The Urchin: Part Eighteen
By Banshi
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Martin Gibraltar stared at the four men standing before him. Looking from one set of eyes to the next, his small courage failed him and his knees started shaking. Impassive onyx regarded him with disdain, and he felt as if he were an errant piece of chewing gum that had just been scraped off the bottom of the young Preventer's shoe. Chill blue brought back to him his one brush with death, a mugging in the streets of Madrid in his boyhood in which he had stared down the barrel of an ancient pistol for the better part of ten minutes.
Gibralter's breath came in quick, paniced gasps, his blood roared in his ears, and he could feel his heart pounding, and imagined it exploding suddenly from the strain. Blank green, a mirror in which he only saw what he really was, a loathsom con man with delusions of grandure. He kept his eyes locked with that reflective stare as long as he could, wishing that he could summon the breath to beg for mercy, or to curse his guards for deserting him at the sight of the five boys. He hadn't even made it to the house. he was going to die in the street without having unpacked.
'Please, don't make me look at him.' Gibralter wanted to scream, somehow guessing who it was that stood at the end of the row. Black clothing set off the pale skin of the street rat, a thick rope of chestnut hair thrown jauntily over one shoulder. Hands on narrow hips, chin raised proudly and a manic smile on that cheeky face. Gibralter didn't want to meet his eyes, didn't want to see the one whos hands his life was in.
This place was L2, the streets of L2 that he had mocked so readily. Pilot 02's justice would be street justice, for Gibralter had no illusion that Preventer Chang would do anything to save him. If pilot 02 decided that Gibralter would die, than he would die.
Eyes of a particular shade of blue that they were often mistaken for violet. Indigo, Gibralter thought the color was called. The emotion in those eyes was ice cold, but so unlike the other set of blue eyes that Gibralter whimpered. The manic smile widened into a true grin, showing a mouth full of slightly crooked but white teeth. The emotion intensified and Gibralter had the sudden feeling that lost souls in Hell knew this grin, this feeling intimatly. This was the look of a demon, just before he repaid a soul for its sins. This was the look of a laughing Death, a mocking spirit who chortled with glee as he tore the soul away, knowing that death was the least of what Gibralter deserved.
Martin Gibralter tore his eyes away, fell to his knees and tried to cover his head with his fat arms, wordless gibbring coming unbidden from his throat.
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The Gundam polits exchanged glances over Gibralter's cowering head. Duo was the first to break the silence.
"And this guy railroaded G!?" Wufei chuckled slightly before turning back to the round man on the ground before them. It had been a shock when they had found him finally. For all intents an purposes, Martin Gibralter was a custard donut with cognitave abilities. And that was being generous. "Why don't we ask him?" Heero stated, in the cool, dead voice that had been perfected along with the rest of him. Gibralter whimpered again and tried to curl up into a ball. Duo snorted and moved so that he was crouching just in front of Gibralter, put on his best Shinigami grin and replied with more glee than was really necessary:
"Yes, lets."
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Gibralter silently prayed for death as he tried, in vain to stop the flow of helpless noise that was pouring out of him. He would be lucky if his family could identify his body after the pilots were done with him. 02 was so close that Gibraleter could smell the salty tang of sweat and the earthy scent of dirt. Unconsciously he wriggled his nose in distaste. Unforunately, 02 caught it.
"I'm sorry Mr. Gibralter, am I offending your delicate Earth-born sensibilities?" There was mocking concern in the pilot's voice, then there was a chuckle that raised all the hairs on the back of Gibralter's neck. 02 leaned in closer, so that all that Gibralter could smell was the earthy scent of the young man. He tried not to breath. "Welcome to the street Martin. I'm afraid that you're just going to have to get used to the smell, you're going to be here for a while."
Gibralter tembled in terror at the promise in that voice, and heard the movement of dozens of thin young bodies closing in around him. He risked a glance and saw many dirty children glaring at him as they formed a circle around the Pilots and their captive. They were in the street just outside of his house. Gibralter could see the gate, slightly open, beckoning him with the hope of safety. If he could get inside before the Pilots or the children caught him, then he could call in a security detail to escourt him to Earth. Then the little nobodies would pay.
Gibralter shifted until he was crouched instead of cowering, hoping that the Pilots hadn't noticed. No, they wouldn't, they were inferior peasents. He had succumbed to a flight of fancy momentarily in his fear. It was natural to feel fear in the presence of the enemy. It was not wise to credit them with higher class abilities than they had while experiencing that fear.
Having calmed himself, Gibralter took a deep breath, and waited until 02 turned his head to brag to his friends. The cur never saw it coming, as Gibralter sprang up and dashed for the gate. He was fast as the wind, a streak of light as he covered the distance and closed the gate behind him with the emergency override. Nothing had stopped him, he had made it to safety and those Pilots hadn't been able to do anything! He sauntered up to the house, thinking up what he was going to tell Lord M when he ordered his security escourt. Maybe he would even get the Preventer's head in his detail. If she had been good enough for Kushrenada, then she would be honored to work for a Gibralter!
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Much to everyone's surprise, Duo waited until the mansion's front door closed behind Gibralter before crumbling to the ground howling with laughter. He had the sort of laughing fit that, until being introduced to Duo, people thought only existed in cartoons. He was holding his sides, hugging himself with tears streaming down his cheeks as he laughed until he couldn't breath and started caughing. And he was far from the only one.
"Did you see that! What a moron. How stupid does he think we are?" Duo howled a little more, over the din of mockery and mirth. None of them could keep a strait face as they remembered the sight of Gibralter crouching on the ground like a stubby hedghog, and then up and waddeling to his gate. An asthmatic with a broken leg could have caught him without really trying. And yet, from the look on that pudgy face, he actually thought that he had out-smarted and out-ran them.
"Oh yeah, Martin Gibralter can out run a street rat. Really!" Duo snorted, and tried to get his laughter under control.
"So now what?" Ben asked, walking up to stand next to Trowa, who looked like he'd sprained something, laughing so hard. Ben patted his back and waited for an answer.
"Now we wait for him to tell his benefactor about his stunning escape from the incompitent Gundam Pilots. I have a team waiting to trace the signal. A team will find this Lord M before Duo can break in and take over the Mansion." Wufei stated smugly as he watched his communicator.
"Is that fast?" Ben's question nearly sent the Pilots into another fit. Trowa caughed and got himself under control first.
"Yes, Ben. That's very fast." Ben looked up a Duo with naked adoration in his gray eyes. Duo blushed and shifted uncomfortably, but declined to say anything. He knew he was good.
Speaking of good..." We've got him." Wufei announced, already coordinating the effort to get the mysterious Lord M, and securing the area around Gibralter's mansion so that they wouldn't be disturbed. It was good to know people in high places. Especially people with Une's sence of humor.
Duo made a mental note to send her flowers after this. With that, the five pilots and ten children entered Gibralter's rented domain, all wearing some version of a gleeful, menicing grin.
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continued in part nineteen