บท 63: Dial Tone
Duo watched the red lights start to go off with the sound of alarms. "See? I guarantee that wasn't put in for festivity, Hilde."
"Someone is coming for us!" Hilde brightened up right away.
"Yeah, I guess I'll let someone else get the glory this time around," he teased. "I wonder who it is?" He stared down the hall. "Heero never found anything same as me, so it can't be him. Could be Trowa, but he's staying out of the way so he doesn't get killed. Maybe Quatre, but Dorothy is being hunted? Gotta be Wufei." He looked toward Hilde. "It's not really Wufei's thing to go rescue someone though out of the blue. The only one that tends to do that is-"
He watched Heero coming down between the cells. "Well, hell, it was you?" Duo greeted him. "You didn't have any info either. Were you hiding stuff from me? Not real nice, Heero."
"Duo!" Hilde scolded him. "Be nice to our rescuer please!" She smiled at Heero. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"
"Hm." Classic Heero line as he opened her cell first. He had keys? Nice. He gave the keys to Hilde. "Rescue him now, I have to get back to Relena."
Hilde unlocked the door and he wrapped her up in a hug. It was going to be okay. As they went out the door, they saw several women on the ground unconscious. Sleeping gas? "You know what? I shouldn't be surprised, he probably has it stuffed in his trunk like a spare tire."
They both walked out and ran to the car that Heero and Relena were sitting in.
"Nice ride," Duo said to Heero.
"Hn." Another classic line.
"Now where do we go?" Hilde asked as they started to leave.
"Away from here," Duo told her. Far, far away from there. "Thanks for the assist."
"Oh, Relena." Hilde leaned forward slightly. "How are you doing?"
"Don't bother her right now," Heero insisted. "She's trying to eat without vomiting."
Ooh. Duo noticed what she was eating. "Hey, when did you stop and get a full blown dinner?" It was even steaming still. "Did you really stop and get food before saving us?"
"Duo, do not go there right now." Heero sounded tense about that.
"Duo." Hilde reeled him in finally by tipping his hat. "I'm happy we're out too." She hugged him.
He wrapped an arm around her casually too. "So driver, how did you really manage to find us?"
"Trowa's mother is Crystalia. Crystalia Bloom is the founder of RTL. Trowa believes she's turned against them because they'll want to kill her."
Uh? "Well, I wasn't the only one with the old family surprise." Duo would take Gin any day over that one. "Damn, that meant she was responsible for her own grandchild?"
"Responsible for everything," Heero corrected him. "She's not the one in charge though. Someone named Superior is."
"Pull over!"
Well, that ended the interesting conversation they were having. Heero stopped but he still took a little longer than he should have. Kind of weird for him. Relena popped the door open and got out.
"That went north pretty fast," Duo said to Hilde.
"Yeah, just another reason I'm so glad we are out," she said back to him.
Duo just watched out the car at them.
"Relena?" Heero asked as he bent down toward her. "Are you okay?"
Relena looked toward Heero. "I didn't feel good, real nauseous. Sorry."
Hilde tugged on Duo's sleeve. "Oh, so sweet."
"Sweet and Heero never mix." Looked like all that time hoarding Relena in his room had changed the cold soldier slightly. He was gently giving Relena quick kissing pecks on her forehead. Yeah, that's not normal for Heero.
Relena whispered something to him. Duo watched him come back to the car.
Duo thought about it. He really did. But? "Hey, Heero-"
"Tell anyone about that and you can forget RTL because I will kill you," Heero threatened him.
Yeah, better to play it safe. "Don't know what you're talking about." Then again, it was fun to tease. Then again, Heero did save him. Then again, what an opportunity. "Is your princess doing better with your healing touch?"
"Duo." Hilde helped yank him back. "Let's not push, okay?"
Yeah. He better listen to Hilde. Duo saw a gun right in front of his face.
"You tell Millardo, and I will hand you over to RTL," he threatened Duo. "Things are complicated."
"Complicated? Pointing a gun at someone you just rescued is shoddy work at best," Duo pointed out. Hilde just hung her head. That was a real sign he should back off. "You started a relationship with Relena, but you are also you, and there's a baby, and it's not like she can be a famous peace leader if she's dating a bad boy even if he is the daddy. Something around there?"
"We aren't dating," Heero insisted.
"Hey, cute little pecks on the forehead from you of all people means you're probably doing more than dating, but let's just call it dating for all the young ears?" he teased him. Yeah, that look gave him his answer.
Heero pulled the gun back. "Stop nosing around in my business."
Hmmm. "She can't have the life she had back. She's screwed, no more career with or without you." So then? "Yeah, you aren't so sure about the daddy role you'd have to take."
"Be quiet, she's coming back."
Relena opened the car door and sat back down. She took a deep breath and closed the door. "Sorry. I'm ready again."
Duo watched the two of them up front. It was cute. Looked like Heero had some big decisions to make later. Right now though, Duo had his own to make.
Trowa had safe locations. They were only as safe as they could trust his mother who had founded RTL in the first place. We might be better off just jumping out in the next town and taking it from there. He knew how to live that kind of life. Hilde, though?
She could but he didn't want her to.
Maybe they'd look closer into things first before jumping out. "Sorry to say, Buddy, but we are going to be staying with you for awhile longer."
"I know." Heero didn't sound mad or glad about that. He handed Duo his phone. "Recent call is Trowa. Find out everything he has found out."
"Ah, got it." Duo called it up. "Hey, Trowa! Man, thanks a bunch for getting us out of there."
"Duo, are you okay?"
"Yeah and Hilde too." That was his biggest concern. "So, what is it Crystalia Bloom had on her device?"
"Plenty, but Quatre's phone isn't working. I have his location thanks to Dorothy's microchip, but we need to get to him. Now."
Oh no, that didn't sound good. "Why?"
"Dorothy Catalonia only has a few months to live unless we get to him soon enough."
"Oh damn! Damn Revenge of the Lost!"
"What's wrong?" Heero asked. "Duo, what did Trowa say?"
Duo took the phone away from his ear. "Catalonia's been screwed with already. Quatre's gonna be lucky if she even pulls through." Shit. That? To Quatre? Duo paid attention to the phone again. "Do we got anything for it?"
"Yeah, but it's going to take time to work. It'll be given daily and build up in her system over time, and if she's strong enough, she can ride it out."
"Time is important," Duo agreed. "We'll get it to her as soon as we can."
"Dorothy." A single word from Relena in the front. The way she said it though held a weight in it that Duo hadn't guessed it would.
"Did you try Wufei's phone?" Duo asked. "He might know about him better. He's the only one of us not having to go after Catalonia."
"I'm trying. I haven't got him to pick up yet, but it hasn't been long since I've tried making contact with everyone," Trowa admitted. "Most of RTL's work after that has been minute because of the colony. Whoever this Superior is, she had a real problem with that and most of the group evaporated away."
"Playing possum," Duo said. "That group is definitely still around. Anything else we should know right now? Do you think those safe locations are legit? Can we track RTL somehow?"
"Duo. Even if they didn't want to kill Crystalia Bloom, they would be planning it now. Revenge of the Lost is composed of 5,623 members, and Support the Loss has 10,523,901 members. Code names, real names, addresses, marriage status, number of kids, and even the reason they joined."
Hmm. "Yeah, she's gonna die."
"Everyone but the woman named Superior. I can't find any extra data on her, not even her age. I only found one source. She was recommended to the club by a high-paying member that was also a senator."
Huh. "Hey, is Quatre on Earth? Is where he's at going to affect Dorothy's health?" With how he was born, maybe?
"If she was staying in the colonies during the worst duration, then her chances of ended fatally would increase. She is on Earth, but her best chance is getting her a specific medicine. It's at the house of member 349816, Goldie Mark. Her father Howard Mark died in the service of Duke Dermail and her mother couldn't take the stress. She committed suicide which left Goldie Mark homeless at a young age. She isn't very far from you."
Oh yeah, all the information. Duo saw some downloads hit the phone. Hey, not bad, not too far from here. "Hey then I bet you got everything on Relena and Catalonia's innocent then, right?" Trowa didn't answer. "Hey, Trowa?"
Nothing.
"What's going on?" Heero asked.
"Nothing, he hung up." There was nothing but a dial tone now.
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