Echo Dreams

Chapter 2: Jade and Duo’s Bet
Duo and Jade make a bet. Jade must prove she has the skills to be a Preventer agent. Freddy makes an appearance. The loser must uphold his/her end of the bet.

Disclaimer: Like I said before, I do not own Gundam Wing or it\'s characters in any way, shape, or form. That is unless you count fantasys, but we won\'t go into that. If you want to sue me, go ahead, you will just be wasting your time because I sponge off my mom and own almost nothing. If you want, you can have my school books, I don\'t want them.

Notes: Jade, Freddy, Kattie, Evans, Evers, and so on belong to me. These people do not appear in the series or the manga (as far as I know since I haven\'t read them all) so they beloo meo me. They are mine, you can\'t have them. Actually, I don\'t care if you use their names or personalities for any of your own characters, but these folks are still mine.
I am sorry it took me so long to get this chapter up.

Shout outs: I am a very bad person and I will have to grovel to my beta readers for forgiveness. We are on Spring Break and I am too impaitent to let them read this chapter. They have read bits here and there, but they have not read the entire thing so any mistakes are completely my fault. I have also gained a new beta reader. Wow, I have three. Marle, Becca, and now Emy has joined the ranks of lifesavers. Pity them for they have to hear me repeat things over and over when I get excited about something and they hear bits and pieces for future ideas with no idea what is going on. Worst, though, is they have to put up with me and I am a very annoying person (Sorry, Emy. One day we will look back at French class and we will laugh about it. Actually, I will laugh, you will probably kill me).

Duo walked beside Jade chattering endlessly with the woman while Heero walked ahead of them towards the elevator.

Heero did not even turn around when he asked, “You have already filled out your papers, correct?”

Jade nodded as she replied, “Correct, I just need my equipment.”

They stepped on the elevator to take them to the ground floor where they could get Jade’s things and take her to the training grounds to see what she c do. do.

Heero leaned his shoulder against one wall near the front of the elevator while Jade and Duo stood behind him. Heero could not shake the creepy feeling that had enveloped him ever since he had first laid eyes one. e. The older woman bothered him, but he could not say why. He could feel her eyes upon him as she and Duo conversed.

“So, Jade, you are actually a Preventer, now?”

“Is it so hard to believe, Mr. Maxwell?”

“Please, Mr. makes me sound old. Call me Duo. Besides you are all dressed up; you hardly look the type to fit the Preventer bill.”

“I will make a deal with you, Duo, if at the training grounds, I do poorly, I will do all the chores for one week. if if I do better than over ninety percent of the agents’ best runs, you and Heero have to treat me to dinner and I get to pick the place. Do we have a deal?”

“Hey, how did I get dragged into this?”

“Shut up, Heero. You have yourself a deal, Miss Amora.”

Duo was grinning. There was no way Jade could beat ninety percent of the Preventers’ scores. It looked like he would get out of doing chores for a week.

* * *

“What is taking her so long? How long does it take a woman to get changed?”

Heero did not answer Duo. Duo was always impatient. They had left the main building wen went to the Preventer’s on site training grounds/equipment building. The first thing they did was grab her a gun and hip holster for it. Jade placed them and the extra rounds in a sports bag Freddy had left for them. Jade’s new uniform followed next along with her id and badge.

Now Jade was in the women’s changing room. She had been in there for five minutes.

Heero was sure he was going to hit Duo before Jade got out.

The sound of the door opening surely saved Duo from sustaining a major injury at the hands of a very annoyed blue eyed agent.

Duo turned around and his jaw dropped. Heero was shocked, too, but his surprise was not as evident as the braided one beside him.

Before them, was still a beautiful woman, but she could not possibly be the woman from Lady Une’s office. Jade had pulled most of her hair back into a high ponytail. Her bangs were left to fall on either side of her face. She had dumped the suit for an informal Preventer’s uniform. She wore jeans and sneakers. She had a white t-shirt and the Preventer’s jacket. Her gun rested on her right hip.

“I think I will adjust my uniform a bit when I have time.”

Duo rolled his eyes and sent a pointed look at Heero as if saying, ‘See, I told you she was a skirt.’

Heero ignored Duo. “Are you ready to make your first run?”

Jade nodded.

* * * *

Duo decided that it would be best to start Jade in the shooting gallery. anteante see see how well she could shoot and how much Heero and himself would have to work to ger her to Preventer level.

Freddy was already at the gallery. “Hey, guys. Breaking in the new chickie?”

Heero answered with his usual grunt while Duo nodded, “Yeah, Fred, we are here to see what little Jade can do.”

Back at the equipment distribution room, Freddy’s underlings had given Jade the equipment Freddy had left out for the new agent. Freddy had decided to come at at the shooting gallery.

Many people were surprised to find that Freddy, or Fred to those that were close to Freddy, is a girl. She was a short woman at 5’3”. She had bright green hair of all one length that came almost to her chin. She kept it out of her face using a black bandana rolled up that served as a headband. Resting on top of the bandana were small purple tinted sunglasses. She wore contacts that gave her yellow cat eyes that reflected the light and seemed to glow in the dark. Freddy seemed to have an elfish look about her. She wore a white skintight turtleneck shirt with no sleeves. While the top came just under her chin, the hem folded down not even a complete inch. A black leather corset that tied in the front that hugged the top of her hips, wrapped around her slender waist and emphasized her breasts. She wore a standard issued Preventer belt that had her gun and holster on her left hip to accommodate for her being left handed. She wore black leggings. A black half-skirt hung on her right hip covering her leg all the way to the ankle. The skirt had rings that were placed at regular intervals on either side of the skirt. Through the rings, metal was shaped and attached to the skirt in a zigzag pattern. It could not be real metal as it seemed part of the skirt and flowed with the cloth. Her feet were incased in black boots with flat soles and had zippers on both sides of them. They came up over her black leggings just a couple of inches above her ankles. On her back partially covered by her sleeveless shirt were two tattoos, one on each side. On her left side was a tattoo of the Irish claddagh with the word Ireland in a black gothic script under it. The hands holding the ruby heart and the crown resting on the heart were silver. On her right side was a tattoo of a fairy. (One of my beta readers is doing the fairy tattoo herself so I will post it on as soon as I can). Her left ear held three earrings while her right ear held four earrings. Each lobe held three piercings. The bottom holes contained earrings that were daggers that hanged from a short chain. The second holes contained hoops while the third holes had simple silver studs. Her left ear had an earcuff with a diamond dangling down. Her right cartilage had a small hooth bth black beads in it. Her necklace consiste a b a black anarchy symbol attached to a black braided string. There was no clasp. When it was not wrapped around her neck the necklace was a black braided rope with a loop at one end and the anarchy medallion at the other. The medallion slipped through the loop and the rope was pulled into a collar around her neck. The medallion stopped right above her corset. The only other ornament adorning her body was an armband made of silver on her upper right arm. In the front, the two ends formed curls against her skin with the ends never touching. The left end came below the right curl and they rested beside each other. She spoke with a hint of an Irish accent.

Fred smiled at Jade, “So you are the new girl. Someone up there must hate ya if they are rooming you with these two psychos.” Fred winked at Duo and Heero to let them know she was just joking.

“Oh come on, Freddy, we are not that bad.”

Fred turned and gave Duo an ‘oh please’ look. “You two are horrible. Heero is Mr. Anit-social-deathglare-I-don’t-talk and you, Duo, pull so many crazy stunts it is amazing Une hasn’t canned your ass.”

Duo laughed, “I am just to adorable to fire. Une needs a sexy man around.”

“Well if you find one be sure he fills out all the correct forms because we sure need one,” Fred shot back.

Duo looked crestfallen, “That’s mean. Anyways, Jade is here to shoot.”

Fred’s smile brightened as she whirled to face Jade once again. She imitated a Texan drawl, “Ya here ta do some shootin’, Tex. Well, ya just hold yer horses and I’ll get ya ready.”

She walked over to the glass and hit it with her open palm a few times causing the guy behind the glass who had been leaning back in his chair with his feet propped on the control board trying to get some sleep to fall out of his chair and onto the floor with a loud squawk. The young agent, still on the floor, peeked over the control panel with scarlet gracing his cheeks. He turned on the speaker.

“Freddy, what the hell was that for? I was in the middle of a good dream and I need my sleep.”

“Cut the crap, Cord, if you didn’t go around nailing anything with a heartbeat every chance you got, then you wouldn’t be so tired. Now get you lazy ass up and start the shooting gallery. Open 7-10.”

Fred turned around to face the three agents. Behind her, Cord stood up and flipped Freddy off. Even though there was no way she could have seen it, she responded as if she knew what Cord would do, “I wouldn’t fuck you, Cord, if you were the last guy on earth.”

“It wasn’t an offer, Freddy.”

“Coming from you, everything’s an offer.”

Cord sighed and turned on seven through ten knowing he could not win this verbal confrontation. “There you go, Freddy.”

“Thanks, Cordy, my friend.” Fred turned and grabbed the earmuffs and safety glasses. She handed Duo a pair that she had painted pink. Duo could not help but laugh and began to model them. Heero rolled his eyes and Jade laughed the laugh of one who was not truly sure the people around her were completely sane. Fred threw an arm around the older woman. “Come on, chickie, you can use nine. I will be shooting with ya so do not be intimidated by these little boys here.”

Jade looked down at the little elfish looking woman, “My name is Jade Amora, not chickie.”

Even Freddy’s laugh sounded elfish. “Don’t worry about it, chickie, until you’ve earned your name, you will be chickie.”

Duo began to laugh remembering what Freddy had called them. “Don’t worry about it, Jade, she does that to everyone. Even Lady Une.”

Jade raised an eyebrow. Duo just shook his head and walked to the lanes. The others quickly followed him placing on their earmuffs and safety goggles.

Jade passed by Duo and went into lane nine. Duo followed and stood beside the new agent. Fred and Heero stood behind them waiting for Duo to make a fool of himself. Sure enough open mouth insert foot.

Duo pulled his gun from the holster. “Now, Jadey, this switch here is the safety. You switch it here and the safety is on. When the safety is on the gun won’t fire. Switch it this way and the safety is off. The gun will now fire.” Duo continued to explain all the features of the gun while Jade paid attention. He went through how to aim and how to stand while aiming. “Now watch, I will show you.” Duo squeezed off a couple of rounds. He pressed the button and the target, which was a paper the height of a man with a person on it, came right to him. The paper had two holes through the heart. Duo took the paper down. “See, Jade, the guy is dead. Now you do it.”

Another paper appeared. Jade ignored Duo’s advice and shot off nine rounds. Duo began to shout, “What the hell? Were you not paying attention?” As Duo continued to yell, Jade calmly pressed the button to bring her target near. Duo was to busy yelling at her to notice, but Heero’s eyes widen slightly and Freddy began to laugh. Duo turned to face Freddy, “What is so funny?” But she ignored him and clapped Jade on the back, “Good job, chickie, that was excellent shooting.”

Duo looked at the target. There was a hole in the center of the forehead, a hole for each eye, wrist, and knee, a hole through the heart and, Duo winced, one through the groin. He turned to look at Jade who was now smirking at him.

“Well, little Duo, do you think the target is dead now? If he is not, then he can now sing soprano.”

Freddy burst out laughing at Duo’s shocked face. If Jade was this good on the field she would quickly earn a name.

All four of them went to their individual lane to continue their shooting practice.

* * * *

“We can’t go to Locono’s, Jade. It is too expensive. We can’t afford that on our salary.”

“That was the deal, Duo. Are you backing out?”

“No, it’s just that Locono’s is so expensive. Can’t you think of a better place to eat?”

Jade shook her head stubbornly, “No, some friends said that if I ever got the chance to eat at Locono’s, I should take it. I know that I can’t afford it on my own, so our little bet provided me with the perfect opportunity to eat there. I must say, Duo, I am grateful that you agreed to our little bet.”

Jade had easily beaten most of the Preventers’ scores in every area. She had even shocked Duo into silence, something that was next to impossible. Then Jade had decided to eat at Locono’s. Locono’s was to Ama wha what L’Argent was to Paris. Duo just hoped that Jade was a light eater. If she wasn’t , Heero was going to kill him.

Duo had to hand it to Jade, the woman had guts. Most people dressed up real fancy when they went to L’Argent. Jade had insisted they go in their Preventers uniform as she was hungry now. Locono’s would not be happy, they had a reputation to keep.

They arrived at Locono’s and got out of the car. The poor valet seemed like he was going to faint from shock. Heero drove up in a F250. The huge black truck had dents all over it. Paint was falling off it. There was mud all over the gigantic truck. Heero bought the truck two days ago. He had finally decided he needed a car, too. Duo and him went to an antique car dealer because Heero did not want any of the new cars. He wanted a car from pre-colony times. There, Heero instantly fell in love with the beat up F250. Heero planned to fix it up himself. It was a good project for him.

When the three Preventers climbe down from the truck, the valet looked offended that no one aided the lady in getting out of the vehicle. Worse, none of these people were in proper attire for an establishment of Locono’s caliber. The poor valet was thrown even more through a loop when Heero tossed him the keyes and Duo said, “Don’t scratch the paint job.”

“Baka.”

The three agents walked in ignoring the disapproving stares from all the richly dressed people. One of the hosts approached the agents.

“Excuse me, but I am afraid I must ask you to remove yourselves.”

Heero and Duo looked like they were about to argue when Jade said, “I would like to speak to the owner right now, please.”

“He is too busy to speak to someone like you,” the host said, his voice thick with disdain.

Jade could see the two teens behind her start to clench their fists in anger, but she did not let the host get to her. Instead, she flashed her new badge, “I don’t give a rat’s ass. We are Preventers. You will get the owner here, and you will get him here right now.”

The host fell silent as he stared at the badge. Jade made a shooing motion with her hand and he quickly disappeared to find the owner. The boys could not stop staring at Jade. It turns out they didn’t have long to stare as the host had found the owner, who was not busy and quickly brought him to the Preventer ag.

.

“Hello, agents. My name is William Evers, I am the owner of this establishment. How may I be of service?” The owner looked to be a respectable gentleman in his early fifties. He was hovering between slim and slight chubbiness. His mostly gray hair had sprinklings of black. His auburn eyes seemed to catch every detail around him.

“Yes,” Jade answered in a no nonsense voice, “we have had a very busy day, we are very tired, and all we want to do is eat. We have reservations but this gentleman here,” she gestured to the host, “refuses to let us eat since we do not have time to go home and change. I apologize for tricking you, but it was the only way to get results, Mr. Evers.”

“That is quite alright Mrs…” “Ms. Amora, Jade Amora.” “Ms. Amora. I will personally make sure that this never happens again. If you will follow me, I will show you to your table myself.” Jade took the arm that William offered. He escorted Jade to a fairly secluded table with Heero and Duo trailing behind.

The restaurant was simply amazing. The nonsmoking area and the smoking area were through two separate doors so that the nonsmokers stayed clear of the smokers the entire time. Their table was on the nonsmoking side. Once they entered that area, it was as if they were transported to a different world. The entire far wall was made of glass. Behind the glass were hundreds of different types of salt water find snd salt water plants in various colors, shapes, and sizes. A glow came from the tank as if the tank was lit. The only other source of light in that area were dim bulbs encased in a fish bowl with three small fish in the bowl hanging over each table. The tables themselves, like the rest of the tables, were made of a dark red wood. The left and right walls were giant paintings. Both looked real. The left side was of a rainforest. Tightight side was of a sunrise over snow covered mountains. The two paintings spread out onto the ceiling where they met in the middle.

William led them to a fairly secluded table next to the wall tank. He detached himself from Jade to pull her chair out for her. With a nod to Evers, Jade sat down and he pushed her chair up.

“Your waiter shall be here in a moment. If there should be any more problems let me know and I shall deal with them immediately.”

Jade smiled up at the man, “Thank you, Mr. Evers. You have been most helpful.”

Evers made a small bow and took his leave of the three agents. His absence was quickly replaced by their waiter, a tall man in his early twenties with short-cropped black hair and light blue eyes.

The waiter handed them three menus and smiled at Jade, “Good evening lady and gentlemen. My name is Kyle and I will be your server tonight. What can I get you to drink?”

Jade smiled back at the young man, “I would like water, no lemon.” Duo grinned to himself, ‘Likely a health nut who watches her weight; she won’t eat much.’

“Water also.” Heero’s voice snapped Duo out of his internal musings. “A coke would be nice.”

Kyle nodded, “Alright, I will get your drinks and give you a chance to look over the menus.” Kyle then left.

The three Preventers opened their menus.

“What the hell?”

Heero glance at Duo, one eyebrow rising. “What has gotten into you?”

“The menu does not list any prices.”

“What?!”

“Look for yourself, Heero.” Heero looked down at the menu in front of him. Sure enough, not a single item on the menu had a price attached to it. Heero turned to stare at Jade, her low laughter irritating him.

“What is so amusing, Miss Amora?” Heero asked.

Jade put an end to her chuckling and instead smiled at the two teens, “Locono’s, like so many of the top fancy restaurants, does not list the prices.” Duo’s incredulous look combined with his outburst of, “Why not?” had her chuckling again, “It is just the way things are done, Duo. Now look through your menu and decide what you want to eat.”

Several minutes passed in silence when the waiter returned with their drinks.

Kyle flashed another smile before asking, “Have you decided what you want?”

Heero could not explain the sudden sense of dread as Jade grinned, “Yes, I would like…”

* * *

The rattle of a key in the lock disturbed the silence in the darkened house. The door opened, allowing light to chase some of the darkness back. A hand stretched out and flicked a nearby switch. The house was instantly flooded with more light. Heero walked rest of the way in followed by Jade with an overnight bag and Duo trailing behind her, his face set in a slight frown.

Heero lead them to the living room. He turned to face Jade. “The kitchen is over there, bathroom down the hall first door on the left. Your room is first door on the right. Blankets and pillows are in the closet. We will get rest of your belongings in the morning and then give you a real tour of the house. Any questions?”

“Yeah, how the hell did you score a nice place like this?”

“It was a safehouse during the war. It was felt, when we used this house, that the situation called for hiding in the open. The deeds of most of our safehouses are in our names. We decided to use this one.”

“Cool. Alright, I am going to bed. Good night.”

As she left, Duo turned to Heero, “Geeze, I didn’t know a woman could eat that much. I can’t believe how much that cost. We could have bought everything off the menu at McDonald’s sixty times over with what we spent at Locono’s.”

Duo threw himself onto the couch, “I can’t explain it, Heero, but there is just something about Jade that…” Duo trailed off shrugging his shoulders as if he couldn’t think of the right words to get his feelings across.

Before Heero could reply, Jade’s voice floated down the hall, “By the way, Une gave me the codename Storm.”

tbc...

AUTHOR NOTES:
I forgot to give credits in my first chapter so here are all the credits thus far.
1. Heero and Duo\'s codename ideas come from Brandon, a kid in my school who has to sit through me telling him about characters.
2. Freddy\'s Fairy tattoo, when it gets posted, is done by Marle.
3. The lack of prices on the menu was suggested by Becca.
4. The hem of Freddy\'s turtleneck coming down was suggested by Marle, who has taken a real intrest in my Freddy character.

SIDENOTES:
This is sort of an unusual credit and thank you section. It provides some info about the betas and notes to them plus other comments.
Becca: She is my original Beta. I got her hooked on Gundam Wing through AFF. She read \"Afterimages\" (I forced her to) and immediately fell in love with it. \"Afterimages\" is written by Mieren and I owe her a lot even if she does not know it. Before Becca read the story, The only friends that liked Gundam Wing were my male friends and they did not have the same obssesion. Now I have a friend who understands. After reading \"Afterimages\" Becca borrowed my Gundam DVDs and stayed up into the the wee hours of the morning, on school nights, watching them. I am glad you have been \"corrupted\", as our parents believe, to Gundam Wing.

Marle: While not a huge Gundam fan, Marle is a huge Duo fan. She has seen a few episodes. Marle has agreed to do some fanart to go along with my story as I have no artistic talent in that field (my precious Biology drawings). Marle is a very busy person so there is no telling when we will get those. Be paitent. Marle is a great writer and a cool RPGer.

Emy: This is my newest Beta reader. Like Marle, she has only seen a few episodes. Emy has also agreed to do fanart for me and will be helping me in setting up a site to put the drawings up since I have little computer skills. I have no clue when it will be ready, but we will try. Emy is also an awesome RPGer, don\'t mess with her, and a great writer. Actually Emy has posted a story up on AFF. She is an Inu Yasha fanfic writer, but we can forgive her. Plus she kicks ass at writing so you should really read it. I have her story reccommended on my profile. Emy posting her story encouraged me to post my own. So thank, or curse, Emy for me being here.

Thanks to all who have read this story. Thanks even more to those who reviewed. Thanks Becca, my little sister, and the person who signed their review as me (no they did not sign it Kort but m-e), yes Heero is very sexy.
I want to thank the other Gundam Wing authors, I have enjoyed reading your stories, as ve rve read most of them. I blame you for a tiny part of my slowness in posting because I am too busy reading your stories because most of them are a thousand times better than mine, but that is ok, I love it.

Sorry to those who actually read my little rants, I just had to say these things. I wouldn\'t be surprised if most of you skipped over it. I will try not to go on so long in other chapters.

P.S. If anyone else would like to draw scenes from my story and send them in to be posted, I would be grateful. I will try to get a place for you to send them as soon as Emy and I get the site up. Once done we will post the address in one of the chapters, or as a separate section all by itself.
Thanks to all who are even remotely connected to this story,
Kort