Oklahoma
By: AKA Anonymous
Email: Theanonymous12000@yahoo.com
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Lady Une's office at Preventer Headquarters was not unfamiliar to Duo Maxwell. The large, sparsely furnished room seemed to always be alight, whether from the tall windows on the far wall letting sunshine flood the burgundy carpets or the warm electric lights flowing over the massive oak desk and matching chairs day and night. The Commander of Preventer operations took her job very seriously, too seriously for Duo's personal taste, but he understood her devotion to the cause. It was that respect for her that lead him to the building that day, even though he was not there on official business as an Agent or because of some new danger, but out of a respect for the woman who had contacted him with a vague request that he meet her. So, plastering his best smile in place, the boy strode into the room with an arrogant confidence that always seemed to annoy the brown-haired woman.
Two steps into the room he stopped. Five pairs of eyes snapped up to meet him, all familiar to him and his easy-going ways, but he could see at first glance the normal prankster persona had no place here. The room, though filled with golden rays of sunlight, was cloaked in a darkness carried in those flat eyes.
"Good morning, Mr. Maxwell," Une's voice broke the unpleasant moment with a soft, soothing tone. Duo's mind automatically went on red alert, he could tell she was about to break some major news. His smile slid from his face as he studied the others, looking for hints.
The ever-stiff-necked Heero Yuy leaned against the far window, his eyes giving no clues to their secrets, as usual. A pair of aquamarine globes peaked out from behind soft blonde bangs as Quatre's gaze met his; there was no sadness there, only a twinge of comrade recognition and buried anger at the inevitable. Whatever the inevitable was at the moment, it wasn't on Quatre's good side. Trowa, the warrior-clown, ignored the newcomer as he read an official-looking document in his hand. Lastly, Duo's gaze fell on his last old ally, Wufei Chang, his favorite person to annoy did not look happy. The Chinese Agent stood at a rigid attention, hands clenched and jaw squared as he glared furiously into the empty space in front of him. "Would you care to sit down, Duo? This might take awhile to explain."
Duo shifted his eyes back to the calm features of Lady Une as she motioned to a padded oak chair. The young man with the long braid sat down gracefully, back straight, eyes locked on the woman as he mentally prepared himself for her to break the news. And then deal with the consequences, whatever they turned out to be.
"Maxwell, as you know, the new government has been making and enforcing new laws to expand and strengthen the bonds between Earth and the colonies." Une spoke cautiously, eyeing the boy for any signs of anger, but Duo sat in growing anticipation of the worst. Her explanation was already too long for his liking-she was definitely trying to ease him into something. But what? He knew if it was a new threat to the security of the ESUN she would have mentioned something, called him in in an official capacity, but she hadn't. Then why did she need to see him? Why were the other Gundam pilots there? *Had their identities been released?*
As that possibility slipped into mind Duo leaned forward and glared, a silent command for Une to spit it out.
She caught the warning and sighed, "One of the laws is a reaffirmation of legal ages and such. Including a law that makes it illegal for minors, children under the age of eighteen, to live on their own without proper government approval."
A low growl emanated from Heero's direction. Duo cast a glance at the stoic soldier only to find the cobalt eyes tightened in anger. More glancing about confirmed that the others had similar expressions. "I don't get it, what's the big deal? So we have to get approval or whatever? That's easy enough, right?"
Lady Une cleared her throat and folded her hands together, suddenly not able to meet his gaze. "There's a problem, Duo. When the law was first reviewed Miss Relena brought up the point that the five of you are not legal adults yet and she felt that you should be given the approval because of your services. Unfortunately, there were those who did not feel that you should be allowed to live alone or without supervision because of your backgrounds. They were successful in persuading the majority. You and the other Gundam Pilots will not be granted approval to live without supervision until the day of your eighteenth birthdays."
"WHAT?!!" Duo slammed his fist down on a sturdy chair arm. "Une, you've got to be kidding!"
"She's not," Quatre's tenor answered harshly, "I've already been legally placed under the 'protection' of my oldest sister. The blue-green eyes flashed dangerously, "Winner Corporation is in panic because legally I'm not recognized as an ADULT!"
"WHAT?!!" The braided boy shouted in outrage for his friend. The blue-violet gaze swept the room once again as the news set began to sink in. He could see the others felt as furious and helpless as him.
"I'm sorry, Duo, there's nothing we can do about it. It's for your own good-" Une ignored the five deadly glares that focused on her instantly "-really, think about it. The people are antsy about the five of you already; if you were living alone, incognito, and were kidnapped or something, we'd have a crisis on our hands. This way you'll have someone to look out for you and people will be satisfied."
Duo's translation-the normal people are afraid of you, so you have to have a babysitter even though you've lived on your own for sixteen years.
Through clenched jaws the braided boy hissed, "What kind of 'supervisors' are we to have?"
Une shifted her eyes around the room. "When I learned of the situation I tried my best to work up suitable arrangements for each of you. From the data that was collected from the wars we knew that Quatre's father was killed, but he had other family willing to take him in, as you now know. Chang's family was, unfortunately, all on his home colony when it was destroyed. His partner, Sally Po, has agreed to be his guardian." The Chinese boy showed no sign of hearing her other than to straighten his back further, the onyx eyes betraying no emotion to the outside world. "Heero, uh, 'requested' to be placed in the custody of the Foreign Minister's Chief of Security. The arrangements for that are still being hammered out since it was quite a surprise to everyone." As she spoke the Perfect Soldier's eyes locked with Duo's for a moment and the two friends acknowledge the wisdom of his 'choice'. "We had medical information from Trowa's records with Oz so I had a DNA analysis run in the hopes that a relative would be found, amazingly we found a 50% match, meaning a parent or sibling." The boy in question finally looked up from his paper with wide eyes, disbelief clear in the emerald depths. "His sister, by birth and fate it seems, has agreed to look after him." Une turned hers eyes back to her desk as she continued, shifting files and lifting a single envelope into view. "We used the same technique to find a guardian for you, Duo."
Silent moments passed in frozen time as the boy tried to grasp the implications of her simple statement. "I'm an orphan...I don't...have family..."
Warm brown eyes caught his gaze with sympathy. "We believe we've found your father, Duo."
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Author's Notes: If you've gotten this far, congratulations, you've survived my bad humor! Now please take a moment to review!
Next part'll be up soon,
--Anon
Chapter 2