The Urchin: Part Seventeen
By Banshi
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Duo was pouring over the files that G had supplied, looking for anything helpful. The whole thing read like a psychological study of the idle rich. Gibraltar plainly had too much time and too much money on his hands. Duo could think of more than a couple of ways to relieve both maladies. Especially since Gibraltar had used both to recreate a weapon of war. Duo clearly remembered the explosion that had sent his partner to that big hanger in the sky, he didn't need to think of what a new one would be used for.
Fortunately, G had lied when he told Gibraltar that the weapons would be operational by the time that weasel came back. The weapons would never be operational unless Gibraltar found one of the other original designers to come in and fix the "modifications" that G had made to Deathscyth's original blueprints.
Duo figured that modifications were the next best thing to completely destroying the blueprints, which is what the old man should have done. He sighed, that machine was the closest thing to a child that G would probably ever have, emotionally speaking, Duo couldn't really blame him for not destroying every trace of the Gundam like the other scientists had.
Duo finished the files from G and started the files from Gibraltar's own database, with particular interest in the bastard's journal. Duo was running out of names to call him, and so resorted to repeating himself and made a mental note to get the other guys to teach him some non-English names to call the fat coward.
Gibraltar's journal revealed him to be a man of the same social circle as Treize Kushrenada, but in every other aspect the General's inferior. Gibraltar used the high-brow language of the aristocracy, and wrote like the stupid megalomaniac that he was. Very little of intelligence could be gleaned from the pages and pages of self-praise. At least the man's grammar and spelling were prefect. Someone had been paying their tutors very well.
Duo paid particular attention to the entries from during the last war, from how not involved with the major Romafeller and Oz plans he was, to his accounts of the Gundams, and the war in general. As far as Gibraltar was concerned, the only reason that Oz had failed to take over the world wholesale was that Gibraltar himself hadn't been give Treize's job.
Duo snorted. Wufei had told him of Kushrenada's last words, and here he was reading the words of a man who had completely missed the point, even with more information that the Gundam pilots had managed to amass over the course of the war. He was a stupid prick, that's all there was to it. and apparently he was trying to succeed where Kushrenada had failed, and take over the world with his custom-made Gundam.
"Over my dead body!" Duo growled.
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Trowa had spent most of the past week watching Gibraltar's house. While Gibraltar was off colony, and G had been rescued, many of the mechanics defected...taking many priceless antiques with them. Only a skeleton security team remained, and after over-hearing a conversation between two as they made rounds, Trowa knew that they stuck around because Gibraltar hadn't paid them yet.
It was too easy, and Gibraltar was obviously too stupid to cause as much trouble as he had. It brought Trowa back to the original question from weeks ago, who was Gibraltar's partner?
He continued watching, hoping that the identity of the "brains of the operation" as Duo would say, would make itself known. No-one but security personnel ever left or entered the property. It was frustrating, because the mystery partner may have had personal reasons for targeting Duo in this expensive rebuilding. Duo was a fairly easy target when it came to turning the public against him. He was charming and beautiful, but also the most publicized Gundam pilot. Many people had lost family to Duo's thermal scythe, and just as many wouldn't need any provocation to believe that pilot 02 had turned against the new peaceful regime.
Trowa worried for his ... friend. Duo was too vulnerable to this sort of attack, and they had no idea who was behind it, or even who would know of that vulnerability. Heero showed up at "dusk" for his turn at surveillance, and bid Trowa good-night. Trowa nodded, and headed strait for the new public cafe in the shopping district. He needed to get some more information from an outside source, all of their files on Gibraltar so far had been created too close to the problem, fresh eyes were needed, and there was only one set that he trusted with Duo's well-being that wasn't on L2.
The noise of the cafe was enough screen against eavesdropping, but Trowa activated an electronic jammer for bugs anyway. He didn't like taking chances with mysteries.
"Winner residence, how may I help you?" The butler answered the phone, and Trowa had to smile, realizing how much Quatre hated having all of his calls screened by someone else.
"May I speak to Quatre please? This is Trowa."
"Of course Mr. Barton. One moment while I transfer you."
"Thank you." Trowa sighed and waited while the phone rang on the other end of the line.
"Trowa! It's so good to hear from you. How is the search going?" Quatre's voice sounded tired but happy, and the concern colored his words, even across the phone line.
"Both very well and not so good, if you can believe that such a thing is possible."/
"I can, give me the good news first." Trowa smiled at the command/request, so common to Quatre's speech.
"We rescued G, know where Gibraltar is and have determined that he is an unintelligent rat who deserves whatever Duo can think of to do to him."
"He must be a rat. Ok, what's the bad news?"
"He's obviously not smart, sneaky or cunning enough to pull off this operation, so there has to be someone else involved, and we don't know who. Even if we get Gibraltar, and expose him for the peace-wrecker and egomaniac that he is, we won't have the source. Duo will still be vulnerable, and there is a high chance of there being another attack on him in this way."
Quatre was silent for a moment, and Trowa had no doubt that he had heard the concern, and near-fear in Trowa's voice. He was glad it was Quatre, there were only two other people he could have admitted fear to, and one of them was the one he feared for. It was unacceptable that Duo should have something else to worry about. Trowa would take care of it, and everything would go back to normal.
Never mind that "normal" had become sleeping on Duo's floor and listening to him breath, or working with him at Leslie's clinic, or handing out nutritious food to the street gangs, or teaching those children to read.
Trowa knew that he would never be able to return to his life at the circus and feel any satisfaction in it now. There was too much to do here, too much holding him here. Was it possible to have two homes? Quatre interrupted his thoughts.
"I can see your dilemma," it took a moment for Trowa to remember that they were talking about Gibraltar's mystery partner, and not the issue of Trowa's home. "Duo would be the target of another frame if we don't get the roots of this one. You don't think that the partner will make himself known if you expose Gibraltar?"
"No. There is nothing gained that way, and everything lost."
"Indeed, then maybe you have to stage a more general attack. Something strait at the project itself, make it apparent that if the partner doesn't act, everything will be lost, regardless of Gibraltar."
"Any suggestions on how to go about doing that?"
" Nothing useful at the moment. However, I will contact Relena and we will start preparing a 'publicity shield', for want of a better term, for Duo. Just in case. That should guard against any future attacks as well. It would seem that this new war will be fought through the media, if we are predicting the intended outcome of Gibraltar's plans correctly."
"So it would seem." The conversation had not helped ease Trowa's worries, but now he had the comfort of knowing that Duo was not quite so unprotected in this new battle. It was better than nothing.
"Trowa, may I ask you a question?" There was a new tone in Quatre's voice.
"Of course Quatre."
"Does Duo make you happy?" That was not what Trowa had expected him to ask, though he knew that it would have something to do with Duo. Of course Quatre would guess the source of Trowa's worry.
"Yes."
"Do you love him?" Trowa paused, taking a moment to taste the particulars of his own emotions.
"Very much so."
"Good. I'll call as soon as I know anything. Stay safe, that goes for all of you."
"We will. Thank you Quatre."
"You're welcome. 'Bye Trowa."
"'Bye."
Trowa walked out of the cafe feeling both worried and strangely content. Duo was in danger, but now Trowa knew his own emotions, and somehow, he believed that it would help them.
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Duo found what he was looking for at the end of an entry that detailed a society ball, in which Gibraltar criticized Relena's dress and appearance no less than seven times. It was just a sentence, but it gave Duo enough information to start a useful search.
::Lord M gave the signal, and finally I will realize my destiny.::
It was dated three days before the memorial dedication ceremony that had started this whole thing. There weren't very many people anymore that could carry the title of Lord, most had been wiped out with Romafeller, and others had given up their titles as the governments came together.
"Wufei!" Duo ran from his room to the kitchen. He had been thrown out a couple of hours ago when Wufei demanded silence.
"What Maxwell?"
"I found a reference to Mr. Mystery. Gibraltar called him "Lord M". That should help us narrow the search, right?"
"Indeed. I will call it in right away. Good job Maxwell. I couldn't stand that drivel for more than a few pages." Wufei looked at the computer screen with distaste, even thought the journal wasn't the file displayed. Duo smiled and decided that it was time to make his food rounds. It had been a lean week, so the kids would need more from them than usual. Wufei absently wished him well, and told him to be careful.
Duo trudged down the streets with his bags, handing out the meals with his trademark smile to all the kids, who were quickly learning their manners and had stopped swarming him. Duo blamed it on Wufei, but in a grateful way. It took him a couple of hours, but he made sure that everyone had something to eat, his presence ensuring that nobody bullied anybody out of their share. On his way home, with the empty bags folded under his arms, Duo spotted what could only be described as " a suspicious figure." Someone tall was poking through the ruins of one of the smaller buildings on the block, as if they were looking for something. this wasn't unusual, except that this someone was obviously too old to be one of the kids, and not sneaky enough to be with the various L2 authorities.
Duo concealed himself behind a partially standing brick wall and watched the man move from one building to another. Two kids ran out from behind the second one, but the man didn't seem to notice them. Definitely not the authorities.
At the fourth building, just as Duo found himself a closer hiding place, the man straitened up, holding up his hand triumphantly. He held a set of keys, with a key chain that looked like it just might be real gold. Duo made a mental note to teach the kids about the grabbing of opportunity, and followed the man back down the street, staying out of sight. Around the corner was the car that had cased the neighborhood that night, and it was a brilliant blue, proving the deceptive qualities of dark.
"Should have taken his keys kiddos." Duo muttered to himself as the man got into the passenger side of the car, and it purred away, still moving as if the occupants were searching. They obviously hadn't found what they were looking for the other night, but now Duo had a better view of them. He quickly memorized the car ID number. All cars on L2 were required to have that number on all removable pieces, as will as both bumpers. Duo had never been thankful for it before, but, he smiled ruefully, there was a first time for everything.
He bolted back home so that Wufei could use the Preventer access to trace the number. Hopefully it was someone that had something to do with their problem. If not, at least they could be fairly sure that those guys were up to no good, and maybe Wufei would actually get to make an arrest while he was here.
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continued in part eighteen