This is not how I was planning on spending my weekend. She sighed as she stood in the busy spaceport of the L6-X1997 colony. More affectionately referred to as 'the rat's nest'. The name suited it. The colony was crawling with rats like drug dealers, rapists, and con artists. There were so many criminals and lowlifes that most thugs would not even be noticed. It was ideal for criminal hideouts. It was like trying to find a needle in a haystack.
Her brother had never allowed her to come near that colony before, but it never stopped her. He was so damn overprotective of her that it was frustrating.
It was exactly a week after she had first received that emergency transmission from Duo. She had tried calling his house, but his girlfriend, Hilde, said that he had not been home in a few weeks. What worried her even more was that his calls had stopped a week ago, the day he called for her.
Looking at the map, she headed down the dirty, worn down street looking for where Duo was when he called her. Ignoring the suspicious and sometimes appreciative glances from some of the locals, she found her spot easily, and started looking for someone to hassle for information.
She saw a small café huddled on the street corner and decided that was a good place to look for drunks who would tell her anything if she shook them hard enough.
As she approached the café, she saw a nervous homeless guy, holding a bottle in a paper bag. She grinned; she wouldn't even have to go inside to find the scum.
"Hey, you!" She called. The old man looked up and gazed at her with a terrified expression. He was disgustingly thin, wearing quite a few layers of clothing, covered then by a dirty green overcoat. He was balding on top, and the sides of his silvery hair stuck out in the air. He reminded her of an extremely old and sickly Einstein.
He was so hammered he nearly dropped his bottle of booze as she approached him.
"I need some information, buddy." She grinned maniacally. That look always got them talking. But this guy was too dense to catch it.
"I don't know nothing," He slurred.
"Did you see a guy here last week?" She asked, ignoring his earlier response.
"I seen lotsa guys here, bitch."
She glared at him a tried to keep her cool for a little while longer. "I'm looking for a young guy, about twenty years old, really tall. He wears his hair in a long braid. Have you seen him?"
"Maybe,"
Maybe, that means yes. "Really, well, where did you see him?"
"I didn't see him, you slut." The guy practically fell over into her arms from the effect of the obviously large amount of alcohol he had consumed. She cringed and threw him to the ground.
"I'm not in the mood to play guessing games." She snapped. "Now tell me where you saw him."
"I didn't see nothing, and I don't know nothing. Now go away you stupid bitch, and give me my booze."
She snarled and kicked him in the ribs, watching with pleasure as he grimaced. She then picked him up by his collar and held him up against the wall. The fear returned to his eyes and he stared at her.
"Tell me what I want to know, or you'll be missing a lot more than just your damn booze."
"I-I told you, I ain't seen nothing!" He stammered.
"Oh, not too sure are you?" She smirked and slammed him against the wall. "I'm only going to ask you nicely one more time. Where is he?"
"I-I dunno. He ran into these guys, and then that was it. I didn't see him again, I swear!" Finally, I'm getting somewhere. "What kind of guys?"
The bum avoided her gaze. "Answer me!" She slammed him into the wall again, and he became a fountain of information. "He walked up to one of these guys and started talking to them. They got into this fight, and they dragged him over there behind those crates." He pointed to the road behind her where large crates were lined up and ready to be transported.
"Is that everything?" she asked suspiciously.
"Yeah," the bum nodded frantically.
"Thanks," She dropped the guy onto the ground and headed across the street to the crates hoping to find something of use over there.
She went behind one of them and saw a splatter of dried blood. It had been smeared around but it was blood, nonetheless. Continuing around through the maze of huge wooden boxes, she saw something else that confirmed that Duo was in definite trouble. She saw the transmitter that she had given him; or at least, what was left of it. It had been crushed into a million little pieces.
Cursing loudly, she squatted down next to the remains and studied them. There was nothing left. It was beyond repair. She sighed and picked up the remains and dropped them into her backpack. Then she went off to 'interview' a few more people for information. Someone had to have seen something around here. It was busy colony after all.
She went back to the café so see what else she could dig up. If that bum outside had seen him, some of the other regulars must have as well.
She entered the café and picked out a likely target and started her usual 'tough girl' routine. But no matter how many people she talked to, she still got the same story. Duo had supposedly upset some guys in uniforms, and they beat him up and dragged him away. But something didn't fit. Duo was usually friendly, and he wasn't one to go around in a colony known for its criminals and upset people. And from the stories she had gotten, there were no more than three or four guys. Duo should have been able to take care of them.
She left the little café and went to the truck stop across the street. Maybe someone over there had seen what went on behind the crates.
As she stepped out the door, she saw that someone else had beaten her to the punch. There was a guy there talking to a truck driver. She stopped and watched him curiously.
He was tall, and was wearing loose dark blue jeans and a green T-shirt. He was muscular and had messy chocolate brown hair. She absently blew the right side of her bangs out of her face, only to have them fall right back into place. The right side of her bangs had been purposefully left to grow longer than the other side, to hide her right eye.
She watched the guy for a moment, laughing at his method of trying to get these guys to talk. He was flashing something at them, a badge maybe. She couldn't believe it. It was obvious the guy wasn't used to interrogating people on the streets, not in this place anyway. Show them a badge and they clam up.
She was almost rolling on the floor with laughter when he finally gave up and moved on to a more effective method, or not quite. He got angry, grabbed the guy, threw him against the wall, and knocked him out cold. She could hear him grumbling as he started to walk away.
Giggling, she followed him and waited until he was alone to approach him, He had briefly interviewed another truck driver, but still got nothing. At least he didn't punch that one out.
She got to him before he could put his badge away, and saw that he was a Preventor.
Shit, the Preventors have caught on to Duo's disappearance too. Oh well, maybe we can be friends.
"I don't think you're going to get anything out of anyone around here." She said from behind his back. She watched as he spun around to face her. She couldn't help but chuckle at the confused expression on his face. The poor guy was clueless.
~
Heero spun around at the sound of the female voice behind him. He came face to face with a girl about his age. She had long chestnut brown hair that went to her mid-back. Her bangs were uneven and choppy, and the right side of them was nearly as long as the rest of her hair and fell into her face, hiding her right eye.
He cringed at the amused twinkle in her visible left eye. He glared at her when she chuckled. "What are you talking about?" He asked monotonously. "Who are you?"
"Who am I?" She pretended to think for a moment. "I should be asking you that first. How do I know I can trust you? Not to many people around here are very fond of the Preventors."
"How did you…?"
"I saw the badge. Now are you going to give me a name or not?"
"Are you?"
"You first."
Heero grumbled. "My name is Heero Yuy."
"Ah yes, I know about you." She chuckled again. "I guess I should introduce myself. It's nice to meet you Heero. My name is Scout, Scout Maxwell."
Heero sputtered as he processed the name. "Maxwell?"
"Yeah, you know, my brother talks about you. He said you have absolutely no sense of humor, and you're no fun to pull pranks on because you don't yell and scream like the funny little Chinese dude. What was his name again?"
"Wufei…"
"That's it…well, let me tell ya something Heero. You're going about this all the wrong way. You can't go flashing that badge to criminals. They won't tell you anything. And you can't knock them out either. Then you'll just get a whole bunch of rent-a-thugs on your tail the entire time you're here…"
"Wait a second…you're Duo's SISTER?"
"That's what I said, wasn't it?" Scout continued. "And I betcha you're here for the same reason I am."
"And what is that?"
"Don't tell me you're just here to smoke out criminals! Duo is missing! He was kidnapped here, just behind those crates." She pointed towards the roadside where she had found the remains of her transmitter. "So tell me, what do they famous Preventors know so far?"
"That's confidential." Heero growled.
"Huh, fine. If you won't share, I won't share. We can both do this on our own. Tell ya what; first one to find Duo gets a prize. Well, good luck, you'll need it." Scout turned and started to walk away.
"Wait!" Heero called after her.
Smiling, Scout turned to face him. "Yes?"
"Is there somewhere we can talk about this?"
Scout smirked and nodded. "Oh yeah, meet me back at that little café in an hour. I have some work I need to do first."
Heero sighed, he was anxious to get the information he needed, but something told him that this girl could be as stubborn as Duo. It was probably best to go along. "Fine," He said.
Scout nodded and hastily walked away. Heero stared after her for a moment before turning himself and going his own way.