Thanks to: All the reviewers and readers, and the War Room. ^_^
Note: This chapter is a little bit shorter than most, but as usual, I have a reason for everything.
"And they will only make us stronger, if they should try to keep us still
and we could rise and take it all someday
we probably will, you know, we probably will."
--- Concrete Blond, Probably Will
"I acted so distant then, didn't say goodbye before you left
but I was listening...
You'll fight your battles far from me
far too easily."
--- 1000 Words
Nil desperandum; Never give in to despair.
--- Horace (65-8 AD)
Requiem for the Sinners Part 38
Road to Damascus
"You know, Maxwell, for a pacifist colony, you certainly are well-prepared for war."
"Be prepared, that's the Boy Scout motto."
"You ain't no fuckin' Boy Scout, Duo Maxwell." Harper snickered, remembering a time when Duo was just Kid to him, a skinny little long-haired homeless tech with eighty creds to his name, a sackful of tools, and no one to go to. It seemed like a long, long time ago.
Duo looked over at Wufei, who was standing in the shadow of the Morningstar. The goliath ship towered over him. He laughed softly at the awed expression on the Shenlong pilot's face. "You mean I've finally managed to impress the great Wufei Chang? I don't know whether to be honored or fall over from a heart attack."
Wufei glanced over at him, scowling slightly. "I didn't say I was impressed with you, Maxwell."
Harper, who was standing next to him, laughed and clapped him on the back. The unexpected assault almost made Wufei stumble. "Oh c'mon, Chang! Just admit it! You're fucking impressed! You need to learn how to lighten up. Don't be such a tightass all the time." Harper zipped up his black flight suit and rested his helmet beneath his arm, giving Wufei an amused look. Wufei wasn't particularly happy to have that expression directed at him by anyone, much less Isaac Harper.
He was going to growl a retort when he was startled by an unfamiliar sound, low and reverberating in the quiet early-morning hangar. He turned to look back at Heero in uneasy surprise. So did everyone else. Harper regarded Heero with a glare of suspicion, an innate dislike that had never really had a chance to fade.
The Wing pilot was laughing softly. His gaze was steady on the two of them.
Wufei glared in warning. "Whatever you're thinking, Yuy, you better not say it out loud."
Heero just smirked faintly back at him, cobalt eyes heavy-lidded and smug. I don't have to, his expression said. The taciturn pilot glanced at Duo, who winked back at him. He walked away to the front of the flagship, and they soon heard the rasping buzz of a mounting harness being pulled down.
"I'm driving, Heero, so don't even think about it!" Duo called.
No answer.
"Dammit," Duo whispered, but there was a smile on his face.
"Dominance issues. For shame," Harper drawled, laughing, and Wufei stalked off in the direction of the Sariel. "I'm taking this ship, Duo. Okay? No? Too bad." Duo could practically see his cheeks smoking. He grinned as Wufei got into the smaller warship, and looked at Harper.
"I'm glad you two are getting along better."
Harper snorted. "Someone has to watch out for that idiotic maniac. Especially when he's in our ships. It's not exactly as if we can replace these, D, no matter how much leftover scrap we have. And all you boys are sure fond of the whole self-destruct thing."
"That's not what I meant. Don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about, Harp." Duo's grin widened, teasing. "Like you give a shit about the ships, anyway."
Harper scowled at him, confused. "What?"
Duo yawned, locking his hands behind his head with a grin. "He needs to get laid. Badly. You should just fuck him already. Interstellar war makes him tense. It'll relax him."
All of the color drained out of Harper's face. "What?!"
Duo shrugged, still grinning. "You heard me."
"I think I came in at the wrong part of this conversation," a new voice came from behind them. They turned to see Jeremiah and Hilde already suited up and walking towards them. The four Legion officers regarded each other with easy familiarity.
"Believe me, Hilde-girl, you don't want to know," Harper muttered, and Duo swore the pilot's scalp was blushing. "If Duo here didn't outrank me, I'd beat the living hell outta him."
Jeremiah laughed. "Now that is a fight I'd like to see."
Hilde rolled her eyes. "Yeah, right." She looked at Duo expectantly. "So, maestro, what's the plan? We have to go escort the refugees from L4 to the L3 and L1 clusters, right? Demon team is suited up and ready to go in the smokers. Skull Team is...pretty much out of action. We lost most of them in the last skirmish." Her smile faded slightly, and Duo thought he saw her blink away tears. She grinned at him anyway, though, and he loved her for it. "Give them some recoup time, Duo. We'll put the new recruits with Skull, and they'll be good as new."
"Yeah." Duo looked at Jeremiah. "You guys are going to play shepherd when we get out there. Take the smokers and ring the civvie ships, and keep your scanners up on your way to the drop-off points. We don't want Preventers sneaking up on us."
Harper scowled. "Last time we checked, Septem was at siege with L4. Po is stationed at the Peacemillion II. Duo, we can't send the civilians to L3. It's under occupation by Noin's forces."
"Fuck." Duo's brow furrowed as he thought hard. "Fine. Not a problem. Take the whole lot to L1, until we can liberate L3."
"We're going to take L3 back from Noin?" Jeremiah asked, surprised. "Duo...I don't think we have the amount of pilots we need for that yet, man."
"We'll figure something out. Just consider yourself lucky we don't have Milliardo Peacecraft to deal with. I'll try to get in contact with Merrick, so he can tell me what the hell is going on there. But we'll burn that bridge when we get to it."
His no-nonsense, confident voice left no room for argument. If General Maxwell said they were going to take over a colony...then they'd damn well be taking over a colony, sooner or later, for better or worse. Jeremiah had only been in Legion for a few months, but he learned that much in a hurry.
Duo laughed, giving the three of them a mock salute. "Alrighty, boys and girls. Time to suit up! God help you, because nobody sure as hell else will."
Jeremiah didn't know whether to be excited or terrified.
~*~
Heero watched Duo from the cockpit of the flagship as the Deathscythe pilot gestured and laughed. But Heero didn't laugh. And he knew that Duo's laughter was a lie. All the teasing, all the jokes and bullshit and smartass remarks, they were all a cover-up.
Duo was afraid. But Heero didn't blame him. Heero was afraid enough for all of them.
He looked at his reflection in the darkened console of the warship. His face was completely impassive. Blank as the flat, emotionless marble of a tombstone. The tombstone of an unknown soldier.
He watched Duo as he left the other three pilots to make their way past the controllers and cat crews and techs, heading towards the Moloch, the Astaroth, and the Gadreel.
His heart hurt as Duo waved up to him cheerfully through the window of the cockpit, but he had no idea why. He raised his hand in return, anyway.
Is this what it feels like...? Why does it hurt so damned much?
He thought about what the boy had said. Could they just disappear, just like that? Heading off anywhere they pleased, leaving the war behind them? Heero could imagine it easily enough. They wouldn't tell anyone; they would just take the boy and run. He could hack the funds they needed. By dawn, they could be on the Earth, somewhere warm, where no one had ever heard their names. They could take Gabriel to school. Get jobs. Get domestic.
Forget it all. It would be so easy to fade away.
Not anymore.
Suddenly, startling him badly enough to touch the gun at his hip, the ship's control system came on around him, blinking to life with a whir of machinery and computers. The panels flashed into holographic life, bathing him in a neon green glow.
"Please identify pilot."
Heero placed his palm against the DNA pad of the ship, watching it scan.
"Welcome to the Morningstar, Lieutenant Heero Yuy. Our name is Legion, for we are many."
The hatch over the cockpit suddenly opened, and Duo jumped in, landing in an graceless lump of braid and flight suit.
"Wow, Heero, you got it started up by yourself? I'm impressed." The long-haired pilot picked himself up and sat in the pilot's seat in front of Heero, hands moving quickly over the keys as he put his feet in the pilot's stirrups.
Heero peered at the controls of the ship. "...It kind of started itself."
"Oh, well, I've never flown in it before, so it's all new to me. It's the only ship that can't be handled by only one guy, too. Complicated stuff."
Heero glanced at him, raising an eyebrow. "You've never flown this thing before?"
Duo grinned back, unabashed. "Nope. This is the test run."
"... Great." Heero turned back towards the controls. "How is this set up?"
"You're gunner; the gatling turrets, missile controls, and beam cannon are on your side. I steer, you shoot. Get it, Kemo-sabe?"
"... I hate it when you call me that."
Suddenly, surprising him, Heero felt Duo lean back and slip his hand into Heero's, warm and callused. Duo squeezed, smiling. "You know you like it," he whispered.
Smiling reluctantly, Heero laid his hand lightly on the back of Duo's neck.
Duo leaned forward quickly. "Jeez, 'Ro, your hands are like ice!"
"... You know you like it."
Suddenly, a comlink came up on Duo's screen, and he clicked it. Wufei's face came up on the panel. "If I'm not interrupting anything, would you explain, Maxwell, how the hell I'm supposed to do battle in this thing? And the whole hangar can hear you two, by the way. Your cast-radio is on."
Duo blushed as he shut off the broadcast-radio, but the mischievous grin on his face never faded. "You getting turned on over there, Wuffers? I think I know someone that can help you out with that."
"Don't you dare say it, Maxwell."
"Anyway, you shouldn't have any problems with it. The handle on these things are amazing, probably better for yours than ours, Wuff. Sariel handles like a Dodge Viper outfitted with automatic weapons."
"Dodge Viper?"
"Ground-bound gasoline car, Earth make and model, nevermind, look it up."
Wufei's face grew more serious. "Don't you think we should let Quatre and Trowa know we're coming?"
Duo shook his head, laughing. He slipped his helmet on, and Heero followed suit as they pulled on their gloves, locking them into place. He maneuvered the Morningstar to the airlock runway, and the other ships followed. "Nah. A wise man once told me that only your best friends come unarmed and unexpected."
"We're not unarmed."
"But we'll sure as hell be unexpected!"
Wufei smiled slightly, amused at the concept. "Best friends, huh. Is that what we were, Maxwell?"
Duo started to answer, but Heero answered for him. The answer wasn't as unexpected to Wufei as the affection in it. The Wing pilot's eyes were distant behind the darkness of his helmet visor, where no one could see his thoughts.
"We were something, all right. We were definitely something."
He slipped his gloved hand into Duo's, and squeezed.
Duo gripped him back, tightly.
"... And we still are."
TBC...
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