Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ The Palace of Justice ❯ 6 ( Chapter 6 )
[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]
By: Lethanon 
Anime/Manga: Gundam Wing Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Sci-fi / Thriller | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 01.15.2011 | Pages: 4 | Words: 5.3K | Visits: 288 | Status: Work In Progress
Anime/Manga: Gundam Wing Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Sci-fi / Thriller | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 01.15.2011 | Pages: 4 | Words: 5.3K | Visits: 288 | Status: Work In Progress
6:
“Morning Mister Bloom...” Tracey paused and stared at him with his friend and Trowa just smiled wryly. Duo had that effect on women. “Two muffins and coffees please?” He didn’t bother waiting for a response, taking a booth toward the front near a window, but away from the counter where they wouldn’t be overheard. Duo just followed suit, as he had done since they left His Room that morning.
“I’ve been coming here every morning. The muffins are good.”
“And it had nothing to do with the three’s,” Duo rolled his eyes but Trowa knew he agreed it was a good central point given that the colony had five known levels. Besides, if Duo had been the one kidnapped by Frank then he could have picked the location, and Trowa would just bet it was Level 2, Sector 22 or some such thing. But Trowa had been the one chosen and so he got to choose the meeting point. He totally could have stuck a ‘so there’ on the end of the thought, but didn’t think it was necessary. Given that he was just thinking to himself. If he’d been speaking to Duo, it might have been necessary.
“So this is our meeting place?” Trowa just nodded and waited for Tracey to bring them their breakfast, thanking her with a happy smile and watching as she flirted with Duo and he happily made himself known, building his own cover as flawlessly as ever. He was too happy until she was gone and then he smirked at him, sipping his coffee and pulling out the copy of the shuttle map.
“You’ll be stuck down in Level 1 all day, so where haven’t you been and we can compare notes tonight?”
Trowa nodded, looking down at the map thoughtfully and tapping Level 5.
“I haven’t touched Level 5 at all. Makes sense it might be where the richies are.” Duo was already nodding, following his line of thought. “I haven’t looked at the lower Sector end of Level 4 either. Level 2 is a lost cause it’s as cramped as Chinatown, the people seem like they were picked simply because they wouldn’t make any attempt to go to Level 1. They’re middle class, completely content to be just as they are.”
Duo nodded, eyes skimming the map, making decisions Trowa didn’t need to know about. They would share what they knew at the end of the day. They finished their breakfast in quiet conversation about nothing, laughing at random spots for Tracey’s benefit before ordering a coffee each to go.
“Alright, back here at 6.”
“Righto,” Duo agreed, waved and skipped off into the crowd, disappearing in a few heartbeats. Trowa shook his head and went to catch the shuttle.
The clerk grinned at him when he was on time, making some crack about being worn out from the excitement of the day before and Trowa just agreed with a sheepish grin of his own, going down to his hanger and straight to the simulation room. When his superior came to check on him, Trowa made up a story about stupid rookie mistakes he had made and wanted to practise so he got them right next time. The man congratulated him on his dedication, and his successful flight yesterday, and Trowa thanked him with overly enthusiastic words and rolled his eyes when the man went on his way, chest out a little further than it had been before.
He spent his day interacting more with the others in his hanger, not enough that they might think it was okay to come to his simulator and sit down for a heart to heart, but enough that they felt comfortable enough to joke with him about being the rookie in the team, and enough that they answered the occasional stupid question he had. He didn’t find out much, the military hadn’t been mobilized for long, and had nothing much to do besides play scout, though they ran fight scenarios in the simulators for some unforseen situation that could arise in the future. To all intents and purposes they seemed like a peacekeeping force, but whether they would remain so or not depended on too many external circumstances. And the fact that their weaponry was far more advanced than what Preventers had made them a threat that couldn’t be ignored, regardless of their intentions.
He went back to the interchange feeling like the day had been largely a waste of time, and wondering what the process was for taking a sick day or twenty. Just in case, he went to the clerk’s office and picked up a few more pamphlets on infrastructure and personnel requirements before leaving, getting tired of playing dumb for the clerk. The man made awful jokes!
“You look bored,” Duo noted as he slid into the seat beside Trowa on the shuttle, smirking at the surprised look on Trowa’s face. Or maybe at the girl a few seats away, Trowa couldn’t really be sure but he was annoyed enough to take most things personally for the moment. It meant he could scowl with purpose.
“What are you doing on Level 2?”
“Oh, you’d be amazed where I’ve been,” Duo yawned and he actually did seem tired. And dirty. It was a shame everyone wore white, it meant Duo stood out in his near black, grease and filth stained clothing. Trowa looked him up and down and arched a curious brow. Duo just shrugged and looked self defensive.
“I’ll let you shower first when we get home.”
“Nah, you’re the one who’s been working, I was just having fun.” Fun, in Duo’s world, could be anything from playing marbles with a few kids in a park to blowing up anything that offended him with fart bombs. By the look of him, he’d been doing both.
“Fine, I get first shower,” Trowa smirked at Duo’s small protest, but he couldn’t argue because he’d offered. He just hadn’t expected Trowa to take the offer, when Heero wouldn’t have. It was nice to remind Duo that other people existed besides Heero Yuy.
“Smart ass.”
Heero had carpeted the floor in cables. Trowa blinked once at it, decided it was a Yuy thing to do, and gingerly stepped over it all to slip into the bathroom. He took his five minutes of quiet time and made sure he was thoroughly clean before putting on his house pants and t-shirt, grateful to be out of the suit again. He smirked when he came out and let Duo into the bathroom.
“He offer you first shower?”
“Something like that,” Trowa agreed, sounding rather chipper about the whole thing.
“Idiot,” Heero shook his head, but the smile on his face was nothing short of fond. Trowa shook his head and went to sit on his bed, figuring that was about the only safe place right now. “How’d you go with the Computer?”
“It’s hard,” Heero admitted softly. “I’ve accessed a lot of things, but I get the feeling it’s only a tiny piece of what’s really there.”
Which was what Trowa had suspected. Frank was huge, it wasn’t surprising his brain was too. Not that he was about to call Frank an egg-head to his face, or at least to the message board, but that wasn’t he point. The point was they were so royally screwed he barely knew where to start figuring out a way out of the mess they were in.
“I got nothing we didn’t know already. Did grab a few things about work to read. Going to try and take a few sick days or something...if they even have those here.” These people were serious workaholics, it was like living in a colony of Yuys, which frankly had never been Trowa’s idea of heaven, or even a holiday location for that matter.
They sat quietly, Heero still working on his computer, Trowa checking his messages. He didn’t have any, so he went to turn off the Computer before Heero held up a hand.
“It’s not listening to us. I disabled the monitoring programs in it, it’s monitoring my laptops speaker and microphone at the moment, which I broke years ago.”
That made Trowa chuckle, well able to think of ways Heero might have broken his laptop speakers, though there was no physical sign of Heero having stabbed the poor laptop. Outside appearances could be deceiving though. Duo stepped out, hair a wet mess down his back and Heero just grunted, putting the laptop aside and catching the comb Duo tossed at him. Trowa was very careful not to make any visible sign of how amused he was to see Heero take up the job of untangling the knots from Duo’s hair while Duo sat happily between his knees. Nope, he wasn’t amused at all. Not even the tiniest bit. On the outside.
Inside he was laughing hysterically until Duo sighed and started recounting his finds.
“Level 5 is definitely where the richies live. They don’t have rooms so much as houses, at least twenty times the size of Your Room. They aren’t numbered, but I figured Heero could narrow down the choices on that map thingy on the Computer, and a little closer investigating could lead to us finding the right room.”
“I think the Computer will tell us actually...” Trowa mused, recalling the way it had tracked after him as he wandered the halls. He shook his head and motioned for Duo to continue.
“There’s a small business hub at Sector 33 and Sector 77, and a large complex at Sector 50, but I couldn’t tell what it was for. All the business was kept pretty hush hush and the few people I tried talking to were way too interested in who I was and what I was doing there.
“What were you doing there?” Trowa was genuinely curious what cover he had thought of.
“Oh, I ran into a courier in a pinch on Level 2, somewhere around Sector 65 and he was running late, had gotten caught up talking to this girl and wasn’t going to make both his deliveries, one of which happened to be...”
“On Level 1,” Heero finished for him, nodding in understanding. Trowa just sighed, because it was never that easy for him. He always had to come up with an elaborate plan, or ask someone for help. Like Frank. Or Nataku. He never just walked into someone with relationship trouble who happened to need to go the same place as me.
“So you got the thing delivered?”
“Right on time,” Duo agreed with a genuinely pleased grin. “Was for a Mr Charles Brun. Some telecommunications guy.”
“Telecommunications...” Trowa looked to Heero who was nodding to himself, coming to the same conclusion about satellites and Level 5. Whatever was going on inside Frank, that was the Level they had to start paying attention to, all the while also keeping an eye on Level 1 and what the military was going. They had that covered, thanks to Frank.
“So tomorrow we go on an excursion to Level 5.” Trowa nodded, pleased they at least had something to do. He was getting tired of not knowing what the next move was.
“We need a way to keep in contact with Heero,” Duo noted softly. “I wanted to phone a friend like thirty times today, it was annoying as hell.”
“Was that before or after you played marbles with five year olds?”
“Wha? I did not play freakin marbles!” Duo glared at Trowa, but when he saw Trowa laughing at him, he crossed his arms over his chest and sulked.
“The stuff we ordered last night arrived,” Heero noted softly. I put the spare clothes in the closet in order of size, Trowa’s on the top shelf, mine on the bottom, Duo’s in the middle. I made us some ear pieces too and connected them to a private network on my laptop so we can keep in contact tomorrow. Trowa won’t be able to wear it in Level 1 though, there’s a magnetic field between it and Level 2.”
That Trowa hadn’t known and he grunted in response as if someone had punched him. He hoped it wasn’t strong enough to cause cancer or make his dick shrivel up and die. That would seriously suck and he was hoping Frank cared enough about his health to have told him if that was the case.
“Okay, so sleep and then we explore in the morning. I’m starving...anyone else want noodles?” Duo got up when Heero was done braiding his hair for him and rummaged in the cupboard, waving the noodle packets and Heero and Trowa both nodded in agreement. Heero went back to work on his laptop and Trowa lay back on his bed, just staring at the ceiling and thinking things through. Duo talked about where he’d been on each Level and what he’d observed, concreting some of Trowa’s ideas about different places and destroying other ideas he’d had. He’d covered a lot of ground, far more than Trowa had dared attempt.
He handed out their noodles when they were cooked and Trowa ate them quickly, tossing the empty packet into the waste bin, amused that it was empty because it meant Heero had taken out the trash, which was just...so domestic. But he was tired and needed to be in peak condition tomorrow so he slid under the blankets and turned toward the corner, ignoring Heero and Duo’s quiet conversation and the hum of the laptops, letting them lull him into sleep instead.
His dreams were harsh, taunting things that left him feeling empty and confused on waking. Duo was sitting up, eating cereal and looking at him curiously from the kitchenette bench. Trowa just fobbed him off with a thrust of his middle finger and went to shower, getting clean and dressed with quick efficiency and by the time he was eating a muesli bar and Heero had moved once again to the laptop on the desk, he had forgotten whatever his dreams were about and lost the feeling of being alone.
“Let’s go,” Trowa patted Heero on the shoulder on his way out, closing the door and wondering if it was possible to slam the door. If he made the hand movement hard enough would it make a bang sound just to make him feel better? How did people have tiffs if they couldn’t slam doors on the way out? Stomp extra loudly to make your point? He amused himself with the idea all the way to the shuttle station.
“So, bad dreams?”
It was so far removed from his pondering on romantic arguments that Trowa grunted a little and then turned to frown at Duo. He didn’t like sleeping with other people for just this reason. Not that he was sleeping with Duo, that would have just been weird, but he was sleeping in the same room and sometimes that was much the same thing.
“I don’t know really.”
“Dude, that was a bad dream. I saw the look on your face when you woke up.”
And didn’t that just make him feel so much better. Not. Trowa tried his best at a Yuy glare, but Duo was so accustomed or something it had absolutely no effect and he deflated, slumping in his seat a little
“I don’t remember it,” he admitted softly. “Started when I got here. I dunno, it’s like I should be thinking of something, or like this whole place is reminding me of something but I can’t quite figure it out. I wake up feeling...” He shrugged, not sure what he woke up feeling. Lonely? Tired? Wanton? Lost? Alone? All of things and yet none of them, it was a strange thing. Quatre would have known, maybe, but he wasn’t here.
“Too bad Quat’s not here,” Duo noted softly, and Trowa just sighed.
“Hey...have you heard from Wufei?”
That made Duo sit up, looking a little stumped by the subject change but mostly just curious.
“Nah, not for...years I reckon. He went for that job, said if he got it he would have to start right away, I just figure he got the job? You know how Fei is.”
“Yeah, I guess.” But it was odd for him to stay quiet this long. He usually at least sent a generic Christmas card or something.
“Are you still carrying that little torch?” Duo asked slyly, sliding closer to elbow Trowa in the ribs. Trowa just glared because they both knew it hadn’t been a little torch, at one point it had been significantly more than that, and he’d thought he was close to wearing Wufei down until that damned ob interview came up and he’d gotten so secretive about it all. And then he was gone, and Trowa had thought he must have pushed too hard and Wufei had fled, thrown himself into his new job.
Everyone thought that. He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair in annoyance at the whole situation, but mostly at his own inability to accept that as the end of it. And Duo was looking smug and Trowa couldn’t even punch him for it.
They headed for the other side of Level 4 and caught the shuttle to Sector 33 of Level 5, each carrying a brief case with random fake documents Heero had made up for them. Trowa had no idea where he got the paper or the printer and didn’t care, the case was just to make them look like they had a purpose for being there. Each had a back compartment to hold a gun and for the first time in days Trowa finally felt a little more secure. Wandering around trying to build a cover had made him uncomfortable without the knowledge that if anyone got suspicious he could blow their brains out faster than they could sneeze.
Duo pulled out the map and looked around before heading out and Trowa followed at his side, looking as calm and casual as he knew how, talking softly under his breath about a business deal his company was working on. Duo made non-committal responses but mostly paid attention to doors they passed, counting them in his head and following the directions Heero was giving them in their ear pieces. He was following them on the map on the Computer, marking off places they passed and making his own set of notes.
“The next one on the right is a possibility,” Heero noted softly and they moved in. Duo knocked, a maid answered and he tried to sell her life insurance. She politely declined and they went on their way, Trowa having scoped out the number on the ID card inside the door.
“24690.”
“We’re off by more than a thousand!” Duo whined softly and they went back to catch the shuttle, passing five stops before trying again.
And again, and again and again until Duo looked about ready to strangle whoever answered the door instead of sell them insurance, and Trowa was so tired of walking he was ready to sit down in the middle of the corridor and make tea from thin air.
Duo knocked and a man answered. Trowa didn’t hear what he said though, staring at the number inside the door. 37264. So close! Duo’s voice became agitated and when Trowa looked up he realised something was wrong. The man was reaching for Duo’s briefcase, temper rising, cheeks flushed. Trowa stepped in and placated the man, using tricks he would have used in the circus on a lion, getting to the crux of the situation.
They weren’t supposed to be here.
“I’m so sorry Sir, please...we understand you’re disappointed in us, but we truly meant no offence. We’ve never caught the Level 1 shuttle, and we lost track of the station count...isn’t this Sector thirty?”
“No!” But the soft words and the soothing rhythm of Trowa’s hands as they weaved in front of him calmed him down and the man sighed heavily, leaning heavily against the door, clearly still agitated by the interruption but reaching for the shuttle map Duo had pulled out to look at desperately.
“Here. You need to go back to the shuttle and get off at this station. Though honestly, everyone here has life insurance. You should just go tell your boss it’s a lost cause. Try Level 4.”
“Thank you so much, Sir! Honestly, it’s a bit of a last ditch effort on our boss’s part. Almost everyone we talked to has the default life insurance and wasn’t interested in anything extra and we haven’t had much luck getting people to switch. He thought if he could get a few wealthy backers he could save the business, but it doesn’t look likely.” Duo shrugged, hands opening in a ‘what can you do’ action.
“Well, that’s usually the way of things here. We keep telling people to stop trying to strike it rich, be content with what they have.”
“So true, Sir! Thanks so much for your help again, and we’re real sorry we interrupted your day. We meant no offence, truly!”
Unfortunately, it meant they had to leave, so they retreated, not daring to say a word until they were safely back on a shuttle, and even then not until they returned to Level 2. Then Duo let out a sigh Trowa thought would break his nose and kicked the seats across from them angrily.
“Damnit, we were so fucking close!”
“It was next door, actually,” Trowa noted softly and ignored the gaping look of incredulity Duo cast him. Apparently he hadn’t known just how close they were. He made that pretty clear by kicking the seat a few more times and then complaining that his foot hurt. Someone should probably have explained to him that flesh colliding with metal hurt.
He swore all the way back to Chinatown and Trowa grabbed his elbow and lead him into the temple instead of heading for home. Duo didn’t argue and just followed his lead, grinning as Trowa headed for the Monk ad struck up a conversation, asking how his week had been and exchanging pleasantries. He introduced Duo and wasted a good hour wandering the temple, going through the end of day motions everyone else in Chinatown went through before leaving.
“What the hell was that about?”
“If we’re being watched, we need to make sure they just figured we gave up and went home, not that we fled with our tail between our legs.”
“Point,” Duo agreed with a heavy sigh, taking the warren-like turns back to His Room with practised ease. It made Trowa smile, wondering just how many warrens Duo had lived in over the years, and what the strange internal map he followed looked like. He bet it looked like chilli con carne; runny, messy and completely senseless to a sane man.
“Baby,” Duo chided when they got inside. “Tell me you weren’t holding your breath from the moment we left Level 5!”
Heero looked entirely unimpressed by the comment and Duo just grinned as he flopped down on Trowa’s bed. Trowa glared but couldn’t be bothered arguing, sitting down on the sleeping bag instead and looking up at the computer. It was on the Video ship view, the camera fixed on a door.
“That’s it then?”
“That’s it,” Heero agreed softly, turning in his chair to stare at it as well. Himself, Trowa felt rather stupid staring at a live view of a door and after a few minutes coughed softly and turned to look at them instead.
“I can call in sick tomorrow...”
“Or we can just go in tonight,” Duo interrupted. “No one here seems to do anything at night!” It seemed to genuinely offend him.
“I’m not sure the shuttles even run at night?”
“A few do,” Heero mused, but shook his head because not the ones that would help them get where they needed to go.
“As long as we can get to Sector 50 on Level 4, we can get there.” Trowa stared at Duo and wondered if there was a reason he’d gotten so dirty after all. He sighed and shrugged, because the sooner the better in his opinion and Heero was typing so furiously Trowa could only suppose he agreed.
“There’s a way. It’s a bit roundabout, but we can get there,” Heero agreed, printing out the map he had found and Trowa blinked as a slow under the Computer spat out the documents. So that was how he did it.
“Where does the paper come from?”
Duo and Heero were both staring at him like he’d grown a second head.
“Does it matter?” Duo shook his head, clearly of the opinion Trowa was a bit nuts, but that was fine because Trowa had been convinced Duo was very nuts for quite some time. Nuts people were entirely allowed to think other people were nuts.
“I made some dye and did up some extra shirts and house pants in black,” Heero noted softly. “Thought they might be useful.”
“What, no green singlets?”
Heero looked ready to break his face so Trowa made no further comment. He didn’t need to because Duo was snickering enough for the both of them. Instead he went to the bathroom and grabbed the clothes Heero was talking about from where he’d hung them to dry and started packing them in the backpack. Duo got the hint and collected what weapons he thought might be useful, handing them over as well.
“What if there are people in there?”
“Isn’t that what we’re hoping for?” Duo asked. “I mean, we want to find your mystery person and save them, right?”
“I meant other people,” Trowa ground out. “What if this person is being held prisoner. Or...I don’t know. What if there are people there who want to stop us.”
“We shoot them,” Heero pointed out, clearly thinking that was obvious and Trowa stared stoically at him. “What, we don’t shoot them? How else are we getting out then?”
“That’s my point exactly!” Trowa threw up his hands, wondering how anyone worked with Heero and Duo anymore before he remembered no one did. They were partnered together when they had to work outside the realm of solo, and occasionally pulled Quatre or himself into whatever madness they’d been assigned. But no one else ever had to put up with them.
“We could shoot them,” Duo agreed reasonably. “It would just arouse suspicion, especially if the person we’re trying to save is there and we rescue them and they’re missing while the room’s full of a bunch of dead bodies.”
“Exactly. And then we have no plan to get out of Frank.”
It was a dilemma and they say in uncomfortable silence trying to figure it out.
“We need more information,” they all said at the same time, sighed and each sat on the sleeping bag, staring up at the Computer screen while Trowa launched the message board.
“Frank.”
“Hello, Triton.”
“How come Frank is calling you that?” Duo was frowning.
“That’s my name here...” Trowa responded at the same time Frank said “That’s his name here.” Trowa just sighed, wondering if it meant he was somehow less than human when he was in sync with a talking colony.
“We found Your Room.”
“Well done.”
“Is the person we are supposed to find there?”
“No.”
“Then what the hell did we have to find it for!” Trowa could feel his temper rising in time with Duo and Heero’s.
“You need to get inside the room. It has access to where the person I need you to save is.” For once it seemed they had Frank’s undivided attention. His responses were fast and clear, as if they were having a real conversation. Trowa thought of it as progress.
“We’re going tonight, Frank. We’re going to bring the person back here. We need to know what you want us to do. We’re ready to move now.”
This time there was a long pause and Trowa thought of his imaginary old man Frank bumbling around in his room trying to find a plan. He looked like he had put on weight in Trowa’s imagination.
“Alright. Nataku will go with you.”
That was an annoyance Trowa hadn’t expected but he ignored the glare Yuy was giving him and just nodded in agreement, because it was doable. If Frank wanted Nataku there he had a reason for it.
“Nataku will explain some things on the way. Triton...” They waited, but Frank was distracted again and nothing followed.
“Frank?”
“Cover your tracks, Trowa.”
Nothing followed. Heero was still glaring, Trowa felt stumped and Duo was laughing.
“Aww, Frank’s worried about you!”
That was what had Trowa confused. Could a computer feel worry or concern? Sometimes Frank seemed so human, and other times so inhuman it was hard to keep track but the fact that he had been brought here to save someone; the desire to help another. That too was human. There were so many things he wanted to ask, but he had once again been dismissed.
The door opened and Heero was on his feet with a gun to the person’s head in seconds.
“Don’t!” Trowa stopped his finger on the trigged, reaching out to put his hand in front of the barrel. Heero was still glaring but Trowa nodded to the intruder and it nodded back.
“Barton.”
“Nataku.”
“Morning Mister Bloom...” Tracey paused and stared at him with his friend and Trowa just smiled wryly. Duo had that effect on women. “Two muffins and coffees please?” He didn’t bother waiting for a response, taking a booth toward the front near a window, but away from the counter where they wouldn’t be overheard. Duo just followed suit, as he had done since they left His Room that morning.
“I’ve been coming here every morning. The muffins are good.”
“And it had nothing to do with the three’s,” Duo rolled his eyes but Trowa knew he agreed it was a good central point given that the colony had five known levels. Besides, if Duo had been the one kidnapped by Frank then he could have picked the location, and Trowa would just bet it was Level 2, Sector 22 or some such thing. But Trowa had been the one chosen and so he got to choose the meeting point. He totally could have stuck a ‘so there’ on the end of the thought, but didn’t think it was necessary. Given that he was just thinking to himself. If he’d been speaking to Duo, it might have been necessary.
“So this is our meeting place?” Trowa just nodded and waited for Tracey to bring them their breakfast, thanking her with a happy smile and watching as she flirted with Duo and he happily made himself known, building his own cover as flawlessly as ever. He was too happy until she was gone and then he smirked at him, sipping his coffee and pulling out the copy of the shuttle map.
“You’ll be stuck down in Level 1 all day, so where haven’t you been and we can compare notes tonight?”
Trowa nodded, looking down at the map thoughtfully and tapping Level 5.
“I haven’t touched Level 5 at all. Makes sense it might be where the richies are.” Duo was already nodding, following his line of thought. “I haven’t looked at the lower Sector end of Level 4 either. Level 2 is a lost cause it’s as cramped as Chinatown, the people seem like they were picked simply because they wouldn’t make any attempt to go to Level 1. They’re middle class, completely content to be just as they are.”
Duo nodded, eyes skimming the map, making decisions Trowa didn’t need to know about. They would share what they knew at the end of the day. They finished their breakfast in quiet conversation about nothing, laughing at random spots for Tracey’s benefit before ordering a coffee each to go.
“Alright, back here at 6.”
“Righto,” Duo agreed, waved and skipped off into the crowd, disappearing in a few heartbeats. Trowa shook his head and went to catch the shuttle.
The clerk grinned at him when he was on time, making some crack about being worn out from the excitement of the day before and Trowa just agreed with a sheepish grin of his own, going down to his hanger and straight to the simulation room. When his superior came to check on him, Trowa made up a story about stupid rookie mistakes he had made and wanted to practise so he got them right next time. The man congratulated him on his dedication, and his successful flight yesterday, and Trowa thanked him with overly enthusiastic words and rolled his eyes when the man went on his way, chest out a little further than it had been before.
He spent his day interacting more with the others in his hanger, not enough that they might think it was okay to come to his simulator and sit down for a heart to heart, but enough that they felt comfortable enough to joke with him about being the rookie in the team, and enough that they answered the occasional stupid question he had. He didn’t find out much, the military hadn’t been mobilized for long, and had nothing much to do besides play scout, though they ran fight scenarios in the simulators for some unforseen situation that could arise in the future. To all intents and purposes they seemed like a peacekeeping force, but whether they would remain so or not depended on too many external circumstances. And the fact that their weaponry was far more advanced than what Preventers had made them a threat that couldn’t be ignored, regardless of their intentions.
He went back to the interchange feeling like the day had been largely a waste of time, and wondering what the process was for taking a sick day or twenty. Just in case, he went to the clerk’s office and picked up a few more pamphlets on infrastructure and personnel requirements before leaving, getting tired of playing dumb for the clerk. The man made awful jokes!
“You look bored,” Duo noted as he slid into the seat beside Trowa on the shuttle, smirking at the surprised look on Trowa’s face. Or maybe at the girl a few seats away, Trowa couldn’t really be sure but he was annoyed enough to take most things personally for the moment. It meant he could scowl with purpose.
“What are you doing on Level 2?”
“Oh, you’d be amazed where I’ve been,” Duo yawned and he actually did seem tired. And dirty. It was a shame everyone wore white, it meant Duo stood out in his near black, grease and filth stained clothing. Trowa looked him up and down and arched a curious brow. Duo just shrugged and looked self defensive.
“I’ll let you shower first when we get home.”
“Nah, you’re the one who’s been working, I was just having fun.” Fun, in Duo’s world, could be anything from playing marbles with a few kids in a park to blowing up anything that offended him with fart bombs. By the look of him, he’d been doing both.
“Fine, I get first shower,” Trowa smirked at Duo’s small protest, but he couldn’t argue because he’d offered. He just hadn’t expected Trowa to take the offer, when Heero wouldn’t have. It was nice to remind Duo that other people existed besides Heero Yuy.
“Smart ass.”
Heero had carpeted the floor in cables. Trowa blinked once at it, decided it was a Yuy thing to do, and gingerly stepped over it all to slip into the bathroom. He took his five minutes of quiet time and made sure he was thoroughly clean before putting on his house pants and t-shirt, grateful to be out of the suit again. He smirked when he came out and let Duo into the bathroom.
“He offer you first shower?”
“Something like that,” Trowa agreed, sounding rather chipper about the whole thing.
“Idiot,” Heero shook his head, but the smile on his face was nothing short of fond. Trowa shook his head and went to sit on his bed, figuring that was about the only safe place right now. “How’d you go with the Computer?”
“It’s hard,” Heero admitted softly. “I’ve accessed a lot of things, but I get the feeling it’s only a tiny piece of what’s really there.”
Which was what Trowa had suspected. Frank was huge, it wasn’t surprising his brain was too. Not that he was about to call Frank an egg-head to his face, or at least to the message board, but that wasn’t he point. The point was they were so royally screwed he barely knew where to start figuring out a way out of the mess they were in.
“I got nothing we didn’t know already. Did grab a few things about work to read. Going to try and take a few sick days or something...if they even have those here.” These people were serious workaholics, it was like living in a colony of Yuys, which frankly had never been Trowa’s idea of heaven, or even a holiday location for that matter.
They sat quietly, Heero still working on his computer, Trowa checking his messages. He didn’t have any, so he went to turn off the Computer before Heero held up a hand.
“It’s not listening to us. I disabled the monitoring programs in it, it’s monitoring my laptops speaker and microphone at the moment, which I broke years ago.”
That made Trowa chuckle, well able to think of ways Heero might have broken his laptop speakers, though there was no physical sign of Heero having stabbed the poor laptop. Outside appearances could be deceiving though. Duo stepped out, hair a wet mess down his back and Heero just grunted, putting the laptop aside and catching the comb Duo tossed at him. Trowa was very careful not to make any visible sign of how amused he was to see Heero take up the job of untangling the knots from Duo’s hair while Duo sat happily between his knees. Nope, he wasn’t amused at all. Not even the tiniest bit. On the outside.
Inside he was laughing hysterically until Duo sighed and started recounting his finds.
“Level 5 is definitely where the richies live. They don’t have rooms so much as houses, at least twenty times the size of Your Room. They aren’t numbered, but I figured Heero could narrow down the choices on that map thingy on the Computer, and a little closer investigating could lead to us finding the right room.”
“I think the Computer will tell us actually...” Trowa mused, recalling the way it had tracked after him as he wandered the halls. He shook his head and motioned for Duo to continue.
“There’s a small business hub at Sector 33 and Sector 77, and a large complex at Sector 50, but I couldn’t tell what it was for. All the business was kept pretty hush hush and the few people I tried talking to were way too interested in who I was and what I was doing there.
“What were you doing there?” Trowa was genuinely curious what cover he had thought of.
“Oh, I ran into a courier in a pinch on Level 2, somewhere around Sector 65 and he was running late, had gotten caught up talking to this girl and wasn’t going to make both his deliveries, one of which happened to be...”
“On Level 1,” Heero finished for him, nodding in understanding. Trowa just sighed, because it was never that easy for him. He always had to come up with an elaborate plan, or ask someone for help. Like Frank. Or Nataku. He never just walked into someone with relationship trouble who happened to need to go the same place as me.
“So you got the thing delivered?”
“Right on time,” Duo agreed with a genuinely pleased grin. “Was for a Mr Charles Brun. Some telecommunications guy.”
“Telecommunications...” Trowa looked to Heero who was nodding to himself, coming to the same conclusion about satellites and Level 5. Whatever was going on inside Frank, that was the Level they had to start paying attention to, all the while also keeping an eye on Level 1 and what the military was going. They had that covered, thanks to Frank.
“So tomorrow we go on an excursion to Level 5.” Trowa nodded, pleased they at least had something to do. He was getting tired of not knowing what the next move was.
“We need a way to keep in contact with Heero,” Duo noted softly. “I wanted to phone a friend like thirty times today, it was annoying as hell.”
“Was that before or after you played marbles with five year olds?”
“Wha? I did not play freakin marbles!” Duo glared at Trowa, but when he saw Trowa laughing at him, he crossed his arms over his chest and sulked.
“The stuff we ordered last night arrived,” Heero noted softly. I put the spare clothes in the closet in order of size, Trowa’s on the top shelf, mine on the bottom, Duo’s in the middle. I made us some ear pieces too and connected them to a private network on my laptop so we can keep in contact tomorrow. Trowa won’t be able to wear it in Level 1 though, there’s a magnetic field between it and Level 2.”
That Trowa hadn’t known and he grunted in response as if someone had punched him. He hoped it wasn’t strong enough to cause cancer or make his dick shrivel up and die. That would seriously suck and he was hoping Frank cared enough about his health to have told him if that was the case.
“Okay, so sleep and then we explore in the morning. I’m starving...anyone else want noodles?” Duo got up when Heero was done braiding his hair for him and rummaged in the cupboard, waving the noodle packets and Heero and Trowa both nodded in agreement. Heero went back to work on his laptop and Trowa lay back on his bed, just staring at the ceiling and thinking things through. Duo talked about where he’d been on each Level and what he’d observed, concreting some of Trowa’s ideas about different places and destroying other ideas he’d had. He’d covered a lot of ground, far more than Trowa had dared attempt.
He handed out their noodles when they were cooked and Trowa ate them quickly, tossing the empty packet into the waste bin, amused that it was empty because it meant Heero had taken out the trash, which was just...so domestic. But he was tired and needed to be in peak condition tomorrow so he slid under the blankets and turned toward the corner, ignoring Heero and Duo’s quiet conversation and the hum of the laptops, letting them lull him into sleep instead.
His dreams were harsh, taunting things that left him feeling empty and confused on waking. Duo was sitting up, eating cereal and looking at him curiously from the kitchenette bench. Trowa just fobbed him off with a thrust of his middle finger and went to shower, getting clean and dressed with quick efficiency and by the time he was eating a muesli bar and Heero had moved once again to the laptop on the desk, he had forgotten whatever his dreams were about and lost the feeling of being alone.
“Let’s go,” Trowa patted Heero on the shoulder on his way out, closing the door and wondering if it was possible to slam the door. If he made the hand movement hard enough would it make a bang sound just to make him feel better? How did people have tiffs if they couldn’t slam doors on the way out? Stomp extra loudly to make your point? He amused himself with the idea all the way to the shuttle station.
“So, bad dreams?”
It was so far removed from his pondering on romantic arguments that Trowa grunted a little and then turned to frown at Duo. He didn’t like sleeping with other people for just this reason. Not that he was sleeping with Duo, that would have just been weird, but he was sleeping in the same room and sometimes that was much the same thing.
“I don’t know really.”
“Dude, that was a bad dream. I saw the look on your face when you woke up.”
And didn’t that just make him feel so much better. Not. Trowa tried his best at a Yuy glare, but Duo was so accustomed or something it had absolutely no effect and he deflated, slumping in his seat a little
“I don’t remember it,” he admitted softly. “Started when I got here. I dunno, it’s like I should be thinking of something, or like this whole place is reminding me of something but I can’t quite figure it out. I wake up feeling...” He shrugged, not sure what he woke up feeling. Lonely? Tired? Wanton? Lost? Alone? All of things and yet none of them, it was a strange thing. Quatre would have known, maybe, but he wasn’t here.
“Too bad Quat’s not here,” Duo noted softly, and Trowa just sighed.
“Hey...have you heard from Wufei?”
That made Duo sit up, looking a little stumped by the subject change but mostly just curious.
“Nah, not for...years I reckon. He went for that job, said if he got it he would have to start right away, I just figure he got the job? You know how Fei is.”
“Yeah, I guess.” But it was odd for him to stay quiet this long. He usually at least sent a generic Christmas card or something.
“Are you still carrying that little torch?” Duo asked slyly, sliding closer to elbow Trowa in the ribs. Trowa just glared because they both knew it hadn’t been a little torch, at one point it had been significantly more than that, and he’d thought he was close to wearing Wufei down until that damned ob interview came up and he’d gotten so secretive about it all. And then he was gone, and Trowa had thought he must have pushed too hard and Wufei had fled, thrown himself into his new job.
Everyone thought that. He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair in annoyance at the whole situation, but mostly at his own inability to accept that as the end of it. And Duo was looking smug and Trowa couldn’t even punch him for it.
They headed for the other side of Level 4 and caught the shuttle to Sector 33 of Level 5, each carrying a brief case with random fake documents Heero had made up for them. Trowa had no idea where he got the paper or the printer and didn’t care, the case was just to make them look like they had a purpose for being there. Each had a back compartment to hold a gun and for the first time in days Trowa finally felt a little more secure. Wandering around trying to build a cover had made him uncomfortable without the knowledge that if anyone got suspicious he could blow their brains out faster than they could sneeze.
Duo pulled out the map and looked around before heading out and Trowa followed at his side, looking as calm and casual as he knew how, talking softly under his breath about a business deal his company was working on. Duo made non-committal responses but mostly paid attention to doors they passed, counting them in his head and following the directions Heero was giving them in their ear pieces. He was following them on the map on the Computer, marking off places they passed and making his own set of notes.
“The next one on the right is a possibility,” Heero noted softly and they moved in. Duo knocked, a maid answered and he tried to sell her life insurance. She politely declined and they went on their way, Trowa having scoped out the number on the ID card inside the door.
“24690.”
“We’re off by more than a thousand!” Duo whined softly and they went back to catch the shuttle, passing five stops before trying again.
And again, and again and again until Duo looked about ready to strangle whoever answered the door instead of sell them insurance, and Trowa was so tired of walking he was ready to sit down in the middle of the corridor and make tea from thin air.
Duo knocked and a man answered. Trowa didn’t hear what he said though, staring at the number inside the door. 37264. So close! Duo’s voice became agitated and when Trowa looked up he realised something was wrong. The man was reaching for Duo’s briefcase, temper rising, cheeks flushed. Trowa stepped in and placated the man, using tricks he would have used in the circus on a lion, getting to the crux of the situation.
They weren’t supposed to be here.
“I’m so sorry Sir, please...we understand you’re disappointed in us, but we truly meant no offence. We’ve never caught the Level 1 shuttle, and we lost track of the station count...isn’t this Sector thirty?”
“No!” But the soft words and the soothing rhythm of Trowa’s hands as they weaved in front of him calmed him down and the man sighed heavily, leaning heavily against the door, clearly still agitated by the interruption but reaching for the shuttle map Duo had pulled out to look at desperately.
“Here. You need to go back to the shuttle and get off at this station. Though honestly, everyone here has life insurance. You should just go tell your boss it’s a lost cause. Try Level 4.”
“Thank you so much, Sir! Honestly, it’s a bit of a last ditch effort on our boss’s part. Almost everyone we talked to has the default life insurance and wasn’t interested in anything extra and we haven’t had much luck getting people to switch. He thought if he could get a few wealthy backers he could save the business, but it doesn’t look likely.” Duo shrugged, hands opening in a ‘what can you do’ action.
“Well, that’s usually the way of things here. We keep telling people to stop trying to strike it rich, be content with what they have.”
“So true, Sir! Thanks so much for your help again, and we’re real sorry we interrupted your day. We meant no offence, truly!”
Unfortunately, it meant they had to leave, so they retreated, not daring to say a word until they were safely back on a shuttle, and even then not until they returned to Level 2. Then Duo let out a sigh Trowa thought would break his nose and kicked the seats across from them angrily.
“Damnit, we were so fucking close!”
“It was next door, actually,” Trowa noted softly and ignored the gaping look of incredulity Duo cast him. Apparently he hadn’t known just how close they were. He made that pretty clear by kicking the seat a few more times and then complaining that his foot hurt. Someone should probably have explained to him that flesh colliding with metal hurt.
He swore all the way back to Chinatown and Trowa grabbed his elbow and lead him into the temple instead of heading for home. Duo didn’t argue and just followed his lead, grinning as Trowa headed for the Monk ad struck up a conversation, asking how his week had been and exchanging pleasantries. He introduced Duo and wasted a good hour wandering the temple, going through the end of day motions everyone else in Chinatown went through before leaving.
“What the hell was that about?”
“If we’re being watched, we need to make sure they just figured we gave up and went home, not that we fled with our tail between our legs.”
“Point,” Duo agreed with a heavy sigh, taking the warren-like turns back to His Room with practised ease. It made Trowa smile, wondering just how many warrens Duo had lived in over the years, and what the strange internal map he followed looked like. He bet it looked like chilli con carne; runny, messy and completely senseless to a sane man.
“Baby,” Duo chided when they got inside. “Tell me you weren’t holding your breath from the moment we left Level 5!”
Heero looked entirely unimpressed by the comment and Duo just grinned as he flopped down on Trowa’s bed. Trowa glared but couldn’t be bothered arguing, sitting down on the sleeping bag instead and looking up at the computer. It was on the Video ship view, the camera fixed on a door.
“That’s it then?”
“That’s it,” Heero agreed softly, turning in his chair to stare at it as well. Himself, Trowa felt rather stupid staring at a live view of a door and after a few minutes coughed softly and turned to look at them instead.
“I can call in sick tomorrow...”
“Or we can just go in tonight,” Duo interrupted. “No one here seems to do anything at night!” It seemed to genuinely offend him.
“I’m not sure the shuttles even run at night?”
“A few do,” Heero mused, but shook his head because not the ones that would help them get where they needed to go.
“As long as we can get to Sector 50 on Level 4, we can get there.” Trowa stared at Duo and wondered if there was a reason he’d gotten so dirty after all. He sighed and shrugged, because the sooner the better in his opinion and Heero was typing so furiously Trowa could only suppose he agreed.
“There’s a way. It’s a bit roundabout, but we can get there,” Heero agreed, printing out the map he had found and Trowa blinked as a slow under the Computer spat out the documents. So that was how he did it.
“Where does the paper come from?”
Duo and Heero were both staring at him like he’d grown a second head.
“Does it matter?” Duo shook his head, clearly of the opinion Trowa was a bit nuts, but that was fine because Trowa had been convinced Duo was very nuts for quite some time. Nuts people were entirely allowed to think other people were nuts.
“I made some dye and did up some extra shirts and house pants in black,” Heero noted softly. “Thought they might be useful.”
“What, no green singlets?”
Heero looked ready to break his face so Trowa made no further comment. He didn’t need to because Duo was snickering enough for the both of them. Instead he went to the bathroom and grabbed the clothes Heero was talking about from where he’d hung them to dry and started packing them in the backpack. Duo got the hint and collected what weapons he thought might be useful, handing them over as well.
“What if there are people in there?”
“Isn’t that what we’re hoping for?” Duo asked. “I mean, we want to find your mystery person and save them, right?”
“I meant other people,” Trowa ground out. “What if this person is being held prisoner. Or...I don’t know. What if there are people there who want to stop us.”
“We shoot them,” Heero pointed out, clearly thinking that was obvious and Trowa stared stoically at him. “What, we don’t shoot them? How else are we getting out then?”
“That’s my point exactly!” Trowa threw up his hands, wondering how anyone worked with Heero and Duo anymore before he remembered no one did. They were partnered together when they had to work outside the realm of solo, and occasionally pulled Quatre or himself into whatever madness they’d been assigned. But no one else ever had to put up with them.
“We could shoot them,” Duo agreed reasonably. “It would just arouse suspicion, especially if the person we’re trying to save is there and we rescue them and they’re missing while the room’s full of a bunch of dead bodies.”
“Exactly. And then we have no plan to get out of Frank.”
It was a dilemma and they say in uncomfortable silence trying to figure it out.
“We need more information,” they all said at the same time, sighed and each sat on the sleeping bag, staring up at the Computer screen while Trowa launched the message board.
“Frank.”
“Hello, Triton.”
“How come Frank is calling you that?” Duo was frowning.
“That’s my name here...” Trowa responded at the same time Frank said “That’s his name here.” Trowa just sighed, wondering if it meant he was somehow less than human when he was in sync with a talking colony.
“We found Your Room.”
“Well done.”
“Is the person we are supposed to find there?”
“No.”
“Then what the hell did we have to find it for!” Trowa could feel his temper rising in time with Duo and Heero’s.
“You need to get inside the room. It has access to where the person I need you to save is.” For once it seemed they had Frank’s undivided attention. His responses were fast and clear, as if they were having a real conversation. Trowa thought of it as progress.
“We’re going tonight, Frank. We’re going to bring the person back here. We need to know what you want us to do. We’re ready to move now.”
This time there was a long pause and Trowa thought of his imaginary old man Frank bumbling around in his room trying to find a plan. He looked like he had put on weight in Trowa’s imagination.
“Alright. Nataku will go with you.”
That was an annoyance Trowa hadn’t expected but he ignored the glare Yuy was giving him and just nodded in agreement, because it was doable. If Frank wanted Nataku there he had a reason for it.
“Nataku will explain some things on the way. Triton...” They waited, but Frank was distracted again and nothing followed.
“Frank?”
“Cover your tracks, Trowa.”
Nothing followed. Heero was still glaring, Trowa felt stumped and Duo was laughing.
“Aww, Frank’s worried about you!”
That was what had Trowa confused. Could a computer feel worry or concern? Sometimes Frank seemed so human, and other times so inhuman it was hard to keep track but the fact that he had been brought here to save someone; the desire to help another. That too was human. There were so many things he wanted to ask, but he had once again been dismissed.
The door opened and Heero was on his feet with a gun to the person’s head in seconds.
“Don’t!” Trowa stopped his finger on the trigged, reaching out to put his hand in front of the barrel. Heero was still glaring but Trowa nodded to the intruder and it nodded back.
“Barton.”
“Nataku.”