Disclaimer: I own nothing!
----
What is Cake?
Chapter 4
As they pilots moved deeper into the factory, they noticed an increase in the amount of rats scampering around in the shadows around them. Duo shuddered at the thought of those little beady eyes and long whip-like tails.
"They should really do something about this rodent problem." Heero murmured softly with a look of disgust on his face.
"I will never buy from these guys again. This is so gross!" Quatre wailed as he shook his head. The pilots continued on until an office door became visible.
"Sweet! We can finally get away from these rats!" Duo cried happily as he practically skipped to the door. He reached for the handle only to be shocked as a large rat jumped by stealing the office door off of the wall. "What the hell just happened?" Duo looked at the other pilots with wide eyes hoping that had not just happened.
"I think a giant rat just took off with the door we need." Trowa stared after the large rodent too shocked to give chase. Wufei only nodded silently his eyes on the wall where the door had been a few moments ago.
"Well, let's go get it." Heero said simply and pulled out his nerf gun again. The other pilots followed the Japanese boy's example except for Duo who couldn't use his weapon because he had missed the memo about foam weapons. So for the moment he could only stand on top of boxes and squeal like a housewife as his comrades took care of the rodent problem.
"We'll have to find you a weapon Duo." Quatre said with a smile. "You aren't much use without one."
"Hey! That's not very nice!" Duo growled "I warned us about the dinosaur!" Duo smiled victoriously.
"Did you know about the rat problem?" Wufei smirked as Duo's grin faded into a scowl of annoyance.
"You know what Wufei… I don't like your attitude." Duo muttered under his breath still scowling darkly. "Just shoot me down why don't you."
"Gladly." Was Wufei's only response as the pilots turned the corner at the end of the hall to find the giant rat leaning against the doorway waiting for them.
"You guys really are slow you know that?" It asked simply. The pilots all just shrugged before launching into full assault mode. Heero was firing his nerf gun while Wufei andTrowa beat the rat with their weapons. Quatre looked at Duo then fired his super soaker into the rat's face. Duo just stood there with a blank look on his face wondering what he could do to help.
"He's immune to everything we've got!" Trowa yelled above the noise their weapons made. The pilots continued trying to get rid of this giant rat, but nothing was working.
"You guys are cute. You're little toys can't hurt me." The rat chided while leaning more firmly against the door. Duo got an idea! He ran around the corner to another door and burst through it. In the new room Duo grinned at the sight of a strangely placed door. With a victorious cry Duo wrenched the door open. The rat toppled inward and landed on top of Duo with a yelp. The pilots all advanced on the rat attacking mercilessly. "Alright! Alright! You guys win. I'm bored." The rat stood up with a groan and left grumbling about people being way too serious.
"Well that was easy." Duo blinked slowly his face stuck in an expression of total shock. "A little painful to."
"You're fine. Walk it off Duo." Heero said simply as he strode away. Duo stood and stepped through the door closing it behind him. Quatre and Wufei grabbed either side of the door frame and lifted it with a grunt. They moved the door frame along the wall to its original spot. When Trowa opened the door again there was a different office. Quatre poked his head in and looked around immediately noticing a safe in the back of the room. The pilots slid into the room and over to the safe.
"Okay, I'm good at this let me try." Duo grinned as he knelt down next to the safe and placed his ear against the front and turned the dial listening carefully. He had only sat there for a moment before Heero decided he had waited long enough. Heero pushed Duo aside and reached into his pocket. Duo watched in amazement as Heero pulled out a welder's torch and face mask. The other pilots just stared in shock as Heero melted a large hole in the front and stuck his hand inside fishing around for something. He pulled his hand out and handed a single piece of paper to Trowa.
"The cake is a lie…" Trowa read out loud. He looked at them for a long moment before putting the paper back into the safe and turned to leave.
"What?! It can't say that!" Duo yelled and made a mad grab for the paper only to hit the front of the safe. "What the?!?" Heero had already sealed the hole he had made and refinished the front of the safe to look as though no one had even opened it in the first place. "Why do you even know how to do that?"
"It's a useful skill." Heero shrugged following after Trowa. Wufei turned to look at Duo for a moment before laughing and walking out behind a sighing Quatre. Duo was the last to leave and he did so unhappily.
As they moved towards the factory exit, the pilots noticed that any sign that they had been there was gone. The little men had disappeared from view and the nerf bullets and wet spots on the floor were mysteriously gone. Then it occurred to Quatre.
"We're going the wrong way."
"How do you know?" Duo asked looking around for any sign of which way was the right way.
"That sign hanging on the wall over there." Quatre pointed to a sign pointing towards them saying EXIT in big red letters that flashed in an obnoxious way.
"Where had that sign been a few minutes ago!?" Duo yelled at the sign angrily.
"Right here." Trowa muttered. Duo just growled out something and turned around to walk back the way they had come. Another few minutes passed before the pilots came to another sign. "If you go this way you will be eaten." Duo read aloud his eyebrows rising slightly. "That's kinda… helpful?"
"Eaten by what? That dinosaur?" Heero asked a small frown on his face. Quatre nodded mumbling about the dinosaur eating the old man not too incredibly long ago.
"Well let's keep going this way then." Wufei started forward with the other pilots following him. "We can get rid of the dinosaur. There should be no problem." He nodded.
"What about the UFO?" Heero asked turning to Duo for an idea.
"I don't really know. I hadn't gotten that far when I was drawing up the plans. Or maybe I did and just don't remember." Duo pulled out the tube containing the blueprints for the factory and went over his drawings again. He looked over it a few times before he noticed a little square in the corner just under the green squiggles that was the laser. "Aha! Anyone have something that looks like this?" Duo asked pointing to the little square in question.
"What is it supposed to be anyway?" Trowa asked turning the blueprints to get a better look.
"How am I supposed to know?" Duo shrugged.
"You're the one who drew the plans Duo!" Wufei glared at Duo with all the energy he could muster.
"Well I don't know! It could be anything! I was tired at that point!" Duo tried to defend himself, but the other pilots didn't really care at this point.
"You'd better figure out what it's supposed to be by the time we get there." Heero threatened as they continued walking through the factory aisles. Duo just sighed and put his thinking cap on hyperthink.
When the pilots finally made it back to the front of the factory Duo still hadn't figured out what the little square was supposed to be. He tried really hard to figure it out for fear Heero would kill him for forgetting a crucial piece of information.
"I got it. Empty your pockets guys." Duo smiled brightly. "Maybe one of you has something that will remind me what the square is." Duo nodded at his logic and everyone emptied their pockets. Duo looked completely shocked at Heero's pile of explosives and other weapons. "Where did you even GET all of that! We were supposed to destroy it all!"
"It was still useful so I kept it instead." Heero shrugged daring the other guys to question his logic.
"Okay then, None of this rings a bell." Duo turned moving on to each pile finding more guns and antiaircraft missiles in each pile. "You guys are nuts I swear." Duo hung his head at his companions inability to get rid of all weapons. He turned around and something caught his eye. "That's IT!" Duo jumped to his feet grinning wickedly. "It's a mirror!"
"A mirror!? What's that supposed to do?" Wufei made a face that was borderline confused.
"Duh! Reflect the beam back at the UFO!" Duo smiled and nodded at his perfect logic. The pilots began the painstaking process of putting all the stuff back in their pockets. Duo ran into the nearest bathroom and pulled a mirror off the wall with ease. When he returned to the others he looked at them and asked, "So, who wants to deal with the UFO and who wants the dinosaur?"
The pilots just looked at Duo for a long moment before pointing fingers at him and shoving Duo out of the door. Duo yelled at the top of his lungs for them to stop until the door closed behind him. His mouth closed with a loud snap. He looked around for any sign of the dinosaur or UFO. Duo took a few steps out onto the lawn before a growl caught his attention.
Duo spun with a yell as he reached into his pocket and threw the giant banana at the dinosaur. An explosion nearby reminded him of the UFO that had been hiding. Duo held up the mirror with a yelp as the green laser slammed against it. The force that slammed into the braided boy made him skid backward a few feet, but had its desired effect. The laser shot back towards the UFO and missed by a hair. The dinosaur was munching on the banana while the other pilots bolted through the doorway and toward the entrance.
Another laser sent Duo tumbling backwards into the running pilots. He jumped to his feet catching another laser on his mirror shield, this time he hit the UFO with the returning laser. Duo watched with a satisfied look as it crash landed in the nearby forest. A hand grabbed his arm and jerked him away from the scene. The dinosaur had recovered from his banana and was racing towards the fleeing boys. Duo reached into his pocket and pulled out his last rubber band and fired it. The dinosaur screamed in pain as it fell to the ground.
The ground shook from the dinosaur's impact with the ground after the pilots raced through the front gate and toward the bus stop a mile away. When the worn out boys finally sat down in the bus seats Duo finally found time to think about that damn factory. What he had learned had not helped his cause at all. He might have to go up to the front desk anyway of the place anyway. However, right now all Duo and the other pilots wanted was sleep.
The last thing Duo really remembered from that night was noting that Relena had moved from the sidewalk where they had left her. Well, he remembered that and tumbling into bed at around five thirty in the morning.