Hey everyone! I meant to post earlier, but I had senior retreat and disappeared from civilization for three solid days of crying and class bonding.
Anyway, a little more is revealed in this chapter (hence its length), though it will more than likely just leave you all with more questions. Hehe...
Happy reading!
We Were Promised Jetpacks
The Worst Day Since Yesterday
Duo was less than impressed.
The address dumped him in some back alley in front of a tiny shop, whose sign looked as if it would collapse at just the threat of a breeze.
Locke's All Purpose Tech Shop
He crumpled the paper in his hand. "This better not be another dead end."
He pushed open the dirty metal door, a bell tickling above his head.
It looked like a tornado had decided to take a stroll through the tiny shop. Metal pieces were scattered everywhere without even the hint of any kind of organization. Car magazines peaked out under piles of half finished metal arms. A metal hand lay twitching on the table. Screws and gears and wrenches appeared everywhere he looked. From behind a curtain of beads, hard metal music blared, just barely muted, simply adding to the overall chaos of the area.
Hilde could never again accuse his workshop of being disorganized.
The bead curtain rattled.
One of the strangest looking men Duo had ever seen appeared through the clinking barrier. He was huge, really huge, and pure brawn. His features were sharp and defined, giving him a harsh, angry look, emphasized by the scowl pulling at his lips. Even his peppered hair was pointed and crisp, trimmed to a short military buzz. His narrow gray eyes, like two pieces of steel, zeroed in on Duo's comparatively small frame in a glare.
Yet, at the same time, his intimidating presence was completely undermined. The man wore a neon pink and orange, tacky Hawaiian shirt cut off at the shoulders. Duo's eyes hurt just looking at him. The outfit was completed with a pair of flip flops and khaki shorts. The guy looked more like some sort of wanna-be beach bum than a mechanic.
A glint of metal caught his attention. He wondered how he didn't notice it before. The man's entire right leg was metal, the same design as her arm.
Maybe Luke hadn't led him to a dead end after all.
"I'm guessing you're Locke then?"
The man raised a pointed eyebrow and wiped his oil covered hands with an even dirtier rag. "Depends whose asking."
He put on a confident smirk. "Name's Duo Maxwell."
Locke stared at him blankly before turning and fiddling with some metal parts of a shelf. "Never heard of ya."
Duo let his smirk turn into a grin. "That's okay, I've never heard of you either." The old man seemed like a pretty cool dude so far, nothing he couldn't handle.
He let his voice grow a little more serious. "I need some information. I'm looking for this girl. She has this flaming red hair and-"
In a burst of motion, the man whipped around, a gun clutched in his hand.
Duo threw up his hands in a gesture of peace. "What the hell gramps?!"
The man leveled the gun at his chest. "Look, here, kid, I don't know who sent you, but you make sure that you never come back here again, got it? If I even get wind of you even talking about that girl," he jerked the gun forward, making his threat obvious. "You forget she even exists, clear?"
Duo shifted his weight towards the counter. If things turned bad, he could take cover behind its metal frame.
"Look, I'm not looking for trouble gramps. I just want to talk to her, okay? No harm, no foul, right? Luke sent me all the way here, and I expect some answers."
The man faltered, and a flash of confusion swept over his features. The gun lowered a fraction. "Luke sent you here?"
Duo waved his raised arms, "yeah, after just about a week of badgering, the punk finally found some humanity in that heart of his. Though, I have to admit, I'm beginning to wonder if he just sent me here to become someone else's mess."
The older man tightened his hold on the gun. "I don't like your sarcasm boy."
Duo shrugged unconcernedly. "Not really my problem, is it? Now, getting back on topic, do you know the girl or not?"
"Why do you want to know?"
Duo resisted the urge to scream. "Jesus, just how many times do I have to explain it to you people! She's an old friend. I met her three years ago. I just want to talk to her. What the hell is up with all this third degree?"
The gun lowered. "Three years ago, you say?"
"Did I stutter?"
The man paused for a moment, steely gray eyes racking over Duo.
"Follow me," he said finally. "And turn that open sign around. This'll take awhile." He disappeared behind the swishing beads.
Duo whipped around the sign and practically sprinted after the old man.
Finally, he was getting somewhere.
.:::.
"I still don't understand how you were able to convince Catherine to let you come along. You're going to be missing the big performance."
Trowa gave a small shrug. "I told her Duo needed some help."
"And she let you go? Just like that?"
"She likes Duo. Thinks he's a good influence."
Quatre had to grip the rail of the stairs to steady himself as he laughed.
The two were exiting a small shuttle on a private space dock on L4-M13009. It was a Winner Foundation's owned craft, and, therefore, at the leisurely disposal of Quatre, though one would never know, as he wasted a good thirty minutes apologizing for having to hijack it for the weekend at such short notice.
Trowa waited patiently for Quatre to collect himself, a small smile of his own tugging at his lips.
"Sorry," Quatre forced out between chuckles, "it's just the idea of Duo as a good influence is just so, so laughable!" He dissolved into another fit of laughter.
Moments later he rose to full height with a bright smile. "Thanks Trowa, I really needed a good laugh."
Trowa didn't bother pointing out that the comment was Catherine's.
"You work too hard," he said instead.
Quatre sighed. "I know. It's just that there's so much to do, and with all the construction delays, I need to make sure that everything and everyone is taken care of."
"You should worry about taking better care of yourself first. You'll be useless to everyone if you don't." Trowa's expression remained neutral, but Quatre knew better than to judge his feelings based on that.
"You're probably right, but then again you always seem to be. How did you know I was losing sleep?" He asked curiously, rubbing the back of his head, sheepishly.
Trowa raised an eyebrow. "You look like you have two black eyes," he pointed out bluntly.
"Are you serious?!" Quatre exclaimed. He darted over to the nearest window. "No wonder I've been getting so many concerned looks," he speculated. "And here I thought that everyone had been pitying me for all those mishaps that had been happening." He let out a little laugh at his own expense. He tilted his head from side to side and prodded the bags under his eyes, which were larger than he recalled. "I didn't think it was that bad really…" he muttered, frowning at his reflection.
The brunette waited patiently for the other boy to rejoin him.
"Maybe it's a good thing that Duo pulled this little stunt now, then…" Quatre announced to himself. "I might get the chance to finally catch up on some sleep."
He turned his back to his sickly reflection. "Right, then, where should we look first?"
"Somewhere where would Duo would have begun searching."
Quatre paused for a moment. The object of Duo's search was still unchartered territory with the brunette. "Right, well, if he was looking for that boy, then-"
"Girl."
"Huh?"
"It was a girl," he answered simply, his gaze glued forward.
Quatre eyes saddened for a moment before continuing. "Okay then, if Duo was looking for that girl, then where would he have check first?"
"He called her a street rat."
Quatre nodded thoughtfully. "So then he probably thought she lived on the streets somewhere, like a runaway or an orphan. I guess we have to check Sector Six then."
Trowa sent him a questioning glance.
"It's the part of town that took the most damage when the White Fang took control of the colony," Quatre elaborated. "The buildings are all nothing but rubble. Duo would go there first if he thought she lived on the streets."
Trowa nodded, and the two made a left at the next street block.
.:::.
"You better be joking, gramps. I didn't come all this way to sit around and swap stories. I want some answers," Duo growled out. He fought the urge to leap across the table and strangle the old man till he talked.
If Locke was even remotely fazed by the teen's shortening patience, he sure didn't show it. He sat calmly, staring Duo down with those beady steel eyes. "You want answers, those are my conditions."
Duo rose from his seat and slammed his hands on the table. The beady little eyes didn't even as so much blink at the motion. He stood there for a good long moment glaring down at the old man.
Letting out a sigh, he fell back into his chair deflated. "Fine, gramps," he said, waving a dismissive hand, "have it your way. But, if you're so worried about trusting me, how can I be so sure I can trust you? You're asking a lot of me. My past isn't pretty."
The old man sent him a hard look. "My name's not Locke."
Duo nearly fell out his chair. "Wait, what?"
"My name's Curtis."
Duo raised an eyebrow. "Eh, that's great for you gramps, but going back to me trusting-"
"Shut up," he said firmly. "I just told you something I haven't told anyone in twenty years boy. Now we're even. Begin."
Duo floundered for a second, trying to produce words to get himself out of this hole. The last thing he wanted to do was waste even more times reliving memories he rather leave buried and untouched.
"Damn, gramps, I wouldn't even know where to start."
"The beginning, idiot."
Duo looked up grimly. "The beginning, huh?"
"Shit."
He braced himself for the impact. His reverse throttles were refusing to ignite, and he was set on a crash course with the white landing dock of Peacemillion. His hands flew over the console.
"Ignite, dammit!" He screamed, slamming his hands down. Deathsythe lurched, and the throttles burst to life just in time to keep him for punching a hole through the ship,
He jerked forward upon collision with the platform. As the machine went crashing towards the far wall, his senses picked up nothing but a rain of sparks and the horrible screech of metal against metal.
With a final crash, he slammed back into his seat roughly, and the cockpit went dark. He closed his eyes and breathed a sigh of relief. He hadn't actually pierced the far wall. Meaning he hadn't just exposed the entire hanger and all its occupants to the vacuum of space.
He let out a laugh ignoring the flash of pain it caused his ribs. He had the devil's luck.
He caught the hiss of the mechanical door closing behind him, cutting off the dark vastness of space. His body went limp in the harness. All he wanted to do at that moment was slip into unconsciousness and forget for a time the mess that was brewing outside that wall.
A series of bangs startled him awake.
"Yo, kid, you still alive in there!?" a familiar voice yelled out to him.
"Howard?" he asked himself. "Howard? That you?" he repeated, this time louder.
"Yeah, kid. Hold tight a second and we'll get you outta there."
"Anything I can do?"
"Yeah," he heard Howard yell back with a grunt. "Stay away from the hatch!"
Duo eyed the door a little wearily. "Sure, sure," he responded, more to himself.
He caught the familiar sound of a high powered blow torch being ignited. Sparks began to leak into the cockpit. With a yelp, he pulled his legs to his chest to avoid another stray spark.
Minutes later, the noise and sparks cut off abruptly. He heard the sounds of voices arguing outside. He reached out and kicked the door. "Hey, guys! I'm still in here!"
A faint voice told him to shut up. He grinned a little to himself.
"If you want to keep your limbs," a voice that wasn't Howard's yelled out to him, "I suggest you keep them away from the hatch!" Alarmed, he curled into a ball, ducking his head, hoping they weren't about to do what he thought they were.
A series of small blasts rocked the gundam, and the entire hatch peeled off with a loud groan. He coughed furiously as the smoke from the explosions filled the cockpit. With a twitch of his hands, the harness released him, and he went rolling out of his gundam. He landed spread eagle on the floor bruised, but in one piece and away from the smoke.
Howard's face appeared in his line of vision. He still wore those same sunglasses, even in the middle of space.
"You look like hell, kid," Howard deadpanned, grinning faintly.
"Yeah, well, you look tacky," he croaked out between coughs. Duo had always hated that pink beach shirt covered with little green palm trees that Howard seemed to always be wearing.
Suddenly, a burst of red flashed in the corner of his vision. He covered his head thinking it another explosion.
Howard let out a loud laugh.
Duo lowered his arms in confusion. "Huh?"
"Oh, you poor thing!" a distinctly female voice cried out.
Duo raised one of his arms and gave a dismissive motion. "I'm fine, really. The ground's real comfy."
This time it wasn't only Howard that laughed, some of the crew around them stopped to join in.
"I don't think she was talking to you, kid," Howard pointed out, nodding his head towards the gundam.
Duo craned his head back.
There, next to his gundam, was a head of fire red hair. It took awhile for Duo to tear his eyes away from the burst of color and realize that the hair was attached to a girl that couldn't be any older than himself. Duo watched as she scampered up the side of Deathsycthe's crumpled form. Her limbs were lanky and white, a fact exaggerated by the blackness of his gundam. With a quick motion, she disappeared into the cockpit.
He opened his mouth to protest. He didn't want some chick messing with his gundam.
"Don't even think about whining, Duo. Deathsythe's in the best hands out there short of the five scientists. And myself, of course," He paused to grin down at him. "Now, let's get you out of here and cleaned up." He turned to bark orders at the crew of men running around them. "Someone grab a stretcher!"
Duo made a noise of protest and tried to raise himself up. "I can walk just fine, Howard."
The older man placed a foot on his chest and added the smallest amount of pressure. Duo gasped and fell back, gripping his ribs. "Save the bravery for when it matters, Duo."
If he hadn't been so preoccupied with the burning fire engulfing his abdomen, Duo would have at least attempted to make some sort of comeback.
"Now, you sure made one hell of a mess out of the landing dock. Your friends are going to be stuck outside for a while now. We'll have to move faster, though. We can't afford to sit in one place too long, and one of your buddies out there reported he's running low on fuel. He won't be able to keep up with us, even if we go our slowest. You sure are a pain, Duo."
Duo cracked a smile that turned out to be more of a grimace. "Thanks, man. I feel real welcome."
Two men arrived with a stretcher and hoisted Duo onto it carefully, a fact contradicted by his frequent curses and hisses of pain.
As he was being hauled out of the room, Howard called out to him one last time, "It really is good to see you again, Duo. Didn't actually think you'd ever live this long."
Duo waved an arm lazily, "I'm the God of Death, remember? I don't die easily."
He slipped out of his room a little over thirty minutes later with the help of some serious pain killers.
He limped down the hallway determined to check on his gundam. He still couldn't wrap his head around the idea of that girl tinkering around his Deathsycthe.
With a sweeping look around, Duo slipped into the large hanger and darted towards the nearest lift, hoping none of the crew would catch sight of him. With a press of a button and a lurch, the lift began to rise, and he let himself fall back against the iron cage with a sigh. He would just lean here for a second and catch his breath. His eyes slipped close.
With a ding, the lift's iron mesh doors screeched aside, opening onto a walkway at cockpit level with his gundam. With a hiss of pain and a determined grunt, he willed himself out.
His hands gripped the railing tightly as he moved slowly down the length of the walkway. He was surprised they had been able to get his gundam in here in such a short amount of time. Even he had to admit, Deathsycthe had been trashed. He took a glance at the door to the hanger. The others should be arriving any moment now that the landing dock had been cleared. He wondered who would be first…
He shook his head and redirected his focus on his torn up gundam. He noted that the door to the hatch that had been literally blown off was missing in action, leaving the cockpit wide open. As he got closer, he could make the distinct sound of a welder and the accompanying flash of sparks.
He came to a stop at the computer positioned in front of the cockpit. He glanced over the charts of information and winced. It was worse than he had thought. One of the Vulcan guns on the head of the gundam had been completely destroyed. The buster shield on the left arm had been badly damaged and most likely needed to be replaced. The wires that powered the active cloak had been fried in the crash. And, finally, the hyper jammer on the back had suffered a lot of surface damage. The only thing that seemed to have made it out untouched was the twin beam scythe.
He let out a groan. This was going to take weeks to repair; time he just didn't have. With a noise of frustration, he tore his eyes away from the damage report and peered into the cockpit.
At first all he could make out were a pair of heavy black boots, resting on the seat. However, as he inched closer, he was able to identify a pair of cargo pants, but the rest of whoever's body they belonged to lay hidden under the left console. A tangle of wires hung limply around the cockpit hid them from view.
He knocked loudly against the side of the gundam.
A loud bang sounded, followed by a loud, "shit" and a hiss of pain.
Duo had to step back to allow whoever room to stand. The first thing he caught sight of was a light gray tank top smeared with grease and smudged with black grime. Any other details he might have gathered were lost as soon as he caught sight of the bright red hair. The shock of color riveted his eyes. He didn't even notice the angry expression on the girl's face and her blazing grey eyes until it was too late.
Two dirty pale hands shot out and shoved him away from the gundam.
"You're the horrible pilot that trashed Deathsycthe!"
Duo blinked dumbly up at the girl, the pain in his ribs momentarily forgotten.
"Do you even realize what a mess this guy is in? It will take me practically a week of non-stop repairs to get him up and running again! What the hell did you do, run up to OZ and scream 'shoot me, I won't put up much of a fight'?!"
Duo opened his mouth to protest, but was cut off before he could even get a word in.
"Just who the hell do you think you are being so reckless with this gundam, huh? Do you have any idea just how amazingly intricate and advanced this machine is? It's a living testament to the pinnacle of technology of this era, and you go and treat it like some hand-me down toy!" she spat out at him, waving her arms furiously.
Moderately recovered, Duo spit out the first thing that came to mind, "If you think I'm reckless, babe, you should meet Heero. You'd absolutely love him." He knew immediately from the look on her face that that was not the right thing to have said. The painkillers were messing with his head.
He got an icy glare for his trouble. "You better pray his gundam arrives in better shape than yours or else I might just have to bring up the issue of finding more responsible pilots," she threatened heatedly.
Duo was the angry one now. "Hold on, just who the hell do you think you are judging us? You have no idea what we've been through, babe, so I suggest you back off, okay?"
The girl froze and within seconds her entire face had turned nearly the color of her hair. She opened and closed her mouth, reminding Duo faintly of a red and white Koi fish.
She looked utterly…ashamed?
A small part of Duo felt a twinge of sympathy for her. A very, very small part.
A loud siren broke the tense silence. Another gundam had arrived on the landing dock.
The girl floundered for a moment, speak incomprehensibly and making wild gestures with her hands. Finally, with much effort, she forced out a rushed, "I gotta go," and skirted past Duo.
With quick reflexes, he was just barely able to grab hold of her wrist.
"Eh, look, um, it's been a really long day, and I-well, it seems like the whole universe is going to hell, my gundams trashed, and my ribs hurt like hell, and well, I decided to take it all out on you…" Duo rambled, intending it to come out as more a pseudo apology and less like 'listen to Duo bitch' time.
The girl looked absolutely horrified. "Ah, damn, no, look, don't, I was way outta line there, and I really do know better, really. I was being stupid and cranky because one of my favorite gundams has been reduced to practically a pile of scrap metal, and, then Nigel had to go and eat my last yogurt this morning, and, uh, yeah." She finished lamely.
The silence between them had reached a whole new plateau of awkward.
Duo wasn't quite sure if it had been the silence, the tension, or the overall stress of the day, but suddenly he was laughing. And not just the kind of 'ha-ha that was funny' laugh. No, this was a full out, doubled over, tears jerking laughter that shook his entire body.
And he wasn't alone.
The girl had slumped against the opposite rail, holding onto it for support with one hand and using the other to try to vainly smother her loud laughter.
He didn't know it then, but that moment was the beginning of something, something he couldn't put into words.
When their laughter finally died down, they sat there grinning goofily at each other like idiots.
"Nicole Hawkins," she stated, offering her hand.
"Duo, Duo Maxwell," he replied easily, shaking her hand. "I may run and hide, but I'll never tell a lie. Yeah, that's me in a nut shell."
Nicole blinked at him before collapsing in another fit of laughter.
"You said that," she paused to suck in air, "so seriously!" She burst into laughter that sounded borderline hysterical.
Duo scoffed and crossed his arms, offended. "What? It's my motto,"
This sent the redhead into more breath consuming laughter. "I'm-I'm not making fun of you," she gasped, "really, I swear. I just can seem to stop laughing, and it's just-I didn't know people actually had mottos like that in real life."
Duo couldn't suppress his grin despite himself. "What can I say? I have the tendency to defy reality now and again."
"Hey Hawkins!" a voice yelled from somewhere down below. "Where the hell are you?!"
Nicole jumped up as if she had been electrocuted. "That's my cue." She jogged to the nearest edge and grabbed hold of a hand held lift. "It's been nice laughing with you, Duo. I really needed that." She gave a little wave. "See ya around, pilot 02."
Something clicked in Duo's brain.
"Hey, hold up! You knew who I was the entire time, didn't you?"
Nicole flashed a mischievous grin that sent a chill down Duo's back.
"It wouldn't be very responsible of me to not keep up with the identity of the pilots operating my babies, would it?"
And with that she dropped down to the floor of the hanger.
Duo watched the smudge of red sprint towards the large door.
Nicole Hawkins, huh?
She was pretty amusing.
He grinned widely.
Maybe the next couple of weeks wouldn't be such a drag after all.
.:::.
Duo slumped back in his chair, suddenly very worn out.
"Happy, gramps?" he asked, with a bitter smile.
If the old man was even remotely fazed by the fact he had one of the infamous gundam pilots sitting at his kitchen table, he sure as hell didn't show it. In fact, he didn't show anything at all. Throughout Duo's long monologue, the old man's face didn't as so much twitch. With hands folded in front of him, he sat eerily motionless, staring down at Duo with beady eyes.
"Your turn, now, Curtis."
The old man breathed in heavily through his nose, while moving back in his chair. Duo leaned his elbows on the table, mimicking the other man's earlier pose. Finally, he was going to get some answers.
Curtis opened his mouth to begin, but was cut off by a cheerful 'ding'.
Both men froze. The door to the store had opened.
"Locke!?" a high voice called out. "Locke, we're in trouble! I just-"
The bead curtain rattled, and a figure flew in, breathing heavily.
His body went haywire.
He had felt like this before, though it had been well over two years ago. It was the feeling of the short moments before some battle. The dry throat, the sick anticipation tightening his stomach, it was all eerily familiar and brought him back to a time in his life he'd rather not revisit.
She was there. Right there. Less than two meters in front of him.
No matter how much he had believed, he hadn't been prepared for her to be so, so real.
But she wasn't what Duo had imagined.
She had changed over the two years, gotten older, a concept he hadn't even thought to have applied to her. Thinking about, it was stupid of him to have thought she would stay the same, but it didn't change the fact that he felt nauseated at the transformation.
She had grown. She was still nowhere near his height, especially with his sudden growth spurts over the last years. But, even so, she appeared more willowy. She had lost whatever baby fat had been left on her body, and filled in more. Her hair was longer now too. It used to be short and spiky, flipping out around her chin in a way that had always reminded Duo of a pixie. Now, it was able to be pulled back in a messy braid.
Her face had changed too. Her features had become sharper, more grown up. Her cheek bones seemed more prominent and her eyes a little more narrow. But, at the same time, her eyes didn't even seem to be the same. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but they seemed…emptier. But at the same time softer, more childish, more naïve. For a moment, her eyes brought an image of Trowa's to his mind.
Her clothing was just as unsettling. It had to have been the most girly he had ever seen her look. She wore a loose, light blue long-sleeved t-shirt and white gloves, undoubtedly to hide her metal arm. A pair of gray shorts and stripped tights covered her legs, and bright blue sneakers covered her feet. The look was finished off with a white ribbon secured tightly around her neck, giving her a distinctly feminine appearance. The Nicole he knew had never looked so…womanly.
Meanwhile, the redhead had gone rigid at the sight of him, a fact he didn't fully take into consideration until she had regained her wits and opened her mouth to scream.
"What the hell are you doing here, stalker?! If you think you're here to blackmail me, think again!" She hardly paused for a breath before rounding on the old man. "Locke, what possessed you to let him in? Do you know who this is?! He's one of those guys that nearly turned me in last week! Get him out!"
Duo heard absolutely nothing that came out of her mouth, remaining slack jawed and paralyzed at the sight of her. So, finally, it was Curtis that was forced to intervene.
"Calm down," he commanded firmly, in a tone that left no room for defiance. Apparently, she hadn't picked up on that because she raised her voice an octave higher. "No, I will not calm down. He's been asking about me everywhere, pocking his nose all around Sector Six! I want him out of here, now!"
Curtis stood abruptly, chair crashing noisily to the floor.
"You will do well to remember just who's shop this is, Alice."
She stubbornly screwed up her face, just barely able to restrain her anger, but she had the decency to look down and at least pretend to be ashamed.
Duo couldn't have been anymore lost.
"Nicole? Who's Alice?" he asked, his eyes locked on the redhead.
She shot him an alarmed, freaked out look, which was immediately obscured by a neon pink shirt. Curtis had effectively moved in front of him, cutting him off from sight completely with his hulking frame.
"Why don't you head out back to the garage," he said, in a way that made it clear that it was neither a suggestion nor a request.
"Hold up, he-" Duo heard her protest.
"I will take care of it," he declared, steely. "Now scram, girl."
Duo heard a few unhappy mumblings, but a moment later when Curtis moved aside, she was gone.
Before he knew it, he had been herded roughly past the bead curtain and to the store door.
"Hold up, gramps, there's no way in hell I'm leaving now!" he protested fiercely.
He was shut down.
With a sharp shove, Curtis sent him stumbling out onto the alley street.
He turned just in time to catch his final instructions. "Be here tomorrow, same time." And with that command the thick iron door slammed closed, and the heavy click of deadbolts locking reverberated through the small lane.
What. The. Hell.
So, I hope everyone enjoyed the chapter. Feel free to review or send me a message complaining, complementing, or simply ranting. I'll try to answer them all without ruining the story.
Look for another update sometime next week (hopefully)!