-1Title: Understudy
Author: bikkothewriter
Pairings: None yet, leaning towards 1x2x1
Warnings: Language, Yaoi, Blood, (maybe squick depending on where the reviews and the muse lead me)
Disclaimer: I own nothing but the voices in my head and even they are suing for copyright infringement.
Summary: He's lived his life as Zero One's understudy. Now free of an evil doctor's machinations what will he make of his new life? (will work on random summary)
***
Chapter Three
Standing outside in the warm sunshine, he had to smile as he walked towards the closest bus stop. He was about to spend that last few dollars he had and he couldn't be happier. At eight in the morning, he had no duties to attend to, no exercises to perform, no tests to take, no barracks to clean. His most pressing task for the day was to retrieve Zero One's bags from a storage locker at the shuttle port and for that and the promise of being reimbursed for spending his escape money, he could spend a little money and rub elbows with civilians.
The asteroid was thirty kilometers in every direction, surface flattened then covered in a clear dome where the singular city had been built underneath. It was the home of con artists and thugs, those looking to operate outside the stringent government laws and the perfect place to house a military and scientific compound. Zero had spent his entire life on the asteroid but had only set foot inside the city of Metro a handful of times and usually as part of his training. Seeing the city in the light of day, without the watchful eyes of doctors monitoring his progress made him take his time. He loitered around several streets watching people as they got on with their daily routines, realizing that he was finally just like them.
At the shuttle port filled with people moving both in and out of the city, he found the lockers Heero had told him about unlocking the storage compartment finding not only Heero's laptop and carry on bag filled with clothes but his wallet. Suppressing a grin, he flipped the black billfold open passing over his ID card to look at the two credit cards and count the few bills he found. What made him pause was the license naming Heero Yuy as a certified paramedic.
Of all the jobs he pictured Heero taking paramedic was not one of them. With the skills he possessed in combat it seemed a waste to find a job driving ambulances. On top of that, it left Zero wondering what job he would take once they were of the asteroid and on L3. He couldn't see himself taking care of dying people, rushing them to the hospital where doctors and nurses waited to save their lives, but even as he thought it, he knew that he would go through the testing to be certified. He wanted to be equal to Heero in all things and needed to prove that he could do everything that the other man could do.
Depositing the wallet into the back pocket of his jeans, he grabbed the laptop and duffel, turning in the locker key at the corner before stopping to by himself a pair of sunglasses on Heero's credit card. Slipping the dark lenses on just as he passed a group of teenage girls who were skipping school in what he assumed was a cool gesture as they watched him walk away.
On the return trip, he got off the bus a few blocks away from the hotel walking to a nearby bagel place picking up several bottles of juice and water along with an assortment of bagels and spreads to take back with him. He happily showed the cashier Heero's license as he ran his credit card to pay for the goods.
Back at the hotel, he let himself in finding Heero gone for the bed and bathroom door closed the water running through the taps. He dropped the duffel on the bed, then cleared space on the small dinette for the food and the laptop, which he immediately set up wanting to learn everything he could about Heero and the current state of the world. Booting up the machine he was forestalled by a login screen. He first tried the last password he knew Heero to use and was not surprised when he was denied access. He spent a few moments calculating the current password. He knew it would not be something simple like a name or place. He had been trained to use complicated combinations of letters and numbers and from copying Heero's passwords, he'd realized that there was a pattern in the changes of numbers and letters. Given the time between the last password he knew to be accurate and now, it only took him two more tries to access the laptop.
He grinned in achievement as he stared at the plain wallpaper depicting a starry sky, deciding to forego the internet search to dig through Heero's files to find what kind of information he kept on his computer. He was surprised by the number of music files saved onto the hard drive along with the many folders containing sheet music. Another folder contained pictures of Heero and several people dressed in matching paramedic uniforms who were smiling and goofing off in front of the camera.
He realized that in his hands was Heero's personal laptop. He ran his hands over the broken and cracked case, brushed the worn and faded keys, and touched the screen with its dead pixels. It was a well-loved machine. He couldn't imagine Heero bringing his personal computer with him unless he'd been desperate to stop the recreation of Wing Zero or more likely to find out something about his past in the last likely spot.
The door to the bathroom opened and Heero came forth towel wrapped around his waist, body glistening. He changed course from where he was heading towards the bag and his clothes to turn the laptop away from Zero and out of his reach.
"Mine," he said gruffly, just as territorially as Zero thought he would be. "How did you figure out my password?"
"Why would I tell you my secret?"
"Because I asked," Heero said shaking his head at his own answer. "Help me rewrap my chest."
He stood not hiding the smirk at having bested Heero, finding the bandages in the many bags littered along the table. Heero's chest was covered in greening bruises, showing that the serum had not hindered his healing capabilities and Zero was sure that his ribs would be mended in at least three weeks. The cuts were small now and healing cleanly and Zero didn't believe that they would scar. He had Heero brace himself against the table as he wrapped his chest, tightly securing the bandages. Done Heero moved to his bag finding clean clothes to dress himself in and Zero made himself turn away resisting the urge to inspect the other man for scars he didn't know about or for scars that Heero may be missing where Zero's body was concerned.
"Did you have any trouble?"
"None," he answered searching for the remote hoping that there was something worthwhile to watch on TV.
He and Heero had spent most of the night awake watching the marathon of CSI episodes. Heero had told him that the show was over a hundred years old and he could obtain every episode on vid disc once they were on L3. Heero had later dozed off leaving Zero to think of all the things he could buy himself once off the asteroid the series collection at the top of the list behind a motorcycle.
Grabbing a strawberry bagel and a bottle of apple juice he sat on the floor against the foot of the bed turning the channels as Heero, now dressed, sat down before his computer, back turned to Zero with the screen in view.
"Did you think of a name?" Heero asked him.
"Yes," he said having taken alone five minutes to pick a name he wouldn't mind being called other than Zero.
"What is it?" Heero asked craning his neck to look back at him.
"Orie," he said spelling it for Heero's benefit.
"Orie? Why that?"
"Heero," he said stretching the name out and then repeated with his own name, "Orie."
"Backwards?"
"I thought it was clever," he said and Heero snorted, "I didn't hear you making any suggestions."
"No, Orie is good. I like it," he replied and he had no choice but to believe him. He could hear him quietly repeating the name to himself as if getting himself used to the name.
"You're a paramedic?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
Heero's hands dropped away from the keyboard, falling despondently into his lap, "I spent so much of my life killing. I want to help people now. I want to save lives rather than take them."
"Why not be doctor?"
"I don't know. I never considered it," he answered. "There was a shortage of paramedics on Side Four and I wanted to help so I took the classes to be certified."
"Is there still a shortage?"
"Yes. You don't have to be a paramedic like me. You don't have to do everything that I do," Heero said his voice reproachful, setting Zero on edge.
"Stop breathing," he told Heero.
"What?" he asked turning in his chair and Zero glared up at him as he continued.
"Stop breathing. That thing you've done your entire life? I want you to stop right now. Stop breathing."
"Oh," Heero said blinking in understanding. "Orie, I-"
He cut him off turning up the volume on the television to block out whatever apologies and excuses the man would make to him. He was not an idiot. He knew that he could be different; the problem was stopping the desire to be the same. He thought that Heero would have enough sense to realize that he couldn't change his outlook overnight, that it would take time for him to even decide who he wanted to be. He had obviously not been granted the brightest bulb to imitate and wondered if all the falls to the head Heero had suffered had left him brain damaged.
Taking the hint, Heero turned back to his laptop, typing and clicking away. At what Zero could not be sure of and had no desire to peek over his shoulder to find out. The most interesting things he could find to watch were music videos, which he quickly lost interest in and a cooking show with a very attractive chef who was doing something with shrimp and he moved eating at restaurants up on his list of things to do now free. He had spent an eternity eating ration bars and gruel, only eating nicer foods when Heero was on undercover missions and when Faust decided to have him play spot the poison.
After a time he noticed Heero lagging, somewhat fidgeting in his chair as if waiting to gain his attention and he turned that the TV's volume.
"There are classes being held in a month. The course takes about four months. You can work at the hospital, training during the day and take classes at night."
"Okay," he said happy that Heero had come around and was willing to help him.
"I emailed Wu Fei and he's going to help get you a legitimate citizen's ID and all the documents we'll need to have you officially listed as my brother. Do you want the last name of Yuy?"
"Yes. Orie Yuy. It sounds good."
"Orie Yuy," Heero repeated, turning back to his computer.
"Did you tell Zero Five that I'm your clone?"
"Yes."
"And he agreed to help without questioning it?"
"No. He says not to trust you and that he plans to meet you as soon as possible. Don't call him Zero Five; we don't use those designations anymore."
"Are you friends with all of the pilots?"
"To a degree, yes. I see Wu Fei and Quatre regularly. I haven't heard from Trowa or Duo for some time now."
"Hm," he murmured noncommittally, storing the information away for later.
"Wu Fei can get us the paperwork in a few days but I don't want to stay on Metro for that long. We'll need to get a temporary ID and passport made for you."
"We don't have the resources to make them ourselves."
"I know of someone who can do it for us."
***
He decided that he did not want to meet anymore of Heero's contacts on the asteroid. The forger, Mima, was not a young and cute girl like the name implied. He was at least forty-five with baggy, sallow skin, wearing dirty overalls, a plaid shirt and galoshes. His hair was black and greasy falling in disarray around his head. His glasses were modified with different, movable, magnifiers making one eye appear larger than the other through the lenses. His shed, because the building Heero had guided him to couldn't be described as anything else, was packed with all sorts of equipment that blinked and whirred from shelves and tables crammed into the small space. The tidiest area was the draft table the man worked at, the delicate equipment and papers used for making licenses and passports neatly arranged with the lone light shining down over the surface.
"So," the man said leering at the two them licking his lips and Zero felt nauseous, catching a glimpse of the man's rotting teeth, "what do you need?"
"A passport and ID good enough to get him off the asteroid," Heero said gesturing towards Zero.
"Just one? Are you staying behind?" he asked smiling at Heero and Zero felt the bile rising. The man was disgusting and he didn't need to be privy to his thoughts to know what he was thinking.
"No. I have legal documentation."
"Ah, so what are we trading for my services?"
"Money," he answered, glaring at the man.
"I have enough money. I want something else."
"A bullet in the leg?" he questioned and seriously meant it.
"Orie," Heero warned and he looked away. Heero saying his new name reminded him that he needed to get used to responding it and thinking of himself as Orie Yuy and not Zero.
"I like him. Feisty," Mima said focusing intently on Orie and it made his skin crawl as if the rumpled and aging man had run a cold and slick tongue over his skin.
"We aren't dealing in anything other than cash," Heero told him.
"I'm the only guy here he can give you what you need," he said leaning back with a smug self-satisfied look, "so you have to play by my rules and I don't want money."
"What do you want?" Heero asked and Orie kept still although he wanted to punch his 'twin' in the face for being so stupid as to give the snake the opening he wanted in their negotiations.
"A show. You're a little beat up," he said giving Heero a once over, "but I wouldn't mind seeing the two of you kiss."
"I'll sneak on board the shuttle," he said turning to leave and Heero grabbed his arm stopping him. Kissing
Heero of his own violation would be one thing; kissing him for a pervert's amusement was simply out of the question. He'd rather tape himself to the bottom of the shuttle and try his luck than do anything that brought the lecher pleasure.
"He likes to get a rise out of people. It's funny to him," Heero whispered leaning in to him, though he was sure that Mima heard him.
"I think shooting people is funny," he said for Mima's benefit.
"You could always kiss me instead," Mima said, showing his teeth in a dirty smile.
"Mima, enough."
"I'd rather drink bleach."
Heero sighed. "How much for the forgeries, Mima."
"You were never much fun. What do you want on the ID? Any special identities or restrictions?"
"No, just a basic forge, one good enough to pass through port security. The name is Orie Yuy," Heero said.
"A thousand, then. Though I could be persuaded to go lower for a kiss," he said in singsong and even his voice was revolting to Orie.
"A thousand," Heero said counting out the bills fresh from the ATM. He set the money on the table before Mima and Orie noted that he kept his hand out of the lecher's reach. "We need it done has soon as possible."
"It's extra for rushing. How soon do you need it?"
"In the next two hours."
"And no, we don't want to kiss you or each other," Orie said preemptively and Mima chuckled.
"Two hundred more and I'll have it done in the next thirty minutes. I have a few templates made up for just such situations."
"Fine," Heero said handing over more money.
They decided to wait as there was no reason to leave and come back and as they had nowhere to go anyways. Orie amused himself by looking at all of the knickknacks that cluttered the small space, some of them easily a hundred years old. Dolls with their eyes missing, old crumpled movie posters, and tin lunch boxes sat side by side with video games, televisions, cell phones and other electronics that caught his attention. Had the man not been so disgusting he would have asked if he could touch them. As it was, he decided to pocket the smaller cell phones to take apart later for fun.
"Orie," Mima called and he didn't like the man being so familiar with him. "I need to borrow your hand."
"For what?"
"We need to get your fingerprints on the passport," Mima said turning, gesturing him over to his left side. "Then we're all done."
He approached the grinning man wondering if he couldn't really sneak onto the shuttle. He was quite flexible and could easily fit inside of a rolling suitcase. He could endure a three-hour flight in such a cramped space and it was a much better alternative than letting the man touch him. Looking to Heero, he knew that he wouldn't allow it.
He pressed his fingers into the open inkpad, coating each digit to be printed though he knew there wouldn't be much of a print as he'd had his fingertips burned to rid him of a traceable fingerprint. Done, Mima took his hand in his guiding it to the open passport pressing his thumb against the largest square. It was as Mima cradled his index finger that his vision clouded, the desk, Mima, his hands everything before him disappearing replaced by a trapdoor, shallow water, and an assortment of knives.
I can't wait until they leave. I'm going to cut her up. So pretty, my little star. Gonna make her love me. Wish I could keep these two. They'd look so good together.
He gasped, pulling away roughly shaking his head to clear his head of the sights and sounds unfamiliar to him. It was as if Mima had slithered inside of his head, leaving a sickening residue behind that he needed to purge himself of.
"Orie?" Heero questioned, and his voice was like a beacon, calling to him and he moved to Heero gripping the other man's arm grounding himself in reality. "What is it?"
"I don't know," he said opening his eyes to look around the room, reorienting himself. Mima had left his chair, crossing the room standing in the opposite corner, his sagging face tight with worry.
"You two should leave. Take the money and the IDs."
He was standing on top of the trapdoor from his vision. There was something down there, something he wanted to hide and Orie was torn between taking the money and Ids and leaving or confessing his vision to Heero. He was rarely unsure of what he should do in any situation but he had not been trained to handle such a dilemma. He knew in his gut someone was being tortured, or would be soon, and he could leave, wash his hands and stay uninvolved. He looked to Heero and his worried and open face, remembering his words from earlier. He had dedicated his life to saving others and Orie would only shame himself in both his eyes and Heero's if he did any less.
"Don't," Mima warned as he moved toward him, dropping his hand away from Heero.
"Move," he told the man, stepping closer his mind set. He had never been more compelled to hurt anyone than he did in that moment. Mima, his slimy voice and appearance had set him on the edge from the moment they'd stepped foot inside the shed and he didn't hold back as he gripped the man's shirt tossing him away from the door. The man crashed into the wall his collection of electronics falling, burying him.
"Orie!" Heero yelled looking between the fallen Mima and him. "What are you doing?"
"There's someone down here," he said crouching, taking the metal latch in hand, forcing the locked door open, breaking the latch. Heero helped him propped the door open as they both looked down into the darkened hole. He could see the water from his vision as light played off the slow moving waves. He could hear a muffled voice screaming and took a risk jumping down into the basement.
Hitting the ankle-deep water, he saw that it was not a proper basement but a hollowed out hole dug into the asteroid. There were cameras, both modern and antique bolted into the walls, red lights blinking, recording. Tied to a metal chair by rounds of duct tape, a dark-haired woman screamed and struggled, her hands clenching and unclenching frantically as she tried to free herself. The high-wattage lamp only inches from her face cast her struggling shadow across the room reminding him the murder scenes from the show he and Heero had watched the night before along with the tray of knives and medical utensils to her right.
Sloshing through the water towards her only caused her to scream more hysterically, no doubt believing him to be Mima with light blinding her. He turned the light away shining it towards the back of the room finding no threats waiting in the darkness before looking down to the woman as she blinked up at him.
"I'm not going to hurt you. I'm going to set you free," he told her plainly and she stopped screaming although she continued panting through her nose.
He pulled the tape and the rolled up sock away from her mouth, tossing it away and into the water hoping that it had at least been clean. He would not stop the woman should she decide to rid Mima of his balls for putting a dirty sock in her mouth.
"Where is he?" she asked and he knew without being told she meant Mima.
"Upstairs. My…" he paused as he reached for one of the knives to cut her loose having almost said original,
"brother is watching him."
The knife sliced cleanly through the tape, freeing her arms first from the arms of the chair and then her legs. He helped her to peel the tape away pulling her from the chair. She clung to him crying as he moved her towards the room's only exit. A shot rang out over their heads and the woman yelped in fear as Orie stilled listening to the sounds of struggle. He knew Heero to be an expert in hand to hand combat but the man was weak with pain and exhaustion and still drugged from the serum and if Mima had managed to pull a gun while he was distracted…
Easy to say that he did not want to finish that thought.
"Heero," he called and was answered by the sounds of crashing and another shot before things were quiet.
"Oh no," the woman said and he had to stop himself from telling her to shut up.
"Heero," he called again, worried that Mima would appear from above to leer at him and the woman.
"I'm here," Heero called and Orie could here his footsteps echoing as he approached the hole. The relief he felt in seeing Heero's bruised face appear overhead was immeasurable and he briefly wondered when he had decided to care so much about him.
"Report."
"Clear. Mima is down."
"I have a woman down here. Is there a ladder?"
"Not from what I can see. Is she injured?"
He looked to the woman who shook her head saying, "I'm not hurt."
"Hoist her up," he called, holding his hand out and Orie grabbed the woman around her knees without hesitation, smirking at the startled yelp she gave as he lifted her off the ground and towards Heero. Her weight disappeared as Heero pulled her through the hole and once she was clear he jumped, grabbing the edge of the wood floor pulling himself easily out of the underground chamber. He cleared the floor just in time to see the woman fleeing out the door.
He approached Heero where he crouched over Mima's body, two fingers pressed to the man's throat. Mima was unconscious and unfortunately free of bullet wounds though his face was broken and bleeding. Blood pooled around his head from a strong blow.
"What happened?"
"He tried to shoot me. He had a gun tucked in his overalls. I dodged the first bullet and wrestled him for the gun, which discharged accidentally. I broke his neck and the girl ran away," he recapped succinctly.
"Is he dead?"
"No."
"Should we go after the girl?"
He turned towards the door considering. "No, but we need to leave."
He stood his gaze sweeping the room and Orie started at the cold and methodical look on Heero's face. He was looking at Zero One, the man he had been trained to mimic. His body was poised and rigid, hands held loosely at his side, ready for battle, a mission and he emulated his posture relaying information.
"There are cameras recording in the basement."
"Find the feed," he ordered, "We need to erase all traces of our presence here."
Orie watched the man for moment longer before set to work, checking over the equipment on the left side of the room while Heero took the right. They were a team, moving together for a shared cause and it was thrilling.
It didn't take them long to find the seven vid disc players layered around the room, each one receiving signals from the cameras, burning the images recorded straight to discs. Heero collected the discs snapping them in half and then into quarters, dropping the pieces into the duffel to be fully destroyed later.
"What do we do with him?"
"Leave him. Grab the IDs and passport," Heero ordered.
Orie moved to follow his instruction taking time to finish adding his prints to the passport before pocketing the cards. He turned back to Heero to find him taking one of the many cell phones off the shelf to his right. Turning the phone on, he dialed three numbers before pressing send then dropped it to the floor beside Mima's prone body.
"The police will be here soon."
"We're not going to burn the place?"
"Unnecessary. No one will be able to match the prints back to us. Let's go."