Meet Again
WHO: Duo Maxwell/02/Shinigami, Heero Yuy/01/Zero, Quatre Raberba Winner/04/Sandrock, Trowa Barton/03/Nanashi
WHERE: A discreet streetcorner --> Wingpartment
WHEN: July 5th, night (backdated)
SUMMARY: Heero is back! Yaaaaaay. The Wingboys gather once more.
RATING: Shouldn't be above PG? Maybe -13 if Heero punches someone, idk.
( When The Sun Is Shining Again )
WHERE: A discreet streetcorner --> Wingpartment
WHEN: July 5th, night (backdated)
SUMMARY: Heero is back! Yaaaaaay. The Wingboys gather once more.
RATING: Shouldn't be above PG? Maybe -13 if Heero punches someone, idk.
( When The Sun Is Shining Again )
The devil-may-care smile was a familiar enough sight, and it elicited twin responses; Heero relaxed slightly, the tension seeping out of his gun grip, at the same time that he resisted the urge to sigh at the other's complete disregard for what could have potentially been a very dangerous misunderstanding. The thought that he should have punched him flitted briefly through Heero's mind as he lowered his gun and tucked it away.
"For you maybe. It's only been a few days since Libra to me," Heero reminded him, a small frown of thought on his lips. There was a brief beat of silence as Heero studied one of the only people he considered a friend; despite the claim that he was from a good year or more ahead of Heero's time, Duo didn't look all that different.
"You're still as reckless as ever," he remarked out loud. "I could have shot you."
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Stepping off of the wall, he went on. "My power is cloaking. Invisibility, inaudibility, no scent. And it's selective- you can see and hear me right now, but anyone else passing by can't. I have myself permanently cloaked, so no one gets to detect me unless I want them to. I all but don't exist, publicly. It's rather useful!" He rolled a wrist, a little popping sound coming from it, and nodded his head down the street, continuing.
"The apartment's this way, I'll lead you there. 03's on his own, with a traveling circus- you know him. When 05 and you were here before, the four rest of us split into 2 teams of two, me and 05 in the apartment and you and 04 in another. After you left, 04's stayed there, and now that 05's gone it's just me in this place. I was ah, off in another place for a little bit too," he mumbled as an afterthought, glossing over it quickly. "So as of right now it's just me here, it's up to you whether you stay with one of us or go off on your own." With that, Duo began strolling down the street, expecting Heero to follow after, whistling as he went.
"So, as for information about enemies and allies, need anything or have you been skimming past conversations? Ah, might be best if most people didn't know you were the same person, huh..? To keep stuff under wraps," he mused.
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Leaving such thoughts aside, Heero listened carefully and with some interest to Duo's exposition on his powers. It was fitting for someone who called himself the God of Death, Heero thought and he said as much. "Appropriate. For you." Concisely, of course. Mentally checking his weapon again, Heero nodded and followed after the braided pilot, filing away all the information Duo was giving him away to be thoroughly examined later. He didn't say anything to interrupt, but occasionally gave a slight nod to indicate his attention.
He made no comment as to whether he would stay with the previous arrangement or find his own place; that could wait until he figured out more about this place and had a better idea what he should do. To the last questions about enemies and allies, however, Heero did have an answer.
"I've looked over all the public posts, as well as any that I could hack into for about the last month. I have some idea as to who to look out for, and who the most active "heroes" here are, but any specific information on allies and enemies would still be useful. As for my identity..." He gave a half-shrug. "I'm prepared to take on another alias if necessary, but I'll need any information you have as to how my previous self identified himself and who knew what about us, and me." Knowing himself, there might have been some things he kept to himself, but he would have at least contacted the others about any major acquaintances or incidents.
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He listened attentively to make sure how much Heero knew about the threats of the City, and meanwhile compiled in his head a list of allies and threats. "Mmm... Let's see. I'd say the most dangerous people here are... Cameron Hodge, a man who's violently bigoted against a race of people called mutants- they're basically humans who have evolved to a point of gaining powers. There's a whole bunch of them in a universe that many people here come from. Don't ever give him any information. Another to watch out for is a group of people here that used to be a race of mechanoid aliens, very similar to mobile suits except with a transformative capability like Wing. There's two factions of them-- one friendly to humanoid life, the Autobots, and one who you want to watch out for, the Decepticons. They're led by an asshole named Starscream. They're hard to keep track of because they use their alien language in encryptions- very difficult to hack into. I haven't been able to get the hang of it yet."
"There are certain people who are a bit chaotic in that usually, you don't have to worry about them unless they're provoked- for example Harley Quinn, an insane clown-themed girl-- I'm not making this up-- and Poison Ivy, a woman who can control plant life and will only attack if wildlife is threatened. Ah, and definitely watch out for Jonathan Crane, aka Scarecrow." At that name, Duo's face noticeably darkened. "He can mess with your head in ways you can't even imagine. Worse than Zero." He turned away. "You should ask 04." About what, he didn't elaborate.
"Mmm.. what else...."
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"Trowa mentioned that as well," he said, looking up at the sky briefly in thought. At Duo's offer, he resisted the urge to sigh and just directed a pointed look in the other's direction. "You can try." Really, you can try, Duo. It just might not end well for either of them. And the frying pan. Poor hapless frying pan. Jokes aside, Heero might actually just test it out himself... though with something less drastic than setting a bomb on himself. ... again.
Forgoing that train of thought for the moment, he concentrated on Duo's listing of the primary threats in the City; this was important, after all. Very Important. The other pilot might like to joke around a little too much, and be far too reckless for his own good sometimes, but when it came down to it, Heero trusted him, and the others, with his life. When it came down to it, they were all every bit as competent as being a Gundam pilot necessitated them to be. So he listened, and he took mental notes. Hodge, Deceptions (those got a special mental Post-It due to the sentient version of mobile suits description), Starscream, Poison Ivy, ... Scarecrow. Mention of the Zero System got his attention fast, and the added, vaguely ominous reference to Quatre didn't help either. After all, he remembered very well what happened when the blond pilot first piloted the Wing Zero...
"Sounds like there are a lot of dangerous people here for a City that claims to harbour heroes," he remarked at the end of Duo's list, his voice measured but grim. All the more reason to figure things out, and quickly. Though, there was one more thing actually...
Glancing over at his companion with a half-curious look, Heero asked, "Are our numbers the customary way to refer to each other here?"
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"You know, you'd think so! But it's actually the other way around- the bulk of so-called heroes are just either incompetent or don't do what it takes." Killing, for example- while he hated doing it, sometimes it was necessary. "Doesn't help that a lot of the 'good' people brought in are actually just civilians and are new to these powers and situations, and no real help fighting any of these people," he sighed. "That, and the baddies seem to enjoy being loud and making themselves known. Unfortunately, there are also others that like to be very quiet about their activities, and so I keep tabs on them while the big bruisers take care of the loudmouths."
He paused, considered, "The two villains you'd probably have found most obvious in the network were Carnage- a bloodthirsty alien symbiote merged with a human serial killer- he can only apparently be damaged by fire and intense sound, and being sent into deep space; and Bullseye, a marksman assassin currently going by the false codename Hawkeye, the name of a superhero from his world. He has supposed 100% accuracy and can use anything as a projectile weapon, even a small pebble. Those two are the loudest villains around here. Ah, and a guy called Roman Sionis, or Black Mask. Talks like an idiot teenager on the internet, but apparently his head is a black skull, and he apparently has.. a chainsaw hand, and very sadistic tendencies. Has it out for Catwoman, too. Likes to torture people close to her rather than go after her himself. I haven't heard from him in a while, though."
Glancing over to Heero as he rounded the corner to the apartment building, he considered for a moment. "Usually we try to disassociate ourselves with each other. We use our codenames chosen here in private, and our numbers in private. There are very talented hackers here- we shouldn't use our names at all." He stopped himself, and glanced back to Heero with a small grin. "Or codenames." As far as Duo was concerned, it was his name until he was corrected otherwise, same as Trowa.
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"That's a good idea." And it was; people who talked the most and the loudest attracted attention, and the so-called heroes who seemed to embrace that designation that he'd seen on the public channels would no doubt take care of them. Mentally, Heero went over the new names that he'd been given; certainly Carnage was one that he had seen going over the Network, even as briefly as he did. The other two names rang a bell as well, but they had either lay low in the last month (give or take) or he'd missed something. In any case, he planned to go further back in the Network's archives, and he stored the names away as those being of special interest.
His eyes flicked up in time to catch Duo's glance and grin, and he raised an eyebrow slightly. "I don't think anyone would mind if I used it as my name from now on." Then he nodded, slipping into his default serious-business mode again. Of course their lives would be more complicated than most, with a virtual web of false identities surrounding them. It was how each of them operated. Besides, it made perfect sense for them to hide their association with one another; the less known about them, the better. In many ways, this place was beginning to look even more dangerous than home. "And what about as civilian identities?"
Then, noticing the slight slowing of their pace, Heero looked up at the apartment building they were coming up to. "Is this is?"
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"Mm. I figure, if no one else is gonna do it..." And well, he was sure that some people thought the same way- but many of the 'quiet thinkers' were.. well, just that- quiet. And without communication of what villains were being tracked, and the added issue of the filters being changed around- communication would be even more difficult.
He gave a little half-shrug and a grin. "Your name, your choice, man." Duo knew better than anyone really, that your name didn't have to be approved by anyone, you could create your own. "As civilians..." Well, that was a difficult matter. He wasn't really sure what the others did; it hadn't exactly been talked about. "Not sure about the others, but it's never really come up for me. Been able to avoid it so far. I just have people call me 'Shin' in public, if absolutely needed." It was a simple enough nickname.
Duo gave a short nod and warily glanced around them before approaching the building, pulling a key out of his pocket and opening the front door, and leading Heero up a few flights of stairs. "Nobody but us knows we're here, not even close allies. Luckily, we've kept it well hidden for a while." A few doors down a hallway and he unlocked an apartment door, giving a little peek in first to see who was there yet, if anyone. "Heeeylo~?"
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Following a step behind Duo, Heero also found himself instinctively scanning the surroundings for any movement or suspicious activity. Considering that fact that powers such as Duo's were potentially not uncommon in the City, Heero wasn't certain how much he could trust his senses to pick up, but they had served him well enough in the past and he would just have to trust his instincts here as well. He stayed silent as Duo opened the door and peeked inside; Heero wasn't sure what to expect from the allies that he both knew and didn't know if the claim about alternate timelines was to be believed. And he had no reason not to trust that it was true, given everything else about this strange new world he'd found himself in.
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Looking back behind him, he glanced between the two and slipped past Quatre with a nod and a guyish pat on the shoulder before strolling over to the hall where his bedroom was- he hadn't been there in at least a week, after all.
He figured it'd probably be best to give Quatre a moment or two alone with Heero, after all, to at least.. hash things out.
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The behaviour was vaguely surprising, but Heero chalked it up to just Duo being Duo and dismissed it. Glancing back to Quatre, he acknowledged the blond's greeting with a nod as he stepped into the apartment proper.
"Quatre." His eyes flickered to where he could see the other, taller pilot further in the room. "Trowa."
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Crossing his arms out of habit, he studied the other pilot for a beat. If Quatre was at a lack for words, than Heero even more so. After a few seconds, he realized that he was searching, unknowingly, for any signs of fatigue or weariness in the other's face and eyes, which made sense enough once he realized he was doing it; when Heero last saw Quatre, after all, the blond had been recovering from heavy battle fatigue and a stab wound.
"You look well," he said abruptly, coming as close to blurting something out as he ever came.
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He followed Quatre's glance toward the kitchen, before saying, "Duo says that he's from the future-- our future." There's an inquisitive tone to his words that imply a question.
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