AN: Warning, this is a dark fic filled with graphic scenes of torture. If that's not your thing, then I suggest you check out Curse Jar or Flu Shot. Maybe Designated Driver if you'd rather see the boys drunk and mischievous. I don't know how often this one will be updated, heck, I don't even know how long this one wants to be, so please bear with me, and again, thanks for reading and reviewing. I can't answer everyone, but please know you have my gratitude.

"My name is Hans," the man introduced himself as he approached Duo. He spoke with an eloquent German accent while a pleasant smile accentuated his handsome features. "That is all you need to know, hm?"

Duo's lips pulled into their own smile as he narrowed his eyes at the man. "I'm Duo, and you can eat shit and die," he said as he lifted his face, twisting his wrists in the shackles that bound his arms above his head by a thick chain. The end of the chain was attached to the ceiling somewhere among the shadows. He had tried to survey his situation an hour beforehand, but the flickering bulb in the old fixture gave him little to work with.

Hans laughed pleasantly as another man, roughly the size of a small bull, entered through the only door. "No, I do not think it is I who will die, you see. No." Lifting his arm, Hans peeled off a black leather glove and tucked it into his belt. "Do you know how long it has been since we began our search of you monsters?"

"Monsters?" Duo spat. "You've got me chained like an animal in some kind of dungeon cell, held against my will and you call me a monster?"

"Oh yes," Hans answered softly as he removed the other glove. He took a moment to tuck it into his belt next to its mate before walking in a circle around his captive. "Monsters. All five of you. Six, actually, but apparently the Lightning Count is currently unavailable."

Duo's hands clenched into fists as he lowered his head. "So, you're tracking us down one by one, huh? To do what? Execute us for a war we won?"

"Yes and no," Hans said as he paused. He tilted his head and gazed at Duo's bare back. "You were children in those wars. For that, you have my pity…"

"Screw your pity, pal," Duo bit.

"Yes," Hans smiled. "I guess it takes that type of tenacity, that rudeness to make you what you were." He reached out and trailed his fingertips along Duo's spine. "What you are," he corrected in a faraway voice.

"Well, you'd be rude too if you were bound, half naked, in some torture chamber while a guy you've never met assaults you with verbal diarrhea." Duo moved forward as he tried to pull himself from the uncomfortable feeling of those fingers.

"Of course," Hans answered generously. "Of course I would." He continued his circling of his captive, his eyes taking in every inch of the braided ex-pilot. "How long as it been, Duo? I can… I may call you Duo, yes?"

"Hey, why don't you just call me a cab and let me get the hell out of here."

Hans tossed his head back, his laughter, rich and full, bounced off the walls as he turned his face to the large man who stood against the wall to Duo's right. "This is such a shame," he said to the man through his mirth. "That we must extinguish someone so funny, so gifted in the ways of humor. Such a pity."

"Well, if you like that, stick around, I got a million of 'em," Duo murmured. His eyes were hard as Hans reached forward between his face and arm and took his braid, slowly pulling it over his left shoulder.

"There we go. You have such lovely hair, but don't worry," he whispered as he leaned close, his face less than an inch from his captives. "I will not cut it off. No, I want your friends to remember you fondly when they gaze at you in your coffin." He nodded his head as his fingers caressed the tassel. "You will be beautiful."

Duo tilted his head back slightly and regarded the man with hooded eyes. "Beautiful," he echoed in a whisper. His lips pulled into a grimace when Hans pressed his palm against Duo's rib cage, close to his armpit. It was a gentle gesture, a caress meant to offer the ex-pilot a bit of comfort.

"Beautiful," Hans breathed. "They will lament that your body will be put into the cold confines of the grave." His next reaction wasn't quite what Duo had hoped for when spittle splattered onto his face in a wide arc. Instead, Hans only chuckled as he pulled out a silk kerchief and dabbed his face as he stepped away from Duo.

"He has spirit," he told the man who stood still and silent against the far wall. "I like that. I think you should like that, too. You will enjoy breaking him. I shall enjoy giving the command to break him." Suddenly, he was in Duo's face again, his own countenance that of rage and loathing. "You killed my father, and now, I will have the pleasure of killing you."

Duo's lips pulled into a slow grin as he gave the man a bored look. "Well, shit or get off the pot, Skippy."

Hans' rage bled away as he leaned back from Duo. "Not yet, not yet," he said as his palm once again caressed Duo's ribcage. "How long has it been since the war ended? Eight years, now?"

"Yeah," Duo breathed, his amethyst eyes blazing at the man.

"You were hard to find, but not quite as hard to find as your friend." Turning, Hans nodded to the door, giving an unseen man his cue. As it swung open, the unmistakable sounds of a struggle reached Duo's ears and he felt his heart dropping with foreknowledge before Heero was ushered into the room. He was shackled at the waist, his feet hobbled and a leather gag in his mouth. One man gripped the wild thick mane at the back of Heero's head, keeping his face pulled back towards the ceiling. Another held a stun gun close to him, the trigger already pulled as the device continued to threaten the soldier with loud, rapid clicks.

"This one," Hans laughed. "Always puts up such a fight. Such a fight! So much energy and pent up aggression!" He waved his hand. "Lower the hook, let them look at each other. I'm sure it's been a while since they've seen the other." He gestured jovially to his men as they brought the struggling captive forward.

Duo watched as Heero pushed his head back into the hand gripping his hair, using it as balance as he brought both feet up. He delivered a powerful kick to one of the captures, knocking the man backwards and for a moment, Duo had hope that they would get out of this situation unscathed. As he watched Heero whip his head to the side in an attempt to head-butt Hans, who had rushed over to aid with subduing the prisoner, the click-snap of the Taser fired up once again.

"Heero! Look out!"

It was too late. The prongs pressed into Heero's back, just below the shoulder blades. Cobalt eyes widened to their limits before the perfect soldier landed on the ground in a stiff heap. The man leaned down again, pressing the device to the back of Heero's thigh and Duo screamed out at him in rage.

"You Bastard!"

"Do you want some of this?" Hans asked as he approached Duo. "Yes?"

Duo glared at the man before cutting his eyes away towards the floor. Hans was blocking his view of Heero, all he could see was an elbow. "You sick son of a bitch," he breathed as Hans reached up and gripped the spare hook.

"You made me that way," Hans said gently. "Bring him here, bind him like Mr. Maxwell here, but keep the hobbles on, I don't trust him to his own devices." Stepping away, Hans walked about the room, staying within the circle of light cast by the decrepit fixture above them while Heero's arms were unrestrained from the shackles at his waist. The chain between the wrist cuffs was slipped over the hook, and it was slowly lifted until he was hanging loosely before Duo.

"I want his feet to purchase the floor," Hans explained. "You see, a man can really feel pain when he feels there is a chance to escape. That's why your feet are on the floor," he said as he patted Duo's flank. "Hope can be such a dangerous thing."

Six feet separated them as they hung from their chains, now alone in that dark, dank room. Heero's head was down, his face hidden by the thick fall of bangs. It had been eight years since Duo had last seen his friend. The final bit of information that he had heard of Heero was right after he had walked away from his job of being Relena's personal bodyguard. That move had been too sudden for Duo's liking when news had come back to him. With a sick feeling of dead, he was positive that Heero had gone off to finish licking his post war wounds and then offing himself in some seedy motel in the desert.

"Heero?" Duo called softly. "Can you hear me, buddy?"

Heero remained silent.

"C'mon, man, you gotta wake up, that can't be good for your shoulders," Duo urged in a quiet voice. He knew there were guards posted outside of the door and he wasn't keen on drawing their attention. Whatever Hans had planned for them, he wanted to postpone for as long as he could. "Heero… c'mon man, wake up. Rise and shine. Don't make me start singing."

There was a slight shift in the downcast head.

"Heero, you gotta wake up. I know you can hear me, fight through it. It was just a Taser…"

Heero let out a harsh sigh, and then slowly lifted his face. His expression was clinical, cold, as he met Duo's eyes. Duo, in turn, only offered him a relieved smile.

"You got tall, Heero," he said quietly.

"You too," Heero whispered. Already he began to work his hands against the cuffs.

"Think you can still bend steel?"

"Not these."

"Gundanium?"

"Yeah."

"Damn."

"Yeah."

"We're boned, aren't we, Heero?" Duo asked softly. He gave his friend a sad smile. "I've been wondering how you were doing… but this… this isn't the way I wanted to find out that you were still alive and kicking."

"I've been underground," Heero whispered as he shook his bangs out of his face. "Congratulations on your recent promotion to special agent."

Duo's smile grew warmer. "Hey… thanks man. I'd… congratulate you too, on anything, if you weren't invisible. Preventer scrubbed everything on you. You're still in the field, aren't you?"

A minute nod of his head gave Duo the answer.

"You're here because of me, aren't you?" Duo whispered.

Heero lifted his eyes once more, pinning Duo with an intense, yet unreadable gaze. "It was inevitable," he murmured. "They want us all to atone for the wars."

"I just want you to know… I didn't give you up, man," Duo said and then winced as he tried to relieve some of the pain from his shoulders by standing on his tiptoes. "Even if I knew where you were, they'd have to kill me before I squeal on any of my friends."

"I know," Heero responded in a soft voice.

Footsteps, crisp on the stone floors, drew their attention. The door was at Heero's back, his shoulder blocking the view to Duo as light from the hallway grew brighter as it opened.

"I hear talking," Hans said with a pleasant voice. "So good of you to wake up, Mr. Yuy. I may call you Heero? Hm? Would you have something funny to say to that question?" He spoke as he began to laugh. "Duo said I should call him a cab, how funny is that wit?"

Heero narrowed his eyes and lowered his head, staring down to his bare feet rather than answer the question. Hans' face appeared next to his uplifted arm.

"This one isn't so much chatty as you are," he said to Duo as he put his hand on Heero's side. "Not so much chatty, perhaps, however, he can scream?"

"Why ask me if you're talking to him?" Duo responded.

"Oh, maybe perhaps you were so close to each other in the war, brothers in arms, maybe you can even finish his sentences?" The hand patted Heero's side in a slow, rhythmic manner. "I suppose killing people's fathers really does bond child soldiers. Oh, but you aren't children now, all grown up I see. How old now? Twenty five?"

"Give or take," Duo groaned as he once again tried to relieve the ache in his stressed shoulder joints.

Hans smiled, his warm brown eyes sparkling as he said in a low, smooth voice. "You won't see twenty six." Moving away from Heero, Hans slipped to the side and made a hand gesture and spoke the word "please" softly. In walked the man the size of a small bull, carrying something bundled in his hand.

"Gentlemen, this is Deiter. Please say hello to Deiter."

Heero kept his face forward, but cut his eyes to his left while Duo shifted once again. His nervous energy was starting to get to him.

"No one will say hello to Deiter?" Hans asked as he took a seat on a bench that was confined in shadows. "That's such a shame. You should hear him play the piano. He has such a gift with music, he makes it his own, you know. Anything he touches, he turns to beauty." There was a long pause as their captor leaned forward, a smile curving up his lips. "Even torture. You will sing him for tonight. It will be magical."

"Fuck me, this guy is nuts," Duo breathed as he twisted his wrists. His eyes widened as he began to breathe rapidly through his nostrils. Tonight, Deiter's musical instrument of choice was a large leather whip.

Deiter turned, uncoiling the whip as he waited for his instruction. Hans seemed to enjoy prolonging the order, watching as Duo fidgeted at the end of his chain, disappointed that he garnered no reaction out of Heero whatsoever. Perhaps that would change if the Perfect Soldier watched while his friend was being punished. He lifted his hand and spoke in a chipper tone.

"Start with Duo. Perhaps Mr. Yuy will be so inclined to give us the whereabouts of Trowa Barton, yes? You may proceed."

The large man coiled the end of the whip around his fist and swung the heavy leather handle in a hard arc, striking Duo on the back, right above his kidneys. Even if Duo had wanted to cry out in pain, the agony of the blow knocked the breath from his lungs, causing him to lower his head and let out a pitiful rattle of air. Amethyst eyes were large as they slowly rolled back, his mouth pulling into a wide grimace of agony. His toes curled against the cold stone floor and he retched once before pulling in a deep, heavy breath.

"He is a master, is he not? Deiter is so skilled in the art of torture. Some days, I think he prefers to communicate in this way." Hans fluidly rose from the bench and moved to stand before Duo, smiling at him in the doting way a parent would when they were proud of their child. "It's okay," he soothed as he put his hand on Duo's shoulder. "It's okay to surrender to the pain. That's how you know you're human. You are human aren't you? Only a monster would bear agony in silence, a monster that would kill so indiscriminately."

Duo coughed once and lifted his head. "Your father was a soldier, so was I, pal." His voice was strained, but Heero was grateful the attitude was unscathed.

"Yes, my father was a wonderful soldier," Hans agreed. "And you took him from me."

"You have no idea who killed him," Duo growled.

"I was there," Hans said as he turned to address Heero. He gave a small surprised smile at the flicker of fire in the cobalt eyes. "Gundam's Wing and Deathscythe. You two were on quite the rampage that evening. Again," he said as he moved from between the two captives. Duo's body tensed as he heard the whistle cut through the air, seconds later, he bit back a cry of agony as he tilted his head back, his hands balling into fists. A welt was beginning to form just beneath his shoulder blades.

"Trowa Barton. You know him, yes?"

"Yes," Duo whispered in a reedy voice.

"And you know his location, yes?"

"Yes…"

"And you will tell me his location?"

Duo cut his eyes to Hans, smiled and dearly wished he could give the man the finger. "Not on my life, pal," he breathed.

"Again," Hans said as he moved to stand behind Heero.

There was that whistle again, and then the blinding white hot agony as the braided leather bit into Duo's back. It wrapped around, caressing his side and leaving a welt, dotted with blood, to rise slowly along his rib cage. Duo tossed his head back, his hands twisting in the shackles as he fought to keep the deep, guttural grunt in check.

"Tell me," Hans said amicably, dabbing his face with a silk handkerchief as he walked to stand before Heero. "Mr. Barton is in hiding. Where?"

Heero returned his captor's stare with a bored look, and then lowered his eyes to the floor. Duo's toes were curled again and his legs had a minute tremble that his trained eyes immediately spotted.

"Again," Hans ordered at Heero's silence.

The whip whistled again and once more Duo grunted deeply as his spine stiffened at the pain.

"Mr. Yuy, it is only a matter of time before either of you break. Please," he smiled at the former Wing pilot. "I can end your suffering if you only give me the information that I desire."

"Over my dead body," Duo groaned.