Hello, hello, hello, to anyone who still cares about this story- it's been forever since I updated it. I've pretty much put it on hold for other fics, but I DO still update it occasionally. Before we start, I would like to clarify one thing: –Yadda- means thoughts. And, on with the fic!

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Chapter Four:

Escape: Part Three- Out!

Duo snickered to himself as he and Rae worked on the various vehicles. You'd think high-ranking officials would be smart enough to ride in anonymous cars. But noooo, it seemed every highborn or political player here had their own customized wheels. Not that he was complaining- it made things a hell of a lot easier on him.

Rolling out from under the car, he raced back to the single jeep that Rae had tagged as 'theirs,' with a few key starting components in his hand. They'd probably never need these, but it never paid to toss away potential scrap parts. If nothing else, Howard could use them as ballast on that rust bucket of his.

His unexpected partner in crime had finished her half of the garage, and was now doing a little extra work on one specific vehicle. She'd gotten rid of the heels, and that was pretty much all he could tell about her appearance because she was more than halfway under the car she was working on. As he watched, she slid all the way under and apparently crawled out the other side. He let her work, and called over to Heero.

"Hey, 'Ro! Ya done yet?"

"Five more minutes of time needed."

"Yeah, yeah... ya think you could cut that down a bit? Cause I seriously doubt we're gonna have five minutes once they discover a certain empty room, which ought to be any second now..." Duo's voice trailed off as he walked around to where Heero was working. It was hot in the garage, and Heero had taken off both the uniform jacket that Rae had given him, and the shirt he'd had on under it.

It took Duo a full ten seconds to find his voice again.

"... and besides, we're about done on the trucks." Duo swallowed very carefully; his mouth seemed to have turned into a desert.

"...three minutes," was his only response.

Duo sighed and started back towards their jeep, unable to resist throwing one last look over his shoulder. It wasn't like Heero was watching, anyway...

But Rae was. She had finished her work on Ommir's car, and climbed into the driver's seat of the jeep in time to catch the end of that conversation. She also saw the look that Heero threw over his shoulder once Duo had looked back to what he was walking at. The one that lingered on the end of the braid, and the ass it was bouncing over.

Well, that answered the question about how Heero felt...

When Duo walked around to the other side of the jeep and hopped in, Rae was smiling smugly to herself and reaching for the briefcase. "What do ya want that for?" he asked curiously.

"To get rid of some of this ensemble," Rae replied, motioning to her still mainly complete costume. "It would be a really bad idea to have bits of glittering stuff hanging off me if it comes to a hide and sneak contest- they make fucking lovely targets."

Duo considered this as she pulled of the jewelry. "Good point. What about the rest of it?"

"Well, wearing make-up that's so thick it feels like my face will crack has never been something I really enjoy, and while having a wig on nicely confuses my identity, it'd be easier to run and fight without it. Also, the contacts have a tendency to make my eyes tear up if I wear them too long- and as helpful as that is when I'm playing a sweet little innocent girl, I really do not want that happening if some freaking bright Ozzie manages to get us into a gunfight. All in all, it's a better idea to get rid of most of this while there's a tiny bit of spare time than when we've got no time at all."

Duo watched in fascination as Rae pulled a bottle of some type of chemical from the case and rubbed it onto one of the rags that can always be found in a mechanical area. The rag was then vigorously applied to her face, removing every trace of make-up. Once Rae had put the rag into the briefcase- she wasn't going to leave anything that even smelled like her behind- she pulled out a small case that was made for the contacts. Removing them was an almighty pain, but it was good to have them off.

The final bit of her de-construction came with the removal of the blonde wig. Rae glared at it for a moment, but then stuffed it into the case after the contacts. Done, she turned to Duo, pixie-grin back on her face. "Well?" she drawled.

Duo sat back and looked. The girl in front of him wasn't like any of the three that he had seen during their trek through the base. Her eyes were large, and a shade that some would have called a light blue; but grey would be a better way to describe them. Her hair, which was cropped to a little longer than Heero's, and fell messily around her head very much like his bangs, was a deep shade of red.

Duo simply shook his head. "How can you play so many parts?"

Rae's grin simply widened. "It's not the clothes that make the woman, it's her accessories!" she chortled. "The idiots assign certain expectations and stereotypes to everything they see... I just play them up!"

Duo's grin faded as he remembered that they couldn't trust this person yet, couldn't take that risk. He instincts told him that she was no OZ plant, but there wasn't any proof- and it would take more than instincts to convince the rest of the pilots, and the Docs, that this lady was genuine.

Seeing that her companion's thoughts had turned serious, Rae glanced down at the tank top and skirt she still wore. They, unfortunately, would have to stay in place until this trio got back to her little hidey-hole, where she kept her main wardrobe. Ah, well. "Oh, Yuy," she sang out. "We've got maybe a minute of safety time left- are you done yet?"

"Yes." Heero was getting up from the terminal. Duo fought very hard to hide his disappointment when he saw that Heero had put his shirt back on. Pilot 01 strode over to the jeep and jumped in next to Duo; the back two seats were full of the pieces they had pulled out of the cars. That, and it was a very nice excuse sit with his thigh pressed against Duo's. "Why are you driving?" he demanded of Rae. Not that his body was complaining...

"Because I know where we're going. I have a safe-house near here where I've hidden my Gundam. Once we get there, you can catch a ride on her back to your current safe-house." Rae explained as she hot-wired the jeep in an efficient movement and pulled them out of the garage.

Heero was still very suspicious, but public wasn't the best place to air that suspicion. "They have very little security," was his only comment as they left the base through an open gate on their perimeter.

"Yup- they get a lot of aristo-brats, and the little ass-holes bitched about what a pain it was to leave for a bit of partying, and then get back from that partying. And since their mommies and daddies are the ones supplying the money for the place, and the generals need to suck-up major if they want to keep getting that money, they got their way. Makes things easier, on the whole," Rae chucked as they went down the road.

"... why aren't we hurrying?" asked Duo after a few minutes of driving. "We need to get back- the others will be out of their minds right now."

"Yeah, but punching the gas won't get us there faster. I don't have a driver's license, which is just idiotic considering my job, I don't look like I have a driver's license, which is suspicious, we've got what must look like a scrap-heap in the back seat, which can't be regular, and neither of you two are wearing the seat-belt, which is harder to see be still visible. Do really want to give any cop cars in the area more reasons to try and stop us?" -Besides,- Rae added silently, -you two seem to be in no hurry at all to end the time you can spend practically in each other's laps while still looking- she snuck a glance over at them -marginally innocent.-

Duo was pretending to look out the window while oogling Heero's profile, and Heero seemed to be clenching his fists far harder than warranted. He also seemed to be trying very hard not to drool. Both were too busy with their own activities to notice what the other was doing.

Rae shook her head. Men.

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A/N: Well, that's another chapter... and you actually know what Rae looks like, now. Do you like it? I think I'm having WAY too much fun with Heero and Duo... :snicker: But they're soooo cute...! :ahem: And now, a thank you to the two reviewers, who both be getting ice cream and cookies in copious amounts!

Windy River:
Thank you for reading and reviewing this- it was encouraging. Sorry that I couldn't update until now, but I hope you liked the new chapter!

gundam06serentiy:
I could kiss you right now. THANK YOU SO MUCH for giving me such a positive review! I was feeling kind of discouraged about this story, since I loved it, but no one else seemed to. You made me grin for two days strait. I'm REALLY flattered that you love this so much. The idea for Lady A came pretty much because all of the Docs have different titles: 'Doctor,' 'Professor,' and so forth. And I thought they were being majorly sexist... I'm going to have a lot of fun with her, I think. I have several ideas in mind already. May I assume that your name comes from the amount of sixth Pilot fics you read? If not, ignore the comment. Thank you many times for saying that I was keeping the G-boys in character; I was kind of worried about Heero. And what kind of idiot would trust any crazy person claiming to be a Pilot? OZ has been more devious than that, and the Pilots have been TRAINED to be suspicious! I hope that I can see one of these fics, if only to give that author a dope-slap. Some people just deserve them. Sorry it's so short, but it'll stay that way for a while... and here's an update for you! Just for you, actually- you got me writing this again. :glom: Now, you can show your gratefulness by a) reviewing, b) putting up the next chapter of Vampires and Neko-jins, or c) all of the above. I'm kinda assuming that you got to this fic through my profile, which you got to from one of my reviews (which I'm alway glad to give to a good story), but update anyway. See ya then!

chibi luci:
Thank you! You almost didn't make it onto my notes, because you reviewed so close to my update time. But you're here, and I'm greatful. Rae's past and her dealing with it is kinda going to be the underlying theme of the story, so it will be a long, long time before you know all. Muahaha. But I've dropped some clues already; think you can find them? See ya later!

Let this be a lesson to all: The longer the review you write me, the longer a note you will get! Now, you see that little blue square button down there? The one that CANNOT be more that a foot from your little cursor, unless you have a freaking humongous computer? You WILL push it, and review, and make me very happy. Are we clear?