Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Wild Wings ❯ Chapter 5

Chapter Five

 

The small motorboat idled loudly in the middle of the Gulf. It had taken him over an hour but a small blip on the fishing radar finally indicated he'd found the Gundam. It was about damn time. He was never leaving his duffle on the machine again, wolf or otherwise.

 

At the moment he was sitting on the deck with a lap full of wires. In a moment that radar was going to be doing more than finding a few fish. Duo twisted the last connection together and flicked the radar back on. After that all it took was a moment of tuning to find the right frequency.

 

Suddenly he had to turn the boat and get out of the way or he'd be capsized by the huge machine. Deathscythe rose out of the water steadily until the chest hatch was clear of the line. Duo maneuvered the boat in close. He didn't want to take a dip in the ocean if he could avoid it. He jumped from boat to mecha and nearly dunked himself anyway. Climbing was apparently easier when you had claws to grip with.

 

He found the belayline and punched the code for `Scythe's hatch. A screaming amusement park of alarms streamed out of the cockpit as soon as the air seal broke. Duo winced. “I didn't take very good care of you, did I?” The question was answered with another waves of alarms.

 

Duo sighed and slumped into the chair. Depressurization alert, unauthorized hatch breach, pilot vital signs at 0%... that would be about when he climbed out of the cockpit while `Scythe was still flying about.

 

He cleared the alerts first and the silence following them was almost as oppressive. Before he could fill it with music a message beeped at him over his secure line. The only one with that code was Professor G and thank the Lord for that. He opened the line with a holler. “Hey G, it's good to hear from ya. You've got some serious answers to—“

 

“How did you get this connection?”

 

Duo blinked. That wasn't G.

 

“Zero-Two, how did you get this connection?”

 

That was certainly not G. In fact, that sounded a bit like… “Zero-One??” Duo's voice was a few octaves too high. He coughed and the blank static on the other end of the line told him Heero was just as confused. Duo tried not to snicker. “Zero-One, this was an incoming transmission on my private connection. I didn't go to you, you came to me.”

 

“Impossible.”

 

But the man wasn't offering any solutions, either. Duo logged the incoming frequency while the static filled the space and labeled it `Thief.' “So how are my parts working out for you.” He asked.

 

The voice was stiff, “I'm not going to apologize.” Of course he wasn't.

 

“So they're working well, then?” He closed Deathscythe's hatch and directed the Gundam to sink once more. The motor boat spun about in the small whirlpool the mecha created and continued to idle on the surface of the water.

 

“I did what I had to do to complete the mission—“

 

“Don't we all?” The new voice was soft, almost childlike. The question was perfectly innocent. There was no sarcasm, no judgment there, simply a query that shocked Duo into silence and Heero into cutting off his communication with a snap of static.

 

“Oh, no you don't…” Duo hailed him as fast as his fingers could fly.

 

The irritated anger on the other side of the line made him smile. “Zero-Two, this line has been compromised—“

 

“Don't get your pants in a knot, One. Look at your lines- he's connected to the private which means he's one of us. Isn't that right, Three?”

 

The chuckle sounded like bells, “Actually, I'm Four.”

 

Angry static bristled from Heero's end. Duo just logged the new frequency with a question mark next to it. How many of them were there? “If you're Four, that implies a Three. Is Zero-Three listening in?”

 

The pause was long. Duo almost gave up on it when the static crackled. The most frighteningly neutral voice Duo had ever heard floated over the com. “Zero-Three here.” He labeled the frequency with an exclamation point. He wasn't sure this was a man he wanted to meet… ever.

 

Heero finally peeked out of his shell. “How many of us are there?”

 

“By my calculations…” That was Four with his childlike inflection. “There should be at least five of us. Six is more likely given the frequency, severity, and broad range of attacks; but five at the minimum.”

 

“Zero-Five. Are you present?” Heero snapped.

 

Duo blinked. The bastard was actually following his lead? What would the world think of next? “Ooook,” He finally said into the silence, “I think we can assume Five isn't here.”

 

“But my calculations—“

 

The neutral voice interrupted. “Let it go, Four.” Duo shivered.

 

“…alright.”

 

“So, I take it you two have met?” Duo smirked.

 

Four giggled. An honest to God giggle that Duo wouldn't have believed if he hadn't heard it himself. He was having trouble believing as it was. How did this kid ever end up with a Gundam?!

 

“Only briefly.” Three said flatly. Do wasn't really wondering how that one could pilot. It was obvious enough he was a soldier all the way through. Probably more thoroughly than some actual soldiers.

 

“Enough. How have you all reached this frequency.” Heero was angry… but when was Heero not angry?

 

“Hey, don't be a kill-joy. We would've gotten to it eventually.” Duo snapped back.

 

Four giggled.

 

“I was hailed by Zero-Two.” Three reviled.

 

Duo sat up, “What?”

 

“As was I.” Heero agreed.

 

“Guys, that doesn't make any sense!” Duo protested.

 

Four's voice was still amused but even Duo could hear the note of seriousness. He could buckle down and focus. “Unless I have received more information from the exact same distress signal than One and Three have, they are being unnecessarily hostile.”

 

“Thank you!” Duo exclaimed… then, “What?”

 

“I was hailed by your machine, not yourself, Two. I received a full update on the status and the active alarms including the duration of their alert in a single download after, I believe, you shut them off. Are you well?”

 

Duo slumped into his seat. Was he well? He turned into a beast yesterday not once but twice, Professor G failed to mention there would be more than one Gundam here on earth and now there were four, and let's not forget the mayday alert Deathscythe was programmed to dump in said Gundams without his knowledge or permission! Oh yeah, life was just peachy-keen! Next he was going to be told he could breathe fire.

 

“Yeah… yeah, I'm cool.” He said a little breathlessly.

 

“Don't lie to us Zer—“ Heero started.

 

“Hey!” Duo snapped and pointed at the speaker as if that would help, “I may run and hide, but I never tell a lie.”

 

“Then explain to me why your vitals registered flat!”

 

“Because I abandoned the cockpit in mid-flight!” Duo shouted.

 

“WHAT?!” Four sounded honestly concerned.

 

Three cut in quickly, “Are you compromised?”

 

“No, I—“

 

“Zero-Two…” Heero's warning was just not welcome.

 

Duo slammed his hands flat on the console. He knew it would be loud over the speakers. “Goddamnit, I am FINE.” But a little voice snickered in the back of his mind. You know what `fine' means, don't you? “I am not compromised,” freaked out, “I am not dieing,” insecure, “the machine is safe,” neurotic, “this damned frequency is safe,” and emotional, “and this conversation is over.”

 

He cut the communication with a flick of his fingers and tried not to growl into the silence.

 

“I don't think so, Two.” Four's voice was harder than steel.

 

Duo yelped.

 

“Open the com, Two. Talk to me.”

 

They used to hang people in the square who felt `fine.' The voice taunted.

 

The hail beeped again. “How's this then. The other guys can't hear.” His voice was getting softer and Duo found himself giving in.

 

“What do you want, Four?”

 

“Just to talk. Do you want to tell me what's going on?” It was almost soothing now.

 

I turned into a wolf under a full moon… Duo frowned. “You wouldn't even believe me if I told you.” He cut the line again and ignored it when Four tried a second time. Duo hunted down his music files first and threw them all into a playlist. He didn't care what burst from the speakers as long as it wasn't silence or static. Electric guitar screamed in his ears, but that was fine. It helped him to stop thinking.

 

--//--

 

Duo dropped his duffle on the living room couch. Deathscythe was hidden up north in the middle of the everglades and the trip back down to Key West had taken quite a while. But it was worth the effort. He couldn't be sure his Gundam's position hadn't been transferred along with the rest of that data and wasn't about to wake up one morning to find it gone because the others didn't think he was capable of piloting.

 

And he was still trying to wrap his mind around the concept of `others' anyway. He had yet to decide if more than two Gundams on earth was even a good idea. Yeah, they could take out more targets, but Duo wasn't sure what any of them were capable of. What could he trust them to handle?

 

Who was giving them targets, anyway? Duo got his info from G. He knew that Heero was getting missions from someone else, so it fell to reason each of them had a different contact out in space—which was a whole new kettle of fish. All of these people had to coordinate at one point, right? Otherwise the Wing and `Scythe wouldn't look a similar as they did… and they all wouldn't have arrived on earth within a week of one another.

 

Four's claim that there had to be at least five of them still bothered him. Was there a fifth? Had he been listening in or was he simply not there at the time? Were his stats floating around in some machine over in China that he didn't know about.

 

Regardless of his questions, Duo had decided not to contact G right away. He wanted to sweep through `Scythe's programming before anything else and he was still a little shaken (if he was completely honest with himself) by Three. He wasn't even sure what to think about that man… and really didn't want to analyze that particular fear.

 

Beyond all that was the still looming problem of transforming into a wolf-bird and worshiping the moon.

 

It really was a miracle he was still standing. What time was it, anyway?

 

Duo glanced at his watch. “Eleven… eleven in the morning. Good Lord, please let this be just a strange anomaly in my life. I don't think I can handle too many days like this one.”

 

He found a ration bar to devour and retreated to his nest-like pile of blankets.