Chapter 3

In Some Town Near the Sanc Kingdom – 1:45 PM

The pilots walked along either side of Rayne, catching their breath from the long track they had just sprinted, thinking it was going to be short. But it turned out to be a two mile jog, and Rayne had never let them for a breather during the whole time. Actually, Rayne didn't seem tired or breathless from the run at all.

"Say, Ray..?" began Duo, stopping as he caught his breath.

Rayne looked at him, smiling from the nickname he had just given her. "Yeah?"

"How (gasp) far (pant) is the (gasp, pant) the...uh (pant) transport (gasp) transport...tran—" But before he could finish, Rayne interrupted.

"It's right here. Sorry you had to run for so long," she said as she sled down a steep incline and to a fairly large, empty, area of cement with a huge hole roofed with a big sewer cover. There were large pipes leading to the area, and the pilots recognized it as a rain pit to hold and drain the water so it didn't flood the nearby creek and houses. Sort of like a very large culvert.

A black Suburban[1] was parked in the middle of the distance between the hole in the middle of the overlarge culvert and the inclined walls, the two license plates read: "PEACE-666[2]" with a small grim reaper at the corner. The right side of the car was smashed in a little – the paint scratched off a small amount. The antenna at the front of the car was also half torn off, leaving a jagged edged point.

"I got into a little accident," she said when she saw Duo looking at the damages of her car. "Nothing big. But the guy that crashed into me won the case when I took it to court. I had to pay for his damages and I thought to myself 'why fix it up? It's just going to get ruined again'. Believe it or not, that's the fifth time that I've been in an accident this month and it wasn't my fault."

"Take it to Hilde and my shop on L2," Duo said, grinning. "I bet I could get you a discount."

Rayne tried not to blush. She looked down at her keychain ring attached to her jeans belt-loop and tried finding her car keys in the jumble of small silver keys and a gold crucifix, using that as an excuse to avoid his eyes. "Thanks for the offer," she mumbled. Finally she found the blasted car keys! "Found them," she said to no one in particular. She opened the car door, unlocked the other three doors, and let them choose their seats before locking the car.

Duo, after many minutes of complaining, ended up being in the other front seat (much to Rayne's uneasiness); Heero, Trowa and Quatre were in the back seat; and Wufei was forced to sit in the 'very' back where there were no seat belts nor seats.

Duo looked at the two black, fuzzy, squares hanging from the rear-view mirror. He turned them around and saw the sides of the left square all read the same thing: "Peace Bringer" The right square's side read: "Not A Peacecraft".

*Must be like Zechs. She doesn't want to hold the Peacecraft name,* Duo thought.

There was also a handheld mirror where the dashboard met the window with the words "Don't Call Me Cute – Call Me Dangerous" on the center where it reflected the user[3].

"Nice mirror," he commented.

"Thanks," she responded. She brought the car to life, and put it in the fastest gear it was capable of (it's not automatic, as you can see – though I'm not sure if Suburbans come like that).

The car gave a mighty jolt as it went over the inclined walls, and began shaking as they crashed through some overgrown bushes and through a narrow trail, barely escaping the branches of trees in the forest they were quickly passing.

Suddenly, they burst through the forest, and ended up in a street. But the pilots couldn't even register that they were on a sidewalk before there was a screech from the tires on asphalt as Rayne quickly turned the car and raced down the street.

Rayne gave a laugh. "Hey, Wufei – since you're back there, check and make sure I didn't run anyone over!" she said.

"I will NOT follow orders from a weak woman!" Wufei growled. "It is injustice that I should have to sit back here, too!! And you drive like a maniac, woman!! You're worse than Maxwell! I should be driving!! A weak woman like you at the wheel is unjust!!"

Rayne stopped Wufei's rant short by looking at her keychain loop (not the road), and trying to get a keychain off while still driving. She failed miserably and ended up crashing and destroying two water hydrants - making their contents spill out to the street – and crushing a basketball. But she managed to get the keychain off.

She threw it back to Wufei. "If you must do something, occupy yourself with this!"

"What is this, woman!?" Wufei yelled.

"An idiot keychain[4]!!" she laughed and barely managed to dodge an old lady with a grocery cart with a large swerve.

"WOMAN!!!!!" Wufei yelled. But if he said anything more, he wasn't able to be heard, because at that moment Rayne decided to put in a VERY old CD on full blast on her car's stereo.

"What band sang this?" Duo yelled over the music.

"Linkin Park![5] It's the Hybrid Theory CD!!" she shouted back.

"I love Linkin Park!!!"

"Rock conquers all," was all Rayne said before going on with her swerving and destruction that was her driving, and singing along with the music.

~~

[1]=I don't know if Suburbans are still around in the AC years – but I don't care! It's MY story! I can do whatever I want with it!! *Light bulb flashes above her head* *evil smile* *muses edge away slowly*

[2]=So the license plate has eight characters instead of the limit of seven – but I don't care! It's MY story – ugh, forget it...

[3]=I have one of those mirrors, except it says "Don't Call Me Cute – Call Me Crazy". But there ARE the Dangerous mirrors, too..

[4]=I LOOOOOOVE those keychains!!!!! You know, those that say – "if you wanna see an idiot keychain, turn this over" on both sides. Or something like that...they're so fun!! Heh...

[5]=Linkin Park is AWESOME!!!!!! I'm listening to them right now!! But don't flame me if you don't like them, 'cause that's just CRUEL!!!! *whimper*

A/N: You know the drill...