Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: The property of Bandai and Sunrise, I believe.
Spoilers: Episodes 1 and 2.
Notes: ---
Warnings: 1+2
Summary:Duo comes to Earth.
Disclaimer: The property of Bandai and Sunrise, I believe.
Spoilers: Episodes 1 and 2.
Notes: ---
Warnings: 1+2
Summary:Duo comes to Earth.
Come to Ground
It would be romantic to think that the first time Duo saw Earth from space was when he arrived at the start of Operation Meteor. But in truth, he slept most of the way.
Duo wasn't new to space travel. Besides being born in the colonies, he'd spent the three years flying with the Sweepers Space Division #3. In that time he'd learn that the best thing to do while colony hopping was to sleep. It helped to prevent space lag.
People thought jet lag is bad, skipping hours forward, but it was nothing compared to space lag, because that meant skipping ahead by whole days. Unless you slept on the way there you'd be useless for a couple of days afterward. It used to be worse when you landed on a colony with a shorter than standard rotation period. But, that was before Colony Control Co. (a subdivision of the former Alliance) took over maintaining things like climate and daylight hours on the colonies. Back when the Alliance was trying to unify the human race in "peace" and "prosperity." Right.
Not only was sleeping a smart thing to do, Duo felt it was necessary. Another thing life in general had taught him was to sleep whenever he got the chance, and from what he knew of the future ahead of him there weren't likely to be many chances when he could sleep uninterrupted.
Also, Duo was worried he wouldn't be able to get to sleep on Earth.
It was not as if the colonies were that different from Earth, but there was still one major difference. Humans made the colonies. They were little outposts of humanity in a sea of stars and thus a lot like the Sweepers' ships or the shuttle Duo sat in. They were part of space and they were inherently human.
But Earth, Earth was different. Humans may have made the colonies, but Earth made humans. There was something remote and exalted about that. Duo wasn't sure he'd be able to sleep on Earth even if he got the chance.
So, he was catching some shuteye while he was safe in his little shuttle. G and Duo had gone through the drill and all the possible alternate scenarios so many times he could literally do them in his sleep. He was not going to screw up. But that's not to say someone else couldn't.
Duo shifted position so that most of his weight was on his left shoulder and opened his eyes a crack. A set of glowing green digits shone back at him from the computer screen an inch from his nose. 30:01, 30:00, 29:59, counting down the minutes until his shuttle entered the Earth's atmosphere. More than enough time to doze some more, Duo decided and rolled over onto his back and shut his eyes.
Of course just as Duo was drifting back to sleep the cockpit was flooded with red light, and the perimeter alarm beeped wildly. He sat up hurriedly and stared through the view screen. One civilian craft was on the port side, but that wasn't what had set off his perimeter alarm since it was set to only pick up weapon signatures. No, it was warning him about the OZ vessel a little further off, in hot pursuit of a shuttle too similar to his to be anything but another Gundam.
The other pilot wasn't doing to well at shaking off the OZies. Duo watched for a minute, pondering what to do, and then went to work. It took Duo three seconds flat to map out the other pilot's course. He was headed for the Eurasia sector. Duo leaned back in his chair and frowned, very dissatisfied with his lack of information. He knew were the guy was headed but that was all he knew. G had hinted there would be other pilots, but Duo hadn't expected to see one this soon. Yet there was one of them, about to get his ass fried.
The shuttle plummeted into the atmosphere and the OZ ship rocketed after it, determined not to let it slip past. Which meant they knew it was a threat. Which meant they probably knew about Operation M too. Which royally sucked.
On the monitor, the dotted line displaying the other pilot's course changed, moving about 2570 miles Northeast. It wasn't clear whether he was attempting to shake OZ or to break out of the atmosphere. A moment later he picked up speed and it seemed certain he was trying to break away.
But he wasn't. The speed caused the outside casing of the shuttle to chip away leaving a plane, streamlined and more capable of manoeuvring in Earth's atmosphere. That was the breaking point for OZ and their ship leaped forward, guns blazing. The pilot changed course again, swinging his plane back towards the OZ vessel.
Duo blinked. "Must have got new orders." he mumbled to the empty shuttle.
The carrier bay doors of the OZ ship opened and a Leo shot out towards where the pilot's plane had been. Except it was above, firing on the Leo. The Leo fired a blast from its beam rifle just as the guy dove past it. The Leo fired again, this time hitting the plane.
Duo's breath caught in his throat and his fingers raced across the dash as he scanned the plane. "Shit, shit, shit." Duo swore breathlessly. The pilot'd taken a major hit on his left drive system, knocking out steering and leaving him powerless unless he felt like spinning in circles.
There was nothing left to do but self-detonate. Two Aries had joined the Leo and they would catch the plane no problem either then or when it crashed. He had no choice but to detonate. Or so Duo thought.
All of a sudden the parts of the plane began to move and slide into new place. In no time at all the plane was gone and a Gundam was in its place.
Duo nearly opened a comm. link to the pilot, remembering at the last moment that breaking radio silence was number two on his list of things not to do under any circumstance before landing on Earth. Right after what that pilot had done.
Duo's clock read 9:59, but the other pilot had already entered Earth's gravitational pull and from there one of two things could happen. One, he would land on the ground and his engines plus whatever power was stored in his beam cannon blew both Gundam and pilot to bits, not to mention taking out a fourteen mile radius of ground with it. Second, he landed in the water. His Gundam would survive that, but there'd be pilot goo all over the cockpit ceiling. Not pleasant.
It looked like one of the two was inevitable; he was free falling too fast and had too far to go. 4.9 times 't'-squared plus speed times 't' plus height equalled one very dead pilot; the only variable was the time it took for him to come to ground.
Which was apparently long enough for OZ to decide they weren't going to leave anything to chance. A parachute exploded from the Leo's back, looking eerily like a mushroom cloud from Duo's perspective. The Aries left the Leo and rocketed after the Gundam, shooting with their machine-guns. For a moment, the Gundam disappeared in the explosion, but then it was reappeared on the other side, spiralling towards Earth. More machine-gun fire. The Gundam turned and aimed its beam cannon.
There was a beat as all the pilots drew in a collective breath before the beam energy barraged the Aries. It was too bright to look at and Duo turned away. The clock changed from 0:01 to 0:00 and as Duo dropped into Earth's shadow, the last thing he heard was a wild cackle float across the comm.
"Shit." Duo breathed.
***
It was later that same night, hours after Duo's pod had hit the ground and Duo had got his first glimpse Earth terrain, when Deathscythe saw its first piece of action. The mission came while Duo was stretching his legs and enjoying the fresh night air; so much different from the re-circulated stuff you got in space. By the time he returned to the Deathscythe's cockpit the message was nearly twenty minutes old.
'02- Destroy OZ manufacturing plant 37:47:36N 122:33:17W. Make contact with connection. Rendezvous ASAP.'
Duo stared at the message for thirty seconds before shaking his head in disgust. "Great." He pulled the harness around his waist and secured it. He gripped the controls firmly and started the engine. "This is not a good start to things, Maxwell."
From the outside the base didn't look like much. Masses of security cameras were the only guards. Duo grinned and flicked the switch controlling the hyper jammer to on.
"Here we go, pal." Duo whispered and moved into the plant.
The hyper jammer, or HJ as Duo usually thought of it, was a widely misunderstood feature of Deathscythe. It was not, in fact, a cloaking device because if someone were to look at Deathscythe with the naked eye they'd still see it. What the HJ did was emit particles that scrambled enemy cameras, making the Gundam invisible to visual sensors as well as radar. And it worked beautifully on the security cameras.
Security was tighter when Duo reached the main construction room. A handful of Leos armed with doberguns were stationed around the room and while Duo was certain the HJ would hide him from them, the construction workers on the ground wouldn't be fooled. What he needed was a little confusion, courtesy of a conveniently placed electrical grid.
Duo slammed the butt of his scythe into the grid and the room exploded. Screams from the construction workers could be heard over the din of collapsing machinery and fizzling wires. Duo swallowed hard and leaped into battle.
"Are we under attack?" A Leo asked.
They still couldn't see him. Soundless and colourless: just add odourless and he was a poisonous gas, thought Duo as he sliced the Leo clinically through the midsection. He turned and dissected another one from shoulder blade to just above the hip.
Adrenaline pounding in his ears, Duo turned to meet the next enemy, but found none. With a feeling of mixed relief and disappointment, Duo lowered his scythe.
A crackle came over the comm. and then a raspy male voice. "02? Is that you 02?"
Duo whooped. "Quit with the code names, man! The God of Death is here and they know it."
There was a pause before the voice spoke again. "Alright, is that you Duo?"
"Yeah, this is Duo here. I've destroyed the main monitor, now I just have to slice my way out of this battle."
"Good," the voice replied, "finish up and then get your ass down to the beach. We'll pick you up there."
Duo nodded and cut the comm. "Whatever you say!"
***
It was midnight before Duo made it down to the beach. The moon hung in the sky, keeping company with it's own reflection in the waves of the Pacific. Duo released the clutch to the cockpit door and leapt nimbly to the shore.
The wind was blowing westerly, across the expanse of water toward Duo. And somewhere between where the winds were born and where Duo stood, he knew, there was a Gundam and its dead pilot.
Duo dug at the sand with his shoe and sighed. 'Another ally, another ghost,' he thought bitterly. He shivered and it wasn't because of the wind. Looking out across the water, he vowed to find someway to honour the dead pilot. It was the least he could do.
'No,' Duo reflected angrily; 'I've already done the least I could do.'
"Hey! Boy!" A familiar voice shouted.
Duo looked up and saw an old man jogging across the sand towards him.
"Hey there!" Duo called back. "You Howard?"
The man reached his side, red in the face and wheezing but grinning widely. "That'd be me. You're Duo?"
Duo only had time to nod before Howard swept him into a fierce bear hug. "You can't believe how glad I am to see you, boy. We were beginning to wonder if help was ever coming." Howard held him at arm's length and looked him up and down, and then he nodded. "You'll do."
Duo chuckled. "Oh good. I don't think you could send me back to be exchanged anyway."
"Right." Howard laughed. "Come on, the boat's this way." He motioned for Duo to follow.
"What about Deathscythe?"
"Hunh?" Howard looked over his shoulder at Duo; then his gaze strayed up to the looming, black Gundam. "Oh. We'll come back and pick it up once we get the boat." Duo nodded and they started up the beach.
Howard's 'boat' was huge, large enough to dwarf Duo and Deathscythe. It was at least 13 decks high and was outfitted with a crane big enough to haul up tons of sea wreckage. 'Or one sunken Gundam,' Duo thought. Duo and Howard rode out to the ship in a dinghy and once they had all four of their feet solidly planted on the deck, Howard turned to Duo.
"Listen boy, how about you let me and my crew get Deathscythe. You need sleep, and you look like shit." Howard waved in the direction of a deck hand. "Let Warren find you an empty room in the crew's quarters." Duo looked away, feeling reluctant to take Howard up on his offer and leave the hard work to the Sweeper's. Howard must have guessed this because he placed a hand on Duo's shoulder and said, "you'll have plenty of work ahead of you. Go get some rest and have a shower."
Duo perked at the word 'shower'. His scalp was itchy with dirt and oil. He knew his braid was too matted and damaged for him to untie and wash thoroughly, but it would be nice to wash the dirt off the outside. He hadn't had a decent shower in the last ten years.
"Alright." He agreed.
"Warren!" The young deck hand in question wandered over and saluted lazily. Duo was fairly certain the salute was for his benefit only. "Take Duo to an empty room, will ya?"
Warren nodded and led Duo towards the door to the interior decks. He pushed the door open and they both walked into the corridor. Despite the spacious appearance of the outside, inside the corridors were small and the doors along either wall were close together.
"C'mon." Warren said as he headed for a flight of stairs. "The crew's quarters are down this way."
Duo followed. "Why are things so cramped in here?" He asked. "From the outside it looks like you'd have more room than this."
"You'd think, wouldn't you?" Warren shook his head. "No. There's a huge storage bay under the aft deck to store your Gundam." They pushed their way past a sailor carrying a toolbox and into a corridor identical to the first. "In fact," Warren mused, "it's big enough for three Gundams. I guess Howard wanted to be prepared to help all of you."
"Do you know how many pilots there are?"
Warren smiled mysteriously. "In fact, I do. I heard Howard say there are five of you. All kids, too."
"Four." Duo corrected glumly.
Warren's smile faded. "What?"
Duo blinked. "Ah… Nothing."
Warren shrugged. "Whatever." He stopped. "Ah! Here we are!" He looked at Duo. "You should have everything you need in there, if not just stop someone and ask, ok? I've got work to do so I'm going to run." He began to walk down the hall. "Nice to meet you, Duo!"
"Yeah, you too."
Duo walked into his room and locked the door behind him. It was a small, standard issue cabin with a cot, a light and an attached bathroom. The cot was pushed up against the left wall, but other than that the metal walls were completely bare. Nothing to show that anyone had used the cabin before him.
Duo's first impulse was to run to the shower and shed the cakes of dirt he'd been carrying around for a decade. He was dead tired and, beside, his feet ached and so did every muscle in his back. For the moment, the bliss of running water could wait; all he wanted was to lie down. He flopped on the bed and stared at the ceiling.
A hairline crack spread from the corner right above his bed to the centre of ceiling. Duo stared at it. At first he was worried, surely cracks weren't a good sign on a boat of all places. If the compartment above his flooded, how long would it take before the ceiling gave way completely? He could be submerged in water before he even woke up. Duo wondered what he'd look like if he drowned. His skin would probably turn a pasty grey-blue, he decided.
He wondered if that was how the other pilot looked right now.
Duo scowled to himself, thoroughly disgusted that he couldn't get the other pilot out of his thoughts. He focused his attention on the crack again.
'How come no one ever sees cracks form', Duo thought. 'It's not like they spontaneously appear.' But Duo had never seen a crack actually crack, he'd just wake up one morning and there would be one where there hadn't been one before. He wondered if it ever happened in reverse. There one minute and gone the next.
'Like the pilot', a treacherous part of Duo's mind reminded him.
'Shut up!' Duo told himself. 'It's not like I've never seen someone die before.'
'Yeah,' his mind taunted back, 'but this time you didn't even try to help. You just let him die.'
"Shut up!" Duo screamed aloud, jumping to his feet. "Just shut up, ok!"
The cabin door opened and Howard popped in. "Who are you shouting at?"
"No one." Duo sighed angrily. "Myself." He sat back on his bed and brushed his bangs out his eyes. He glanced at Howard who was now standing with his back to the door. "Hey, Howard, can I ask a favour?"
"Sure, what?"
Duo sighed and tilted his head back to look at the crack again. "About a half hour before I began entry, I saw a Gundam fighting OZ in the atmosphere."
Howard looked shocked. "In the atmosphere? But these things would fall faster than a ton of rocks!"
"Yeah." Duo nodded. "That's what happened. I didn't do anything to help him."
"Don't tell me you feel guilty." Duo refused to look at Howard. "Duo, that wasn't your fault. Killing yourself wouldn't have saved the other pilot. And then we'd have two dead pilots, and that's worse than just one."
"I know, I know." He hugged his knees to his chest. "I just can't help feeling like I should've done more. But, listen, comfort's not the favour I wanted to ask you. Somewhere between here and Japan is where he crashed. I was wondering…"
"If we could go get the suit?"
"Yeah."
Howard nodded. "No problem, Duo. We'll go looking tomorrow, OK? Don't worry about it. Get some sleep." And he left.
Duo lay back on the cot and closed his eyes. "Right, sleep."
When he finally fell asleep, he dreamed of cracks and electrical wires and drowned pilots.
***
"Here." Duo pointed at the map. "I'm sure this is where he went down."
Howard snorted sceptically for the Con. "Are you sure? You said that about the last twelve places we've tried." He walked over to peer at the map. "Duo, it's been two days; don't you think it's time to give up?"
"I…" Duo floundered. "…Can't." He finished desolately.
Howard frowned sympathetically. "Listen, Duo." He paused.
What had originally seemed to be a 'brothers in arms'-like wish to bury a fellow pilot had intensified substantially. Duo was obsessed, no questions. He was either out looking for the pilot, or planning where to look next or replaying the battle that had caused the pilot's death. Duo hardly ate at meal times and he screamed in his sleep. He had the entire crew, Howard included, scared to distraction.
"Duo," Howard tried again. "He's dead, OK? It's going to happen a lot in this war. People die."
"Don't you think I know that!" Duo snapped.
"I'm not sure you do." Howard replied calmly. "You have to let go."
Duo crinkled his nose and looked out at the ocean, another thing he'd done often in the past few days. Finally he looked back at Howard with wide eyes. "Just this one more place. Please." He asked softly.
Howard sighed and scratched the top of his bald head. "Alright." He jerked his head towards the door. "Go get in your suit and have Warren lower you down. Radio us when you want us to come get you." Duo's face brightened and he raced out the door. "Be careful!" Howard yelled after him.
"I will be!" Duo yelled back as he cut across the deck towards the nearest crane. "Warren! Hey, Warren!"
Warren's head poked out of the crane control room. "Going down again Duo?"
Duo leapt onto Deathscythe's arm and scrambled up to the cockpit. "Yup! Lower me down." He disappeared into the cockpit, closing the hatch after him.
There was a splash as the crane's hold slackened and Deathscythe plunged through the water. Unconsciously, Duo took a deep breath as the footage of water was relayed onto his viewscreen. If he didn't know better, Duo would have sworn he could reach out and touch it.
"Duo." Howard's voice said. "You should head east. There are a bunch of mobile suits and three Alliance ships over there. They might be looking for the Gundam as well. It'd be a good idea to get rid of them first."
Duo nodded firmly. "Roger." He spun Deathscythe and headed east. Moving was slow underwater, something close to what Duo expected moving in space would be like. He felt like he was running in the slow motion section of a movie.
After an hour of the slow jog/walk, Duo spotted the suits up ahead. A quick double-check that the HJ was on was all Duo did before he charged into battle. His scythe sliced two Cancers in half before the other suits even realized an enemy was in their midst. A third Cancer moved towards him and Duo carved it like a well-sharpened switchblade going through warm butter.
The last mobile suit pilot had realized he was alone and panicked, firing torpedoes at random and completely missing Deathscythe. Duo grabbed its claws and bent them backwards until they snapped. The crab's body floated lifelessly away and Duo drove his scythe into the engine for good measure. The Cancer blew up in a cloud off bubbles.
Duo wiped the droplets of sweat from his forehead and grinned. "Well that wasn't too hard… Hunh?" The perimeter alarm was beeping again. "Ah, shit." Duo swore. "Torpedoes!" He pulled the controls that would make Deathscythe move backwards, but it was too late. A torpedo exploded near his shoulder and the force sent his Gundam flying. "Oof." Duo exhaled quickly as he slammed against the back of the cockpit hard, but not too hard. Duo offered up a silent thank you to whoever had invited harnesses. More torpedoes exploded around him and Duo was jerked side to side with each one. Finally the explosions stopped.
Duo looked up towards the surface at the shadows of three battleships floating above. "Well damn, now you've just made me mad."
Deathscythe bent at the knees and then pushed off, rocketing towards the surface and pulling its scythe around in a wide sweeping arc. First one of the ships, then the other split in half and exploded.
Deathscythe landed on the ocean bottom and pushed off again, this time bursting out of the water and landing on the bridge of the last ship. One sweep of the scythe and the bridge split in two and exploded. From somewhere on the aft deck, a helicopter rose into the air. Duo turned Deathscythe and pounded a button on the dash. The buster shield ripped through the air and hit the helicopter; both disappeared in a fiery blast.
Fire flickered across the viewscreen on all three sides of Duo. He hunched over his dashboard and began to chuckle, and his chuckle grew to laughter, and his laughter grew to a shrieking cackle. "You'll be destroyed! Anyone who sees me has got a date with his maker!"
Then it was back down into the water as the burning wreckage began to sink. Deathscythe landed on the ocean floor and Duo studied his radar. The only signs of mobile suit activity were farther east where another flotilla of underwater suits was gathered.
"Looks like they're having a party." Duo said. "And you know how I just love to crash parties, don't you pal?"
He approached the suits from behind. Launching an LEM, light emitting missile, into the centre of the flotilla. It detonated and a bright light pierced the underwater gloom.
"Where's this light coming from?" Yelled a Pisces over the comm. channel. Duo hurdled towards it and cut it from the top of its head to where a human's crotch would've been.
"It's the enemy!" Another Pisces shouted, firing missiles at Deathscythe. "The enemy is here!" Duo easily sidestepped the missiles and jumped, bringing the scythe blade down on the suit's forehead.
"That's impossible." The voice of the Cancer pilot quivered. "How can he use a thermal energy weapon underwater?" Duo grinned and turned towards the Cancer. "I'll get you!" The pilot screamed, charging Deathscythe.
It was faster than Duo had expected and before he knew it the Cancer had Deathscythe's head gripped in a claw. A torpedo blasted out of its claw and hit Deathscythe in the face, and again, and again. Duo snarled. "If you can't beat 'em by force, trick 'em." He released his grip on the left-hand control. The scythe slide from Deathscythe's hand.
The Cancer fired one more torpedo before letting go of Deathscythe. The freed Gundam fell backward, seemingly lifeless. "I did it! I defeated it Lieutenant Zechs!" The excited pilot yelled.
"Yeah right." Duo snorted. He pulled his fist tight and aimed. With a pound of a button, the buster shield disengaged again and impacted against the Cancer's front. Another explosion. Duo winced and rubbed his head. "Unh. That new armour of OZ's is pretty tough." A flashing light on the viewscreen caught Duo's attention and he looked over to the blinking mobile suit on the ocean floor. " So, that's what they were searching for." Duo flipped another switch and a light on Deathscythe's forehead turned on. He bit down on his lip as Deathscythe performed a scan of the mobile suit before him.
Finally the results accumulated on his screen and Duo breathed a sigh of relief. "Hey…" He smiled and nodded. "This suit is identical to mine. Even the location of the self-detonation device." He raised the scythe over the Gundam and pressed it into the device. The Gundam stopped beeping. "No need to destroy a good Gundam. I'll just use it for my backup supply."
Duo's expression turned serious as he knelt and picked up the Gundam. "Once I get you out of there, buddy. The bottom of the sea is no place to be buried."
***
The marina was in disarray when Duo reached it. Soldiers were screaming and running this way and that, which suited Duo just fine, because it meant no one noticed him. He moved silently between buildings, past a row of ambulances and another group of shouting officers.
"Looks like they're under attack." Duo mused as he dodged behind a building. He ran along the length of its shadow towards the dock. He turned the corner and froze.
A girl and boy were standing in the centre of the docking zone. The boy was standing with his back to the girl and was concentrating on the control panel for a set of torpedoes.
'Funny,' Duo thought, 'he doesn't look old enough to work for the Alliance.'
The girl was yelling at the boy's back. "Those are torpedoes aren't they? I can tell. I want to know who you are. Talk to me, H-"
An explosion rocked the marina. Duo winced as a flying piece of plaster hit the back of his head. "Ouch." Duo rubbed the spot and peeked around the corner again.
The boy had turned around and looked like he'd just realised the girl was there. "Relena."
The girl, Relena, sighed something inaudible.
Suddenly the boy pulled a gun and aimed it at her. Duo blinked in shock.
"You're in over your head." The boy growled. Relena gasped and took a step back. "Say goodbye, Relena." His finger tightened against the trigger.
Duo didn't waste another moment. He rolled out from behind the building, aimed his gun and fired. The boy heard the shot and turned in surprise; he was fast, but not fast enough to avoid taking the bullet full in his right shoulder. He and his gun went flying, the boy flipping in the air and landing on his stomach. Relena looked up and cried something to the boy.
The boy wasn't looking at her, though; he didn't seem to register that she was even there. He was looking straight at Duo from narrow blue eyes. Eyes that were the same colour as the substance formed when potassium ferrocyanide was mixed with a ferric salt; they glittered like ferric ferrocyanate, Prussian blue.
"Who are you?" He asked coldly.
Duo got to his feet, his aim never straying, and snorted. "It's pretty obvious to anyone that you're the bad guy here." He looked at Relena. "Are you all right lady?"
She didn't answer; instead she ran to the boy's side and knelt beside him. "Are you ok?" She asked, her voice drenched with concern.
He didn't answer either. Roughly he shoved her out of the way and jumped for his gun. Duo adjusted his aim, and shot the gun out of reach. The boy tumbled and Duo took a step forward.
"Don't overdo it. Remember, you're injured."
The boy struggled to his feet, only to fall again. Relena rushed between Duo and the boy and held out her arms.
"Stop it!" She shouted. She looked like she was on the verge of tears. "What do you want to shoot him for?"
Duo's mouth dropped open. "Hey, wait a minute!" But the girl wasn't listening. She ripped of the end of her dress and tied it around the boy's arm. From the expression on his face, Duo could tell they were equally surprised by the girl's actions. Duo reached up and rubbed his head. "Great, how come I end up as the bad guy here?" He had this overwhelming urge to slap the girl around and yell at her: 'he was trying to shoot you, stupid!'
The alarm on Duo's watch beeped. "Hm?" He looked at it. "It's already reached the surface. I must have miscalculated the tide." He said. 'Which,' Duo thought, 'figured.' Today was turning out to suck.
Out at sea Deathscythe and the other Gundam broke surface.
Relena gaped. "What in the world is that?"
'Uh, oh.' Duo thought. From his pocket he pulled a hand-held version of the LEM and pressed the control. Of course, this one didn't have to explode in order to release a bright light. Relena winced and looked away.
"Don't look lady." Duo told her sternly. "Now, I'm sure you've got your reasons for being here but you better just walk away." Duo prayed she'd listen to him. "Save yourself a lot of grief."
The boy chose that moment of distraction to run for the torpedoes. Duo dropped the LEM and shot four quick rounds. He missed all four time and hit the torpedoes. He pulled the trigger one more time and heard the click of an empty clip.
The boy straddled a torpedo and scowled at Duo "It's my mobile suit!" He shouted. He raised his fist and brought it down on the launch pad. The torpedoes broke from their restraints and rocketed off into the water. The boy was thrown off before they even hit the water.
"What are you doing, you fool!" Duo screamed as the torpedoes hit the Gundams and they both sunk below the waves. "NO!" Duo looked away, not wanting to see Deathscythe go under. He turned to the right and looked at the boy floating face down in the water.
Suddenly, the boy's words registered and Duo's eyes widened. 'It couldn't be, could it?' He asked himself.
"Oh, man," he said aloud, "he knows gundanium's impact tolerance." Duo's heart skipped a beat. "Which means, he's the mobile suit's pilot." Duo smiled. "He's alive…"
Relena walked up behind him. "What's happening? Who are you guys?"
Duo glanced over his shoulder. "Lady, trust me, it's better if you don't know." He looked at the pilot again. "If I go down there and get him, do you think you'd be able to pull him up?"
Relena swallowed and nodded.
"Good." Duo walked to the edge of the dock, took a deep breath and jumped in.
The water was freezing, but he tried not to think about it as he swam towards the pilot. He wrapped an arm around the pilot's waist and heaved his face out of the water. The pilot's head rolled back and rested in the curve of Duo's shoulder. His breath blew across Duo's cheek and Duo heaved a sigh. The pilot was still alive.
He half swam half pulled the pilot back to the edge of the dock. Relena leaned down and gripped the pilot under the armpits.
"Is he alright?" She asked as she pulled him up.
"He's alive, but he's going to need help." Duo responded as he hoisted the pilot up. He plunged under the water once and came up a moment later, spluttering, but eventually they managed to pull the pilot ashore. Duo pulled himself up afterward. He shook his head back and forth like and dog. "Well, I was hoping I'd get a chance to wash my hair, but…"
"What do we do now?" Relena asked. She was clutching the pilot's hand and her face was drawn and pale.
Duo pushed his sopping bangs back. "You, lady. I can't be found. I've got my reasons and you're just going to have to live with that." She nodded. "Where's the nearest medical building?"
She though for a moment. "The Alliance #3 is a couple of blocks that way." She pointed Northwest.
"Good." He leaned forward so they were nose to nose. "Now listen. Relena, right?" She nodded again. "Alright. You take him there and you leave him with them. They're going to shoo you out and you go, ok? They may want to talk to you again later, and if they do, you don't answer any questions. Understand? Not a word. Nothing about what you know about him, nothing about what you think you know about him. Ok?" She swallowed hard and nodded. He sat back on his heels. "Good."
Duo got to his feet and walked across the dock. He retrieved the LEM and stuffed it in his pocket. He was about to disappear when Relena called to him. "Wait, who are you?"
Duo sighed and looked back at her. "We've been over this already, I can't tell you."
"No," she shook her head, "I just want your name."
"Oh." He was at a loss for a moment. "Uh, Duo Maxwell."
She smiled weakly. "My name is Relena Darlian."
'Poor girl,' he thought, 'she's scared out of her mind.' Duo gave her an encouraging smile and a wink. "Good luck, lady." And he disappeared behind the nearest building.
When he was far enough away from the base to safely radio for pick-up, he did.
"How'd it go this time, Duo?" Asked the man in charge of the radio.
"I'd say I found more than I bargained for." Duo smiled to himself. "Come get me outside of the Alliance marina, I'll tell you the full story when I'm safely on board."
"Roger." The radioman replied. "We may take a while, so enjoy the view or something."
"Yeah." Duo snapped off the comm. unit and looked at the blue surf. "It's blue." He murmured distantly, "but I've seen bluer."
***
"Hey, boy!" Howard greeted him.
Duo twisted his head and at once wished he hadn't. He'd been ushered down to sick bay the second he arrived on the boat. Or rather, the second he'd collapsed getting out of the dinghy. According to the ship's doctor, the cut on the back of his head from the bit of plaster was a lot worse then Duo had thought it was. The doctor had cleaned it with some awful antibacterial soap that smelled like a urinal and bandaged his entire head up. The doctor had then ordered Duo to go to his cabin, rest and call him in the morning.
"What news do you have?"
Duo shifted uncomfortably on his cot. "Well, I've got good news, great new, bad news and really bad news. What do you want to hear first?"
Howard smirked. "Let's do it chronologically."
"Well I found the other Gundam." Duo said. "That's the good news. I had it all rigged so I could meet it and Deathscythe at marina. But when I got there I met someone who turned out to be the great news."
"Who?" Howard asked.
"The other pilot."
Howard's eyes widened. "But there's no way he could survive a crash landing like he must have had!"
Duo shrug. "I don't know, I really don't. There must be something special about that suit that's not obvious. All I know is he's alive."
"Why didn't you bring him back with you?"
"That's the bad news. He tried to blow up his Gundam and managed to knock himself out in the process. I sent him off with some girl to the Alliance #3 Medical Building."
Howard whistled. "What's the really bad news?"
Duo looked at his fingers. "Y'know when I said he tried to blow up his Gundam? When I said tried, I really meant succeed, and he got Deathscythe too."
"Duo," Howard twitched. "You're telling me you let some psycho kid blow up your Gundam?"
"Uh, yeah."
Howard took a deep breath and swallowed, trying hard to hide his irritation. "Ok, ok. This is what we're going to do. You are going to show us where you sunk your Gundam." Duo started to protest, but Howard kept speaking. "And then you are going to haul them both up and you are going to fix it. Understand?"
Duo collapsed backwards on the bed. "Sure, whatever." He said, waving a hand lazily. "As soon as I go rescue that pilot."
"DUO!" Howard roared. "That pilot blew up your Gundam! It's been three days since you arrived on Earth and you haven't done a thing but chase that pilot around! You're acting like a, like a," Howard gestured wildly, "like a love-struck girl."
Duo sat up. "I am not!"
"Oh yes you are! Everything you've done since you got here has been for him! We'll rescue this boy, but that's it, after that I want you to grow up and move on with your mission!" Howard opened the cabin door and said, "It's not healthy."
When he was gone, Duo threw himself back down. "Jesus." He whispered. He closed his eyes and thought. Everything for him, maybe Howard was right. Duo couldn't honestly say that his actions of the last days had been in character. They hadn't made a hell of a lot of sense either.
"Maybe I'm losing my mind," Duo said. "Or maybe I've already lost it." He thought about the pilot's eyes. "Or maybe I am a love-struck girl."
He pulled the blanket up to his neck and opened his eyes. Staring at the crack in the ceiling, he began to recite. "Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take."
***
The Alliance Military #3 Medical Building was the last of three medical facilities constructed in an area termed by the Alliance as the "sub-JAP area", whatever that was supposed to mean. It was 54 stories high, with six labs and two operating theatres. The building itself was built in the eastern most corner of Yuriage, Japan with one corner facing busy streets and the other over looking a steep bluff around the edge of Sendai-wan Bay.
Duo swaggered down the sidewalk, his backpack slung over one shoulder and carrying what looked like a walking stick in one hand. In reality, it was a miniature helicopter. Even more proof that Howard was a genius. Duo ducked into a phone booth. He picked up the phone and held it to his ear with his shoulder as he deposited a quarter in the slot. The phone rang twice before it was picked up on the other side.
"Hello, is that you." Howard's voice said. It wasn't a question; it was part of the code he and Duo had developed that morning.
"Yeah," Duo said, "it's me. I made it to Yuriage ok."
Duo reached around the back of the phone, feeling the machinery for any trace of bugs or crossed wiring. When dealing with the Alliance, it paid to be careful. Half way down the cord at the back of the phone was an odd bump. Duo squeezed it. It felt like the wire split into two separate wires, one which trailed down into the ground and the regular telephone system, and one that probably streamed the conversation straight to an OZ monitoring station.
"Shit." He said into the receiver.
"What is it?"
"Oh, nothing. I just had a bug on my shoulder." Duo hoped Howard got his meaning. "I'm gonna go visit Grandma in the hospital in just a moment, but I was wondering if you wanted me to take some pictures of the bluffs around here afterwards. They're really breathtaking."
"Really. Where are you?" Howard asked.
"Uh, near Sendai-wan Bay I think."
"Sure," Howard said. "Go take pictures after you visit Grandma. That OK?"
"Yeah. That'll do." Duo closed his eyes. From here the code was going to get confusing. "Also, both the polecats," a European carnivorous mammal, "are broken," that in this case meant that the entrance was heavily guarded, and he and the other pilot would come out the back of the hospital, "so I'd like you to have my lunch ready at the back of the wheat field if you would," and that's where Howard should pick them up.
"Sure. We can do that."
Duo opened his eyes, Howard understood and now there could be no changes to the plan.
"Thanks." Duo said. "I'll help you thresh the wheat later." He hung up and left the booth. "Now, I should go visit that patient."
He walked into the hospital and up to the front desk where a pretty receptionist sat. She smiled at him.
"What can I do for you sir?"
Duo coughed in mock embarrassment. "Well actually, I was just wondering if I could use a washroom."
She frowned. "This is a military building, so we don't usually let people wander around… But, if you're quick it shouldn't be a problem. Go up those stairs, it's the third door on the left."
Duo nodded his thanks and sprinted towards the stairs she had indicated. He didn't slow down when he reached the top. He turned left and ran past the bathroom; his mind following the blueprint he'd memorised earlier. Right, down the hall, two lefts, another right, up a hell of a lot of stairs, down four doors and bam! Surveillance Room - No Unauthorized Entry read the sign on the door. Duo took a deep breath and opened the door.
"What the hell?" Said a surprised guard, half rising out of his seat. His partner had been sleeping and now jolted awake.
Duo pointed his gun. "Shut up. You," he gestured with the barrel at the first guard, "get over there with your buddy. And don't even think of pushing that alarm unless you want me to blow your fingers off." The guard snatched his hand back from the alarm and moved towards his partner. Duo stepped further into the room. "Good." He raised his arm and whacked the guard on the head with his gun. The man fell to the ground.
Duo wasn't new to space travel. Besides being born in the colonies, he'd spent the three years flying with the Sweepers Space Division #3. In that time he'd learn that the best thing to do while colony hopping was to sleep. It helped to prevent space lag.
People thought jet lag is bad, skipping hours forward, but it was nothing compared to space lag, because that meant skipping ahead by whole days. Unless you slept on the way there you'd be useless for a couple of days afterward. It used to be worse when you landed on a colony with a shorter than standard rotation period. But, that was before Colony Control Co. (a subdivision of the former Alliance) took over maintaining things like climate and daylight hours on the colonies. Back when the Alliance was trying to unify the human race in "peace" and "prosperity." Right.
Not only was sleeping a smart thing to do, Duo felt it was necessary. Another thing life in general had taught him was to sleep whenever he got the chance, and from what he knew of the future ahead of him there weren't likely to be many chances when he could sleep uninterrupted.
Also, Duo was worried he wouldn't be able to get to sleep on Earth.
It was not as if the colonies were that different from Earth, but there was still one major difference. Humans made the colonies. They were little outposts of humanity in a sea of stars and thus a lot like the Sweepers' ships or the shuttle Duo sat in. They were part of space and they were inherently human.
But Earth, Earth was different. Humans may have made the colonies, but Earth made humans. There was something remote and exalted about that. Duo wasn't sure he'd be able to sleep on Earth even if he got the chance.
So, he was catching some shuteye while he was safe in his little shuttle. G and Duo had gone through the drill and all the possible alternate scenarios so many times he could literally do them in his sleep. He was not going to screw up. But that's not to say someone else couldn't.
Duo shifted position so that most of his weight was on his left shoulder and opened his eyes a crack. A set of glowing green digits shone back at him from the computer screen an inch from his nose. 30:01, 30:00, 29:59, counting down the minutes until his shuttle entered the Earth's atmosphere. More than enough time to doze some more, Duo decided and rolled over onto his back and shut his eyes.
Of course just as Duo was drifting back to sleep the cockpit was flooded with red light, and the perimeter alarm beeped wildly. He sat up hurriedly and stared through the view screen. One civilian craft was on the port side, but that wasn't what had set off his perimeter alarm since it was set to only pick up weapon signatures. No, it was warning him about the OZ vessel a little further off, in hot pursuit of a shuttle too similar to his to be anything but another Gundam.
The other pilot wasn't doing to well at shaking off the OZies. Duo watched for a minute, pondering what to do, and then went to work. It took Duo three seconds flat to map out the other pilot's course. He was headed for the Eurasia sector. Duo leaned back in his chair and frowned, very dissatisfied with his lack of information. He knew were the guy was headed but that was all he knew. G had hinted there would be other pilots, but Duo hadn't expected to see one this soon. Yet there was one of them, about to get his ass fried.
The shuttle plummeted into the atmosphere and the OZ ship rocketed after it, determined not to let it slip past. Which meant they knew it was a threat. Which meant they probably knew about Operation M too. Which royally sucked.
On the monitor, the dotted line displaying the other pilot's course changed, moving about 2570 miles Northeast. It wasn't clear whether he was attempting to shake OZ or to break out of the atmosphere. A moment later he picked up speed and it seemed certain he was trying to break away.
But he wasn't. The speed caused the outside casing of the shuttle to chip away leaving a plane, streamlined and more capable of manoeuvring in Earth's atmosphere. That was the breaking point for OZ and their ship leaped forward, guns blazing. The pilot changed course again, swinging his plane back towards the OZ vessel.
Duo blinked. "Must have got new orders." he mumbled to the empty shuttle.
The carrier bay doors of the OZ ship opened and a Leo shot out towards where the pilot's plane had been. Except it was above, firing on the Leo. The Leo fired a blast from its beam rifle just as the guy dove past it. The Leo fired again, this time hitting the plane.
Duo's breath caught in his throat and his fingers raced across the dash as he scanned the plane. "Shit, shit, shit." Duo swore breathlessly. The pilot'd taken a major hit on his left drive system, knocking out steering and leaving him powerless unless he felt like spinning in circles.
There was nothing left to do but self-detonate. Two Aries had joined the Leo and they would catch the plane no problem either then or when it crashed. He had no choice but to detonate. Or so Duo thought.
All of a sudden the parts of the plane began to move and slide into new place. In no time at all the plane was gone and a Gundam was in its place.
Duo nearly opened a comm. link to the pilot, remembering at the last moment that breaking radio silence was number two on his list of things not to do under any circumstance before landing on Earth. Right after what that pilot had done.
Duo's clock read 9:59, but the other pilot had already entered Earth's gravitational pull and from there one of two things could happen. One, he would land on the ground and his engines plus whatever power was stored in his beam cannon blew both Gundam and pilot to bits, not to mention taking out a fourteen mile radius of ground with it. Second, he landed in the water. His Gundam would survive that, but there'd be pilot goo all over the cockpit ceiling. Not pleasant.
It looked like one of the two was inevitable; he was free falling too fast and had too far to go. 4.9 times 't'-squared plus speed times 't' plus height equalled one very dead pilot; the only variable was the time it took for him to come to ground.
Which was apparently long enough for OZ to decide they weren't going to leave anything to chance. A parachute exploded from the Leo's back, looking eerily like a mushroom cloud from Duo's perspective. The Aries left the Leo and rocketed after the Gundam, shooting with their machine-guns. For a moment, the Gundam disappeared in the explosion, but then it was reappeared on the other side, spiralling towards Earth. More machine-gun fire. The Gundam turned and aimed its beam cannon.
There was a beat as all the pilots drew in a collective breath before the beam energy barraged the Aries. It was too bright to look at and Duo turned away. The clock changed from 0:01 to 0:00 and as Duo dropped into Earth's shadow, the last thing he heard was a wild cackle float across the comm.
"Shit." Duo breathed.
***
It was later that same night, hours after Duo's pod had hit the ground and Duo had got his first glimpse Earth terrain, when Deathscythe saw its first piece of action. The mission came while Duo was stretching his legs and enjoying the fresh night air; so much different from the re-circulated stuff you got in space. By the time he returned to the Deathscythe's cockpit the message was nearly twenty minutes old.
'02- Destroy OZ manufacturing plant 37:47:36N 122:33:17W. Make contact with connection. Rendezvous ASAP.'
Duo stared at the message for thirty seconds before shaking his head in disgust. "Great." He pulled the harness around his waist and secured it. He gripped the controls firmly and started the engine. "This is not a good start to things, Maxwell."
From the outside the base didn't look like much. Masses of security cameras were the only guards. Duo grinned and flicked the switch controlling the hyper jammer to on.
"Here we go, pal." Duo whispered and moved into the plant.
The hyper jammer, or HJ as Duo usually thought of it, was a widely misunderstood feature of Deathscythe. It was not, in fact, a cloaking device because if someone were to look at Deathscythe with the naked eye they'd still see it. What the HJ did was emit particles that scrambled enemy cameras, making the Gundam invisible to visual sensors as well as radar. And it worked beautifully on the security cameras.
Security was tighter when Duo reached the main construction room. A handful of Leos armed with doberguns were stationed around the room and while Duo was certain the HJ would hide him from them, the construction workers on the ground wouldn't be fooled. What he needed was a little confusion, courtesy of a conveniently placed electrical grid.
Duo slammed the butt of his scythe into the grid and the room exploded. Screams from the construction workers could be heard over the din of collapsing machinery and fizzling wires. Duo swallowed hard and leaped into battle.
"Are we under attack?" A Leo asked.
They still couldn't see him. Soundless and colourless: just add odourless and he was a poisonous gas, thought Duo as he sliced the Leo clinically through the midsection. He turned and dissected another one from shoulder blade to just above the hip.
Adrenaline pounding in his ears, Duo turned to meet the next enemy, but found none. With a feeling of mixed relief and disappointment, Duo lowered his scythe.
A crackle came over the comm. and then a raspy male voice. "02? Is that you 02?"
Duo whooped. "Quit with the code names, man! The God of Death is here and they know it."
There was a pause before the voice spoke again. "Alright, is that you Duo?"
"Yeah, this is Duo here. I've destroyed the main monitor, now I just have to slice my way out of this battle."
"Good," the voice replied, "finish up and then get your ass down to the beach. We'll pick you up there."
Duo nodded and cut the comm. "Whatever you say!"
***
It was midnight before Duo made it down to the beach. The moon hung in the sky, keeping company with it's own reflection in the waves of the Pacific. Duo released the clutch to the cockpit door and leapt nimbly to the shore.
The wind was blowing westerly, across the expanse of water toward Duo. And somewhere between where the winds were born and where Duo stood, he knew, there was a Gundam and its dead pilot.
Duo dug at the sand with his shoe and sighed. 'Another ally, another ghost,' he thought bitterly. He shivered and it wasn't because of the wind. Looking out across the water, he vowed to find someway to honour the dead pilot. It was the least he could do.
'No,' Duo reflected angrily; 'I've already done the least I could do.'
"Hey! Boy!" A familiar voice shouted.
Duo looked up and saw an old man jogging across the sand towards him.
"Hey there!" Duo called back. "You Howard?"
The man reached his side, red in the face and wheezing but grinning widely. "That'd be me. You're Duo?"
Duo only had time to nod before Howard swept him into a fierce bear hug. "You can't believe how glad I am to see you, boy. We were beginning to wonder if help was ever coming." Howard held him at arm's length and looked him up and down, and then he nodded. "You'll do."
Duo chuckled. "Oh good. I don't think you could send me back to be exchanged anyway."
"Right." Howard laughed. "Come on, the boat's this way." He motioned for Duo to follow.
"What about Deathscythe?"
"Hunh?" Howard looked over his shoulder at Duo; then his gaze strayed up to the looming, black Gundam. "Oh. We'll come back and pick it up once we get the boat." Duo nodded and they started up the beach.
Howard's 'boat' was huge, large enough to dwarf Duo and Deathscythe. It was at least 13 decks high and was outfitted with a crane big enough to haul up tons of sea wreckage. 'Or one sunken Gundam,' Duo thought. Duo and Howard rode out to the ship in a dinghy and once they had all four of their feet solidly planted on the deck, Howard turned to Duo.
"Listen boy, how about you let me and my crew get Deathscythe. You need sleep, and you look like shit." Howard waved in the direction of a deck hand. "Let Warren find you an empty room in the crew's quarters." Duo looked away, feeling reluctant to take Howard up on his offer and leave the hard work to the Sweeper's. Howard must have guessed this because he placed a hand on Duo's shoulder and said, "you'll have plenty of work ahead of you. Go get some rest and have a shower."
Duo perked at the word 'shower'. His scalp was itchy with dirt and oil. He knew his braid was too matted and damaged for him to untie and wash thoroughly, but it would be nice to wash the dirt off the outside. He hadn't had a decent shower in the last ten years.
"Alright." He agreed.
"Warren!" The young deck hand in question wandered over and saluted lazily. Duo was fairly certain the salute was for his benefit only. "Take Duo to an empty room, will ya?"
Warren nodded and led Duo towards the door to the interior decks. He pushed the door open and they both walked into the corridor. Despite the spacious appearance of the outside, inside the corridors were small and the doors along either wall were close together.
"C'mon." Warren said as he headed for a flight of stairs. "The crew's quarters are down this way."
Duo followed. "Why are things so cramped in here?" He asked. "From the outside it looks like you'd have more room than this."
"You'd think, wouldn't you?" Warren shook his head. "No. There's a huge storage bay under the aft deck to store your Gundam." They pushed their way past a sailor carrying a toolbox and into a corridor identical to the first. "In fact," Warren mused, "it's big enough for three Gundams. I guess Howard wanted to be prepared to help all of you."
"Do you know how many pilots there are?"
Warren smiled mysteriously. "In fact, I do. I heard Howard say there are five of you. All kids, too."
"Four." Duo corrected glumly.
Warren's smile faded. "What?"
Duo blinked. "Ah… Nothing."
Warren shrugged. "Whatever." He stopped. "Ah! Here we are!" He looked at Duo. "You should have everything you need in there, if not just stop someone and ask, ok? I've got work to do so I'm going to run." He began to walk down the hall. "Nice to meet you, Duo!"
"Yeah, you too."
Duo walked into his room and locked the door behind him. It was a small, standard issue cabin with a cot, a light and an attached bathroom. The cot was pushed up against the left wall, but other than that the metal walls were completely bare. Nothing to show that anyone had used the cabin before him.
Duo's first impulse was to run to the shower and shed the cakes of dirt he'd been carrying around for a decade. He was dead tired and, beside, his feet ached and so did every muscle in his back. For the moment, the bliss of running water could wait; all he wanted was to lie down. He flopped on the bed and stared at the ceiling.
A hairline crack spread from the corner right above his bed to the centre of ceiling. Duo stared at it. At first he was worried, surely cracks weren't a good sign on a boat of all places. If the compartment above his flooded, how long would it take before the ceiling gave way completely? He could be submerged in water before he even woke up. Duo wondered what he'd look like if he drowned. His skin would probably turn a pasty grey-blue, he decided.
He wondered if that was how the other pilot looked right now.
Duo scowled to himself, thoroughly disgusted that he couldn't get the other pilot out of his thoughts. He focused his attention on the crack again.
'How come no one ever sees cracks form', Duo thought. 'It's not like they spontaneously appear.' But Duo had never seen a crack actually crack, he'd just wake up one morning and there would be one where there hadn't been one before. He wondered if it ever happened in reverse. There one minute and gone the next.
'Like the pilot', a treacherous part of Duo's mind reminded him.
'Shut up!' Duo told himself. 'It's not like I've never seen someone die before.'
'Yeah,' his mind taunted back, 'but this time you didn't even try to help. You just let him die.'
"Shut up!" Duo screamed aloud, jumping to his feet. "Just shut up, ok!"
The cabin door opened and Howard popped in. "Who are you shouting at?"
"No one." Duo sighed angrily. "Myself." He sat back on his bed and brushed his bangs out his eyes. He glanced at Howard who was now standing with his back to the door. "Hey, Howard, can I ask a favour?"
"Sure, what?"
Duo sighed and tilted his head back to look at the crack again. "About a half hour before I began entry, I saw a Gundam fighting OZ in the atmosphere."
Howard looked shocked. "In the atmosphere? But these things would fall faster than a ton of rocks!"
"Yeah." Duo nodded. "That's what happened. I didn't do anything to help him."
"Don't tell me you feel guilty." Duo refused to look at Howard. "Duo, that wasn't your fault. Killing yourself wouldn't have saved the other pilot. And then we'd have two dead pilots, and that's worse than just one."
"I know, I know." He hugged his knees to his chest. "I just can't help feeling like I should've done more. But, listen, comfort's not the favour I wanted to ask you. Somewhere between here and Japan is where he crashed. I was wondering…"
"If we could go get the suit?"
"Yeah."
Howard nodded. "No problem, Duo. We'll go looking tomorrow, OK? Don't worry about it. Get some sleep." And he left.
Duo lay back on the cot and closed his eyes. "Right, sleep."
When he finally fell asleep, he dreamed of cracks and electrical wires and drowned pilots.
***
"Here." Duo pointed at the map. "I'm sure this is where he went down."
Howard snorted sceptically for the Con. "Are you sure? You said that about the last twelve places we've tried." He walked over to peer at the map. "Duo, it's been two days; don't you think it's time to give up?"
"I…" Duo floundered. "…Can't." He finished desolately.
Howard frowned sympathetically. "Listen, Duo." He paused.
What had originally seemed to be a 'brothers in arms'-like wish to bury a fellow pilot had intensified substantially. Duo was obsessed, no questions. He was either out looking for the pilot, or planning where to look next or replaying the battle that had caused the pilot's death. Duo hardly ate at meal times and he screamed in his sleep. He had the entire crew, Howard included, scared to distraction.
"Duo," Howard tried again. "He's dead, OK? It's going to happen a lot in this war. People die."
"Don't you think I know that!" Duo snapped.
"I'm not sure you do." Howard replied calmly. "You have to let go."
Duo crinkled his nose and looked out at the ocean, another thing he'd done often in the past few days. Finally he looked back at Howard with wide eyes. "Just this one more place. Please." He asked softly.
Howard sighed and scratched the top of his bald head. "Alright." He jerked his head towards the door. "Go get in your suit and have Warren lower you down. Radio us when you want us to come get you." Duo's face brightened and he raced out the door. "Be careful!" Howard yelled after him.
"I will be!" Duo yelled back as he cut across the deck towards the nearest crane. "Warren! Hey, Warren!"
Warren's head poked out of the crane control room. "Going down again Duo?"
Duo leapt onto Deathscythe's arm and scrambled up to the cockpit. "Yup! Lower me down." He disappeared into the cockpit, closing the hatch after him.
There was a splash as the crane's hold slackened and Deathscythe plunged through the water. Unconsciously, Duo took a deep breath as the footage of water was relayed onto his viewscreen. If he didn't know better, Duo would have sworn he could reach out and touch it.
"Duo." Howard's voice said. "You should head east. There are a bunch of mobile suits and three Alliance ships over there. They might be looking for the Gundam as well. It'd be a good idea to get rid of them first."
Duo nodded firmly. "Roger." He spun Deathscythe and headed east. Moving was slow underwater, something close to what Duo expected moving in space would be like. He felt like he was running in the slow motion section of a movie.
After an hour of the slow jog/walk, Duo spotted the suits up ahead. A quick double-check that the HJ was on was all Duo did before he charged into battle. His scythe sliced two Cancers in half before the other suits even realized an enemy was in their midst. A third Cancer moved towards him and Duo carved it like a well-sharpened switchblade going through warm butter.
The last mobile suit pilot had realized he was alone and panicked, firing torpedoes at random and completely missing Deathscythe. Duo grabbed its claws and bent them backwards until they snapped. The crab's body floated lifelessly away and Duo drove his scythe into the engine for good measure. The Cancer blew up in a cloud off bubbles.
Duo wiped the droplets of sweat from his forehead and grinned. "Well that wasn't too hard… Hunh?" The perimeter alarm was beeping again. "Ah, shit." Duo swore. "Torpedoes!" He pulled the controls that would make Deathscythe move backwards, but it was too late. A torpedo exploded near his shoulder and the force sent his Gundam flying. "Oof." Duo exhaled quickly as he slammed against the back of the cockpit hard, but not too hard. Duo offered up a silent thank you to whoever had invited harnesses. More torpedoes exploded around him and Duo was jerked side to side with each one. Finally the explosions stopped.
Duo looked up towards the surface at the shadows of three battleships floating above. "Well damn, now you've just made me mad."
Deathscythe bent at the knees and then pushed off, rocketing towards the surface and pulling its scythe around in a wide sweeping arc. First one of the ships, then the other split in half and exploded.
Deathscythe landed on the ocean bottom and pushed off again, this time bursting out of the water and landing on the bridge of the last ship. One sweep of the scythe and the bridge split in two and exploded. From somewhere on the aft deck, a helicopter rose into the air. Duo turned Deathscythe and pounded a button on the dash. The buster shield ripped through the air and hit the helicopter; both disappeared in a fiery blast.
Fire flickered across the viewscreen on all three sides of Duo. He hunched over his dashboard and began to chuckle, and his chuckle grew to laughter, and his laughter grew to a shrieking cackle. "You'll be destroyed! Anyone who sees me has got a date with his maker!"
Then it was back down into the water as the burning wreckage began to sink. Deathscythe landed on the ocean floor and Duo studied his radar. The only signs of mobile suit activity were farther east where another flotilla of underwater suits was gathered.
"Looks like they're having a party." Duo said. "And you know how I just love to crash parties, don't you pal?"
He approached the suits from behind. Launching an LEM, light emitting missile, into the centre of the flotilla. It detonated and a bright light pierced the underwater gloom.
"Where's this light coming from?" Yelled a Pisces over the comm. channel. Duo hurdled towards it and cut it from the top of its head to where a human's crotch would've been.
"It's the enemy!" Another Pisces shouted, firing missiles at Deathscythe. "The enemy is here!" Duo easily sidestepped the missiles and jumped, bringing the scythe blade down on the suit's forehead.
"That's impossible." The voice of the Cancer pilot quivered. "How can he use a thermal energy weapon underwater?" Duo grinned and turned towards the Cancer. "I'll get you!" The pilot screamed, charging Deathscythe.
It was faster than Duo had expected and before he knew it the Cancer had Deathscythe's head gripped in a claw. A torpedo blasted out of its claw and hit Deathscythe in the face, and again, and again. Duo snarled. "If you can't beat 'em by force, trick 'em." He released his grip on the left-hand control. The scythe slide from Deathscythe's hand.
The Cancer fired one more torpedo before letting go of Deathscythe. The freed Gundam fell backward, seemingly lifeless. "I did it! I defeated it Lieutenant Zechs!" The excited pilot yelled.
"Yeah right." Duo snorted. He pulled his fist tight and aimed. With a pound of a button, the buster shield disengaged again and impacted against the Cancer's front. Another explosion. Duo winced and rubbed his head. "Unh. That new armour of OZ's is pretty tough." A flashing light on the viewscreen caught Duo's attention and he looked over to the blinking mobile suit on the ocean floor. " So, that's what they were searching for." Duo flipped another switch and a light on Deathscythe's forehead turned on. He bit down on his lip as Deathscythe performed a scan of the mobile suit before him.
Finally the results accumulated on his screen and Duo breathed a sigh of relief. "Hey…" He smiled and nodded. "This suit is identical to mine. Even the location of the self-detonation device." He raised the scythe over the Gundam and pressed it into the device. The Gundam stopped beeping. "No need to destroy a good Gundam. I'll just use it for my backup supply."
Duo's expression turned serious as he knelt and picked up the Gundam. "Once I get you out of there, buddy. The bottom of the sea is no place to be buried."
***
The marina was in disarray when Duo reached it. Soldiers were screaming and running this way and that, which suited Duo just fine, because it meant no one noticed him. He moved silently between buildings, past a row of ambulances and another group of shouting officers.
"Looks like they're under attack." Duo mused as he dodged behind a building. He ran along the length of its shadow towards the dock. He turned the corner and froze.
A girl and boy were standing in the centre of the docking zone. The boy was standing with his back to the girl and was concentrating on the control panel for a set of torpedoes.
'Funny,' Duo thought, 'he doesn't look old enough to work for the Alliance.'
The girl was yelling at the boy's back. "Those are torpedoes aren't they? I can tell. I want to know who you are. Talk to me, H-"
An explosion rocked the marina. Duo winced as a flying piece of plaster hit the back of his head. "Ouch." Duo rubbed the spot and peeked around the corner again.
The boy had turned around and looked like he'd just realised the girl was there. "Relena."
The girl, Relena, sighed something inaudible.
Suddenly the boy pulled a gun and aimed it at her. Duo blinked in shock.
"You're in over your head." The boy growled. Relena gasped and took a step back. "Say goodbye, Relena." His finger tightened against the trigger.
Duo didn't waste another moment. He rolled out from behind the building, aimed his gun and fired. The boy heard the shot and turned in surprise; he was fast, but not fast enough to avoid taking the bullet full in his right shoulder. He and his gun went flying, the boy flipping in the air and landing on his stomach. Relena looked up and cried something to the boy.
The boy wasn't looking at her, though; he didn't seem to register that she was even there. He was looking straight at Duo from narrow blue eyes. Eyes that were the same colour as the substance formed when potassium ferrocyanide was mixed with a ferric salt; they glittered like ferric ferrocyanate, Prussian blue.
"Who are you?" He asked coldly.
Duo got to his feet, his aim never straying, and snorted. "It's pretty obvious to anyone that you're the bad guy here." He looked at Relena. "Are you all right lady?"
She didn't answer; instead she ran to the boy's side and knelt beside him. "Are you ok?" She asked, her voice drenched with concern.
He didn't answer either. Roughly he shoved her out of the way and jumped for his gun. Duo adjusted his aim, and shot the gun out of reach. The boy tumbled and Duo took a step forward.
"Don't overdo it. Remember, you're injured."
The boy struggled to his feet, only to fall again. Relena rushed between Duo and the boy and held out her arms.
"Stop it!" She shouted. She looked like she was on the verge of tears. "What do you want to shoot him for?"
Duo's mouth dropped open. "Hey, wait a minute!" But the girl wasn't listening. She ripped of the end of her dress and tied it around the boy's arm. From the expression on his face, Duo could tell they were equally surprised by the girl's actions. Duo reached up and rubbed his head. "Great, how come I end up as the bad guy here?" He had this overwhelming urge to slap the girl around and yell at her: 'he was trying to shoot you, stupid!'
The alarm on Duo's watch beeped. "Hm?" He looked at it. "It's already reached the surface. I must have miscalculated the tide." He said. 'Which,' Duo thought, 'figured.' Today was turning out to suck.
Out at sea Deathscythe and the other Gundam broke surface.
Relena gaped. "What in the world is that?"
'Uh, oh.' Duo thought. From his pocket he pulled a hand-held version of the LEM and pressed the control. Of course, this one didn't have to explode in order to release a bright light. Relena winced and looked away.
"Don't look lady." Duo told her sternly. "Now, I'm sure you've got your reasons for being here but you better just walk away." Duo prayed she'd listen to him. "Save yourself a lot of grief."
The boy chose that moment of distraction to run for the torpedoes. Duo dropped the LEM and shot four quick rounds. He missed all four time and hit the torpedoes. He pulled the trigger one more time and heard the click of an empty clip.
The boy straddled a torpedo and scowled at Duo "It's my mobile suit!" He shouted. He raised his fist and brought it down on the launch pad. The torpedoes broke from their restraints and rocketed off into the water. The boy was thrown off before they even hit the water.
"What are you doing, you fool!" Duo screamed as the torpedoes hit the Gundams and they both sunk below the waves. "NO!" Duo looked away, not wanting to see Deathscythe go under. He turned to the right and looked at the boy floating face down in the water.
Suddenly, the boy's words registered and Duo's eyes widened. 'It couldn't be, could it?' He asked himself.
"Oh, man," he said aloud, "he knows gundanium's impact tolerance." Duo's heart skipped a beat. "Which means, he's the mobile suit's pilot." Duo smiled. "He's alive…"
Relena walked up behind him. "What's happening? Who are you guys?"
Duo glanced over his shoulder. "Lady, trust me, it's better if you don't know." He looked at the pilot again. "If I go down there and get him, do you think you'd be able to pull him up?"
Relena swallowed and nodded.
"Good." Duo walked to the edge of the dock, took a deep breath and jumped in.
The water was freezing, but he tried not to think about it as he swam towards the pilot. He wrapped an arm around the pilot's waist and heaved his face out of the water. The pilot's head rolled back and rested in the curve of Duo's shoulder. His breath blew across Duo's cheek and Duo heaved a sigh. The pilot was still alive.
He half swam half pulled the pilot back to the edge of the dock. Relena leaned down and gripped the pilot under the armpits.
"Is he alright?" She asked as she pulled him up.
"He's alive, but he's going to need help." Duo responded as he hoisted the pilot up. He plunged under the water once and came up a moment later, spluttering, but eventually they managed to pull the pilot ashore. Duo pulled himself up afterward. He shook his head back and forth like and dog. "Well, I was hoping I'd get a chance to wash my hair, but…"
"What do we do now?" Relena asked. She was clutching the pilot's hand and her face was drawn and pale.
Duo pushed his sopping bangs back. "You, lady. I can't be found. I've got my reasons and you're just going to have to live with that." She nodded. "Where's the nearest medical building?"
She though for a moment. "The Alliance #3 is a couple of blocks that way." She pointed Northwest.
"Good." He leaned forward so they were nose to nose. "Now listen. Relena, right?" She nodded again. "Alright. You take him there and you leave him with them. They're going to shoo you out and you go, ok? They may want to talk to you again later, and if they do, you don't answer any questions. Understand? Not a word. Nothing about what you know about him, nothing about what you think you know about him. Ok?" She swallowed hard and nodded. He sat back on his heels. "Good."
Duo got to his feet and walked across the dock. He retrieved the LEM and stuffed it in his pocket. He was about to disappear when Relena called to him. "Wait, who are you?"
Duo sighed and looked back at her. "We've been over this already, I can't tell you."
"No," she shook her head, "I just want your name."
"Oh." He was at a loss for a moment. "Uh, Duo Maxwell."
She smiled weakly. "My name is Relena Darlian."
'Poor girl,' he thought, 'she's scared out of her mind.' Duo gave her an encouraging smile and a wink. "Good luck, lady." And he disappeared behind the nearest building.
When he was far enough away from the base to safely radio for pick-up, he did.
"How'd it go this time, Duo?" Asked the man in charge of the radio.
"I'd say I found more than I bargained for." Duo smiled to himself. "Come get me outside of the Alliance marina, I'll tell you the full story when I'm safely on board."
"Roger." The radioman replied. "We may take a while, so enjoy the view or something."
"Yeah." Duo snapped off the comm. unit and looked at the blue surf. "It's blue." He murmured distantly, "but I've seen bluer."
***
"Hey, boy!" Howard greeted him.
Duo twisted his head and at once wished he hadn't. He'd been ushered down to sick bay the second he arrived on the boat. Or rather, the second he'd collapsed getting out of the dinghy. According to the ship's doctor, the cut on the back of his head from the bit of plaster was a lot worse then Duo had thought it was. The doctor had cleaned it with some awful antibacterial soap that smelled like a urinal and bandaged his entire head up. The doctor had then ordered Duo to go to his cabin, rest and call him in the morning.
"What news do you have?"
Duo shifted uncomfortably on his cot. "Well, I've got good news, great new, bad news and really bad news. What do you want to hear first?"
Howard smirked. "Let's do it chronologically."
"Well I found the other Gundam." Duo said. "That's the good news. I had it all rigged so I could meet it and Deathscythe at marina. But when I got there I met someone who turned out to be the great news."
"Who?" Howard asked.
"The other pilot."
Howard's eyes widened. "But there's no way he could survive a crash landing like he must have had!"
Duo shrug. "I don't know, I really don't. There must be something special about that suit that's not obvious. All I know is he's alive."
"Why didn't you bring him back with you?"
"That's the bad news. He tried to blow up his Gundam and managed to knock himself out in the process. I sent him off with some girl to the Alliance #3 Medical Building."
Howard whistled. "What's the really bad news?"
Duo looked at his fingers. "Y'know when I said he tried to blow up his Gundam? When I said tried, I really meant succeed, and he got Deathscythe too."
"Duo," Howard twitched. "You're telling me you let some psycho kid blow up your Gundam?"
"Uh, yeah."
Howard took a deep breath and swallowed, trying hard to hide his irritation. "Ok, ok. This is what we're going to do. You are going to show us where you sunk your Gundam." Duo started to protest, but Howard kept speaking. "And then you are going to haul them both up and you are going to fix it. Understand?"
Duo collapsed backwards on the bed. "Sure, whatever." He said, waving a hand lazily. "As soon as I go rescue that pilot."
"DUO!" Howard roared. "That pilot blew up your Gundam! It's been three days since you arrived on Earth and you haven't done a thing but chase that pilot around! You're acting like a, like a," Howard gestured wildly, "like a love-struck girl."
Duo sat up. "I am not!"
"Oh yes you are! Everything you've done since you got here has been for him! We'll rescue this boy, but that's it, after that I want you to grow up and move on with your mission!" Howard opened the cabin door and said, "It's not healthy."
When he was gone, Duo threw himself back down. "Jesus." He whispered. He closed his eyes and thought. Everything for him, maybe Howard was right. Duo couldn't honestly say that his actions of the last days had been in character. They hadn't made a hell of a lot of sense either.
"Maybe I'm losing my mind," Duo said. "Or maybe I've already lost it." He thought about the pilot's eyes. "Or maybe I am a love-struck girl."
He pulled the blanket up to his neck and opened his eyes. Staring at the crack in the ceiling, he began to recite. "Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take."
***
The Alliance Military #3 Medical Building was the last of three medical facilities constructed in an area termed by the Alliance as the "sub-JAP area", whatever that was supposed to mean. It was 54 stories high, with six labs and two operating theatres. The building itself was built in the eastern most corner of Yuriage, Japan with one corner facing busy streets and the other over looking a steep bluff around the edge of Sendai-wan Bay.
Duo swaggered down the sidewalk, his backpack slung over one shoulder and carrying what looked like a walking stick in one hand. In reality, it was a miniature helicopter. Even more proof that Howard was a genius. Duo ducked into a phone booth. He picked up the phone and held it to his ear with his shoulder as he deposited a quarter in the slot. The phone rang twice before it was picked up on the other side.
"Hello, is that you." Howard's voice said. It wasn't a question; it was part of the code he and Duo had developed that morning.
"Yeah," Duo said, "it's me. I made it to Yuriage ok."
Duo reached around the back of the phone, feeling the machinery for any trace of bugs or crossed wiring. When dealing with the Alliance, it paid to be careful. Half way down the cord at the back of the phone was an odd bump. Duo squeezed it. It felt like the wire split into two separate wires, one which trailed down into the ground and the regular telephone system, and one that probably streamed the conversation straight to an OZ monitoring station.
"Shit." He said into the receiver.
"What is it?"
"Oh, nothing. I just had a bug on my shoulder." Duo hoped Howard got his meaning. "I'm gonna go visit Grandma in the hospital in just a moment, but I was wondering if you wanted me to take some pictures of the bluffs around here afterwards. They're really breathtaking."
"Really. Where are you?" Howard asked.
"Uh, near Sendai-wan Bay I think."
"Sure," Howard said. "Go take pictures after you visit Grandma. That OK?"
"Yeah. That'll do." Duo closed his eyes. From here the code was going to get confusing. "Also, both the polecats," a European carnivorous mammal, "are broken," that in this case meant that the entrance was heavily guarded, and he and the other pilot would come out the back of the hospital, "so I'd like you to have my lunch ready at the back of the wheat field if you would," and that's where Howard should pick them up.
"Sure. We can do that."
Duo opened his eyes, Howard understood and now there could be no changes to the plan.
"Thanks." Duo said. "I'll help you thresh the wheat later." He hung up and left the booth. "Now, I should go visit that patient."
He walked into the hospital and up to the front desk where a pretty receptionist sat. She smiled at him.
"What can I do for you sir?"
Duo coughed in mock embarrassment. "Well actually, I was just wondering if I could use a washroom."
She frowned. "This is a military building, so we don't usually let people wander around… But, if you're quick it shouldn't be a problem. Go up those stairs, it's the third door on the left."
Duo nodded his thanks and sprinted towards the stairs she had indicated. He didn't slow down when he reached the top. He turned left and ran past the bathroom; his mind following the blueprint he'd memorised earlier. Right, down the hall, two lefts, another right, up a hell of a lot of stairs, down four doors and bam! Surveillance Room - No Unauthorized Entry read the sign on the door. Duo took a deep breath and opened the door.
"What the hell?" Said a surprised guard, half rising out of his seat. His partner had been sleeping and now jolted awake.
Duo pointed his gun. "Shut up. You," he gestured with the barrel at the first guard, "get over there with your buddy. And don't even think of pushing that alarm unless you want me to blow your fingers off." The guard snatched his hand back from the alarm and moved towards his partner. Duo stepped further into the room. "Good." He raised his arm and whacked the guard on the head with his gun. The man fell to the ground.