Chapter 9: Confinement
Heero regained consciousness, but kept his eyes closed, to a very familiar sensation: being bound to a bed. He wasn't surprised by his situation either. He had begun to get dizzy and faint during his fight with Kira and was secretly thankful for Duo and Trowa's interference. Everything else after their arrival was a complete blank. He didn't even know who else came to the scene. He recognised the hushed voices that were in the room as those of the other pilots'.
"Any bets that he's conscious, but he's doing that trick he did before?" Duo asked.
"What trick?" Quatre asked curiously.
"He can regain consciousness, but he controls his body so that if he's captured while wounded and placed in a medical ward, they won't know he's conscious until he's breaking out and kicking their asses." Duo explained.
"Nice trick." Wufei's voice held an impressed tone to it.
"It's a survival tactic I was trained in." Heero said as he opened his eyes.
Everyone looked down at him as the monitor's numbers began to indicate a conscious state.
"Damn, I could have won…" Duo grumbled, but he had a relieved expression on his face.
"It's good to see you're awake. Although you'll probably be wishing you were still out of it when the Captain gets through with you…" Quatre said warningly.
"Oh really… I'm not surprised."
"Kira's under arrest, he's locked in his room. And he'll be there for at least a month. You really took it easy on him. He got away with only a few fractured ribs and his broken nose."
Trowa said with a shake of his head.
"Aside from my head injury, I have several minor wounds to my upper body, don't I?"
"What, are you self-diagnosing yourself now?" Duo asked in disdain.
"I can feel them. It's not that hard for somebody who's been injured as often as I have been to notice where injuries are and how severe they are."
"You're right. The wound to your head wasn't as bad as we thought, but you know as well as we do that any wound to the head bleeds a lot. Other than that, you'll be bruised for quite a while, and it'll be hard to sit up for a few more days, at least by normal people's standards." Wufei said with a shake of his head.
"It's been a week, by the way. When you awoke, she was told your sentence will be handed out. You've got the same punishment as Kira. We're in charge of defending the Archangel until your sentence is finished." Trowa instructed boredly as he looked at a sheet of paper.
"Not to mention the lecture she'll throw at you when she arrives." Duo said with a grin.
"Can you handle it?" Quatre asked in concern.
"I'll be fine." Heero said, closing his eyes.
"Then we're getting the hell out of here. She should have been alerted when your stats started to climb." Duo said as he opened the door to the infirmary and left, followed quickly by the others.
Heero smiled slightly in amusement at their quick retreat as he waited for Murrue to appear so he could get her lecture over with.
After the medical team gave Heero the green light to be taken to a separate room, Heero spent the month thinking up ways for them to breach the increased security so they could make their escape once they were free of ZAFT's territory.
Finally, Murrue came one day and removed the bindings that kept Heero confined to the bunk, although the injury he sustained to his head had been more effective in keeping him confined to his bed than the bindings: which he could have freed himself from at any time. "I'd advise you to stay away from Kira for a while, but I know that is hard to do aboard a ship, so just please try to avoid any contact with him even if you pass him in the hall. I've already requested the same of him." Murrue pleaded as Heero rubbed his wrist to regain the feeling in it.
So many things he hadn't experienced since the war and now he was experiencing all of them at nearly the same time.
The feeling of nostalgia I've been experiencing recently is almost laughable…
He thought, keeping his expression neutral so she didn't jump to the wrong conclusion.
"Fine… I'll do what I can to avoid him aboard the ship… as for on the battlefield, it'll be like the Strike isn't even there." He said, keeping his tone as neutral as he could.
"Just as long as the Strike doesn't end up 'accidentally' destroyed…" She said in warning before leaving the room.
Duo and the others entered after she left. "Hey pal, so you're free to get your ass kicked again?" Duo asked as he stood beside Heero's bed.
"Hmph." Heero grabbed Duo's shoulder roughly, using him as a support to help him stand.
"Jeeze, next time warn me when you're going to do that!" Duo growled in irritation once he let go, allowing him to rub his shoulder.
"So what are your plans now?" Trowa asked as Heero walked out of the room with the others right behind him.
"We'll keep a low profile. Once we're out of Africa, we'll decide when to leave. Hopefully our departure will be a quiet one…"
Trowa shook his head. "We'll have to be extra careful, then."
The others nodded as they headed to the hangar so they could examine the defence system under the guise of examining their Gundams.
Heero was walking the halls of the Archangel by himself later that evening, finding that walking was better for his head.
That kid certainly is impressive… I shouldn't have taken him so lightly…
He thought, touching the wrappings at the back of his head. He glanced behind him as he realized he was being followed.
Flay stood behind him, glaring dangerously at him.
"What do you want?" He asked icily as he turned to face her.
She walked up to him and slapped him. However, he had braced himself for it, so all she ended up doing was hurting her hand.
She rubbed her hand with a wince. "Don't you dare talk to Kira ever again… or else I'll…" She hissed.
"Do what? You can't do anything to us." Heero said, keeping his tone as icy as possible.
She seemed to balk at his tone before lunging forward and grabbing the gun from his leg holster. She backed away as though she was afraid he would grab it from her as she pointed it at his chest. "I'll shoot you. Nobody would care. Nobody would know it was me." She said shakily.
"My allies would. Besides… do you honestly think an experienced soldier like me would actually be stupid enough to have a gun with live ammunition out in the open like that?" He asked, pulling out the gun from behind his back and aiming it right at her head.
The soft click of the safety being removed made her lose her nerve as she collapsed to her knees in fear.
He walked up to her with the gun still trained on her head, grabbing the decoy gun and putting it back in the holster. "Eventually he'll realize what we said to him was true, and then you'll get what you deserve… which, at this point, I hope is definitely worse than death." He said to her as he began walking away, replacing the gun behind his back and resetting the safety.
As Heero turned the corner and vanished, Flay stared at the floor in a state of shock.
How could they have seen through me so easily?
She thought in frustration. She quickly composed herself as she stood and began to walk hastily in the opposite direction.
As the chaos aboard the Archangel settled down, the pilots noticed that the tension had completely vanished.
Duo worked his shoulders in relief as they stood on one of the balconies the Archangel had. "Man that was a rough time."
Quatre nodded. "I agree. Although I wish it had broken under better circumstances…"
Trowa stood slightly apart from the other two, and Wufei lay sound asleep nearby.
"What are you guys talking about?" Cagalli Yula Athha asked as she appeared. She was one of the leaders of the rebels and had met Kira before Heliopolis was destroyed.
Duo waved her question away dismissively. "You wouldn't understand. So, what brings you out here?" He asked curiously.
"I just wanted to see the desert one last time…" She said sadly.
"Let me guess: because of the way things have been going for him, you think this Desert Tiger guy will show up to lead the next attack against us?" Duo asked.
Quatre noticed from Duo's tone that his question was asked half-absently, making him wonder where the other half of Duo's attention was.
Cagalli nodded, not noticing anything odd about Duo's tone. "That's almost a certainty…"
"It's just a matter of when and where, then…" Trowa said with a shake of his head.
"What are you going to do if he does come?" Cagalli asked curiously.
"Leave him to the kid. We'll defend the ship." Trowa said with a shrug.
"The Archangel and its crew helped us in our time of need, so we consider defending the ship as our way of paying it back. However, once we're out of Africa, we're going to remove ourselves from battle. We're staying out of your fight once we're out of enemy territory." Quatre explained as he stared out at the sea of sand.
Cagalli nodded in understanding. "I had heard rumours around the ship, but I couldn't bring myself to believe them… until talking with you three just now."
"I can guess what rumours you're talking about too. They're true. That's all we have to say on that matter." Wufei said as he awoke.
Before he could say anymore, the alarms in the Archangel went off.
"Showtime…" Duo said grimly as he and the others ran back into the Archangel.
Cagalli stared out at the sands as a cloud of dust became visible through the haze of the heat…
Author's Notes: Yes, I'm aware the chapter is short, so please don't remind me. Flay is a girl who is missing some of her screws, I'm aware of that too. Though she rarely shows it, it does show up every now and again whenever she's pressed too far, and the A.C. pilots know just how to push her to that point without even trying. Anyways, apologies for last week and the lateness this week. Just remember if the chapter isn't posted by Tuesday to check my profile. I leave my important messages on there.
Author's Replies: To all of those who enjoyed the fight, I thank you. To those of you who believe that Heero can kick Kira's ass... remember that he's the "Ultimate Co-ordinator". He's not a normal one. He's physically stronger, faster and more intelligent than normal Co-ordinators. After long discussions with my fellow Gundam-savvy friends, we agreed that in a hand-to-hand fight, neither Heero nor Kira would win. It would be a draw because it's a more experienced fighter vs. a stronger fighter. Again, also remember that they weren't really seriously fighting each other. In a Gundam battle? Yes. Wing Zero would kick the Strike's ass. Hands down. But hand-to-hand is different. If you don't like it, then simply don't read that chapter. That's all I've got to say.
