Author's Note: Heero and Duo are captured and experimented on. This chapter depicts torture and is not for the squeamish. 1+2. Language. TWT. Constructive criticism is welcome. Edited 05/06/07.
Chapter One, In the Clutches of Agony
"Damn it," Heero growled. He pressed the trigger of his buster rifle and got no response. When he pulled out his beam saber, it fizzled with a flash of green light and gave a sickening pop as the glow was snuffed out. "Out of fuel." His mind raced desperately as the horde of enemy mobile suits began to close, cutting off any retreat. His fingers flew over the computer console as he hastily tried to reroute power from the life support system, only to discover there was nothing left to reroute. He wiped the sweat from his eyes, considering the mass of enemies encroaching in his position. No options left...
He opened a com link with his partner. "Duo." The braided boy's haggard but determined face popped up on the view screen. "It's no use. I'm finished. Leave while you can before I self destruct."
Duo gave his co-pilot a piercing gaze with his blue eyes. "Well, it looks like we're in the same boat then, pal." To demonstrate he activated his thermal energy scythe, his mobile suit shuddering with the effort of lifting the weapon. Nothing happened, not even a flash of light. "See? If you die you're taking me with you." A rain of bullets pummeled their broken Gundams as the enemy closed within striking range. They moved their Gundams closer together, back to back, for protection from the onslaught of bullets. "It won't be long before we can't even move."
"One minute and thirteen seconds," offered Heero.
"Helpful as always, eh Heero?" Duo remarked sarcastically. A direct hit to the Deathscythe brought his mobile suit to its knees. Unwilling to give up, he tried again and again to regain his feet, using the useless scythe for support.
Heero maneuvered the Wing Zero to kneel between his prone partner and the heavy assault and lowered the shield in front of himself. "If we're going to self detonate, we'd better do it now." He studied Duo's face carefully in the monitor, checking for resolve, and shared a look of understanding. They were soldiers, expendable in this war. They failed the mission to destroy the medical base, and the only duty left to them was to silence themselves and take out as many of the enemy as possible.
Duo tried grinning, but only managed a grimace. "Hey, if we're going to die, who better to tag along than the God of Death?" His face twisted in a mirthless smile. Together, they rested their hands against the self-destruct buttons and surrounded themselves in silence, quietly reflecting while gazing at each other in the peace of acceptance of their fates. Their cockpits echoed with the pounding of bullets on their gundanium armor, demanding them to give in, relent, die. "See you in Hell, buddy."
Heero's mouth quirked slightly. "Hn. Mission acce-"
Before either of them had the chance to trigger the detonation, a sudden flash of white burned the cold moonlight into a bright sun, burning everything it touched. Their Gundams shook as a jolt of electricity surged from the ground below them, into the mobile suits, and poured through the pilots' bodies. They shook helplessly as the current tore at their consciousness to rip them from the waking world. The last thing either remembered before being plunged into darkness was the excruciating pain as they were electrocuted.
Transmission Interrupted
As soon as Heero regained consciousness, he lowered his heartbeat and leveled his brainwaves to mimic deep REM sleep. He took inventory of his situation while keeping his eyelids closed, getting a feel for the positions of his limbs in relation to his body. His feet lightly touched the floor while he sagged against manacles around his wrists, hanging from the ceiling. He noticed that his ankles were shackled as well. As slightly chilly air moved over his body he realized he was naked. Wires and nodes were taped all over to his skin from head to toe. Very cautiously, he minutely opened his deep blue eyes to take a brief glance from under his lashes, then quickly closed them again. Through the blindingly bright light, he saw in that glance he saw that he was in a sterile, white laboratory completely barren of equipment and supplies but for the chains holding him. He couldn't even see seams in the ceiling and tiles, just blank, white, and empty. But he wasn't alone. Duo was in the same predicament, hanging nude straight across from him, still unconscious. He opened his eyes the slightest bit to inspect Duo's body for visible injuries.
Heero didn't wonder for long why they would be put in such a position. They had been rendered unconscious by the flood of electricity and taken prisoner, probably at the very medical base they had come to destroy. Prisoners were restrained in such a fashion for only one reason: to torture them. For a fleeting moment Heero had trouble maintaining his body's electrical readings as a wave of distress washed over him, then he controlled himself and said a silent thank you to Doctor J. He was sure he was going to need his high pain tolerance later on.
With a loud groan Duo came to, and his head rolled from side to side before bringing it up with visible effort. The shackles chimed as he tugged at the chains around his wrists and ankles, and sore muscles perceptibly spasmed in protest. His eyes opened, blinking rapidly against the sterile white light, and looked down at himself, then across at Heero. "Hey Heero," he whispered hoarsely. Heero gave no response, instead thinking it wiser to continue acting unconscious until the situation could be fully assessed. "Psst, Heero. Fine, have it your way, but I'm not just gonna sit around and let some pervert take dirty pictures of me." With a deep breath, Duo rattled his chains and yelled obnoxiously. "Hey, anybody wanna come and let us loose? We promise we won't blow anything up. Helloooo? Well, if you're gonna molest us, hurry up and do it so I can put my clothes back on. I'm cold!"
Heero snorted inwardly but made no move to let Duo know he was awake. The Deathscythe pilot probably guessed it anyway. Actually, it was a good thing that Duo was making such a ruckus; it would hopefully bring someone in to check on them. Or maybe torture or even rape them, but any kind of change was an improvement to a blank white box of a room. If someone came in, there was a chance that they'd screw up, allowing the teenage Gundam pilots to escape. He very slowly tested his strength against the shackles, making sure not to clank the links together. They didn't budge. Gundanium alloy, it seemed. Heero couldn't break this metal, and if their captors knew this information, then this had been planned for quite some time. A trap? What about Duo, did they expect him, too?
Finally they heard the whoosh of an automated door opening. Heero was facing the wrong direction and couldn't see it, but Duo could, since he was facing opposite him. He trusted the other pilot to take the opportunity to memorize the room beyond where they were being held. He heard shuffling steps and the squeak of old wheels, then the door sighed shut as the cold breeze blew uncomfortably against his naked backside. The person who came in pushing a medical cart was nondescript, other than that he was a rather short male with a hunch to his shoulders. His body was covered from head to toe in white scrubs, and black-tinted goggles masked even his eyes. The cart had one squeaky wheel.
Across from him, Duo eyed the new person, then snorted. "Jeesh, and here I was thinking we were in serious danger, and out comes Dr. Frankenstein."
"You won't think anything funny when we're through, boy," grated out a harsh, mechanical voice distorted by a scrambling device. Even through the distortion, the voice sounded familiar somehow, but he couldn't place it. Maybe Duo would know. The doctor's lab coat brushed the ground as he turned to face him. "You may as well show some interest, 01. We already know you're awake."
Heero surreptitiously closed his eyelids completely, cursed himself, and wondered what had given it away, but still he hung limply from his chains, not quite sure if the doctor was bluffing or not.
The man shrugged. "It matters not." He turned to his cart with his back to the two captives, and noisily set about making preparations. While he clattered and clanged against the metal tray, he whistled a merry and off-key tune to a small dance.
"If you're gonna run tests or whatever, you don't have to be cruel about it. Sheesh, just shut up already. I've heard dying cats that sound better than that," Duo complained loudly.
The doctor turned to look at him, and even under the surgical mask and goggles, he could tell the man was smiling. The wrinkles around his eyes crinkled with an expression of joy as he regarded Duo for a very long time. He looked nothing so much like a child happily tearing the wings off a butterfly, and Duo was that butterfly. There was something very creepy and familiar about that man. Duo's face quickly changed to a mask of anger, unwilling to show this man any fear. The doctor's voice held a smile in it as he said, "Oh, but my dear 02, I intend to enjoy myself immensely. I want to hear you scream, oh yes. And him, also. I think I deserve it, after all my hard work developing this." He held up a small bottle filled with a silver liquid and chuckled to himself. This time Duo did shiver, but tried to cover it up by yanking forcefully on his bindings.
Heero finally opened his eyes to intently study the bottle. He didn't think it was medicine, and if the liquid was mercury, then they were in for a prolonged and painful death. He looked at Duo, who did his best to give a cheery smile and show optimism in his face, but his fake smile faltered and died as he looked into Heero's eyes. There would be no health surveys and battle simulations here - these people meant to kill them.
The man grunted when he saw Heero awake but ignored him, and instead tilted the vial of fluid up and inserted a cruel, large syringe into the bottle, carefully measuring the liquid. He padded over to Duo first and wiped a spot off on his thigh with a cotton swab dampened with rubbing alcohol.
"Whoa, hey now. I don't play guinea pig until I know what's going into me. Hear?" Duo laughed nervously, apprehensively eyeing the needle the doctor tapped methodically. He tried to buy time, afraid of what would happen when the tip of that needle made contact with his skin. "Just what's the point of this, anyway? Why us? There are plenty of people you could pay for this, you know, willing experiments and all." He squirmed in the chains, unable to move away from the approaching man.
The doctor's eyes darted from the needle and crinkled with mirth. "Oh, you're quite right about that. But I'm afraid they all died." He laughed cheerfully for a few moments at the thought, then suddenly the glee disappeared from his voice and turned cold and deadly. "Unfortunate, but necessary. And you, 02, are not what we were after. You are an inconvenience. You are not the physical specimen we wanted, but we will still enjoy watching you suffer and die." Before Duo could desperately protest or ask more questions, the doctor plunged the needle savagely into his thigh.
Duo's body shook and trembled, his teeth grit and eyes squeezed shut. "God damn you to Hell," he hissed.
The mad scientist giggled. "You first." He turned to Heero, and the childlike excitement was back on his face. As he stared at Heero's naked body, his breathing became fast and ragged, and he unconsciously wiped his gloved hands on his lab coat. "A perfect specimen. Hopefully you will survive long enough to prove my theory. Perfect." He ran his hands up and down Heero's legs, unabashedly groping him and roughly caressing everything his hands could reach. When Heero didn't even flinch, the doctor looked a bit disappointed and shuffled back to the cart. He returned with a cotton ball and swabbed a patch of skin close to Heero's groin.
"Jesus, you sick fuck," Duo gasped. The spot were he had been injected was inflamed and beginning to weep fluids. "Why don't you rape me, too? Come on, aren't you man enough? Don't think you can take on 02?"
Heero urgently shook his head and tried to make eye contact with the other pilot. Duo refused to look in his direction. What was he thinking, antagonizing the madman like that? Was he trying to get himself killed faster? Maybe the silver liquid was already getting to him and affecting his judgment, or it was too painful to bear. But the doctor ignored his taunts and instead picked up the needle, ready to begin with his second subject.
Duo struggled against the chains. "You're not going to use the same needle, are you? That's unsanitary!"
And then Heero realized what Duo was up to. He was trying to buy time for Heero, in the event that something extreme happened that would save him.
The doctor paused and looked curiously at Duo before the innocent joy returned to his eyes. His grin could be heard in his voice. "No, no. I wouldn't want my little experiment to be messed up by someone else's blood contaminating it." He took another syringe from the tray and filled it with the deadly liquid, then almost reverently plunged the needle into Heero's upper thigh, right next to his groin. Heero's brow creased, but he made no other signal of discomfort. The doctor studied his face intently and apparently decided Heero wasn't suffering enough, so he sadistically twisted the needle deeper until Heero grunted.
The doctor's cold, latex-clad hands patted his face affectionately. "That was most enjoyable. Now, you two enjoy my little miracle drug." And with that he whistled a tune and merrily wheeled his squeaky cart out of the room, the door closing behind him with an eerie finality.
Heero looked at Duo and saw that he was trying his best to hide that he was already in some pain, but he saw it in the other's eyes and muttered a soft curse. What started out as a little stinging was becoming a roaring burn inside Heero's muscles. He had been trained to endure a great deal of pain, but this was different. This was coming from inside himself. His veins burned with a fire that spread from his groin and traveled from his toes to his fingertips, then began pooling at his back. Suddenly he felt as if his upper back were being ripped apart. He shook violently and gasped.
Despite his pain, he couldn't help but worry when he saw the agony Duo was in. He knew he could deal with it better than the other pilot could, so it would probably be worse for Duo. The drug was meant to kill him. How long could his partner survive? Already his trembling body was covered in sweat, and gasping sobs racked his body as he hung his head limply on his chest. "Duo." The hoarse gasps continued. "Duo!" The other boy wearily rolled his head up to look over, his eyes dilated and unfocused. "You have to be stronger than this, Duo. We won't let them kill us here."
"Hee... Heero. AHHHHHHH!"
Then he felt it. First like a swarm of angry ants biting at his skin, then like some beast inside was struggling to get out from between his shoulder blades, clawing and tearing at the muscles and skin to find its release. His skin felt on fire, as though he was being held over a flame. He panted and moaned, his head hanging against his chest as he tried to deal with the pain. But it was no use. It intensified until he knew he was going to be sick as he felt blood trickling down from his shoulders. He pulled and yanked at his bonds, trying desperately to do anything to relieve the agony he was in. With what little lucidity was left to him, he tried to focus on Duo. Through the red haze of pain he saw that every muscle in his body was taut with the strain of trying to break free from the chains. Heero panted and whimpered as blood flowed down his back, over his calves and dripped onto the floor in a growing puddle.
Just when he thought it couldn't get any worse, it did. Heero shouted in agony as he felt that agonizing something finally break free from the confines of his skin. He twisted and writhed when he felt as though his insides were being pulled out in a long, sucking, slurping motion. His voice was hoarse with screaming. He dimly heard it being echoed by Duo through the pounding in his ears, but his eyes were screwed shut against the pain and didn't see what was happening to the braided pilot, but at least the screams meant he was still alive.
The torture seemed to go on for ages, never ending, always reaching new heights of agony, making Heero long for sweet unconsciousness so he wouldn't feel any more. And then, at last, the tearing feeling, the horrible rending motion, stopped. He was still bleeding and in terrible pain, but the worst of it had stopped. Thankfully the darkness swept his mind, chasing away his last shred of lucidity. He was unconscious before he knew it, following Duo into the abyss.
Transmission Interrupted
The lunar base shuddered with a loud explosion as the three Gundams forced their way in.
After Duo and Heero had missed their rendezvous with the other pilots, they immediately assumed the worst and set out looking for them. Heero was never late, and even though Duo sometimes acted scatter-brained he was always punctual. Unfortunately, they had been right when they thought of a worst case scenario. The three soldiers quickly located the base where their comrades were being held and launched a hard, fast strike.
Quatre led the way to where the blueprint he'd hacked into said the two were imprisoned. That they were held in the medical wing sent cold fingers of anticipation running down his spine, and as much as he wanted to hope they were alright, they had been captured here for hours. When enemy soldiers stopped them at turns in the cold, steel hallways, he simply mowed them down with his machine gun and continued. There would be no allowance for surrender in this mission. He had sent Wufei to disarm the security measures and establish an escape route, and Trowa was backing up Quatre.
"No mistaking this security, it's got to be here," Quatre yelled as he solemnly sprayed the oncoming guards with bullets. "I need some cover, Trowa!" Trowa moved to cover both ends of the hallway in rapid fire, making sure no one so much as peeked their head around a corner before they were killed. Quatre studied the door in front of him, dug out a small time bomb from his pack and placed it at the seam to explode in five seconds. "Take cover!" Trowa shot one more round down the hallway when he saw movement before the two of them ran, hitting the floor just as the explosion rocked the steel floor and a wave of heat blew across their backs. Before the smoke had cleared he ushered them into the holding cell and quickly closed the door behind them. What they saw when they entered the blindingly bright room stopped them cold.
Heero and Duo hung naked and lifeless from the ceiling, nodes and wires crisscrossing their flesh. Fresh blood was puddled at their feet and painted against the walls and ceiling, leaving streaks of red as it smeared downward. The smell of blood was overpowering, and Quatre covered his mouth to stop from gagging. His heart sank. So much blood, they couldn't possibly be alive anymore. And then Quatre's breath caught at what protruded from their raw and bloodied shoulders: wings, covered in blood so thick it was almost black. They were enormous, laying heavily on the ground and easily reaching their whole body length. "We have to help them," he choked out.
Trowa looked at him sadly, his eyes shining with unshed tears. "Quatre. . . I don't think there's anything we can do for them."
"No! We can't leave them here like this! We can't! Please, Trowa." He couldn't seem to stop his body from shivering, couldn't tear his eyes away from his friends' mangled bodies. With a surge of anger he straightened and marched over to Heero's limp form. He would help them, even if it was nothing more than giving them a proper burial. "The chains must be made from gundanium," he observed, "otherwise Heero would have broken them. And with all the blood, I think they were in enough pain to try very hard."
Trowa wasted no time and placed charges on the metal links above their arms and legs. With a loud crack, the gundanium shattered and dropped the pilots heavily to the floor, and the nodes ripped from their skin with the force. Trowa picked Heero up in a fireman's hold, carefully avoiding his upper back, while Quatre took charge of Duo. They struggled to get a good grip on their wounded comrades as their hands slipped in all of the blood. Without a second glance back, they charged their way out the door and through the base.
They reached the hangar where Wufei was waiting with three carrier shuttles, and he had somehow managed to recover Heero and Duo's mobile suits as well. "They're almost loaded and ready to go, so hurry it up. Where are-?" Wufei stopped cold as he recognized the bloody figures the two were carrying, and he gawked helplessly for a moment at the protuberances on the captives' backs. He shook his head violently. "No time for explanations. Later, at the safe house"
"Let's get out of here before reinforcements come," ordered Quatre. They carefully loaded the broken bodies onto Quatre's carrier and prepared to take off with their extra cargo. Quatre flew his plane very gently so as not to jostle their companions, and with that they left the base behind, not speaking once as they fled.
End Transmission
