Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Duo's Dilemma ❯ Chapter 19

Disclaimer - It’s not mine. Never was. I don’t own Gundam Wing, or any of the characters. I’m just borrowing them for a little while, so don’t sue.

A/N - Hey, how’s everyone doing out there? I hope you are well, and am glad to see that you are still reading this little ditty.

Just so you know, a few weeks have passed since the events in the last chapter.

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Duo’s Dilemma

Chapter 19

Back to Square One

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“I hate damned paperwork.” Duo grumbled, shuffling the requisition forms from one pile to the next. He honestly didn’t know why Une had him doing this.

Well, he knew why, and it had something to do with his commandeering the jet to get back to the States in time to stop Belladonna from being murdered in cold blood by her psycho sister.

But still, being put on paperwork duty was worse than anything else Une could have done to him. ‘Which is probably why she done it.’ he thought glumly, looking up as Heero entered into the office they shared at Preventor’s headquarters.

He had been back in Europe for going on a five weeks after Belladonna had been released from the hospital, waiting for his the process of his transfer to the New Orleans Preventors branch to be validated. Une had made it plain that it was going to take some time before he could move since there were no open positions in the branch for someone of Duo’s rank. The ex-Deathscythe pilot had offered to take a demotion if it would hurry the process up, but it hadn’t helped. They did find out that one man would be leaving the office in six weeks, and Duo would be welcome to fill the gap

So here he was, five weeks later, filling out requisition forms on equipment for the training barracks and waiting any second for word on the transfer.

He had kept in touch with Belladonna daily, making sure she was okay, and that her shoulder was healing up nicely. The two weeks of bed rest Dr. Deveraux had ordered had been thrown out the window the second she walked out of that hospital. She had went back to work the next day, diving headlong into regaining her work from her vice-president.

The trial for Marguerite and Artigues had went through the courts quickly, and with no problems. Marguerite had been sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole, and Artigues had gotten forty years for his part in the plot, with a possible parole after thirty years. The only consolation Duo had about the man’s seemingly light sentence was that he probably wouldn’t make it the thirty years in prison. Artigues was old already, heading on fifty. It was unlikely that he would make it to parole time, which was fine with Duo.

“You’re looking glum.” Heero commented, bringing Duo out of his reverie.

“You don’t look so hot yourself, buddy.” Duo commented, taking in the wearied look on his partner’s face. “What’s up?”

“The informant on the Kensington case was flushed out last night.” the stoic pilot said.

“Is he okay?” Duo asked. He remembered the case, and the young Preventor who had been assigned to relay information from an informant back to headquarters.

“They put him in the hospital.” Heero said. “Couple of broken ribs, a broke leg, two black eyes, and a concussion.”

“Ouch.” Duo winced. “You know who done it?”

“We have a good idea.” Heero said.

“The informant wasn’t caught, was she?”

“No.”

“That’s good.” Duo said. “So you’ve got to come up with another relay. Shouldn’t be too hard. Who does Une have stationed on L3?”

“No one I trust with something like this.” Heero grumbled, he’d already looked through the roster of Preventors on the colonies. Most of them were young, not having the experience to pull of something like this.

The Kensington case had been going on since right after Preventors had been established. Apparently there were still a few stragglers left of the White Fang, the coalition group who had fought under Zechs’ leadership at the end of the war, and were currently under the direction of Demetrius Kensington. It was rumored that they were secretly trying to rebuild the mobile suits used by OZ and Romefellar to start another revolution, hoping to sever the carefully wrought ties that had been established with the Earth and force the Earth Sphere United Nation to collapse.

It went without saying that if this got out of hand, there was going to be another war. And that was the last thing Heero wanted to have to face.

“I’d volunteer to go right now.” Duo grumbled, stuffing the paperwork into a folder. “But Une’s gunning for me right now. She won’t let me off desk duty.”

“It’s your own fault.” Heero mumbled, sliding the folder to the side of his desk. He’d dig up someone for the case by the end of the day, even if he had to go himself. ‘Relena’s not going to be happy if I have to go back to space.’

“Well excuse me.” Duo gripped. “If it had been Relena in that situation, you’d have done the same.”

“Relena never would have been left alone long enough to get in that situation.” Heero said coolly. Duo growled and got back to work. Her royal pain-in-the-ass Colonel wanted the requisition forms before it was time to leave for the day, and he really didn’t need to piss her off more than she already was.

She may have gotten rid of the other personality hanging around in her head, but Duo swore it was still there and even crueler than before.

A short succession of beeps sounded on the screen in front of him, and Duo groaned in aggravation when Une’s face came into focus.

“Maxwell, are you finished with those requisition forms yet?” she questioned.

“Almost.” he said, biting back a short retort over what she could do with said forms.

“Bring them to my office, pronto.”

“Now, Colonel?”

“No, tomorrow, Maxwell.” she said. “Yes, now.”

“Yes, ma’am.” he said, cursing at the woman when the screen flickered off.

“Problems?” Heero asked, peering up from the computer screen.
“Yeah, one anal retentive Colonel who won’t leave me alone.” Duo muttered, tossing on his jacket and retrieving the requisition forms. “You sure you can’t knock her off for me, Heero. I pay real well.”

“Not my line of work anymore.” the young man said.

“Just my luck.” Duo grumbled, slamming the door shut behind him. Heero just shook his head, letting a rare grin come out as he watched his partner stomp off towards the elevator that would take him to the floor Une’s office was on. He reached over to the phone and dialed in Relena’s personal office number.

“Hello?” she asked.

“He’s on his way to Une’s office as we speak.” Heero grunted. He could hear Relena’s light chuckle mixed in with another person’s in the back ground.

“Thanks, Heero.” Relena said. “I’ll pass the message on. So, what do you want for lunch?”

“What?” he asked, looking at the phone as if it were Relena and she had just grown another head.

“Well, I just figured you’d want something to eat when I get down there.” Relena said, the amusement high in her voice. “It’s going to lunch and a show from what I can gather.”

“Whatever.” Heero said. “Une’ll keep him busy for at least a half hour. Just make sure you’re down here when you’re supposed to be. If he keeps on whining about paperwork, I’m going to put him out of his misery.”

“We’ll be there.” Relena said. “Just don’t let him leave.”

“Understood.” Heero said.

“Thanks, Heero.”

“Hn.” was his only answer. If it wouldn’t have been for Relena dragging him into this little ruse for Duo, he would have let the other pilot wallow in his misery. But since it was Relena, and Duo was his friend, he decided to play along.

After all, it was only fair that Heero get him back for the innumerous times Duo had pranked him in the past.

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“What do you mean my transfer was declined!” Duo barked, his hands planted firmly on Une’s desk. This was ridiculous, and he was seething.

“Just what I said, Maxwell.” Colonel Une’s cold voice said smoothly. “The Board of Directors vetoed your transfer based on your recent behavior…”

“My recent behavior kept an innocent woman from being killed!” he yelled.

“Be that as it may, the transfer will not be authorized.” she said.

“You’re head of the Board! Can’t you make them pass it?” Duo asked angrily.

“I can’t if I am outnumbered.” she said. “There’s nothing I can do, Maxwell. Not that it would make any difference in the end anyhow.”

“What?”

“I received word from the New Orleans branch that the Preventor who was supposed to go at the end of the month changed his mind. He’s not going anywhere. Which means no open spot for you to go into.”

“This is ridiculous!” Duo said, beyond pissed. He’d been banking everything on this transfer to the other branch. Hell, he had even started packing his stuff up to ship over to Bella’s house until he could get there and find a place to stay.

“I’m sorry, Maxwell.” Une said. “But my hands are tied. There’s nothing I can do.”

“Of all the stupid, idiotic, pain in the ass, morons….”

“Lieutenant Maxwell!” Une yelled, calling the young man to attention. Duo quit his ranting and looked up at his superior. “I will not have such language in my office. Now get out!”

“Yes, ma’am.” he said stiffly, turning and leaving the office with a not so gentle slam of the door. Une heaved a sigh of relief and reached over to her desk phone, dialing a number she had become increasingly familiar with over the past few weeks.

“Hello?”

“He’s on his way back down.” Une said. “And none to happy.”

“I’ll take care of it, Colonel.”

“See that you do.”

“Thank you, Anne.”

“If it wasn’t for the simple fact you are now one of this organizations silent backers, I would never have agreed to this.”

“Money talks, doesn’t it?”

“Indeed.” Une said. “Now get Maxwell off the warpath and tell him to finish those requisition forms.”

“Yes ma’am.”

Une shut the phone off and shook her head. Leave it to one of the Gundam pilots to cause this much chaos over something as simple as a transfer.

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By the time Duo got down the half dozen flights of stairs and back to his office, he had cooled down a little, but not nearly enough. He flopped down in his chair and crossed his arms petulantly. This was definitely not what he had planned on happening. ‘You’d figure the Board of Directors would be wanting to get rid of me after I took that jet.’ he thought acidly.

“Problems?” Heero asked, not looking up from his computer screen. Duo watched as his partner continued working on as if nothing had occurred. Sometimes he envied Heero’s ability to focus solely on the matter at hand.

“My transfer was denied.” Duo groused.

“You don’t say.” Heero asked, a slight hint of sarcasm coming across. “What were you expecting, a farewell party?”

“Thanks for the sympathetic ear.” he said crossly. Leave it to Heero to be annoyingly straight to the point when he didn’t feel like hearing it. “What you doing?”

“Looking for someone to put on the Kensington case.” Heero said. Duo got up and walked to his partner’s desk, looking down at a familiar face with gravity defying hair…temporarily forgetting his own problems with Belladonna.

“Trowa?” he asked. “You’re gonna put him on as the relay? But he’s off active duty with Preventors. He’s been working with his sister Catherine in the circus for the past few years.”

“He’s the best choice.” Heero said. “The informant has worked with Catherine before, choreographing shows for the circus performances. At least he’ll have a lead to get to her since they’ve worked before. It’ll be easier than having to throw someone new into the mess that is liable to stir up suspicions.”

“Question is, will he do it?” Duo asked. “Last I heard he was busy helping Catherine run the place. Does he even know she‘s an informant?”

“Doubt it.” Heero said. “But he’ll do it.”

“If you say so, buddy.” Duo said. “You want me to give him a call.”

“I’ll do it later.” Heero said.

“Suit yourself.” Duo shrugged, flopping back down in his rolling chair. He pulled the rest of the forms off the top of the pile and began to read over them, but his brain wasn’t comprehending any of the mumbo-jumbo.

He found himself wondering what Bella’s reaction would be when she found out he wasn’t going to be transferred to the States. She wouldn’t be happy about it, he knew that. But he also knew that she wouldn’t want him to quit his job and just move over there on his own, which was something he was seriously on the verge of doing. A good half hour passed, and he still couldn’t figure out a way to get back to her that didn’t result in him quitting Preventors. He was about to just give up and call Bella to tell her the bad news when his cell phone rang, breaking him out of his self-induced zone. Duo fished the phone out of his jacket and checked the number.

It was Belladonna.

‘Someone up there is laughing at me right now.’ he thought morosely. ‘I hope they choke on it!’

He didn’t want to talk to her right now, at least not until he could come up with an excuse to why the transfer fell through. He hit the ringer volume button on the phone, letting it vibrate on the top of his desk. When it stopped, Heero finally looked up from his work and frowned.

“You might as well tell her.” he said. “She’s going to find out sooner or later.”

“Yeah, I know. It just sucks, man. We had all this planned out already, and now it falls through.”

“What you planning on doing about it?” Heero asked.

“I honestly don’t know.” the disgruntled ex-pilot answered. “Bella’s not going to be happy, that’s for damned sure.”

“I’m sure she’ll understand.” Heero said.

“I hope so.” Duo said, reclining back into his chair. On his desk, his vid-cam beeped once, letting him know of an in incoming call. He reached up and flipped it on, groaning when Belladonna’s smiling face came into view.

“Hey, Duo. What’s going on?”

“Nothing.” he said. “What’re you doing?”

“Just checking in.” she said. “I had a few extra minutes and figured I’d give you a call. Something wrong? You look depressed.”

“I’ve got some bad news for you, love.” Duo said, catching Heero’s insistent look over the top of the computer screen.

“Oh, what’s wrong?”

“My transfer to the New Orleans branch was denied.” Duo said. “I’m sorry, Bella.”

“Oh…” she said glumly. “Did they say why?”

“It had something to do with previous conduct while on duty.” Duo grimaced.

“You mean the jet you took control of to get back?” she asked, casting him a you-knew-better-than-that look that reminded him too much of Sister Helen’s reproachful looks he’d gotten as a child at Maxwell Church. Bella had not been happy to find out that he had took over the Preventor jet en route to the Texas base for delivery, especially after she’d heard Une chew him out for it. Of course, she was thankful he had been there, but she wasn’t happy that he’d been on the verge of being court marshaled because of it.

Duo doubted if he’d ever understand women and their double edged sense of right and wrong.

“Yeah, something like that.”

“Duo, I’m sorry.” Bella said, her somber face showing her disappointment plainly. “They won’t let you go because of what you did to get back to me.”

“It’s okay, love.” he said. “I’ll figure something out. So, anyway, on to more pleasant thoughts. What’re you doing?”

“Getting lunch.” she answered, holding up two large bags of take out Chinese to prove her point.

“You trying to feed the whole building?” Duo asked. “That’s enough to feed a small army!”

“Yeah, well…” she said, shrugging. “We got a few extras in office today. You know, gotta keep them fed so they’ll work. You eat lunch yet?”

“Not yet. Une’s had me up to my neck in paperwork the entire day.” he groused. “If I have to fill out another worthless requisition form, I’m going to requisition her to a nice, padded room!”

“Well, it’s a good thing I bought extra.” she quipped, laughing at his discomfort.

“Thanks for the thought, but I don’t think airmail will get it here in time for me to eat for lunch.” he said.

“Well, how about if I hand deliver it?” she asked, smiling broadly.

“That would be nice.” Duo said, grinning broadly at the thought. “Oh, and don’t forget the soy sauce. You can’t have Chinese food without plenty of soy sauce, right.”

“Well then, you’ll be happy to know that I brought a whole bottle just for you.” Bella said. Duo was about to jab back with another smart comment to keep up the banter, but a knock at the door to the office made his attention swerve behind him. He fell out of his chair and came into close, painful contact with the tiled floor when he caught sight of who was standing at the door. The pile of requisition papers he had been working on fluttered down on top of his head, then down to the floor, encircling him in paperwork.

“Belladonna! What the hell are you doing here?!”

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A/N - *laughs maniacally* Didn’t see that one coming, did you? Anyhow, I’m off to finish up the last chapter of this little story. Hope you enjoyed this one, and the next is coming up soon.

Until next time,

A.A.

P.S. Don’t forget to review, I’d like to know what you are thinking.