Chapter 4
Last time on Rapunzel Maxwell:
Duo and Heero, having been forced to seek shelter in a cave during a violent storm, have lost a night of traveling.
They had been hoping to make it to the Emerald City in one day, leaving a day and a half to plan and execute said plan of robbing Witch Dorothy Catalonia of all they can carry. Duo would then high-tail it outta there and Heero would use the remaining day and a half to get back to HQ and deliver the money to his boss, thereby keeping the job that makes him miserable.
However, a day has passed and the boys have not yet reached Emerald City. Currently, they and the barmaid Duo has a crush on are trapped under a bar at a small town restaurant by a relic-seeking gunman and his cronies.
***
"Plan, fast, Heero!" Duo said, pulling his legs under the counter. Heero was already looking around for anything they could use to their advantage.
"How about a distraction?" Hilde suggested.
"She's not only beautiful, she's brilliant, too!" Duo exclaimed.
"If only we could use the fire against them," Heero said.
"If only there weren't so darn many rolls of paper towels under here I might be able to fit better," Duo said.
Suddenly, both boys had an idea. They looked at one another and nodded. Fortunately, it was the same idea and they quickly got to work weighing down the ends of the rolls with utensils. They unwound a considerable number of paper towel sheets and threw the ends through the window and into the kitchen, where they quickly caught on fire.
"I hope I won't get fired for helping burn this place down," Hilde said as she threw a fork attached to paper towel into the fire.
"Let's work on staying alive," Heero suggested.
"Yeah, I wanna have the chance to take you someplace nice," Duo said to Hilde.
"What would you know about nice places?" Heero asked.
"Geez, almost getting killed doesn't agree with you, does it?" Duo asked.
"I was being serious. What would you know about nice places?"
Duo growled.
"Let me take a shot in the dark and guess that you two weren't dining out because you enjoy the other's company?" Hilde said.
"Nope. Heero didn't even want to come!"
"Aren't you glad we did?"
Duo would have creatively insulted Heero, but the paper towel rolls were catching fire.
"Set those other rolls burning," Heero instructed Hilde and turned to Duo. "On the count of three."
"Are you alright, Colonel Bund?" a voice from the other side of the bar was saying.
"What do you think?"
"Uhh. . ."
"Stop standing there slack-jawed like an idiot and point your gun at the bar!"
But the verbally abused lowly underling didn't have the opportunity because his uniform had just caught on fire, thanks to the burning roll of paper towels Duo had just chucked over the bar.
Duo, Hilde and Heero's efforts combined with the burning kitchen quickly caused the enemy to clear out to avoid being broiled. The kitchen staff had apparently made it out, too, and except for the crackling of the fire, the restaurant was silent.
"Ya think they're gone?" Hilde asked.
"Let's find out," Duo said and stuck his head over the top of the counter. "Looks empty," he reported.
"Let's take it slow, just to be sure," Heero said. They carefully hopped over the counter but as soon as they did, Heero's Delivery Boy Sense ™ kicked in and he spun around, once more shooting the gun from the crafty Colonel's hand.
"Must you keep doing that?" he demanded. Heero shrugged.
"Can't really help it."
"You sneaky jerk! Hiding on the other side of the bar!" Duo exclaimed. "Just why are you so darn persistent?"
"I want the medallion and I will get it!"
Heero raised an eyebrow.
"Why do you want it so badly?" he asked.
"To rule the world!"
"Hn."
"Great; we're in a burning building with two psychopaths. I dunno about you, but I'd like to leave," Duo said.
"Fine with me," Hilde said. "But just one thing." She walked over to the man who was still sitting between two bar stools and swiftly kicked him in the gut.
"That's for being a pervert!"
Unfortunately, despite the intense pain he felt from all his recently inflicted wounds, the nasty old man was able to grab her foot and trip her, thereby sending the necklace flying. Duo rushed to her and the man tried to rush past them both to the medallion, but Heero threw himself into Mr. Crazy-Colonel-Man and they both fell to the floor.
"Way to go, Heero!" Duo began to cheer, but pulled Hilde behind an overturned metal topped table when he saw Heero and the Colonel struggling for Heero's gun.
"Why the heck does a spandex wearing delivery boy have a gun? Why don't I have a gun?" Duo asked the ceiling.
"Why don't I have a gun, either?" Hilde asked. "That would come in very handy right about now. Blast it! We have to get that medallion back!"
"Right, so that wack job doesn't take over the world! I can't I believe I just said that. . . I really don't get this," Duo said, shaking his head.
"Don't worry about it," Hilde said. As luck would have it, Heero was currently a point ahead of Bundy in the grappling for the gun contest. She grabbed Duo's hand and ran towards the medallion, which was conveniently surrounded by burning ceiling tile.
"Get out while you can!" Heero instructed them as he continued to wrestle with the colonel, who was strong despite his wounds. While Hilde and Duo were looking around for something to pull the medallion away from the fire with, Colonel Bund gained two points by forcing the gun from Heero's grasp and onto the floor. He punched Heero in the face and reached for the medallion.
Apparently, the Colonel was either not very bright or simply not thinking clearly – well, no, he was probably just crazy, because he tried to take the hot metal pendant with his bare hand. While he clutched his wrist and screamed in pain, Heero retrieved his gun and Hilde used chair to pull the pendant towards her. Duo pulled off his shirt and used it to pick up the medallion and the three young 'uns made for the front door as the ceiling beams crashed down behind them.
Mounted OZ police were galloping towards the scene, so Duo and Heero rushed to get out of sight. Hilde followed because Duo still held her pendant. . . but even if he hadn't been holding it, he was pretty cute. Granted he was a stranger, but almost dying together is generally a bonding experience.
And she hadn't even gotten a decent look at him shirtless!
Wing and Deathscythe were waiting uneasily when their boys returned. They had heard the collapse of the café and were worried that their people might have been inside. But before they had the opportunity to thoroughly sniff them and determine just what they had been up to, the boys untied them from the tree and hopped on.
"Oh wow. These are gorgeous dragons!" Hilde exclaimed. "What breed are they?"
"Gundams," Duo said as he untied the rope. He clambered onto D-scythe's back and offered his hand to Hilde. Being an experienced dragon rider herself, she did not need his assistance. . . but what fun would letting him know that be?
But wait a minute. . . where were they going, anyway?
"Duo, where are you guys going, anyway?"
"The Green Metropolis, babe. The city of neon lime florescent lights and all the late night Jello diners a guy could ask for. You, uh, are gonna come with us, aren't you? I can't imagine you'd wanna stick around this place."
"But I haven't even packed, and my boss will worry and tell everyone that I'm missing!"
"I don't think it's very safe for you to remain here," Heero pointed out, not only because he didn't want her to get creamed by crazy renegade Colonel followers, but because he didn't want to get creamed by crazy renegade Colonel followers. Or mounted OZies. He had never been fond of OZ – in fact, he downright hated them. Plus, he was darned if he was going to allow himself to fall any more behind schedule. That weird braided kid and his ideas. . .
"But I hate to run like I'm afraid of them!" Hilde said vehemently.
"I'm afraid of them," Duo muttered. "But c'mon, Hilde! Staying would be like suicide! If you're gonna let yourself die, at least die for a purpose. Otherwise, what point is there?"
Hilde had to agree with his logic.
"Yeah, I guess you're right. They're on to me now, so I might as well make it harder for them to find me," she said as she pulled herself up to stand on Deathscythe's folded hind leg. She accepted Duo's hand to get the rest of the way to her seat.
"Hey, Duo, can I have my medallion back now?"
"Oh, yeah, right. Sorry, babe," Duo said sheepishly. He'd kinda forgot that since it was hers, she might want it back. He tried to watch her put it back on out of the corner of his eye as he reshirted himself, but in the end, he was all too obvious. She tucked the pendant into her shirt and tried not to laugh at him. She did not normally appreciate young men (or any men) attempting to look down her shirt, but there was something about this particular guy that made her want to laugh at him, hug him, and punch him in the arm all at the same time. She didn't want to hit him or laugh at him and reveal that she had noticed, but she would get to hug him soon enough. Duo took a seat a little closer to Deathscythe's neck than usual, leaving the saddle open for her.
"Duo, I wouldn't mind riding bareback."
"What, and deny the lady the comfort of an expensive purloined saddle? I think not."
"You STOLE this??"
Now she did smack him.
"Hey, hey, ow, cut it out. I took it from the gal who kept me locked in her tower for like, eight years."
"Locked in a tower? Are you serious? That sounds so antiquated. . . like it came from a fairy tale or something. Do you really expect me to believe that?!"
"What, and carrying a medallion around so some fruitcake won't use it to try to rule the world isn't weird???" Duo exclaimed.
Heero rolled his eyes.
"Duo was indeed locked in a tower; I was there when he got out," he informed her. "Now please, sit down so we can leave. I don't want some witness to point the police in our direction."
"Are we running from the police, too?"
"We're about to commit a well deserved robbery, so I guess we are, just a little ahead of time," Duo said.
"WHAT?"
"I'll explain later. We're the good guys, really!" he said, tossing a smile in her direction. "Trust me."
Hilde half growled/half sighed.
"Fine. But if I find that you're up to anything, you're gonna get it, mister!"
"But Hilde, we are up to something. I just told you that."
Hilde couldn't decide if she wanted to laugh or scream, so she settled on clenching her teeth to avoid both. Plopping down onto the saddle, she threw her arms around Duo's waist.
Duo grinned as he flicked his wrists and sent a ripple thru the reins, signaling to Deathscythe that taking off would be the cool thing to do.
Wing Zero took the lead as they merged into the light flow of country traffic. His rider was surprisingly not completely silent the whole time, though most of what he said involving flying directions and information about the layout of Emerald City.
But talking also gave him a reason for flying close to the chatty pair, which would allow him to hear if Hilde gave an explanation about that medallion. He couldn't help it. He was curious.
Unfortunately, neither brought it up. Duo seemed more interested in her dating status and favorite brands of chewing gum, and she was pretty busy answering his questions and telling him about her childhood. So, it was up to Heero to find out just how dangerous their cargo was.
"Hilde, what can you tell us about the medallion?"
Duo stopped in mid sentence, cocked his head to one side and said,
"Yeah, I meant to ask you about that. What's the deal?"
She took a deep breath. It wasn't a good idea to tell anyone about the medallion, especially not two thieves! Of course she had let that using-it-to-control-the-world part slip. . . but that was back when Duo had simply seemed be a nice guy with odd hair. Now, he was a nice scheming fugitive with odd hair – never a good combination.
But she had to say something. . . preferably as little as possible.
"Well, it's kind of a secret."
"But you know our secret! C'mon, honey. Pleeease?" Duo pleased in his cutest voice.
"Oh. . . you do have a point. . . but, it's dangerous."
"All the more reason we should know. If you're going to travel with us we should know the risks," Heero pointed out.
"Even better point," she muttered.
She glanced at the ground. Yup. Too far to jump.
"All right. The story I was told is that-"
"Woah, flying OZies at 2:15," Duo warned.
"What a time for a coincidence," an aggravated Heero muttered as he and Duo quickly landed their dragons in a field of large, tall flowers. If they laid down, the flowers might hide them.
"What a time for a coincidence!" Duo declared cheerfully. "Now lay down, D-Scythe! Good thing you're still thin from being half-starved!
Deathscythe made the dragon equivalent of rolling one's eyes affectionately toward a strange but loved human.
"Good thing your dragons are so fast," Hilde said as she bent and tied some of the long flowers over the dragons. "The OZ troops' fleet isn't nearly the quality of these guys!"
Wing Zero did the dragon equivalent of nodding immodestly.
But he got away with it. He was Wing Zero. And Hilde was right.
With the dragons possibly sufficiently hidden under a cover of stalks, Heero lay on his back gazing past the red-petalled flowers that swayed gently on their stalks about six feet above his face. The OZ squad should pass over any second now. He should be ready to jump in case the OZies saw thru their ceiling of blossoms. Rolling onto one side, his outstretched arm brushed against something smooth. He hesitated a moment.
It hadn't blown up, so he ran a finger over it.
It wasn't a knife, or a gun, or an incendiary device (you could never be too careful when your job was delivering packages). Without taking his eyes off the sky, he closed his fingers around it and pulled it to just inside his area of vision.
It was a glass bottle. A mostly pink, ornate to the point of gaudiness bottle. He held it against the light and tipped it over. The cap stayed in place but he saw no liquid moving within.
'Hm, no rations,' was his thought as he tossed it back over his head.
"OW!!" Duo yelped.
"Sorry," Heero said.
"The heck is this? A bottle?"
"Ooh, it's ugly," Hilde said. "No wonder someone threw it out."
"Well he didn't have to throw it at me!"
"I didn't mean him, silly."
"Yeah, yeah, I know. But he found it, so he gets to keep it!" And with that, Duo chucked the bottle back in Heero's direction, hitting him in the shoulder.
"RAPUNZEL! You're an IDIOT!" Heero said, popping his arm back into place. That was not fun.
"Oh, oh, ew!" Duo groaned. "You are the weird one! Man, why'd I ever team up with this guy?" he asked the sky.
Heero grunted and envisioned himself insulting Duo. Actually doing so wasn't worth the energy.
"There they go," Hilde said softly, as if the dangerous soldiers would have overheard her normal speaking voice.
Deathscythe shifted slightly.
"Don't move, D-Scythe!" Duo advised. "Besides, there aren't any cute girl dragons up there, anyway."
"You would be able to tell?" Hilde asked. Duo shrugged, as did Deathscythe, but no one noticed and so he received no admonition for having moved once more.
"You know, I like it when he calls me that," Duo said to Hilde.
"What, 'Rapunzel?'"
"Yeah. I haven't heard anyone but the blonde monster call me that." He propped himself up on his left elbow. "I like hearing someone else say it. Rapunzel," he uttered dramatically. "Striking fear in the hearts of delivery boys from the forests of Cinq to the walls of Emerald City, OZ!"
"No, not fear in my heart. More like annoyance in my general being, not to mention pain in my neck."
"Ooh, did the bottle catch ya there, too? Sorry!" Duo said sheepishly, one hand scratching the back of his neck.
"I wouldn't get too close to him, Hilde. He has fleas."
"HEERO!" Hilde and Duo exclaimed simultaneously.
"Jinx! Ha, you owe me a coke!" Duo said, pointing at the object of his attraction.
"You didn't have to pay for your clear carbonated sweetness back at the restaurant, so consider me paid in full."
"Speaking of sweetness," Duo said mischievously, taking her hand in his. "Have I mentioned that you're the prettiest girl I've ever seen?"
"Yes," Heero muttered. Duo blinked in annoyance but ignored him.
"Thank you," Hilde said. "And as long as we're baring our souls here," she began jokingly, "you're pretty cute, yourself."
Duo beamed. That felt so good, hearing her compliment him. He was falling and fast. Like a neurotic rabbit down a trippy rabbit hole.
"They're gone," Heero announced.
"That's nice," said Duo. Then to Hilde, "So which am I, pretty or cute?"
"We should get going. Emerald City is not too far away. We can reach it tonight if we make good time," practical Heero noted.
Duo tapped a finger against Hilde's hand in frustration.
"Now Duo, it's all right. We get to share a dragon, remember?" Hilde murmured flirtily.
"Yeah, yeah," he groaned.
"Oh, come on," she said, standing up and attempting to pull him up as well. "You need to get to the City! Don't you still want to go?"
"Yeah… I just wish I didn't have to go now!"
"You can go in the flowers. I won't look," Heero quipped.
"Dammit, SHUT UP!" Duo yelled. "I'm frickin' tired of your attitude, hot pants boy!"
"I'm tired of you in your entirety!" Heero shouted back.
"Boys, cut it out!" Hilde commanded loudly.
"You had better get on that dragon in the next three seconds or so help me, I will destroy you!" Heero said with a cold and altogether eerie flash in his eyes, paying absolutely no mind to the local girl.
"Only wusses say destroy instead of kill, you wuss!" Duo retorted, his left eye twitching and veins swelling.
Seeing that both young men were on the verge of violence, Hilde called for help.
"Deathscythe, Wing, help out here, will ya?"
Casting a glance at one another, the dragons lethargically rose so as to appear more imposing. They nudged their boys, hoping they would take the hint.
But like most humans seemed to be, these two were completely dense.
"Ah, see? I can't get on D now- he's too tall! Whaddaya gonna do about them apples, you cabbage head?"
Heero quickly mulled over the list he had compiled of ways he could cause harm to the braided idiot. The most gratifying of them involved Heero's fists and Duo's mouth, or possibly his hair, but he knew Wing would never let him get that close. And shooting him would be most imprudent, as Heero still needed his financial aid. Plus, there was the Hilde factor. She'd most likely raise a fuss and then he'd have to deal with that. If Deathscythe didn't chomp him first. And then it would be dragon versus dragon, Hilde taking the winner, if one survived. How could he allow that to happen? You don't get a dragon just for being attacked in a bar; it doesn't work that way.
Heero could not allow that to happen. Improvisation was required.
The solution struck him with roughly the velocity of the bottle Duo had earlier lobbed at his head. And it was just that- the bottle. Heero swiftly scooped it up and hurled it at the loopy boy. Fortunately for one Duo "I Am the Terror That Burps by Night" Rapunzel Maxwell, he was a speedy and agile lad, and barely escaped bottle induced discomfort by leaping out of the way just in time.
Deathscythe, however, was heftier and not as quick to action on the ground. The bottle struck his right foreleg and returned once more to the ground with a familiar thud.
But something interesting happened between the striking and the thud.
The bottle's lid got snagged on one of Deathscythe's scales.
Then the bottle landed with that familiar thud just under four feet from poor D-Scythe's foreleg, followed shortly thereafter by the not so familiar thud of the lid, which thudded nearby.
"Oohhh," Duo and Deathscythe howled, one out of empathy. "D-Scythe, pal, you okay?" Deathscythe shrugged the dragon equivalent of a macho "I'm cool, yo, but not really" shrug.
Meanwhile, Heero was blinking. A lot. Why in Heaven's name was there pink smoke rising from the mouth of that bottle?
"Why in Heaven's-"
"D-D-D-Duo?" Hilde stuttered, effectively cutting off Heero's momentarily unanswerable query.
"Yeah, Hilde babe?" he said, still checking out Deathscythe's foreleg.
"There is pink smoke coming from that bottle." She enunciated every word carefully so as to get them all out coherently. She was questioning whether or not there were something soporific in the flowers that had caused her to drift off and dream this.
But if so, she hoped Duo's flirting behavior weren't part of the dream! Otherwise, she'd have some catching up to do once she awoke.
"Hoo yah!" Duo hoo yahed and jumped from shock. He pressed his back against Deathscythe, who was leaning in towards the pink haze (much to Duo's chagrin) to get a whiff of it and determine whether it were animal, vegetable, and/or edible.
"Quit it, Deathscythe!" the mortified Duo exclaimed. "You don't wanna get it stuck up your nose, do you?"
Deathscythe held back on the sniffing, but stared just as intently. If it turned out to be hazardous, he had to be ready to attack and protect these nice, silly people.
The smoke soon materialized into a feminine form. Heero's jaw dropped. It was common knowledge back at HQ that he never showed surprise, and bets had been placed on what it would take to bring about that reaction.
Need it be said that no coworker placed a single Cinq dollar on this?
Didn't think so.
The mist had almost become fully solid. Her outline was clear and her coloring was more flesh than carnation, with the exception of her hair, eyes and clothes. The clothes unsurprisingly remained pink while her eyes shone blue. Half of her blonde locks were swept neatly from her face in twin braids.
Once completely substantial, the bottle girl quickly found her voice.
"Would you please tell me who it was that freed me?" The assembled company, minus Heero, pointed or looked pointedly at the not-so-stoic-as-usual delivery boy.
The young woman bowed low toward him.
"Hello, Master."
***
AN: Update progress notices and comments can be found in my profile. Thanks for following the story!!