Disclaimer: What? Really? People are still confused over this?
Warnings!: This thing is about as M as M can get. I'm testing all the boundaries of my writing abilities, and that means M-rated yaoi scenes. If you don't understand what that means, then leave. Now. There's also underage sex, eventual non-con undertones, more yaoi, language, blood, gore, death, and other nasties. I'll never be able to write war is grotesque and horrifying as it really is, but I'm sure as hell gonna try.
Note: Episode 22-23-ish. I think.
Memento Mori
Chapter Four
Until We Meet Again
"I always felt that the great high privilege, relief and comfort of friendship was that one had to explain nothing."
~ Katherine Mansfield
"So, Quatre, huh? Interesting name." Duo laid back on the bed and took a deep breath, letting the dry air of the desert trace its way down to his lungs. Outside, he could hear the festival continuing, the music below pacing a fast, dissonant beat. They'd barely escaped that disaster in Singapore. Even now, the only reason they'd made it safely away was because of the confusion caused by Heero's... Duo shook his head. Yeah. Best not to think about that.
"Yes, I know." Duo turned his head and stared at the blond member of their little Gundam squad. The guy was short, even shorter than Duo, with a perfect posture that Duo hadn't ever seen before. The guy sat like a prince. "My father," Quatre continued, "thought it sounded appropriate, since he's... well, my family's lived in the L4 quadrant for a few generations now." Quatre shrugged and blushed. Duo rose an eyebrow. Quatre cleared his throat. "Wh-What about you? Why were you named Duo?"
Duo closed his eyes. He'd kind've been hoping he could dodge around this line of questioning, but he'd instead jumped into it feet first, and only because he'd let his guard down. It was stupid to do so, of course, but those big, burly bodyguards of Quatre's made it easy to feel safe. And Quatre was certainly taking it easy. Duo couldn't see any tension in any of the blond's muscles. Maybe... maybe, for the moment, they were safe?
Just the thought made Duo stiffen again. They weren't safe. They would never be safe.
Duo felt Quatre's eyes on him, and he turned to see the blond smiling softly, his eyes pinched. "I'm sorry," the blond said, and smiled a bit softer when Duo's brows furrowed. "I shouldn't have asked. We all have our own pasts."
Duo blinked. It took a moment, but finally he smiled, big and wide. "You know what, Quatre? I think we're gonna be good friends."
"I'm having these thoughts of you
And I don't know what to do
I'm having these thoughts of you"
~ Changing Faces, "Thoughts of You"
He hadn't had a good night's rest since he'd last been in that hospital of Heero's. He'd caught the first shuttle out, just as he'd sworn he would, and had immediately taken an apartment under a hacked Oz official's credit. Yet every time he tried to sleep, the sound of a car horn would wake him up, or someone would walk past his door and his hand would be around his gun. With the danger he was in, getting a good layout of the colony was necessary, and it was his next step.
The light shone in on him as he grabbed up his newly acquired duffel bag and mentally checked his inventory. His mind buzzed. It had gotten to the point where he was injecting himself with adrenaline to keep himself focused. He hadn't felt anything from his assassin wannabes, but he knew without a doubt that they were following him. He only had so much time.
His thoughts were scattered as he looked around his apartment building one last time. He'd managed to smuggle all of his weapons with him, tossing them into scan-proof pouches in a backpack he had to find and remodel himself, stealing parts for the backpack from a house with a family who would not be thrilled when they returned from wherever they'd gone. When he'd arrived on this colony, he'd searched around until he'd found what amounted to the black market here, which was nothing more than a hosh-posh of a few men in black sweaters arguing over who had gone to the most trouble. Duo hadn't known whether to laugh at them or crack their damn heads open. Still, he had his mini-Uzis, and that made him a very happy man. Then it was just a quick jump to the nearest superstore and grabbed his duffel bag and some clothes; all of it – his mini-Uzi's, his clothes, a pair of sunglasses – all of it was in the duffel. He had to hide it, however, if he was going to remain undetected by the scanners in the buildings.
He grabbed up the backpack just as he left the apartment, locking the door behind him twice and plucking out a strand of hair, leaving it to dangle precariously on the door. If someone came and touched the door in any way, he would now know.
Then it was down the stairs, his eyes taking in the security cameras and the windows, his body avoiding them all. It took him a good few minutes, and he had to rearrange himself quickly when a neighbor came out of their own apartment, jumpstarting Duo's heart until it was in his throat. But the young man just smiled and waved. Duo grinned and greeted him back, and when the man was out of Duo's sight, he slowly made him way down the stairs and got onto the road. The adrenaline in his system, making his nerves buzz a bit like his head, kept his alert as he walked through crowds and past cars until he was in front of the military base. A strangely large amount of people were in front of it, and Duo almost wanted to laugh. This place was probably the safest place for him right now, what with the crowd and the number of people with guns. How sad was that?
Still, he slid into an alley nearby and slipped off his backpack, stuffing it into the air vent of the bank beside the base – he had plenty of jokes he could make about that, but he wouldn't – and carried himself lackadaisically into the base, slipping on his sunglasses as he did.
He didn't stop as he entered. He didn't let his jaw drop. Still, he couldn't believe what he was seeing. While it had been sunny today, thanks to the colony's screens, he had thought the base would have only the artificial lighting to help the military personnel work. But no. The place was wide open, with walls of windows spanning the back and sides, leaving a lovely if not vulnerable view of the colony. Duo had to make an effort not to let his body tense too obviously, and as he readjusted his duffel, his fingers clenched enough to make the handle leave an imprint in his skin. Unerringly, he went to the far corner, where he could see everyone in the building and anyone entering through the front door. His gaze swept the area, and he pretended to be looking out the windows and looking at the brochures on a far table in order to avoid the cameras getting a good view of him. The uniforms pressed all around him, heightening his already drug-heightened awareness, making every breath freeze in his chest as a woman walked toward the front desk and asked for directions to a shuttle with a disembarking crew. The man behind the desk refused to say, and the woman started pleading. Duo tuned her out and took careful stock of the room.
Yes, there were windows, but a closer look showed Duo that behind the base, the colony's flooring dipped down and away, giving a look like a valley, allowing people to live far below without giving them a chance to snipe at the people within. The sides also had windows, but the buildings on either side didn't, leaving those safe, as well. If they'd considered the windows of the other buildings, then they'd certainly considered rooftops. Almost, Duo let himself relax.
The people within the building were all moving with purpose, swerving around him without giving him a second look. Duo relaxed a bit more then. The only things in the lobby were a bunch of waiting chairs and that huge front desk, a sign with blue writing that read 'Information' hanging above and several people sitting behind, taking calls and answering questions and leading military men to their destinations. For a moment, Duo stood looking around, hefting his duffel again and scowling. Then, satisfied that he'd shown at least one person at the desk that he was supposedly waiting for someone, he sat in the corner and let his head fall back. Just for a minute.
He knew, as a soldier instinctively did, that he was still being followed. His enemies, whoever they were, would have already followed his tracks to this colony. He couldn't afford to stay here, not for long. Those three men would have had allies, he was sure of it.
And that hand signal. Every time Duo tried to rest, he remembered that hand signal, and fear had him bursting up from the bed again and again. Even now, the image danced across his mind. Oz would have the wait signal with the palm forward, Romefeller with the hand formed into a fist. Only Gundam pilots and those affiliated with them turned the palm to the recipient. Which meant someone on Duo's team wanted him dead. But who? Neither G nor the Sweepers would do it. Duo had faith in that, at least. That left one of the other four. But what the hell for? He'd hardly met Trowa or Wufei – though his encounters with Wufei hadn't been exactly great – and he'd gotten along fine with Quatre.
It always went back to Heero, didn't it? It was while with Heero that the danger had presented itself, and it was with Heero whom he'd had the most... interesting relationship thus far. He and Quatre could be considered war buddies, and Trowa and Wufei were more like strangers than partners. And Heero... well. They were professional allies, complete strangers besides...
And fuck buddies. They were fuck buddies.
Duo rubbed his head with both hands. That was just great. It made a sick sort of sense, too, if he considered what kind of personality type would order Heero to blow himself up. And gee, when they'd been thinking of the dangers in fucking each other, somehow it had never occurred to them that their own mentors would get pissed enough to go homicidal on their asses.
Someone walked past him, the scent of pineapples wafting behind them. He slitted his eyes open and saw, from behind the safety of his sunglasses, a woman with a big ass sashaying her way to the counter. He lifted an eyebrow and smirked. Some people.
For a strange moment, his hands itched. He wanted to reach forward and shift two fingers into that big, ugly purse she was carrying. He had the feeling she'd be a good mark.
He tore his eyes away and tried to focus once more on his surroundings. One quick glance through the windows assured him of his safety from that area, and another around the room made him relax once more. His muscles shivered. His hit of adrenaline was low. He was going to have to take another soon. Someone walked into the building then, a man with a beard long enough to touch his chest, and Duo watched the man carefully before finally dismissing him. The desire to rest was almost painful, but he'd come in to spy on the cameras and get a look at the military force on this colony, and that was what he was going to do. He couldn't keep agonizing over his decision to fuck Heero – a decision, he thought with a snarl, that was either 'willing' or 'unwilling,' not 'do it' or 'don't' – or how the lack of communication from Heero or the Lunar base could very well mean said fuck buddy was dead. He would take out the Lunar base, and that wasn't an easy feat. And if he was lucky – which he wasn't, not ever – he might even find Heero's still-breathing body. But probably not.
He was just about to get up and lean innocently on the front desk when the television in front of him caught his eye. He couldn't believe he'd just looked over the things; the tv's in the room hadn't even registered in his mind. He had also tuned out the monotonous broadcasting voice of the man speaking. Duo grimaced as he heard about wars in the colonies becoming obsolete thanks to Treize and Une. Un-fuckin'-believable. What about the fact that Une had been the one to target the colonies? Or how Heero had almost given his life to save them? "What a bunch of shit," he said. "They're the ones who planted the fear of war in everyone."
"That's not true."
Duo tensed, his adrenaline pounding like kettle drums through his blood, but all he did was turn his head and tilt his sunglasses down. The moron talking to him was a woman, one apparently around his age. And she was wearing an Oz uniform. If she hadn't been smiling at him and standing in a pathetically vulnerable position, he would have pulled out his knives. "The colonies have suffered a history of humiliation," she said, and he had to fight to keep up with the change of topic. "We aren't afraid of battles that will allow colony independence."
It took Duo a moment to realize the woman was talking about being willing to fight for freedom, not specifically about Treize and Une. He lifted a brow. "Who are you?"
"My name is Hilde Schbeiker." She pointed to herself, cocked her head, and smirked down at him. Almost, almost he laughed in her face. "I've volunteered my services from this colony."
'Volunteered her services.' What a platitude for entering an occupation well-known for its roach motel-like qualities. Duo hmm'ed and leaned forward. Whoever this girl was, she was going to attract too much attention to him. He eyed the front desk for a moment, almost yearning for it, but it was too late now. "So you're an Oz soldier," he said then, and made it clear he was unimpressed.
"Anyone can be critical." Her hair was cropped short and so black it almost seemed blue. Bangs fell into her face. Hell. The cut was almost like Heero's. The thought made him smirk. "The work of the colony's students speaks for itself. Our volunteer work at the Lunar Plant reflects our faith in Oz."
Well. That certainly wiped the smirk off his face. Here was a citizen, one of the nameless millions whom he'd trained his ass off for. Risked his life for. Seen even Heero risk his own life for. Here she was, a completely normal, obviously still-naïve girl, and she was talking about having faith in Oz. Oz, who had put her life on the chopping block in order to get the Gundams to ceasefire. Oz, who was slowly taking over space and using it to further their own military desires, including the production of the mobile dolls, all for Romefeller's gain. Duo hadn't been fighting for any lofty goals like saving the world or bringing about world peace. Still. Still. He couldn't believe how much this one girl's words hurt. "Huh. Is that so." Duo looked out the window, really looked, instead of searching for danger, and saw a huge line of soldiers being trained. Were those all colony civilians?
He took a deep breath and turned back to the girl with a smile, his mouth completely on auto-pilot. "Then maybe I should apply, as well."
The girl held a paper right in front of his face, so close he had to back away from it. His sunglasses slipped down his nose. "The next military exam is in one week," she said, still smiling. What the hell? Was the woman a fucking recruiter? Why did she have this paper? Still. Duo took it. "Why don't you give it a try if you like?"
He stared at it. Holy shit. Holy fucking shit. He read the thing. Name. Social security number – as if he had one – address, birth date. He scanned it all and found the e-mail address, address, and phone number of the military compound on the colony, the main building where military shuttles are kept. Perfect. Beyond perfect.
The woman walked off, her back straight, her walk completely non-militaristic. He grinned. She was like his angel. His totally unwitting, idealistic messenger angel.
He adjusted his sunglasses and smirked. "Count on it," he murmured. "I'll be there."
"No battle plan survives contact with the enemy."
~ Colin Powell
It took him time, a computer he had to steal from a store, and almost two full days, during which he'd changed his location eight times, but he managed to get everything in order. His fake identity, complete with birth date and social security number, was officially in Oz's system. He was, in the eyes of every computer in existence, a volunteer for Oz from the colony. It couldn't have been easier.
He should have seen that as the warning that it was.
The compound was hectic and crowded, even more so than the base on the other side of the colony. Duo hoisted his duffel bag, now containing his backpack, back up on his shoulder. The line stretched out in front of the compound, far enough that the whole block was cut off. Traffic had to reroute away from the road. And Duo had come a little early. It was ridiculous. He'd been sent by Professor G secretly because the colonies were trapped and unable – Duo had believed – to properly fight back. Yet now here they were, lining up for the honor of helping those who had initially enslaved them to begin with. Duo couldn't believe it. How easily people forgot.
It was as he got closer to the hangar – which was full of mobile suits and still seemed to inspire the civilians somehow – that he saw the potential problem. The girl, Hilde, was up at the front with the man looking through the ID papers. She was wearing her flight suit, an odd purple color that looked good on her. Duo raised an eyebrow at the thought, but it was true. It was an idealist's color, and it suited her idealistic beliefs, even if she was standing stern-faced now. It almost made him laugh. Did she think she was important? She was obviously a symbol – see this young woman, ready to die for this alliance! Join us!
Still, Duo had no choice but to pretend to fall for it and act like it was no big deal. He finally arrived in front of the man accepting the forms. The guy was too busy, apparently, to look up from the computer screen in front of him, and when Duo handed the man his papers with a confident platitude, the man hardly glanced at it from behind his glasses before Duo just took it back out of the guy's hands, giving the guy a cheery farewell. Unbelievable. Duo had been worried that the picture, which he'd had to force himself to take, wouldn't be accepted, but the man didn't call out a warning or tell Duo to stop or anything.
"Stop!"
He did. He stopped and inwardly he cursed. Of course she would notice him. There were only at least a few hundred people here, but of course she would notice him.
"You..."
"What?" He closed his eyes and grinned. Change of plans. "You talking to me?"
"I told you, new volunteers are to apply next week. Let me see that application."
"Oh, this? It's all filled out." He turned. She did look rather stunning in that tight vacuum suit, and if it weren't for the fact that curves and softness didn't pump his blood, he'd be eying her far more appreciatively. "But it's a fake!"
Duo threw his duffel at her, not allowing himself to be upset at the loss of his weapons again. Hilde let out a little shriek, her arms not quite reaching up to shield her in time. She fell rather predictably to the floor.
He was already moving when she shouted something at him, probably some stupid insult. But his eyes were on a Leo sitting against a wall of the hangar. As soon as he entered the space, he launched himself up, feeling the sudden lightness of the air on his skin and knowing he would start soaring up in the zero-g. The Leo loomed larger in his vision, large enough for him to snatch the leg and use it to switch his position in the air, until he was climbing up to the cockpit. A man was working on the Leo's console. Duo could only hope it didn't mean the thing was severely injured. With one hit, the man was unconscious, leaving Duo to take the man's suit and seat and leaving the mechanic to float like a dead man in the air.
The Leo was simplistic in design compared to his precious Deathscythe – RIP – and he had the thing hacked into and started practically before he'd suited and belted himself in. The colony was already mounting a force against him, and though Duo instinctively pulled out the Leo's beam rifle, he hesitated. Civilians. In the end, they were nothing but civilians. He was surrounded by them on all sides. He turned on his external speakers. "Everybody stay calm!" he said. His heart hammered in his chest. Maybe he shouldn't have injected his last bit of adrenaline. It made him feel like his body was trying to explode. "I don't want to start fighting inside the colony!"
He didn't know if it was because of his words, the threat of the rifle, or the incompetence of the civilian soldiers, but he got to the decompression hatch without resistance. He closed the hatch and heard the decompression begin. Before it was done, he forced the outer hatch open. The air being sucked into the vacuum forced his Leo into a roll, but with one punch of a button, the propulsion system jetted out and he could get the Leo back into line.
Up ahead, the moon loomed, bright and big before him. He checked the logistics and scowled. Stupid Leos and their stupid rifles. "My goal's the Lunar base, but it's too far away." He wanted to punch the damn machine. It was with another pang of loss that he thought of Deathscythe and its superior capabilities.
Someone shot at him, missing and firing to his right. Duo turned the suit. Another Leo was chasing after him, firing haphazardly in his general direction. "Stop!"
"Her again!" Son of a bitch! The idiot just wouldn't give up. He scowled. She was hurtling herself into a battle even though she couldn't hit the broad side of a barn. The dumb bitch. She was going to get herself killed.
He fired back, deliberately missing by mere inches, but he very quickly had to alter his trajectory as she tried to dodge – straight into his line of fire. He wanted to scream. "If you retaliate, I'll have to kill you!" He kept hurtling toward the base, even as he fired.
The woman just dodged once more straight to where he was aiming. He let go of the firing trigger before he could kill her. "Good God. Warning shots are fucking useless against inexperienced fighters." The woman didn't know any better than to think his misses were due to poor aim. Dumb cow.
She kept coming to him head-on, without zig-zagging to avoid enemy fire. It would be too easy to shoot her down. His chest heaved, but then Shinigami returned. Suddenly he was calm. Fine. If that was her decision, then fine. She was part of Oz now. An enemy. He'd been wrong to think of them as civilians. They'd chosen their path.
"This one," the girl shouted, "is for the peace of the colony!"
The words punched through the calm. It hurt, physically hurt, to feel Shinigami ripped away. "I'm fighting for the peace of the colony, as well." This woman was supposed to be an ally. What the hell was going on up here in space? What the fuck?
It was stupid, stupid, but he froze. On a battlefield, he froze. And she finally got enough of a handle on the firing mechanism to hit a glancing blow. Warning sirens rang in the cockpit. The right side of the Leo had taken damage. The right leg was at eighty-five percent working capacity. He shut off the sirens on instinct, but his mind was numb. Why did he have to kill someone who fought for the same reason as he? This wasn't what it was supposed to be like. Not at all.
The dumb bitch came at him again, and he dodged around her. They moved in a parody of a Western shootout for a bit, and finally he tossed his beam rifle away. "Hey!" His voice sounded hoarse in his own ears, and he tried again. "Hey! We're both fighting for the colonies! So why are we enemies?"
Why the hell was he trying? On a battlefield! "Are you pleading for your life?" she asked, her voice full of triumph, and he felt that ball of something in his chest explode. Dumb bitch!
She moved her Leo to punch him. He was so shocked by the stupid move that he only just barely managed to manipulate his own Leo to catch hers. "I'm telling you!" he said, "we aren't enemies!"
It said something about her level of inexperience that she actually sat in her Leo without trying to escape. "I volunteered and pledged my loyalty," she said, and he found himself once again amazed. She was holding a conversation with him. She really was. On a battlefield.
And wait. Did she say what he thought she said? She was ignoring what he was saying because she 'pledged her loyalty'? "You're so intense it makes me sick," he said. Like an explosion, the feeling of danger erupted from behind him. He turned his head and through the Leo's sensors beam rounds being shot at the both of them. Shit. "Hey, get outta here!" he shouted, and shoved the stupid little bitch away.
The shots landed squarely on his suit and the space where she'd been a moment before. The warning system flashed again. His Leo spun in loops, pushed into motion by the force of the blast. He held tight to the controls as his belt caught against his breast. The pain made him grunt. He hardly managed to get the Leo to stop turning before blast after blast hit. His head banged against the back of the seat. The belt squeezed into his ribs until he lost his breath completely. The damn cockpit kept flashing, little messages reporting damages popped up. He barely noticed the message detailing the loss of one of the Leo's legs. His still-healing ribs cracked again under the pressure. Great. He coughed, thankful that he didn't hack up blood. That would be all he needed.
"Shit," he muttered, then again, long and low, "shit." He almost bit his tongue for his trouble. The last thing he wanted to do was fall unconscious again – it was the very, very last thing he wanted to do – but one more shot made the Leo buck, and finally the belt snapped under the strain. His head smashed against the console. Before he could even gasp, he was out.
"Hope and pray that you never need me
But rest assured, I will not let you down
I walk beside you, but you may not see me
The strongest among you may not wear a crown"
~3 Doors Down, "Citizen/Soldier"
It took a while to wake up, but when he did, he was surprised by his surroundings. The room was small, but nothing cramped it up. Literally nothing – the only thing in the room was the chair he was handcuffed around. The place was stark white, a room aboard the ship – whatever ship that was – that hadn't been decorated whatsoever. He didn't feel any injuries save for the ones he'd already gained in the Leo or during his previous capture, and he didn't feel any lightheadedness or dizziness that would warn him of any drugs. He was being treated almost humanely. What the hell?
He was equally surprised when the white door opened and allowed in only one interrogator – the girl. Hilde Strange-last-name. He cocked an eyebrow. She'd even brought in papers, and she was looking at them as she entered. Good Lord. He wasn't even handcuffed to the chair; his arms were behind his back, that was all. Civilians.
"Duo Maxwell," she said, her first words spoken with eyebrows raised. She pulled out her weapon, but it sat lax at her side. Good God. It would be too easy to stand and kick the weapon out of her hand. "Who would have guessed that you were a Gundam pilot?"
He grinned. Well, anyone who'd been paying attention to the news recently.
She looked him up and down. A frown marred that young face. "Why did you save me?"
Almost, he was surprised. These people seriously didn't know how to interrogate someone. And what were they doing sending her to begin with? He straightened his shoulders and tilted his chin back. "What are you talking about?"
That frown turned into a scowl. "I'm prepared to sacrifice my life. I don't need sympathy from my enemies."
Good God. It was so ludicrous he had to smile. "Hilde, you say? What 'enemies' do you mean?"
The girl looked surprised, sure, but then there was hesitance – confusion. She really hadn't thought about it. And on the heels of that realization came panic. Good grief.
"Since when is the colony an organization fighting a war?" he continued, and saw that panic sway back to confusion. "When the Alliance came from Earth to attack the colonies, smiles disappeared from people's faces." Duo remembered it, how difficult every day became, how little people cared for the children as their own lives were destroyed. He thought of Solo, working his ass off to help the other rats at an age when most children were still playing with toys their parents bought. He thought of Sister Helen and Father Maxwell, always reaching out their hands, even to the very end. Sister Helen had wished for his happiness, blessing him with her last breath. He remembered the faces of the men, women, and children fighting to survive as the Alliance took everything the colony had to give. "I've been fighting to help give back those smiles."
The confusion was changing again, those eyes of hers widening even further. Her mouth moved, but nothing came out.
"Then I come back to the colonies, and guess what?" Despite himself, his voice grew darker. "People don't want their smiles back. Tell me something." His shoulders slumped. "When did the colonies get so twisted?"
The closed her mouth with a snap, and a spark of something lit her eyes and straightened her spine. "Outer space is affected by the war on Earth. We can't just sit back and be taken over." Finally she raised her gun, cocked it – holy shit, she hadn't done that before entering the room? – and shoved it in his face. He had to lean back to avoid getting hit with it. It made him smirk. She was an amateur with the thing, but hell if she didn't have fire. "This is outer space's decision."
He could use his legs to kick the gun away, sure, but she was close enough now that he could take her out without a problem. The weight of his daggers were gone, but he didn't really need them to kill someone. Especially someone stupid enough to come right in front of him. Still, there was no hesitation. She knew he was a Gundam pilot, but her lips were firm, her gaze steady. He closed his eyes, but he just couldn't clamp down his grin. "Your bravery's commendable," he said. Then, because he knew he wasn't in any danger, he leaned against the chair and settled in for a nice, long discussion. "So where are you taking me?"
He waited a beat as she probably adjusted to the change of topic, then, "to the Lunar base. You'll be questioned on the Gundam, among other things."
He almost laughed. Not only did she actually answer his question, she also told him they were taking him exactly where he wanted to be. Holy shit. Was his luck changing, or what? And she even told him their plans for him! It was too much! "Saves me a trip. You know I'm planning to destroy the Lunar base."
He said it just to see what she would do, but all she did was lean her gun until it was touching his forehead. An obviously empty threat. If she was going to kill him, she would have already pulled the trigger. "You don't stand a chance." She believed the clichéd words, that was plain. He could feel the laughter bubbling in his chest. This time, she seemed to see it. "Why don't you see me as an enemy?" He kept right on smiling until she snapped. "I won't let you destroy it."
The woman still had her gun on his forehead. It was nice and cool against his skin. "Hate to say this," he said, "but you don't have the skills to be my enemy. So it's foolish for you to risk your life against me." He could feel the metal against his skin tremble. Another perfect chance to kill her. Amateurs. Civilians.
Still...
He opened his eyes, looking at that face of hers: childish still, the lips pressed do firmly together they were pinched, her glare weak but full-force. In those eyes of hers he saw himself, staring down a soldier who wanted a grab at a rat, looking at the soldiers of the rebellion as they threatened Father Maxwell and Sister Helen. Staring out past the controls of Deathscythe and wondering just what Earth's air felt like. "But you remind me of how reckless I was when I went to Earth to fight all on my own."
"Don't patronize me!" she said, and it was so exactly what he would have said, the desire to laugh came back, just like that. Still, maybe she had a point. What room did he have to talk, in this situation? Fighting those he'd chosen to protect.
"In fact, we're both foolish." That got her. Once more, her eyes widened, though the trembling stopped. "A soldier can get killed at any time." Now, for instance. "We'll see many friends in the colony lose their lives." So why was he saving her? Why was he reasoning with her? Why did he think he could bring back people's smiles when he was murdering their loved ones? Why in fuck was he thinking about Heero? No. No more of that. "Let's live our lives believing in the paths we've chosen."
Believing that he was right to try to get the medicine to save Solo, thus being one of the few who survived the Alliance's raid against the rats. Believing he was right to try to save Father Maxwell and Sister Helen, despite how useless his efforts had been. Believing his desire to save the rats and desolate of the world was right, even as he raised the death toll to the thousands, the millions. Believe in Heero and the feelings he didn't understand. Believing. "You've got to be at least that foolish to make it as a soldier."
Her arm fell to her side. He didn't look back up. He wasn't in danger from her, and he had too many thoughts in his own head. Trying to open her eyes was a mistake. He knew that. She was as set on her path as he was on hers. One of them, at least, had to be right.
She left him, along and with only handcuffs holding his hands behind his head. He sighed and stood. Really. Thinking about Heero at a time like this. How stupid. How... girly.
Ugh. Gross.
It was simple to step over the handcuffs, then to reach back and pull a lockpick from his braid. These people were the worst captors he'd ever come across. And he'd come across a good many. To his chagrin.
Once he had the lockpick, he had the handcuffs off in a matter of seconds. Quietly he unclipped them from around his wrists and took them – his only weapon. A small, vindictive part of him wanted to wrap Hilde's wrists in them and watch her squirm, but he concentrated instead on listening outside until he was positive no one was guarding his door. God. Civilians.
It was painfully simple to go down the whitewashed halls of the Oz shuttle and hack into the holding bay. The place was pressurized, if still zero gravity, and he skimmed along the edge of the hangar until he reached the busted Leo. He grimaced, but it was the only one no one was near. The number of people milling around the mobile suits was fairly large, even though there were only a few suits and what looked to be a handful of technicians. Good grief. Duo looked around. There was so much he could use – Leo beam rifles, a floating engine, loose tools and what looked to be ammunition and fuel. A closer inspection even showed him a ten millimeter pistol.
Instead he continued past the Leo and to one of four corridors. They were standard military engine outposts, and for a moment, Duo was glad simply to see something normal. They led to a locked sector, but without any proper guards – they were all probably gawking at the suits, even with a Gundam pilot onboard – he hacked his way in without resistance and went straight to the engine's console. It stood like a beacon in the locked room, surrounded by smaller consoles filled to the brim with buttons and switches. Duo ignored those and pulled up the main screen of the engine control console. On it, he could see the heating system functioning properly. He hacked his way through that, too, and changed it to too low. The heating system turned on, raging loudly when before it had been a soft hum. Duo looked out to see if he'd caught any attention, more through habit than because he thought he'd be in trouble. And he wasn't. Holy shit.
The heater was apparently on the inside of the room, the interior of the outer workings of the ship. Normally, that would make it harder to hit. Even from another room, Duo could hear it shudder and rock with the effort of fulfilling his wish. Duo grinned.
His return to the hangar bay was once again uninterrupted, and Duo just gave up on these people entirely. With only the slightest desire for stealth, Duo flung himself toward the beaten Leo. The thing was very conveniently lying on its back, waiting for a technician better suited than these fools to fix it. The door opened, and though he took a surreptitious look around, no one looked over. Duo shook his head.
The engine finally overheated, bursting in flames that were hopefully unmanned – probably unmanned, since no one had been around to stop it. The entire ship bucked in the vacuum of space, practically rolling as the other side of the ship overcompensated with the first and second engines. People shouted and screamed. It took a painfully long time for people to react, each pushing off toward the busted engine, bypassing him entirely. Duo watched with his mouth slightly ajar as one man raced past him, shouting, over and over, "what happened?"
Good God.
"And now the getaway," he said, recovering enough to grin and trying, trying desperately, not to laugh. He twirled the handcuffs before tossing them away, wondering if the damn things would ever be found. Then he prepared to close the hatch.
"Duo!"
He stopped, surprised. Wow. Was she the best one they had? She was certainly smarter than the rest. He turned. She stood at the side of the closing hatch, looking at him with a strange, wide-eyed expression. As if she couldn't believe what was happening. Unbelievable.
He tacked on another fuck-all grin and waved. "Hey, that was quick. You've got good instincts." She kept giving him a dumbfounded look, and he twisted his face into the serious gaze he held when he killed. "I'm blowing up the hatch," he said, and saw her brows furrow at his Shinigami grin. "Step back if you don't wanna get hurt."
He heard her respond, but he was already returning to the cockpit, shutting the hatch and starting up the suit. The pathetic little Leo struggled to life. Hilde didn't even think to start an alarm. He wondered if she was closing the hatch, or if she was staring stupidly at him, wondering, maybe even daring him to do it. Well, he'd warned her. It was more than most of his enemies received.
The Leo managed to sit up, and with a little maneuvering he managed to grab up the nearby Beam rifle. With one lever and a button, he raised the rifle and shot it toward the outbound hatch. Once, twice, over and over as Hilde shouted at him. He thought he heard his name, thought he heard the word 'stop'. The woman really was just standing there watching him. He took a deep breath. It was her fault. Her choice. He'd said they should walk confidently on their own paths, and he'd meant it. She was choosing her path. He was choosing his. That was all they could do.
The hatch finally caved under the onslaught of the rifle, and with a booming crash, the hatch blew up. The air in the room, blew out, sucking out the tools and several of the rifles. One of the Leos wasn't battened down correctly, and the poor thing bashed against the suit beside it before sliding with a horrible grinding sound to the open hatch. It slipped out into the void just as the rest snapped free of their bindings, following the suit of the others. Duo rode out the suction as best he could, listening to the incessant blare of the alarm systems in the busted suit. He manually shut them off and finally let the thing slide out of the hangar, now that everything was gone from the bay. He looked back at the last second and saw the inner hatch closed. Maybe Hilde had figured it out before it was too late. Maybe the automatic safety lock systems closed it and she'd flown out with the suits.
The thing kept rolling end over end, and Duo had to manually punch on the thrusters. He didn't get the damn machine straight, but at least it stopped twisting over itself. "Great," he hissed, pulling up specs on the Leo even as he hunted for the Lunar base's proximity. "The damn mass balance device is busted." Looking past the obvious shit about a lack of a leg and a hand, Duo saw the engine's instability, cooling the suit constantly, even when at rest. He scowled. Stupid machine. When everyone had run off, he should have taken a better suit. Ah, hindsight. "Great – I'll get seasick!"
Alarms went off, and he tensed. He'd turned off the alarms for the suit's condition, which meant these had to be proximity alarms. He scanned the area and found three enemy suits in flight mode coming from his left. He held out the rifle and heard gears grind. The enemies flowed smoothly, avoiding his shots as he aimed, and he snarled. Wonderful. No wonder the civilians could afford to be careless. They had mobile dolls.
He punched on the thrusters as the dolls fired at him, pushing himself to the right, then again, until the damn machine flipped upside down. He squinted as the sensors tried to work angles upside-down. He pulled the rifle around and heard a dangerous creaking in the gears as he fired again. The damn arm was about to break.
The damn suits switched from flight mode to suit mode. Duo snarled. "Don't move!" He shot at the thing while it was changing, but it shifted too quickly. The damn things dodged again.
They swerved around him, and he tried to get the damn thrusters around to let him turn, but the suit fought against every inch, the thrusters pushing through the coolant system. He rocked in his seat as one of the dolls' shots hit him in the shoulder, then again, right on the cockpit. Alarms blared, but the pit held. Barely.
He tried to lift the rifle, tried to counter, but the gears ground together again, then snapped. He heard it like one might a death knell. The Tauruses landed another hit, then finally knocked out the sensors on the Leo's head. The outer world went dark. All he could see was the cockpit, lit red by the alarms, by the blood in the memories he saw flashing before his eyes. He snarled again, roared an inhuman cry as he pushed the Leo back, toward where the maps he'd pulled up said the Lunar base sat. He looked back, almost feeling it rise up behind him. He smirked. "I made it to the moon!" At least he'd managed to get that far. Hurray. Of course, he was going to die. "That's ironic," he said, and was surprised he'd said it out loud.
Duo tried to pull up shields and found himself rocked by another hit. The belt, already snapped – something he'd forgotten – broke entirely. He threw his hands out to keep from busting his injured ribs against the dash and got hit again. His head whipped back. He felt the muscles in his neck flare in pain. Through memory, he hit the thrusters. Sound entered through the suit. The thrusters were kicking something up. Dirt? Moon dirt, maybe? Something fluttered in his chest – hope? – before another shockwave rocked the Leo as the mobile dolls hit him once more. A small screen popped up, informing him that the rifle and the arm holding it had both been blown off. He cursed.
The Leo crashed back from the blast, and when he tried to turn on the thrusters, they sputtered. The coolant system was loud in the sudden silence. This time, his curse was louder. He tried to get the last arm moving, or the leg, to make them get him crawling, but all the gears did was whine piteously. His adrenaline rushed, pumping fast, but the energy had nowhere to go. For a moment he was angry, angry at the civilians letting the dolls fight for them, angry with the dolls for existing, angry at the Leo for being an inefficient suit while his precious Deathscythe had been murdered by some self-righteous ass – a civilian, he remembered, and felt the anger fly higher. But who could he blame but Oz? War? Fate? His hands slid bonelessly from the controls. "Am I washed up?" he asked, and listened as even the coolant dimmed. The Leo was shutting down. The thing was past repair now.
At least he'd made it to the moon. Considering the bad luck he always had... "Not too bad a job, if I do say so myself." Although Heero would probably scoff at him.
Well. Not like Heero had been able to take the place down.
Heero.
What the hell was he doing?
He raised his hands behind his head in the symbol of surrender. "Hurry up and finish me off! I hate the thought of being killed by a machine!" Not like he wanted to die by a human much more. And he certainly didn't want to die like some stupid schoolgirl, thinking of her lover. At least he didn't have little hearts or flowers around the picture of Heero in his head.
Goddamn the hesitant look in that soulless bastard's eyes, anyway!
There was a sudden rumbling in front of his Leo. A crash, then a boom, and Duo's eyes widened. He leaned forward in his seat. That had been an explosion – an exploding bit of machinery, to be a little more precise. One of the dolls? "What?"
Static hit his ears over the soft hiss of the struggling oxygen system. He looked down at the controls and saw emergency lights blinking on. Finally! Stupid old machine! Duo tried to pull up emergency visual and found one camera hidden in the crevices of the cockpit. It took a moment for him to readjust to the new position, but when he did, he turned the camera to in front of him. It was a doll, all right, smoldering in a thousand pieces. Another twist of the camera controls showed a fuzzy picture of a Leo standing off against two of the dolls. His mouth fell open. It couldn't be, could it? But...
He turned up the staticky communication signal and turned on the cockpit's speakers. He was surprised to see the things flick wearily on. "You fool!" he said as greeting, his mouth working faster than his brain. But the dolls were actually turning on her. "Give your code to prove you're an ally! You'll get killed!" Did the idiot not know how? Did she not know she'd get targeted?
He fought the emergency systems into submission, begging the gears to let him move. The legs didn't so much as flinch, and the arm hung useless, but he found the waist joint to be in perfect working order – of course, the least helpful piece – and got the Leo to sit up. The camera showed Hilde's Leo landing on the moon's surface. He tried to get the stub of his right arm moving and heard a groan that warned of imminent fuel breakage. If he wasn't careful, the cockpit would get flooded. That would be bad.
"I can't do that." Hilde's voice slipped from loud to so soft he barely heard it. Her voice came though the speakers perfectly, which meant she wasn't wearing a helmet. What the hell was wrong with this girl? "There's no telling who my allies are anymore."
Duo gaped.
Hilde's Leo turned and fired, and Duo rickety system saw a hangar sitting on the surface of the moon. He punched the thrusters again and heard them whirr uselessly against the coolant system. He just turned them up higher as the hangar door fell to Hilde's assault. Shit. The girl was a quick learner.
"Duo." He turned back to her as the thrusters finally stopped chugging stupidly. He turned down the heat before the system broke. "Hurry up and do what you want to accomplish."
"Hilde..." He recognized the words for the response it was. This was her answer to his words. She was believing in her path – no, his path. And her path was to trust him. It was a scary idea – someone looking up to him. It was the first time since he'd botched taking over Solo's job.
"I decided to live out my life, believing in my chosen path."
His heart thumped. Fuck. He'd just changed this woman's life, hadn't he? For better or for worse. "Sorry, Hilde," he said. He had his own path to follow. "This time I'm not bailing you out!"
It gave him the response he was hoping for. "I told you, I'm already prepared to die!"
It made him laugh. The woman couldn't change that much, at least. "Yeah, I remember." He pushed on the thrusters and heard the things flare into a droning hum. Thank you, stupid machine! He pushed them a little further and found that only one still worked, the one on the left side of the Leo's ass. It flipped him around and up like a paper bag, and he fought to stay on the moon's surface. He'd like to say it was skill that brought him through the broken hangar door, but the thrusters sputtered just as he'd feared he would miss his target and fly over it. He crashed through the thing, banging his head and shoulders and chest against the console. His ribs screamed. His head hammered. His shoulder throbbed.
But he was inside.
He screeched against the floor of the hangar. There was no way to orient himself; he was moving too fast. Still, despite the danger surrounding him, he couldn't help but think of the girl who was risking her life and her future for a guy who had only been spouting words, never taking her seriously. He should have, from the start. "But Hilde!" He bumped over something, and the bouncing game in the cockpit began anew. He gritted his teeth through it. "Just don't die in vain!"
"Same goes for you," she said, and then something ripped and communications went out. He didn't even have time to curse as the suit finally smashed into something hard enough to stop its sliding. He shouted as he banged against the console again. Black spots danced in his vision.
The helmet he'd left in the cockpit was still hidden behind the chair, lodged apparently well enough to survive the battle without clanging around the cockpit. He pulled it out and on, only stepping out once it was latched properly. Anyone who'd been in the hangar were dead, though Duo couldn't see them through his own dizziness. He managed to step out of the machine without falling feet over face, and that, he thought, was a victory right there. The place was wrecked. There had only been a couple of suits inside this particular hangar, both probably busted even before Hilde had desecrated their corpses. Now their limbs sat scattered like detritus around the hangar. Duo had to jump over them, adjusting quickly to the moon's slightly different feel – not quite zero-g, not quite Earth. The hangar had already closed its safety latches, but a quick hack took care of that long enough for him to slip through. The latch locked behind him again as he rolled under it.
The place was quiet, oddly enough, and Duo cocked an eyebrow as he unlatched the helmet and tucked it under an arm. He had no weapons, no defenses, and suddenly he was getting lucky. He would pay for it at some point, he was sure.
He traveled down the empty hall, readjusting now that he was back in zero-g. He listened for footsteps or shouts, but he heard nothing. His brows furrowed. What the hell?
A computer screen sat on the wall, military technology making it look like a darkened window. He went up to it and touched the screen, waking it up from is Sleep mode. The blueprints for the base were simple to bring up now that he was inside the building, and he took a few precious minutes to learn the basic layout. "Interesting," he said, flicking through the specs. "It's underground." A developing plant was located a couple of levels below him, with a few rooms separate, labeled prison cells. Two were taking up energy. One energy level was higher than the other. That one probably held all five of the scientists. It was certainly large enough, he mused. Ducts were scattered throughout the entire base, with one main duct flowing through all levels. "I'll get to the plant through this duct."
"There he is!"
Duo blinked. Oh. So that was why it was quiet. Apparently the base had already been informed of his escape. Huh.
He turned and threw his helmet at the bastard, hitting him straight on the cheek. Diving into a roll, Duo caught the rifle before it could take damage from the fall. He was running practically before he pulled himself up.
"Don't lose him!" someone shouted from behind, and fired. Duo dropped to the ground and barrel rolled, shooting as best he could at the two men. He missed, his mind still spinning from the Leo's fail balance system of fail, but he got out of the corridor and threw himself into running again. Footsteps pounded up the corridor, then screech to a stop behind him. He fired on the bastard and heard him scream before he hunkered back behind the wall. The man tried to sneak a look at Duo. It was the opening Duo had been looking for. One shot and the man's brains were on the wall, sliding down with a slurp. He ran.
The corridors started to fill with enemies, and with a curse, Duo hid at a turn, picking off enemies one at a time. A hand here, a leg there, until someone fell onto all fours, dropping his assault rifle. Duo pocked off the man's head, then took out the man who'd run out to help. Their blood mixed on the floor. Duo was hard-pressed to grab the rifles before they became ruined, and he had to run straight back to the hall when four others ran up. They took almost a minute to take down, each shouting for back-up in turn. Duo ran up and confiscated their weapons, too, though he had to leave two guns behind. They were spattered with the intestines of one unlucky fool. Still, one had an EMP grenade, and Duo took it with a grin. (1)
The going was easier then, as he tossed the grenade and ran passed his blinded pursuers, shooting two in the neck and another in the back as he turned down another hall. Here was the duct he'd been looking for, and he shot off one of the damn screws, then another before the shouts of reinforcements reached his ears. He reached up and used one of the guns to lever the damn duct open. The voices were close then, and he had to stop and move to the edge of the hall before they turned and found him. There were only three, but each had grenades, and none were afraid to use them. He watched as threw flew in the air toward him and grinned. With one bullet, he shot the first in mid-air, just barely dodging back around the corner before the explosion began, kicking the other two into early detonation, as well. The men chasing him shrieked.
He turned back to the duct and finished wrenching it open. Once he was done, he hopped up, grabbed the edge of the duct, and pulled himself up. It took some maneuvering to fit with his many assault rifles, but he managed it. He used the same gun to try to wrench the metal back so that his escape route wasn't so easily found. It was an ugly mess afterwards, and anyone looking closely would notice it immediately, But, he thought as he heard footsteps pound from below him, no one thinks to look closely in a battle situation. And no one ever looks up.
He had to abandon that gun, since it had begun to twist rather alarmingly during the last few minutes of that endeavor, but he still had several, and he took a moment to take all the ammo out of the others and put it all in easy reach on his suit, then abandoned all of those guns, as well. He took his time moving through the vents, trying to remember the twists and turns. Once he got the schematics in his head, he started going faster. If they'd been informed about his escape, then they would know where he was going, especially if they got Hilde to talk – if she hadn't already. He didn't know how much time he had.
The ducts were dark and dusty, and more than once he had to fight back a sneeze. How was there dust on the moon? Moon dust, maybe?
The echo of his footsteps became louder, and Duo found himself staring down a duct vent that went straight down. He'd seen this on the schematic, but it was still daunting to look at. Because of the lack of lighting, it looked like Alice's rabbit hole – only there was no safe landing below. He worked one of the latches of his spacesuit until he could hang the rifle precariously on his back. Then he took a deep breath, tensed his muscles, and jumped into the hole.
The duct was a bit wider than the others, enough so that he almost had his arms spread out when he tried to catch the walls of the vent, leaving every muscle straining as each muscle failed to lock into a position. His legs did a better job, clutching at two opposite corners and skidding his feet until they were stuck in the small wedges of the corners. His knees locked easily, slowing down his descent as his palms got scraped raw.
He bumped hard onto the bottom of the vent, and his knees wobbled beneath him. Pain blossomed up each of his joints, exacerbated by the throbbing in his skull and palms. His toes, too, pounded. He touched his chest and sighed in relief when nothing stirred underneath. His ribs may have been bruised, may still have been recovering, but they hadn't broken again. Finally, something good.
He scooted from where he'd landed, finding himself suddenly in a cramped vent hardly wider than his torso. In order to move, he had to put his arms in first and shimmy his way through. Good thing he wasn't claustrophobic. For a moment he paused, waiting for someone to shout, but there was nothing. He heard another metallic bang and tensed before he heard something whirring from a distance. Hell. No wonder they weren't investigating. Whatever machine was supposed to keep these ducts in stable working condition, it was ancient. More good luck. He was seriously going to pay.
Wiggling like a worm, he finally reached an exit. This one he could unscrew at his leisure, and he used a needle from his hair for just that purpose. The screwed squeaked a bit coming out, and he had to twist himself into a painfully unnatural angle, but he got the damn things off. He had no choice but to hold on to the grate and work his hips and feet to slide out. His rifle screeched along the metal, and he stopped, waiting for someone to come. He heard someone cough, then nothing. No one came. More good luck.
It took even more work to get out than it did to get in; keeping the gun from making noise meant holding himself straight as he squirmed out, holding himself up with his upper body strength alone until it was clear and he could let himself drop. It was like falling into a swan dive, only it was six feet into concrete. As soon as his legs were free, he tucked himself in and started to roll. He'd only gotten a third of a roll completed before he landed, but it was on his back, as he'd hoped, and it was easy to force himself back up. Of course, now it meant that his back hurt, too. Was there anything left that didn't?
His ears, he decided. His ears didn't hurt yet.
"What was that?"
Fuck.
He ran, following the route through the back passages to the prison cell. He could only hope that the damn scientists were there and not at the Plant. But as he ran, he didn't hear sounds of pursuit. He looked back, just for a second, and tried to hear over the rush of blood in his ears and the pounding of his heart. Nothing. Other than his own breathing, carefully controlled, he heard nothing. Still, he hurried past. The back passages led to an empty piece of the lot, one avoided because of a gas leak. He doubted that was the real case. A gas leak on the moon? What the hell would the soldiers have to do to be that thoughtless? And why not just lock on the latch and shove the bad air out into space? No, it was a secret place, one Oz didn't want other Oz officials knowing about.
In any case, it meant people.
Duo got through the empty passages and saw the empty lot ahead of him. He couldn't hack the damn door and be ready for those behind it at the same time. Instead he used his momentum to jump toward the door and pound his shoulder against it. It caved under his weight, thank goodness, and Duo concentrated on turning his fall into a roll. Free from the door, he caught himself mid-roll and twisted around, ready to fire.
Gundams.
He froze, stupidly, stupidly he froze, and stared. The room was large, high, a hangar bay sort of place, obviously made with the intention of accommodating a couple of mobile suits. But this wasn't the plant... was it?
But a closer look made his heart skip. Through the darkness, he could see two large shapes, and... the one on the left. It was different, slightly. There was something being built on its back, and the face was slightly different. And the scythe. But still. He would recognize Deathscythe anywhere.
"What the hell...?" He dropped his rifle to his side.
"Who's there?"
He jerked into a turn, thrusting up his gun. He crouched. The room was dark, almost as dark as the vents. Before he could see his enemy's location, lights were turned on right in his face. He covered his eyes. "Shinigami," he said, answering the question.
Slowly his gaze adjusted, letting him see five forms clustered close together. Again, his heart hammered, one pounding, strong beat. The scientists. "That's four of them," one of them said, and Duo struggled to understand. Four of them? There had been three others here? Were any left alive?
Heero.
Son of a bitch! How many times was he going to think of that man?
"Are you here to kill us, too?"
Too? Heero? Duo snarled. Another light slowly slid on. He could see each of them. For the first time, he knew what they all looked like. G was the first one he saw, his parrot nose as pronounced as ever. He looked like a hunchbacked hawk with a mushroom on its head. There was a tall bald guy, a mad scientist, and an Italian, but the one he focused on had a mechanical arm and what looked to be mechanical eyes. That one he recognized from Singapore, when Heero had blown himself up. It was Heero's doctor. And the man didn't look thrilled to see him.
Duo wanted to ask the man right there if he was the one who'd sent those assassins after him, but he didn't know how. Besides, it didn't matter. These were the men he'd come to kill.
"Long time no see, Duo," G said, pulling Duo's attention back to him. A wave of what could have been nostalgia passed through Duo. Training to be a Gundam pilot had been hell. Every minute he'd struggled had been torture. Still... still, he wouldn't be alive if it weren't for this man. He would still be a street rat, and by now, either dead or in jail – or worse, parading himself on the streets. He owed this man everything. And now Duo had been planning to repay him with bullets.
"So it was you guys," he said, and lowered his gun slightly. He looked back toward Deathscythe. "Then those are–"
"That's right," G said. "They're new models. Duo, how would you like to pilot one?"
New models? A new model of Deathscythe? "When they're finished?" Duo said. He could only presume they would want time to complete the damn things. Which meant his attempt to kill the bastards was going to have to be reworked. Wonderful.
"One month," G said. Duo looked in the man's eyes and saw steel in there. The old bastard hadn't changed at all. "Make sure you live until it's finished." Duo made sure his eyes didn't flick to Heero's doctor. "Then you'll have your chance in the spotlight."
Duo was better in the shadows, and Duo understood G's words for what they were. Duo had to hide himself in plain sight. He had to get caught. He grimaced.
"In here! Hurry!"
The voices were still far away, but they were getting closer. Duo could hear the footsteps coming forward.
"Duo! Decide quickly!" G snapped. "We can't let them find this place!"
Live? He could handle getting caught again, so long as he lived. And these guys seemed fairly sure that he would. Did that mean the others had lived? Quatre? Heero?
Goddammit! "I understand." He held up in hands in surrender. He couldn't believe he was doing this. He couldn't just walk out – that would make the soldiers suspicious. That meant more pain. Wonderful. But the idea of having Deathscythe back, of getting the chance to retaliate properly – hell, the chance to live and see the next moment of his own future – he couldn't back out on that. And he wanted to know – he wanted to know more about where he and Heero were headed. If he was going to be assassinated for it, dammit, it had better be someplace good.
"Okay," he said, "we'll do it your way." He dropped his gun and waited, eyes closed. No matter what, this was going to suck. Nothing happened. He opened his eyes. "Well? Hurry up and get started!"
G turned to the ginormous bald guy. "Would you do the honors?"
Duo felt a shiver of fear and wanted to laugh at himself. Really? He faced down ludicrous amounts of enemies, but this tall guy scared the pants off him?
"As much as I hate to." G nodded as if okaying a dog to sic, and the big guy walked over to Duo. Every step closer just proved how freakin' tall the guy was. Fuck loads of enemies, this guy was fuckin' scary as shit. Period.
The first punch was to the gut, hard enough that Duo hit the wall behind him. He gasped for breath, but couldn't quite pull it in. And now his back hurt a little more. The next slammed against his cheek, right above the jaw. He almost flew into the air. The third punched him back down. He didn't bother trying to block; he needed the bruises to show he'd been attacked, that they weren't allies anymore. The big man punched him in his chest, though, and Duo lost his breath entirely. The big man hesitated, then punched him again, deliberately aiming away from Duo's ribs. It was such a relief that for a moment Duo didn't even feel the pain blossoming over his body.
The pain was worse than the other injuries he'd sustained on this damn job. The man's fists were like rocks, caving in flesh. He coughed once and felt fear in him for the first time when he tasted something warm in his mouth – blood. But it wasn't being coughed up; it was clogging his throat. A tooth had been knocked loose. He spit it out just before another fist clipped him under his jaw. His mouth snapped closed, crushing his tongue, making it bleed, too. His neck thrust back. With a thud, he fell to the floor. Barely, he stood, his knees wobbling a bit. Another hit to the gut took the air from his lungs. He crumpled to the ground.
The big doc pulled him up. The man's eyes, Duo noticed fuzzily, were black, the irises small. "It wouldn't hurt as much if you screamed out loud," the man said.
Duo grinned, even though he knew his teeth were slightly red at the moment. His bloody tongue moved without permission from his brain. "Yeah, but I'm a real man."
Maybe Duo pissed him off or something, 'cause the last punch went straight into Duo's gut, straight into one of his healing ribs. He heard it crack and prayed it wasn't broken and puncturing anything. Past the giant, Duo saw Heero's doctor, watching him with hard eyes. Under the mustache Duo thought he saw those lips thin. The man hadn't said a word to Duo. What was the man thinking? Would he prefer Deathscythe be given to Heero? But Heero still had Wing...
No. in the end, that man wanted Duo dead. He could see it. Even in mechanical eyes like those, Duo could see the desire for death. He vowed he would make that bastard die first.
Giant took him out into the hall he'd run down. Duo could barely concentrate, could only feel the dry air created by the base on his bruised and sweating skin, then the hard, blessedly cool concrete as he was thrown onto it. Vaguely he heard himself groan. "Traitor!" G said, and Duo fought to hide the grin. "Coming here and trying to kill us after all we've done!"
What a bunch of bull. It almost seemed too easy, how they staged it, but Duo's bruises probably decided their belief. It also probably helped that when G kicked him, whether intentionally or not, he hit the cracked rib. Duo didn't feel it move, but he certainly felt the pain. It made those black spots return. This time, Duo was thankful for them.
Things got fuzzy then. Duo heard G talk some more, then heard the soldiers shouting orders. Two groups of hands lifted him, and he let himself drift as he was carried. He could guess now where he was going, if he worked his tired brain enough to think about it. Two prison cells had been siphoning off energy. The one with less energy being consumed – that one would probably hold the others who were captured. Maybe Quatre. Probably... most probably Heero.
He came to at the sound of a door sliding open, and he was pushed inside the room. He managed to hold his balance down a couple of the stairs before crashing head-first to the floor. It was as he fell that he noticed his wrists had been cuffed together. Of course.
He fell on his face. Ow.
The floor felt good. Nice and cold. He let that blackness come back.
"Botched your mission? You couldn't destroy the base, and you didn't kill Dr. J and the others."
Heero. Duo was so relieved, he didn't even send Heero's words right back at him. He felt a smile slip across his split lips. "Don't rub it in. I'm still glad I decided to come here." Especially since he now knew Heero had escaped death again, same as he. "Good news." He slid a tired gaze over. Wufei was here, too. Huh. "Your Gundam and mine are being rebuilt. I can hardly wait."
There was actually a glimpse of emotion in those dark irises. Wufei almost seemed to relax a bit.
"Looks like Oz will be keeping us alive for the time being."
Was that relief Duo heard in Heero's voice? Did Heero feel anything like what Duo felt, knowing that they were both still alive? Somehow Duo doubted it.
"It's a good chance, so don't die yet."
Pain echoed all through his body. He sighed, his breath trembling through his beaten body. He now knew the name of the doctor trying to get him killed – Doctor J. Even better, he could hear, somewhere deep in that Perfect Soldier voice, that Heero was worried about him. Why the hell else would Heero tell him to stay alive when before the bastard had been informing everyone he met that he would kill them? It made something in his chest flutter in a different kind of pain. It felt like agony. It felt like a pure sort of light. It felt... it felt like hope.
"Don't worry about me," he said, and was surprised by the warmth he suddenly felt in the air. God. He really was turning into a girl. How the hell could he be in this position and still be happy? "I don't plan on dying so easily."
Not until he figured out why the hell his heart fluttered around Heero Yuy – and not until he got a proper emotional response from said Heero Yuy. And, he supposed, not until the war was over, either.
"There's the colonies to fight for," he said, and managed to open an eye. The other one was swelling rather adequately. He thought of something corny he could add, but thought the words might get him killed. "Just watch. I'll be Shinigami once again! I will!" His eye closed. The blackness was coming back again, and he was too damn tired to fight it. "Well..." He sighed. His chest hurt. His lungs hurt. Everything fucking hurt. He heard Heero sigh and wondered what it meant. God, he was turning into such a girl. "G'night."
Before he fell unconscious, he heard Heero snort.
A/N: Ridiculously long. Love me. /dies/
(1) Thank Deus Ex: Human Revolution.
