(no subject)
Deep inside the access tunnels of the satellite, Duo finally came to the correct door. Inputting the code Marie had made him memorize, she herself faced him on the other side of the door.
"I didn't expect to find you keeping watch," he said, shoulders slightly bent under the burden of the stolen medical supplies he was carrying.
"Bonsoir à toi aussi," she said in what he was learning was her customary tone. It was filled with both mockery and gentle amusement, but perhaps a bit more mockery when she spoke to him now. She relieved him of half his burden, and led him to where the rest of their compatriots were resting.
"Un ange est venu pour nous délivrer!" she proclaimed, gathering everyone's attention.
"Moins comme un ange!" came a voice from the small crowd. "C'est tu et M. Maxwell, après tout!"
"Un ange avec du savon," Marie added, tossing a bar of soap at the peanut gallery. "Dont vous avez vraiment besoin de."
Several of them were serious as they sorted through the stuff for sterile bandages and pain relievers for the injured and sick. But most of the rest took the opportunity to mock Duo for some of his choices in what to bring back. He protested that he'd taken to clearing off entire shelves at the end of his expedition, and he was sure they'd find uses for all of it, as ecumenical and creative as they'd proven themselves to be. This statement was met mostly with boos and jeering, and Duo laughed and left them to it.
It wasn't until a little while after a small group had taken it upon themselves to do some laundry and clean up their cramped living space that Marie noticed Duo had vanished.
She found him several minutes later in one of the small tunnels leading off their hiding spot, coughing up his share of what had been a meager lunch in an automatic waste receptacle.
"Qu'est-ce qui se passe? T'es d'accord?" Her polite accent and careful diction suffered a little as she touched his shoulder, clearly more concerned with finding out what was wrong than him understanding her completely.
"Sorry," Duo groaned, brushing his bangs out of his face and slouching against the wall. "It's that damn anti-bacterial cleaner. Haven't smelled that shit in ages."
"L'anti-bactérien," she repeated, eyes narrowed. "Tu le connais?"
"This place must be old school, Alliance hospitals used it. And colony holding facilities, and OZ bases." He coughed again, wiping his mouth with a scrap of cloth and tossing that away too. "Just had myself a little panic attack slash flashback, there." He waved a hand, attempting to look nonchalant. "S'cool."
"Je ne pense pas." Maybe being white as a sheet and sweaty wasn't the best way to convince someone that you were fine.
"I'll live." She helped him up. "Come on, we've got more work to do."
Hours later, Duo was one of the few awake, leaning against a wall of the dimly lit chamber, and staring at the bottle of stimulants in his hand. He wondered idly what sort of racket the owners of the satellite were up to, as this wasn't the sort of stuff you'd usually find in an infirmary, much less on a satellite that would be forced to send most of its serious medical cases elsewhere.
He had stolen weapons and medical supplies and food, and Marie and her workers had kept them all hidden and relatively safe. They had shared their stories with him, and told him everything they could about this damn place, and he had been deceiving them from day one. Not lying, he was a Sweeper, and they'd probably be looking for him.
But one Preventer wouldn't be a comfort to them at all. And he was tired.
He'd opened the bottle before suddenly picturing X's face, and her saying 'You are on drugs' in that particular tone of hers that was flat and cutting at the same time. Duo slapped the cap back on the bottle and tossed it back into the bag of supplies with a scowl.
And then of course, the goons figured out that they weren't going to get their lucrative operation back by sitting around on their asses and making excuses to the boss, whoever he or she was.
"They have turned the life support down to minimal," Etienne said to Duo, his breath fogging the air. "We can keep for a little while longer, but we shall soon run out of food and other such necessities. Heaven forbid they get around the protocols that for now do not allow them to cut the power completely. If you have another ace up your sleeve, Mister Maxwell, now would be the time to play it."
"Just requires a change of tactics," Duo said, absently chewing on a thumbnail. "You've been keeping us pretty far away. Think you can get me in close?"
"How close?"
"This close," Duo said, pointing to the central control station on the satellite map they had drawn. "I might have one more trick after all."