Changes Part 3
Heero finished the docking procedures and leaned back in his chair. He checked the time and frowned. He'd have to be docked here for at least the next three hours- he had a shipment to pick up, but it hadn't reached the shuttle port yet.
It couldn't hurt to go out on the station and stretch his legs- hear voices other than his own or the ones on the vid- surround himself with humanity for a bit. Picking up transport jobs was easy work for good pay and let him always be on the move, but sometimes the quiet got to him. He'd leave his ship, take a little walk and maybe find something to eat that didn't come out of a synth machine.
He got up from his chair and stretched. A quick shower and a fresh set of clothes and he'd be fit to step out among the masses.
Giving himself a quick glance in the mirror, he frowned a little. Should he do some modifying again? Right after he fled, he'd just lightened everything- skin and eyes and hair- and it had made him uncomfortable. Funny how he hadn't gotten over not looking like himself- he'd left his hair light, but recently he'd gone back to his normal skin and eye color, just so he didn't feel quite so odd when he walked by a mirror...
No, he decided, he'd leave things as they were. He'd been officially declared dead months ago. No one would be looking for Heero Yuy- at the very least someone might think he looked a little like that guy that had been in the news for a while. People, J had often told him, weren't very observant.
He stepped into the shower and cleaned himself up quickly. Really, there was nothing to worry about. Duo wasn't on his trail after all- one of the other pirates had ended up on the same colony Heero had first fled to- and had gone down in a fire fight with the Preventers. They assumed the shuttle was his- so Heero knew he was in the clear.
That was another thing to check, Heero mentally added it to the list. A small hack into the Preventers computers could tell him where Duo was- just in case. Last time he'd checked, Duo had been on Earth, hunting down a pirate there.
Apparently Duo had rejoined the Preventers, something Heero didn't really understand. Duo had been so happy to leave, so happy to go and move in with Hilde and help her at the yard. Heero remembered how Duo hadn't even really wanted to stay on the call list- he just wanted peace- he'd said it a dozen times. Why had Duo gone back? Maybe it was just to catch pirates and he'd quit again after he'd finished? Heero hoped so.
Showered, dressed and still with over two hours to spare, Heero headed out into the spaceport. It was packed full of people and within ten minutes he found himself wishing that he'd never left his ship.
He found a small café tucked into a corner, secured a printed news sheet and a plate of something that had never seen a synth. He even found a spot to sit at the long counter by the window- even though it put his back to the rest of the café.
Safe, he reassured himself and started to look through the news sheet as he waited for his food to cool.
"I'm not going to do it," a familiar voice said from somewhere behind him and he froze, a forkful of food halfway to his mouth. "I'm not. I'm so close on this one, Trowa. I'm not going to stop to do some stupid bodyguard thing."
"Did you tell Une that?"
"Of course I did. She just reminded me that I wasn't on special assignment anymore."
"You finished the job, Duo."
"But I still don't know what happened- and maybe this guy does!"
Heero put his fork down and cast a cautious glance over his shoulder. Duo and Trowa stood in the line at the counter, not more than five feet away from him. They were in civilian clothes and their backs were to him.
This wasn't good. Why had he only left his hair color different? A quick blink darkened his eyes, but he couldn't do more than that in a crowded restaurant.
"Duo, we know what happened. We heard him go down."
"But we never found the body! And not one of them has told us anything about what they did to him."
Trowa snorted. "It's not something they'd admit to, and you know it."
The line moved up and their voices were harder to pick out. Heero carefully folded his print sheet, picked up his non-consumed tray of food and headed for the exit. He dumped the tray, but kept the print sheet, just in case.
He got back to his ship, relieved to find that his shipment had arrived early. He'd get it loaded and then request an earlier clearance. The faster he could get away from this colony, the better.
As he loaded the ship, his mind dwelled on the piece of conversation that he'd overheard. So Duo had caught all the pirates- that was good- but... it didn't sound like he was leaving the Preventers. In fact it had sounded like he was still looking for some answers... but why? He'd heard Heero go down, he'd seen the readings- why couldn't he just accept it? It sounded like the others had.
Maybe Trowa would convince him to be sensible. Or maybe Une would order him onto another job- which is what it had sounded like she was doing. Maybe Duo would quit again and go back to Hilde where he belonged- she couldn't be happy with him running all over the Sphere...
He finished loading the shipment and headed towards his communicator to request clearance. He needed to get away from here before he did something stupid.
Like trying to find a way to get another look at Duo...
TBC...
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