Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Intruder ❯ Hilde's arrival... ( Chapter 7 )

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Intruder - Part Seven
Hilde's arrival...


The next morning Duo leapt out of bed and put on his clothes, particularly his favorite shirt, (the one bought by Hilde) He looked around his room and frowned slightly.
It was a still mess.
~ *Sigh* Guess I'd better get on with it then. Hilde's commin' just before lunchtime. Lunch? Breakfast! Quatre's cookin'! ~
He dumped the heap of stuff back on the sofa where he'd just picked it up from, and ran out into the corridor and almost sent Trowa flying.
"Sorry!" he yelled back as he continued up the hall
~ He must be really mad about her ~ thought the pilot, as he resumed his stroll.


Quatre had a loud thumping sound coming down the corridor. He smiled and turned off the cooker. Putting the eagerly awaited meal hurriedly on to a plate and placing it on the side he stood facing the door as it flew open.
"Hi, Quatre, am I late?"
"Perfect timing, Duo." Replied the blonde as he passed over the plate.
"Aw, Man! Quatre you spoil me, y' know that?"
"Yes"
"An' ya still do it? Man, you're a real pal, Cat."
"Anything to avoid your gastronomical disasters, 'Max'"
"Y' know, that's kinda harsh."
"I wouldn't say it if I didn't think you could take it Duo, you know that."
"Hey, no worries, I've had much worse."
"But that wasn't from friends though was it? When it's your friends, it really hurts."
"Yeah, when they mean it, but we're just kiddin' so that's ok."
"Uh huh, I agree."


Trowa and Heero had been clearing the mess from the corridor, and searching for any clues on how the cupboard had exploded.
"I should have been watching him." Heero announced, as he swept the charred pieces of wall and ceiling into a heap.
"Hey, lighten up, it's not humanly possible to watch someone around the clock." Trowa said. "Even you." He looked into those cold blue-gray eyes. "And if anyone should be angry about it, it's Wufei and I."
"...And Duo."
"Yes, well..."
They continued to clear the mess away. Meanwhile...


In the hangar Wufei was trying, so far unsuccessfully to suppress his anger. He couldn't. He wanted to scream out loud, the frustration of being beaten was bad, but being unable to reclaim his honor...
~ Just like Treize. ~ He spat in memory of him, in spite of himself.
~ I need to leave ~ He had an idea, he would do what Duo had done a while ago, when, well, when he was "slightly peeved" as Quatre had put it. He would clear some space in space. This involved destroying the remaining space mines and the occasional MD, floating around in the vacuum outside. He was already in Altron anyway and needed to release his pent up rage. ~ Anger is a distraction, which causes foolish mistakes. ~
He buckled the cross belt, and fired up the fusion reactor. The resulting roar was invigorating, and he smiled as together he and Nataku flew up, and out of the hatch in the ceiling.


Duo and Quatre, having finished breakfast, and now lunch, were playing cards.
They had already discovered a while ago that they were unable to play "snap".
The reasons being, firstly, that they all had such fast reactions from their training that they always yelled at the same time, and although they had started to overcome this by using the computer's audio recording program they had all improved that slight bit that they were all the same. The computer couldn't cope, and had crashed. The second problem being that it often drove Wufei out of the room, as the kept distracting his concentration. So they were content playing 'Eights' instead. Quatre was particularly good at this because of his ability to plan ahead, and come up with strategies.
Duo usually lost, but kept playing, to try to beat Quatre. Quatre had thought of letting him win, but Duo outguessed him and made him promise not to try it.
"I'm outta cards to play again." Duo moaned "I musta picked up half the pack by now!"
"Well, I wouldn't worry about it."
"Why not?"
"Because I'm out of cards altogether." Quatre said, as he placed the last card from the pack that Noin had given them. Ace of Spades, and had a picture of a Taurus on it.
Duo looked at it, then at his watch, and checked to the clock on the wall.
He yelped and jumped up.
"Hilde's gonna be here in a half hour!" He ran for the door.
"Duo! Wait!"
He froze in a half step. Spinning to face Quatre "What?"
"Her flight's delayed by an hour."
"Oh, yeah."
"Hey, no worries, it gives you longer to tidy up."
"Aw, my room!"
"Shall I help?"
"Nah, stay here an' play solitaire or somethin', Cat."
He noticed the look of disappointment in his friend's eyes.
"Aw, Quatre. You know I didn't mean it like that." He brightened
"If anyone but me tidies my room I can never find anythin'."
Quatre laughed
"Whaat?"
"You can never find anything anyway!"
"Exactly!" He started for the door "See ya later, 'k?"
"'Bye" He sighed. Shuffling the deck, he laid out seven cards, and began to pile them up.


Wufei, having annihilated the entire "stock" of space mines in sectors B26 and D12 in less than an hour, was triumphantly making his way back to the base. The radar blipped. ~ Now what? ~ He checked it again. Nothing. ~ Malfunction? No, couldn't have been. ~ Then what was it? Asked an inquiring voice in his mind. He ignored it, as he didn't know the answer. He got back to base, and noticed that Sandrock had moved. Well he thought it had, but couldn't be sure. ~ He wouldn't say anything, as they probably knew, and would think him stupid.
He dropped from Altron, and saw Duo going past in the corridor. "Maxwell!" he called. He waited. No response. ~ I need a rest ~ He thought and without looking after Duo, went the opposite way, towards the pilot's quarters.


Trowa had left Heero inspecting what was left of the closet's innards. Personally he doubted there was anything to be found there. ~ I wonder if Quatre's in the Mess? ~
He hastened his pace, and for the second time that day was almost run into by Duo.
"Oh! SorryTrowa! Hilde'scommin'an'myroomsatipsoi'minarush!" then called back. "Oh,an'Quatre'sintheMessHallheneedsaplayin'partnerwhodon'tloseeverytime. See ya!"
"...Yeah..." He watched Duo run up the hall to his room, and shook his head.
~ I hardly understood a word of that. ~


After finding a something in the ashes of the corridor, he had retired to Wing Zero to think. He had passed Chang on his way there; he had been looking very calm, and perhaps even pleased with himself. On entering the hangar, he looked around. Altron's eyes seemed to be glowing. There were also a few smoke marks on the beam trident.
~ Wufei must have had some fun ~ he thought as he ascended to Zero's cockpit.


Quatre looked up at the door as he heard faint footsteps coming down the hall.
The door opened and he smiled as Trowa came in.
"Duo said you might need a "playin' partner"."
"Please."
"Fine. What are we playing?"
"Oh, anything really, I don't mind."
"Ok, so, how about-"
*Bang * The door slammed shut. Quatre jumped.
"What?"
"Must be a draft from somewhere."
~ Doubt it. It's not like you can leave windows open in outer space. ~
But he said nothing and accepted Trowa's explanation. He started dealing the cards.
"How about 'Eights'?"
"Ok, but you mustn't let me win all the time."
"Oh...Ok."


Duo was in his room, frantically throwing things in random cupboards and boxes.
~ I gotta remember to lock these after, else she'll go through an' tidy them all again ~
He recalled last time he left her alone in his room with the cabinet's doors unlocked. He'd only gone to get some snacks from the Mess Hall / Kitchen, and when he got back she was already half way down the second one. He smiled and then shook himself out of his memories as he remembered what he was supposed to be doing.
He opened the door to chuck some more junk in, and slammed it again as he realized it was all about to fall out on him. ~ Phew, that was close ~
He locked it so he wouldn't do it again, and heard a loud thud against the doors.
~ Ah. I'll get someone else to open that later ~ he thought ~ Maybe Trowa, as he seems to like dodging things ~
His belongings continued to fly around the room in all directions into different cupboards as he tried to reach the carpet.


Wufei was walking towards his room as he heard a loud crash, and the Duo yelling at the cupboard doors
"...Stupid thing! Rah! Doesn't anyone know how to build these things properly?! Honestly, y' just can't get the staff these days!! If y' want somethin' done you gotta do it yourself!!" There was a brief pause. Wufei guessed it was probably because Maxwell had realized that he had done it himself. "They ain't s'posed t' fall on people who just wanna put stuff in 'em!! They shouldn't be so damn Weak!..."
Chang smiled at this last part, it wasn't just Duo's influence that was affecting each of them. He continued to his room.
~ Duo is definitely in his room, which means I can't have seen him at the hangar, as he was going the opposite way, and if he had come back, he would have had to go past me, which he didn't. ~ This didn't seem to make sense, but he knew that the reasoning behind it was correct. He went on to his room, to check his computer.


Heero was now restless. He had been sitting in Zero for what seemed like the last four hours, though it was closer to one. He wasn't getting anywhere fast. The scrap of something that he held in his palm was a clue. He knew it was important somehow, but he didn't know why. As he jumped down, he dropped it, but he did see where it fell, as it bounced off Zero's foot. As he picked it up he noticed a small white patch on it. ~ Where?...! Zero's white! ~
Heero jumped up onto the foot. Looking carefully he found a small scratch, where the metal showed through. ~ Gundanium?! ~ He looked at the little scrap. Could it be? If it was how could it have got there? Who could have put it there? Gundanium could have easily survived that explosion, they themselves had been in those types of flames many times. He started off towards the lab, first a jog, then at a run. He needed to know for sure. He was in such a rush, that he didn't notice he was being watched.


~ Maybe I shouldn't have told him not to let me win. ~ Thought Trowa ~ He's so determined not to let me win now, so I won't be disappointed. ~ He sighed ~ No wonder he's a Gundam pilot, his strategies never fail to work. ~ He sighed again.
"Is something wrong, Trowa?"
"No, I'm just tired, that's all."
"Oh, we can stop playing if you want."
"Ok, I'm going to go to my room now, I'll see you later."
"No, wait, I'll come too, I want to see Duo's room. He said he was tidying it."
"Sure, why not? I'll say hi to him on the way through."
"He should be almost finished by now, he's got about 15 minutes till Hilde arrives."
~ I think I'll stay in my room then. ~
"Trowa?"
"Oh, yes"
"We'll have to introduce her to Max too."
"Yes, no! Charlie. His name is Charlie."
"Whatever."
They went off down the corridor to the Pilot's wing.


Hilde landed in the hangar, and dropped out of her Taurus custom. The 5 Gundams were standing there all around her as she walked past and into the base.
~ I wonder where the pilots are? ~
She thought as she looked back at the Deathscythe.
~ I'll bet Duo's in his room, clearing away all his stuff. ~
The corridor smelt of something, but she couldn't quite place it. She heard a noise behind her and span round. Nothing.
~ Humph! No welcoming party? ~
She smiled, she was early, and they weren't expecting her yet.
At least not for another five or ten minutes.
~ Well, I hope Duo likes surprises ~