Touched and Bound Part 3
A silent bus ride later, and we had arrived. Our destination was located nearly in the middle of the busy downtown area. People crossed the streets in business suits and fancy outfits, carrying briefcases and stacks of paper to their places of employment. Amongst the crowd Duo and I stood out like sore thumbs, due to our age and our choice of wardrobes. We just didn't fit in, him wearing his black jeans and red shirt and me in my khaki pants and button down white shirt. Yet, it didn't seem to phase him, as it appeared most things didn't. He worked in this area after all, why wouldn't he be comfortable here?
The building in particular wasn't the largest in the area, but it wasn't small either. An imposing front spoke of money and power, leading me to suspect it was a sort of law office. No name was visible on the front of the building though, nothing to hint at the name of Duo's place of employment. Even the windows were tinted, giving a mask of secrecy to the building, yet letting it blend in nearly perfectly with the tall office buildings and elite coffee shops which surrounded it.
Duo pushed open the front door and we stepped into a fancy lobby, holding a secretary's desk to one side and a comfortable sitting area in the other. Flowers and generic pictures were placed around the room, giving it a light and comfortable atmosphere. While the secretary himself seemed to fit right in, possibly chosen even to fit the décor.
His hair was a nearly white blond, and longer then most men allow their hair to grow, flowing past his shoulders. Yet he wore his hair down and was dressed in a suit of light blue, setting off his eyes for all to see. He was only a little older then Duo as far as I could judge, and glanced up professionally as we stepped in. I watched his sea-blue eyes look first at Duo, then at me, and he gave a small scowl.
"May I help you?" He asked in a perfectly professional voice. Had I not noticed the scowl I wouldn't have known that we were unwelcome here. I glanced at his name plaque and, not to my surprise, found that even his name seemed to fit the décor. Milliardo? This entire lobby was a very complex illusion for whatever filled the rest of the building. I couldn't help but be curious what was behind those elevator doors.
Duo tossed him a nod and started heading for the elevators. "Just need to speak with Quatre, don't worry about it."
I followed Duo, but kept my eyes on the secretary. I wasn't surprised when the tall man stood up and walked gracefully toward us. In long, flowing steps, he outdistanced us easily and placed himself between Duo and the elevator door.
"I'm sorry, only authorized personnel are allowed upstairs." I resisted the inward urge to chuckle or smile. This Milliardo knew I wasn't supposed to be here. In accordance to some unspoken rules, he was acting like Duo didn't work here either because I was standing behind him. Another piece to the carefully crafted illusion which I now stood in. Whoever ran this place seemed to have a lot to hide, if they went to this much trouble to keep it secret.
Duo's bluish-purple eyes turned to the other in a look of annoyance. "Down boy, relax. Go back to your post, I've got this taken care of."
Those blue eyes narrowed dangerously, their owner obviously resenting the fact that Duo was addressing him like some kind of guard dog. But he obediently went to sit back at his desk, a scowl painted across his face. I didn't have to be overly observant to see that these two had had many discussions like this before. It was obvious that they didn't like each other.
We stepped into the elevator and Duo opened a well-hidden panel, sliding a keycard in to make the elevator move, then he leaned back against the wall.
"So who are the people you're taking me to meet?" I asked quietly, my eyes scanning the elevator car. Out of habit I immediately noted all routes of escape, including the roof panel and how tightly the doors had seemed to close... I closed my eyes for a second and commanded my mind to stop that, before I opened them and glanced to him.
"We're at Branch 2, where I work. I'd give you a better explanation then that, but to be honest I'm not real good at coherent explanations, better to leave it up to my boss. Just need to formally go talk with him and then I'll take ya down to the kid and she can see what we can dig up on your past and who you are." His eyes focused on me. "I'm assuming your name isn't the only thing that's a mystery to you."
I nodded. He was right; my name wasn't the only thing that was missing from my mind. Aside from my habits, I only had a year of life to work with. Everything before that seemed non-existent, buried deep in a black abyss of nothingness. A name would be a good place to start, but it certainly wasn't the only thing to search for.
At last the elevator doors slid open and I found myself facing a very finely decorated hallway. Reminiscent of the lobby downstairs, everything was decorated in different shades of light blue, creating the same calming effect. Doors lined either side, in perfect reflections of each other until the end of the hallway, which stopped in a slightly rounded table with a fresh bouquet of white flowers. I glanced at the framed pictures on the wall and found them to be of other calming natural scenes. Once again my mind moved to the idea of an illusion... something about this hallway seemed a little too deliberate. The intention was to calm those who stepped into it, but it also worked to unnerve.
I followed Duo down the hall, watching my surroundings. There were no name plaques by the doors, and one was left to wonder what could honestly be behind each one. Not a single clue was left, just a complete hallway of uniform sameness. Had I not had Duo with me I could have easily gotten lost, there was no telling what was behind any of these doors. And something told me it wasn't just plain old offices.
Duo paused before one door that looked no different from the rest. Reaching for the handle, I blinked in surprise when I saw the door open before he could touch the knob. A quick look and I could tell there wasn't a peephole in the door, nor had I seen any cameras in the hallway. I couldn't help but shift nervously as I stood behind Duo. I was growing more and more uncomfortable with this place every moment. All I wanted to do was go down to the lobby and leave. Forget finding out my name, this wasn't right.
I hated not being in control.
"Come in."
The voice was soft and belonged to a boy no taller then Duo, in fact he was just slightly shorter in height. His hair was short and blond with the slightest curl, ringing his head and set off by his bright blue eyes. A smile crossed his face in greeting at both of us and didn't waver one bit when he glanced at me, which I gave him credit for. One look at him and I could tell he was the boss, despite his age.
A finely tailored suit echoed the look of money which covered the building. Yet it wasn't the kind of stuck up and snobby rich, as one might expect. Instead, it was the kind of rich that he seemed fitted to. The blond in front of me seemed perfectly comfortable in his tailored suit and in turn, his manner, made the suit look less formal but still just as impressive. He also didn't wear any jewelry or accessories at all, which pointed to the suspicion that he wasn't really one to show off, once again, in spite of the building's impression. Which made me wonder if he was actually the one who'd built the building, or if he'd inherited it from some previous owner who was more used to its flair.
The blond took a seat at the desk and folded his hands at us, waiting quietly for a response to his unspoken question. He was wondering what we were doing there, rather what I was doing there. I glanced sideways at Duo, also waiting to see how he would give his answer.
Duo, as usual, had his bright grin painted across his face. "Quatre Winner, meet Trowa Barton."
The blond, Quatre, glanced me up and down with a very small frown. His eyes met mine for a moment, then moved back to Duo. When he spoke his voice took on a little more seriousness; it took on the tone of a leader. "I assume there's a longer explanation to go with that statement?"
Duo gave a shrug. "You know me and my long stories. I figured I'd just wait and give it to you in another novel-report, as usual." Duo paused. "Oh! Yeah, I guess I should explain why I brought him in here."
Quatre leaned back in his chair. "If you wouldn't mind."
"Well, you see I went to go find out about Middi Une, like you asked. And it just so happens that I run into this guy, who's using Trowa's name. Yada yada, stuff happens and he gets fired. I find out that's not his real name and he's got some amnesia so I can't really find out his real name. So I brought him here, because I know the kid should be able to dig up something. And I figured, that if anything, he might be able to give us a hand..." Duo paused again in his rambling and swallowed. "Despite the rule about not bringing in outsiders," he added on quietly.
The blond nodded; seeming satisfied that Duo had realized his mistake and voiced it. The room remained silent for a moment before Quatre leaned forward and picked up a crystal paperweight from his desk, turning it over in his hands. "Would I also be safe in assuming that despite what you've told me you trust him to keep this secret?"
Duo nodded quickly. "I'd stake my life on it, or I wouldn't have brought him here."
I blinked at that one in surprise. He trusted me? He'd known me for not even a week and already he trusted me, in spite of my lack of name and personal history. I resisted the urge to turn and just stare at him for those bold words, but it was hard. I couldn't for the life of me figure out what I had done to warrant such trust. Especially after all those word games, I could tell Duo wasn't one to give his trust lightly. So what had I done that made me stand out from the others?
The words seemed to impress Quatre too, because he nodded.
"I trust your judgement, as usual." He set down the paperweight and leaned back in his chair again, straightening his suit jacket, and then his eyes turned to me. "If you'll pardon my rudeness, I need to speak with Duo alone for a moment. If you would be so kind as to step outside?"
I nodded and turned, heading for the door without another word. Both of them stayed silent as I stepped into the hallway and closed the door behind me. Without pause I leaned up against the wall by the door, my eyes moving over the hallway. I guess I was checking to make sure that there was no one else in the hallway with me, not that it would have mattered. On a second thought my eyes wandered the hallway again, this time in search of cameras and other surveillance equipment. To my surprise I found none. If there was any it was very well hidden, but somehow I doubted that.
So the owner of this building didn't only have something to hide, but they were also very confident that no one trying to get to that secret would get past the lobby. Very interesting. Relaxing against the wall I leaned my head back and focused my concentration on the door. After a moment I managed to pick out their voices through the wooden barrier. The walls may have been sound proof, but the door certainly wasn't.
"... look, I'm sorry ok. But to honest, at the time I didn't know what else to do. I know I breached conduct and stuff, but something about this guy-"
"Regardless, Duo, I just wish you would have given me some warning. In any case, what's done is done, and I will have to trust you on this. Did you manage to find out anything else about the murder?"
"Not too much. The police got to everything. Everything I looked at echoed their official report."
A pause filled the room as both went into a contemplative silence. I turned against the wall, on my side, so that my ear was closer to the wall yet it still didn't look like I was listening if anyone passed by. I wanted to make sure I didn't miss anything.
"Did you see anything different?"
I could hear Quatre place an unusual emphasis on the word 'see' and I frowned in thought. The pause indicated that Duo had caught that strange tone change and I had a feeling that the blond was not referring to something he'd done with his eyes.
"I did." Came Duo's answer. "I found the table she usually sat at and from there-"
My concentration broke as a finger lightly tapped me on the shoulder. Without thinking I spun around and immediately my body tensed up, my eyes narrowing. A split second later I was turned and in a position to move quickly, as I looked at the person who'd somehow managed to sneak up on me.
She stood before me with a playful smirk on his face, and her arms crossed in an expression of amusement. Long blond hair flowed down her back just past her waist, framing her thin and tall body, which was dressed in a simple gray top and black dress pants. A single chain of silver encircled her neck, while she wore a matching watch on one wrist. I noticed a gun holster attached to the side of her belt, complete with the gun. It gleamed slightly in the light and she wore it as if it were a matching accessory to her outfit, but I knew better. People didn't wear guns unless they knew how to use them. Wearing one without knowing how was an invitation to end up in the hospital, or worse, the city morgue.
"And what exactly are you doing here, snooping around?" Her voice was cold, with a thread of amusement under the tone. She'd looked me over and didn't perceive me as a threat, but her tone told me she was still cautious.
I forced myself to relax and stood up straight, a normal stance. I forced all my internal warnings to shut down and relax, successfully shrugging off the paranoia after a few seconds. Giving her a blank and expressionless look I nodded just slightly toward the door.
"Waiting for Duo to come out."
Her eyes narrowed, the thin split eyebrows tilting downward in a scowl. "Bloody hell," she muttered softly under her breath. Her eyes flickered from the door to me in a quick movement, much like those which are associated with a cat. "You don't belong here."
"I'm not leaving."
Two simple phrases and all the alarms seemed to go off in my head again. She was challenging me. I have no idea how I knew it, or why my body and mind were reacting in such a way, but I immediately pinned her as a threat. I didn't like her one bit and I knew that she wasn't a person to just nudge out of the way. The woman who stood in front of me was a fighter. Her movements, stance, and even refusal to wear skirts as was the preferred clothing by working women, pointed to a need to be ready to move. Or at least a preference to such. She was thin, but not sickly, and what little I saw of her movements told me they were well calculated. I didn't need to think twice about the gun. I could tell she was a trained professional at using such things, and I was betting it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to say she could fight without a gun as well.
As I sized her up in my mind, another part of me wondered how she saw me. I knew she was sizing me up as well, judging me by my stance, body and movements. I couldn't help but wonder what she saw in me. Still, curiosity wasn't reason enough to inquire. There were more important things to worry about right now.
There was movement and the door opened between us, Quatre standing in the doorway with an amused look. He chuckled softly as his eyes went from me to Dorothy, obviously seeing the silent challenge in both of our eyes.
"Dorothy, it's very bad manners to threaten a guest before introduction." He said, in complete good humor as if this were all a game. I could see Duo standing behind him, looking a little more nervous and not nearly as calm.
Dorothy slid a hand through her hair in a dismissive manner and scowled at him. "And I suppose it's good etiquette to wait until after we've been introduced?"
"Of course." Quatre took a step back, allowing room for Duo to move through the door. Duo nodded to him and stepped out of the room, obviously done with their conversation. After he stepped out, Quatre closed the door again, leaving the three of us standing in the hallway. No sooner had the door closed, then the scowl grew darker on Dorothy's face.
"Just what in the world do you think you're doing, Maxwell?!"
Duo rolled his eyes and turned to face her, standing between us. "Don't you dare start that overprotective-homicidal-mother-hen stuff on me, Dorothy."
"You bring a complete stranger in here without authorization-"
"I just got it from Quatre, everything's cleared."
She frowned deeply at him. "You idiot! My brother may trust your judgement but I certainly don't. I swear one day you're going to be the fall of this entire place and I'll be here to laugh at you." She raised a finger at him in a shaming manner. "Don't bite off more then you can chew, Maxwell, because one day you will choke on it."
With those words she turned around, her hair flowing through the air in a long wave, and headed for another one of the cloned doors. Opening it in a fluid motion, she shut it tightly behind her, leaving us standing in the hallway.
Duo gave a long dramatic sigh. "And one day I'm gonna choke you, Catalonia." He muttered in a mocking voice. That said he seemed to become more relaxed and turned back to me. "Uhhh... so yeah, welcome to Branch 2. Warm welcome, ain't it?"
"Hn."
"Ok, now that the formals are done and we've gotten our little daily speech from the 'queen' over there, we can head down to much friendlier people. Sorry about all of that. This way."
He turned and led me toward the elevator, which I followed him to in silence. As the doors closed my mind silently memorized which doors Dorothy and Quatre had gone into. I also puzzled over what little of the conversation I had caught. My mind was filled with questions, but I kept my mouth shut.
I never liked asking questions. By asking you gave away what you didn't know. I preferred to ponder over things and piece them together on my own, usually. Still, this trip was only becoming more confusing by the moment.
Especially when Duo entered his keycard and hit the button for the basement and made a very strange statement.
"I hope your shoes are waterproof."
~*~
The scene laid out before me looked like it was out of some strange techno-geek's dream. And perhaps that exactly what it was, save that it was as solid as I was. The door opened and I found myself facing a basement room that was a step down, and the floor had a good cm height of water on it, floating among clusters of wires and networking. Various computer parts sat on higher platforms so they weren't soaking in the water and various fans were set up, blowing on exposed innards and multi-colored computer chips. Monitors were scattered around the room, showing screens of scrolling text and flashing pictures, all on their own search for information. There wasn't a chair to be seen or a blank spot that didn't hold a hard drive, a fan or a monitor of some kind. Some of the pieces looked old and about ready to fall apart while others looked brand new and were probably taken out of their packages only days before.
A sign stood near the door, proclaiming in loud letters "Don't touch!" I assumed it meant the entire room, which was fine by me because I had no intention of touching anything. Stepping cautiously into the water I followed Duo trying to keep my splashing down to a minimum. The room was cold, but only because of all the fans and the immense amount of cold air needed to keep everything running without over heating. Somewhere beyond us, past all the computer parts, was the splashing of another pair of feet. I craned my head to one side as I saw a flash of white fabric as someone passed by, then it was gone.
"Mari? You here?" Duo called out, weaving his way through the computer pieces until we reached what looked like the center of the room. Here there was a significant more amount of space and all the monitors seemed to be facing in this direction, almost like the central control center. "Mari?"
A voice moved around the computers as I thought I saw someone walk by again. "Hey dad, hold on."
I blinked. Dad? Duo had a daughter?
A few more movements and finally a young girl stepped into view. Short orange-red hair framed her face, thin and straight, with hazel colored eyes and a pair of glasses balancing precariously on her nose. A pen was stuck behind one ear, while a small screw driver was behind the other and she wore a long white piece of clothing that looked more like a night gown then clothing. She was also barefoot and the coolness of the room didn't seem to bother her at all. Sweeping past us, she carried a circuit board in her hands and immediately moved to install it in a nearby computer hard drive, flipping a few buttons it buzzed to life and joined the humming that filled the room.
"Who's your friend?" She asked, as she leaned down to check some wire under one of the desks. I hadn't noticed her look at me, but she must have seen me as she was walking around the room. My guess was this girl was in her early teens... there was no way Duo could be her father. He wasn't old enough.
"That's what we were going to ask you, actually." Duo responded; pulling himself up onto an empty spot near one of the hard drives. Sitting up there he swung his legs back and forth, waiting patiently for her to finish whatever she was working on.
The young girl finished with the wires then stood back up and turned to us, looking at me quietly. Then she smiled and stuck out her hand. "Mariemeia. Mari's shorter, if you want. That's what dad calls me."
I nodded and shook her hand, not saying anything else.
Mari pulled her hand back and chewed on the end of her pen for a moment, before placing it back behind her ear. "I don't recognize you... but that's not saying much since I almost never leave this room." Her head turned to look at Duo, over her shoulder. "Should I?"
Duo shook his head. "He's got amnesia. He's been going by the name Trowa Barton for..." He blinked and glanced at me.
"A year now." I added, helpfully.
"Yeah, what he said."
Mari nodded, already moving around the room. "Why didn't you go to the doctors or something to get your memory jump-started?"
"Didn't have the money." I said with a shrug. That and at the time I was more worried about establishing myself with money so I could survive. Who I really was, wasn't really at the top of my priorities, because I could live without the information.
She nodded again and opened a drawer pulling out a small, hand-held scanning pad that looked home made. Flipping open the top she held it out to me, as she glanced around the drawer for something else. Watching her in confusion I reached forward and touched the pad, watching the screen in front of me as it scanned my fingerprints and began running them through a whirlpool of screens after she hit a button. She pulled the scanner back, slipping it into the drawer and then turned around with a digital camera in her hands.
I frowned. I didn't like my picture being taken.
"I promise not to sell it on the internet," she said with a smirk. Then she took the picture without giving much warning, the bright flash momentarily blinding me in the dimly lit room. As I blinked my eyes back into focus she hooked up the camera to another monitor and uploaded the picture, then ran that one through a blaze of screens. With that all done, she turned back to us.
"That's about all I can do right now. Give me a couple hours to set up and I can do better stuff, brain scans and things. Trust me, it's all safe, I'm not going to fry your brain or anything. Just need to set it up... Those scans should be done soon... depending on if you have a record or not. Otherwise... yeah, need setup time."
Duo glanced over at me. "You mind sticking around for a while?"
I shook my head. "Where else am I going to go?"
Mari smiled and clapped her hands together. "Great, then I'll have the stuff set up by tomorrow afternoon, if you two wanna stop back." She leaned back for a moment in thought, then took off, disappearing around a corner with a light splash of the water on the floor. Coming back around another corner she held a pile of papers in her hand, making a face, as if she didn't like the idea of paper as opposed to her computers.
"Dad, you forgot these yesterday."
Duo blinked and took the folder, flipping through the papers. "Oh! That's where this went... silly me." His voice didn't sound sincere at all, and I got the impression that he'd left them in her room on purpose.
Mari seemed to be thinking the same thing because she mockingly slapped him on the arm. "Get to work, you lazy bum. I'm not typing up another report for you."
"Yeah, yeah, I got it." Duo jumped off the desk where he sat and tapped the file to his chest. "See me, heading home to do my work. See?"
Mari chuckled. "Sure, right dad." She turned back to me and tossed me a wink. "Don't worry, he's not really as irresponsible as he seems. Look forward to talking to you tomorrow. See ya then!"
And with those words she disappeared behind a table of monitors to pull apart more computers and reassemble them. I watched her quietly, trying to comprehend what I was getting myself into. I had somehow just agreed to let a 15 year old run tests on me to try and figure out why I only remembered a year of my life. Not to mention that I'd also agreed to 'stick around' with someone who acted like a teenager himself and yet she called him dad? Then there was the fact of all the questions that were welling up in my mind, nearly waiting to burst out.
Somehow in the course of one day my entire life had managed to turn itself over on its head. At that moment, I doubt I would have been surprised to find out that I was some lost prince from another country or something equally preposterous. Ends didn't quite meet, at least not in my head, and it became very clear as we headed for the elevator that attempting to not ask questions would only leave me more confused. I would have to voice them sooner or later, like it or not.
Resigned to my fate I followed Duo to the elevator and out of the building, apparently heading through the crowd of business people for his home.
TBC...
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