Shotgun,

Love in the fast lane,

Dark nights,

Highway to sin (

Fame, they said, never dies...

Future proof, hey we've got it-

(Dance!)

N-n-n-n-need somebody to,

(Doom!)

Raise some hell with you..!

Heero didn't come back that night, not until real late, just past curfew. Who knew what he'd been up to. Might be tuning up Wing wherever he'd stored it, maybe he was out thinking or training. It was a secret he wasn't willing to share, so Duo didn't even bother asking. If he needed to know, Heero would have told him. Guy was difficult but not unreasonable. Least, not most of the time.
Duo was awake, but for Heero's sake decided to act like he was asleep. If Heero knew he was awake, he didn't say anything, lying down and turning away to sleep. Instead of the typical typing and clicking and the glow of a laptop screen, there was silence and a bit of moonlight the curtain didn't quite manage to keep out.

It was a weird kind of place between awkward and tense. But there was no taking the offer back, even if he'd wanted to. And he didn't. His cards were on the table, now it was Heero's call or fold. Besides, there was twisted kind of satisfaction in knowing he could get a rise like that out of Heero without getting punched within an inch of his life or getting a gun in his face. He danced on the knife's edge without getting cut, and all in all that was pretty freaking cool. Could anyone else do that? Not likely.

That Relena Darlian came to mind, but with an annoyed groan Duo rolled over, pushing the thought away. Nah.

As he drifted off, more comfortable in this dorm bed than in most places he'd slept in his life, the thought came to him that Heero hadn't said no, or called him a fag, or even told him to fuck off. Just that he didn't lose. Like a promise.

Huh. Well how about that.

He slept just fine. He wasn't a nervous sleeper under pressure. Heero was already gone by the time he woke up. They met again in class, and while Heero shot him a look when he came in otherwise the other pilot looked cool and unflappable too. It was like nothing had happened. But Duo had that confused-angry look burned in the back of his eyes. No way he could forget that look, or the tone of voice Heero had when he promised he wouldn't lose. Pandora's box was open now and there was no goin' back.

Duo could barely pay attention in class. It all came down to tonight. Who took down that ship first and who got left in the dust. As the day passed he tapped his pencil, his fingers more, feeling the buzz of anticipation getting some adrenaline going in his core. Did Heero feel it too? He looked cool as a damn cucumber, completely unfazed as usual. Heero wasn't glancing his way over and over, or if he did he was managing to be so subtle Duo wasn't noticing. Seemed unlikely. He was pretty good at telling when someone was staring at him. Basic observation skills did you well on the streets.

Come on, come on come on come on!

Waiting for the clock was agonizing. Those hands weren't moving nearly fast enough. It was like they were wading through soup. But finally, finally the hands hit 3:30 and the bell went and he shot up, grabbing his books and notepad and shoving them in his bag way faster than he really needed to. Finally! With everything in, he zipped his bag and swung it over his back in a single, fluid motion, then headed for the door so fast he accidentally shoved past some girls getting up from their desks. But no worries- Nothing turning back with a "'Scuse me, ladies" and a bright smile couldn't fix. He had them blushing and chuckling in no time.

The attack wouldn't take place now, he was stupid but not the kind of stupid that bum-rushed an aerial base in broad daylight without a good reason. He'd wait for the cover of night, that was when Deathscythe worked its magic best. He didn't think Heero would go right away either; he had time. The other pilot had only just gotten up, gathering his things in a much more methodical and controlled fashion. He'd had his eyes on his desk rather than looking around, yet somehow he knew when Duo passed by- Then and only then did he look up, their eyes meeting for a few moments.
It wasn't halfhearted, and Heero made no attempt to look away. His eyes spoke volumes. Bring it, they said. Or some Heero equivalent to bring it, anyway. Whatever the exact intent he was trying to display, Duo softly snorted, giving a look back of his own paired with a more sincere grin.

Oh, it was so on.

It didn't take him long to toss his school stuff in his room and grab another bag with everything he'd need for tonight. Most of it was with Howard, no use in hauling it here, but he liked having a change of clothes just in case he needed to get out here pronto. He kept his knives on him, they were no use sitting in a backpack if he got jumped.

He left right through the front gate. It wasn't unusual for the kids here to go out into town in the evenings, he doubted anyone would stop him as long as he acted casual. And sure enough, no one did. The front desk secretary even gave him a pleasant wave as he left.

Ha, he bet Heero'd be leaving out the window in that tank top of his and try his best not to be seen all the way to where he stored Wing. Seriously. It was like the guy knew nothing about being normal.

... Maybe he didn't. Not like any of them actually were normal. Well, maybe Sandrock's pilot. He'd seemed nice. On the other hand, nice could easily be a weapon. He knew that one from experience.

It was a brisk 20 minute walk from where Howard was holed up, and he'd chosen to run part of it to burn off some of his restless energy. It didn't fully work, but hey, it did enough; he didn't feel like trying to push his luck and go out at sunset anymore. It was still too light. More light meant more witnesses, more troops on deck, first responders would get there quicker, and cops and military would be faster to lock the area down. There were so many reasons to wait until night and only one to get out there early.

One of the guys (Dave?) spotted him first, yelling a "hey!" and giving him a wave. Duo waved back, and the man left to presumably get Howard. Knowing the old man, he was probably trying to catch some sun rays before they were gone for the day. Seeing it in person, he couldn't blame the man. The light from L2 was nothing like as warm and inviting.

By the time Howard turned the corner to meet him, Duo had reached the Sweepers' truck, hands laced behind his head. "Hey, old man. How's it hangin'? Ready for the big night tonight?"

"Duo! You're here early! She's all ready to go whenever." Yeah, it looked like Howard had been out in the sun. He looked a shade darker than usual. He was gonna get tan lines around his sunglasses if he wasn't careful. Hell, he probably did already. "Are you really going out right away?"

"Nah, not yet. Gonna wait 'til after the sun sets." If Heero was crazy enough to go right away, he was already toast. But he wasn't too worried about that. Heero hadn't seemed like he was in any hurry to leave. "How's the crew doing? Taking advantage of the nice weather, I see."

"Yeah, it's been really nice! We've gotten really lucky, it often rains here this time of year." Howard looked out at the sea with a wistful expression for a moment, then shrugged. "Well, I'll take it while it lasts. Are you ready to go?"

"Let's go. I wanna just sit with Deathscythe for a while. Clears my head before the big show, you know?"

"Haha, no worries. I understand you perfectly. She's a beautiful Gundam. G did some damn fine work on her. Meeting you set a fire in his heart, kiddo. I never saw him create something so magnificent on his own before."

"Hm." There was G coming up again, and he was sure Deathscythe's guts were made long before he came into the picture. At best G would have only made small changes, right? Duo didn't want to start an argument, so he just made a noncommittal sound while he walked down the hill and rocky beach to the small dock Howard and Dave had set up a speedboat at. Their floating base of operations was too conspicuous to bring close to land, but hiding out in the Mediterranean wasn't too bad. There were enough other ships around that their carrier didn't look too suspicious when it was flying the right colours.
If Howard noticed his reluctance to talk about G, he didn't say anything, he just followed Duo along, gesturing at Dave to pick his folding chair up and away. They could leave the truck for a few hours, no one would mind unless it took more than a day for someone to come get it. He doubted it would take that long; he'd get his job done, then a Sweeper would drop him off near school again with no one the wiser. From there he'd just sneak back in and act like he'd only been gone for an hour or two that night. Easy peasy.

When he was staying with the Sweepers that last extra step hadn't been necessary. But Howard hadn't minded him going to school. No, he'd been happy for him. He'd even offered to go himself, pretend to be his grandfather and enroll Duo, but that was way too risky. No one had really looked into his cover story of fancy-ass parents traveling the world together and dumping him off at boarding school. It was cliche as old as time with enough reality in it that no one batted an eye.

"How's school been treating you, Duo?"

"Oh, it's. It's different, that's for sure." It was fine, he couldn't complain. When he paid attention it reminded him of Sister Helen's lessons, and there were way worse memories he could get haunted by. Even if doing the homework instead of spending his days immersed in code or making sure Deathscythe was at peak performance wasn't exactly efficient use of time for someone who could die any day on a mission, he appreciated the change of pace. And hey, maybe if he managed to come out of this with his life it could come in handy someday. Maybe. He hopped on the boat, adjusting to how it gently rocked with no real trouble, then held a hand out to Howard, which the old man took to step on board.

"Thanks, kid." Dave didn't need his help, getting on right after Howard was situated. With that, Dave took the helm and the boat took off.

Even small things, like riding on this speedboat, were new and honestly, exciting experiences. You couldn't do anything like this on L2. It would have been a huge waste of resources the colony just didn't have to make an artificial sea just so people could sail boats on it, to say nothing of making it have waves. There was the water reservoir, but that was off limits to the general public. Something about public safety and contamination risk. He hadn't even known how to swim before encountering G; the Scrappers fixed that in a bathtub at first, then what was more like a big storage container full of water than an actual pool and to this day Duo had no idea what kind of trick they'd pulled to get that much water hidden in one place. Here it existed in amazing excess. Yeah, Earth was the blue planet, sure, but experiencing it was different than Father Maxwell talking about the vastness of the ocean or seeing it on a video feed. The boat bounced and the water met it hard, more aggressive than any air turbulence despite it being a clear day. Water splashed up as the boat skipped over the waves, spraying him. There was salt in the air, sure, but it had something stronger, richer, than the pure salt of the table stuff you'd find in space. It was something he doubted he'd ever be able to explain without anyone he tried to being there to experience it.

The Earth was a lot cooler than he could ever have dreamed of. He might be staring death in the face down here, but better here than in some gutter, facing down a lowlife with a gun to his face. If he died down here, least he could say he had it pretty good for a while.

Rather than holding his hat down to keep it from flying off his head, Duo took it off, holding it in his lap. Without the hat to hold it down his braid whipped in the wind. Heh, bet his hair would be a total mess if he let it loose. He'd always liked feeling the wind in his hair. Maybe one day, if he got out on the open sea in a powerboat without an audience, he'd try it. If he lived through all this. A lotta ifs he was thinking of.

Duo had to yell to be heard over the sound of the motor and the waves. "How far out are we?"

"'Bout twenty minutes! Just relax 'til then!"

Twenty more minutes, huh. Well, good thing he'd come early.

All in all, another twenty minutes wasn't bad. There was still plenty of light, maybe an hour of it left before the sun started to dip below the horizon. He'd have plenty of time with his buddy before it was time for them to hunt. After boarding the ship, Duo headed right down into the ship at first. He wanted out of this uniform and back into something more comfortable.

Once he was back in a more suitable set of clothes to deal death in, his next immediate destination was back up to the deck. He went back towards the large tarp Deathscythe was under, kept hidden from prying planes and helicopters overhead. It was honestly not the safest for Howard to be so close to a miliary ship, but the old man said he didn't mind and Duo was thankful for it.

It would be stupid to risk pulling the cover off of Deathscythe during daylight hours when they were so close to a populated area. Anyone flying into the airport looking out the window would be able to spot something off. But the tarp was loose enough that he could slip under it and light enough that he wasn't crushed under its weight as he made his way to the cockpit. Someone noticed what he was doing and untied one of the tarp's corners by the time he climbed up there, letting him release the hatch to the cockpit and just squeeze inside.

"Thanks!" He gave a brief wave, then closed it up again.

Oh baby, it felt good to be back in the seat. Even if he was half-lying down with his legs in the air. Deathscythe just felt right to be in. It was almost two years before he was allowed in here, and once he was the rest of his time before launch was mostly spent in the cockpit. Learning the controls, learning how to handle being thrown about with the force of missiles and impact of other mobile suits. Handling the beam scythe. Handling the vulcans and other weapon systems. Learning maintenance and coding to repair most of the common issues Deathscythe could face as a result of combat, provided he had the parts to do so. There was a bit more but for the most part he'd lived in this Gundam and try as he might to deny it, when in here he couldn't help but feel that maybe Howard had a point: Deathscythe was meant to be his.

"Hey buddy. Miss me? Don't worry. I can never leave you for long."

Lot of people would probably think he was crazy if they heard him talking to Deathscythe, but in here was a place where Duo really didn't a shit about what anyone thought. It would take another pilot to understand, and maybe not even then. What did Heero think of Wing? Did he talk to Wing too? Did he wonder if everything would go alright each time he went on a mission? Did he pray?

Heh. He couldn't imagine Heero praying to any god, whether the one God the Church believed in or the God of Death. Or talking to Wing, even. Maybe it was just a him thing.

"Need us both at our best, bud. We're up against Heero Yuy tonight. Howard says you're ready to go. That true? Let's take a look." Time for a quick diagnostic check. He booted up Deathscythe's electronic systems, keeping the engines off for now. So far so good; the screens surrounding him clicked on. He tapped his fingers against various buttons, not quite pressing any as he surveyed the data in front of him. "Okay. Yeah, looking good..." At least according to what he could see on the displays. Electronics looked solid, no damage showing in his Gundam's armour or joints. For a more accurate appraisal he'd have to turn on the engines and get up, and he'd have to save that for sunset. "Hyper jammer's lookin' solid, vulcans and cannons stocked up... How about the beam scythe? Can't turn it on to check, huh bud." It would have to wait too. He'd make sure it was working right once he dove into the water. If it was good to go there it was good anywhere. He wasn't too worried, he doubted Howard would have forgotten something so important. "Alright. Just the two of us for a bit. Things are gonna get hectic tonight. You ready?"

Deathscythe didn't answer, of course. But he got the feeling he knew what his bud would be saying if it could. Bring it. Let's kick his ass.

Truly a machine after his own heart.

Time didn't go by nearly as slow as it did in class. Before Duo knew it the light was turning orange. It would be a spectacular sunset, he could already tell. There were enough clouds around the horizon for the sun to catch them and turn them bright gold, then orange, then pink and purple. Sunsets were another pretty cool thing here. That one they at least tried to replicate in the colonies, they really did, but cycling between five or six options just wasn't the same as the real deal being different and vibrant every day.

"Hey, Duo! We're going to release the tarp, okay? Oh, and be careful when you stand up, there's a special delivery for OZ in Deathscythe's left hand!"

"Sounds good, Howard! Thanks!" A special delivery, huh? Interesting. Alright, enough distractions. Showtime. A minute after Howard warned him the dark green of the tarp came off his visor, flooding the cockpit with bright light. Duo had to squint for a moment while his eyes adjusted, but after a few moments he was ready to go. He sat up from the cockpit's seat, stretching his legs and opening the hatch, pulling himself over the edge and leaning over.

"Heads up, guys! Gonna start the engines!" The Sweepers were smart guys, they should know to keep their distance when he was in the cockpit, but he warned them just in case. With that he popped back down, closing up the hatch again and firing up the ignition.

Deathscythe was as responsive as the day he'd first sat in the cockpit. It whirred to life, screens flickering on in blue and green and a familiar hum settling around him. Just like being welcomed home. Alright.
Getting up was smooth as real dairy butter. He'd gotten used to the lurch of being brought upright in a Gundam a long time ago. He was strapped up real good, he wasn't gonna slip off his chair and land on a monitor. Once he was standing, he tested out moving Deathscythe's arms, then rotating back and forth at the middle. Yeah, so far so good.

"Great job, Howard." The old man couldn't hear him down there unless he radioed, but he said it anyways. He was lucky he was getting help with this stuff, otherwise it would eat up a bunch of his time, trying to repair Deathscythe alone. He was sure the time would come when he'd have to work alone, but thankfully it wasn't yet. He switched the comms on, grinning at the guys on deck even if they couldn't see him. "Alright, gonna head there by sea! Take 'em by surprise."

"Break a leg out there, Duo!"

"Good luck, Duo!"

"Give 'em hell from the Colonies!"

Oh, he would. Bringing Hell was his specialty. With his goodbyes all said and done, Duo headed to the edge of the ship. He wouldn't ask Howard to try to get in closer; being here was close enough already. The Scrappers didn't have the luxury of a hyper jammer and even if they did, they'd get spotted by anyone with good old-fashioned eyes long before they were close enough to make a serious difference. No, he'd go out himself. Deathscythe wasn't built for long-term flight, but G knew there would be underwater targets for them to hit. Aquatic combat was no problem for him.

Once he made it to the edge of the ship, he turned, curled his Gundam into a ball, then with the slightest movement backwards tipped into the waters below. It was only disorienting for a minute, feeling like he was falling down before Deathscythe hit the water and sunk into its embrace.

G taught him to do that when going into the water from a stable surface. Said it was better than a blind step when you had no idea what the water depth was like or if there were hazards below. Made yourself a smaller target, too, in case of attack. He hadn't questioned it at the time, G was the boss. He felt like he was missing some kind of joke there, because when Howard first saw it the old man laughed his ass off. Called it a "diving backroll" and called G an overthinker. Whatever that meant. Anyways, he saw the advantages even if he was somehow being punked, so he kept doing it. Maybe Howard was chuckling and shaking his head up there.

His air meter blinked on. Deathscythe had oxygen stores and air filtration systems. In theory he could spend a few days without needing to surface, but that wouldn't be necessary on this mission. This one was gonna be short and sweet.

The poor bastards on that OZ ship were not in for a good night.

It was a bloodbath.

Duo hadn't expected any different. OZ's grunts still had no idea how to deal with Deathscythe or its hyper jammer. They were all but sitting ducks. He came in nice and slow, sizing up his target. Looked like as typical as ship as they came, with nothing off on the intel.

Last mission felt too good to be true from the start. He'd been hopeful they could end it all right then and there that day if they took out all the bigwigs at the top of OZ, but it turned out they were being set up. No reason not to double check. But with that second pass nothing more jumped out at him.

They let him get way too close. By the time they noticed there was a Gundam in the sea below them he'd had ages to not only check out the ship and its surroundings, but to deliver that little present from Howard and co. He wasn't familiar with this little baby in particular, but the large dull grey square object and timer told him all he needed to know. He armed the thing with a tap of a comically oversized (for humans, anyway) button and set it oh-so gently on the metal edge of the ship, then fired up his beam scythe and slammed it through the hull, dragging it along the starboard side. A massive gash opened up in the ship, pouring seawater in. Not that that was going to be the end of it; the ship had watertight chambers it could seal up while it limped to shore. It had a good chance of survival, even!

And that just wouldn't do, now would it.

He blasted out of the water with a powerful burst of the back thrusters, beam scythe cleaving down to carve off the carrier's bow. He landed right on the ship, crashing down with enough force to make it shake. The bow barely put up resistance, and shoving it away with his foot did the trick, detaching the front of the ship from the rest. It tilted, then upended entirely, already starting to sink. There were panicked yells, soldiers scrambling around him, running towards aircraft on deck and the mobile suit hangars.

"Sorry, but I can't let ya do that!"

He cut through a row of shuttles, scraping a hole in the asphalt at the same time. He heard the anti-aircraft guns slowly turning his way; they were next to go. Typical steel didn't stand a chance against the heat of his scythe, looking to reap the damned.

He could hear the sickening screech and pop of glass under his Gundam's foot even from inside the cockpit as he crushed a small fighter jet. Heh. Oops. He stepped back, observed it for a moment... Then wound up and kicked it. The twisted metal shot forward, hitting another one of the anti-aircraft towers. Another plane tried to take off, but too slowly- He fired his machine cannons, quickly taking it out.
An explosion suddenly rang out, filling the night sky with light and rocking the ship hard.

"Jesus Christ!"

Howard wasn't kidding, that was one hell of a bomb! Even Deathscythe trembled, forcing Duo to brace himself. Goddamn. Sister Helen would be turning in her grave, bless her soul, with him taking the Lord's name in vain. Probably with all of what he was doing here, honestly, but for whatever reason the Lord's name part was what nagged at him, the smallest tug on his heartstrings. He mumbled a soft sorry for her sake as he reassessed the situation.

The hull was beginning to catch fire. There was probably fuel on deck, or one of the jets had caught and the rest were following. In the flickering shadows, he saw movement- The Leos were finally coming to try to fight him.

And Heero was nowhere in sight.

"Alright. Guess I'm here first!"

They fired on him, but they were nowhere close to prepared to deal with Gundanium. Their bullets ricocheted off Deathscythe harmlessly, their missiles had no effect except to slow him down a little and make it harder to see in the firelight. They couldn't do anything but wait as he collected their souls. His scythe weaved in and out of Leo after Leo, carving them up into scrap. sparks flying and fuel exploding when the heat of his thermal weapon reached it. One managed to grab his arm; it got kneed right in the cockpit door and sliced to ribbons for its trouble.

This Hell enough, guys?

The flames were spreading, dancing up the hangars now. The hotter it got the more fuel it would devour, either eating everything here or choking itself out. Least, if the water didn't get this hunk of junk first. There were more Leos coming for him, thinking they'd make a difference. Idiots. If they wanted to live they needed to run, escape before the sinking ship sucked them under. Once it started going they'd all be screwed. Leos weren't made to swim, not like a Cancer or Pisces and definitely not like a Gundam.

Well, if they wanted him to take their souls, he wasn't gonna say no. Duo was gonna step forward and bring the fight to them when a huge flash of light lit up the battlefield. The hell? Was it a trap? Some kind of enemy weapon? He turned to face it, twisting his scythe to face this new potential enemy only to get met with the silvery-white of Wing transforming from its jet disguise into its full-fledged Gundam form.

Finally. "What took ya, Heero? Don't worry, I saved you some action." Heh, but whatever he got was gonna be real limited. The ship was already on fire and plunging into the depths. Would only be a few more minutes now before it went under. No way he didn't have this in the bag! But hey, let's see what Heero could do.

Where he rushed into combat, Heero liked to keep his distance. For Wing, it was all about the beam rifle. He could already see a shot charging in the barrel. He didn't want to be in that thing's line of fire, he kept far away from it as Heero shot at a line of approaching Leos. They had no time to dodge and took the blast head-on. The suits shook from the sheer impact of it, covering their chest plates in panic as they melted from it.

Wait-

And it kept going, ramming right into a hangar. The hangar exploded, making the ship rock precariously again. Heero barely seemed to notice, turning towards another group of Leos without skipping a beat.
Out of the corner of his eye, Duo noticed one last anti-aircraft gun, cannon barrels turned towards them. Heero didn't look towards it, he was already engaging the Leos, running right at them.

"What, did they forget about me? Aw. That's almost offensive, ain't it buddy?" He'd be nice and take the heat off Heero again. It didn't stand any more of a chance than the Leos that came before, but Duo swore he could see the missiles ready to launch before he tore through the entire structure. It blew up too, rattling his cockpit. Diagnostics didn't show any serious damage, though. Might need to touch up the paint.

But as soon as the light from the last explosion went down, a much stronger one tore through what was left of the ship at this point. Wheeling around, Duo witnessed the entire radar tower, bridge, and command center disintegrate, all in one shot. Metal was twisted and torn apart, flying into the air and scattering all across the deck. Sparks shot all around, lighting up whatever fuel had by some small miracle not caught fire yet. It would get even worse once it reached the tankers on the edge. Even in Deathscythe he felt the temperature perceptibly rise, just enough that the air conditioning kicked in. It must be sweltering out there for any idiot who didn't bail way before this.

The light drowned out the orange glow of the flames for a good few moments. But in that time, he could barely make out Wing, hovering overhead.

"... Mission accomplished."

It wasn't just Heero saying it, but saying it over comms, with enough smugness in his tone for anyone in their right mind to get the double entendre. Duo flicked his radio off and softly cursed.

It just took a moment. A single moment not paying attention. Just one moment thinking he was doing Heero another favour.

And just like that, he'd lost.