Feedback: MUCH appreciated. Comments, constructive criticism, confusion, questions, all welcome!
Notes: In case anyone is curious, I ran cross country in high school, so I'm familiar with the approximate times for varsity girls and boys at that age. For those of you from the sane part of the world that uses the metric system, three miles is just over five kilometers. Yah, Duo's being a little harsh on the other students, but he's a Gundam pilot, so a three mile run is no sweat, even at the pace he takes… which is faster than I ever managed, but pretty slow for the best runners, male or female.
Part 9 – Shame
I spent that night on my laptop, hunting up more data to add to the already extensive information G had provided me with my mission stats. I was especially interested in the boarding school, and what sort of surveillance, if any, it kept over the students during the night. I knew the attack would have to be made in the dark, and needed to be sure I could slip out undetected. Well, there was really no question as to whether I'd be able to… just how difficult it would be.
As it turned out, the school did very little to ensure its charges stayed put at night. There was a security post on the bottom floor of each dorm, each manned by one guard through the night, but as far as I could tell, the guards were never required to budge an inch from their desks. I guess this seemed effective enough, since they were stationed at the only non-emergency exit to each of the buildings, hence the only exit that wouldn't sound an alarm. That is, if you forgot that windows were exits too, and I of course had not forgotten this. The window then. It was lucky I was only on the second floor, and could jump down easily. Getting back up wouldn't be hard either, since the walls were built with rough bricks, mortar oozing artistically out from between each row. I guess it looked nice, but it was a security nightmare, one I was happy to take advantage of.
Next I checked to be sure there would be no problem leaving the school campus, and again discovered that the school put little to no thought into keeping its students confined. I wasn't too surprised, really, after having seen how docile and disciplined the students all were in class. I guess I should have been thankful, since it was making my job easier, but I was still aggravated. The other kids were just so… boring, so subservient. I shuddered, imagining myself a mindless drone like the others, if only I had gone to school all my life, and thanked God that I had managed to get out of it until now.
Exiting the school's computer system, I wiped all traces of my intrusion before shutting my laptop down and calling it a night. I would attack the next night, then play it casual, attending classes for the three days left in the mission before taking off. I needed to stay a little while, to prevent suspicion, but the phony history given to the school showed a record of sudden moves on my part, so there would be no call to raise any questions when I left.
Settling in for what would hopefully be a good night's sleep, I played my plans over in my head, trying not to think the thoughts that always came to me when I was alone and still in the dark. Tried not to think of New Edwards, or a blue-eyed, dark-haired pilot who I couldn't seem to get out of my head lately. I lost this battle, and when I finally fell asleep, my dreams were filled with menacing glares and the curt, angry words of the day before. Unsettling as they were, these dreams were a far sight better than my usual nightmares, and I embraced them with open arms, waking somewhat refreshed, Heero's voice still strong in my ear.
'What's the idea?!' he demanded. 'Leave me alone,' he ordered. 'Relena...' So quiet I almost didn't hear her name on his lips. But one phrase most of all, whose words left me jittery and nervous and utterly confused all at once.
'You stand out.'
I barely saw Heero the next day. He sat alone at lunch again, and like the day before, I left him alone. The sight of him brought up all those confusing feelings from my dreams, and I was more than happy to give him his space. Couldn't afford to get distracted the day of the attack, could I?
PE was the only class we had together, and it was the only other time I saw him that day. It was a running day, so the class started with jogging and stretching to get our muscles warmed up and loose. Then the teacher walked us through the mile-long course that looped us through the campus, and told us we were each to complete three miles by the end of the class. I knew this would be easy for me, but looking at some of the other students, I was certain at least a third of them could not do it. From their, groans they knew it too.
"Those of you who do not complete the three miles now can stay after class to finish them, then help clean the locker room afterwards," the instructor informed us. I felt a small pang of sympathy for my fellow students, but mostly I felt like the guy was doing those kids a favor. It never hurt to be in shape, and you didn't have to be anything amazing to finish three miles in the thirty minutes we still had left.
I decided to take it easy, and set a pace that would let me finish in about twenty minutes. No need to tire myself out before the mission. Heero, though, seemed dead set on finishing first. Not that there was much competition. There were four or five boys and two girls who finished ahead of me, but none of them came close to catching Heero. As I crossed the mile-mark the third time and slowed to a walk to cool myself down, I overheard the teacher muttering about child prodigies and under-five-minute miles. My eyes widened at this, then sought out the subject of the instructor's muttering. I was not surprised that Heero could run three miles in approximately fourteen minutes, though my best time was probably around fifteen. No, I was surprised that he'd push himself so much for a PE class that didn't matter one bit to the war effort.
Heero was sitting on the bottom bench of one of the bleachers, water bottle in hand and towel around his neck, for all the world like he'd been sitting there all class. Maybe he hadn't really exerted himself…? But that was impossible. Nobody ran that fast without effort. Of course, he'd had a good six minutes to cool down before I got there, but still. He didn't seem the least bit tired. I shook my head and walked toward the group of boys who'd finished ahead of me, looking away before Heero noticed my scrutiny. For some inexplicable reason, I still felt like I couldn't face him. Not before the attack. He was distracting, and frustrating, and damn confusing, and I needed none of that on my mind when I had a mission to complete, as easy as this one was supposed to be. Never underestimate your enemy, G had always told me. Always expect the worst.
My last glimpse of Heero that day was in the locker room. As usual, he had finished his shower before I even got there, and was busy toweling himself dry in front of his locker when I arrived. For a second, I didn't realize I was staring, and then I blushed crimson to the roots of my hair. What the Hell had gotten into me today? It's not like I'd never seen a naked body before, especially a male one, and here I was looking only at his back. Of course, none of the bodies I'd seen before had been quite so muscular or defined, thrumming with barely contained power and threat. I shivered and blushed even harder, if that were possible, and all but ran into the shower room to take a very, very cold shower. Anything to stop these embarrassing blushes and the humiliating tightening I felt in my nether regions. This school must really be getting to me… Silently, I resolved never to take a mission at a school again. Not that I had any say in the matter, but I felt better making the empty promise anyway.
Needless to say, Heero was long gone by the time I finished my shower and went to my locker to change. I was convinced that everyone was staring at me, that everyone had seen, and any moment they'd start shouting insults. I could already hear them in my head. 'Faggot!' 'Queer!' 'Faerie boy!' 'Looks like a girl, must be a pussy like one too!' It didn't matter that I knew these things weren't true, knew that I could beat the shit out of anyone who dared accused me. I had heard these taunts before, though they had always been directed at someone else. One does not grow up on the streets innocent of the rules and taboos of sexuality, and being gay was definitely taboo. Disgusting. Anathema.
As soon as I was finished dressing, I was out the door. I didn't even bother to brush or braid my hair, just tied it back in a messy ponytail and shoved the wet length under my shirt. Back in my dorm, I slammed my door behind me, locking it quickly and panting heavily. I had not run back to the dorm. I walked. Quickly. Very quickly. But I had absolutely not run away from the accusing glares and hateful looks I knew the boys in the locker room had been sending my way. I hadn't been able to bring myself to look at them, but I knew what I would have seen. I flushed again, remembering, then shook my head violently. I needed to forget about what had happened, focus on tonight.
I sat down at my desk and forced myself to review the mission plan I'd formulated, even though I'd memorized it already. It was about sixteen hundred hours, and dinner wouldn't be served till 18:00. It would be full dark by 20:00, but I would need to wait till much later to make my escape. It wouldn't do for any of the students to see me crawling out of the window. No, I'd leave after midnight. Lights out was officially at 22:30, and last night the school had been silent as a tomb by 23:00. I'd give myself an extra hour just to be safe, then make my getaway. My lips twitched in a slight grin, thinking of that. Tonight, for the first time in weeks, I would climb into Deathscythe and wreak havoc upon the enemy. It would be a good night.
"Alright, looks like I got here first!" I whooped in excitement as I cut down the first Leo to face me. If Heero wasn't planning to make his move that same night, I imagined that the commotion would draw him in anyhow. Giving a yell, I charged toward three Leos farther down the deck of the battleship, slicing through two of them immediately before parrying a blow from the third, then dispatching it as well. I was high on adrenaline, the day's troubles forgotten. Nothing like a good fight to put me in a better mood.
After some time, I began to realize that there were many more OZ suits on this battle ship than my mission specs had indicated. Still few enough that I could handle them, of course, but this was going to take a good deal longer than I had expected. By that time, my breathing was heavy with exertion, but I hardly noticed it as the battle frenzy coursed through me. I was under fire from some Leo's standing at the far end of the deck, and raised my shielded arm as I advanced. Then there was a blip on the radar, out over the ocean between the ship and shore. It was coming on fast, and I turned to see what it was.
Wing, in flight mode, heading straight for the ship. I grinned and then opened up the com channel. "What took you, Heero? Don't worry, I left you some action!"
There was no reply as Wing transformed into battle mode, shooting down the Leos that had been firing on me with its beam cannon. I turned to face yet more enemy suits rising from below decks as Wing engaged the Leos on its side of the deck. Suddenly, I was surrounded by five of them, and my suit shook violently under an attack, jerking me against my harness, which seemed to have loosened some. No time to tighten it now, though.
I reacted quickly, slicing away with my scythe and shooting with the guns mounted on 'Scythe's head. Behind me, I heard Wing's beam cannon charging, and then an explosion that sounded suspiciously like the control tower of the battleship, which was confirmed by the violent rocking of the deck beneath Deathscythe's feet. "Mission complete," Heero intoned over the com unit, and I grinned. So that had been one of his objectives, too.
The grin lasted only a second, however, as a warning flashed on my motion sensors. Large object approa—SLAM. I flew forward in my seat, and everything seemed to happen at once. The left side of my harness snapped, so the left side of my body kept moving, but my right side was still tangled in the straps. My right forearm was dragged heavily across the controls and I felt a searing pain as the flesh caught and ripped on hard edges. I heard Heero shout, "Duo!" over the com unit but couldn't reply because I was still in motion, left side dragging my right inexorably toward the front of the cockpit. My right arm was trapped, though, and couldn't stretch any further. With a sickening pop, my shoulder snapped out of its socket and I screamed in pain, then promptly slammed into the monitors in front of me.
I was dazed for just a moment, then shook my head and started extricating myself from the offending straps with my good arm. My shoulder burned like it was on fire, and the gash along my arm was bleeding heavily. As soon as I was free of the harness, I ripped open the emergency first aid kit and grabbed the gauze, winding it tightly around my forearm to stem the flow of blood and biting my lip to keep from screaming at how this tugged at my shoulder. In the back of my mind, I wondered why I wasn't still being attacked, but there was no time for that. I needed my shoulder back in its socket pronto if I were to have any chance of piloting, any chance of getting out of there alive.
Standing up, I braced my right side against the side of the cockpit, left hand holding the shoulder tight, then used my legs, hand and body and pushed. I did scream then, and my vision went white for a few moments. When my head cleared, my shoulder was screaming in agony, but I could move my arm again, so it didn't matter. That's when I finally heard Heero again.
"02! What happened?!" he demanded angrily. By his tone, I could tell this wasn't the first time he'd asked. All he'd had as answer before was my screams… probably sounded a lot worse than it was. By now, he surely thought I was incompetent and careless, to let myself be injured this way. I tried to fight the blush rising to my face as I strapped back in, and thanked all that was good that we only had audio connection right then.
"My harness snapped," I answered finally. "I'm good to go now."
"Status?" he grunted at me, his voice apparently back under control, as he dispatched another Leo with his beam saber. Of course. He had been defending me. Why had I expected anything else? Then his question registered, and I scowled, not wanting to tell him that I was injured, weakened. Which was silly, because he had heard me screaming, but I still didn't want to admit it. Even with my shoulder back in place, though, I could hardly wield the right arm of my suit. I would need his help to get Deathscythe out and back to his hiding place.
"Right shoulder was dislocated, now back in socket. Laceration to right forearm," I replied succinctly as my suit's left arm twirled the thermal scythe and another Leo bit the dust. I pushed down my shame and continued. "Requesting assistance for extraction."
"Hn," he said, and while I couldn't be certain that he had agreed, I was pretty sure of it.
We fought on silently for a time, just the grunts and gasps of exertion making their way over the com unit. Then there was an opening, and Heero ordered me tersely to take it.
I bit back my knee-jerk response of "Who the Hell are you to boss me around?!" and did as he said, engaging the thrusters to fly Deathscythe up and away from the ruined battleship, towards the hiding place I had chosen for my Gundam.
Wing followed closely behind me, then turned and leveled his beam cannon at the ship, aiming for the engine. The cannon charged and fired, and if anyone onshore had slept through the previous battle, they were surely awoken by this explosion. The whole ship lit up, bright as day, and I could see its loud boom echoed by the shudder of buildings and trees on the shore. Then Wing was by my side, still in battle form, Heero's presence like a silent condemnation. What good was I, if I needed help on a mission that I was supposed to take care of solo? I thought bitterly.
As if hearing my thoughts, Heero stated calmly, "It's a good thing we were both assigned to this mission. There were too many defending mobile suits to take on alone." I did not try to hide my shock, since he could not see me. Was this… kindness? From Heero? I forced myself not to analyze it, since my brain would probably rupture if I thought about it too much.
Instead, I swallowed my pride, slapped on my signature grin and prepared to thank the other boy. "You said it man! Thanks a bunch for your help back there. Things woulda gotten pretty nasty without it."
"Hn," he grunted again, and my teeth ground together behind my grin. I told myself to take a deep breath, then let it go. Told myself that 'hn' obviously had many, many meanings, and that this time, it had clearly meant, "You're very welcome, I'm so glad I could help." …Forced my mind to cease its protestations, its insistence that this 'hn' really meant, "I did what I had to. Next time try fighting like you have a clue what you're doing, you incompetent ass."
A few minutes of strained silence later and I once again had my thoughts under control.
"Anyway," I began, smile firmly back in place, "I can take it from here. Thanks again for the help." With that, I closed communication before he had a chance to reply and increased Deathscythe's speed, hoping he'd get the picture. Thankfully, Wing soon veered away, no doubt heading for its own little hideaway. Only then did I let the smile fade away, to be replaced with a grimace of pain as I forced my right arm to go through the motions of piloting, landing and camouflaging Deathscythe.
Popping some painkillers from the first aid kit and swallowing them dry, I headed back towards school, wondering how in the Hell I would get back into the dorms unnoticed with my shoulder the way it was.
tbc
Hope you liked it! That first little bit of 2x1 (okay, only lust, not action, but still ) was reallllly fun to write, so I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it, heheh. I've already started working on the next part, but I'm not sure how long it will take since I have a bunch more research to do (read: re-rewatching episodes, copying down dialogue, ironing out details of the story's plot development, etc) before I can write the next part, and classes start in a few days, but hopefully it won't take more than a few more days. We'll see. Just know it might be a while… sorry in advance if it is!
NoirAnge