Authors Note: Okay, I know that I'm working on Redemption and Sacrifice, but I'm slowly running out of steam on that - the fic is just NOT behaving - so I'm going to take a short hiatus (Only a few days) and write another fic to see if I can jump start myself. :) Enjoy!
WARNINGS: Violence, 1x5 3x4, Swearing, fic rated for blood, gore and violent type stuff. Duo PoV.
//Radio Conversation/
'Speach'
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I have always been comfortable with the dark of night. If you asked me why, I would probably give you a blank stare and do my best fish impression. I honestly don't know why I've always felt at home in it, it was almost like the moment the sun went down, I felt a warm and comfortable blanket be draped on my shoulders. I loved it, in fact, I would have spent all my waking moments in the dark if that hadn't meant quitting my job and becoming a vampire chicken. I kid you not, my skin is pale enough as it is, I would be chicken white, and be antisocial.. not my idea of sexually appealing.
Not that I had my mind on being sexually appealing, mind you. Well, I guess that's not quite correct, I would give my kidneys to have a certain someone notice. Then again, I was already more than happily paired with a dark haired, dark eyed man who would have even the men who carved those statues of greece drooling. You know the ones, those statues that are incredebly sexy, even after all these years and they're missing limbs? Yea, those guys.
//Eagle Eye in position.. Status.// Ahh... guess I'd better get back to work, neh? The voice came through a headpiece that I had attached to my ear, black with the rest of my clothing to hide my human shape in the darkness. The edges of my clothes, while I wasn't too keen on them, were a bit ragged as they broke up my solid shape in case someone looked my way. I sighed, moving up along the side of the building and making sure that I became its skin... well, not literally. I could hear a few other voices quietly calling their positions in my ear.
//Dragon, in Position. Clear.//
//Doc is in position, Clear here.//
//Nanashi, in position. All clear.//
//Trow-// This voice was softer than the others, and I recognized it instantly as Quatre, but noticed him deviating from the call names. Before I could mention it, Heero intervened.
//We could be bugged. Call names only, Altair. Status?// Again, he'd asked once already, but I guess he was just making sure I could hear. You know, I found myself wondering about Quatre's code name. We all picked our own, which was strange, but it was safer than having everyone know who we were. I mean, yea, the five of us plus Sally and Zechs knew EXACTLY who we were, but the other men and women didn't, so it helped to make this even more secure. Apparently, Quatre's code name meant some sort of bird in arabic. It suited him.
//Nalin in position. Clear.// If I didn't know Quatre as well as I did, I wouldn't have caught the quiet discontent in his tone. He'd wanted to say something bad enough that he'd forgotten why we weren't calling each other by our real names, but I don't have the slightest clue WHY.
//Wind clear and in position.// I rolled my eyes at that one, he was so unoriginal... but hey, I guess the God Of Death couldn't be all that original either... Then again, no one but the five of us knew I called myself Shinigami, so it works fine for these kinds of things. My usual handle is something involving 'Night' or 'Sparrow' or 'Falcon' or something like that. I reached my left hand up and pressed the button on the mic, queing it so I could speak my own greeting.
//Shinigami moving into position. You realize that preparing to climb through heating vents isn't easy, right? You have to give me a bit more credit than you guys, just relaxin' up there on the roof.// I smirked as I spoke, releasing the button and swinging the grappling hook from my shoulder before starting the slow circle it took to wind up and aim.
//Too much chatter. We are in radio silence until Shinigami is in position.// Heero was much too tense, but then again, he was the 'perfect soldier' despite the fact that we were all in Preventers and no longer piloting our gundams.. I could hear the other members of the teams claling their locations, some still getting set like I was. I ignored the voices in my head and concentrated on what I had to do. What? You didn't think that I could get serious? I swung the hook and grinned when it attached to the grate with a somewhat muffled 'thump'. Since I wasn't using it to hold onto something, I'd wrapped some black fabric around the metal tines to muffle the clang of metal on metal. Once it was hooked on the grate, I gave a good, hard yank. The grate, surprisingly, came flying right at me and I dodged to the side. That would have been so Laaaammme of a death - to die by grate.
I shook my head and wound my grappling hook before sliding it back into my belt. Hey, in my defense, I might need it later.. you can never tell with these types of missions. The grate got hidden in the b ushes next to the wall and I was testing the footing on the wall. It was my luck that this particular wall had a trellis of some sort on the side, or maybe it was just piping that was covered in vines. Whatever it was, it suited me JUST fine for climbing. Now, you may be wondering why I didn't just climb it in the first place and remove the grate up there? Well, let me tell you, the grate was fifteen feet off the ground, and dropping that thing could have worked, but then, I'd have to deal with finding it in the dark.. ehh, who am I kidding, I just love throwing that grappling hook.
I made it to the vent in one, maybe two seconds flat and sighed when I realized how small the opening REALLY was. I reached up and touched my headpiece, even though I knew Heero had called for radio silence.
//Shinigami en route. ETA 10.// I didn't bother waiting for a confirmation, I knew there wouldn't be one. The tunnel was a tight squeeze, and the most I could manage was a slow scoot, not even a military crawl, it was that tight. I could hear my gear scraping the sides of the tin can so I had to slow down even more so no one would hear it as continually. By the time I was probably 3 minutes into my crawl, I was drenched in sweat. Like I'd said before, I was using the heating vents to get in and get to my position. Why they had the heat on in the dead of July, I'll never understand.
Finally! Fresh, COOl air. I sighed and took a few deep breathes before continueing on down the shaft. From the map I'd studied and memorized, there should be a... Aha! there it was. I held my breath while I used a small screwedriver from one of my many pockets to loosen the screws. That finished, I put each of the little metal bits into a fur lined pocked of my belt - the fur kept the rattling sound to a minimum. According to my watch, a patrol should be moving below me any minute. Instead of removing the grate and trying to find a hiding place, I waited knowing it'd be much safer once they left.
The three guards walked beneath me, then on with their rounds. From the information that we had, they would be taking a different route back, and I should have PLENTY of time to find the hostages and report their location. I lifted the grate and dropped silently to the ground. From where I crouched, I could see a huddled shape in the window to my left, hanging on what appeared to be a tightline. The next thing I knew, I heard a crackling in my ear.
//Shinigami, this is Broker - I have visual confirmation on you.// That's nice.. now you see me, now you don't! I grinned one of my patent 'I'm gonna kill someone if it's the last thing I do' grins and dissapeared into a hall. By them noting visual contact on me, Heero and the others who were mentally following my progress could get the timing right. I moved through the halls, reaching back and unlimbering my weapon before clicking the safety off. I have to admit, I am a bit of an adrenaline junky at times, these sneaky type missions always kicked me into high gear. It was strange, to have to make SURE I became visible for the spotters and other agents to call out my location - Normally, I'd just hide as well as I could.
I crouched next to one of the rooms that had the best chance of having the hostages. I turned the safety back on my gun and let it slide around my shoulder before pulling out a small wire tube from another pocket. This had a view screen on the hand held end, and a small joystick to control the movements. I loved this little gadget as it reminded me so much of snakes. I set it down and guided the thing under the door and along the wall, bringing it's little 'head' up and scanning slowly. Nope, none in this room. I pulled the line back and held onto it as I crept to the next room. Once again, I slid it under the door and took a peek around. There we go, there were three women in this room; tied and gagged with two armed men watching them. Well, I'd found three of the eight who were hostages, now .. where were the rest?
My little snake buddy came back to me and I found the hairs on the back of my head standing on end. I reached for my gun but I was too slow to bring it around to the front and take the safety off. The bullet from the man behind me hit the kevlar vest and stopped. Id' have a colorful bruise on my shoulder in the morning..
//Shots fired!// The scream was loud in my ear, one of the rookies had heard the shot and was panicking. I spun with the bullet and brought my weapon around, pulling the trigger as I went. I ducked behind a corner and drew another clip from my vest, grinning rather meniacally. 'Come and get me, fuckers! Say hello to the God of Death!' I stepped from around the corner and began firing, noting the other two men from the conference room stepping into the hall. A small round canister rolled my way and started spewing pink smoke. Sonofabitch. I turned tail and ran, holding my sleeve up over my mouth and nose. I ducked into a supply closet and panted, stiffling the coughs in my shit. I could hear Heero and Wufei asking for status, and checking if anyone had a visual on me.
//I love kevlar..//
//Status!// I grinned, knowing Wufei was trying to keep calm and callous, but he was worreid.
//Nada. They got a lucky shot to my right shoulder, but it was stopped by the vest. Worst I'll have is a colorful bruise.//
//Hostages?//
//Three of the women in the second conference room - I'll check the others once the hall clears.// I sighed, biting my lip as I heard a grunt from Wufei - He and Heero had mics that weren't push-to-talk. They were the operation leaders, and I could hear everything they said as could everyone else. [i]Stay strong, 'Fei, I'll be out before you know it...[/i] It was easy to put myself in his shoes as I had been in them before when we were on missions. That's why Wufei was partnered with Heero and I was on my lonesome. Une didn't seem to like couples being together as partners.
Once the footsteps receeded I stepped out of my closet and checked back and forth before heading the women on the stairwell leading down. This was just getting better and better... I croped forward, this time making sure the safety on my gun was *off* and I had it in hand. There were probably fifteen, sixteen steps and they took FOREVER to creep down. Even knowing this mission was hinging on my stealth, it was STILL damn slow going. The stairwell was pitch black, like most of the hallways had been in the building. I moved forward by moving a foot down, testing my weight, then moving down with the next foot. Once I reached the flat surface, I slid up against the wall and moved towards a small glow of light.
There they were, all of the hostages were huddled together in .. a cage? how original.. I sighed internally, knowing that there was no easy way from outside into here - the guys weren't going to be coming in for backup very fast if I ran into trouble. I loved moments like this, these are the moments that I lived for, to be perfectly honest. I hit my comm and whispered VERY quietly into the mic.
//Hostages all accounted for in the basement... No windows or entrances other than the door I came through - I count fifteen armed men and women, each wearing a red armband as our resistance was decribed wearing..// I wasn't sure if they got all of that, but was almost relieved when Heero's voice came through next, speaking to everyone.
//Move in on my command. We secure the first and second floors and moved towards the basement. Shinigami sit tight until we give the signal.//
//Gotcha.// Now for my .. least favorite part. Waiting. I fidgeted, but kept my gun at the ready. I was fortunate that the basement here seemed to be unfinished, with the furnace, support poles and such things. I was able to easily melt into the shadows of the furnace, and have a wonderful view of the people sharing the room with me. What I *hadn't* counted on was the dogs. This huge mutt, must have been the size of a horse started snuffing towards me and then started growling. I reached back and unlatched my machette to hold in my left hand. A gunshot would be too loud, but if I could dispatch the dog in silence.. No such luck. He alarmed with a round of barks and jumped at me. I took my chances and we had a fight there on the floor. I could feel his teeth sinking into my shoulder where the Kevlar wasn't quite covering that junction between neck and shoulder.
Needless to say, the dog stopped fighting me, but the men were firing blindly into the dark where I was at. Unfortunately, Kevlar doesn't cover your legs or arms. The first bullet to actually HIT me was lucky, it went through the meaty part of my thigh, but I was still blleding. THis is the part I hated, they knew I was in the shadows and someone went to turn on the lights to the basement.
//Soldier Down - mission comprimised, pull out!//
I ripped off my comm unit and stepped on it, grinding the mic to dust - I would NOT have them finding out where Heero and the others were. They didn't have any REASON to listen to me, but hopefully, they'd sit back and think of a new strategy. I moved, running out into the main part of the room and firing my gun as I put the hostages between myself and the rest of the idtios. My Machette sliced through the nearest bonds and I handed it to him, still firing at the men. 'Cut them loose. NOW!' I didn't know how long these people would refreain from firing while I was right with the.. aha, there we go. This shot was high caliber, from a rifle and tore right through my vest, anding in my side. That was gonna leave a mark. I dropped to one knee, pulling a canister from my vest and holding it in my teeth as I dropped my clip, reloaded and brought up my other hand gun.
'COVER YOUR EYES!'
I tossed the canister up awkwardly and shot it with the handgun. Sparks and light flew EVERYWHERE. The thing was originally a flashbang, but I wanted it to go off in the air, not the ground. Everyone was thrown to the ground, and I was half blind. Damn, shoulda thought of that before hand. I could hear the hostages behind me running, so I got up and forced myself to move with them. I could see blurry shapes, and turned, firing back into the midst of the resistance members still standing. Then, a welcome sound.
'Preventers! Freeze!'
I never thought I would have been happy to hear THAT cliche excuse. I ducked around the corner of the stairwell and hid from the bullets as I made sure the last of the hostages was at the top of the stairs. I stepped out and took a few shots, then ducked back behind the stairway again. I could see Heero and Wufei at the top of the steps, and could hear Quatre and Trowa's voices as they assisted the senaters out of the building and into more Preventer hands outside. The next time I took a step around, I felt a bullet graze my head and then a strong pair of arms was hauling me back up the steps. The gunfight was still going on in the basement, so I assumed another preventer had taken up handling it.
I was at the top of the steps before I realized that it was Wufei that had hauled me upstairs. He grabbed my shoulders and kissed me, in front of god and everybody. And sue me, I loved it. I grabbed him just as frantically and returned that kiss for all I was worth. We both pulled away when Sally coughed and stepped in. It was then that I realized I was dizzy and frowned when Wufei's face swam in front of me.
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