Third World

Written by Talon Harvilicz

Chapter Six: More Than Looks

"I know there's more to Kyle than a crazy Third," Quatre said. "There's no doubt in my mind that he's not working in this alone. He looked good as dead when I shot him. I hit some vital spots. There's someone working with him. But who's the question."

"Have you guys found out about his owner?" Duo asked behind him. Quatre moved his motorcycle into traffic.

"No," Quatre said. "The people at the office are going to investigate that."

"It better be soon," Duo said. "This guy sounds pissed. Hey, do you think I can help you?"

Quatre stopped at a stop light. "I don't think so. It's a Criminal Justice case."

"Yeah, well this guy made it personal. He destroyed my home. You're dragging me along anyway."

"Until I get that apartment," Quatre said. "Then you'll have to stay down."

Duo was silent for a few seconds. Just as he was about to say something, Quatre's motorcycle was rammed from behind. Quatre had to squeeze the brake and catch his footing on the concrete before he could crash to the ground.

"What the hell?" Both of them jerked their heads to see the culprit: a black car.

"Jerk," Duo shouted. "Watch where you're going!"

Quatre looked at the car a moment. It was the same kind of car that stopped by them while they were getting ready to ride back to Duo's hideout.

"Doesn't that car look familiar to you?" he asked Duo.

Duo looked at it more closely.

The car moved then. It crawled up to Quatre's back tire and bumped it. Quatre squeezed on his brakes again.

This time, the car didn't bother to let go. The car began to push them past the crosswalk.

"Hey, knock it off!" Duo shouted at the driver. "Hey!"

Quatre looked around. "This guy's looking for trouble." He revved the engine. "Hold on Duo, we're going to have to run this." He shot off into the intersection, where thankfully no cars were crossing.

The black car followed. Quatre saw it, and pushed on the gas. He sped down a few blocks with the car close in chase. He pushed on the gas faster and faster, until he did get some distance. He swerved into another street, hoping to avoid the black car. He didn't. It followed him. He dodged street corner after street corner hoping to loose it.

They kept up their speed. Quatre sped down another street, and cut into the side of the sidewalk. Duo's grip around his waist tightened. He knew it, they were going to hit the curb. Quatre gripped the handlebars and kicked his foot out as the front wheel clipped across the curb. He hit the brakes to stop them from making the crash worse than it could be.

The black car sped towards them. It spun down the entrance of the street, and went to charge at them.

Suddenly, a red sports car in the right lane broke it destination, and spun into the two opposing divers. It threw itself in front of the black car, taking the hit rather than Quatre. He didn't bother to see who the driver was; he immediately took off.

The black car didn't follow, the other car blocked it. Quatre took up that opportunity to get the hell out of there. His motorcycle wasn't a match for that car. He moved away from the two cars as fast as he could. He drove down several blocks until he stopped and looked back.

The cars weren't following.

"I have a feeling that one of them was Kyle," Duo said.

"Yeah, and that was him earlier."

"What about the other guy?"

"Good question," Quatre said. "I've never seen that car before." He thought for a second. He pulled his sunglasses from under his jacket, and put them over his eyes. He went into his resent data tracks, and played back the event when he hit the curb. Everything he saw was recorded into his data tracks, something humans required Thirds to have. Sometimes it came in handy. He stopped the recording when the red sport car came into view. He rewinded it frame by frame, and played it frame by frame back until he saw the driver of the red car. He focused on it. Then he saw who it was. It was that detective.

"Shit," he hissed. "It's him."

"Him who?"

"That detective that's been following me around. Let's get out of here." He pushed on the gas and went off down the dark streets.

The black car chasing Quatre tried to move past him, but Trowa blocked its path with the flank of his car. The bumper hit the metal again. The black car revved its engine to intimidate him, but he didn't stir. Trowa kept it blocked.

The driver wasn't stupid. The driver gunned the engine and shot the car into reverse. It swung around, squealing its wheels while doing so and raced down the opposite street. Trowa turned his car around and followed.

The car raced down the street that ran parallel to the street they were once on. Trowa chased after the black car, hot on its rear bumper. They battled like rogue chariot drivers, hitting their opponent to try to knock the other off the road. Trowa's car was receiving a fair amount of dents, but it wasn't bad enough as to damage his tires.

They continued down the streets with Trowa trying to get the black car to stop chasing Quatre, and try to turn the driver's attention on him. He couldn't let the driver harm him.There was something about him that made him want so protect him. There was a bit of Quatre that reminded him of himself.

Quatre drove towards the bridge in an attempt to avoid the two cars. It looked like they were clear, they hadn't seen the two of them since they escaped. It was a good sign. Quatre still kept up his speed, even though there wasn't any visible threat.

"Hey," Duo said. He squeezed Quatre's side a bit.

Just before Quatre was going to ask what he wanted, he noticed it was more of a warning. Ahead of them, the drawbridge was rising. Quatre breaked with the back wheel squealing a slightly. He looked up to see the drawbridge to erect to the top. Something was wrong. Normally, the blockade would be down.

The danger wasn't over. Quatre saw from the bridge tower on the left, Kyle Murdock. He leapt down with Third agility, and charged towards them. Quatre gritted his teeth as he approached.

"Heads up, Duo," he mumbled, and quickly dismounted from his motorcycle to greet Kyle. The two Thirds rushed at each other. Quatre dropped to his back, and threw his legs up as Kyle was about to go over him. He caught his jacket, and threw him over his head. The Third flew a few feet and fell flat on his back.

Quatre flipped up onto his feet like a master martial artist.

"I thought you were dead," Quatre said.

Kyle got back to his feet. "You know damned well that it's hard to kill a Third," he snarled.

"Well sorry I forgot to kill you," Quatre said. "I thought you were human."

"Pretty fucking amazing, isn't it?"

Quatre drew his gun from under his jacket, and took aim. "Third Kyle, you're under arrest for the assassination of President Darlin!"

Kyle looked amused. "Stop trying to fuck with me."

Quatre ignored his attitude. "Get your hands up."

"Oh fuck you." Kyle withdrew a gun and fired immediately. Quatre dodged, throwing himself to the ground. Another shot was fired, but not from Kyle, nor Quatre.

Quatre looked up to see Kyle stumble to the side. He looked around for the source. From below the bridge tower, he saw detective Trowa Barton standing with a gun drawn.

"You heard him," the detective said. "Drop your weapon and get your hands up."

Kyle stood, glaring at them. His shoulder had been shot. "Fuck." He fired at them. Quatre quickly moved out of the way, towards Duo. Trowa was struck by a bullet, throwing him backwards. Trowa slipped down, dropping his arm into the gap in the edge of the bridge.

Quatre aimed and fired back at Kyle. Two bullets struck him, sending light sparks.

"I said get your hands up, asshole!" Quatre shouted.

The two of them stood on a standoff, aiming at each other. Seconds ticked by. Quatre targeted Kyle's head, and kept his aim.

Kyle suddenly turned his head, followed with a surprised look on his face. Quatre turned his head, too, curious to see what it was. Trowa was standing, hanging a wounded arm by his side. A gunshot wound normally would leave a human seriously wounded, or even kill him. There wasn't heavy blood with Trowa. And the reason was he was a Third. Quatre could see by the mechanical fingers that were exposed.

A Third. Trowa was a fucking Third. He stared on in disbelief.

"You're a..." Quatre began quietly, barely loud enough to hear.

Trowa took off towards Kyle, and leapt high into the air to avoid any shots that were going to be fired. He turned into a skillful twist, and spun towards the opposing Third while descending down onto him. Kyle was knocked down, flat on his butt from Trowa's attack.

"What the f---" Kyle was grabbed the Trowa and lifted up. Kyle kicked up at him, and twisted his body head over heals while he was at it. He twisted his way out of Trowa grip.

"Let's get out of here," Quatre said to Duo. "I'm not prepared." He was also just stunned out of his wits. He turned and bolted for his motorcycle. Duo quickly sat behind him, as he started the engine. He turned and sped off, leaving the others to fight.

"There's no way in hell!" Kyle saw him begin to get away. He leapt up and kicked Trowa across the jaw. He shot past him, and ran to the bridge tower. He ran to the controls of the drawbridge and ordered it to lower back down. He bolted back down, and was blocked by Trowa. He was trying to get back to his car so he could chase Quatre again. Trowa wasn't going to let it happen. Kyle went to grab foro him, but Trowa grabbed him first, and threw him to the ground.

"Hey, get the fuck off me," he growled. Trowa eyed him down, and kept a hold on him. He suddenly threw Trowa's leg out by kicking it. Kyle kicked his face twice until he let go. He leapt quickly to his feet, and bolted to his car.

Trowa stood up as Kyle started his engine and began to drive off. He was going after Quatre---again. The car sped down the lane, past Trowa.

Trowa wasn't going to let him get away. He jumped to the side, aimed his gun skillfully at the car---and turned to once again his Third abilities, something he hadn't used in a long time. He zeroed in on the car, examining it, targeting the gas tank. He pulled the trigger, letting the single bullet pierce into the metal, into the gas tank, making the explode. The car was tossed, setting it into a ball of flames.

Traveling at least two miles from the bridge, Quatre's back tire blew. He suddenly stopped putting on the gas, and struggled to keep his balance. He pulled over to the curb, then looked back, seeing the damage.

"What happened?" Duo asked.

"The tired blew," Quatre said. "Kyle hit it too many times." He sighed and dismounted. "I think we're going to have to walk it.

Duo got off. "Where?"

Quatre looked down. "I don't know. Let's just go, okay?"

Quatre took the handles and pushed the black motorcycle along the sidwalk. They walked down the streets, into the edge of the park. Quatre suddenly stopped, and looked at it. He sighed, thinking about the night in the South City, Rashid's death, the riots, and Trowa. Trowa was never human, but he thought he was.

Quick footsteps came to his hearing from behind. He whipped his head around to see Trowa running towards them. Quatre frowned, not happy to see him. He let go of his motorcyle, and walked towards him. He removed his sunglasses.

"You bastard!" He punched Trowa across the face. Trowa barely moved, only his head. "You were a Third all along, and you never told me? I thought you were a human. Why? Why do you look like that? Why do you look so human?" His eyes turned glassy, his emotions threatening hm again.

Trowa blinked at him. He then gripped the neck of his turtleneck and lowered it, revealing a broken collor, with a missing ring. There were a few mechanical pieces of his neck that were exposed from it. being ripped.

"I did this to become more human," Trowa said blandly. "I forgot what it was to be a Third. I followed you because you were different, you were so human yourself. No Third would do such a thing that you've done in the South City. I had to know more about you. You have so much freedom. I was too afraid to tell you honestly that I was a Third. I was afraid that it would ruin me. To everyone who sees me, I'm human. I'm so human now, I don't communicate with my own kind anymore. I miss being a Third."

Quatre shook his head while looking at him. "Fuck you!" he shouted at him, then turned and ran off. Duo followed him, calling his name, not wanting to be left behind.

~*Home*~
~*Back to Fan Fiction*~

Email: Claudia13@angelfire.com