05:
Queen Relena Peacecraft sat
with seven ghostly figures around the large table. These were actually men - powerful
leaders of the Earth’s Forces, the Colony Alliance as well as The Organization.
It was an online meeting with the projections of the figures enabled by a high
level encryption in satellite communication. The young queen clasped her hands
tightly on her lap, trying not to show her discomfort at the jerky movements of
the holographic images although she was aware that it was due to the frequency
switching at two second intervals. It was quite disconcerting in her opinion. She
hated meetings like these and it wasn’t just because she had to sit through
almost thirty minutes of long drawn-out summaries, but it was having to deal
with these men who always seemed to insist that an all out war was the solution
to their problems.
As Major General Pierre Baudouin
of the L3 Colony Cluster continued to drone about the recent uprisings in
There was nothing ‘free’
about the world she reigned over. Uprisings and general chaos amongst nations
filled the daily news. And no matter how many times she tried to reassure the
people that everything would be taken care of by the Earth’s Forces, the
tangible feeling of unrest and uneasiness was evident everywhere. The most aggravating thing of all was that no
one seemed to have a definite location, a face or a name to the leader of this
blasted Opposition movement. Who were they really? Were they just nameless
faces running about spreading false propaganda and fear into the hearts of
innocents all over the world? What did they hope to achieve by going against
the need for Pacifism? She had made a worldwide address, directly speaking to
the Leader of the Opposition in an effort to promote peaceful diplomatic
relations between them. Surely they could come to a compromise through
dialogue. And yet, it had all fallen on deaf ears. It felt like she was fighting
a losing battle with no hope for redemption.
“…all I’m saying is that we
ought to be able to pinpoint a band of radicals with our new satellite system,”
Colonel Masataka Yanagi, of the L1 Colony Cluster was saying, as he pounded a
fist on the table (Relena was faintly amused at how noiseless it was since the
man was nothing more than a hologram). “I do not see why we have to spend
billions of dollars on a project that’s getting us nowhere!”
Major General Baudouin, who
hated being interrupted in the middle of a speech, scowled. “We’ve tried using
the satellite system and all it does is give us locations to places we’ve
already scoured in the past few months. Who knows where their base operations
might be? Beneath the sea? On the Lunar Base? On some undiscovered planet or
colony?”
“What a bunch of nonsense!”
Major General Henry Applegate, of the Earth’s Forces bellowed in disbelief.
“Here we are talking about looking for people who might not even exist! How do
we know it’s not them in charge of
these atrocities?!”
There was a visible start in
the room as everyone turned to look at the silent and dashing young man, who
had been watching the proceedings with great interest. His dark blond hair was
sleeked back upon his head, his eyebrows twin forks which gave him a unique and
yet commanding presence. His lashes were closed, his white-gloved hands laced
beneath his chin as a small smile played upon his lips. Relena could feel her
stomach give a little leap of queasiness and that sentiment seemed to be
mirrored in the faces of the other men. There was something about General
Treize Khushrenada that was rather unsettling. He wasn’t a violent man by any
means, but rather went about his business with a cool and calculating
efficiency that caused reluctant awe and admiration amongst his peers.
Here he was, the leader of
the world’s strongest military force, The Organization, and many of the leaders
from the Earth’s Forces and Colony Alliance were beginning to get wary of his
growing power and influence. He was just in his thirties and yet there was no
doubt that they were beginning to rely on his military expertise to get things
done. It was only thanks to his so-called ‘Units’ that many of the Opposition
rebels had been taken down. The other generals were getting uneasy and wondered
if ‘normal’ human soldiers would end up becoming obsolete at the rate things
were going.
Applegate, a grizzly man who
had made the accusation, had no qualms voicing his distrust. He had never liked
Treize and had gone out of his way to oppose the younger man in every major
decision. It was unfortunate that he had been shot down each time. However,
Applegate was sure that the other officers had noticed Khushrenada’s power and
were just as worried.
“Well?” he barked coldly.
“Got nothing to say, Khushrenada?”
The General finally opened
his lashes slowly, revealing cool blue eyes filled with faint amusement. “Why,
what more is there to say, my dear General?” he asked in a voice that was clear
and eloquent – clearly the speech of one born into aristocracy. It sent a shiver
down Relena’s spine and it wasn’t of the pleasurable kind.
Treize spread out his hands
and shrugged his shoulders a little. “It looks like your mind has been made up about
the situation. You falsely accuse me of being in charge of the very group we
are fighting against? Now tell me why I would do such a thing?”
“And why wouldn’t you?!”
Applegate roared and even though his features looked ashen, Relena could still
tell that the man was now quite red in the face. The last thing she wanted was
for her uncle to have a heart attack. He was prone to losing his temper quite
easily.
“You must agree that it
really makes no sense for him to spend so much money building units just to
have them destroyed again,” Major General Adley McKeen, of the Earth’s Forces,
said meekly as if afraid of being gobbled up by the furious officer. “And you must know that without General
Khushrenada’s help, we wouldn’t be here…”
“And just where are we
exactly?” Colonel Tom Allison interrupted gruffly. He had been the one to visit
all the destroyed colonies over the past few months and he was sure he could
still taste vomit at the back of his throat. He hated this whole mess…and had
no real love for the young man with the funny eyebrows sitting with them.
“Are we any better off than we
started?” he asked, making sure he made eye contact with everyone in the room.
“Sure we give Khushrenada what he wants because we believe it’s for the best,
but there are still uprisings all over the damn place, your Majesty. I mean,
come on…even the units aren’t doing too well lately. The Opposition’s getting wind
of how to deal with gundanium…”
“And speaking of gundanium,”
Applegate said, “Why does only The Organization have access to it?! The Earth’s
forces are quite capable of using it just as well as they do!”
“But do you have the manpower
to put it to good use?” Treize asked coolly. His tone remained even although
there was a slight edge in it. “What good would it do to give the Earth’s
Forces something as rare and precious as gundanium? You simply do not have the
resources necessary to use it to its full potential. It will only end up being wasted
in your hands.”
“Why you…!”
“General Applegate, please!”
Relena finally called out firmly as the older man rose to his feet. Ah, she
would laugh if she could, but there was really nothing humorous about the
situation. It was a good thing they weren’t in the same room – at least
physically - or fists would have been flying in a minute.
“General Khushrenada,” she
said, ignoring the pained look her uncle threw in her direction. She forced her
gaze on the handsome man. “Please explain what you mean by that.”
“It’s quite simple, Your
Majesty,” Treize began with a small nod of his head. He smiled and again she
felt the cold claws of fear grip around her heart. She supposed it was a
friendly smile but she couldn’t quite see it that way.
He’s a shark. He smiles at his prey before eating them
up. Just like he’s eating us up…one by one, he’ll take over and where will I be
then?
“Gundanium in its raw state
is quite the volatile element, and capable of destroying anything in its path
if not properly mixed with another metal to create an alloy. Thus, it was
created in high temperature plasma which is only formed in zero gravity, with
molecular scale refinements only possible in gravitationally stable Lagrange
Points. But… that’s just textbook material,” he added with a light smirk as he
deliberately looked at Applegate. “I’m sure any high school student could tell
you that.”
Applegate looked like he was
ready to pop a blood vessel.
“The point I’m trying to make
my dear leaders of the Free World…”
Relena fought down a scream.
“…is that without gundanium,
you and I wouldn’t be sitting here today. Without the discoveries of my brilliant team of scientists and medical
personnel, we would be living in a world where the Opposition would rule with
an iron fist. So yes, things have not been going as well as we had thought they
would, but with your support and continued cooperation, I’m sure we will be
able to bring down the enemy and proclaim victory in short order.”
“Bullshit,” Allison muttered
beneath his breath, unaware that Treize had caught the word, causing his eyes
to narrow for a moment.
“It sounds very good to me,”
Baudouin said with a clap of his hands. “I have no problems with it and I
believe we should continue to leave things in the hands of The Organization. If
any of you had been listening to my report earlier, you’d have known that the
units sent to the
He waited for the applause,
his grin fading slightly as everyone turned to the young queen as if awaiting
her final approval. Relena knew it was something to be proud of and yet…
I had nothing to do with it. Everything…he’s
responsible for all of it. I’m just a damn figurehead.
“Con…congratulations, General
Khushrenada,” she finally said, raising her hands to clap gently. Baudouin,
glad to see that his announcement was well received, joined her and soon enough
the rest of the officers reluctantly added to the applause…although Applegate’s
arms remained stubbornly folded before his chest.
“Please, there is nothing to
congratulate me for,” Treize said, raising his hands as if surrendering. His
smile widened. “This was, of course, all possible with your help. I couldn’t
have done it without you. The Organization thanks you, Your Majesty. And we
only hope that you will continue to allow us to do all we can to maintain peace
between Earth and the colonies.”
“Please do not forget to keep
us updated on your movements and plans, General,” Relena said with a small
smile. “We will all be at your side if need be…”
“However, one major screw-up
from you, Khushrenada and you’ll be out of that position faster than an A-bomb
exploding!”
“Thank you, General Applega…”
“It’s Major General Applegate to you!” the man barked. “I do believe I’ve
earned those extra stars to warrant that title!”
“Ah yes,” Treize replied with
a small smile. “We can’t forget those few extra stars, can we? It doth make the
man.”
“The meeting will now be
adjourned,” Relena interrupted quickly as the tension between the two men rose
alarmingly. “And we will meet in three months as agreed unless there is an
emergency. Good luck to all of you and thank you for joining me this evening.”
They saluted smartly and one
by one, they disappeared from view – the words ‘Line Terminated. Call Hang Up’
hovering in the air as each bade their farewells. She closed her eyes and took
a deep breath. The meeting had taken a lot more out of her than she would have
liked.
“You’re too lenient with
him.”
She lifted her head quickly,
eyes widening as she met the accusing blue eyes of her uncle. He hadn’t left
after all. She lowered her lashes again and shook her head slowly.
“What could I do, Uncle Henry?
Even you saw the way he acted. There’s no way I can deny anything he’s said.
He’s won most of the battles and many of the people are beginning to look up to
him as the Messiah or something. It’s just….” She slammed a fist on the table,
barely aware of the pain that raced up her arm.
“He makes me feel so
powerless,” she finished weakly, biting her lower lip hard as she felt
ridiculously close to tears. “I’m supposed to be the Queen – the ruler of the
Free World and a guide to a people who look up to her and yet…I’m just getting
more and more drowned by the charisma and military might he possesses. How in
the world am I supposed to combat that?”
Henry Applegate sighed
softly, wishing he could be in the same room to hug her. It was a pity her
father had died at such a young age and the enormous task and responsibility of
being a queen had fallen on her shoulders at sixteen. Sometimes, he also wished
he could smack some sense into her, but he had to try to put himself in her
shoes. Making such decisions must be tough and he could only offer his help and
support whenever she needed it. It wasn’t as if she were
a bad ruler and it was a fact that her fight for Pacifism had been embraced all
over. But to go toe-to-toe with someone like Treize…
“We need someone from the
inside to get out,” he muttered to himself.
“What?”
“I was just thinking to
myself,” Applegate explained, his brows still furrowed in thought. “If we are
able to get one of the members of the Organization to break through their tight
security…or better yet capture one of the units…”
“Uncle Henry!” she gasped in
shock, and yet her heartbeat had quickened in growing excitement. She didn’t
know why capturing a unit or having one of the Organization’s members would be
such a big deal, but she sensed her uncle’s conviction that having that little
piece of information could help them in the long run. “You know it’s nearly
impossible to break into their ‘utopia’.”
“Indeed. And rumor has it
that any who tried to escape has never been heard from again.” He gave a small
bitter smile. “How’s that for efficient military tactics, hmm?”
She shivered again and was
now more aware of how alone she was in the cold dark room. She clasped her
hands tightly until her knuckles were as white as her gown. “We can only hope
that someone does break through and is willing to talk to us,” she said in a
harsh whisper. “Or else we are going to be dealing with a megalomaniac who
thinks he has total control over us. We’ve got to put a stop to him first,
Uncle Henry. Stop Treize…deal with the Opposition later.”
__
Hongkou District
虹口区
2210 hours
They had been briefed on what
to do when they reached the area – clear and concise instructions on the
location (an underground safe house in one of the many narrow apartment
buildings in the city), the number of rebels (about fifty estimated) and how to
dispose of them quickly. There was nothing so difficult about it, after all 002
had been on several such missions before.
Seek/Locate. Target.
Destroy/Eliminate.
However, there was something
seriously wrong about all of this. In fact, and in his very humble opinion,
this was one very fucked up situation.
Only five units had been
dispatched to this location. Duo (002), Agent 161 (who’s real name was Frank
Spruce and leader of this little band of misfits), Agent 253 (real name – Ruth
McClausland), Agent 067 (real name – Javier Velasquez) and Agent 010 (Hilde
Schbeicker. Fresh face and first mission). Duo had tried to strike up
conversation with 010 on the way here, but she had either been too shy or her
programming had denied her the pleasure of responding to simple questions.
Either way, Duo could appreciate a fine female when he saw one and Hilde was
just that. She had a boyish figure, with short purple hair and wide blue eyes
that could suck you in easily. Agent 253 on the other hand, might have been a
man for all the feminine charms she possessed. She could only stare stonily at
Duo throughout the journey as if daring him to open his mouth to speak. Agent
161 was all right…well, as all right as a machine could be. He gave his
commands clearly, demanding the best from his squad. He had been in this
business for several years now and knew his way around the block. Agent 067 was
just as quiet, but then again that was a trait most units possessed. However,
Duo could tell that Javier must have been a shy guy – probably gay (his gaydar
never failed him – how he knew he had always had one was still a mystery to him)
– and a non-violent person. Although his handsome and almost effeminate
features were locked in that familiar blank state, there was still a faint look
of uneasiness in the unit’s eyes. Maybe 067 wasn’t all machine as the big guys
up there would have loved to think.
“Agent 002, where the fuck are you?! Our mission is
complete! Report to the vehicle immediately!”
He winced at the irritated
sound of 253’s voice in his ear. Yes, their mission was complete. They had
found the safe house and barged in like a group of guerrillas, silent as mice
and yet spraying bullets with an efficiency that would have been cool to Duo if
he wasn’t so busy trying not to get shot at. However the men they had thought
armed and ready for a fight had been lounging about in the dimly lit room.
There was a thick smell of cigarettes, whiskey and sex in the air as they
played poker on the grimy floor. They had been laughing – probably cracking
some local jokes – and listening to the radio blaring the latest pop tunes in
Cantonese. Duo had also noticed the whores – women dressed scantily with enough
pancake and rouge to rival a circus clown - glued to the men. Some were locking
lips with their guys for the night or bumping and grinding hips like there was
no tomorrow.
In short, it had definitely
not been the scene of a militant group hell bent on destroying others. They had
just been a bunch of guys who looked like they were having a good time, and yet
the units had been ordered to eliminate them without even giving them a warning.
The targets’ looks of surprise should have sent off a warning bell in their
minds, but Duo had to remember that the units weren’t supposed to have these so
called ‘warning bells’ anymore. Machines were programmed to perform specific
duties – questions and rationale would come much later or not at all.
“Enemies eliminated sir,”
Spruce announced into his headpiece as they walked through the debris and over
dead bodies sprawled like a grotesque work of art. Duo swallowed the bile that
rose to his throat as he stared into the accusing eyes of the redhead he had
shot earlier. Forever frozen with that stare, Duo knew he would spend sleepless
nights dreaming of it.
“Roger that, sir,” Spruce
concluded with his report to their unseen commanders. “All right, soldiers,
let’s send this place up.”
Send...? Wait…wait a second…this is in the middle of a
goddamn street! People still live around here! Innocent people! Why do we have
to blow up the goddamn building?!
“To remove all traces of the
Opposition, 002,” Spruce replied calmly causing Duo to blink in surprise. He
cursed his inability to keep his thoughts to himself, realizing he must have
spoken out loud after all.
“Yes, but…”
“Agent 010,” Spruce ordered
loudly, ignoring Duo as if he hadn’t even spoken. “Are the dynamite sticks in
place?”
“Yes, sir,” the girl replied
with a firm nod. “They have been positioned according to your orders, sir.
Evacuation is necessary at this time.”
No shit, Duo
thought angrily. No fucking shit,
Einstein. Think we can tell the rest of the neighborhood that their homes are
going bye-bye too?
And that was when he heard
it. The low, wailing sounds of a baby…and it sounded like it was coming from
upstairs.
“Hey, there’s a ba…” But he
might as well be talking to himself for all the attention anyone was paying to
him. The others were already making their way out of the building and Duo could
feel a sudden rush of heat emanating from the walls. He wasn’t sure just what
kind of explosive device the higher-ups had created but this was definitely
intense. Unbeknownst to him, it was the very same thing Heero had felt when in
Howard’s office.
Fucking assholes! Don’t give a shit about anyone else,
do ya? Just doin’ ma duty, good sirs! Well, fuck you all to hell!
Without thinking twice about
his decision, he turned and ran up the flight of stairs with his gun cocked and
held within both hands.
(Just in case)
He kicked open doors as he
went along the dimly lit corridor, hoping he would get to see the face of the child
possibly trapped in here. To his chagrin, the wailing sound now seemed faint…as
if he were drifting away from it instead of getting any closer. Each door
revealed either a room with nothing more than wrought iron beds and dirty
mattresses or nothing at all within them. The heat was becoming unbearable and
his face was now bathed in sweat –
And yet the sound grew
fainter and fainter until…
“ARGH!” White hot pain shot
through his leg, sending him sprawling to the floor, his gun slipping from his
fingers and skidding away from him. He was sure the bullet had embedded itself
deep within his ankle as the world swam before his eyes. However, it was enough
for him to see the figure of a man approaching him, still pointing his
semi-automatic in Duo’s direction.
“HAHA!” The man screamed and
laughed at the same time. There was a crazed look in his eyes and Duo could
barely make out the dark red shirt…
No, genius. That’s blood. Nature’s tie-dye colors, buddy.
“YOU FELL FOR IT! THE OLDEST
TRICK IN THE BOOK, DUMBASS
The man spoke in Mandarin and
Duo figured that the beauty of being a unit and having all sorts of stuff
programmed into you, was the ability to understand and speak all languages at
the drop of a hat.
So he fell for it? Of course.
There was no baby in the building. How could there be? Man’s instinct to save
one of its kind, especially in the form of an infant, had kicked in, rendering
all other rational thought out of his mind. It was probably a recording of some
sort – sounds to lure a faulty unit up here. Oh, yes. Duo could officially
label himself a moron and now he had a blown ankle because of it.
Motherfucker had to get the good leg, didn’t he?
He rolled away as another
bullet created a hole where his head had been seconds ago, while trying to get
to his feet at the same time. He tried to favor his injured leg and ended up
having to balance himself with it. Again, a bolt of sheer excruciating pain
raced up his muscles and he staggered.
He was going to have to go through surgery but damn…how he wished it would be
the hot doctor taking care of him.
Sorry, doc. Just can’t seem to keep myself out of
trouble, can I?
Another bullet whizzed past
his head and his concern was quickly replaced with fury. No way was he going to
let this asshole get to him. He half-turned and then noticed it – a tattoo of a
dragon running along the man’s left arm.
Gang member!
The sudden thought almost had
him falling to the floor again. He had no idea why he was so sure about that
tattoo but he just knew that it was something he had seen before. He made the
mistake of touching the wall, to steady himself, and screamed as the
unexplainable heat scorched his flesh mercilessly. The man waving the gun
looked confused for a second and then grinned maniacally again.
“HAHAHA! YOU DIE
MOTHERFUCKER! DIE!!”
Sorry pal, Duo thought with a grimace as he suffered the agony
of his injured foot, to lift his right leg. Not
today!
He kicked, making solid
contact with the left side of Crazy Guy’s face. He watched dispassionately as
the man was flung against the hot wall like a rag doll, his cries of pain lost
within the gurgle of blood rapidly filling his mouth as he slid to the floor.
Duo winced as the back of the man’s shirt seemed to melt right off his body,
his once pale flesh now red with visible blisters beginning to pop all over it.
It was as if someone had sprayed acid on the man’s body and it was downright
disgusting to say the least.
Dynamite?! Duo
thought wildly as the heat coupled with the pain, nearly drove him mad. This isn’t dynamite! This is a fucking
nuclear bomb! You’ve gotta make like a banana and split, man. No time to sit
and smell the nitroglycerin.
He bent…and screamed as his
ankle buckled…but managed to get his gun all the same. He was just about to
turn away again, when he felt the warm and wet hand around his right ankle.
Damn it! Didn’t these guys know when to die?!
On pure reflex, he struck out
with his arm, wincing as the sound of flesh and crunching bone filled his ears.
And as if his night couldn’t possibly get any better, someone seemed to be
coming up the stairs.
Shit. More of them!
He cocked his gun with hands
that were beginning to tremble, more from the shock and pain of his injury than
with fear as he got ready to put a few more holes into his new visitor.
“Agent 002! Where are you?!”
He sagged in relief as the
familiar voice of 010 drifted over the stairs. “Here! Up here!”
He gave a weak smile as she
came up the last steps. “Hi there,” Duo greeted with a wave. “Not feeling too
hot…if you know what I mean.”
“You deliberately disobeyed
orders,” the girl recited, reaching him to evaluate the situation and extent of
his damage. She barely gave Crazy Guy a second look. “We do not have too much
time, 002. In fact, we have less than ten seconds to get out of here.”
“Looks like you and me are
going to have to suffer through this shit, doesn’t it? There’s no way I can get
out of here in ten seconds…”
“Hold on to me,” she
commanded firmly as she wrapped an arm around his shoulder, grunting softly as
he leaned heavily against her. “This will only take a second. You will feel a
bit woozy but you should be fine.”
“What…?”
It was like being sucked in a
vacuum – no, more like getting into the world’s fastest bullet train and being
sent into an abyss so dark, it was blinding. Duo felt as if his brain was
expanding and contracting or rather being squeezed by someone’s hand. All too
soon, the sensation passed and he found himself sitting at the back of the
truck which had brought them to the safe house.
Fucking A. I do believe, dear friends that we just…teleported…
He slapped a hand over his
mouth, but 010 was already prepared for it. She held up the bag to his mouth
and he immediately regurgitated whatever excuse for a meal they had eaten
several hours earlier.
Seconds later, the building
exploded in a most spectacular fashion. Everyone who witnessed it said it was
nothing short of a miracle, for the buildings beside it were completely
unscathed.
__
Excerpt of Report from First Lieutenant Hans Liebert
In accordance with Section
23A of the Organization’s Code of Conduct, Agent 002 (Second Class) was duly
reprimanded for his insubordination during Mission A2KWZ - the Hongkou
District. Under my command and led by Agent 161 (First Class), Agent 002
blatantly refused orders to leave the building as told. Although he suffered a
severe bullet wound to his right ankle, necessary precautions have been taken
to keep him under closer and tighter surveillance…
__
“What do we do with him, sir?”
the taller of the two officers asked as they watched the proceedings in the
Chamber on the large monitor before them.
The Lieutenant General
continued to tap his gloved fingers on the table slowly with his eyes narrowed
behind his mask.
“It’s now quite obvious that
the chip was not planted in him, sir,” the second officer spoke when Zechs made
no attempt to answer them. Instead, they watched as their commanding officer
pressed a button before him, zooming in on 002’s flushed features as if mesmerized
by the sight of the unit in suffering.
Lieutenants Barton and Winner
exchanged a look with each other. “Sir,” Trowa began again but was silenced by
Zechs’s hand.
“Tell me, Barton…Winner…have
you seen anything so magnificent? Look at those eyes. Look how they burn with
loathing for us.”
The younger men watched
obediently, neither able to stop the shudder of awareness that wracked their
bodies as Duo lifted his gaze to stare directly at them. It was as if the unit
knew he was being watched and relished the thought.
“How he mocks us,” Zechs
continued, his lips quirking in a smile. “How he dares us to punish him even
more, to make him suffer, to make us end his misery! Ah, Yuy, you have
certainly picked a marvelous one as your creation.”
“But sir, 002 has been
nothing but trouble from the day he arrived,” Winner said, frowning lightly at
the admiration in the General’s voice. “Perhaps if he was…”
“Stai calmo mio caro,” Zechs drawled lazily. “He will be taken care of, not
to worry. I believe you both have a mission for him – one that will guarantee
his… defeat?”
“Well…”
“Of course we can only hope
that he does manage to get himself killed,” Zechs added with a cruel smirk on
his lips. “The last few missions have been quite successful, if memory serves me
correctly.”
Trowa and Quatre had the
grace to flush at the deliberate jibe. They had been the ones responsible for
sending 002 on these so-called suicide missions and yet Duo had managed to pass
each and everyone so far.
“We guarantee that he will not
make it back alive,” Trowa said firmly.
“And if he survives?”
Quatre replied with a small
smile. “Then we will personally de-commission him ourselves, sir.”
__
Heero sipped his coffee and
took a bite out of his toast. It was a quiet morning at the office so far and
he was glad for it since it gave him time to think through his next course of
action. He wasn’t sure if disappointment would have been the right word to
describe how he had felt after reading up on Duo’s history two weeks ago. He
wondered why Howard had been so worried about it. There was nothing really that
fantastic about Duo’s life. His date of birth was unknown but Heero could
estimate that Duo was around his age – older or younger by a year, give or
take. He had no family to boast of, which eliminated the two girls he had found
with Duo at the train station.
002 had been raised in an
orphanage and had attended several Colony-sponsored school programs while
growing up. He finally moved out on his own at the age of fifteen and traveled from
place to place. He took up work at a Salvage company and was able to pilot one
of the many ships that could take them to and fro between colonies to pick up
scrap metal for recycling. It wasn’t much money but it was an honest living and
it was a job that Duo had maintained until the Great Bombing.
There was also no record of
having a significant other – which pleased Heero to no end. He refused to
elaborate on the feeling.
So what was so special about
Duo? Had he missed something in the file or was he simply not reading between
the lines? What had he been expecting anyway? That Duo had some kind of
ultimate skill? Or that he was a member of a special elite force? Or a former
member of the Opposition?
The tattoo on his back…
He frowned at the stray thought,
wondering why that had to come up all of a sudden. Yes, Duo had once had a
tattoo on his lower back. So what? Many young men had such body art, it wasn’t
that rare and the report from Howard hadn’t mentioned anything about Duo being
in a gang.
“Doctor Yuy!” The door to his
office flew open, causing his drink to spill on top of his documents as he
jumped at the sudden intrusion.
He glared and opened his
mouth to yell, but the male nurse was already pointing towards the emergency
room in excitement…just as Heero’s pager went off.
“Emergency Room ASAP! Agent
002’s back and he’s a goddamn wreck! I think they’ve finally done it this time
and they say he might not make it!”
TBC…
Translations:
Stai calmo mio caro – Slow and steady, my dear