Even Gundam Pilots Make Mistakes (Part 2)

Finn's Place

Duo looked at the place. According to the data he got, Hilde had been right. RTL had affected them.

Two brothers, not a thing to do with him.

One of them had been found, dead in the colonies. It was supposed to be the guy Dorothy Catalonia murdered. Yeah. One of his brothers. ///Duo: Damn them./// His other brother was currently declared missing and so was that pigheaded guy known as his biological dad. If RTL had bumped his dad off, that would be a nice gesture. His other brother though? The one who died, Finn, was apparently someone that was in the company of prostitution.

This so-called Gin brother was fine. He had nothing to do with those riches, instead working at some fast-food joint. He was denying working with Finn and his family business, staying loyal to his own integrity. That was appreciated. That's all Duo could find of him now. He'd already checked Gin's place for clues. Not much, but he did find a wire trap at the front. Not a good sign.

The only place now to search for clues was the mansion. If Gin was okay, maybe he just wanted to get away to his brothers to hide? His place definitely wasn't safe.

Duo didn't go up and knock on the door. He never did that. It was never his style. All his years of training never led up to 'knock on the front door and you'd get to the bottom of things'. He skulked around the corner, keeping his hat low as he moved. He looked into the first several windows. The place was definitely classy. Then as he moved farther backwards, he found a sight that he could not believe. ///Duo: Aww, shit!/// Hilde was right, he should have come sooner! How was he supposed to know?

Tied up in a chair was the picture of the young woman he'd seen. The picture he kept in his memory for Trowa, just in case he ran into her. Middie Une, tied to a chair. She looked terrible. Her arms were bruised, her face was smashed up, and it looked like her leg was at an odd angle of rest. Was it broken? Injured?

His own brother. His own half-brother had been abusing the hell out of her. Duo muttered words he rarely muttered as he thought about his own gun. He needed to get her out.

Duo went toward the back and turned all of the security off. As much as Trowa deserved to be the one to rescue her, this was his own blood that hurt her. He was getting her away.

Duo knocked on the front door this time. A direct route was the best way in. He could bullshit his way with a smile, it's what he'd done to lots of people in his life. He watched as Gin answered the door. "Hi there. My name's Duo Maxwell." Damn. This guy looked a lot like him. A darker hair color and slightly different eyes.

"Not looking for cookies at this time," the guy joked. "My brother isn't here anymore. Can I help you there, fella?"

"You bet." This guy's defenses were all the way down. He knew how to beat someone up strapped down and he knew how to command with a gun. His fighting skill would be easy to take down. "Yeah. This guy's my dad." Duo held the picture of his biological father up.

Gin looked toward him. Uncomfortable. No surprise. "You're a half-brother?"

"Yep. Visited Earth and just thought it'd be good to see the side of the family I'd never seen," Duo remarked. "Mind if I come in?"

Oh yeah, this guy was definitely nervous, but Duo sort of brushed past him. He had no guard up at all against him. "Nice place. I thought this place belonged to our other one? You said he wasn't here anymore?"

"This was Finn's place," Gin agreed. "He's dead. He was captured and he was found dead in the colonies. He left me his place, but I don't know what to do with it. I don't know what to do with anything." He looked back toward Duo. "You should really go."

"I just got here." Duo strolled toward the back, knowing the way to go. She could be seen before in a distant window on the side of the house. It shouldn't be long.

"Look, i-it's not a good idea, Duo," Gin said as Duo continued to stroll with purpose. "Listen, Man, I don't even know you! Don't make me bury another brother!"

"Yeah, you have an interesting way of seeing things." Duo pushed the doors she was in, wide open. Of course, being a huge place, Gin would come from the side. There was more than one way into the room. Duo had his knife ready to cut her ropes. He gave it to her, knowing he wasn't going to have enough time and pulled out his gun on his brother.

"Hey, get out!" Gin warned him. He had his gun on Duo. "You don't know what's going on. Get out before you get hurt!"

"I can see when someone is getting abused," Duo warned him. "I'm not about to let you continue just because we're blood. Blood means nothing to me." He grew up without blood. If he had to kill his own brother, he would. He didn't want to. It was supposed to be a time of peace, an end to the killing. He wouldn't let him continue to hurt her though. Seeing how well she was taking out her own ropes strategically and the look in her eye, Duo moved away to the left.

The effect worked. His brother edged closer into the room. He was on her right. "Get out. Get out before something happens."

Yeah, right. Duo held his gun on him. He didn't want the girl to have to do anything she wasn't ready for, but she had murder in her eyes. To rescue her, meant either she or him took out his brother. "Am I a coward?" He didn't mean to say it out loud. "I don't want to kill you. I think that you're a sick individual, and I'll make sure you go to jail for a long time, but I don't want to kill you."

He watched Gin's eyes. They didn't make sense. He'd been coming for Middie Une, putting on his own show to get back there. This guy did not have the eyes of a killer. "I just hope, that everyone thinks about how important life is." His warning to Middie. He couldn't stop her. He didn't want to, she needed to get out, and once he set her free, she would do as she wished.

Right now, she wished to kill his brother. She was eyeing Gin's gun real well.

"What you've been doing is sick, but you haven't killed anyone," Duo said, speaking more to Middie Une but acting like it was his brother. "At least, not in a long time. Mercy is a harder thing to grant."

Then, he watched as Middie Une moved from her chair, grabbed Gin's gun, rolled and-

Shot out the door past Gin? Duo heard a loud scream then the word 'dad' from Gin. Not an anxious happy 'dad' or even a sad 'dad'. Then?

Sometimes, riding in an impenetrable machine like a gundam in your past made you forget some things. Like, you're human. Like, everyone makes mistakes. Duo was reminded of that as he found that same gun on him.

By Middie Une. "Leave us alone!" She held the gun at Duo. "Why can't Revenge of the Lost just leave me alone? I don't want to do this anymore." She held the gun straight at Duo's head.