Trowa sighed at the fact that he wasn't making much progress with the
Heavyarms. He was used to always being the lone soldier, he didn't usually
fight with others. This had been one of those exceptions, and he'd made a
fool of himself for it. 'It's not really my fault. Our first mission
together I had the hardest position, and received the most damage.' Closing
the cockpit of his gundam, Trowa turned towards the hangar door. 'And now
twice in a row my gundam and I have had to be rescued by others.' The only
sounds in the hangar were those of Trowa's shoes treading lightly on the
catwalk.
The hangar itself was a strange extension of the house. The door came from the kitchen on the first floor, but led straight to the catwalk, about 50 feet off the ground. The house itself stood on a flat ground in the front, and a cliff on the back. The hangar was built into the mountain, leaving only the large metal door to be seen from the outside. This also made it incredibly difficult to attack the hangar, and incredibly easy to escape in a hurry.
Trowa walked down the fire-escape like steps to the second catwalk. This one was about 25 feet from the ground. It makes fixing such huge machines easier to have many levels, so you're closer to more of the mobile suit. Hitting a button on the wall, Trowa climbed down the second set of stairs till he was standing on the metal ground of the hangar. The smooth rolling sound of the hangar door opening was a refreshing change from his footsteps. The cool breeze blew in through the slowly rising wall of metal. 'I need some fresh air to wake me up.' Walking outside, Trowa looked up into the sky, amazed at the way the stars looked from Earth. In the corner of his vision, he could see the dark safehouse, about 200 feet up the cliff wall. Hearing the click of the hangar reaching it's highest position, Trowa turned around to look at the gundams. All in a line, the moonlight playing off their armor, they looked like warriors waiting for battle.
The sound of glass being shattered brought Trowa's attention off the gundams. He turned slowly, pulling his gun out of it's holster. He then ran out till he could see the entire safehouse and aimed towards it. He couldn't see which window had been broken, but shards of glass were falling to the ground nearby, so he knew it was one of the back windows. Out of the corner of his right eye, Trowa saw a large shadow running along the ground in the woods across from him. 'Gotcha.'
* * * * *
'Oh smooth move. Call him a whore, break his window, and take off like the hotheaded fool you are.' After being a little surprised at the height of Duo's window, Solo pulled his wings back against him. He fell and his speed increased. His shoulder length hair was pulled back by the wind as he let the world fly by him. Oddly enough, the wind driving his wings back brought with it a strange sound. A metallic sound, as if something hard had just hit. 'Uh oh.' Looking down, he could see that the hangar door had just finished shutting.
Straining his muscles, Solo brought his wings out like a parachute, slowly himself down prematurely. With the cliff behind him, he stood out like a sitting duck. 'Okay, need a place to hide, very badly.' Tucking his wings back slightly, he fell at an angle towards some trees. Swerving quickly to one side, so as not to clip his wings on a tree, he was soon in a dark wooded clump of trees. 'If I pull my wings in any farther, I won't be able to hold myself up anymore, and at this speed a crash would hurt...a lot. But with them this wide...' A few feathers were ripped out from the end of Solo's left wing, as his thinking had slowed down his reaction time.
The cracking of a twig far behind him, caught Solo's attention, and he cast a quick glance backwards. Trowa stood at the edge of the woods, with a hand gun out and appeared to be looking for something. 'Oh hell...'
* * * * *
Trowa squinted his eyes as he tried to see what had fled into the forest. If it was someone who had broken into their house, he had to catch or kill them as fast as possible. Taking the safety off his gun, he walked carefully into the woods. But soon, something caught his eyes, a large shape moving swiftly towards the other side of the forest. With a smirk, Trowa took off at a full run for the enemy. Trowa could feel that he was catching up on the fugitive, and that this person was running into a lot of the branches of the trees, slowing them down. Trowa paused when he had lost track of the enemy, and stood very still. His muscles relaxed, he didn't concentrate on anything. He didn't move, he barely breathed. And the sound of a twig snapping brought him to the exact place where his quarry was hiding.
* * * * *
Solo flapped madly as he tried his hardest to outrun his pursuer. Despite how careful he was trying to be, every time Solo had to flap his wings to keep himself air born he would hit branches on the nearby trees. The footsteps behind him were growing faster and more accurate as he was sure the person could sense where he was. Praying that his white wings weren't visible enough through the crowded trees, Solo banked a hard right. After going about ten feet in that direction, off his original path, he veered upward, aiming for a large branch.
The sharper parts of the wood stabbed up into Solo's bare feet as he landed as softly as he could. But no matter how hard he tried, the branch bent under his weight. Solo froze in place, standing 30 feet up in a tree as the branch beneath him creaked loudly.
A brown head appeared beneath him almost instantly. 'Ah ha, so it is that Trowa guy who's been chasing me.' The boy turned his head in every direction, keeping his gun at eye level, ready to shoot the slightest movement.
Pressing his wings against the trunk of the tree, Solo prayed that he wouldn't be found. 'Please, don't look up, please let it be too dark to see me. Oh please...'
As the emerald eyes swept through the green forest, gold eyes shut tight, hoping to remain unseen.
'Where is he now? It's like he's gone all of a sudden. I know I heard a noise over here.'
Then, a spot of white shone out against the darkness. Trowa reached out, grabbed hold of the feathers, and pulled.
The two white feathers which Solo had snagged on a branch down below came off and were sitting lightly in Trowa's palm. 'Feathers?'
'Oh no, that's it, I've been found. Guess I have no choice, I'll have to take that kid out. I can't let him get away.' Solo leaned forward slightly, ready to pounce on his victim as soon as he looked up. But Solo remained in this position, as Trowa's head never craned upward, his eyes widening in shock.
Trowa sighed deeply as he put his gun back in it's place. 'Just an owl or something. I've been chasing the shadows of the wildlife. That's a bit embarrassing. Better go check on what really broke that window.' Trowa walked calmly through the woods, and into the hangar. As he passed, he hit the button to close the door.
Solo breathed a sigh of relief in the tree and collapsed on the branch. 'Okay, too close there.' Standing up, and after a careful look around this time, Solo fell out of the tree and spread his wings. The gentle night breeze helped carry him through the forest, and he had an easier time dodging things now that he was at a slower pace.
The metallic scraping sound in the distance caused Solo to pause and nearly crash into the ground. 'Oh you have got to be kiddin me.' Powering the tired muscles in his back which were overworked already, he sped through the remaining area of the forest. Fifty feet away from the last tree he passed, the hangar door was slowly closing. Hoping for another way in, Solo looked up at the window he'd exited, but the light was on, meaning people were in there. 'I can't deal with Duo right now, and there's a chance Heero might be in there anyway.'
The door slid slowly downward, forty feet left till it reached the ground.
Snarling in determination, Solo pushed himself as fast as he could go. Using the small amount of height he had, he turned it into speed and went lower and lower, and faster and faster. He was just barely skimming the surface of the ground, his wings kicking up clouds of dust in his wake. 'Even if I make it in, there's the problem of that kid with the bang again. Dark hangar, maybe I can dodge into a corner and not be seen. If he's even in there, he might have gone in the house.'
Thirty feet away from the door.
With gravity on it's side, the metal wall fell faster, covering up the entrance way. Soon, there was only a twenty foot gap from the bottom of the door, to the ground.
'I can make it.' Reaching out with his hands, Solo grabbed and clawed into the dirt, pushing himself forwards as his wings continued to propel him.
Ten feet left.
Ten feet still open.
His golden hair in his eyes, Solo didn't even blink. His body was running on fumes at this point, and only the need to get back in the house before he was spotted spurred him on. But no matter how much he wanted it, his wings were giving out. They'd reached their maximum.
With only five feet left to the door, only one of his own body lengths, the door had almost reached it's end. The three feet left looked impossible, even to Solo's stubborn mind.
The thought of being stuck under the weight of the door, his front half in, and his back half still out flashed through Solo's tired mind. The thought of feeling his ribs cracking, and stabbing all the organs they were meant to protect.
Solo threw his foot down and used it as a partial brake, spinning himself around. When he was sideways, he wrapped his wings around himself and threw his body at the door. He rolled, bouncing painfully against the rocks on the ground.
The door closed.
Solo bit his lips hard enough to make them bleed to keep himself from screaming out in frustration. His back and wings were pressed against the cold metal of the door. The moon and stars shown down on the boy, and the blood from his lips turned black in the night.
After catching his breath, and feeling the soreness of his muscles and abused wings, Solo picked himself up off of the ground, punching the door in exasperation. 'Now how do I get in.' Going through his choices and options, he came to the conclusion that all of them ranged between breaking in and being shot, asking to be let in, and probably being shot, going to Duo and definitely being shot, or waiting outside in his boxers, and having his secret revealed, then being shot in the morning. 'At least that last one I have some extra time...'
Crossing his legs and sitting down, Solo pondered over any other choices he may have missed. With his head in his hands, all he could hear were the crickets and other creatures of nature.
He wished they would shut up and leave him in peace.
* * * * *
Half an hour later, long after the lights in the house had been turned off, around 4:30 in the morning, Solo was climbing up the side of the cliff. He'd finally had a decent idea, as long as his luck held out. After scaling about 40 feet, he launched off of the rocks and spread his battered wings. He no longer had the strength left in him to flap his way up the cliff. Instead, he had gotten some height and was using his wings as a parasail. Catching even the slightest hint of a breeze that would lift him upwards.
Circling higher and higher, Solo felt like a bored vulture. Not really working, just riding the wind as far as he could go.
Reaching the top of the cliff, and the safehouse, Solo used the remainder of his strength to aim himself towards Duo's broken window. His hands grabbed onto the water pipe a few feet from the window and held on. Solo folded his wings back, resting them, trying to stop the throbbing that still pulsated through him. Leaning over, he glanced through the shards.
Duo was lying in his bed, in his usual position, his face to the wall. His chest rose extremely slow, and in an even pattern. 'Good, looks like he's gone back to sleep. Okay ya street rat, let's show em how the pro's do it.'
Sticking his leg out, he rested his foot on the edge of the window. Easing his weight slowly to that foot, he reached over and used his left hand to also grab onto that side of the window. His right arm and leg were now just using the pole as leverage. Sliding them along the wall, soon they were also braced against the window.
Hoping the desk was as sturdy as it looked, he eased one foot, then the other onto it. His hands still clung to the outside of the window as he pulled his wings as far in as he could. Now one hand was moved to the window sill, then the other. 'Phew.' After crabwalking onto the table, Solo stood up on the surprisingly strong piece of furniture. Stepping slowly down from it, Solo deftly began to pick up, and put on his discarded clothing. Now fully dressed, with the exception of the jacket which was on the couch where he had left it, Solo walked over to the door.
As his foot fell on a certain piece of wood, the floor creaked. Solo winced and froze again, not even breathing. The seconds passed by, but there was no movement from the boy in the bed. 'He must be out like a light to not hear me. Oh well.'
In a few fluid movements, Solo was standing in the hallway, Duo's door closed, fully clothed, and most importantly, inside the house. Leaping over the entire staircase, relying on his wings to slow him down at the end, Solo was only a few feet from the couch.
The door leading to the hangar began to open.
Solo bent his knees and sprang forward, over the back of the couch. Once on it, he carefully pulled the jacket over him, to cover himself.
The door finished creaking, and Solo could hear the sound of light footsteps. A soft light flooded the room coming from the kitchen. The sounds of someone opening a can of soda were followed by the refrigerator door closing, and Trowa returning to the hangar.
'Boy, what a night...' Both minds thought simultaneously.
The hangar itself was a strange extension of the house. The door came from the kitchen on the first floor, but led straight to the catwalk, about 50 feet off the ground. The house itself stood on a flat ground in the front, and a cliff on the back. The hangar was built into the mountain, leaving only the large metal door to be seen from the outside. This also made it incredibly difficult to attack the hangar, and incredibly easy to escape in a hurry.
Trowa walked down the fire-escape like steps to the second catwalk. This one was about 25 feet from the ground. It makes fixing such huge machines easier to have many levels, so you're closer to more of the mobile suit. Hitting a button on the wall, Trowa climbed down the second set of stairs till he was standing on the metal ground of the hangar. The smooth rolling sound of the hangar door opening was a refreshing change from his footsteps. The cool breeze blew in through the slowly rising wall of metal. 'I need some fresh air to wake me up.' Walking outside, Trowa looked up into the sky, amazed at the way the stars looked from Earth. In the corner of his vision, he could see the dark safehouse, about 200 feet up the cliff wall. Hearing the click of the hangar reaching it's highest position, Trowa turned around to look at the gundams. All in a line, the moonlight playing off their armor, they looked like warriors waiting for battle.
The sound of glass being shattered brought Trowa's attention off the gundams. He turned slowly, pulling his gun out of it's holster. He then ran out till he could see the entire safehouse and aimed towards it. He couldn't see which window had been broken, but shards of glass were falling to the ground nearby, so he knew it was one of the back windows. Out of the corner of his right eye, Trowa saw a large shadow running along the ground in the woods across from him. 'Gotcha.'
* * * * *
'Oh smooth move. Call him a whore, break his window, and take off like the hotheaded fool you are.' After being a little surprised at the height of Duo's window, Solo pulled his wings back against him. He fell and his speed increased. His shoulder length hair was pulled back by the wind as he let the world fly by him. Oddly enough, the wind driving his wings back brought with it a strange sound. A metallic sound, as if something hard had just hit. 'Uh oh.' Looking down, he could see that the hangar door had just finished shutting.
Straining his muscles, Solo brought his wings out like a parachute, slowly himself down prematurely. With the cliff behind him, he stood out like a sitting duck. 'Okay, need a place to hide, very badly.' Tucking his wings back slightly, he fell at an angle towards some trees. Swerving quickly to one side, so as not to clip his wings on a tree, he was soon in a dark wooded clump of trees. 'If I pull my wings in any farther, I won't be able to hold myself up anymore, and at this speed a crash would hurt...a lot. But with them this wide...' A few feathers were ripped out from the end of Solo's left wing, as his thinking had slowed down his reaction time.
The cracking of a twig far behind him, caught Solo's attention, and he cast a quick glance backwards. Trowa stood at the edge of the woods, with a hand gun out and appeared to be looking for something. 'Oh hell...'
* * * * *
Trowa squinted his eyes as he tried to see what had fled into the forest. If it was someone who had broken into their house, he had to catch or kill them as fast as possible. Taking the safety off his gun, he walked carefully into the woods. But soon, something caught his eyes, a large shape moving swiftly towards the other side of the forest. With a smirk, Trowa took off at a full run for the enemy. Trowa could feel that he was catching up on the fugitive, and that this person was running into a lot of the branches of the trees, slowing them down. Trowa paused when he had lost track of the enemy, and stood very still. His muscles relaxed, he didn't concentrate on anything. He didn't move, he barely breathed. And the sound of a twig snapping brought him to the exact place where his quarry was hiding.
* * * * *
Solo flapped madly as he tried his hardest to outrun his pursuer. Despite how careful he was trying to be, every time Solo had to flap his wings to keep himself air born he would hit branches on the nearby trees. The footsteps behind him were growing faster and more accurate as he was sure the person could sense where he was. Praying that his white wings weren't visible enough through the crowded trees, Solo banked a hard right. After going about ten feet in that direction, off his original path, he veered upward, aiming for a large branch.
The sharper parts of the wood stabbed up into Solo's bare feet as he landed as softly as he could. But no matter how hard he tried, the branch bent under his weight. Solo froze in place, standing 30 feet up in a tree as the branch beneath him creaked loudly.
A brown head appeared beneath him almost instantly. 'Ah ha, so it is that Trowa guy who's been chasing me.' The boy turned his head in every direction, keeping his gun at eye level, ready to shoot the slightest movement.
Pressing his wings against the trunk of the tree, Solo prayed that he wouldn't be found. 'Please, don't look up, please let it be too dark to see me. Oh please...'
As the emerald eyes swept through the green forest, gold eyes shut tight, hoping to remain unseen.
'Where is he now? It's like he's gone all of a sudden. I know I heard a noise over here.'
Then, a spot of white shone out against the darkness. Trowa reached out, grabbed hold of the feathers, and pulled.
The two white feathers which Solo had snagged on a branch down below came off and were sitting lightly in Trowa's palm. 'Feathers?'
'Oh no, that's it, I've been found. Guess I have no choice, I'll have to take that kid out. I can't let him get away.' Solo leaned forward slightly, ready to pounce on his victim as soon as he looked up. But Solo remained in this position, as Trowa's head never craned upward, his eyes widening in shock.
Trowa sighed deeply as he put his gun back in it's place. 'Just an owl or something. I've been chasing the shadows of the wildlife. That's a bit embarrassing. Better go check on what really broke that window.' Trowa walked calmly through the woods, and into the hangar. As he passed, he hit the button to close the door.
Solo breathed a sigh of relief in the tree and collapsed on the branch. 'Okay, too close there.' Standing up, and after a careful look around this time, Solo fell out of the tree and spread his wings. The gentle night breeze helped carry him through the forest, and he had an easier time dodging things now that he was at a slower pace.
The metallic scraping sound in the distance caused Solo to pause and nearly crash into the ground. 'Oh you have got to be kiddin me.' Powering the tired muscles in his back which were overworked already, he sped through the remaining area of the forest. Fifty feet away from the last tree he passed, the hangar door was slowly closing. Hoping for another way in, Solo looked up at the window he'd exited, but the light was on, meaning people were in there. 'I can't deal with Duo right now, and there's a chance Heero might be in there anyway.'
The door slid slowly downward, forty feet left till it reached the ground.
Snarling in determination, Solo pushed himself as fast as he could go. Using the small amount of height he had, he turned it into speed and went lower and lower, and faster and faster. He was just barely skimming the surface of the ground, his wings kicking up clouds of dust in his wake. 'Even if I make it in, there's the problem of that kid with the bang again. Dark hangar, maybe I can dodge into a corner and not be seen. If he's even in there, he might have gone in the house.'
Thirty feet away from the door.
With gravity on it's side, the metal wall fell faster, covering up the entrance way. Soon, there was only a twenty foot gap from the bottom of the door, to the ground.
'I can make it.' Reaching out with his hands, Solo grabbed and clawed into the dirt, pushing himself forwards as his wings continued to propel him.
Ten feet left.
Ten feet still open.
His golden hair in his eyes, Solo didn't even blink. His body was running on fumes at this point, and only the need to get back in the house before he was spotted spurred him on. But no matter how much he wanted it, his wings were giving out. They'd reached their maximum.
With only five feet left to the door, only one of his own body lengths, the door had almost reached it's end. The three feet left looked impossible, even to Solo's stubborn mind.
The thought of being stuck under the weight of the door, his front half in, and his back half still out flashed through Solo's tired mind. The thought of feeling his ribs cracking, and stabbing all the organs they were meant to protect.
Solo threw his foot down and used it as a partial brake, spinning himself around. When he was sideways, he wrapped his wings around himself and threw his body at the door. He rolled, bouncing painfully against the rocks on the ground.
The door closed.
Solo bit his lips hard enough to make them bleed to keep himself from screaming out in frustration. His back and wings were pressed against the cold metal of the door. The moon and stars shown down on the boy, and the blood from his lips turned black in the night.
After catching his breath, and feeling the soreness of his muscles and abused wings, Solo picked himself up off of the ground, punching the door in exasperation. 'Now how do I get in.' Going through his choices and options, he came to the conclusion that all of them ranged between breaking in and being shot, asking to be let in, and probably being shot, going to Duo and definitely being shot, or waiting outside in his boxers, and having his secret revealed, then being shot in the morning. 'At least that last one I have some extra time...'
Crossing his legs and sitting down, Solo pondered over any other choices he may have missed. With his head in his hands, all he could hear were the crickets and other creatures of nature.
He wished they would shut up and leave him in peace.
* * * * *
Half an hour later, long after the lights in the house had been turned off, around 4:30 in the morning, Solo was climbing up the side of the cliff. He'd finally had a decent idea, as long as his luck held out. After scaling about 40 feet, he launched off of the rocks and spread his battered wings. He no longer had the strength left in him to flap his way up the cliff. Instead, he had gotten some height and was using his wings as a parasail. Catching even the slightest hint of a breeze that would lift him upwards.
Circling higher and higher, Solo felt like a bored vulture. Not really working, just riding the wind as far as he could go.
Reaching the top of the cliff, and the safehouse, Solo used the remainder of his strength to aim himself towards Duo's broken window. His hands grabbed onto the water pipe a few feet from the window and held on. Solo folded his wings back, resting them, trying to stop the throbbing that still pulsated through him. Leaning over, he glanced through the shards.
Duo was lying in his bed, in his usual position, his face to the wall. His chest rose extremely slow, and in an even pattern. 'Good, looks like he's gone back to sleep. Okay ya street rat, let's show em how the pro's do it.'
Sticking his leg out, he rested his foot on the edge of the window. Easing his weight slowly to that foot, he reached over and used his left hand to also grab onto that side of the window. His right arm and leg were now just using the pole as leverage. Sliding them along the wall, soon they were also braced against the window.
Hoping the desk was as sturdy as it looked, he eased one foot, then the other onto it. His hands still clung to the outside of the window as he pulled his wings as far in as he could. Now one hand was moved to the window sill, then the other. 'Phew.' After crabwalking onto the table, Solo stood up on the surprisingly strong piece of furniture. Stepping slowly down from it, Solo deftly began to pick up, and put on his discarded clothing. Now fully dressed, with the exception of the jacket which was on the couch where he had left it, Solo walked over to the door.
As his foot fell on a certain piece of wood, the floor creaked. Solo winced and froze again, not even breathing. The seconds passed by, but there was no movement from the boy in the bed. 'He must be out like a light to not hear me. Oh well.'
In a few fluid movements, Solo was standing in the hallway, Duo's door closed, fully clothed, and most importantly, inside the house. Leaping over the entire staircase, relying on his wings to slow him down at the end, Solo was only a few feet from the couch.
The door leading to the hangar began to open.
Solo bent his knees and sprang forward, over the back of the couch. Once on it, he carefully pulled the jacket over him, to cover himself.
The door finished creaking, and Solo could hear the sound of light footsteps. A soft light flooded the room coming from the kitchen. The sounds of someone opening a can of soda were followed by the refrigerator door closing, and Trowa returning to the hangar.
'Boy, what a night...' Both minds thought simultaneously.