Disclaimer: The G-boys and Gundam Wing don’t belong to me.
Warnings: Located in the first part. Be sure to look or you might be surprised.
FIGHTING THE DARKNESS – PART 7
The ride from Kerney sector to Shokar, where Hilde lived and worked, took almost an hour, giving him plenty of time to make a list of things he needed to purchase both for Duo and himself. Directing the cab to let him out several blocks from the salvage yard meant he had enough time to call Une and fill her in.
Waiting for Une to answer, he reflected he had talked more in the last three days than he had in the last month. Since it seemed he still had more to discuss, the chances of him retreating back into his shell seemed unlikely, confirmed when his superior finally answered. “Barton, report,” was the terse order.
“Duo tried to kill himself,” he stated without preamble. “He’s in a coma in a hospital on L2.”
“So you’re coming back?”
“No. I intend to stay until he wakes.”
“You know the chances of him waking…”
“Are slim. I’m aware. If I hadn’t known, I’ve been told several times.” The salvage yard came in sight and he found a place to wait until he saw proof Hilde was alone, or one of the couple left. “I still intend to stay. Duo needs someone here. I won’t let him down the way the others did.”
He could hear the sigh and smiled to himself as he leaned at the mouth of an alley. Though her tone was reserved, he knew she was resigned to whatever action he would take. “I don’t know how much time I can give you before I have to ask you to come back.”
“If that time comes and I’m unable to return, I’ll turn my badge and gun in at the branch office here.”
“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that. Is there anything you need from me?”
His first reaction was to say no. He wasn’t used to asking for help unless it came from one of the Gundam pilots. Still unwilling to ask more of them, he inquired, “Can you find me a way to get in touch with some of the sweepers? They might know a way to help me reach Duo.”
“It might take some time. They aren’t often willing to be found, and tend to travel in groups. I believe Noin has kept in contact with some of them. May I ask for assistance from her?”
“Keep the matter between the two of you.”
“Barton, the other pilots…”
“I have informed them of what has happened and told them I don’t want them here.”
Une’s tone was uncharacteristically soft when she replied, “Understood. I’ll get back to you with the requested information as soon as I have it.”
“I have to ask you to mail it to me. I’m keeping the ringer off while at the hospital.”
Once the call ended he pushed the phone in his pocket, reminding himself to charge it when he was back with Duo. Keeping the majority of his attention on the salvage yard offices he studied the area, making notes on any people that came and went, memorizing the faces of the employees when they came close enough to see them. Another part of him took constant survey of the people surrounding him in case he was attacked. Though this sector was the nicest he had been in thus far, there was still a large amount of destitute prowling the streets even in daylight.
Thirty minutes passed, then an hour, then two. He was beginning to wonder if Hilde had even come to work when the office door finally opened, nodding her head and scribbling in a notepad. When she began walking in his direction he melded back into the shadows of the alley, allowing her to pass less than three feet in front of him. Seconds later, he was following her, wanting to see where she was going this time of day, and hoping her destination was a less populated area.
After twenty minutes she turned down into a series of underground tunnels created to free space for buildings. Knowing some of the tunnels could run for miles and had top-side entrances every fifty feet, Trowa moved closer to Hilde than he had dared before, absently noticing foot traffic was dwindling the farther she walked.
Emerging from the tunnel, he lagged behind as she crossed the narrow road to a deli, opening the door and waving to someone as she walked inside. Fairly certain she would return the same way she had come, he went back to the tunnels, lounging on a post where he would be hidden from view. Hilde would walk past him to go back to the salvage yard, and he planned to use that to his advantage.
She took so long to return he was beginning to doubt she was going back to work. As she finally passed he fell into step just behind her, considering for a second just kidnapping her until she gave him the information he needed. One glance told him that option was closed to him – too many people were around.
Choosing a plan that was plain crazy – and something Duo might have done during the war – he lengthened his stride and tossed an arm over her shoulder once he was beside her, caging her between his body and restraining arm so she had no chance to escape.
Looking up at him with fearful eyes, Hilde clenched the bag she was carrying tightly to her chest, supposedly lunch for herself and Bo. “Trowa, what are you doing?”
“We need to talk.”
“I don’t have anything to say to you,” she hissed, attempting to jerk away. Finding herself confined, she attempted a glare. “If you don’t let me go, I’ll scream.”
“You scream and I’ll cut your throat,” he said with a shrug, tapping the knife strapped to his wrist on her shoulder. Apparently she had been around Duo long enough to identify what the metallic clink under his sleeve was, subsiding quickly.
After a moment, she spoke softly, “What do you want to talk about? I have to get back soon. Bo knows where I went.”
Understanding the unspoken threat, Trowa snorted, “I don’t plan to kill you. We need to speak somewhere.”
A quick shake of her head was followed by, “I’m not going with you anywhere. Just let me go.”
“Duo tried to kill himself,” he said abruptly, sick of the way she was trying to avoid talking to him.
Shock had her feet freezing to the metallic floor of the tunnel. “You’re lying. Duo would never do such a thing.”
“He’s in a coma. I wouldn’t be talking to you otherwise.”
For a long time she simply stood, searching his face for the truth. “Why would he? Duo’s never given up before. You don’t think he would do that because of me, do you?”
Unable to determine what Duo had ever seen in the black-haired woman, he began to walk, practically pulling her along until her feet moved on their own. In his opinion, Hilde was far too focused on herself to treat Duo the way he should be treated. “I think it was a contributing factor.”
“That’s crazy,” she insisted, hurrying her steps to keep up with Trowa’s longer stride. “We weren’t even really a couple, not in certain ways.”
“You lived together for two years. Worked together all that time, yet you weren’t a couple?”
“Not really. We were never…intimate,” she blushed, frowning deeply.
Trowa’s feet stopped moving as he stared down at her. “Why not?”
Her eyes flickered, “He couldn’t.”
“Couldn’t, or wouldn’t?”
“It amounts to the same thing, doesn’t it?” Hilde snapped suddenly as they moved out of the tunnels into the dim light of mid-day on L2. “We lived together and did all the things a normal couple did. Eat, go out to dinner or the movies, hang out with friends, cleaned house, all that crap. We even slept in the same bed. Not once did he try to touch me, not in bed or out of it. I asked him about it several times. He said he didn’t want to have sex with me, then he said he would think about it.” Bitterness was in her eyes as she averted her gaze. “I eventually got tired of waiting for him to decide he wanted me, and found somebody else.”
“I’ve met your idea of somebody else,” the tall man snorted. “I wasn’t impressed.”
“Bo’s okay. He can be crude sometimes, but so could Duo.”
“There’s violence in him. If you can’t see it you’re a bigger fool than I thought.”
Her eyes flickered again, but not with a lie. This flicker was one of knowledge. Not wanting to be in sight of the salvage yard, he pulled her to a hard metal bench, the green paint faded with age and use. “Tell me.”
Jerking up her chin, she glared at him defiantly, “Tell you what?”
“Tell me what Bo did.”
“Bo wouldn’t do anything. He’s really not as bad as you make him sound.”
Beyond tired of the verbal cat-and-mouse game they were playing, Trowa waited until she looked at him. “Tell me what he did or I’ll find out myself. If I have to learn it from him, I promise all of his pieces will never be found again, and all the doctors in the world won’t be able to put him back together again.”
Realizing he was telling the truth, Hilde tried to move away, stopping abruptly when his hand clamped around her arm with bruising force. “You have the nerve to say Bo’s violent? You’re a hypocrite.”
“I never said I wasn’t capable of hurting someone, but I don’t enjoy it. He would. Tell me before I go find out for myself.”
Her gaze focused on the sparsely populated sidewalk, Hilde began to chew on her fingernails, “I don’t’ know anything, really.”
“Then tell me what you suspect.”
“One night…about a month after Duo…moved out, I woke up. Bo was gone so I went to find him. He was on the phone with one of his friends, one that’s a bit…rough around the edges. Bo was describing Duo and gave his address, telling his friend to make sure it was done soon.” Meeting Trowa’s eyes, she shook her head, “I asked Bo what he was doing. He said his friend was going to show Duo what it meant to be a real man. I was so scared Duo was going to get killed, but I couldn’t stop it. When there wasn’t…any news…I forgot about it.”
Stomach rolling, Trowa took a few deep breaths to control his rage. “I want the names of Bo’s friend, and anyone that may have helped him.”
“Duo’s been beat up before,” Hilde said dismissively, flinching when she saw the expression on his face.
Stupefied that the woman really had no clue, he shook her angrily, “He wasn’t beat up, you idiot. You really are stupid,” he hissed. “He was raped, by what the doctors assume was multiple people. He was left in an alley, beaten nearly to death and naked. He was in the hospital for almost a week, and his neighbor had to help him for another week because he was so badly hurt he couldn’t walk,” he spat, telling her of what he had learned by hacking into the hospital report, then the police files. The blanks had been filled in by Silk when he had called her.
Hilde’s eyes were wide, her mouth opening and closing without any sound. “You’re wrong,” she finally said. “Bo wouldn’t do that kind of thing.”
“He didn’t have to. His friends did it for him. I want that list of names, Hilde.”
“Bo has a number of friends,” she stalled.
“Get me all of their names, then. I’ll figure out which ones were responsible.”
When he stood, she grabbed his arm, “What are you planning to do to them?”
“Are you going to call and warn them, the way you didn’t warn Duo?”
Recoiling from the comment, she jerked her hand to her chest, “I was hurt and angry. I should have called Duo, but I guess I wanted him to be hurt, too.”
Disgusted by the woman with her head bowed, he curled his top lip, “You got what you wanted, then. Duo was hurt, almost killed, because of you. Your hurt feelings almost caused his death, twice, and destroyed any pride he had. When he wakes up, the memories of what happened to him will haunt him for the rest of his life. Your pride was hurt, he almost died. You were angry because he didn’t want to have sex with you, so you effectively ended any hopes for a normal life he could have had.” Leaning down to her, he let her see the rage he had been concealing, “You were mad at him? I’m pissed. I’ll find those that hurt him, and make them pay for what they did. I haven’t decided what to do with you yet.”
“Can…can I see him?”
Incredulous, he stood straight, wondering if she was plain stupid or simply had no sense of self-preservation. “If I find you or Bo within a hundred feet of Duo, I’ll slit your throat and not feel guilty about it at all.”