Chapter 20: Rounding Up the Troops

It wasn't exactly the kind of place that Sally expected to find a seasoned, experienced Gundam pilot in. A dump, AKA "Junk Shop" was not where she could think a trained, much honored in some, if not in most circles, "hero" after their collective efforts in saving both the Earth and the Colonies to become the place of peace they were today, would be.

A hero, such as Duo Maxwell is, in Sally's mind, if no where else, would be here. But there was a reason for that. It wasn't solely the fact that happy-go-lucky Duo wasn't exactly the most well-educated, well-mannered kind of guy that the world expected. No, there was a good reason why this self-described "God of Death" claimed this tiny, little garbage dump of a hole to live in as his home. And Sally Po considered Duo darn lucky to have her.

"Hi, Sally! Why are you--?" Hilde was, as usual, hard at work at her little desk. Her old makeshift out of junk parts computer was on the blink again.

What did I expect? All of Duo's creations sooner than later crash or break or self-destruct or something!!!

"Can I talk to Duo, Hilde?" Sally tries to keep her voice at a purposely calm level. She didn't feel it necessary to inform either Hilde nor the rest of the masses of the Earth or space of the crisis in the Sanc Kingdom---not just yet.

"Duo?" The word comes out of Hilde's mouth just as she gives her defunct computer an exasperated kick in the shins (if a computer had shins, that is.) and by some miracle, it comes back to life. The machine goes through its rebooting sequence. After all, Hilde and "Mr. Computer" went through this love-hate relationship almost on a daily basis.

Sally pulls her head back and cocks it with a smile in acknowledgement of the spicy little girl's stubborn, stick-to-it streak.

"He's..." Hilde seems to forget her wrastling with the computer, putting her full mind to Sally's question now that it was on the road to recovery.

"....not here." She finishes as she stands up, turning to Sally Po, with---what was that? Wistfulness? Guilt? Humor? What was it in those clear blue eyes?

I guess you have to have a good dose of all of the above when dealing with that Maxwell boy. I've got to give you credit.

Sally muses as Hilde continues to explain his whereabouts.

"He's wandered off, as usual." Hilde says. Her own smirk creeps across her cute face. "And he won't be back for awhile." She adds with a knowing, full-out, crooked smile.

"Then point me in his direction. I have an important message to deliver to him."

Hilde gives no spoken answer, but indeed does as Sally asks. She points her finger straight up into the air.

"He's...on the roof?" Sally questions, not putting any stunt beyond Duo Maxwell.

Or any of those five boys, now that you mention it...

"Something like that...." Hilde sighs, with that perpetual smirk still on her face.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, a Colony away, Sally's partner had yet another target on his mind....

Speaking of minds, that was the main reason he had come to fetch this particular individual in the first place.

CLACK!

The door to the high-rise office building opens and the air currents from the breezy long corridor of the hallway catches hold of several of the neatly stacked pages on the desk, blowing quite a few out of place. Some even cascade to the well-polished floor.

"Excuse me? Could you close the door? It's taken me THREE DAYS to read these files." The angered voice, the disturbed look on his face that didn't even greet the newcomer--this frustrated male attitude, were not exactly what Chang Wufei expected of perpetually kind, perpetually sweet, and perpetually caring Quatre Raberba Winner.

However, his demeanor did make Wufei all the more confident that his own statement to the woman about only needing these four others was right on the mark.

I always am.

A smirk crawls up Wufei's own over-self-assured face.

"Got a lot of work to do?" The slit opening of his eyes and of his snakelike mouth hissed the sentence out as if throwing out bait---and waiting to see if his prey would gobble it up and get hooked.

"Wu--Wufei!!" The all-serious, hard at work frustrated businessman that Quatre R. Winner just was, jumps up at the sight of the familiar Chinese man standing before his crowded desk.

Quatre himself knocks several more important files and papers to the ground as he stands up too quickly. So quickly, he could almost leap down Wufei's throat.

Hook, line, and sinker...

Wufei thinks as he folds his arms. "Something's come up. I was going to ask for your help. But if you're too busy..." Wufei lets the rest of the bait dangle off and closes his eyes as if he was preparing to turn and leave.

"What 'something'?!" Quatre asks with all the excitement and enthusiasm Wufei Chang was hoping he'd still have. Even after turning into a bookworm seatwarmer up here in this oh-so-comfortable office, being waited on hand and foot by his little trained minions.

That wasn't the life of adventure and justice seeking that all righteous Gundam pilots craved for....but this is.

"I'm not going to force you. And...I have no time for persuasion. You come or you don't. It makes no difference to me." Wufei had this bad attitude way of dealing with other people. But that didn't matter to Quatre right now. He didn't care how it was stated. All that mattered---he was was wanted. He was needed.

Me.

"You need me? Really?" The big, toothy over-excited grin of a little child wasn't exactly convincing to the warrior side of Chang's mind. But Wufei pushes that aside.

This was simply the outer cloak of innocent sweetness that his fellow blonde warrior kept as a mask over his true fighting spirit.

I have glimpsed this in battle beside you, Winner. You possess something that none of the others have. Something that even I myself have strived for in combat---and far excel in now, of course.

Wufei can't help but add that self-flattery.

You have the brains that can master any situation and Sanc could use some of those brains right now if it wants to survive this mess. I suppose even Pacifist nations don't deserve mushroom cloud status....I suppose.

"You, more than anyone..." Wufei answers Quatre's eager query, thinking about all the other "anyones" with a committed sigh.

Especially Maxwell....oh, ugh.....

"The trouble is in--" Wufei begins to explain this mission to Quatre but is cut off with big, enthusiastic eyes and smiles.

"I'll go! I'll do anything! You know, I was just thinking to myself, that this isn't really me." Quatre glances down at the pile of paperwork on the desk. This businessman suit, and tie and vest were just all too stifling for his free-willed soul all of a sudden.

After all, he had only ordered in all this extra work to be done because he wanted, for some strange unknown reason, to busily bury himself in his files--in his business. Right after his return from vacationing on the Catalonia Island--

I mean, Catalina Island. Right, I did, really.

And forget about his worries, his cares, and most of all---his love life...

"That's more like it, Mr. Gundam Pilot." Wufei gives Quatre a slightly pleased smile.

Wow. That's a first from you, Wufei!

He turns, without further ado on his heel and heads out the door, quite certain that one stuffy little weakling businessman was hot on his trail. And when Quatre slams the door behind them, Wufei is certain he walked out now beside a changed man.

A strong fighter.

CLACK!

The accountant in the other hallway was so wrapped up in his own paperwork obviously, that he didn't notice his boss' swift departure into an elevator that whisks the pair away.

The nerdy, eyeglassed man opens the door with his usual,
"Master Quatre, here are the latest accounts---"

Just to find the blonde haired, blue-eyed young man absconded from his office tomb.

"Master Quatre?" The man wonders where he disappeared to. There wasn't a responsible note, nor forwarded audio message left behind. Only a cascade of abandoned papers scattering to the floor in his winded wake.