Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ There Goes the World ❯ Chapter 7 ( Chapter 7 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing.

"McDonald's he thought. There is no longer any such thing as McDonald's hamburger. He passed out." --from the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

There Goes the World

Chapter 7

Heero stared at the ceiling of his dark room. He had gone to bed almost two hours ago, but he had not been able to go to sleep. He was still trying to remember where he had heard the name little Mouse used before. He had been unsuccessfully combing his memories. However, he had put a mental block around his memories of his time with Dr. J. It was doubtful that was where he had heard the name anyway.

Dr. J was not the kind of man to take a stray kid off the streets, not unless he had a very good reason. The only reason he had taken Heero in was to train him to use the Gundam. There was no reason for Dr. J to take Nezumi in, was there? Heero considered this possibly.

The only skill that she had that would be useful to Dr. J was her hacking abilities. It was possible that Dr. J had wanted to use these skills, and had taken her in. However, this would also mean that Nezumi was either an orphan or a runaway; Dr. J may have been a little crazy, but he was not a kidnapper. The idea of Nezumi not having parents seemed to fit with what he knew of her background. A sixteen-year-old girl is not the leader of a communistic rebel organization if she has a happy, loving family.

Heero let it stop at that, and decided that he must have heard one of Dr. J's hackers or other workers talking about the little mouse at some time or another. His mind was satisfied enough with this answer to allow him a few hours of rest, and Heero took advantage of this much sought after opportunity.

*******

Bright rays of artificial sunshine flooded into the small bedroom. The rays lit up the room with a warm glow, and cast their yellow light onto the face of the room's sole occupant, a sleeping teenage girl. Slate blue eyes opened in response to the bright yellow light and surveyed their surroundings.

A feeling of panic rushed through Nezumi when she didn't recognize the room. She sat up, her eyes wildly darted around the room in search of some familiar object. The only familiar object in the room were the two duffel bags that lay on the floor next to the bed. She found some comfort in the bags' presence when she remembered Roger telling her that she would be moving again.

However, what comfort she found in this thought was lost when it occurred to her that she could not remember the move, and she knew that her dull headache was a telltale sign of a drugged slumber. The panic rose up again and her skin grew cold as possibilities rushed through her mind. Roger would never try to drug her just to move her to a new hiding place so she knew that she was no longer among her allies. The most likely situation was that one her supposed guards had drugged her and turned her over to the Bolsheviks.

Duo walked by the room's open door to see a very bewildered Nezumi staring off into space. "Hey, sleeping beauty. So nice of you to grace us with your presence."

Nezumi came out of her reserve at the sound of Duo's cheerful greeting. Her brow furrowed slightly when she recognized him as one of her Preventer visitors from the day before. A multitude of questions entered her mind, but finally one triumphed over the others and exited her mouth: "What's going on?"

"Well, Heero and I had a little chat with Roger yesterday after we left you. We all agreed that it would be best if Heero and I take care of you for now. So you're at our place now."

Nezumi swung her feet to the edge of the bed and stood while Duo explained her new situation to her. "I resent being thought of as someone who needs to be taken care of."

Duo shrugged from his spot leaning up against the door frame. "Too bad, babe, because that's what's happening."

"You call me babe one more time and I'll hurt you where it counts," she said, and what malice she lacked in her soft voice was made up for with a steely glare.

Duo winced at the thought. "You haven't had a lot of boyfriends have you?"

"I've been a bit preoccupied with other matters."

"Well here let me give you some advice," Duo said. "If you ever want to get a boyfriend stop threatening to kick guys in the balls."

Nezumi rolled her eyes. "And if you ever want a girl to not think that you're a womanizing pig don't call her babe."

"I'll be sure to remember that," Duo said. "Now, why don't I give you the grand tour?" Duo chivalrously offered Nezumi his arm. The girl couldn't help but smile a little and relax a bit as she accepted Duo's arm. The perpetually cheerful God of death escorted his guest down the narrow hallway.

"So what's behind all these doors?"

Duo frowned momentarily and shrugged. "I don't really know. We haven't even lived here for two days so I haven't been able to explore the place quiet yet."

Due to Duo's lack of knowledge the tour mainly consisted of showing Nezumi the bathroom and opening a few random doors to see what the rooms held, which wasn't much. However, they did find a room filled with computers, communications equipment, and weapons that they both spent several minutes inspecting. Duo's grand tour ended in the kitchen where Heero was searching the fridge for a drink. The taciturn pilot greeted the pair with a nod. Nezumi returned the simple greeting while Duo happily chatted about their discoveries with the air. After a few minutes of this Duo paused and turned to Nezumi. "You want some breakfast? I could make you an omelette or something," he offered.

"I'm not sure that would be a good idea," Heero commented dryly.

"Why not? I'm a good cook," Duo said defensively.

"I wouldn't trust anything you cook not to kill me."

"You don't trust anyone," Duo retorted.

Heero merely shrugged, "That doesn't change the fact that you can't cook."

While Heero and Duo argued over cooking skills Nezumi made her way around the kitchen and found what she required to make a nice little breakfast. When she was done she settled down at the table with a piece of strawberry jam covered toast and a glass of chocolate milk. She quietly observed Duo defend his cooking abilities while she ate.

"I'm a better cook then you, Yuy!" Duo practically shouted. Nezumi stifled a laugh while she chewed.

"So?"

"SO," Duo exclaimed, "you have no right to criticize my cooking skills when you can't do any better. SO I am now going to fix Nezumi some breakfast." He turned back to Nezumi, "Now, what would..." He trailed off when he noticed that Nezumi already had her breakfast in front of her. A confused look settled onto Duo's features, "When the hell did you do that?" Heero smirked; he had seen Nezumi prepare her breakfast while Duo had been absorbed in defending his abilities in the kitchen.

"While you were arguing with Heero." Nezumi then ate her last bit of toast and washed it down with the remainder of her chocolate milk. "Now if you'll excuse me I think I'll go make use of that bathroom you showed me earlier."

Duo shook his head while Nezumi left the kitchen. "I didn't even know that she'd gotten up." Duo then saw the smirk on Heero's face. "You think all of this is funny. Well, I'll prove to you that I am a good cook by making dinner for everybody tonight."

"Fine, but if it has gummy worms I'm not eating it," Heero agreed in his usual flat tone.

"What's wrong with gummy worms?"

"You put them on a sandwich."

"So? It adds a fruity flavor to it."

Heero did not respond as he walked out of the kitchen. The merits of using gummy worms in cooking really wasn't a conversion that he wanted to have.

*******

Later that afternoon Heero went upstairs to inspect the equipment room that Duo and Nezumi had found earlier. As he came closer to the room he heard the faint sound of rapid typing coming from behind the door. He knew that Duo was downstairs busily trying to decide what to make for dinner, and that meant that Nezumi had to be the one behind the door. He quietly opened the door so that she wouldn't notice his entrance. He silently leaned against the doorframe and watched the little brunette while she worked. The image on the screen was constantly changing, but Heero was certain that he saw the name Bolshevik flash on it more then once.

She went through most of the Bolshevik's network to see what the group was up to. It appeared as if nothing had changed since the last time she had performed one of her little check ups. They still had a large bounty on her and had paused their plans for ESUN until further notice. After she had found the information she wanted she withdrew from the network and shut down the computer. When she turned around she wasn't very surprised to see Heero standing in the doorway carefully watching her.

"Checking up on some old friends?"

Nezumi simply nodded in response. She moved towards the door, expecting Heero to move from his post so that she could get through. However, she was forced to stop when he remained in his spot. She stared into his midnight blue eyes demanding that he either move or explain himself with her blue-gray ones.

Heero choose the latter: "I knew you." His flat tone made Nezumi unsure if it was a question or a statement so she simply nodded again. "How?" he asked.

Her brow furrowed slightly at his simple question. It had only been a few years ago. How could he have already forgotten about the time before Operation Meteor, but then again it had been a long few years. Finally she told him her answer, "Dr. J's lab."

Heero silently absorbed this information. He had been right; she was from Dr. J's old lab. Yet even with this information he could not remember her, and if she was from that painful span of time he didn't really want to remember what part she had played in it.

Nezumi could only guess at what Heero was thinking; he still wore his blank mask. However she was a very good guesser. "When did you start trying to forget your past?"

"I'm not trying to forget," he answered. "I've been trying to not remember."

"Is there a difference?" Heero didn't answer her question. Instead, he removed himself from the doorway and walked away from the room, his purpose for coming up stairs now forgotten as a new train of thought coursed through his mind. There was no difference, he didn't need to tell her that because she already knew. As Heero closed the door to his room Nezumi's soft voice drifted to him: "The past isn't something you can forget, Heero. Whether you like it or not you'll have to remember eventually."

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