Scene 11 - 15 Gundam Wing After Dekim
Scenes 11 - 15
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Valdimir Nabokov:
fancy prose style.
Oscar Wilde:
his enemies.
Duo Maxwell, now known only as
Shinigami, stepped over the dirty streets of the Sha in in L2.
bitterly at the many homeless he saw walking the streets.
never showed any weakness for long. He
was tired but his steps were careful and energetic.
Just a few hours earlier he and
Tahil, who was still by his side, had gone to the shuttle port and had managed
to erase all traces of his arrival to L2.
He smiled at the tiny girl by his side.
“See something you like?” She challenged.
“Not in the way you’re thinking
babe,” He laughed easily. “I’m heading
to Arman’s. You can’t follow me there;
I’ll call on you when I need you again.”
Tahil merely nodded.
his side and slipped away. He picked up
the pace stopping to glance at his reflection in a shop mirror.
Death, looking back at him. There was no
trace of Duo Maxwell.
“Hey kid,” The shop owner stood in
the doorway glaring at him. “Buy
something or get lost.”
“I don’t like your tone friend,”
Shinigami glared back. “Let everyone
know that Shinigami walks among you now.”
The shop owner opened his mouth to
retort but Cottonmouth silently glided up to Shinigami’s side.
Cottonmouth was, Shai Ichii’s voice to the people, and they feared him.
“My master has a message,”
Cottonmouth spoke with authority and people began to gather around and
listen. “He honors you Shinigami and
casts his vote for you to become high leader.”
There was a murmuring among those
who had gathered. Everyone knew what the
position of high leader was, even though it had never been evoked or held by
anyone in the history of the Shadows.
The leaders of the five Cartels had to elect someone into the position,
a position held for life. The high
leader had complete control over the Cartels which meant complete control over
the Shadows. The Ichii Cartel had just
made a ic aic announcement that would either damn the Cartel or help it.
“If that is the First’s decision,”
A new voice spoke up. “Jimmy Daman will
support it and also nominates Shinigami to the position of high leader.”
The murmuring of the crowd
increased. All present knew that they
were witnessing a very important moment within the Shadows, a possibly change
in leadership. They looked to Shinigami
with interest and all noted how calm he was.
Silence reigned as three other figures stepped out of the crowd, figures
recognized as the remaining public voices of the three remaining Cartels who
had yet to cast their votes.
“Juan Sanchez will see Shinigami
nominated to the role of high leader,” The man smiled and bowed his head to
Shinigami.
Shinigami watched them all with a
look of calm and borderline indifference.
Make no mistake, he knew just what a momentous occasion this was for the
people of the Shadows but he was not overly surprised by the recent turn of
events. He noted with hidden amusement
that the shop ownas vas visibly shaking, realizing his grave mistake.
people around him visibly thinned.
“On behalf of Aidan Kincaid,” A
tall thin man spoke next. “He too will
nominate Shinigami to the position of high leader.”
“Hosea Arman will also nominate
Shinigami as high leader,” The last man spoke.
“You,” Shinigami pointed to the
store owner. “Come here!”
The shop owner stumbled forward,
face pale and eyes wide.
“Are you good with figures and do
you have a good memory?” Shinigami asked.
“Yes,” The man was able to say
without stuttering.
“Good,” Shinigami smirked.
“Troy Stevens,” He said quickly.
“Well
Shinigami said. “I like your attitude
and I want you to be my personal accountant and assistant.
got balls. Would you be willing to serve
me?”
“Whatever you command,”
agreed.
“I’m not a fucking dictator,”
Shinigami hissed.“It’s your
choice! I can promise you the work won’t
be easy.”
“I’ll do it,”
said evenly.
“Excellent,” Shinigami smiled.
messengers. “I want a meeting at Arman’s
in three hours in his study.”
The five nodded and slipped
away.
“You know the
place right?” Shinigami asked
The other nodded and Shinigami went
on.
“I want you to go there and when
it’s finished come and me me at Mimi’s,” Shinigami instructed.
nodded and went offcarrcarry out his orders.
Shinigami walked slowly through the
alleyways of the Shadows. The crowd had
dispersed and he had quickly taken his leave.
With a weary shake of his head he continued putting one foot in front of
the other, coming ever closer to his destination.
surprise the leaders of the cartels.
After all he was about to sneak his way into the most secure holding in
the Shadows, Arman’s very own house.
He carefully pulled out of his
jacket a tiny hand held device. It was
something he had put together himself, a little trick.
he input the proper commands into the tiny thing and waited for it to get to
work. He smiled in satisfaction as the
series of code flew across the tiny screen and slipped into Arman’s yard.
able to disrupt most electronic security systems with hardly any indication in
the actual security system, a wonderful device.
Carefully he picked his way into the study on the bottom floor and
arranged the furniture around a low lying table.
Lady Luck was with him when he
heard several sets of footsteps outside the door.
voices.
“What do you mean that he’ll meet
us here?” Sanchez’s voice reached his ears.
“He’ll be here,” Ichii assured the
group. “He’s Shinigami.
Shinigami watched with lidded eyes
as the door swung open. He spoke before
they could turn the lights on.
“You’re right to trust me Ichii,”
Shinigami smiled thinly. “The rest of
you should follow his example. Don’t
worry about your security systems Arman; I can assure you that they are quite
good. Let’s get down to business
gentlemen.”
“You called
us here,” Kincaid said taking the seat closest to Shinigami.
is about?”
“New
orders,” Shinigami drawled. “I want
better information networks set up and quickly.
They need to be coded and reliable.
There are specific people I want watched but we’ll get to that list
shortly. I also want information on the
government and any underhanded dealings they might partake in.
contact with me will contact Mr. Stevens.”
“We keep
abreast of world wide politics,”
“Exactly that,” Shinigami
nodded. “I also want all the former
Gundam Pilots watched, Quatre Winner and WEI, Trowa Barton and the circus,
Wufei Chang and the Preventers, and Heero Yuy needs to be tracked down.
and her trial, if she is convicted and sentenced I want to break her out and
have a place ready for her here. Keep an
eye on Lady Une, Zechs Merquise, Lucrezia Noin, and the very last person I want
watched is Relena Peacecraft.”
“Yuy was last seen in
and he should still be there,” Kincaid offered.
“I have my people watching him, but discreetly.”
“Continue on that way,” Shinigami
cautioned. “He’s dangerous.”
“We’ll do as you’ve requested,”
Ichii promised.
“Then I’m going back to Mimi’s to
get some sleep,” Shinigami stood. “I’ll
be leaving for a mission to L3 in two days to take care of Redner.
With those last words he turned and
dived out the window. He was gone by the
time Ichii moved to shut it.
Shinigami
slipped back into his room at Mimi’s and wearily sank down onto the mostly
clean bed. He was used to such
conditions, a little dirt and grime never hurt anyone, certainly not him.
last time he had had any decent sleep was two and a half days ago.
the same time he almost wished that he had sent someone else to see
Quatre. There were a few things that he
did not want the Arabian to figure out before he had to and his upcoming
assignment might make Quatre reconsider giving him this long term mission, if
he ever linked the assignment to Shinigami.
He did not plan on allowing that to happen.
Still there
was much that could go wrong but he would not worry about it now.
It seemed
not even five minutes from when his head touched the pillow that he was
awakened by an insistent rapping on the door of his room.
it was never good if your senses were not always on high alert in the
Shadows. He rolled over in bed hoping to
block out the annoying noise but the pounding only served to match that in his
head. He glanced at the tiny clock in
the wall and noted that he had managed four hours of sleep, plenty for whatever
the day might bring to him. The rapping
continued and he quickly crossed the small space to the door from the bed and
yanked it open, ready to face whatever was on the other side.
“
Shinigami blinked a few times to make sure his eyes were not playing tricks on
him. “What is it?”
Troy
Stevens was Shinigami’s new personal aide.
“
is all fixed up,”
Shinigami’s appearance and his rumpled clothes with a mental grimace.
“I was
sleeping,” Shinigami grumbled slightly.
“So there’s no emergency? We’re
just moving me?”
“Yeah,”
hefted the two bags easily moving to the door.
“Ichii wants you to have time to set up your security before you head to
L3 for that one job. What are you going
to do there anyway?”
“You really
want to know?” Shinigami asked with a smile, much more awake now.
going to kill the bastard. He’s
beginning to get a hold on Arman and he already has damning evidence on
Ichii.” Shinigami shook his head.
Committee on the Earth United Sphere Council next week and I can’t let that
happen.n stn style=\'mso-spacerun:yes\'> So I’m going to clean up that
mess and Howard will pick me up and bring me back.”
“Is there
anything that needs to be taken care of while you’re gone?”
asked as they headed out of Mimi’s.
“Keep
negotiations with the Yakuza open,” Shinigami instructed briskly as they walked
along. “If you can try to set up a job
by job negotiation system or you can off them an extra two hundred credits a
month from the original offer. Try and
dig up some more information on Dorothy Catalonia’s trial too.
the opposition buy them off or kill them.”
His violet eyes glittered darkly as he went on.
me before taking any action.”
nodded as he mentally catalogued his orders, “Should I pass on any new
information on the
situation to you? And I’ll remember to
check in daily.”
“Yeah,”
Shinigami rubbed the back of his neck.
“Anything on Dorothy just give me a call, day or night.
wait.”
Tory nodded
and stepped back to let Shinigami walk into the mansion first.
marble, with two stair cases leading up to the second floor on either
side. On the main floor was a dining
hall, ballroom, two full bathrooms, a library, kitchen and two other rooms that
could be used for various things. The
second floor consisted of a master bedroom suite with a living room and
bathroom attachment, two other bedrooms, two more full bathrooms, a private
study, and two other multi-purpose rooms.
Both the attic and basement were divided into five sections.
The
mansion was huge. He loved it though.
looked around the entrance hall.
Everything was clean.There was
fresh paint and new light fixtures, nearly everything was new but it fit in
well with the original style of the house which pleased him greatly.
himself and he and
his thingpan pan style=\'mso-spacerun:yes\'> Soon after
left him to explore on his own.
Shinigami
spent the next day setting up his security in and around the house.
property and also around the perimeter of the house.
and just around the outside of the house and he put other more sensitive
sensors on the windows, doors and stairways.
which he could monitor and change through his laptop no matter where he
was. Being Heero Yuy’s partner and
roommate had paid off in many little ways he thought with ater ter smile.
Two days
later Shinigami was step off off his private shuttle and onto L3-A1.
leather jacket and he wore a black fedora hat pulled low, a new addition to his
wardrobe from Jimmy Damanan san style=\'mso-spacerun:yes\'> The man had
told him that the hat “suited him” and he personally agreed it had the right
touch of style to it. Shinigami and
had become close despite their age differences; both had a similar easy-going
and joking personality. He had the same
closeness with Ichii, their ruthlessness and tenacity drawing them together in
a strange way. It was in Ichii’s shuttle
that he had traveled to L3-A1 in at Ichii’s insistence because the custom’s
master would recognize it and not put him through any ‘real’ searches.
Ten minutes
after landing he was outside the shuttle port with his rucksack waiting for his
ride. Howard was already prepped to pick
him up in three days unless there was a change ians.ans.
massive man hunt for Redner’s killer because he was a big shot on L3 but he had
to go, he knew too much about Ichii’s business.
If Herr Redner was allowed to testify Shinigami’s position would be
weakened, as would the Shadows and he could not afford that kind of a set back
in his plans.
A blue
Cadillac pulled up in front of where he was standing and he climbed fterfter
checking the license plate.
“Give me
the information,” Shinigami said in the passenger seat as soon as the car had
begun to pull away from the shuttle port.
“So you’re
Shinigami?” The driver said looking at him carefully but it was hard to get a
good look with the fedora angled the way it was.
“Not in
this line of work. Comments like that
won’t endear you to me either.”
“I don’t have
to be on your good side,” The man commented casually.
“It’s in
your best interest to help me,” Shinigami was calm again; he kept his threat
vague in the hopes that the man would ask him why and he wasn’t disappointed
either.
“And why is
that?” The man shifted in his seat.
“If you
want to continue business with the Shadows, Yakuza, or any of the Irish,
Latin/Spanish, or Asian groups you’ll behave and do as I say,” Shinigami said
evenly.
“I know you
have some sway in the Shadows,” The man sounded bored as he relayed the facts
that he was already aware of, what many in the Underworld were aware of.
“He does
now,” Shinigami smirked. “He owes me a
lot of money, more than he could probably repay me in his lifetime.
High Leader in the Shadows. Either you
work for me when I need you to or your business is ruined.
really what you do.”
“I don’t
see any real benefits in there for me,” The man said getting ready to conduct a
business deal, hoping to get something out of Shinigami.
“You owe me
money too,” Shinigami began in a bored tone.
“Plus I offer protection from the authorities, including the
Preventers. If business gets rough I can
pull some strings, make a few deals and get things picked up a little bit for
you.Or I can even loan you money in
return for favors.”
“What do
you want from me?” The man asked. “What
kind of favors?”
“Mr.
Stevens will be in touch with you if any of these favors, besides passing on
information on the list,” Shinigami informed the man.
for Ichii and no one else. I’ll kill
Redner, get what I came here for and blow up his offices.”
“But why
you?” The man asked. “Why are you the
one who’s doing this?”
“Because I
never miss a target,” Shinigami’s tone was cold.
“How many
have you done?” The man asked comfortable talking shop, something he was
familiar with
.
“Lost count
a long time ago,” Shinigami shrugged.
“How’d you
manage to do that?” He asked interested.
“I killed
probably tens of thousands in the first war alone,” Shinigami was a little
uncomfortable but he didn’t let it show.
“It got hard keeping track after my first ten or so missions.
conversation.”
“Ah, I
won’t,” The man assured and then he began to give Shinigami the information he
needed. “Redner will be working late
tonight and after ten there won’t be anyone there but him, not even any
janitors. Tonight is the perfect opportunity
for what you have planned.
“In the
trunk there’s four blocks of C-4, the remote detonator and the remote fuses,
and gun gun with the laser mount you requested.
There’s also a lock picking kit back there because I thought you might
need it but I wasn’t sure. It doesn’t
work well with older locks but it might come in handy so I just stuck it in
there.”
“Thanks,”
Shinigami smiled. “What kind of safe is
in the office?”
“A
StrongArm5000,” The man said the name a little hesitantly, expecting there to
be an outburst of anger.
“Good,”
Shinigami sounded relieved instead. “That’s
an easy model to work with.”
“Easy?” The
man squeaked in surprise. “What’s your
time?”
“Depends on
one thing,” Shinigami answered. “If I
leave behind evidence it takes me about ten to twenty minutes.
I’ve been in the safe it takes me about thirty minutes to fifty minutes, all
depends on how my touch is. I got in a
lot of practice when I was with the Sweepers.”
The car
fell silent. They pulled into an
apartment complex. The man took
Shinigami to the trunk and handed him the duffel bag filled with the
aforementioned items and then the two went up into an apartment and Shinigami
took a nap until five that evening. The
man ordered Chinese food for them but found that he was too nervous to eat much
but Shinigami ate more than enough for both of them and the man could only
watch and shake his head.
By seven
Shinigami was dressed and ready to go.
The two drove the blue Cadillac and parked it up the street.
his laptop inside the car. He had the
cameras begin splicing and replaying a continuous feed showing that nothing was
out of the ordinary.
‘You’d
think people would understand technology is faulty,’ He thought to
himself. ‘And I was expecting someone
like Herr Redner to have a few security guards, but I’m not complaining any
since it makes my job easier that he doesn’t.’
At
sent the blue Cadillac off, telling the driver to return in exactly an hour and
ten minutes three blocks away. He stuck
some C-4 by the front, back and side exits, all with remote detonators in every
charge he placed. He also put C-4 on
most of the support walls on the first three floors of the building to ensure
that the innards of the building would be a real mess for investigators.
Shinigami
went up to his objective on the fourth floor.
Here he placed only a skeletal amount of C-4 because it wasn’t necessary
to waste what he didn’t need, especially because he didn’t want to demolish the
building. If he did that it might take
the investigators too long to find the body and the empty safe.
Carefully
he crept to Redner’s off and tested the door.
It was locked, like he had expected.
The pick tools he had been supplied wouldn’t work for this lock, it was
too old but he had extra ones stuffed in his braid and used one now to pick the
lock. It was a cheap lock for someone
with a StrongArm5000 but Redner only played at being extremely wealthy.
people who were loaded and refused to share any with the less fortunate.
Redner
didn’t even look up as the door opened soundlessly, another trick that
Shinigami had picked up while growing up with Solo.
even his peripheral vision registered as Shinigami crept into the room.
door clicking shut, a sound that Shinigami had wanted him to hear.
Redner
didn’t look surprised at the intrusion or the appearance of someone he had
never seen before.
“I was
expecting someone,” He said calmly.
“You’re here to buy me off aren’t you?”
“What makes
you say that?” The question was asked from the black figure who was now seated
across the desk from Redner, feet up on the desk.
“You don’t
have a mask on to hide your features,” Redner pointed out the obvious.
if you were here to kill me you wouldn’t want me to see what you look like.”
“You’ve
learned too much on Ichii for me to just let you live,” Shinigami smiled at his
prey. “You see, I’m different from most
assassins. Those who wear masks are
cowards. Although I will tell you that
Ichii thought it was best to try and bribe you.
Fortunately I outrank him and you’re too much of a liability to me, so
yes, I’m afraid I am going to kill you but you have to answer a few questions
for me first.”
“Who are
you?” Redner now had a bead of sweat visible on his brow line.
“Shinigami,”
He said with a grin. “And I’m your worst
nightmare.”
“If you’ve
come to kill me than just do it,” Redner jutted his chin out trying to be brave
but failing miserably.
“I know
you’re scared Redner,” Shinigami smirked coldly.
die, that’s my choice. Very few can
truly face death without fear except for the Gundam Pilots but they’re a rare
breed and you’re a common one. Now, who
else have you spoken to about Ichii? Who
else knows?”
“No one,”
Redner looked defeated but Shinigami had to be sure.
“Are you
telling me the truth?” Shinigami was sarcastically nicpan
pan
style=\'mso-spacerun:yes\'> “Because if you aren’t I’ll wait until this
building is filled with people before I blow it.
but mine are already permanently red and I don’t give a damn anyhow.
Wordlessly
Redner shook his head.
maniaca a l a look that was usually was reserved for when he was inside his
Gundam out in the heat of battle.
Shinigami had no problems killing and Duo did not either, so long as
they weren’t innocents, but Redner was no innocent and Shinigami never made
those distinctions like Duo did. Still
he would be able to follow through with his threat if he had to because it
would be Shinigami pushing the button in the morning.
But he was
pleased that Redner could still think enough to answer the questions.
were going to die soon, not that he had ever felt that way when looking at
death so he could not really relate to what was going through Redner’s
mind. But before he killed him there was
one more thing that he needed to be sure of.
Just one more question and the man could die.
“Now then,”
He kept his tone light and dropped his feet to the floor.
else besides your head?”
Nervously
Redner glanced at his fireproof StrongArm5000 standing proudly in the
corner. Shinigami noticed and was
amused. The self-assured pompous
bastard, otherwise known as Herr Redner, was unsure and shaking slightly now.
“I already
know about tafe,afe,” He sighed tiredly.
“I want to know if there’s anywhere else besides the safe?
Redner
mouthed a ‘no’.
“Good,”
Shinigami grinned.
Too rapidly
for Redner to follow Shinigami pulled out a gun, took aim, pulled the trigger
and Redner fell over dead. There was a
neat entrance wound in his face and a large exit wound in the back of his head
that had sprayed some of Redner’s brains onto the wall and part of his
bookcase. Still it was a quick and
mostly neat and painless way to die.
Redner was lucky in that respect, he had not been stupid enough to take
anyone else down with him either.
With fluid
grace Shinigami crossed over to the safe, knelt down and got to work.
and feel method, there was just a sacredness to it that couldn’t be matched
when using technology. That sacredness
made everything whole and complete, even if for just a few moments.
moment but it was worth the time spent.
Shinigami pulled out all the folders, papers and disks from within the
safe and stuffed them into the duffel bag.
He could go through them later.
After a
brief moments hesitation he stuffed in some empty papers and placed a small
chunk of C-4 and shut the safe door.
Carefully Shinigami made his way out of the building, fedora pulled low
and coat collar up high. Two blocks
later he pressed the remote and after a slight delay a deafening BOOM! could be
felt and heard.
A satisfied
smile in place he moved off down the street whistling a jaunty tune.
going to let Barton in on his mission.
He could provide a place to lay low and meet with Quatre.
him to at least listen and hear him out.
And while this guaranteed him nothing it was the best he was going to
get and he was adept at dealing with less than the best circumstances, he just
took what he could get and worked around what he could not.
So he
climbed back into the blue Cadillac and they drove for thirty minutes before
they got close to the circus where Barton was.
Shinigami, with his rucksack over one shoulder, was to to catch the
end of the Dagger Dance Barton did with his sister Catherine Bloom and he was
impressed once more by his comrades fluid grace.
Without Still he Shinigami “Hello “Duo?” “Yeah well Trowa “It’s “There’s “I won’t “I don’t go
attracting any notice, Shinigami crept after the two.
way Shinigami would be able to get him alone because the Dagger Dance was close
to the end of the last set of acts. That
meant fewer people were rushing around; in fact the animals were already bedded
down for the night, their caretakers already in bed in their trailers.
waited, allowing himself the extra time to grow accustomed to all the different
sounds that came with a circus. His
senses adjusted quickly and he could soon distinguish human noises, night
noises that were common with a circus and the sounds of the ani.
senses caught anything that he had not previously heard he would be alerted to
it. Shortly he was able to distinguish
Trowa’s noises from everything else, although it was not easy to pinpoint the
banged boy’s location. It appeared that
Trowa still kept up some habits from the war, more than most ordinary soldiers,
only he was a Gundam Pilot and therefore what could be considered normal for an
ex-soldier would not be normal for them.
stole out from behind the crates and out from the darkness of the night,
heading towards the lion cage where his old buddy was based off of the noises
that he was hearing. He stopped within
Barton’s line of sight.
Trowa,” Shinigami spoke softly.
Trowa stood gracefully and turned to face him.
“Quatre’s been looking for you.
Une and Wufei are worried.”
Une and Wufei just think I’m going to do something stupid if I’m not
monitored,” Shinigami said looking around the animal cages.
nodded, his one green eye that was visible from under his bang assessing his
old ade.ade. He took Shinigami to a tiny
and well sound proofed trailer.
mine,” Trowa said unlocking it and stepping inside.
something I need to tell you,” Shinigami sighed looking around at the tidy
trailer. “But the Preventers can’t know,
you can’t tell anyone this. This is
personal information that I’m going to reveal to you before anything else ok?”
say anything,” Trowa blinked his visible eye, the green glittering like a
jewel. “You have both my word and oath
on it.”
by Duo Maxwell any longer,” Shinigami looked down at the floor before lifting
his head and looking Trowa in the eye once more.
become well known soon enough. I grew up
in the Shadows, Tro. My first memories
are from there, I know how to do all the dirty things that a street whore
does. I know the drugs, though not
firsthand and I know the Underworld.
the Underworld, they owe me more than they could ever repay me for helping keep
them afloat during the wars. I loaned
them money and arranged for their products to be shipped safely so they could
stay in business. To a certain extent
the Underworld has always been connected but I’m connecting them even more,
forming the most secret and failsafe communications network.
politicians, and people I’ve asked them to watch.
“I’m on a
mission, of a personal nature to a certain extent.
Underworld. Mostly I’m using them for
the information but occasionally people who get too close to me or to other
delicate situations have to disappear, you know.
“Every
month I compile a report and I personally deliver it to a courier who then
takes it directly to a mutual friend of ours.
Now you can’t be mad at Quatre for lying to you and everyone else
because I made him swear to me on all that was and is dear to him that he
wouldn’t tell anyone else what I was doing for both myself and him.
know he’ll begin to crack if there’s no one to talk to about this and other
things and for obvious reasons I can’t contact him directly too often.
from time to time and make sure he’s doing ok with work and everything else.”
> “Does Wufei
know?” Trowa asked calmly. “Or Heero?”
“Wufei’s
with the Preventers,” Shinigami snorted loudly.
“And Heero’s disappeared but I’m trying to track him down, but not too
hard. I know he wants a chance to be
normal so I’m giving it to him. The world
will turn on us again but I’m going to try and keep that from ever happening or
not happening too badly if it does.
Still it’s only a matter of time before most of the people thinkt
wt
we’re the bad guys and most of the bastard politicians already believe that or
something close to it, like we’d rape their mothers or something.”
“I know,”
Trowa shifted and sighed. “I’m too much
of a soldier to not see the signs that were there last time and again this
time. I’ll keep an epen pen for anything
out of the ordinary from wherever the circus is.
well. I still think that you should tell
Wufei but I won’t betray your trust, I just want you to know I don’t approve of
keeping this from him or approve of all your methods.
“The only
reasons I’m doing this fou isu is because I know that if the peace falls within
the next ten years and we only have the Preventers things will be bad.
you and Quatre and because I know that you’d do anything to keep this peace
from collapsing.”
“Thanks
man,” Shinigami grinned and sank down onto one of the bunksan
an
style=\'mso-spacerun:yes\'> “Would it be too much to lay low here for a
few days? You know, until the manhunt
blows over?”
“What did
you do Shinigami?” Trowa asked, his green eye twinkling with suppressed mirth
that comes from knowing your comrades for a long time.
“Well,”
Shinigami tried not to smile. “I got rid
of Herr Redner and blew up his offices.
He got a little too close to me, but no one else was hurt.
“Redner
should have been prepared for something like that,” Trowa said.
went to war with Ichii.”
“So you
know their names?” Shinigami tilted his fedora to the side so it rested at a
jaunty angle.
“Only
because the circus has occasionally hidden wanted men,” Trowa smiled at the
phrase. “So you won’t be too out of
place here, or the first we’ve hidden.
As long as you stay in the back area you’ll be protected, just try to
keep your braid covered, that’s too hard to explain away.
you lay low. The circus doesn’t perform
tomorrow or the day after which is perfect because you and I have some catching
up to do.”
“You mean I
have a lot of explaining to do,” Shinigami half-joked.
“That too,”
Trowa said with a half smile. “I’ve
missed knowing that you were around.
It’s good to have you back.”
“I’ll
always be watching from the sidelines you know,” Shinigami reminded him.
though.”
“Aa,” Trowa
answered. “Good to know.”
The two
spent the night in companionable silence, finding comfort in each others quiet
presence and strength. There were no
nightmares until they woke the next morning.
By then Herr Redner’s death and the expln ofn of his offices was
plastered all over the morning news and it was believed to be the work of a
terrorist group which struck both the young men as a fitting explanation.
The circus
folk were more than happy to help out Trowa’s friend but Catherine was harder
to convince and fool and finally both of them agreed and revealed Shinigami’s
identity. Fortunately she agreed
wholeheartedly to keep his identity a secret and to his him whenever he needed
because she firmly believed that each of the former Pilots deserved the chance
at a norlifelife and she was also glad to see that Trowa had friends outside
the circus, friends who cared about him.
“Well Tro,”
Shinigami was saying three days later as they stood waiting for a Sweeper
contact. “It was great seeing you again
and thanks for, well; you know what I’m trying to say.”
“I know,”
Trowa offered a tiny smile. “Take care
of yourself Shinigami and if you need anything you know how to look me up.”
Shinigami
pulled him into a fierce hug, surprising Trowa, but the young man returned the
embrace just as fiercely. They
understood each other, more than twins or spouses or best friends.
completely with their lives and with all the innocents lives and they accepted
each other, with all the scars. For them
this secret would either make that bond stronger or weaker, only time would
tell. But both of them felt sure enough
of that bond to take that risk with it.
Shinigami
spotted his Sweeper contact and followed after him, leaving Trowa behind with
one last grin, and then he vanished.
Soon enough he and his contact were in a tiny private shuttle port
inside a two person shuttle that taking off from the runway.
“Man
Shinigami,” The contact grinned. “You
cut it close there. Nice job though,
very thorough and all that.”
“Thanks,”
Shinigami said. “Will Howard be here?”
“Yeah,” The
young man said. “I think that he’s
really eager to talk with you.”
“He’s not
the only one eager for a little chat,” Shinigami smiled.