Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Wild Wings ❯ Chapter 14

By now you've all probably figured out I'm not quite following the timeline. That's partly because I forgot a few bits and mostly because I'm trying to rig their relationships into a certain pattern before ep. 19 (assault on Barge). If I've skipped it, don't despair. It'll probably show up out of order.

 

Pheonix- I wonder if this falls in line with your guesses. Unfortunately you'll have to wait for quite some time before you get any heart-to-heart info about Wufei. He's a stubborn one.

 

KrystalFoxx- Thank you so much for your thoughts! I try my best to keep my updates frequent so your well-wishes are well-received : ) Your supernatural is coming soon, I promise!

 

Jess- I'm glad the creature side of folks fits. Duo's were was pure inspiration from another story but the others I went with my first instinct.

 

Princess- Trowa followed Heero after the Edwards incident. I made a passing mention of it in the opening paragraphs of ch13 but I'm glad you told me you're confused. I'll be sure to revise that section and make it clearer. Wufei will show up more often than the series provides for him- never fear. In fact, a few of his actions are the reason Duo remains in space with Hilde for the whole second half of the dang series rather than returning to Earth like I imagine he'd prefer. Also Q as camel just seems wrong >.< lol. And wouldn't be very useful, either.

 

A nod goes to Jak II (playstation 2) for the dune hopper :D

 

 

 

Chapter 14

 

"Quatre, pleeeease?" He knew he was whining and he didn't care one iota.

 

"But Duo, the doctor said one more day—"

 

"Oh screw the doctor, Q. She's trying to kill me by slow and torturous inactivity, look at me!"

 

The Deathscite pilot had a point. Puzzle books and CDs lay scattered about the bed and the room. Some had been thrown in frustrated bouts like the one he currently exhibited. Very few were actually piled neatly on the small bedside table.

 

"And watch!" Duo yanked one foot out of the sheets and stuck it in the air. He twisted his ankle around in a full rotation and covered a wince at the slightly vigorous activity. "I'm fine." He insisted.

 

Quatre looked torn.

 

Duo sighed, "Ok, look, if I promise not to jump off any sand dunes without permission can I please get out of this bed?"

 

The blonde caved. "Alright, alright. On one condition?"

 

"Yes! What? Anything."

 

"You clean up this room before you leave." Quatre glanced about. "It's a mess..." he muttered.

 

"Sure thing, done before you know it." The braided pilot threw the sheets back and dumped several books on the floor in the process.

 

Quatre caught one with a chuckle, "Hey, relax. The world isn't going anywhere in the next half an hour."

 

Despite the reprimand, Quatre helped his friend collect the scattered time-wasters.

 

"Duo, how did a pencil get stuck in the sink drain?"

 

"Er... lucky shot?"

 

"Right..."

 

--//--

 

"Oh, blessed sunlight." Duo jogged up the hanger ramp and opened his arms to it. He got a mouthful of sand for his trouble. Spluttering he backed into the hanger. "Quatre, what's this nonsense about a trip to the city?"

 

"It's about two hours drive from here."

 

"Drive? In that?" Duo squinted outside. Sand was blowing everywhere.

 

Quatre peered around the leg of his Gundam, "Hmm? Oh that's nothing."

 

"Nothing?" The braided pilot stuck his hand daringly into the wind. "We'll be flayed raw before we ever get there..."

 

"Not in a dunetruck you won't." A deep voice added.

 

Duo spun, startled. "Rashid! What about not sneaking up on people?" The soldier didn't look very apologetic.

 

"Good afternoon, Rashid." Quatre said, wiping his hands on a rag, "Is everything alright?"

 

"Quite. We heard Duo convinced you to let him out of the inferm. I came to make sure he couldn't talk you into taking him out."

 

"Too late!" Duo chirped.

 

"So I noticed."

 

"You don't need to worry about Duo, Rashid. He can take care of himself... most of the time."

 

"Hey!"

 

Rashid frowned, "It wasn't Duo I was concerned about."

 

Quatre's eyes went wide. "Me? Whatever for?"

 

"Do you think it's wise to be going topside so soon?"

 

"You mean since OZ has declared war."

 

"Yes. They'll be looking for you."

 

Duo began slowly scaling his Gundam, "They're always looking for us."

 

"And besides," Quatre mediated, "They only know what our Gundams look like and those will be safe here. Who's going to suspect a pair of teenagers?"

 

Rashid did not like it, Duo could tell even from half way up Deathscythe, but the Maguanac accepted Quatre's reasoning and let it go. The pair exchanged a few more words before Rashid left them to their devices. Duo eyed the man until he was out of the hanger and only hopped off Scythe when he was sure the soldier was gone.

 

"I don't think that man likes me much, Q."

 

Quatre looked up, "Don't be too hard on him, Duo. He's just trying to look out for me."

 

Protect the packfem... "And I wouldn't?" Duo bristled, ignoring the wolf thought.

 

"Duo, Rashid's been my bodyguard and protector for as long as I can remember, longer than I've had Sandrock and longer than this Operation. You can't expect him to stop what he does just because I befriended another Gundam pilot."

 

Duo crossed his arms, "Yeah, well. He could at least act like I'm worth something."

 

The blonde managed not to roll his eyes. "You passed out when you saw him the first time, he doesn't know that you're worth anything."

 

Duo huffed. He abruptly dropped the subject, "What's a dunetruck."

 

Quatre groaned. "I rather wish he hadn't mentioned those. I didn't plan on using one."

 

The pilot was instantly curious. "Oh come on, Quat. Show me please!?"

 

"Duo..."

 

"I will beg and plead and hang over you until you show me. You won't get a thing done all day." He threatened.

 

Quatre believed it. "This way." He sighed.

 

Along one wall of the hanger, inconspicuous and out of the way, were several large shapes draped in desert camouflage nets. Quatre uncovered one with a flourish. The effect wasn't wasted on Duo.

 

"Whoa."

 

It was huge. The tires alone were twice his height and wider than he could reach from palm to palm. The metal frame was about as Spartan as a vehicle could get. Nothing but the absolute essentials. Everything else seemed to be a semi-flexible plastic or fabric. Everything was variations on the color of sand.

 

"Jesus Holy Christ, check out that suspension... overkill?"

 

"Not if you need to jump over a sand dune."

 

"Jump... over?" Duo popped his head over the roll cage from the other side of the car and peered at Quatre. "You're joking." The small smirk on the blonde's face said no, he was not. "You're not joking... Mary mother of God, what kind of air can this thing get?" He balanced on the roll cage and jumped. The dunetruck took the movement like a waterbed.

 

"Depends. From a standstill it'll do twenty feet vertical but only two in any direction. It can go about ninety but you'll suffer some height to get the length out of a jump."

 

"Twenty feet..." Duo swung himself into the driver seat and hugged the steering wheel. "I think I'm in love." He pet the dashboard gently, "Darling where have you been all my life?"

 

It took the Gundam pilot about twenty more seconds to find and crank up the stereo, an arguably decent system that 'the soldiers insisted on.' "You're damned, skippy." Duo laughed. He spent the next several hours crawling over the machine and by the time lunch was announced knew every button, dial, knob, and switch by heart.

 

"Duo... Duo will you get off that thing for thirty seconds?" Quatre admonished.

 

Duo's head popped up from the engine, "My darling Trish is not a thing, Q. You will show her proper respect." He patted the hood, "Don't you pay him any mind, Trish, darling."

 

"Trish...?" Quatre shook his head, "You'll not be able to go anywhere in it unless you eat so let's go!"

 

"Food?!" He let the hood close with a bang, "Why didn't you say so?"

 

Quatre rolled his eyes.

 

--//--

 

Duo hefted a crate into the dunetruck's bed with a grunt. He slid it close to the cab and shifted things around until the magnetic lock engaged. "Nice... Is there anything else Quatre?"

 

"Nope, that's the last. Are you ready to go?"

 

"Am I ready to go..." Duo muttered to himself, "what kind of question is that?" He swung through the driver-side window and bounced in the seat, giddy like a four-year-old on Christmas morning. "All aboard?!"

 

Quatre clambered into the passenger side and strapped himself in.

 

Duo turned the ignition; "Thank you for flying the Dune Hopper One Thousand, this is your pilot speaking," He let the beast prowl between Maguanac Trigos, "We're expecting a bumpy ride today so please keep all hands, arms, heads, and other appendages inside the vehicle at all times."

 

He cranked the stereo and rolled up all the windows with a cackle. Quatre quietly grabbed the safety bar above his head. Duo revved the engine. "If at any time you feel the need to abandon ship... don't wait for me to slow down!"

 

He punched the gas. First gear. Tiers squealed. Second. Third. Sunlight. Fourth. Duo coiled the suspension and pushed fourth gear for all it had. The dune truck climbed a twenty seven degree incline like a flat runway. Just before the peak he jerked into third for the last few feet of torque and let the springs go.

 

"WOOOOHOOOO!!" It was almost as good as flying.

 

They landed hard on the down slope of another dune. Duo downshifted and yanked the wheel to the side. They drifted for several feet before the wheels grabbed the sand again. The dunetruck weaved along the valley of two dunes until the engine positively roared. Duo directed them up another hill for a somewhat less spectacular leap. Quatre finally joined in the laughter.

 

The two hour drive took the pilots three and a half hours but by the time they arrived they were wind-swept, sand-encrusted, and grinning like loons. Duo eased their speed and smoothly canceled the machine's attempt to fishtail with a negligent tap of the gas and twitch in the wheel. He weaved serenely between low slung sandrock houses and similarly sand-colored people. By the time they reached the city proper his ninety miles an hour were reduced to a crawl.

 

Duo propped his elbow on the open window and settled his chin on his hand. "So where're we going?"

 

"Abdul said he'd meet us in twenty at shop. After that it's up to you."

 

"It'll probably take us twenty minutes to get there at this rate." He revved the engine but except for a few children, no one reacted. "What do you guys sell at the shop?"

 

"Just small trinkets and bobs the Maguanacs make on their downtime. Sandstone carvings, things like that."

 

Duo winced and glanced at the bed of the truck. "I hope everything's alright. I didn't even ask before taking off like—"

 

Quatre made that elegant dismissive gesture, "Everything's plasma packed. It'll be fine."

 

Duo turned back to the street, "If you say so... Oi! Kid! Get off my tire, this isn't a playground!" He waved his hands at the boy. The kid just waved back. Duo revved the engine but that had all the intimidation factor of a puppy growling.

 

"It's alright Duo. We might as well park it here and walk." Quatre opened his door and climbed to the bed.

 

Duo unlocked the magnets and grabbed the keys before following.

 

--//--

 

They dropped their crates into the dust. The thunk was loud enough to bring Abdul from the front.

 

"Ah! Master Quatre, it's good to see you well."

 

"Thanks Abdul, you too. And this is my friend, Duo."

 

The pilot shook the offered hand, "Nice tah meetcha."

 

"Charming." The Maguanac looked to Quatre, "This isn't everything, I hope?"

 

The blonde shook his head, "No, we have a few more crates in the dune hopper outside."

 

"In the what?"

 

"Oh sorry. The dunetruck." He smiled "It's in the square. We couldn't get through all the people." Duo covered a snicker behind a cough.

 

"Ah, then allow me to help you." The solder exited without further ado.

 

Quatre smacked Duo's arm but he was smiling. Grinning together they helped unload the truck.

 

"Is it always this busy?" Duo asked, pushing through a gaggle of kids who made the dunetruck their new junglegym. Where did they all come from in such a short time?

 

"No, not usually." Abdul replied, "But it's market day tomorrow so we have a large number of visitors." Said with a slanting glance toward Duo.

 

The pilot bristled. Quatre put a hand on his arm and shook his head just slightly. Duo hefted a crate and said quietly; "Your guys seem to have something against me, Q."

 

"They don't know you Duo." Quatre responded just as softly, "Give them a bit of time."

 

--//--

 

Duo pulled at the white shirt on his chest and panted a bit. "Thank goodness that's over with."

 

Quatre brushed his hands together looking hardly wilted. "What would you like to do, then?"

 

"Let's find an ice cream, I'm dying in this heat."

 

Quatre chuckled. "There should be a vendor in the square, come on!" the blonde took off.

 

They raced to the end of the street where Quatre plunged into a crowd of people. Duo lost sight of him in seconds. Everyone and their dog was in white or off-white making things that much harder. After a few minutes of fruitless searching Duo shrugged and found himself a vendor.

 

"Two single scoop vanillas please." He paid the man and began his search again. It took only a moment to realize buying Quatre an ice cream might've been a nice thought, but it would never last by the time he found the kid.

 

Duo's walking eventually slowed, then stopped altogether as he tried to race against melting sweets running over his fingers.

 

"Help!!"

 

His head shot up. Quatre ran past in a blur of blonde and white only to skid to a stop in the ally just past Duo. Dead end.

 

Protect the packfem!!

 

Duo put his back to the pilot with a low growl and found three men in pursuit. All of them OZ soldiers. He threw his mostly liquid filled cones since they were at hand. Ice cream splattered the men's uniforms.

 

"Don't get any ideas kid, we just want the blonde. No muss, no fuss."

 

Duo's growl deepened. Protect the packfem... He lunged without warning. His kick brought the first soldier down unconscious. He spun and caught a punch from the second, threw him into the third and followed their stumbling recovery. Soldier two lunged. Duo sidestepped and assisted him into the side of the building with an audible crunch of bone. Soldier three fled.

 

Duo spun on a presence at his back. Quatre. His anger suddenly fled. "Are you alright, pac—Q-man?"

 

"I'm fine—"

 

He spun the blonde around anyway, "Nothing broken? No scrapes?"

 

"Duo, I'm just fine. Thank you." Quatre fought free.

 

"Rashid's going to skin me alive."

 

"No, I won't let him. Let's go. We're drawing a crowd." He grabbed Duo's hand and led him back to the dunetruck.

 

"What was that about, Quatre?"

 

The blonde shook his head as he climbed into the vehicle. "I'm not sure. They didn't know my name and I know for a fact our faces aren't connected with the suits. They might've just confused me for someone else."

 

Duo doubted that severely but let the topic slide. Maybe Rashid would know more... if the man denied to let him live.