring the boy, and whispered in his ear. "Follow him. Stay invisible, and then go tell Duo where he went." Ben nodded and disappeared into an alley behind where Gibraltar was standing.

Heero was going to see to it that this whole mess was ended, soon.

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Trowa hadn't had any luck, except that Leslie had needed his help when he got there. He had spent the day up to his elbows in scrapes, cuts, concussions and bloody-noses.

It was an apt reminder that normal chaos didn't stop just because they were having a crisis.

As the "sun" set, he trudged into the house and was greeted by a totally new chaos. There were many children, and they were sitting quietly watching Duo and Wufei talk. Heero was growling at someone on the vid-phone, and there was computer equipment everywhere. Une had obviously given Wufei the assignment as a priority. He had gotten here quickly.

Trowa was about to ask what was going on when Ben ran in through the door behind him, drawing Heero's attention.

"Where is he Ben?" Whoever was on the vid-phone screen snapped something at Heero before cutting the line.

"At the big house, at the end of Brussels Lane."

"Where is who?" Trowa asked, feeling very confused. Duo took pity on him.

"Come on, I'll fill you in on the way." And they followed as Wufei lead them outside, with a stern warning that the children needed to leave this to the ex- pilots.

Trowa knew that at least three of them were going to follow.

"So, what did I miss?" he asked, watching Duo play with the end of his braid.

"Gibraltar is here, was mouthing off again, and didn't see Heero this time. Wouldn't have lasted five minutes in the war. He was insulting the entire colony this time. Apparently I shouldn't feel bad for being and inferior pilot, I couldn't help it seeing as I'm from this place." The tone in Duo's voice wasn't one that Trowa had heard in over a year. It was bitter, self-mocking and manic. It was Shinigami after capture. Trowa waited for his friend to continue. "All the records are missing from G's old lab, including the blueprints for my original Buddy. Near as I can tell, Martin," the name came out in a sneer, " wants to play soldier, and he's using my past to do it."

Trowa put a hand on Duo's shoulder, trying to calm his friend down, even while his own temper flared. Nobody was allowed to hurt Duo like this, to take advantage of his anonymity.

Gibraltar would suffer.

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continued in part fourteen