"HA, HA, HA, HA, STAYIN’ ALIVE, STAYIN’ ALIVE!" Duo’s voice echoed rather loudly through the halls of the ship. Blitz came to the door of the room he was in to watch the American pilot make a fool of himself. She leaned against the door frame and watched him dance, smirking at his off-pitched rendition of the classic disco song.
"For the love of God Blitz! Shut him up!" Arethea yelled from the ship’s kitchen. Blitz smirked again and moved closer, placing a hand on his shoulder. Duo gave a yelp and turned on his heels, pulling the headphones off of his ears.
"That’ll do for now, braid boy." She winked at him as he turned an interesting shade of red. "Aww, poor baby, you can sing to me later." The pilot’s expression turned immediately back to happy. The pair were amidst a kiss when the video phone rang.
"Damn it you two! Come up for air and answer the phone!" Thea yelled again from the kitchen. The sound of the phone came again, once, twice, three times. Thea left her spot at the counter and moved into the ‘living room’ that held the phone. "Oh for Christ’s sake." She muttered under her breath upon seeing the pair still in a lip lock. "Hey Sally!" Thea cried. "How are you?"
"I’m fine, and you?"
"Dandy, what’s up?"
"I have information that might interest you… by the way, may I ask why you’re wearing that shirt?"
Thea glanced down at her multicolored shirt. True, she looked horrendous, like Picasso puked down her front. Then again, after her ‘new recipe experiments’, she always looked that way. She returned her eyes to the screen. "Oh this, it’s just what I’m wearing until my ears stop bleeding." Blitz pulled away from Duo’s kiss momentarily and pulled her left eye and stuck out her tongue in response.
Sally raised an eyebrow. "Never mind."
"So what info do you have for us?" Sally, after her days as a Preventer, had taken a job as an informer. She would get a hold of bounty hunters with any new hits. Since that’s what Blitz and Thea do, it seems only natural that they kept in touch.
" There’s a new force to be reckoned with back on Earth. Her name is Noelani O’Brien." A picture of a woman in her early twenties came on screen. Her statistics were to the left of the picture. Thea scanned them quickly.
"A new force to be reckoned with? This girl doesn’t even have a criminal record. What’s so dangerous about her?"
"Dunno. But the 50 million wuolong on her head means that somebody’s a little nervous about her." Thea raised an eyebrow.
"That is a lot of money."
"The word is that she’s got world domination on the brain."
Thea smirked. "Surprise, Surprise."
"And she’s gathering a military for her cause. These pictures were sent to me this morning." Several pictures that looked as if they were taken from a secluded spot went whizzing by the screen. "And they’re being trained by a familiar face." It was then that Thea began to worry. The picture that came up next was none other than Zechs Merquise.
"Shit." She managed.
"What?" Duo and Blitz, having come out of their game of tonsil hockey, asked in unison. Thea pointed to the screen.
"What’s so scary about Zechs?" Duo asked as Sally’s face reappeared on the screen. Thea ignored his question.
"Any word on the best place to find them?"
"Earth."
"Thanks," Blitz remarked, "That narrows it down."
"Sorry, that’s all I know."
"All right Sally. Thanks for the tip." Thea said.
" You’re welcome. And good luck. If all the rumors are true, you’re gonna need it." With that, the image on the screen vanished.
"What was all that about?" Blitz asked, eager for new blood. It had been a while since their last job. The money was running thin and when that happens, tensions are high aboard the Emerald Queen. (AN: that’s what I decided to name the ship. I’m open to any other ideas.)
"We got a job. I’ll explain on the way." Thea gave a brief explanation before addressing the computer. "Computer, set a course for Earth."
"Specify quadrant." A slightly feminine computerized voice said.
"Quadrant 4."
"Acknowledged. Estimated time to destination, 96 hours."
"Why, exactly, are we going to Hawaii?" Duo chimed in.
"To see an old friend, Duo. If there’s anyone on Earth who can find our target, it’s her."
//////////\\\\\\\\\\\/////////\\\\\\\\\///////\\\\\/\/\/\/\/\
It was days later when the Emerald Queen docked at Honolulu. The crew stepped out to see the beautiful scenery that lay before them. Duo immediately began hopping about in a excited manner.
"What crawled up your ass while you were sleeping?" Thea asked in an annoyed manner. Blitz had a wide smile on her face while Duo turned a deep shade of red. Thea exclaimed, "Never mind!" before turning away from the blissful ( and sometimes nauseating ) couple.
"Can we go to the beach?" Duo asked in a ‘four-year-old-in-a-toy-store’ voice.
"No." Heero effectively responded. The American stopped his jumping, pouting at Blitz in his ever-efficient ‘you just took my crayons away’ expression. She immediately began to comfort him, which in turn, set off another heavy make out session. It was something that they had been doing quite often lately, much to Heero and Thea’s protest.
Thea grabbed Heero and pulled him close to her, engaging in a heated kiss. When they broke, she smirked at Blitz. "No, can’t say that I am." She let Heero go. "As I was saying, can we go now? We’ve got work to do."
"So what’s this chick we’re going to sees name again?" Duo asked curiously.
"For the eight-millionth time," Thea began, "Ara Malloy."
"Oh yeah." Everyone sweat-dropped.
The crew of the Emerald Queen made their way across Honolulu in relatively quick time. Then again, with Heero behind the wheel, they always reached their destination relatively quickly. They parked the rented hummer (AN: What else?) outside a quaint looking home just on the outskirts of town. Piling out, everyone made their way to the door. Duo naturally arrived first and rang the bell.
Within seconds, a woman of medium height with short layered black hair and blue eyes answered it. Seeing only Duo, her hand went to the gun that rested in it’s low-slung hip holster. "Can I help you?" She asked in a low, intimidating voice.
"Ara!" Blitz yelled towards the woman. "Ara don’t kill him! He’s with us."
Still eyeing Duo, glanced toward the direction of the voice had come from.
"Blitz? Thea?" She was greeted warm smiles. "What are you guys doing here?!" She exclaimed
"We just happened to be in the neighborhood and thought we’d drop by."
Ara chuckled slightly. "Bullshit." She shook her head. "Come on in."
"Thanks." Thea said for the group. Once they were in the living room, Ara turned to face them.
"So," she began. "Got some new cronies since the last time I saw ya." She nodded in the direction of Heero and Duo.
"Oh yeah." Blitz said. "The one you were gonna make Swiss cheese out of is Duo, and the other one is Heero."
"Pleasure." Ara said in response. "And the real reason you’re here is?"
Thea pulled a folder from the bag she was carrying. Handing it to Ara, she said, "This."
Ara took the file from her old friend and thumbed through the contents. "50 MILLION WUOLONG! HOLY SHIT!"
"Exactly." Blitz stated matter-of-factly.
"Why in Sam’s Hell would this girl be worth 50 million?"
Blitz shrugged. "She’s headed for world domination apparently."
"Whoop-de-shit. Treize was headed for world domination, and so was Marimaia but they weren’t worth 50 mill!" She shouted at no one in particular. Thea took the folder from Ara’s hands and pulled the picture of Zechs. The simple act of holding it up immediately cut her ranting short.
"He’s training the troops Ara. A whole fuckin’ lot of ‘em too." She simply stated. Ara’s top lip began to twitch. They had met once. Let’s just say Zechs was lucky to walk away with his manhood still attached and leave it at that. Grabbing the picture from Thea’s hands, Ara promptly ripped the picture to shreds and dropped the pieces on the floor.
"If you’ll follow me." She said managing to regain enough control to begin speaking again. She led them to the fireplace and pulled the poker from it’s spot in the tall bin near the opening. A large panel on the back of the fireplace swung open, revealing a set of steep stairs. "This way." Ara stated bluntly before descending into the dark corridor. The four looked at each other and shrugged before following their friend.
At the bottom of the stairs there was a room filled with computers and other high-tech looking equipment. There was a woman with blonde hair sitting at one of the larger computers, seemingly hacking into a website.
"Hanna," Ara started. "Not getting us into trouble are you?"
The blonde woman jumped in her chair and swiftly moved her hands over the keys of the keyboard. On the screen, in large red letters, came the word ABORT. With the touch of a few keys the screen went back to the desk top. She laughed nervously and turned to face the group. Ara looked at her in mock intimidation. "You haven’t been using the government’s bombs to blow things up now, have you?"
"No?" Hanna answered biting her bottom lip.
Ara sighed. "Hanna. What have we told you?"
She put her finger to her mouth. "Never in the home."
Ara laughed as she shook her head. "This is Blitz, Arethea, Duo, and Heero." She introduced them pointing to each one respectively. "They’re old friends, here with a hit."
"Oh, something to do, other than blowing things up and getting into comprom-… heh heh. Never mind."
"Here." Ara handed over the folder that Thea had given her, winking in a manner that only Hanna could see. She nodded her understanding.
Out of nowhere a tall, well built man with marronish colored hair came tearing through the room. The was a look of sheer terror on his face. A small corgi puppy (by the name of Bonnie) chased after him at top speed. The man took refuge behind Hanna. "Back four legged spawn of SATAN!" Hanna patted the hand that rested on her hip.
"Bonnie, stop." Hanna commanded cheerfully. The dog came to a screeching halt just in front of her master’s feet. "Good girl!" Hanna patted the dog on the head.
Ara put her head in her hand and let out a sigh of exasperated disgust. "He’s a black belt in Kung fu and Tai Kwon Do and he runs from a corgi."
Hanna beamed proudly. "And I married him!" Her husband began to glare at Ara.
"What?!" Ara shouted in her own defense. The man said nothing but continued to glare.
Blitz was finally able to break through her confusion and asked, "Who’s he?"
Hanna answered, "Oh him? He’s my husband, Kincaid."
"Right."
"Could we get back to business please?" Duo chimed in from the background. Blitz, Thea, and Heero immediately pulled their various fire arms and leveled them at Duo’s face.
"Who are you and what have you done with the real Duo Maxwell?" Heero bluntly demanded. Duo eeped.
"He’s right." Ara said, stepping into the line of fire for Duo’s defense. "If this Noelani chick is gonna take over the world, the sooner you find her the better."
"You mean you’re not coming with us?" Thea asked in surprise. " I thought you’d be the last person to turn down a 50 million wuolong hit."
Ara shrugged. "My bounty hunting days are over. My job is here, helpin’ your sorry asses find what you’re looking for." Blitz smirked.
"Well, are ya gonna stand there, or help our sorry asses?" It was Ara’s turn to smirk.
"Yeah I guess."
{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{Three hours later}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}
"Damn it to HELL!!" Ara screamed from her position in front of a computer that was doing strange and unnatural things purely to piss her off. She reached for the ‘on/off’ switch and flipped off the computer and then back on again. She rubbed her temples as the screen came back to life. Blitz appeared behind her with a cup of strong coffee.
"Any luck?" She asked, setting the cup next to Ara.
"No." She responded, a slight whine in her voice. "Whoever this woman is, she’s not stupid. She’s covered her tracks, or been lucky enough to not make ‘em. I don’t know whether it’s due to extreme skill, or sheer luck."
"Hm." Blitz looked pensive. "I’ve been on my laptop and an anonymous tip came over my email."
"What’d it say?" Ara asked, looking up at her old friend.
"Check Mars."
"Mars?"
"Yeah."
"You gonna check it?"
"Seemed to cryptic to me."
"You gonna check it?" Ara repeated, already knowing the answer. Blitz shot her an ‘oh please’ look.
"We’re heading out now." Ara smirked at her and rose from her chair. The pair made their way up the stairs and into the living room where the others waited. After the short round of good-byes, Ara, Hanna, and Kincaid watched from the living room window as the group pulled away from the curb and speed off towards the docks.
Hanna let out a deep breath. "That had to be the most stressful three hours I’ve ever been through."
"Who sent that email to Blitz?" Ara asked without drawing her eyes away from the window.
"I did." Hanna responded. Ara nodded before turning to Kincaid.
"Come on." The three made their way back into the basement. Kincaid sat at one of the computers with Ara leaning over his shoulder. "Gimme a replay of the last three and a half hours. See if you can get a still off the surveillance that has the four of their faces at once." Kincaid nodded and set to work. Ara turned to Hanna.
"How’d you throw Blitz off the scent?" Hanna asked.
"Old mainframe passwords. Things I knew had been changed on websites or databanks. Not that hard really. She trusts me, unfortunately for her."
"Here we go." Kincaid said from his spot. Ara and Hanna peered at the screen. Ara smiled slightly.
"Good. Put it on an email with the caption ‘they’ve been asking questions’."
"Who’s it going to?" Hanna asked.
Ara looked at her and then back to the screen. "Noelani."
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