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"Bounty Hunters: The Case of the Stolen Yacht"Written By: Yanagi Disclaimer: I do not own or hold any rights to
[Gundam Wing]. Those rights belong to [Bandai, Sunrise, and the Sotsu
Agency]. These fan fictions were written for fun, not profit. However,
this story does belong to me. Please don’t snitch it. Warnings: the usual Beta: rogue53 Pairings: 1x2 Authors notes: The next in the Bounty Hunters
series and my NaNo for 2009. "Bounty Hunters: The Case of the Stolen Yacht" Chapter One
Duo poked his head into the office and shook his head. “Talking to yourself?” Heero just laughed. “Anyway, why don't we have an office? Not this one ...” He gestured around casually. “One downtown, a store front like Buck?” “Don't need it. I get most of my work by word of mouth. Buck tells someone who passes it on and so one. In fact, that's my problem right now. I've got four jobs, all high paying but three look to be nothing much and the last one's just a 'find and follow', not my kind of job. But the client is a big wig, Relena recommended me to her.” Duo plopped down in his chair and took the file Heero pointed to. He read for a moment then tossed the file back on Heero's desk. “File 13 it. That's my rec. I wouldn't do that job unless I was starving. What else is there?” Heero eyed one file. “This one is a recover stolen goods. Love letters, I'm not inclined to do it either. If you're stupid enough to write love letters to your mistress then double stupid enough to lose them, you deserve the grief.” “I never could figure that out. And emails, they email like the damn things disappear when they hit send. Where the hell do they think it goes? Idiots! What else is there?” Heero tossed that file into the trash along with the 'find and follow'. “Well, let me see... there's a recover a vehicle. Don't mind doing a repo or two. High euro price tag and we get 20% of the worth. But, the damn thing hasn't been seen in ... two months. It could be thousands of miles from here. On another continent, even. 13 it?” Duo nodded. Heero trashed that file, leaving only one. “Ok, let me see what this one is. Hummm. Recover a boat? That could be interesting.” Duo got up to lean over Heero's shoulder and read along. Heero flicked the pages quickly but Duo kept up, he actually read faster than Heero did. They were almost finished with the file when the doorbell rang. Duo pushed the answer button and said, “Maxwell. Who is it?” “It's Quatre, Duo, can I come in? Please?” Duo pushed the lock button and nearly stepped on Heero's heels as he scurried after him. They greeted Quatre in the entryway with cheerful hugs and back slaps. Duo pulled him into the kitchen and busied himself making chocolate. Quatre worried at his lower lip until Heero gently reached out and pressed his thumb against it. “Stop that. You're going to make it bleed. If there's something you want to say, just spit it out.” He patted Quatre's hand. Duo hid his smile, Heero was still very distant to strangers, downright cold some would say. But he was learning to be affectionate with his friends, finally. Quatre quit nibbling on his lip and gave Heero’s thumb a quick lick. Heero yelped in surprise, making both Quatre and Duo laugh. “Mission Accomplished.” Heero's satisfied tone made them laugh again. Quatre took his chocolate and Duo sat down at the table pushing Heero's cup over to him. “Now, what has you so upset?” Quatre sighed. “Well, you know I've been having trouble with some of my sisters, right?” Heero and Duo both nodded, sipping at their coco in unison. “But only a few of them, didn't you say?” Heero's question brought a nod. “That's right. Father brought all the sisters into WEI when they were old enough, but they had to show that they were capable to keep their jobs. Most of my sisters are more than capable enough and either kept their jobs or left to form their own businesses. Most of the subsidiary companies are run by a sister or her husband. But a few seemed to feel that, just because they are Winners, they are entitled to whatever they want. And that's where the problem lies. It seems that Ameena isn't.” He stopped to take a drink of his now cooling coco. “Ameena isn't what?” Duo blinked into his empty cup for a moment. “Ameena means trustworthy. But she isn't. She's one of the older sisters. Father had them born in ... er ... batches. Five to seven at a time. Easier to keep them cared for. They're about a year apart.” Heero shook his head but motioned to Quatre to continue. “So, of all the sisters there are six or seven that are just a ... thorn in my side. None of the other sisters approve of them either.” Duo, who was making notes on a 'handy pad', stopped to ask, “How do you spell that?” Quatre told him, prompting him to ask, “I thought all your sisters names started with I, what's with the A?” “Each group got names starting with the letter of the alphabet in order that they were born. A first; then B; and so on. Ameena is one of the first set of babies. I believe that there were eight in the first group but I'm not sure. You'd have to ask Bahira, she's the one who knows who's who. With 29 of them, I don't even know about half of them, I've only gotten emails from them or paper letters, all to do with the business in one way or another.” Duo sighed and rubbed his face. “Let's get off the sisters, OK? Just the thought of all those girls in one place at the same time gives me the wiggins. This Ameena just ... er ... What the hell did she do?” Quatre flicked his glance from Heero to Duo then back. “She stole my yacht. Just boarded it and left. She's hiding it somewhere and, quite frankly, I want it back. I never have used WEI funds to build anything for myself so the yacht came out of my private purse. It was hugely expensive, took two years to build and is supposed to be my ... home away from home. I have to do so much traveling, from LaGrange to LaGrange and on to Earth, the moon and such, that I decided to build the yacht so that I could work while I was traveling instead of wasting my time just sitting on some shuttle or commercial transport. She just decided that she wanted it and she took it. Boarded it with her own crew and disappeared with it. It's mine and I want it back. Find it for me and recover it. I'll pay whatever it takes. And don't say it's pro bono, I won't allow it.” Duo sighed. “Damn, man, that's a kick in the balls for sure. Do you want to prosecute her?” Quatre just nodded, looking sad. “Yes, I've had enough of their stupidity. Of 29 sisters, 9 of them are more trouble than all the rest put together. I spoke with my team of lawyers and I'm taking their advice. You'll have all the proper paper work asap. An arrest warrant has already been issued for her and all her crew. I believe the charge is actually 'space piracy' which is different from regular piracy for some reason I can't fathom.” Heero snorted and told him, “Space ships are much more expensive than ocean ships. What are all the charges?” Quatre shook his head. “I don't really know yet. Trowa is working on that now. He'll send you all the papers as soon as he has it all organized. I'll transfer funds now if you'll give me your account data. Is 10% up front enough?” Heero looked at Duo, he wasn't sure they should accept pay from their friend. Duo just explained, “Heero, if we do it pro bono, we can't testify at any trial. Conflict of interest. But, if we get paid, not only can we testify, but Quatre keeps his pride. See?” Heero grunted softly, then said, “Yeah, I see. What's 10%?” Quatre handed Duo a PDA which he passed on to Heero. Heero just raised an eyebrow. It was enough money to buy their house about three times over. “Ok, that's a huge chunk of change. And that's ten per? Color me ...” He stopped to grope for a word. “Flabbergasted? Floored? ...” Duo's suggestions made both Heero and Quatre chuckle. “Pick one, I'm still trying to get my chin off the floor.” Heero mimed pushing his chin back in place. “I'll call Buck and tell him we've got a big one so he won't call on us. Give me a sec.” Heero called Buck and notified him that he and Duo would be out of town for an indeterminate length of time. Buck just told him to call when they needed a new job. His chuckled, “Keep the rubber side down.” made Heero laugh. “Well, we're free agents for the foreseeable future. Quatre, I really need all the information on Ameena that you have. Education, friends, hangouts, you know the drill.” Quatre handed Duo a flash drive case. “Here. It has four chips in it. One for education, not really much there. Another for hangouts, that one is maxed out. Another for her financial statement, and I'm not sure where some of her income comes from. And, her complete address book.” Duo took the credit card sized case from Quatre and thanked him. He busied himself down loading all the info into their server in the basement. This meant that they would have access to all the info from their PDA's as well as their laptops. Which were neither really laptop size nor as puny as they looked. Heero build their personal computers along the lines of PDA's but with components manufactured for him by WEI. They were about the size of a deck of cards with a tiny port on one side and another on the top. The one on the side projected a virtual keyboard onto any flat surface and the other port projected a view screen into the air. Heero was still trying to figure out how to get a touch pad to work. For now the mouse was a separate, thimble sized unit. Duo was always losing his, something which secretly amused Heero very much. He wondered if Duo would pout if he told him. After finishing their business, they settled in for an old fashioned catch up session. Duo made coffee and called out for some dim sum. They sat around the table telling stories and laughing. It all came to a rather odd halt as Quatre casually remarked, “I bought L4-347. I needed a construction facility for the yacht. It's also going to be WEI's new construction dock.” Duo blinked for a moment, then nearly howled, “Quatre, that station is older 'n dirt. How the hell did you get talked into buying that monstrosity?” Heero did a short mental calculation and realized that the station had to be at least – he rechecked his math and still came up with upwards of 250 years old. It was only triple digits. He thought hard for a moment then simply said, “Why?” Quatre gave him a grateful look. “Because I needed the facilities and it's actually easier and cheaper to renovate a colony than to build a new one. Especially for a private individual. I bought the colony, not WEI. I'm going into ship building as a private enterprise, that's the other reason I need my yacht back. It's my flagship for the enterprise and the jewel in the crown, so to speak. I've loaded it up with every luxury I could think of. A walk through is a seller to almost anyone who wants a yacht or ship built. It's even armed.” He grinned in a way that reminded both of his friends that he wasn't 'just a pretty face' “I built a prototype mobile suit. It's in the docking bay, in a secure compartment only I can open.” Duo froze, glanced at Heero then went back to his coffee. Heero just grabbed the bull by the horns. “What kind of mobile suit?” Quatre looked out the window, admiring the view of the bay and smiled. “A cross between Wing and Deathscythe. It's twice as deadly as either one. There's going to be another war, sometime, somewhere. We all know this. I decided that WEI is going to be ready when it happens.” He had to smile at Duo. “You all know I'm no arms monger, but I want our weapons to be better, bigger, badder. A short war is as good as they get. Right?” Heero nodded and Duo just sighed. They both knew he was right. The rumblings were already there, only this time it was the moon against the rest of the solar system. “They'll never learn, will they?” Duo's plaintive voice made Heero reach over and pat his hand. “Don't think so. But ... it doesn't hurt to hope.” Heero finished his coffee and put his mug down with a soft thunk. “Ok, Trowa should be here soon. Want a look around?” Quatre started to say yes but was forestalled by a buzz at the door. It was Trowa with the warrants and repossession papers. Duo let him in and led him into the kitchen. He flopped gracelessly into a chair and exclaimed, “Sometimes I really wonder about lawyers and judges, they seem to argue just for the sake of argument. It took twice as long as it should have to get these because some fool kept asking if Quatre was sure he wanted to prosecute his sister over a boat. I finally had to show the jerk a picture of the yacht and nearly rub his nose on it. I finally got to the judge and he had the same arguments all over again. Um ... le'see. Oh, the guy on our side, name's Jackson, really nearly had heart failure. He just held up the picture, told the judge the cost of the damn thing and then the judge had a spasm. Had the papers all printed out right at the bench and signed them before they were dry. Here you are.” He rubbed his face, took the coffee Duo offered and grumbled. “I didn't even read all the charges, the judge punched buttons for two whole minutes.” He shoved the papers across the table to Heero who scooped them up. “I don't know why we still have paper warrants. This thing must be ...” He shuffled papers for a moment. “It's 20 pages long. Legal size. Holy shit!” Duo got up to lean over Heero's shoulder. He didn't bother to read the charges, he just counted them. “Fuck! There's 15 charges here. Everything from piracy to grand theft auto and misappropriation of property. And there's ... um ... suborning a crew. Possession of stolen goods and ... She's in deep shit. And so's her crew. And the repo is 'with force'. Hot damn, Q, we've practically got free reign. Excellent!” Heero checked the papers carefully, some places would nullify them for a misplaced comma. These papers, however, were perfect. He folded them and tucked them into a fire proof, theft proof and official folder. He handed them to Duo to put into his working backpack. Trowa settled at the table and remarked, “Well, it seems that the only one of us missing is Wufei. Heero? You know where he is?” Heero opened his PDA and checked. “I think he's on L4 right now. He's an Inspector General now. That last mission he went on about four months ago blew his cover permanently. Some Paparazzi got a good pic of him. He's still hunting for that guy.” Trowa made a face. “I remember. I'm glad I don't speak that pidgin he swears in, my ears are still ringing.” He laughed. “But it was amusing. I've never seen him so red.” Duo chortled merrily. “I hope he finds that photographer. Ought to be illegal what they do. We've been on at least four jobs to recover incriminating or embarrassing pictures for people. Paid well, but still ...” He shrugged and started picking up cups. “More coffee? Tea? Punch in the head?” Quatre declared himself coffeed out. Trowa also shook his head. Heero grumbled, “I'm going to need mucho coffee to make sense of this mess of data on Ameena. Duo, start another pot.” Trowa glanced at his watch and sighed. “I hate to take off and drag Quatre with me but we've got to go, or we're going to miss our flight. We're due back on L4 in two days. Quatre?” Quatre grunted and got up. “I'm coming.” He followed Trowa to the door and turned to hug both Heero and Duo. Heero managed a bit awkwardly but Duo gathered his best friend in a warm hug and announced, “Relax, buddy, we'll get ... what the hell did you name her?” “Intisar. It means triumph. I know you'll get her back for me. Thanks. You too, Heero.” Trowa was duly hugged, backslapped and good-byed. He laughed at Duo and gently tugged his braid, resulting in the obligatory squawk of, “Not the braid, man!” He then punched Heero in the arm and told him to watch out for Duo. Quatre waved, they climbed in the waiting taxi and drove off. Duo closed the door and went to make more coffee. This was the part of the job he hated. He was a man of action and really didn't like spending hours upon hours collating data. No matter how necessary it was. Heero started the first of several dozen searches and settled down to read. The computer could do a lot but only a human could discern any sort of pattern from the assorted bits that the computer decided were relevant. Finally, at nearly midnight, Heero announced that they were going to have to go to L4-1509, Quatre's home colony, and have a sniff around. . An early morning, after a long night, saw Duo grumpy and ruffled, puttering in the kitchen while Heero booked shuttle reservations. “I don't know why they still call the damn things shuttles. They're more like ... flying motels. It takes two days to get from Earth to L4, with a stop over at the moon for refueling.” Duo looked up from the coffee pot and agreed, “Yeah, they are more of a cruise ship, like those floating hotels Celebrity has. But you can't call them a cruiser as that's a warship and calling them something new will just confuse everyone. So, shuttle it is. They do 'shuttle' people from one colony to the other after all.” Heero just went back to his computer, his need for exactness unsatisfied. Duo grinned at the back of his head for a moment, then went back to preparing breakfast. They ate while they waited for conformation of their reservations. When the computer beeped, Heero just tapped the print button and went back to his toast, his printout command accepting the accommodations. He should have checked first. Although Quatre's orders didn't really cause a problem, just a bit of confusion. Heero had booked business and the company, a subsidiary of WEI, had bumped them up to first class. This put them on a different shuttle, which left from a different departure gate, in a different concourse. Luckily, their phones got signal in the main concourse. Heero's beeped first with an incoming text then Duo's rang, he'd insisted in a combined Blackberry/PDA. Heero was a gadget geek of the worst sort and had a cell, a PDA, a Blackberry and a PC all stuffed into pockets. Duo hated what he called extraneous junk so he had a Blackberry/PDA combo and a PC. Both Heero and Duo got the same message, “Wait at the main entrance. You will be picked up and taken to your departure gate.” Heero eyed the text with a frozen expression while Duo was a bit more vocal on the phone, “Well, shit! Whose bright idea was that. We'll be sitting around for over three hours. What? Never mind.” He rang off and glowered at the inoffensive device for a moment. Heero just shrugged. “Q strikes again. Just go with the flow.” Duo grumbled, “I hate it when he does that. It's ... spooky.” He shouldered his backpack and nodded in the direction of an approaching customer courtesy cart. “Here's our transport.” Heero snorted as he eyed the conveyance, it was really just a glorified golf cart with a long bed, outward facing seats and a bin behind them for suitcases. However, it was better than schlepping their stuff clear across the port on foot. He tossed his pack into the bin and settled on the left facing seat. Duo took the right facing seat which put them back to back with their stuff between them. Duo laughed at the driver's expression and cried merrily, “Mush! Shoo! Go, go!” Their driver wasn't that amused but complied, used to strange acting passengers. He drove them through the main concourse and down a ramp. He decided he'd better explain what he was doing before one of the young men got nervous. “I'm taking you to the Priority Club. That's the waiting area for first class for the shuttle you're booked on. It's quicker and safer to go into the service corridors under the concourse rather than try to dodge other passengers and carts. We'll be there in three or four minutes. Ok?” Heero looked up from something he was reading on his ebook. “That's fine. Priority Club, you say?” “Yeah, all the high mucky-mucks squat there to wait for their connections.” Duo snickered at that as it was generally his opinion too. Suddenly, a loud bag made them all jump; but, while the driver controlled his swerve, Heero and Duo drew their weapons and scanned the area for the threat. It turned out to be the lid of a garbage bin, slammed by a hurrying worker. Their driver never noticed the ordinance and drove on, mumbling something about 'Noise asshats.' Duo grinned at that word and Heero was sure that it had just entered Duo's colorful vocabulary. When the cart drew up to the door of the club they were greeted at the door by a smiling hostess who let them into the Club proper. Duo couldn't help whispering to Heero, “Her smile is as plastic as her boobs. Yick!” Heero's bark of laughter made several people turn to look. Duo just smiled in a rather sinister way and took the seat the hostess offered. The hostess left them with another plastic smile announcing that their 'wait person' would be by to get their drink order in a moment. Heero just hissed, “And that's why there's so many drunks on shuttles. They drink their breakfast, lunch and dinner.” Duo nodded, “Yup, disgusting. So ... what are you drinking?” The waiter came by just then and Heero ordered green tea, Duo ordered coffee and they both decided on cookies. This seemed to be a source of amusement to the table behind them as the whole table started laughing when their refreshments were brought to the table. Duo ignored them, Heero didn't even bother to do that. This seemed to make a few at that table angry as they began throwing things at them. The hostess hurried over to try to get them to stop. This didn't go over well with the rowdy group and they changed their target from the back of Duo's head and the middle of their table to her. She retreated, followed by a barrage of bits of bread, waded napkins and ice cubes. The two bounty hunters would have been content to let things be handled by security but they didn't get the chance. Two of the drunks at the table fancied themselves martial artists. One decided to take on Duo and another Heero. One of their friends decided that he wanted a little fun too, so he jumped Heero from behind. That wasn't as good an idea as they'd thought. Heero didn't even try to get up from his chair; he just tipped it over backward, kicking his opponent in the groin as he did so. The one who'd grabbed him got a punch in the solar plexus that left him whooping for air. Heero turned to check on Duo just in case. He wasn't needed. While Heero had been dealing with his two, Duo had simply pulled that cannon he insisted on calling a handgun and stuck it in the man's face. Heero noted with some amusement that there was a suspicious puddle at the man's feet. Duo grinned that manic grimace that made even Heero thing twice. “You really, really don't want to piss me off. Officer of the Court and all that. I'll arrest your ass and let your lawyer try to sort it out. You know, fees, time in jail, court appearances; big waste of time and expensive as hell. Security should show up any time now, just go along peaceably. 'K?” “Yeah, ok. But ...” Duo sighed and shook his head. “How did we do that? How'd a soft target like me manage something like this? Try a number. 02? Ring a bell? A tiny little tinkle?” Heero nodded his head to one side. “Security is here.” Duo tucked his piece back into his holster and stepped back. “Hi, guys. Three for the tank.” Security, being very good at their jobs, recognized both Heero and Duo at once. They were very careful to keep their hands where they could be seen. “What's going on here?” The head of the team came two careful steps closer and looked around. He noted the drunken men still seated at the table nearby and the three attackers, one still on his feet and two on the floor. Heero pointed to the two on the floor. “They double teamed me, not a good idea. And the wet one, he got a good look at Duo's sidearm.” Heero snickered. “If you can call that cannon a pistol, that is.” There were some soft chuckles from the team which brought the 'drunk brigade' into a new froth. One demanded to see his lawyer, another just threatened their jobs. Exactly what he said was, “I'll have your jobs.” And some rather unimaginative profanity. Heero snickered and Duo snarked, “You couldn't do it. You'd get your ass handed to you in two seconds. Shut up!” “Who do you think you are? I'm Jason Hargraves III.” “Duo Maxwell, Gundam Pilot 02. Not at your service. Already did that.” He turned to the team leader and asked, “You got a real name or will, 'hey you.' do it?” The man just grinned back at Duo's 'I'm a nice guy.' smile and said, “Yeah, Harvey, and put that shit eating grin away, i know who you are. Now, what the hell happened here.” Jason Hargraves the third got on his high horse, demanding that Heero and Duo be arrested for disorderly conduct. Another man at the table suddenly announced, swaying drunkenly all the while, “You don't need to call your lawyer, damn it, I'm a lawyer. Tell you wa' I'll do...” Heero just glared at him, he suddenly realized that he had an urgent need for the men’s room. He got up to go and was promptly told to sit back down. He started to say something else then decided to just shut and sit, Duo's Shinigami Smile had a lot to do with it. It didn't take long to get everything sorted out, the drunks variously sent home or arrested and the security team out of the club again. The hostess came back to their table and asked if they'd like a comp of some kind. Heero glanced at his watch and realized that it had taken them over an hour to get the mess sorted. This put them very near their flight time so he said, 'no' glanced at Duo who shook his head and said, 'no, thanks.' The hostess went away again still wondering exactly what had happened but thinking them very nice young men. Duo just grumbled, “All I want is some peace and quiet before we have to board. Take off is going to be hell. I hate take off. Really, really hate it.” He continued to grumble as they gathered their things and got ready to go to the gate and board. Heero knew laughing would gain him a smack so he managed to exercise his iron self control and not snicker. Duo was horrible on take offs and landings, docking he wasn't too bad. As a former ship owner and pilot himself, Duo hated not being in control of the ship. Intellectually, he knew the pilots were the best there was, but emotionally, he couldn't convince himself that they weren't on the verge of some disaster or other. The ticket clerk took their tickets and handed them the stubs. “Please keep these as proof of your confirmed reservation in first class. Thank you for flying Inter-Galactic, have a nice trip.” She looked tired and a bit frazzled. “Sweetie, if you're worried about those drunks from the Club. Don't, they're not boarding.” She perked up a bit, “Oh, thanks for telling me. Go right down the hall, pre-boarding baggage examination won't take but a moment.” Duo grinned at Heero; to him this was always a high point of travel. They carried a variety of arms and equipment and they had permits for all of it, signed by Relena Peacecraft and Lady Anne Une themselves. It was interesting how many times Preventers got a call, all of which were routed straight to Chang Wufei; or, if he wasn't available, to Lady Une. So, while Heero calmly put his bag on the conveyer belt to go through the scan, Duo plopped his in front of an inspector and announced, “Ya might as well just search it, no sense in giving the scan operator a heart attack or something.” While the examiner was beginning the task of searching Duo's bag, Heero's bag was going through the scanner. The scanner operator did have a fit when he got a look at the silhouettes in the bag. He had it pulled and sent Heero to another examiner. Duo's cackle carried all over the walkway. Heero didn't understand why Duo loved doing this, it'd gotten them tossed several times, but he kept doing it anyway. He thought Duo did it just to thumb his nose at authority. Duo did have his issues. It never occurred to Heero that his putting his bag on the belt and letting it go through the scanner was worse than Duo's confessing it all. His attitude was what kept getting them tossed off their flights. He stood and glowered at the examiner like he wanted to eat her. She just glared right back. “Ok, what's in here.” “Ordinance.” Heero watched as she tried to open the backpack. “I need you to unlock this. And ... don't you think you ought to put ... ordinance in something other than a backpack. Even locked, it's easy enough to just cut it.” “Can't” “You have to unlock it so I can look in it.” Heero produced a key and unlocked the bag. “Can't cut it.” Duo rolled his eyes at his examiner and snickered, “And he keeps blaming me for getting us kicked off our flights. Man.” The examiner rolled her eyes right back, taking a moment to straighten up. Duo made a point of reading her name tag. “Dominic, that's a nice name. Let me get that lock for you. And, Heero's right, you can't cut this stuff. It's a blend of Kevlar, nylon and spun gundanium. It can't be cut, burned, blasted or torn. And neither can the zippers.” Dominic chuckled a bit. “Expensive stuff. How'd you get your hands on it, if you don't mind me asking.” “Quatre Winner. We're really hard on luggage so he had these made up for us. To test the fabric. If we can't damage it nothing can.” He leaned around Dominic to call to Heero. “Stop glaring at the woman. She's just doing her job and if you'd smile at her she'd probably quit treating you like a teenaged terrorist.” Maggie glanced from Heero to Duo and back. Then she called her supervisor. This was usually when they got bumped. The supervisor turned out to be an old resistance fighter who knew Wufei. He also knew Heero and Duo by sight. The first thing he did was call Preventers. Duo snickered and winked at Dominic. “This could get really interesting really quick.” “Never mind them, honey. I hate to do this but you gotta unbraid your hair.” Duo just snickered again. “Yeah and let you run that hand scanner over my gorgeous bod.” Dominic laughed but she didn't miss the quick flit of dismay that flashed over Duo's expressive face. “Don't worry, sweetie, I'll help you braid it back up again. And I won't wear those nasty gloves either. Pretty, pretty hair you've got.” Duo just stood up and held out his arms. Dominic ran the wand over Duo with a quick professionalism that impressed Duo. She also nearly had a fit. “Sweetheart, what the hell. You plannin' on startin' another war or sumthin'?” Dominic got ready for anything. “Nope, done that, took a pill an' got over it. Plannin' on stopping the bad guys. Tell you what, we'll play a game. You tell me what you found, what you think it is and I'll tell you if you're right. How's that?” “Sounds like a plan, but you still have to show it to me.” Duo snickered and said, “Geeze, Woman, pull your mind up out of the gutter.” “Honey I do, but it just falls right back down.” She started running the wand up and down Duo's body. Well, hell, lemme see.” she started tapping Duo here and there. “Gun, gun, knife, knife. Something that beeps like jelly, some metallic thing ... a coil of wire? Knife, knife, another jelly thing. And, honey, i have no idea what the hell you've got in that braid beside the lock picks. And your boots beep off the chart. I ought to have you strip searched...” she blinked at the quick flick of real fear. “Not that I will. I'd have to clear that with the super and he already looks like he's on his last nerve.” Duo pulled the band off the end of his braid and quickly unbraided it, saying, “Probably on the phone with Wufei. He tends to go off on a justice rant, it's ... 8 hours difference from here to Sanq. That means ...” Duo consulted his watch, “super guy woke him up. He's a very grumpy dragon, Chang is.” As he was talking, Duo dropped various items on the table. Dominic's eyes popped a little as she realized that there were actually three guns, eight knives, a garrote, a strand of prima cord, two lumps of plastiq, the lock pick set, and a gadget to hack swipe locks. She didn't touch any of it, she just took a deep breath and asked to see the papers for it all. Duo handed over a folder, grinning and saying, “We're reserve Preventers, bounty hunters by trade, so we actually do have a real need for this stuff.” Duo couldn't help but lean over again, trying to get a peek at Heero and his long suffering examiner. Heero was doing his best but he really hated being touched by strangers and kept flinching, toward his sidearm. Not a good thing when the examiner was already nervous and the super standing so close wasn't helping any. Heero also wanted to keep an eye on Duo, just in case. Just in case of what, he couldn't say. The supervisor, meanwhile, was dealing with Wufei. He'd been out on a mission. He'd just gotten back, and fallen asleep when the phone rang. He was a very grumpy dragon indeed. The dressing down he gave the man was almost guaranteed to make him hold their reservations as long as he could. He was, however, made of sterner stuff than that. He listened to Chang rant, asked a few questions, then hung up. “Well, well, ladies, it seems we have two real celebrities here. I was sure I recognized them, but I had to make sure. Let them pass. They've got all the proper credentials and papers. Which I need to see, Mr. Yuy.” Heero nodded to the pack that Maggie was digging around in. “In there. Blue folder. Duo? You have your papers?” Dominic looked up from examining Duo's papers to snicker. Heero's normally messy hair was all on end, making him look somewhat like a baby bluejay. Maggie had run her fingers through it and was getting ready to wand him. Heero obediently held out his arms and let Maggie run the sensor over him. He was almost as bad as Duo. With a few less knives, and no explosives. But even after he disarmed himself he still set the sensor off. Maggie started the routine questions under her super's eye. “Are you sure you emptied your pockets?” Heero turned them out so she could see. “Do you have any pins, plates or other surgical steel or titanium?” “No.” Duo finally gave up the struggle and started laughing. Dominic smacked him on the shoulder and demanded that he hold still so she could keep her promise and braid his hair. Duo hated having anyone but Heero or Quatre handle his hair but this happened often enough that he was resigned to it. Besides, Dominic had been really nice about this whole mess. Heero shot Duo an irritated look, then actually huffed in irritation. “Ok, find, what the hell is so funny?” “You're always blaming me for getting us tossed. But your attitude is what's the problem.” “What? I don't have attitude, it's just better to follow protocols. That means the bags go on the belt and through the scanner. Right?” He turned to look at the super. The man just sighed, trust Yuy to be a 'by the book' man at the worst time possible. Maggie just got right to the point. “Ok. No pins, plates or whatnot. You pockets are empty. So what keeps setting the sensor off?” “I've got a piece of gundanium in my back. It's not in a bad place so I haven't bothered to get it out.” “Gundanium, how the hell did you get a piece of that in you?” “Um ... I self-destructed. Literally.” His shamefaced look made Duo howl with laughter. “Ok, yuck it up, smart ass, if we don't get this over with in...” Heero looked at the overhead clock and grumbled, “fifteen minutes, we'll miss our flight.” Maggie looked shocked. “Self-destructed? What are you ...” She caught sight of the super's face and decided, “I really don't want to know. It's imbedded, right?” Heero just nodded glaring at Duo who was leaning on Dominic, wiping tears of laughter from his eyes. Dominic was having trouble holding him up, his whispered asides and explanation had her giggling. “Mr. Maxwell, you're a very naughty boy. Shame on you. Now, pick up all your stuff, put it wherever and explain those boots. What the heck?” “They're mag boots. New style. And steel toed.” Dominic blinked once. “Mag boots? What's that?” Duo sat in a chair and put one foot on the examiners table, he wasn't about to unbuckle the ankle strap and unlace his boot, it'd take for ever to get them back on. “Look at the sole. There's a small magnetic plate in the heel and the ball of the sole. I can magnetize them in case of an inflight emergency, or colonial grav incident. The charge in the battery, also in the heel will last about three hours.” He grinned at her expression. “Ok, I'm paranoid. But better safe than sorry and the toes are real ass kickers.” Dominic finally had a revelation. “Oh, my god! You said something about 02. You're one of those gundam pilots, aren't you? But ... but ... you're so young! How old were you?” Duo rubbed the back of his neck with an odd look on his face, half self-conscious half pride. “We were all fifteen, I think. Except Trowa, I think he might have been seventeen?” Dominic just gapped. Maggie, who'd over heard, mumbled something that sounded like, “Jesus on a mop stick!” The super, whose name they never learned, just ordered, “Get their stuff back where it belongs and get them on flight, now! Go!” Both ladies scrambled to do as they were told and got Heero repacked in record time, Duo was already back in order and ready to go. He bowed elegantly to Dominic who couldn't resist curtseying back. Duo picked up his pack, tossed it over his shoulder and strode away with a jaunty stride. Heero grumbled after him, sure that something wasn't where it should be. Heero's attitude puzzled the examiners but any soldier understood. Everything had a place and everything needed to be in that place so that it could be found quickly in an emergency. It didn't do to be hunting for something when the shit hit the fan. Duo was just as obsessive, just not so evident. He was, after all, the master of stealth. The super escorted them to the next stop on their journey to board their shuttle. He turned them over to the ticket desk and stopped to have a word with the head steward of the shuttle, then he returned to his office to drink coffee and worry. Duo turned on the personality, grinning at the ticket taker and the desk clerk. Heero stood behind him trying to smooth his expression. He hated public transport almost as much as Duo did, just for a different reason. He felt exposed in an enclosed crowd like the terminal. And they were all round, for some reason he didn't understand, no corners for shelter. And neither Duo nor Heero realized why they hated flying so much. Duo sighed as they finally entered the boarding tunnel and went to find their seats. This was just the first leg of their journey but they wouldn't have to go through any security checks again. “Well, this is it, until we transfer at Moon 1.” Duo looked at his ticket. “Let's find our seats. I'm bushed already. I just hate security checks, no matter that I know they're not going to mess anything up. I just hate anyone I don't know messing in my stuff.” The steward helped them find their seats and started
to pick up Heero's pack, which he'd dropped in his seat. Heero stopped
him buy grabbing his wrist, careful not to break it. “Sir, it has to go in the overhead. We can't have things drifting around in nul-grav.” Duo sighed, “Fuck! Here we go again. Look, we're both a bit on the cranky side. We've only had breakfast and that was hours ago. We know they have to go in the overhead, but they have to be stored in a special way and we'll deal. In a minute. Go hover over someone else, come back in a bit and check if you need to. Shoo!” The man went, glancing over his shoulder and noticing a suspicious bulge under Duo's arm. He went to get his superior who told him, in no uncertain terms, to cater to them like royalty. So, instead of calling in the air marshals to take them off, they just watched from the first class galley as Heero took Duo's pack and flipped it front side up and tucked it into the overhead, then did the same with his. Then he did something unexpected, he pulled a contact lock from his pocket and stuck it to the cover. A contact lock was a fairly new development of WEI, with one; you could lock just about anything with a latch. It was magnetic as well as surface adhesive, just a box with a lock, but when it was placed over a latch you needed the key to get it off. “Well, that's new, now what?” The first class steward, Homer, just decided that these were the weirdest kids he'd ever seen. And nothing to be messed with. Duo took the aisle seat because Heero would flinch every time someone walked by. Heero liked the window seat best and Duo couldn't stand to see the stars out the window, he always thought he should be piloting and seeing out the window just reminded him that he wasn't. Losing his ship still hurt him in a way he couldn't explain. It just hurt. So they got settled and waited for the take off. Duo checked his watch obsessively and cracked stupid jokes, a bit too loudly. Heero bore all this with stoic silence; he was going through his own pre-takeoff self-comfort. He silently went through the pre-takeoff engineering checks in his head. The announcement over the address system was a sort of relief. “Ladies and gentlemen, we're preparing to taxi to the launcher. We'll be towed to the launch point by the tow-motor that you can see if you're seated in an odd number seat on the left side of the shuttle. Please be aware that there will be a few jerks as the motor is hitched and again when the tow starts. This is nothing to worry about. Now. Please take a moment to read the emergency procedure pamphlet in the seat pocket in front of you. This contains all the emergency information that you will need in case of an atmospheric incident. If there is an incident in space please remain in your seat until staff makes an announcement then follow all instructions at once. Thank you for your time. And thank you for flying Galactic.” Duo sighed and hissed, “Incident, my ass. If we have a fuckup in space we're all toast. When's lunch? Or is it dinner?” Heero just grunted. “Never mind what it is, when do we eat?” “After takeoff, Duo.” “I know that, when after takeoff.” Heero heaved a long suffering sigh, Duo was in a mood. Not that he blamed Duo, these takeoff and landings were just a pain. He did long for the days when they just stole one of the damn things and went. Or they climbed in their gundam and flew away. He realized that, at the ripe old age of 20, he was longing for the good ol' days. “Fuck me, I feel so damn old sometimes.” Duo shook his head. “Me too, pal, me too. Sucks, but there you are. I wish we had a shuttle of our own. This is just nerve wracking. Next time, let's just steal one, ok?” Heero laughed softly. “Yeah, sure. And then explain to The Bitch why we suddenly felt like committing about eight felonies just so we didn't have to go through security and sit on a runway like all the other peons.” Duo snickered. “Oh, yeah, love to explain that one. Last time I got anywhere near that woman, she tried to execute me. No thanks.” Homer overheard this while he was walking the aisle, making sure very one had their seat belts on correctly, shuddered. Anyone who talked about hijacking a shuttle so casually was not someone he wanted on his watch. These guys would take careful handling and a close watch. He wondered who The Bitch was, then decided that he didn't want to know. The jerks of the tow motor hooking up made a few of the more nervous passengers yelp. A few small children started to cry. Heero relaxed, Duo tensed. The next jerk was because the tow started. Duo gripped the armrests with steely fingers. Heero put one hand on Duo's and squeezed gently. “Duo, relax, you'll bend the armrest.” “Fuck the armrest.” “Pervert.” Heero's amused tone finally got through to Duo. “Ok, ok. I'm a wreck. I hate this. I should be up there. I know it's stupid but I can't help it.” “I know. Wouldn't it be great if we did have our own ship? You could pilot, I could co-pilot and navigate.” Duo fell in with Heero's imaginings gladly. It kept his mind off takeoff. “Yeah, but what about an engineer? Who's going to do that?” “Wufei?” Duo's jaw fell for a moment. “Jesus, 'Ro, you suicidal? 'Fei as engineer? Not a chance. His idea of proper repair protocols is get a bigger hammer. Fuck me.” Heero laughed merrily. “Not 'Fei-fei, the master of the justice rant. Spare me.” Duo mock pouted, “I'm tellin'.” A sharp bang interrupted them, they were seated in the launcher. The PA came on again. “Prepare for launch. The acceleration will be unpleasant. Be sure that your limbs are in a comfortable position, the G factor will be ... four g's. Thank you.” Duo settled comfortably, making sure that his feet were flat on the floor and his arms, elbows especially weren't poking him, or Heero. Heero scuffled around, doing the same. There was a third series of jerks and bumps as the launcher started its cycle preparing to fling the shuttle into space. Duo put his head back on the headrest and wriggled to make sure that there were no wrinkles anywhere that he didn't want them. “Ready .... steady .... launch.” Duo mumbled in unison with Heero. The launch cycle completed as the shuttle engines throbbed from a rumble to a roar and they were off into space. The G forces jammed them into their seats, causing some to gasp for air. Heero and Duo panted in counterpoint, the quick, short pants getting oxygen into their blood with more efficiency than trying to breath against 4 G's. They were soon in orbit and the G forces fell off again. And the noise level rose proportionately. Regular travelers knew to sit for a few moments to get accustomed to the lack of gravity, the other's all forgot and treated the shuttle like an airplane. Several people took off their seat belts and started drifting out of their seats. Duo reached over the back of the seat in front of him to grab a man who'd done exactly that. “Thanks. I feel stupid. I should have known better.” “Not a prob, man. First time?” “Yeah, and my last. I don't think my stomach likes space much.” “There's a barf bag in the seat pocket in front of you. Check for it now, but don't sweat it, just be still for a bit and it'll go away.” Heero fished in a pocket for his ebook and settled back to read over some of the information on Ameena's hang outs. Suddenly a woman screamed, “My baby! Oh, my god. She's drifting away.” The rattle of unbuckling seat belts signaled another disaster in the making as the still screaming woman undid her belts to go in pursuit of her child. Duo sighed, poked a totally oblivious Heero and said, “You going or do you want me to.” Heero looked up and grunted, “I'll go. You keep an eye out for a steward. I'll yell if I need you.” Since it was first class there was plenty of room to maneuver, which also meant that there was a lot of room for drifting. Heero unbuckled his belts and flipped into the aisle. He squatted and launched himself in a trajectory that hit the ceiling at the halfway point between his seat and the now screaming and drifting woman. He hit the ceiling with both hands, flipped around to get his feet on the ceiling, which was now his floor. The next push off allowed him to snag the laughing child and push her gently into waiting hands. The old timer had started to unbuckle but he'd seen Heero so he waited to make a catch on the kid. Heero twisted in air and grabbed the woman who latched onto him like a limpet. “Stop screaming in my ear or I'll slap you. Your kid is fine. She thinks it's funny. If you stop acting like a fool, she'll never realize that there was a problem at all. Now, let go of my coat and bend like you're sitting.” The woman, shocked out of her hysteria by Heero’s threat to slap her, bent as he told her to and he shoved her back into her seat, fastened her belts for her and snarled, “Don't undo those until we have G's again.” She opened her mouth to say something and he just ran her over. “If you need the toilet, buzz the steward. He'll get you there and back. Now,“ he took a hand off from the old timer. “Here's your kid. Calm down.” He started to leave, then turned back. “And stop screaming all the time. It only adds to the confusion. No one can hear anything but you.” The steward, who'd rushed to the rescue the second he'd been informed of a drifting passenger, hid his snicker behind a professional calm and asked Heero if he needed help getting back to his seat, but added, “I know you don't but I have to ask. Company policy. And thanks for the rescue. I hate screaming women. If you need anything, please ask, or come to the galley and get it.” He grinned, he didn't know who either Heero or Duo were but he matched up a few observations and a few guesses and relaxed over their weapons and demeanor. Duo looked up from his ebook and said, “Everything under control?” Heero just nodded. “Great. When do we eat?” Heero just groaned softly. Duo was going to ask every fifteen minutes until they actually got food. The steward made the final announcement just then, “Thank you all for your cooperation in that little incident. Drifting infants are safe enough. If another child gets away from a parent, just push the panic button at your seat and wait for the staff to handle it. As this is a fast ship, our trip will take about 9 hours to complete, depending on factors of math I don't understand.” The announcer laughed lightly. “Dinner will be served in four hours, just after turn around. However, a snack cart will be by in about ten minutes. There will be a variety of sandwiches and chips, or crisps, and drinks available. Please remember to clamp everything down or stuff it into the seat side bins. Drifting crumbs are dangerous so be careful of that. If you should happen to lose something, please ring for a steward. Do not try to recover it yourself, unless you are a spacer. And do not, under any circumstances attempt to open the drink bulbs. Thank you.” Heero had laughed at Duo's dismayed expression when he found out what time dinner was served, then patted his hand when he sighed his relief at the snack cart. “Man, that scared me. I'm starving. How about you?” Heero allowed that he could eat a bite. When the cart got there, it was obvious that this was first class. The cart had fresh fruit, sandwiches, chips, drinks of all kinds and newspapers and magazines. Duo took two sandwiches, chips, cookies and a Mountain Dew. Had to have his caffeine but he wasn't about to trust their coffee. Heero took the same but had an apple instead of cookies. He also got a wrist bag from the steward. A wrist bag was just a zip lock bag with a string on it. You put the trash in it and the string on your wrist. This kept it from drifting away and handy. Heero unwrapped his sandwich and handed half to Duo. “Here, eat this. You got the same sandwiches as I did, we might as well share halves.” Duo accepted the half sandwich and took a bite. He moaned his pleasure. “Oh, man, this is great. They must have just made it. Wow.” He stuffed the whole rest of the half into his mouth, chewing vigorously, he managed to swallow it without choking. Heero laughed around his third bite and held out his hand, wrist bag attached and said, around his bite, “Open your first sandwich.” Duo did so and stuffed his trash into the bag, making sure it sealed properly. They were old hands at all this, trash drifting around in the cockpit of a gundam was not a good thing. Duo made a remark to that effect, turned to look at Heero and got a face full of napkin, thankfully a clean one. He spluttered a bit, grabbed it off his face and handed it to Heero. Heero took it, stuffed it into the bag and then accepted his half sandwich from Duo. “Man, is this the newbie shuttle or what?” Heero agreed that this particular shuttle seemed to be full of inept travelers. . Heero and Duo were both disgusted to realize that the class now had a haze of floating objects. Then they watched in amusement as the two first class stewards attached a line to magnetic hooks set on the walls next to the doors front and back. One of the stewards pulled himself from one end of the line to the other, down the central aisle, netting floating detritus as he went. When he caught something, he extended the net to his partner, who removed the item from the net and stuck it in a trash bag. When the stewards reached Heero's seat, he handed them the wrist bag and requested another. He also suggested that, instead of waiting for someone to ask for one, they be given one when they got something from the snack cart. And be instructed in how to use it. No one, it seemed, was able to use the seat side bin. After all the trash was collected the steward made another announcement, telling people that the next time the cart went by, they were to take a trash bag and use it. Heero grinned at Duo, who just clicked his tongue in disgust. Spacers were all a bit obsessive about floating trash, it could cause all sorts of problems. If it got sucked into the wrong bit of equipment all hell could break loose. Heero asked Duo if he wanted a piece of fruit, he'd gotten a banana and an orange, but the beef sandwich had been thicker than he'd expected so he wasn't going to be able to eat everything he'd taken. Duo thought for a moment. “Sure, I'll take the banana, ok. And we'll save the chips and cookies for later. I'm going to be snacky.” Heero just handed over the requested fruit and started pealing his orange. He knew he was in for a long flight and Duo's restless discontent was better coming out as relentless snacking than some of the other obsessive behaviors he could display. “That's fine. We do have an invite to the galley, you know. So if it gets really bad, you could just go up and ask for something.” Duo gave a silent cheer and stuck his nose in his book. Heero did the same and began the process of profiling Ameena. While Heero profiled, Duo spent his time reading all Ameena's contact information. Heero would glance over the addresses, cataloging the type of establishment. Duo went deeper into the type of people who would be there, how they acted, what they liked. While Heero might have a good idea of Ameena, Duo knew how to fit in with her crowd. This process lasted until dinner. ~ * ~ tbc... |
