Aww... no reviews... I'm sad... (and with my emotions, sad turns quickly to mad... beware). Anyway, I'm sorry for the long update break- my church had a weekend retreat, and I couldn't get back until late Sunday night. Sorry everyone! I also apologize if the site erasing my stars when there's a scene change (or a sound effect) caused any confusion. I think I fixed that this chapter. And I know that the chapter titles for these two are a cheap laugh, but I couldn't resist.
Anyway, here's chapter three!Chapter Three:
Escape: Stage Two- Dragons
When Duo and Heero entered the bathroom, their first act was to lock the door behind them. No matter how private this particular room was supposed to be, they were both far too used to having a mission screwed by a fluke to take chances.
That being taken care of, they started to follow instructions regarding their uniforms. It turned out that the various decorations were sewn on very loosely. Far more loosely then they would be on regulation uniforms, Heero suspected. He didn't need to start the conversation regarding their unexpected ally- and he hadn't anticipated he would have to.
"What do you think, Heero? Rather nasty trick the Docs played- not to mention that Lady of hers. It's just not nice to spring a shock like that on a guy, especially when information is so important to our jobs! I mean, what do we send Trowa out for? I thought it was my job to play the nasty tricks." The chatter nearly drowned the question it had started off with, but Heero needed no help in hearing it. He and Duo had been partners long enough for Heero could read the layers of 02's chatter without help- though some levels and meanings were still a mystery to him.
"Chances of an OZ trick still exist, but are small. Either they have far more information on us then previously suspected, or she's real."
"And of her? So far, she's the best at short-term infiltration I've ever seen. I mean, Trowa's good, but he goes for the long haul. And her sneak skills can't be that bad, not if she got into the hanger. It was so full of people on our way in that it looked like some type of convention was being held. I mean, what kind of convention could they hold at an army base?"
Heero was so used to repressing his emotions, especially around Duo, that he instantly shoved down the stab of jealousy that boiled up. He didn't own Duo. He didn't know if Duo thought of him as anything more then a friend. He didn't even know if Duo was gay or strait.
While he was busy controlling the impulses, his mouth answered Duo automatically. J had trained him to multitask, though probably not for quite this purpose. "The skills we've seen so far have all been very high level. However, we haven't seen a lot." There was nowhere to place the discarded braiding, so he wrapped it tightly and slid it up one of his sleeves. The discomfort of the scratchy material was negligible. With his chore done, he started for the door with Duo right behind him. His partner continued to talk, running through to his usual chatter.
"We don't even know what she looks like yet! For all we know, she could be a blonde knockout! All we know is that she can impersonate characters damn well, and claims to have a Gundam!" As this was spoken, they passed through the doors- and found someone waiting outside.
This... lady... was so far removed from who they had known so far that Pilots 01 and 02 both reached instinctively for their weapons before recognizing the pixie-grin.
"Impressive," Duo commented, looking at the change and relaxing.
"Thank you," Rae responded, flipping shoulder length blonde hair over her shoulder. Her eyes were now the crystal blue of the Caribbean Sea, and framed by perfect makeup and an immaculate face. The tight skirt from the schoolgirl uniform was back, but was topped by a black tank top instead of a uniform jacket. Her shoes were again spike heels, but those heels were attached to lace up sandals instead of the knee-high boots. The final touches were the glitters of diamonds at her neck and ears. This was no prisoner, and no schoolgirl, either.
"How'd you pull this one off!?" demanded Duo as he handed over his braiding.
"Pulled off the brunette wig, cleaned off the dirt, changed contacts, pulled off the tatters and put this shirt on, did my make up, attached the heels to the sandals before putting them on, and draped glass and crystal jewelry onto me," Rae listed off as she stuffed the braiding into the. "Okay, in this area, it's kind of a high class play ground- act used to it. You two act like young nobles, and I'll act like your lady. Got it?"
"Repeat that?" asked Duo after adjusting one of his cuffs.
Rae obliged. "This area is a den of corruption and decadency- act used to it. You two act like selfish rich young pricks, and I'll act like your high-class whore. Got it? Oh, and you take the briefcase," she added to Heero. He accepted it without comment, and the three turned to go.
Once they hit the main area, it became apparent that some type of party was going on; clumps of people started to appear around them. One would hail them, then another. Most groups were drunk, or high, or otherwise incapacitated, so it was fairly easy to get away from them.
Their positioning as they walked down the corridors was essentially the same as it had been in the prison: all of them in a row, Rae in the center and one of the males to either side. The main difference this time was that Rae was clinging to their arms and not the other way around. This let Rae steer the entire group without seeming to, while keeping most of their hands free in case of an emergency.
Rae kept herself from vomiting on the nearest noble's shoes only with very great self-control. She hid the desire to do so only with very great acting skills.
God... she'd never wanted to be in a place like this again. All the corruption, the infighting, the politics... These people were supposed to be the head of the government! And yet most of them only cared for their own comfort. The few who didn't only cared for the amount of money in their bank accounts. She had yet to meet a single member of the class that she might really term as 'noble.' The vast majority fell under the label 'ignorant arrogant assholes,' and the rest fit in nicely under 'money grabbing sycophants.' Aristocrats- as a breed they were possibly the worst thing to happen to humanity.
And as for those in power- if anything, they were even worse then those that they could see here. Arrogant, pitiless, moral-less bastards who would do anything to keep that power, never mind what they did with it. And those who used that power mainly did so to cause pain and suffering to those beneath him. Miniature tyrants over their little kingdoms. Those who might have stopped them were suppressed, hidden, blackmailed into cooperation, or gotten rid of. And the circle went on.
None of these thoughts showed in anyway- not in her face, not in her body, not in her eyes. She had been trained since the age of five to hide her emotions and true thoughts in any situation. If the truth were to be told, it was as rare to see a her feelings in a public situation as it was to see Heero's; the only difference was that her mask wasn't an iron wall, but whatever character she was playing at that moment. It was only with people she trusted that any emotion found its way through her defenses.
Unfortunately, not all of the recreating upper class were entirely out of their wits. One of that number was heading their way now, and it was someone that Rae (unfortunately) knew.
What the fuck was Ommir Hyrat doing at a party for bored aristo-brats? He was a political player, not one of those who had brought bored decadency to an art form. No chance that he'd recognize her like this, but the man was freaking annoying, damnably sly, incredibly sadistic, and fucking perverted. And he was coming strait at them. Fucking bloody Hell.
The nobleman strolled up to the trio and raked his eyes over them haughtily, eventually resting them on Rae's face. "Hello," he drawled in a cultured voice while completely ignoring the other two males. "I don't believe we've met."
Sure we have, you bastard, but you wouldn't believe it if I told you. Not that she had any intention of telling him. Time to really play the part. Smiling and batting her eyelashes, Rae started in on the bullshit that was going to be needed to get them far, far away from the jackass.
"No, we haven't. These gentlemen are Nur Shiet (1) and Paar Bruunen (2). Nur's my cousin and Paar 'n I have been together for a year. We're on a touring trip together." Translated, she'd been paid by Paar/Duo for a year, and now she and Nur/Heero were doing their best to get the most from him while they could.
"I am Ommir Hyrat, my lady, but I'm afraid you neglected your own name in the introductions... ?" Translated- I don't give a damn about the males. I want to know you, as intimately as possible.
"Oh, dear, how silly. I'm Stral Krahe (3). What brings you here?"
"Oh, I originally had no intention of coming- it's pure chance I'm here. You see, I was in the area on a highly important task, and an incredibly bright young lad managed to intercept a communication to those rabble pilots that have been terrorizing the population. It was entirely encoded, of course, and each section in a different code. Diabolically clever, those scoundrels. But by chance, one of our boys managed to decode one section, and that section had the coordinates that they were going to. Our ambush took them almost without struggle, and as I was the highest ranking official in the area, I was called to oversee their capture and detainment."
During this conversation, Yuy and Maxwell had kept very still, allowing her to establish the basis of who and what they were. Maxwell wouldn't lie, of course, and Yuy couldn't do the lighthearted tourist to save his life. Bad phrasing- to save whatever the hell he wanted to save
But neither of them was going to let this little speech pass without comment, and Rae didn't blame them.
Heero raised an eyebrow. "They are in this building?"
"Yes," sighed Ommir. "The General here, Fox, I think he's called, was rather fanatically worried about it. He seemed to think that the security wasn't sufficient. I managed to calm him down, and one of his top men is questioning them as we speak."
"But all the stories...!" exclaimed Duo, widening his eyes. "I heard one of those pilots found a way to escape from Hyurit (4)! And they say they can bend steel with their bare hands and vanish like ghosts! They've been blamed for just about everything that's gone wrong, world wide, in the past year! And I hear there's proof that they aren't human, but super powered aliens sent to soften up humanity for a take over!"
"Exaggerated tales the troops circulate to soothe their fragile egos for their continual failure to apprehend this small handful of children," Ommir dismissed- but he was starting to look a little nervous. "So, what brings you here?"
"Chance, same as you," Duo answered comfortably. "We had no place in our trip plans for this." Rae actually had to work not to show high amusement at this. He most defiantly didn't lie- but that said nothing about misleading rather badly...
"How do you mean?" Ommir asked curiously.
"Our original trip wasn't to anything military," Rae explained cheerfully, jumping in. "Its sooo gloomy, don't you think? But our car broke down, and this was the closest spot that they could tow us too, so here we are!"
"How fortunate for me," Ommir began, starting to walk closer. But before he got more then a few steps, and aide came running up and hissed something in his ear. "What?" he demanded "How troublesome, (5)" he sighed before turning back to the three in front of him. "It seems that these fools can't handle the least little thing without my being here. I bid you adieu." He walked off, following the aide.
"Fucking arrogant asshole's got the brains of a retarded schizophrenic baboon who's been in a coma for a year," Rae muttered. "Come on, we've got to get out of here. This is probably the prelude to that ass finding out we're gone. He'll blame this place for having insufficient security, too." She began to move the boys rapidly through the crowd and towards a small door on one wall.
Duo let himself guided along, but when they reached the door he pulled the group to a stop. "These guys might be idiots, but they'll have collected data on us while we were here. And the Docs would go ballistic if that data remained intact. Since I'm of the firm belief that getting the people who assign you life threatening missions seriously pissed off at you is a bad thing, we've got a problem."
"Then aren't we lucky that there's a full computer console linked to the rest of the base in the garage so that the engineers can look up what they need to?" Rae asked sweetly. "You two wanna handle the data end of things while I work with the trucks?"
Heero didn't respond, merely walked through the door and went right for the nearest computer. Duo gave her a grin worthy of any evil imp. "Heero does the data stuff, I'm not as good. Whaddya want to do to the trucks?"
"You remember one Ommir Hyrat?"
"Arrogant, idiotic prick?"
"That's the one. His truck should be in here somewhere, and he's the type who will want to run the instant something goes wrong. So, with a few subtle adjustments..." Rae trailed off with a grin to match Duo's. At that instant, the two knew that if they weren't going to be kindred spirits, they were going to be very, very good friends. Her upbringing made her nearly as good at judging characters as Duo.
"Well, lets find the most tasteless thing here and do some damage to it!" cackled Duo.
The pair set off to do just that.
#(#(#(#(#(#)#)#)#)#)#
(1) Nur- only
(2) Paar- pair, Bruunen- well
(3) Stral- ray, Krahe- crow
(4) Hyurit- I made this up. It's like their version of Alcatraz.
(5) Any Naruto fans in the audience...?
Well, that's this chapter! And you STILL don't know what Rae looks like. Don't worry, you will next chapter. To get the names, I translated synonyms for their real names into German. Heero's last name I made up, though. Rae knows multiple languages- it's part of her past, which will come in later chapters. She also knows the bastard that she's talking to doesn't know those languages, so it's the quickest and safest way to get names.
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