Fic, Chasing Wings: Part III

[impish21]

Title: Chasing Wings
Warnings: Graphic violence, strong language, mild sexual undertones, AR
Notes: Thanks to Startirs for beta-ing. Standard disclaimer applies.

MAIN POST


.Part III .

"No, really," demanded Duo. "What the fuck?"

"I don't know," said Heero, his focus elsewhere. He lifted the blade, scrutinizing its every line, every ridge. There wasn't a detail that didn't match. He put the blade against his hand, testing its edge, so sharp he hardly felt it part the skin. Putting the slender wound to his mouth to stem the bleeding, he took the dead man's hand, laid it flat against the cobblestones, and with one neat, easy slice, separated wrist from arm.

"Oh, that's so not cool." Duo grimaced. "I mean, Chiu have been known to take body parts so maybe a good call, but still. Fuckin' wrong."

"Steel can't slice through bone that easily," said Heero, mind tracing the implications. "It's Gundanium."

"Oh, yeah. Sure. Because that's the weird part of this scenario," said Duo. "You have a tattoo that you can pull off your flesh into a real knife, and you're hung up on the part where it's made out of Gundanium."

"It's important. Gundanium is extremely rare."

"Well forgive me for being a step behind, but again: you have a tattoo that you can pull off your flesh into a real knife!"

Duo tucked back in on himself, crouching down. Inching closer to the body, he scrutinized the edge of the wound with round eyes. He poked at the severed hand.

"Okay, so maybe it's kind of awesome," relented Duo. "I wonder if you can do it with the others. Oh, man, that's so fucking heavy if you can."

"It's too exposed here. We need to leave."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. Let's wipe this down and get to the shop; it's safe enough there."

***
The tinkling of bells could be heard as they entered the shop, which appeared more like the sort of place one would have a tarot card reading than have something permanently etched on one's body.

As they waited just inside the doorway, they caught the light scent of peppermint and lavender. There was an area in front, by the heavily curtained windows, which seemed designated a waiting area if the large, overstuffed sofas covered in loose fabric were any clue. The theme extended to the entire room, which was swathed in layers of colorful textiles and scarves, extending down from the ceiling in some areas as partitions. Almost hidden beyond were chairs, ink, pens and equipment.

A white cat dropped -- seemingly from nowhere -- to land on one of several bookshelves, filled with dusty tomes which all appeared to have been written in dead languages. The cat lifted a snowy paw to its cheek, and then looked down imperiously at Duo and Heero, staring at them with large, disdainful eyes. Heero stared back. His nose twitched.

"Oh..." came a voice from the back. "Don't mind Gwenda. She is a very sanitary cat. I'll only be a moment, Duo," continued the voice, smoky and cultured, like well-varnished oak. Soon after, a young woman drew back the edge of a curtain, ducking out to meet them, but if her voice was an oak, steeped in age, then her form was a poplar, lithe and spry. Long, silver-blond hair spilled over her shoulders and down her back like shining spider's silk.

Pulling off his gloves and stuffing them through one of his belts, Duo smiled a slow, half-grin. "Expecting us, Cass?"

"I was," said the delicate young woman. "Why else would a tattoo parlor be empty at this hour? Please, do sit down, and have some tea." She gestured with one small, porcelain hand to the coffee table, where there was a tea tray Heero had not noticed before.

"Sure," said Duo as they sat, Heero stiffly, and Duo with much less decorum, though he did restrain himself from propping his feet up on the coffee table.

The tattoo artist's eyes were finely tilted, dark and watchful, almost as though they'd been lined with a felt-tip pen. They gazed at Heero and Duo unblinkingly from behind thin, wire-framed glasses. She wore a pentagram on a silver chain around her neck, and was draped in billowing azure blue cloth, though what Heero had originally taken to be intricately detailed black sleeves, were actually bare arms heavily illustrated in ink. Upon closer inspection, the detailing was actually made up of tiny, interlocking symbols that came together like delicately netted lace.

"Well, then," began the artist peering with intensity at Heero. "I am Cassandra, and who are you?"

"I don't know," replied Heero, but when Duo elbowed him sharply in the side, he amended sulkily, "Heero."

Cassandra smiled knowingly, the grip of her eyes maintaining its hold on his. "I'm quite partial to honesty. What is it you seek, Heero?"

"To understand what my wings are for."

"Ah," she said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world, and poured tea for each of them. "And when you do? What will you do then?"

"Fulfill my destiny," answered Heero as Duo buried his face in his palm.

Cassandra studied him, the weight of her eyes determining that of his soul. With a deep, measured breath, she closed her eyes and lifted her cup to her mouth, blowing gently. "You have an honest heart. I find that quite rare." Speaking to them both, she added, "What is it you think a tattoo artist can do to help you?"

Duo lifted his cup in both hands, warming his splayed fingers. "His tattoos. He has tattoos that might help us with something, and they're kind of... well, we're not really sure. But they're definitely up your alley. And it's complicated, but what it comes down to is we don't know who made them or why and we were kind of hoping you did."

"How intriguingly phrased." She gestured to Heero. "If you would?"

Heero pulled up one of his sleeves, muscles flexing as he bared the knife on his right arm. Cassandra took it gently in her hands, examining the art with great care. As she did, Heero could see seals tattooed on her palms and arrows on the undersides of her fingers, the head of each at the fingertip.

"Are there others?" asked Cassandra, reserving her opinion, looking at him over the rim of her glasses.

He stood, lifting his shirt at the back and pulling it just over his shoulders so that it slid up enough to expose the tattoos on his back as he turned. He stood still, awaiting her judgment, and wondering why Duo was staring at his stomach and had that odd expression on his face.

She set down her tea and stood, coming close to have a better look. One hand lifted, almost involuntarily, as though the design begged to be touched, but restrained herself, fingers hovering centimeters from his skin.

"Well," she said, with a loving sigh, withdrawing her hand. "These are heavenly." She rested her chin on a crooked finger, studiously. "I've seen angel wings before, of course. They're repetitively requested. But I've never seen any as lovely as these. The detail alone..."

"That's not even the best part," said Duo with barely-contained excitement. He reached up to put a hand on Heero's wrist, the lightest of touches. "Show her?"

Heero wasn't sure how he'd drawn the knife from his skin the first time; just that it had suddenly been there in answer to his need for a weapon. For a moment nothing happened. But then he focused on that need, replicated it until he felt something stirring under his skin. The muscles in his back contracted. The guns crossed at the small of his back rose up from his flesh, pulling and tugging at his skin as they did. Reaching back, he drew them out completely. They were as real and deadly as the knife had been.

Heero turned to face Cassandra and let her see. She leaned in, her finger at her chin seeming to serve to keep her jaw from dropping. "Oh my."

"Way better than BioInk, right?" said Duo.

"I've never..." She looked up at Heero, clasping her hands behind her back. "Can you do the same with the others?"

"I can with the knives. I hadn't tried with the others," said Heero.

In a voice heavy with interest, she asked, "Would you like to?"

The only answer to that, of course, was to remove his shirt, close his eyes and try. Pressure built under his skin, and then he felt the tips of the wings breach the surface. They burst free so quickly, Duo had to jump aside to avoid them. Gwenda -- the cat -- made a hasty disappearance, stray feathers drifting all around.

"...Shit," muttered Duo. Cassandra seemed to appreciate the sentiment.

The wings filled the corner of the room where they stood. Intrigued, Heero tried moving them, flexing them first, and then spreading the feathers to their widest extent. With one, experimental flap, the wings rippled gracefully from their root to the longest feathers at their end. The resulting draft of air blew out several candles.

"Oh... I..." said Cassandra in wonderment.

"Yeah," echoed Duo. He picked up one of the fallen feathers. It was tiny, downy and tufted, resting in the palm of his hand. Stroking it gently with two fingers, he marveled at its softness. When he looked up at Heero, the eye contact felt like lightning. "Heero..."

Duo was smiling at him, unguarded and open. Happiness that bright had to have been infectious, Heero thought or he wouldn't be feeling this curious, entirely new warmth under his skin. It enveloped him as his wings did, the supple softness of happiness, the sweeping force of awe. Distantly, he felt himself smile in return.

Not breaking eye contact, Duo reached out to run light fingers down the curve of one wing, mirroring the path he'd taken when the great, dimensional form before him had just been ink on skin.

"Ouch," said Duo, surprised. He looked at his hand, which was now streaked red across his fingers. "Hey, the long ones are sharp." Touching again, cautiously this time, he said, "Like knives. They feel like they're made out of steel." His eyes flicked to Heero's. "Or something stronger."

Curling one wing around where he could reach it, Heero felt for himself. It was odd, using muscles that had never existed previously. The smaller feathers were fluffy and soft, but when he tentatively drew a finger down one of the long, primary feathers, a thin strip of blood appeared, along with the sweet sting of a cut. Testing further, he found it indeed as unyielding as steel. Or Gundanium.

"It can't be BioInk," said Cassandra. "Not even the most advanced formula could do something like this. You said you'd like to know who made them?"

"That'd be nice," said Duo.

Cassandra sighed. "I do hate to disappoint, but I'm afraid I have no idea. Even as simple tattoos, the skill level is well-beyond any artisan I've ever known. Add to that their... unique capability... well." She shrugged contritely.

"So what is it? Some sort of crazy-advanced Cyberware technology? Or something else?"

She scoffed delicately, one pale eyebrow raised with amusement. "Something else? What else could they possibly be?"

"Well, you seen anything like this before?" questioned Duo, sitting back down with both his arms draped across the back of the couch.

Cassandra hesitated. "I can't even fathom the tools that could make something like these. I'm fairly certain at least the surface design is Bioskin, but how someone managed to use a Gundanium weave, I've no idea."

Heero's wings folded, tightening smaller and smaller until he could lay them flat against his back. They sank back into his skin, melting into shades and lines. The guns followed as he pressed them to the small of his back. Ignoring the renewed stares, he pulled his shirt back down.

He sat back down next to Duo, while Cassandra took her seat as well, picking up her tea as though nothing unusual had just occurred.

"Though I can't tell you much more about the origin of your tattoos, I can tell you this: whatever you do, stay far away from the Alliance," warned Cassandra. "Several groups of rebels have started using more precise skirmish and hit-and-run tactics. They've begun to move too fast to stamp out with mobile suits, so an elite branch of the Alliance is deviating away from large machinery and explosives, trying to adapt with smaller, lighter, high-tech weaponry. What you have in your possession is exactly what they're looking for. If they find your secret, there's no telling what they'll do with it. Or you."

"You aren't just attracting trouble, Mental, I think trouble may be stalking you," said Duo to Heero. His fingers absently toyed with the small feather he'd first collected. "We should look into a restraining order."

Cassandra looked at Heero, that measuring look she had given him before. "You hold neither censure nor forgiveness, only resolution, don't you? There's something shockingly pure about you, something free of the desperation that lives in everyone else. Such determination is nearly desire, and wearing such a look -- well, it can't make one help but desire as well..."

"Cass," said Duo sharply, as Cassandra's eyes had gone very far away, her voice fading like a dirge on the wind. She was as present as a ghost. Snapping his fingers, Duo tried again, "Cass!"

"Hm?" Cassandra's gaze jolted awake and she turned her head toward him. "What? Oh, dear. I've escaped myself again, haven't I?"

"Yeah."

"Terribly sorry. It does happen every so often, you know."

"S'okay. Back to the magic cyber wings?"

"Oh. Yes. Well, you know who knows about cyberware... and everything else," reflected Cassandra, giving Duo a sleek, sideways glance.

An almost hungry smile of delight slowly crawled to his lips. "You don't mean...?"

"He does have quite a reputation, even if he's difficult to gain access to. That shouldn't be too challenging for you though; I've heard he's quite fond of you."

"I'm sure you have," said Duo drolly.

Cassandra lifted an artful brow. "And is he?"

"Only 'cause I tell him 'no' a lot."

"Hmm. You might need a 'yes' for the answers you seek," said Cassandra, sipping at her tea.

Duo laughed with a savage fondness. "I don't think so. That'd ruin the appeal, you see. He deals in intangibles and only likes what he can't figure out."

"That would explain his liking you," said Cassandra. "Well, I do have flyers if you're decided on looking for him."

"Definitely," said Duo. "Hope you're good at riddles, Mental."

Heero didn't think he was, having lost the thread of the conversation a good while back.

"But Duo," said Cassandra, suddenly grave. "Kal's looking for you. Stay out of Chiu Territory."

Duo's lips twisted in a way that made it impossible to tell if he were holding back a grin or a growl. "As much as I can help it," was all he said.

"In that case... keep it secret, keep it safe," bid the artist with a final, inscrutable slip of a smile.

***
"K, so that wasn't a total bust. The guy Cass was talking about might know something. Or know someone who knows something, at least," said Duo, reading over the flyer Cassandra had given them. It was completely dark out now, but hundreds of gaslight lanterns hung from every building, railway and bridge. The cobbled streets, still wet from the morning downpour, glittered from their flickering light. Everything smelled of rain.

"How are a mass of random phrases and a picture of what appears to be the demented offspring of an owl and a cat supposed to be helpful?" asked Heero, walking beside him.

"They're clues," Duo told him, flicking the paper for emphasis. "That's how we find him. He's always at the party of the moment, and to get into the party, you gotta follow the clues."

"How?" asked Heero.

"Okay, check this out. 'From the beginning of eternity to the end of time and space I am in every place.' I've heard that one before. It's the letter E," explained Duo. "The next one is 'Man walks over, man walks under, in times of war he burns asunder.' Any ideas?"

"A bridge," said Heero automatically as his mind flashed over historic battles and strategies involving their destruction.

Duo grinned. "Now you've got it. E bridge. That's gotta be East Bridge Square."

"And?"

"And we go there for the next clue."

***
The clock tower in East Bridge Square loomed high overhead, a latticework of scaffolding and industrial steel. The pale face glared down at them as they approached.

"You see it?" asked Duo, nodding to the base of the tower.

"The picture from the flyer," said Heero, studying the cattish-owl creature defacing the dark metal. "We're in the right place? What now?"

"Yeah, we're on track," said Duo, kneeling to get a better look at the graffiti. "There're differences between this one and the flyer. See?" Duo touched the splayed feathers at the end of the creature's outspread wing.

"The feathers on the flyer are all closed. What does that mean?" Heero had to speak up over the sound of the clock gears turning, which could easily be seen through the layers of solid scaffolding, along with sliding ladders and spinning wheels.

"Four feathers mean four blocks down. The other wing has three, so that's three blocks over in the direction it's pointing. C'mon."

***
Giant, seesawing pumps that looked like crickets lined the way as they walked, eventually coming to the destined corner.

"Hey," said Duo, reaching up to pull a flyer from the wall of a building. To Heero, it looked like just one of many plastered there in a tattered, faded mosaic, but Duo seemed to think it the next clue.

"The more you take, the more you leave behind," read Duo. "Huh."

Heero was watching the trains up above, racing through stacks of steam and smoke. A small airship drifted through the arch of a bridge, slow and lazy, like a flounder fish, its propellers gently turning.

"Maybe...? No..." muttered Duo.

Along with the rattling train were the sounds of faint hammering and pounding, the rumbling click of gears and cogs. In the distance, something whistled high and loud.

Heero turned back to Duo, still puzzling over the clue, and said, "Footsteps."

Duo blinked. "Hey, that actually works. There's a place down near Blackgate called Footsteps. Good work, Mental, we're almost there."

***
More graffiti on a dumpster out back of Footsteps led them to a large, empty district filled with what looked to be warehouses. There, Heero followed Duo down the stairs outside a building to a basement door. The music from within was so loud he could feel the bass in his feet as they stood outside. There was a faded sticker of another creature, this one the exact replica of the one on the flyer, marking the destination of their hunt. Duo rapped three times on the door, then grinned at Heero as they were let in.

The room was bare concrete, pipes overhead and running along the walls. A naked bulb was the only illumination. Music vibrated through the walls. A giant of a man, with blacksmith's shoulders and the features of a Viking guarded the final entryway. Wordlessly, he pointed at a handwritten sign. It read:

What does man love more than life
Fear more than death or mortal strife
What the poor have, the rich require,
and what contented men desire,
What the miser spends and the spendthrift saves
And all men carry to their graves?

Bouncing on his heels, Duo cocked his head. "Hmm... nothing."

The Viking-man stared him down with menacing eyes, looming, testing, but Duo grinned up at him. Finally, he stood aside to let them enter, and the door opened. They had scarcely walked inside before it closed behind them, sealing them in with something like finality.

The mottled walls were lit up in green lights, and it gave the place an inverted appearance, like light and shadow had reversed. The effect was seductive and lush, yet permeated by a bilious sweat. It made Heero's head sick.

"C'mon," beckoned Duo, and they went further in.

The space felt confined, but tall, as though dizziness climbed up the walls into infinity. Heero felt both small and over-large in this place, with its sticky floor and gummy walls.

Duo didn't seem to mind it, adapting as easily here as he did everywhere else. His eyes became hooded, heavy, and contented, as if even the air in this place was a narcotic and he was instantly intoxicated on whatever feeling these people were recklessly chasing.

In the confusion left when light and dark couldn't decide which they wanted to be, each person seemed to blend into the next to form a single body. Away from the walls, between flashes from strobes, there were moments where the crowd seemed a massive, pitch-dark shadow that flowed as a great wave, spilling and writhing with the echoing beats like living water, where neon glow sticks floated like driftwood. As Heero's eyes adjusted, they seemed more and more to be drowning in a sea of their own making.

Duo cut through easily, like a powerful current flowing opposite the masses, and Heero followed, doing his best not to be touched.

"Stay here!" yelled Duo above the din. "I'm going to try to find him. Try not to blow anything up while I'm gone. And don't kill anything!"

With a squeeze to Heero's shoulder, Duo left him there against a wall. Heero stayed, listening to the heavy throb of electronic sounds captured and bound together in something called music that pulsated like a distressed, disrupted heartbeat. Cigarettes and body odor, masked under perfume and body spray, swam at the back of his throat.

Unsettled by every sickly fiber of this place, he surveyed the mass of young, sweaty, dirty debauchery. The shocking static lights froze everything for snapshots of time. It was all a mess of dirty hair, smudged mascara and smeared lipstick. There was a girl puking in the corner, a guy with a hand on her back and another up her shredded skirt. Small tabs of unknown substances passed from tongue to tongue. People walked up to strangers and kissed them as if it would save them. There was no seduction, only desperation. They were fucked up and he was utterly disconnected.

It seemed a frozen moment of forever, an endless loop of wantonness, before Duo was back and standing next to him, watching him watch. It would be so easy for one to be lost in here.

"They're all so empty," said Heero. "Do they know how empty they are?"

Duo smiled, an enigmatic curl of the mouth. "Why do you think they're here?"

There was a girl apart from the crowd, watching them. Her eyes were like living shadows; they reminded Heero of the cat in the tattoo shop. She wore a short, high-collared dress with ripped tights to match, and he was sure he'd seen her somewhere before. After a while, she approached, speaking to Duo in a voice soaked in smoke and vodka.

"You were the one from this morning," she said, her accent clouding her vowels and R's, adding K's where they didn't belong. "The gentleman."

"The Lolita-girl," said Duo, recognizing her as the girl who'd been run down. She'd been an alley cat that morning, caught in the rain, but in here, her hair sleek and lips knowing, she was a goddess in her temple.

"Call me Kitty," said the girl, offering a demur hand, which Duo took, briefly. "You seem to be looking for someone. Perhaps I can help you?"

"Kitty, huh?" appraised Duo. He grinned at her. "Yeah, alright. He always runs but never walks, often murmurs, never talks, has a bed but never sleeps, and has a mouth but never eats...?"

She smirked, slowly. "You're looking for River. Come with me." With a beguiling glance back at them over her shoulder, she led off.

They followed her through the bowels of the building to a metal staircase set precariously into the wall. She flashed the man at the bottom an imperial glance, and he lifted the chain for them. They could barely hear the hollow bang of footsteps on metal under the weight of the music as they ascended to the loft above. There was another crowd up here, more mellow, more muted but no less lascivious than the one below. They reclined on couches and against walls, moving slowly against each other, pressing into the dark.

Kitty went to one of the sofas, dropping down to kneel on the cushions beside a man who sat there alone. He was somewhat androgynous in appearance, his lean body all sinuous lines and carved muscle. His smooth, flawless features looked like they'd been sculpted from sand, and his long, dark eyes were emphasized by thick, Egyptian eyeliner. Rich, gold-brown skin looked like it had been painted in linseed oil.

Looping her pale arms around his neck, Kitty pressed her nose against his ear to whisper something in it. The man, who had been looking inconsolably bored, smiled hedonically at whatever she'd said. Giving his cheek a quick lick, she stood and threw Duo and Heero a smirk so hot it steamed before she disappeared amongst the people in the shadows.

Duo walked forward, stopping just before the man, who grinned languidly up at him. Heero followed like a shadow, unnoticed in the dark.

"Hello, Doz. You were looking for me?" asked the man, rolling the drink in his hand, ice clinking lazily. His voice was like his drink, as rich and smooth as amber.

Duo grinned back. He sat down next to him, leaning forward to rest his forearms on his knees. "Yeah, maybe." Duo looked at him sideways, eyes artful and teasing. "You gonna help me out, River?"

River hummed, sinking back. "Well that depends. Is it an interesting problem you've got?"

Duo's grin grew. "Oh yeah." Turning his face to River's, he whispered in his ear, the words lost to the throb of music from below.

"Really..." murmured River, after a moment. Duo continued to whisper, until River pulled back abruptly, looking at Heero for the first time. "Really?"

"So, what do you know?" asked Duo, sitting back, stretching an arm over the cushions. He gestured with his head for Heero to sit next to him. Heero did, still wary and watchful.

River ran a finger along his lips, looking away in thought. His eyes flicked back to Duo. "Cybernetic technology's the new big thing, yeah, but everything's prototypes. Best I've seen thus far -- outside your standard high quality prosthetic -- is a heat-sensing cybernetic eye and some neuro-thought digitizers, but those have some serious kinks. That Alliance branch, the Specials, is looking into Bioskin blast armor, though again, that's still in the earliest stages. What you're talking about is ludicrously better than anything else out there." His voice had an almost trancelike depth, a quality that obscured his speech from anyone hoping to listen in. Though his words were perfectly clear, they did not carry. "You know the rumors."

"Tell him," urged Duo, nodding to Heero.

"It's all to do with the Alliance and the Specials," explained River. "There're Alliance officials that want to stay with Mobile Suits. Of course, the Specials are pushing hard the other way. There's a lot of in fighting right now, not amongst the men on the ground, but between those seeking political security and advancement. Now, some Alliance officers stand to lose a lot of power if Mobile Suits become obsolete. They're doing everything they can to snuff out growth in cybernetics." He looked around discreetly, sharing a secret smirk with Duo. "My guess? That's what that lab mess this morning was about."

"How's that?"

"Well, we all know it wasn't a fucking gang-related incident, don't we. I've got a good idea they were doing modification in there, of the cybernetic kind. No word on who they were for sure, but best guess says it was Specials, cooking up hardware on the sly, and some Alliance wanker wanted to make sure it never saw the light of day."

"You don't think it was rebels?" said Duo.

"It's a possibility, but they don't have the funds, now do they?"

Duo shrugged. "Not usually. How do you know what they were up to in there?"

"It's no secret this colony's a bit screwy, technology-wise. I mean, Alliance thinks it's antiquated and not to be bothered with, but those in the know get that it's a hotbed for unique thinking, yeah? This is where engineers come if they want to really stretch the bounds. It's the perfect place to set up an off-the-grid cyberlab." Here, River hesitated, but leaned in again. "I trust you like family and you've given me gold before, so I'll give this to you free, but it's not to be passed on, got it?" Duo quickly nodded, and he continued, "Girl I know's got a boyfriend who's got himself in a nasty scrape. Today she was trying to unload some blueprints and drafts, trying to make some quick dosh to get them safe off colony. Those drafts were the closest thing I've seen to what your boy has."

Heero's breath froze in his lungs. Someone else had escaped the lab? Alive?

"You think the boyfriend was actually in the lab while it went down, managed to get out alive, managed to take some stuff with him," said Duo.

"Exactly," confirmed River.

"How do we talk to this guy?" asked Duo.

"I prefer to stick with dealing info, and the business they were into was too rich for my blood. The only thing the middleman's getting is a second smile." River drew a finger across his throat from ear to ear. "What I mean to say is they can't sell -- not to me or anyone else, so they're down to their last resort. The only way to get enough money right off is in the cage."

"Fuck," cursed Duo, expression darkening. "That's Chiu territory. And if this boyfriend's fighting, he'll be dead before we can talk to him, 'less he's a serious bruiser."

"He's bound to be something, if he got out of that bloodbath. But getting out of the cage alive is another thing altogether. See if you can't catch them before. If you've got something that can help them, you might be able to get the information you're looking for," suggested River as he poured more of his drink and took a long sip. "The girl's called Flora Bellez. Should be on shift at Dabby's tomorrow night."

"Bellez, like Rocco Bellez?" wondered Duo.

"His half-sister."

"They get on?"

"As far as I know."

"Should help, but fuck." Duo rubbed furiously between his brows. "We better not have to go to fucking purgatory."

River looked him over with a lazy curiosity. "What in space did you do to get Kal so fucking hacked at you, anyway?"

"Hell if I know. He seems to think I had something to do with whatever it was that went missing."

"Fuck off," scoffed River, but he offered his drink to Duo. "Everyone knows that had to've been VK."

"I know!" Duo took a quick gulp. "But I ran into Chim, and you know how that goes. Now they're probably all gunning for me." He paused in thought, and then looked at River. "Are they all gunning for me?"

River's smile was smug. "Of course."

"Fantastic. Really, just... terrific." Duo took another drink and set the glass down. "Anyway, thanks. I'd say I owe you one, but..." Duo shrugged.

"...But I just owe you one less," River finished for him, with an idle snort.

"Yeah. Hey, man, I know it's no good for business, but... I hope you'll give me what can only be kept when it's been given, and not pass any of this on."

At the use of the riddle, River's lips softened to a smile. "You can expect what's broken every time it's spoken," he promised as Duo stood. "I'm always blue for you, mate."

Duo grinned and leaned over him, so close their noses grazed, hands planted on either side of River's shoulders. "Don't worry; it's not the only thing I like about you."

Quickly he leaned in and kissed River in parting, with brief, deep tongue. Despite Cassandra's intimations, Heero knew it was just part of the scene; an empty connection, meaningless. The kiss was dirty, like everything around them.

What confused him was that he found dirty appealing when it was Duo.

Duo walked away from River, throwing Heero a wink as he passed.

***

"You know," said Duo once they'd gone outside. There was something both wistful and resigned in his eyes when he looked at Heero. "You've really only existed since this morning, and already I --" Cutting himself off with a sigh, he kicked absently at the pavement. He smiled brightly, the strength of the grin closing his eyes. "C'mon, Mental, let's bolt down for the night."

***

PART II *** PART IV