City of Love and Politics

[ShinigamiDuo]

Duo: Tag....along...?
Duo begins to approach the door on the opposite side of the vehicle when the doors to the palace open, and out steps Sarah, escorted by two Titan officers.
Sarah: "Duo Maxwell, please follow me to recieve your payment. Your services aren't required for the rest of the night."
Duo comes back to the window where Rei is, and shrugs with a friendly grin across his face.
Duo: "Looks like I'm going my own separate way....Besides, I don't feel like heading to such a peaceful place quite yet."
Duo waves with the back of his hand as he follows Sarah and the two Titan officers into the palace.

[ShinigamiDuo]

"Go ahead without me," he told the convoy, and at that, they did. He opened the cockpit once more and stepped out. "Wait just a moment," he yelled to the man down on the ground, rapelling down again. "I have a proposal for you, care to here it?" he asked after touching the ground and walking over to him.

[ShinigamiDuo]

Duo looked up at the ORB pilot right as he was entering the door.
Duo: A bit annoying. OI, catch this!
Duo sharply threw a card up at the pilot.

[ShinigamiDuo]

He caught it with ease and looked at it "This is...?" he asked.

[ShinigamiDuo]

Duo: "If you need a mercenary, just call that number. Right now, let me finish up the job I'm on. Now then, I've been keeping these rich folks waiting."
Turning his back on the ORB procession, Duo walked into the palace doors, the Titan officers closing them behind him.

[ShinigamiDuo]

"'Kay," is all he said before going back into his gundam. Boosting after the convoy, he jumped over it and landed in front, guarding it once more. Sighing, he flipped the card in his hand as he watched the screens, nothing irregular...yet. Not like he was expecting anything, but he was always paranoid.

[ShinigamiDuo]

"Ah, Paris... the city of love...sophistication... and more importantly, a city where I can drink without being arrested!" Ryouba laughed as he stepped off the deck of his modified Gaw carrier and into the busy French airport.

Today he had reason to celebrate as well. On his way back from another boring Junk Guild meeting, he happened to stumble upon the relatively-intact Orb Akatsuki that was now piled within the carrier with the rest of his salvaged goods.

"Shame the mobile turrets were damaged so bad, but just an arm replacement is good enough..." He thought aloud. "All it needs is a day's worth of repair, then we've got ourselves a fully functioning machine ready for auction. Hey, Taxi!"

[ShinigamiDuo]

Inside the black car, Sakurazaki requested that contact be sent to Orb to obtain her mech from space. The reply was that it had been taken, but they had a tracer on it. "Great....Cagalli is going to kill me." She turned to look out the window, the streets of Paris were sure crowded. Maybe she would check out the sites if time permitted. However she was obviously fuming with anger, partly at Maverick for making her abandon her mech. She hoped Orb would go and fetch it for her, as she had made them promise to get it back.

[ShinigamiDuo]

Saito had arrived in Paris a few days ago and has been wandering around since then. Saito found rumors leading him to Paris, as he was in search of Ryouba Hiryuu...the Junk Tech that had sold him his MS. Saito had been searching for a powerful MS and found Ryouba, who also happens to be Mech Designer, and for a hefty cost, Gundam Treasoner became Saito's. Now he searches for Ryouba to request a maintance check on Treasoner, seeing as how all the other Mechanics he's visited have no idea how to handle it.

"Darn it...where is that guy? And why choose to be in Paris of all places?! I have no idea how to communicate with the rest of the people around here!"

Saito looked at his watch, a quarter past 10. He'd have to find a place to crash soon, Paris might be the city of love...but lately, he isn't so sure.

"I'll just have to keep on searching tomorrow."

[ShinigamiDuo]

Walking into the same parlor the two pilots had previously left, Duo was greeted with the surly prescence of Scirocco, a man he definitely did not look foward to meeting. The door is shut behind his back, leaving Duo to give a frown-accompanied stare at the purple-haired man in front of him.
Scirocco: "Excellent work tonight, mercenary. Your services were much appreciated. After all, you are the famous Black Angel. In any case, after the disturbance earlier, the party will be ending sooner than expected. And our officers can take the situation from here on. Now then, you're payment..."
Duo: "Was wondering when you'd get to that. Tonight was pretty boring, so I hope to see the right amount."
Duo's stare turned into a grin as he crossed his arms across his chest.
Duo: "I really can't stand being around you aristocrats for too long anyhow."
Scirocco returned the smirk. Stirring the refilled wine glass in his hand, he reached for a briefcase behind him on the desk. Grabbing the handle, Scirocco swiftly tossed it to Duo who caught it abruptly with both hands wrapped around the front.
Scirocco: "Don't worry. You're being well compensated."
Duo looks over the briefcase.
Duo: "Looks like everything's in order, so I'll be leaving now. Maybe take in the sights. Might never get a chance to see this city again."
Scirocco: "Farewell mercenary. May you travel well, and perhaps we'll be in touch again."
Duo: Hopefully not, I'd rather not deal with the people who killed my parents. "Well, say hi to Jamitov for me."
The doors open thanks to the Titan officers outside. Duo carries the briefcase over his shoulder as he walks out the door and outside to his waiting Tartarus.
Scirocco: Hmm...someday that mercenary will be another one of my tools.
Scirocco turns to look out the window, which displays a lantern-lit palace garden. Overhead, a full moon shines bright. A grin spreads across the inventor's face as he review his ambitions in his head.

*Outside at the Tartarus.*
Duo walks out of the front doors alongside numerous well-dressed aristocrats. They give him a few glances as he walks out and to the right of the doors towards his machine. Reaching the lift, Duo rides it up to his cockpit and climbs in, shutting it behind him.
Duo: "Hey old pal. Let's take our leave for now."
Positioning his hands around the controls, Duo activates the Tartarus. The mobile suit starts foward, walking down the steps and into the nearby forest.
Duo: "Time to see the city of love my friend."

[ShinigamiDuo]

4:00am:

After waking up at the hotel he was sleeping in, Saito packs up his belongings and opens the window. Unfortunately Saito was a bit short on cash and didn't want to deal with the hotel manager, besides, he had to check up on Treasoner.

"Later folks...."

Saito jumps out the second story window and lands on the ground soflty, as if he were floating down. He makes a run for the abandoned warehouse district. Treasoner would be waiting for him there and he couldn't wait to see it. Saito always felt safe whenever he was piloting Treasoner.

Upon arriving to the warehouse where Treasoner would be, Saito had the strangest feeling that something was wrong. He ran inside even faster then he ever had. He looked up in relief to find Treasoner there.

"Hmm...well, let's see if we can find 'that guy' "

Saito jumped into Treasoner's cockpit and opened up a monitor screen displaying various locations of Paris. He searched the screen until he found a few mech junk sites.

"Knowing Ryou...he'd probably go there"

Saito jumped off Treasoner and landed on one knee. He stood up and scratched his head.

"Now I need some wheels...."

[ShinigamiDuo]

"Retrieve an Akatsuki? For who? Sakurazaki-san? Sounds like a job for K.I.S.A., I'm being employed for this right? Good," he said before breaking rank and flying over the buildings. "Send the tracker information," he said as his hands flew over the console editting the GUNDAM OS for the incoming data.

As a little blip came up on screen, he noticed that it was in Paris. "Huh, how fortunate," he said to himself and closed in on the blip, which happened to not be moving. "Lucky~" he said and continued on.

[ShinigamiDuo]

Ryouba stepped out of the taxi with a small bottle of scotch in hand. "Dangit, why do the junkyards always be all the way at the OPPOSITE side of town from where I land?" He muttered, looking at the junkyard surronded by forrest. "And why is it that they're ALWAYS at the edge of town?"

He shrugged, walking into the junkyard and arbitrarily looking over the various scrap heaps.

[ShinigamiDuo]

Sakurazaki got a call on her cell. She flipped the device open. "That's odd....I never get calls from ORB that much." She saw words flash upon the screen: "Your mech the ORB-01 AKATSUKI has been ordered to be retrieved. We are sending in one of our best pilots and envoys. -ORB" Upon reading this she craned her neck to look at the front and sure enough, the Duel gundam was not there at all. ".....They weren't kidding."

[ShinigamiDuo]

"Woo-hoo!!!~~~~"

Saito found a broken down car and got it towed back to the warehouse where he fixed it up real nice. He may not have been a Mech designer but he knew enough to make a fast car.

Saito turned into the Junk Yard's drive way and parked at the very front of the gate. He got off and looked around for Ryouba. Saito clears his throat.

"RYOUBAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!"

[ShinigamiDuo]

"Well let's see..." He said between a few sips of scotch as he stood by the Junkyard owner. "I'm looking for... DO-L09/S.U003 leg parts... an NC7S-3 sub generator... oh wait, is that a Magella Cannon? ZIM/M·T-K175C? I'll take that too... Oh geez, and a AE/ZIM.G-BAZ-0186-A Bazooka too? Yeah, add that... so, where exactly do you keep the ORB tech around here? I need a forearm unit..."

"RYOUBAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!"

"Oh son of a..." Ryouba muttered, turning to the sound of the voice. "Not this deadbeat again..."

[ShinigamiDuo]

"Yo!"

Saito smiled and walked over to Ryouba who seemed to have an annoyed looks on his face, but that couldn't be true, seeing as how much Ryouba ENJOYED seeing Saito....right?

"Hey Ryouba, how're ya doin'? I thought you'd be here, so I rushed right over. Any chance you can take a look at Treasoner? Those other idiots mechanics aren't careful...and they hardly understand your designs."

Saito kept on smiling and patted Ryouba's back.

"So...how about it?!"

[ShinigamiDuo]

Finding a giant ship in a clearing in a forest (I'll assume), Kaito simply looked at it with a confused look on his face. "So...in this big ship...there's the Akatsuki? 'taku..." he said to himself, unable to ignore the data which was telling him it was in the ship.

"Options, options," he said to himself, pacing around outside of Duel now. Stopping, he held up a finger and said "A. Steal it back while ruining the owners ship, or B. waiting for them to get back and taking back in the name of ORB." He stood that way for a while, before running over to the rapel unit and getting back into his machine. He immidiately contacted the embassy. "Hey, yea, patch me through to Sakurazaki-san, it's urgent...yea I'll hold," he said to the operator, who was now attempting to contact Rei via mobile.

[ShinigamiDuo]

Ryouba coughed, as Saito hitting him on the back made him choke on the last bit of his scotch.

"That's being added to your bill, kid. That stuff was as old as I am." He muttered, before raising his voice. "A repair? Sure, no problem. Just tell me where you parked it and we can have it hauled over and- Excuse me."

He paused to pick up his ringing cell phone. "Talk to me."

"Um... sir?" A shakey voice said... one of the new recruit techs if Ryouba remembered correctly. "We've run into a bit of a... situation."

"Good news, bad news? Or Bad news, good news?"

"Bad-good-bad, sir."

Ryouba sighed, "Okay, spill."

"Bad number one? We found a tracer program hidden in the newly salvaged suit. It was a program hidden mobile turret control algorithms, so we weren't able to find it until now... and back traces of it say that it was being actively triangulated. But for good news, the Chief says that we were able to disable it and spike it into someone else's system... some Titans Garuda class, I think. It's landed clear on the other side of town, so there shouldn't be much of a problem. But... erm..."

"What's the other bad news?" Ryouba pushed further.

"The ship... is sort of... parked about a quarter mile away from where you are right now. Huh? Oh, and Chief just said there's a Duel in position to raid it."

Ryouba bit back a curse. A distraction like this won't last long... "Tell the chief to have the Gaw prepped, I wanna be over the Atlantic before two hours from now. Which Kurenaien is set up right now?"

"Huh? You-you're mobile suit, sir? It's the... erm... excuse me sir, but I don't know how to read... what did you call it? kaatae-cane-"

"Shut up and tell me the equipment type, we don't have time to teach you a new language."

"Erm..." The recruit thought. "The amphibious retractable armor we were supposed to test out tomorrow."

"Tell them to trade it out for the sniping configuration and load it up for combat. I'm on my way back." He hung up and turned to the Junk Tech in charge of the junkyard, ignoring Saito. "Ring me up, and I'll pay double if you can get in to my ship within the next half hour."

[ShinigamiDuo]

Taking heavy steps through the thick French forest, Duo couldn't help but feel he'd really lost his way this time around. Don't see how the Germans could have found their way through here all the way back when. The Tartarus just seemed to have more and more trees in front of it.
Duo: "I should have just had some fun and taken the to the streets. Oh well, can't be helped now...."
Continuing to move through the dense canopy, Duo noticed what seemed to be a break in the tree line up ahead.
Duo: "Ha ha! Looks like I might be able to take in the sights after all....hmm?"
Duo eyes showed a look of puzzlement as he had just entered a huge clearing, filled with heaps of parts. Mainly mobile suit parts, but he could see some parts from Armslaves and other various machine types.
Duo: "Hmm, what's all this now? Might be interesting to check out."
Magnifying what looked to be a main office, Duo noticed quite a few people inside. Then on the door, he noticed the insignia of the Junk Guild itself.
Duo: Oh, now I see. This is a place for those junkies to salvage and sell their parts.