calic0cat

The muse hasn't run out of steam, but I have. :P I have work tomorrow; sleep would be a good thing.

So... more background info and a few hints of plot (WTF?! I have a plot?! *eyes Heero and Duo suspiciously* I thought this was just supposed to be an AU get-together, guys... *whines plaintively*), but didn't quite get to the meeting that everyone's waiting for...

***

"No, Heero, I won't go along with it. Absolutely not," Odin refused flatly. "Reinforcing good relations with the Peacecrafts by escorting her to the occasional function is one thing; marriage, even an MC, is something else entirely. I know your personal preferences, and I know how you feel about her. I would never ask that of you."

"It would only be for a year, maybe two," Heero pointed out, trying to convince himself just as much as he was trying to convince Odin. He'd spent most of the night playing out scenarios, and this was the best that he'd been able to come up with. Anything else held too many risks, for Odin, and for the Guild itself. "You could step down, I would take over the Guild's helm, and Khushrenada's hands would be tied. You still have enough influence with the majority of the Council members to carry the vote in favour of accepting me as your replacement; a challenge would be the only way to prevent my appointment. And Relena Peacecraft would never allow a challenge to stand; you know her opinion of duels. By the time that the Marriage of Convenience ends, we should be able to find another way to deal with Khushrenada, assuming that he's even an issue by then. It's a perfectly logical solution to the problem." Not ideal, but definitely logical.

Odin shook his head. "Perhaps, but it isn't worth it. You should follow your emotions, not logic.

"I can handle Khushrenada for the time being. When you find someone that you genuinely *want* to marry for *you*, not for me, or for the Guild, then we'll talk about this again. Until then, you just leave Khushrenada to me, and concentrate on that exploration and excavation contract that you're signing with Winner."

Heero opened his mouth, forcing himself to continue an argument that he wasn't entirely sure he wanted to win, but a knock on Odin's office door interrupted him.

"Come in!" Odin called.

The door opened slightly and Trowa stepped inside, pulling the door closed behind him. "Good morning, Odin." He inclined his head towards the Guild boss, who nodded and offered a ready "Good morning" in return. Directing his attention towards Heero, Trowa continued, "Good, I was hoping that you were somewhere in the building."

"Why?" Jumping to the most likely reason that Trowa would be looking for him, Heero asked, "Is there a problem with the Winner contract?"

Trowa shook his head. "No, it's fine. I left it on your desk. However, there is someone here to meet you. Someone you left too early to meet last night?" he hinted pointedly.

Having only been half-listening to Quatre the previous evening, at first Heero couldn't figure out who Trowa was talking about. The first person to come to mind was the reason that he'd left early. "Not..."

Smirking faintly, Trowa assured him, "No, not the Peacecraft woman. The tangler that Quatre wanted you to meet? The one who found the dreamstone artifacts? The one you're going to be working with?"

Heero couldn't help the sigh of relief. "Oh. Him."

Odin raised an eyebrow, giving Heero a sardonic look. "All that relief and you were suggesting an MC with her?"

Heero grimaced, waving dismissively in response to an inquiring look from Trowa. Odin had a point. Maybe an MC with the woman wouldn't last forever, but it would definitely seem like it did. She might not settle for an MC anyway; she was the hearts-and-flowers type. An MC was still the logical thing for him, but Relena Peacecraft wasn't the logical partner, no matter how convenient her family's influence might be.

Returning to the subject of the visitor, he thought for a few moments, finally coming up with a name. "Maxwell, right?"

"Duo Maxwell," Trowa acknowledged. "He's a bit concerned about working with a Guild hunter that he's never met. Sounds like he or some of the others in his group have had some trouble in the past." In response to Heero's immediate frown, he pointed out, "Ruin rats, remember?"

"Right." They probably *had* had trouble with Guild hunters in the past. And with Society para-archaeologists. And just about every other segment of Counterpoint society.

Ruin rats existed on the edge of society, literally and metaphorically speaking. They lived on the edge of or even within the catacombs of the old city that had once been home to the long-vanished Harmonics. It was a dangerous existence, due to both the frequent appearance of UDEMs thanks to the leakage of psi energy from the Dead City and the strong criminal element in the region. Lacking any kind of official credentials, despite many having undeniable talents as tanglers or hunters, ruin rats eked out a meagre living on the fringes of the thriving antiquities trade. Although only a small percentage of them engaged in illegal activities such as unauthorized exploration and artifact theft, ruin rats were considered a rather shady lot. Society in general tended to look down on them, and members of the Ghost-hunter Guild were no exception.

Considering that the Guild had somewhat of a mob-like reputation itself, Heero really couldn't see how any of its members could consider themselves "better" than anyone else, but then, the logic behind many social distinctions tended to escape him.

"I'll talk to him," Heero told Trowa calmly. "Show him to my office and..."

"No, bring him in here," Odin interrupted, scowling. "If there's been problems with specific hunters, I want to know about it. And I'd like to make it clear that the opinions of those individuals do not, in this case, reflect the position of the Guild as a whole."

Trowa inclined his head in acknowledgment before turning and exiting the room. As the door closed behind him, Heero remarked, "The Guild may not officially be anti-ruin rat, but we are guilty of ignoring them. There's absolutely nothing in the computer, and very little in the paper files either. Just a few notes on a handful of non-Guild ghost-hunters who are either showing exceptional promise or involved in questionable activities.

"As for tanglers..." he shook his head in dismay. "There's nothing. We can't even pull information from the Society of Para-Archaeologists, since it's ignoring the ruin rats even more thoroughly than the Guild is. Not to mention that it *is* officially very disparaging of any ephemeral-energy para-resonators who aren't Society members."

Frowning thoughtfully, Odin responded, "The gap between the ruin rats and the rest of society is becoming too large; they're becoming too marginalised. They need to be drawn back in.

"You'll be working with some of them, in the ideal position to study the situation. Find out what, if anything, the Guild should be doing, and bring me some recommendations."

Heero nodded his acceptance of the assignment. He'd already decided that the Guild needed to pay closer attention to the ruin rats; Odin's suggestion that the Guild should consider actually getting involved with them made as much, if not more, sense.

***

Waiting in the reception area of the Ghost-hunter Guildhall, Duo wondered whether he'd made a mistake in agreeing to come there. The building was huge, the rooms spacious and ornate verging on gaudy, and he couldn't help feeling distinctly out of place. The contrast between the Guildhall, located in the heart of modern Counterpoint, and Sweepers headquarters, a cluttered, rundown building backed up against the massive green quartz wall of the Dead City, was enormous. He would have been a lot more comfortable meeting the Guild Ghost-hunter in *his* territory, the Dead City's sprawling catacombs, than here.

Getting here too early and having to wait for first Trowa's arrival, and then having to wait even longer while Trowa tracked down Yuy, hadn't exactly helped matters, either.

Duo gave the amber face of his watch another glance, sighing inwardly at the length of time that this was taking. He'd really hoped to get enough rubble cleared to do a preliminary survey of the next corridor segment today. There was only so much that his team could do before the Winner sponsorship deal went into effect - they simply didn't have the funds for some of the equipment that they needed - but he didn't want things to grind to a complete halt, either. And without him there, they would.

In the Dead City, teams needed at least one hunter and one tangler ready to work at all times. And while the Mad Five had a mixture of para-talents between them, they were also only about one step away from being permanent residents of a para-psych ward. For their own safety as well as everyone else's, Duo didn't trust any of them, not even his own mentor, in the catacombs without careful supervision by someone more responsible.

Not to mention saner.

And, frankly, he preferred to have both a hunter and a tangler along whenever the Mad Five ventured into the Dead City. They had an uncanny knack for finding situations that needed both.

Hilde was a pretty good hunter, especially considering that her talent was just barely on the high end of average, but his own absence still left them without a reliable tangler.

Besides, the Mad Five didn't listen to her too terribly well.

They did listen to Howard. Usually. But he rarely went into the catacombs, despite being a damn good tangler. Overseeing the whole Sweepers organization, informal though it was, took up most of his time. Duo's team was just one small part of that whole; he couldn't drop everything just to go ride herd on them while Duo was otherwise occupied.

So, while he was stuck sitting in the Guildhall reception area, toying with his braid and waiting, the Harmonics only knew what kind of trouble the Mad Five were brewing up while they sat around headquarters killing time while they waited for him to get back.

Duo checked his watch again and hoped that Trowa came back soon.

***