Capítulo 19: The History of Revenge of the Lost (Part 2)
Earth- Middie Une's Apartment
Middie ate her gelatin after she took more of her medicine. It was so putrid, but it was supposed to help her heal faster. She heard her phone chirp. Texting. She was on a strict text only diet, everyone who knew her knew that. She looked at it. Gin was calling for his One Song. His nickname for her. He confused her name with Medley or Melody, and she never corrected him. She was raised knowing when to be nice and when to snap.
She answered his text though with a quick smile, letting him know she was around. She wasn't offering anything until she knew what his texts were about. In the meantime, she concentrated on her art. A commission piece. Just like her own disguise to the world, she knew how to make pretty art. Her specialty was children and unforgettable moments. Parents ate it up. A simple picture from a previous event and she'd recreate it with her paint and brushes. It was decent money on the side of her little job.
For someone like her, higher education would never be in the future, but the drawings gave enough that she managed to live in a decent apartment and not eat only the cheapest of food. She stepped back to gaze at the picture. Not cute enough. Parents wanted their kids to look absolutely innocent, like there was no imperfection unless it was a cute imperfection. This girl's cute imperfection was her tooth, but it was also drawing the eye. Less highlights toward it, and more toward her hair. She knew they wanted it to be accurate, so she rode out the imperfections by alluring the eyes somewhere else.
She was good at that too. The half grumpy looks and the almost close to bawling little girl now all looked like they were enjoying the moment of their lives forever. Which is what they wanted. It's what she was paid for. The fantasy.
Her phone continued to chirp. Oh no. She texted Gin back, saying she wasn't feeling better yet. She hadn't been, but feeling terrible wasn't going to make her lose her payday. After this one, it would be awhile. People didn't take her on like this all the time. It took the right person at the right time. Her phone chirped at her again. Great, he was asking if his musical birdie wanted him to come over to make her feel better? She couldn't make him mad. Without him, she wouldn't have had that surgery. She texted him that it would take at least a week before she felt better.
She went back to work when it chirped one more time. The reminder. She owed him. She rolled her eyes and tried to concentrate again. The art was some extra money, but not that much. Maybe she could sell some stuff? Oh if it was that easy, she could have done that beforehand. Her nice art went out for commissions. The art she kept that she could sell? Well?
It wouldn't sell. The art she created was never pretty. It was real. It was ugly. It was the real her. It would never make a dime.
Finishing touches and she'd wrap it up. Now though? Her phone wasn't chirping, he was knocking at her door. Really?
///Middie: Be nice, Middie./// She took a swig of her medicine. It was time to put on the best impression she could. She heard the door again. Being ready for if he did come over, she easily covered the artwork and she'd been working in her pj's. A quick robe over the pj's because she didn't want to beef up the wrong impression. More knocking.
Tying her robe up she trotted to the door with her best impression of a smile. She opened the door to see Gin and instead-
-came face to face with her past. ///Middie: No Name./// No Name was at her door. Same hair, same eyes, but clearly the same guy-
-she slammed her door taking several steps backward. What was he doing here? He had the chance to kill her all those years ago and he let her live. Did he regret that? Was he there to finish the job?
Well, she wouldn't let him! She ran to her room and grabbed her gun. She held it close, pointing it at the door, a part of her expecting him to break it down.
Just like the boy she remembered, quiet. Not a sound. Not another knock. Why after all these years was he knocking on her door? She should be the last person he should ever come and see. Did he regret letting her live? It didn't seem like him to suddenly come back and kill her. If he was going to do it, it would have been back then. When he had figured out she was a spy and had led others to his crew. When they were all killed and his fire would burn brightest to annihilate her. So why was he there, now? It was so long ago. Practically kids back then.
No sounds at the door still. She backed away. She could call the authorities, but then if he told them what she did? What proof, he destroyed the proof. He shot the cross and the little game that had been transmitters. That many years ago, he couldn't prove anything. Still, she just couldn't call the authorities. Maybe he'd go away? Maybe she could call a friend. No Name wasn't a people person, if she called up Gin to come over, he'd come right away. Gin would no doubt make No Name leave, at least for-
She felt the gun being relieved from her hand and looked behind her. No Name was right behind her. How did he-?! She pulled away, his grip hadn't been tight. She moved behind her couch, her heart heaving. The front door was the only way in. She had a back garden area, but it was small and she was so many floors up. How did he manage that? Wait. It was No Name. What a fool she'd been! He'd always been able to pull off the impossible.
"Middie Une." His quiet voice filled the air. "I'm not here to hurt you."
Sure. Then why else was he there? She looked out from behind the couch. He was emptying the bullets out of her gun. What was he up to-ooh! Ah, her throat again! No matter how much she stayed on her medicine, it was like it hardly even worked. She moved over to the other side of the couch. The front door wasn't far. She could dive for it. Unless he had another gun. Then again? He had her gun and he had her before. If he really wanted her dead, he would have done it then. She looked back out toward him. She had to say something. "Why?"
She watched as he started to approach. She instinctively moved back more, but she tried to keep her senses. She just reasoned he could have killed her by now. He was even leaving behind the gun. When he came near enough to her, he held out his hand. What was that? Maybe he was trying to trick her first before trying to shoot her? No. No, she didn't know what he was doing there. She was either going to stay crouched on that ground or she was going to take the hand. Those were her choices.
She took his hand and he helped her up. She eyed him wearily. What did he want? He didn't say anything at first. Just walked away from her now, looking at her apartment. Memories started to come back to her. Even if she ran for the front door, he'd just catch her. No Name was very good at tracking. She had no choice but to wait patiently to find out what he really wanted.
---
Trowa wasn't surprised by her actions. He used the front door as a distraction to make sure she grabbed any kind of weapon she had so when he came around, he could pull it away. He didn't want it to get bloody, not on him, and not on her. He was taking Heero's advice, having no idea what could be waiting for Middie Une. Heero had a big problem with Relena Peacecraft and Wufei almost had the start of a war. Trowa only had a limited amount of time to learn about what she'd been up to since then. He wandered around lightly, not touching anything. Middie wasn't moving, she wouldn't be going for the front door. He'd catch her if she did.
Since he left her alive, he hadn't found her in any secret spy mission again. It could be hidden deeper though. Her apartment seemed fine. He saw a covering over an easel. He looked underneath it. Interesting. He looked away again and went further. She had another room that had more paintings. There it had been.
Regret. Despair. Sorrow. There was no pretend beauty hiding imperfections like he had seen in her other work. It was real. The imperfections weren't hidden, it was all in the viewer's face. She wasn't a spy anymore. It was clear in what he had seen. He moved out of there and back toward her. "An unfortunate circumstance has brought us together again."
Her brow raised. He knew she wouldn't want to speak. In fact, he would need to pick up that medicine. Quatre warned him that Heero said it wasn't helping them. Just making them hurt more. They stared at each other for a little while until he spoke again. "Have you heard of Revenge of the Lost?"
Ooh. She was starting to take steps backward now. She had known of them?
Trowa approached her slowly. "What do you know of them?"
"I thought." She rolled her tongue. "Outran them."
"They were after you?" Trowa gestured to her phone. She should use that to talk. "Who are they? What do they really want?"
Middie typed on her phone and then showed it to him.
Ah. It said, 'What hell have they brought on me?' She was expecting something large. "Us, actually. We both picked sides, in a war. We were on opposite sides. That war is over." Maybe that would make her relax.
"Not to them." She spoke again and held up her phone with the same message. 'What hell have they brought on me?'
"What do you know about them?" Trowa asked her.
She wrote longer on her phone. It seemed she had ran into the leader, shortly after she stopped being a spy. She was trying to infiltrate the rebel group to see if she could get some money. For her family, no doubt. Then came something Trowa hadn't known. Heero and Wufei had no info on it either.
Revenge of the Lost were not just avenging deaths. They were mothers and sisters, avenging deaths of very young children, lost at war. Some had training, some didn't. The longer they'd been in the group, the colder and more trained they had been. They had been underground she said, almost since she was born. They sympathized with Middie Une because of her brothers and father, but wouldn't let her join. She wasn't a mother or a sister who lost a child or a little sibling. When they dug deeper and found out she'd been a spy, little brothers or not, they turned on her.
Back then, they weren't as powerful, and the leader Crystalia was only coming into a real sense of power. It wasn't until the all-out times of Operation Meteor, that she was raised into higher power.
Middie wrote that she never killed children in her spy missions. They were never onboard.
"Maybe." Maybe not. The gundams were so large, that so many had been hurt. Which meant? Whether they had or had not killed anyone, the gundams didn't represent anything to them but the ultimate destructors of innocence. The ultimate weapons, and the ones who ran those weapons. The enemy. Perhaps, even enough . . . to carry out a plan against someone they knew. "Don't move." Trowa picked up his phone and went to her garden area. Middie would certainly not move now, she wanted to know what they did. That? That wasn't what Trowa was interested in right now.
He called up Catherine, hoping he was wrong.
"Trowa? Did you find her?" Nothing but concern in her voice. "Now what will you do?"
"She's not a spy anymore," he said to her. "I'm sure of it. Catherine? Do you know anything about Revenge of the Lost?"
"No." That sounded truthful too. "I'd never want to know about some rebel group. I hate war."
"I know." Okay. "She's fine still out here. I don't know what RTL is planning. I should get her out."
"Are you sure she isn't a spy, Trowa?" She was so worried. Trowa didn't blame her. Trowa traveled with the circus, and he didn't live in the same kind of life as Middie Une. Whatever he chose wouldn't be easy. Go back to the circus with his sister? Do what Duo did and run with her? He couldn't leave her there, she was too exposed. RTL had found the women, and probably found the doctors if they had survived, but there was no proof RTL had bothered with the pilots' lives. It would have been tough to find some of them. Many times, they didn't even know how to find each other at all times. He heard someone knocking on her front door. "I have to go, Catherine."
"Careful, Trowa."
Trowa went back in and looked toward her. She hadn't moved from behind the couch. She didn't look comfortable though. Trowa gestured to the front door. He still had his own way of dealing with things if it turned sour. "Do you know that person?"
Middie moved over toward the door's peephole and looked out. A nod.
The less hassle, the better. Until he knew for sure what his next step should be, she should live her life normally. He moved a small way away and let her answer the door.
---
"Hey, there's my One Song." Gin grabbed Middie and swung her around. "Wow, you weren't kidding. I mean, look how you answered the door." Middie grunted lightly. "Oh, I know, I know. You're sick over here and there's nobody to take care of you. So, I was thinking? For the time being, that you should come live with me. A couple of weeks, just 'til you are back on your feet. I'll even cover your rent," he said to sweeten the deal. "You know this whole surgery was going to hurt for your rent."
Middie wrote on her phone and showed him. "Aw, my little One Song. A commission of 500 to sweeten the pot? Your surgery was expensive, you had to pay for medication, you need to cover your rent, and to top it all off? You are still going to be gone at work." He bopped her nose playfully. "Come on, One Song. I know your struggling. Just bend a little for me." She gestured toward her throat again. "Don't worry. I've got things for you to do that don't involve the throat."
She got pulled outside and the door closed. "Let's go. I'm sure you probably want something for your throat. Maybe a hot cappuccino or something?"
This wasn't good. Gin was aggressive when he didn't get his way, but she couldn't leave Trowa. He'd come after her again. Pointing out that he was in there also wasn't a good idea. Gin was playful, silly even, but he had a mad streak and he wouldn't see Trowa in the right light. She wrote on her phone a second, dropped it to the floor and then willingly went toward Gin, like the whole idea was just fine with her. A placated smile and she was right in his arms.
When Trowa came out, he could see her new residence. Whatever RTL did, she needed to know. In the meantime, she had to save her own skin. Gin got what he wanted, with a willing smile or not. He wasn't someone you messed around with. If she didn't get playful and sweet after his offer, things would have gone worse. Not better.
Trowa came out the door. Whoever that had been, they practically seized Middie against her will at the door. Was RTL's revenge already starting? He saw her phone she'd been talking to him with on the ground. Her line of communication. She only dropped that for one reason. He picked it up and read the message she left.
An address and a name. Trowa had already got the hint from the conversation that he had paid for the surgery. This 'Gin' wasn't waiting for payment. What was RTL up to?
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