Hi and hello, fans (what few of you there are...) and welcome of chapter 5. This is mainly character rambles and world building, but I hope you like it... because this is one of my favorite fics, and I'll snivel and cry and wail if you don't. Then I'll hunt you down and give you to my muses for chew toys.
Oh, did I mention that for all intents and purposes, this thing doesn't have a timeline? I'm going to be dragging in random events, like Quatre's Zero Craze after his father was killed, with no regard for proper order or relative timing to the war. Just thought I should mention that... and the little fact that the Pilots in my fic are a little older then they are in the series. They're all about 17 or 18 in my world- but everyone else stays the same age. Zechs is still 19, Treize is still 24, Cathrine is still 17. That's to help clear up some confusion that might occur otherwise. Anyway, happy reading!
Chapter 5:Traveling
Heero let the small bit of his mind that wasn't focused on every point of connection between him and Duo keep track of his surroundings. He then joined the rest of it in reveling in that contact. Duo was a very tactile person- he seemed unable to keep from casual touches, even around Heero. And Heero was finding it increasingly difficult to stop himself from leaning into and prolonging those touches.
But (aside from not knowing what Duo really thought of him as) he'd never learned any restraint, never learned any way to... water down or dilute his emotions. He either repressed them completely, or gave them free reign- and most of the feelings he'd let out from under his ruthless control had been violent ones. Anger, rage, battle-fury. He didn't know how to act with these new, gentler emotions- any they made up only a part of what he was feeling. The other part was pure, primal lust, which could all to easily turn violent. He was just as- if not more- worried about what might happen if he let that need run free.
And what he felt for Duo had been building for so long... Even if Duo did return the feelings, if he let them go now, they might be too strong. He might hurt Duo- and the braided pilot next to him didn't deserve to be hurt any more than this war had already hurt all of them.
If the feelings that he kept bottled up hurt him, then so be it. He'd been hurt before; he had lived then and he would live now. So Heero buried all the feelings as deep as he could- he'd keep them there for as long as he had to.
Heero stole another look at the gorgeous face that was currently so close to his- and willed those statements to be true.
(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)
Duo swallowed several times more than usual as their new... acquaintance (she wouldn't be an ally until the Docs proved her claim, and until she proved herself) drove them down the road. Far from being the desert wasteland his mouth had become in the garage, his saliva glands now seemed to be working at double their normal output. Heero had always had that effect on his body- he completely screwed up all of Duo's normal reactions. He simply couldn't stop himself; when he was around Heero, his body had a mind of his own.
Actually, mind had nothing to do with it.
But he had never seen or felt any reaction from Heero- not a glance, not a phrase, nothing. It had taken long enough to be accepted as a partner in their missions- how much longer would it take for Heero to accept him as anything else? If he ever did.
Duo sighed. He had been a street-rat, and was now a Gundam Pilot. He knew that you couldn't get everything you wanted. He knew that you couldn't even get everything you needed. But why, oh why did Heero have to be something he wanted? Or needed. He wasn't quite sure which it was, now.
(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)
Rae couldn't decide whether she wanted to laugh at the two Pilots next to her or smack them. They were so obviously head over heels for each other (or possible head over cock; with teenagers it could be a very fine line), and so wrapped up in their own feelings that they couldn't see the others. And either the laugher or the smack was likely to get her a gun in the face.
Leaving the dilemma for another day, she continued to drive. Finding a handy pair of sunglasses that a previous driver had left in the door pocket, she slipped them on. Anything and everything for a disguise...
Deciding that she'd given the two next to her enough time to drool over each other, she broke the silence. "The idiots at the base should know that you're gone by now- we'll be seeing attempts as pursuit pretty soon.
"Why attempts as pursuit?" Heero demanded, tearing his attention away from the figure in black pressed against his side. "I thought you and Duo disabled the trucks and cars?"
Rae heard the suspicion and accusation in his voice, and ignored it. In his position, she'd be just as if not more suspicious. "That we did, sweetheart. I'm talking Mobile Suits and any vehicles they didn't have in that garage. Of course, no OZ mobile suit is going to chance firing at a public highway, and will be moving far too fast for positive identification of a car on said highway. That leaves any spare vehicles."
Heero didn't answer- he was working through the idea of being called 'sweetheart.'
Duo glanced back at the assorted junk inhabiting the back seat (and firmly repressing any jealousy the 'sweetheart' comment caused). Not that he wasn't grateful for the assorted car parts, as they was the reason that Heero's thigh was currently pressed up against his, but... "Isn't that stuff a dead giveaway?"
Rae glanced over at him, pixie-grin curling over her face. "Yep- except for one thing. I spent a good deal of time before going down to find you two walking through that base to locate each and every last fucking vehicle that wasn't in the main garage- and I made use of a nifty little gadget that Lady A came up with on them. It's quite a lovely little piece actually. Wanna know what it does?"
Duo felt a grin start to stretch over his own face. Whatever it was, it should be good. "Enlighten us."
"Well, every car or truck needs fuel- yes?"
"Sounds about right."
"And fuel needs to be combustible to be usable- yes?"
"Dead on the money."
"Well, the 'little gadget' is something of a mini-time bomb. You shove it in through the fuel intake that every single vehicle must have, unless you want to get the damned stuff in there by teleportation. Now, what the little thing is, in its purest form, is a bit of chemical surrounded by a protective skin. When that skin hits the liquid of the fuel- or any liquid, for that matter, depending on how you choose to make it- it starts to dissolve. Guess what happens when it finishes?"
"An explosion," Heero stated. It was the logical result of a fuel additive. Though it seemed rather messy and unnecessary to use on a public highway.
Rae favored him with an even wider grin then usual. "The ones I used will do just the opposite, actually. The chemical in the little balls I put into those tanks will render the fuel in them completely inert. Just so much sludge. Their engines are going to lock up, and leave them with a pretty much freaking useless few tons of metal that just happens to be shaped like a car or truck."
"Nice," commented Duo admiringly. "Is there anything else you can do with them? Or are they just fuel sabotage? 'Cause if they've just got that one use, then there's only so much you can do with them, and OZ would catch on sooner or later, 'cause they really aren't as dumb as we'd like them to be..."
Rae relaxed back into her seat, and warmed to her topic. "You can put just about any chemical you want in there, it can be an explosive, an oil-slick, a poison, a flash, a gas, a corrosive... you just have to adjust the chemical make-up of the covering so that it ain't soluble to what's inside it. We've also managed to hook them up to timers and remote detonators, so you don't necessarily need the outside solute to eat its way in. It's a really sweet set up- and pretty multi-purpose. I've used them before."
"Sounds great." Duo was going to say more, but Heero interrupted him.
"Cars approaching fast." He motioned to the rear-view mirror.
Looking over their shoulders, both Rae and Duo spotted several cars bearing military markings weaving through traffic a very high speeds, though the occupants were being sure to carefully scan each vehicle they passed.
Duo's grin widened to manic as he mentally reviewed the weapons he had on him (they had picked them up as they left the dungeons) and weighed them against the amount of cars approaching. It didn't look good...
Rae, on the other hand, just leaned back in her seat and studied the clock on their jeep's dashboard. "Three," she drawled, "two, one..."
Suddenly, one of the cars started to screech and swerve. The occupants were thrown forward as the car came to an unexpected and sudden stop. As the drivers and passengers of the other cars turned to try and see what had gone wrong with their fellow, a second car started having the same problem. One by one, every single car in pursuit came to a screeching, swerving halt.
Heero turned back to Rae, grudgingly impressed. "How did you know they timing on that?"
Rae shrugged. "I recognized one of the cars in that lot as one of the first cars I stuffed my lovely little bomb-balls into; I know how thick the skin on them was, and how long it would take to dissolve; and I knew how long it had been since I put it in. No fucking magic trick. But did you see the looks on their faces?"
"Priceless!" Duo agreed, wiping his eyes. He's started cracking up at the first screeching halt.
"Well, boys, that takes care of our tag-alongs. Wanna come home with me?"
"On a first date?" Duo gasped in mock horror.
"What can I say? I'm confident."
"Well, I'll have you know, I'm not the type to be won over that easily!"
"Oh, really?" Rae laughed. "Well, we'll see about that." She'd better wrap this up soon- fun and harmless as the banter was, Yuy looked about ready to do some damage. Jealousy really was a cute look on him... "Anyway, once we get there, you can contact your own mentors. They'll tell you I'm the genuine article, and my Gundam oughta finish the job."
For the first time, the other two looked at her with a little less suspicion in their eyes. They hadn't lost it in the base, for all that they had worked together- that had been more of a forced alliance. They hadn't had a choice in cooperating with her, but that didn't mean that they trusted her. Now, for the first time, they were beginning to.
Duo declined to comment on the lessening of tensions in the air, but he did begin to talk. "Man, seeing you meet the others is going to be a stitch! I mean, I doubt Trowa will crack and expression, and Quatre will be all nice and welcoming, but Wufei! Wuffles is going to have an apoplexy! Oh this is going to be priceless!..."
Rae tuned out of the ramble, remembering the last two in the little group she was irrevocably tying herself to. First, Pilot 04. Quatre Raberba Winner. Another unlikely Pilot. He was the son of the head of Winner Inc., and his father had been one of the leading pacifists before he had been killed in an OZ plot. Though the relationship between father and son had been strained at the time, due to Quatre's decision to fight in the war, the results of that had pretty much scared the shit out of everyone.
But if what H said was to be trusted, that was an abnormal reaction brought on by the death of someone close to him. According the to file Lady A had gotten from H on him, he was normally a very sweet and kind person. He was also really, really, really loaded, and took care of most of the financing needed by the Gundam team, as well as providing several of the safe houses they used. But his money wasn't the only reason for Quatre being a Pilot. The small blond Arabian was a genius when it came to tactics and strategy. He was even better then Heero, though not by much. And he wasn't exactly bad at the combat part of the job, either, and could easily hold his own in a space-fight. Personal combat was a little iffy, but he could defend himself better then most.
And, of course, there was a very close bond with Pilot 03. It might even be love- she didn't know yet. S didn't care about it one way or another, and H seemed to think it was good for the pair of them. They were slightly more accepting then J when it came to 'their' Pilots developing attachments and feelings.
And finally, Chang Wufei. Pilot 05, of Chinese descent. His was a most interesting history, according to O's file on him- and he'd probably be the hardest pilot to convince of her abilities. Not because of any trust he might or might not bestow on her, but simply because of her gender. Having gone through some of his past, Rae had decided that she really couldn't blame him for his attitudes.
That didn't mean she wasn't going to get a certain amount of enjoyment out of crunching them into dust.
But as far as his skills went, Chang was a warrior. Give him a battle, and he would carefully weigh both sides and fight for the one that he felt most right. In a fight- with either Gundams or just hand-to-hand- he might even top Heero in skill; the two were about equal there, anyway. His strengths also included the ability to sift through a great deal of information in a short amount of time to reach a relevant conclusion. It came from the scholar path he had followed before becoming a warrior. The Pilots used this ability as a filter for a lot of what their informants and other information sources brought in.
Rae tuned back in to Duo's chatter, through with her musings for the moment. After concluding that she hadn't missed anything of importance (he seemed to be gloating over something), she looked back at the road.
"Hey, guys," she called after a few minutes, interrupting Duo's monologue. "We're almost there."
(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)
A/N: And there you have it. I think you lot will like what's going to happan at the safe house... but that's geting ahead of myself. I really hope you like this chapter, everyone- it was a fun one to write! And coming up with gadets for my Pilot 06 is one of the things I do while in math class. Certianly makes the day more exciting. Um, I want to say a few things before the notes... and the first one is this: Don't be fooled by that 'sweetheart' that Rae uses. She only uses pet names like that when she is a) seriously annoyed but hiding it, b) trying to be deliberatly provoking, or c) playing a character that uses pet names often.
Second, I would like to say something about the spelling of Quatre's name. Not even the officials know how to spell it! I own several of the GW mangas, and there's two different spellings for his middle name in there. I used the one that came up more frequently, so I hope it's 'officially' right.
Lastly, I was looking through a baby names book for character name ideas, and I stumbled across an entry on the name 'Rae.' In it, it included what the name meant. Anyone want to try and guess? I'll tell you what it was in my next update.
And now, notes to my few but faithful revieweres!
kidishcaresh:
Thank you! Sorry I haven't updated for a bit, but I hope you like this
chapter! I'm doing a special this week: every single fic that I have is
getting updated, bar none! (Catslaugh: Wow, all five of them...)
Shut up! You're one of my muses, it's your fault if I don't have all
that many fics! ::ahem:: Sorry about that little rant there... Anyway, thank you for reviewing!
gundam06serenity:
Forget liked, I LOVED the review. And if you're updating, do
Shinigami Servants, Guardian Wing, Black Rose Riders, too. I read it,
and absolutely fell in love with it- I hope you got my review of it.
Back on topic... I did intend Rae to be a bit like Duo, at least
as far as... looseness? non-militaryism? was conerned- and I said in
the third chapter, they are going to be really good friends. No pairing
there, though- I think I've already made it clear who Duo's going to
end up with... :snicker: The boys are fun to play with. And yes, Treize
will be here, though he won't show up for a long while. I'm actually
going to make him fairly decent. I'm glad to get you back in here! It's
true that there's a lot of god-awful stuff running around, but there's
a lot of truely gorgeous stories out there as well- the problem is
finding them. And I always write notes to my rewiewers- I want them to
know that I appreaciate them very, very, very much. ::watches as ego
purrs happily:: Very, very much. And she will fall for someone, that someone will be a guy, and I'm not telling you any more. Have fun guessing!
Windy River:
As soon as I can- but this week, EVERYTHING is being updated, so I think you'll be happy!
chibi
luci:
LONG REVIEW! ::glom:: YAY! No, she didn't spend time at a circus...
she might refer to the people who knew her in the past as being only
actors, but she'd be being
sarcastic, so no luck there. Ommir Hyrat was more of a side player in
her history, but something like that did happen to her, if not the way
you
put it. She wasn't raped, I'll say that much. Ommir's about 30, now,
I'd guess, and yeah, if you can think of a
sexual vice, he's probably got a bit of it somewhere in him. Bastard.
Lady A found/met Rae about two years before the war, which would make
my girl about 15 when they met. She wasn't the sporodic additon Trowa
was; she was
raised with something in mind, but that something wasn't a soilder. And
no,
nothing like a botched mission got her into it. Her disguise skills are
something of an accident of
her training, actually- or something her teachers never intended to be
put to use that way. Playing with the boys is so fun... I had more fun with them in this chapter-
and then there's my other fics... but they're soooo cute!
I can't resist. Rae's interested in them becuase one of the things she
was trained to do was to note any
and all human reactions around her. It's just part of who she is to be
a busybody, I guess. G might know about Duo's crush, but J doesn't.
Like Rae said, he'd
thow a fit (bastard...). If the other docters know, they don't care,
because it doesn't affect their own protege. She and Wufei will be good
friends
(eventually... it's
going to take a LOT of time, that one...) but not a pair. I've got
someone else in mind for her- and him. ::grin:: For the
options... maybe some type of mixture of B and C... with a large dash
of D (which is Rae choosing to fight against the Alliance for her own
reasons and the Lady providing a handy method of doing so) thrown in.
And I don't know about her Gundam's
shape yet- it's just that Rae thinks of it as 'female,' kinda like
Quatre thinks of Sandrock as 'male.' She might feel a bit of a persona
from it, but it's more
of a reflection of herself than anything else.
And I think that naming their planes or other machines is a trait all
fly-boys (or girls) share about their 'babies.' I've yet to hear of one
that didn't have some type of affection for their 'mount.' I think, in response to
the 'death' question, Rae'd tell
you someone close to her died, but again, she'd be using a metaphor
then. And you picked up one of the hints (a rather big one, actually) with the aristocrats... she
does have some roots there. Though she'd hate to admit it, and it will
take a long time to come out in the fic. I hope
you liked the chapter!