Author's Note: The action continues and the massacre truly begins. Enjoy.
Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing.
Warning: language, violence, death
Home Sweet Home
If there was one constant in this crazy world, it would be elevators had annoying music, no matter where they were located. Duo was sure that if Xavien wanted to drive them nuts before they reached the main complex, he couldn't have chosen a more torturous method than this one. Already he was becoming aggressive and combine with the small space they were in, it would be inevitable that they would tear each other apart.
Suffice to say, it was working well, too well maybe…
Maybe he was alone in this, though, as Solo and the other two didn't seem to be affected. Were they ignoring it? What were they doing? He must know!
Their descent came to a slow stop but just before it came to a full stop and that annoying "Bing!" sound was uttered, Solo stepped in front of them. "I'll go first," he said. "They might try something."
No sooner had he said that that the doors opened to reveal the hallway beyond full of armed men who immediately began to fire a huge barrage of bullets at them. Since Solo, being Solo, took up so much space, not many bullets got around him thus his body took the full brunt of the expected attack.
As the men ran out and had to reload, Duo stole a peek at Solo's front, raising an eyebrow as he saw the blond's entire front was covered with bullets. One twitch in his body made every single one of the small projectiles fall off and onto the floor. Solo meanwhile blinked as if the artificial lighting from the ceiling had blinded him and he commented, "Wasn't that interesting?"
In the blink of an eye, the blond was gone having launched himself at the rearmed men and dishing out his special bone crushing blows. Hearing the screams of pain and the bits of blood that flew everywhere, Duo didn't seem affected by any of it as he formed a time knife on one hand before walking out of the elevator casually.
Clouds of dust soon joined the blood in the air.
---
Back in the elevator, Quatre had pressed himself against the wall, an arm stretched out to hold Dorothy back as well. He didn't know why he had done that, especially after he had said he wasn't going to be keeping an eye on her, but it had been instinctual.
He'd save this one time, he told himself. After that she was on her own.
The sounds of the fight outside were starting to dwindle down and it was only then that Quatre took the risk of poking his head out. Bodies of unconscious, dead, and even those unlucky to be unconscious but still in extreme amounts of pain littered the floor and always. A fine layer of dust was started to settle and pools of blood stained everything they came into contact with. In the middle of it all stood the two long haired weapons who showed no signs of being affected by any of it, not even the physical exertion.
All in all, he wasn't surprised at it.
He surveyed the scene as he stepped out of the elevator, not in the least affected by the scene he found himself in. In fact, he found that it was an effort to feel anything at all about these men. Whether that was something to be worried about, he didn't know but he would think about it after this was all over.
"Think you could have been messier?" he asked. "I think there's some wall around here that doesn't have blood or a body attached to it."
"Hey, you can't have everything," Solo shrugged. Looking down at Duo, he asked, "Now what?"
"Guess we look around the destroy anything that comes into sight," Duo replied. "It's the best I can think up of."
"Yeah right," Solo rolled his eyes. "You can do that. I'm gonna go find something to smash, hopefully that Xavien guy. I'll check back with ya later." With that, the blond spun on his heels and jogged down one of the high ceiling hallways. He had just turned a corner when the sounds of gunfire erupted.
"Looks like he's busy," Duo said to himself. Glancing at Quatre, he said, "Coming?" before turning away and heading in the opposite direction.
Watching the braided one walk away, Quatre tightened his grip on his shotgun, his eyes hardening. He had forty-one people to kill and he doubted he would be able to accomplish that if he followed Solo. Also, it probably wouldn't be wise to walk around this place without having one of the two survivors of Project Maxwell at his side. Guess he would have to tag along for now.
As he hurried after Duo, he paid no mind to Dorothy who finally took her first step out of the elevator and muttered to herself, "I've followed Rambo and the Terminator. Great."
---
Duo could have cared less about whether or not Quatre followed after him like a lost puppy. He could have cared a little more that Dorothy was also tagging along but that was more like irritation that he had wound up with babysitting duty. Why couldn't they have gone after Solo like all the other suicidal morons? Honestly!
Oh well, they weren't his problem, now were they? He'd ignore them and if they got in his way, well so be it. He had more important things to do than worry about their safety.
Oh look, they had more company. More guards were coming at them, holding an assortment of guns and tasers that they fired haphazardly. A barrier of frozen time put an end to that pesky problem easily enough and with a twitch of his fingers, he threw the wall at the men. With no way to get out of the way, the guards were bowled into by the wall and pushed back until they smashed up against a physical wall and became nothing more than a mess of crushed bones and bodily fluids.
Nice.
By now Quatre was right beside him and the blond's frown didn't escape his attention. He was probably irritated for some reason, maybe it was his time of the month or something? Whatever, Quatre was the least of his concerns. There were bigger fish to fry like that second group of guards who had just rounded the corner.
Quatre acted first this time as he fired a shotgun shell and felled the two foremost in the new group immediately. Duo formed yet another wall of frozen time but instead of blasting it ahead like last time, he took his time pushing it forward as he strolled towards this new group, Quatre ceasing his shooting as he realized that his gunfire wasn't getting through the wall.
"Duo!" Quatre growled irritably.
"Oh what? You want it down?" Duo asked. "Here then."
He only shrank the wall a bit so that the blond was exposed and he wasn't but the moment the enemy bullets began whizzing by Quatre's head, the blond was taking cover behind the braided one, shooting a glare at him as the wall took up the whole corridor again.
"What?" Duo asked, raising an eyebrow. "You wanted the barrier out of the way."
"You're impossible," Quatre retorted.
"So I've been told," Duo replied wryly as he changed the composition of his wall from frozen time to sped-up time and blasted it forth. The guards burst into dust as they came into contact with it and soon the hallway was clear.
"Not here for a walk," Duo continued. "Either keep up or get lost. I don't care which you do."
---
Having to stand far away from the monitors, Xavien watched with keen interest as his malfunctioning weapons were making mincemeat out of his employees. The sight of all the blood and pain was arousing him like nothing else but he managed to keep his mind out of the gutter through sheer force of will alone.
Still, he would record all this so he could review in later…in privacy…
He wasn't surprised that 11085 and 12093 were dominating thus far; they had been created specifically for warfare after all. Still, he couldn't make things too easy for them.
Nodding towards a nearby guard, he signaled for the man to give out his orders to Septum and the others. It was time to put these weapons to the test and see if there was anything that could be salvaged from them…
---
Ah, he loved the sound of bones being crushed to dust. That and the feeling of said bones giving in under the force of his superstrength was also something he wasn't going to be getting tired of anytime soon. Yeah, dishing out retribution on these assholes who had snatched him from the streets and made him a test animal was so very sweet.
Taking two guys by their heads, he smashed their skulls together violently and reveled in the feeling of the craniums giving way as they were crushed. Dropping the corpses, he spun on his heel and imitated a high kick, his leg connecting with an unlucky soul and slamming him against the wall. His leg unyielding, he actually cut the man in half, his blood splattering out to join the river of it that covered the floor.
Needless to say, he was covered in the stuff and could have cared less about it.
What was this now? Seemed like these guys weren't getting the hint to run for their lives; a new group of suckers had arrived but each and every one of them were holding tasers, the same kind they used to take him down back when he had been imprisoned in this place. Sure he may have toughed up since the last time but he was in no mood to get electrocuted anytime soon.
So kicking up a body from the floor, he used it as a literal human shield that caught all the electrodes fired at him. He didn't wait long to through his shield at the men, giving him the opportunity to rush the guards, clotheslining the first two and massacring the rest with punches that sent heads rolling and crushed ribcages.
In fact, he stepped on one of the heads as he turned the corner and ran into yet another group of men who blinked at him in surprise. With a blood thirsty grin, Solo tore off the foreman's arm and used it as a club to bash the others in, blood splattering everywhere. By the time he was done with this group, the arm he was holding was falling apart.
Tossing it aside, he pressed forward, taking random turns here and there in the hopes of butchering another group of armed assholes. Alas, that wasn't the case as he was disappointed time and again. Hell, a much larger hallway didn't have a single person for him to slaughter despite having an entire wall made of windows.
To tell the truth, he would have ignored the windows altogether except that something about them caught his eye and he slowed his rampage down long enough to peer through them. At first he saw nothing and was beginning to think that looking through the things was a waste of time…until he looked down of course.
He remembered that place! It was the Commons! Damn, it sure looked different from way up here—
The next thing he knew, he was crashing through the windows and into the large, table filled room as something struck him from behind. He fell for a few seconds before landing on a table and breaking right through it. He must be getting fat or something; that's never happened to him before…
Pushing himself out of the wreckage, the first thing that caught his attention was someone on the other side of the large room who was giving him a vicious look. Dressed as all the other guys sent after them, Solo couldn't quite recall who this guy was but the name Bart (or was it Bret? Beethoven? Eh, he must not be that important) kept popping up in his head. The fact that he had two wicked looking knives sticking out of the cuffs of his sleeves was a bit worrying but Solo wasn't scared that easily.
Getting to his feet, he made a "come hither" gesture with his hands and said tauntingly, "You just gonna stand there and look pretty or are ya gonna fight?"
The other's dark blue eyes narrowed yet lost none of the bloodthirstiness in them and he lunged at the blond, slicing at him with his knives.
Solo merely rolled his eyes and raised an arm up.
Much to the other boy's surprise, when the first of his knives connected, it broke in half instead of cutting into the blond's skin thus enabling him to take control of his blood. He looked at his broken blade for a second before looking up at Solo who threw him a grin.
Lightning quick, Solo grabbed the boy by his head and twisted, stopping only when the other's head was literally on backwards. With a finger, Solo pushed the other's shoulder and watched with satisfaction as the body fell backwards onto the floor.
Then he spun around and blocked an incoming fist with his lower arm, his eyes narrowing at an identical lookalike of himself. Pushing the newcomer away and leaping backwards to put some space with them, Solo glared at his double and sneered.
"That you Copy Chris? Looks like ya haven't changed one bit."
His double, or Copy Chris as he was known, looked back at Solo with an amused smile. "Well, at least we know you've gotten better. Perhaps it's time we find out just who is the real McCoy and deserves this perfect form."
"Can't ya be original for once?" Solo retorted, annoyed. "And can ya change your looks while you're at it? It's creepy."
"C'mon Solo!" Chris said pleadingly. "Ya know I've always admired you! This is the highest compliment I could give anyone! Why couldn't you've liked me instead of that schizo?"
"You talkin' 'bout Duo?" Solo's eyes narrowed. "Well, he didn't annoy me like you're doin'. I think that counts for something, hmm?"
"Guess I'll have to show you what I can really do," Copy Chris whispered. "Then you'll have to accept me. Just like you always should've!" he finished, his voice rising with every word until he was shouting.
Solo shook his head as he muttered to himself, "Freaky stalker." Without another word, he charged at Chris, ready to pound him into the ground via his fists.
---
After you've been in a few fights to the death, you'd develop a sixth sense, the kind that allowed you to dodge or catch a potentially lethal attack or blow and depending on what type it was send it back.
Duo prided himself in having a rudimentary form of it and so when his "spidey senses" went off, he blasted a wall of frozen time behind him to push his two following puppies back while simultaneously leaping forward to avoid a blast that felt almost like electricity as it passed him. The blast itself detonated against the wall but it made no mark on it other than a singe.
Jerking his head to a side, Duo found his eyes widening as a large metal megalith approach him. It easily looked like it weighed twenty tons with large thick barrel shaped legs, thin wiry arms that ended with two cannon like extensions that glowed with a bright light, and a skeleton of metal bars that opened up in the center to show a hard faced man with black hair and a small moustache. Over his left eye rested a green glass covered aiming device, one obviously built into the strange machine.
The man was only visible from his upper torso and shoulders to his head and man, Duo had to admit that this man was ugly. Not the ugliest he had seen, mind you, but ugly nonetheless. Those small eyes with the insane gleam in them did not help to make him look pretty; hmm, maybe he could give him some beauty tips?
"Septum!" Quatre gasped out in surprise. "What—how?!"
The man called Septum lazily glanced at Quatre but paid him no further mind as his gaze fell over Duo. "I remember you," he said with his gruff yet nasally voice. "You're the one that Xavien is obsessed over. You were suppose to be near completion, if I recall correctly and all you needed to do was kill that friend of yours. Guess like even that asshole makes mistakes."
"You callin' me a mistake?" Duo growled. "At least I don't look like I fell off the ugly tree and hit every branch on the way down."
"Watch your mouth boy," Septum snapped, all humor in him gone in a flash. "It was suppose to be you who helped me conquer Washington. I've lost everything except my life and I can't get back at those who are responsible right now. I guess you'll have to do for now."
"Okay," Duo said before address their audience without taking his eyes off Septum. "You two get out of here. The adults need to have a talk."
Now, he wasn't sure whether or not Quatre said something in response of called him a name but he was sure that he and Dorothy had vacated the area, leaving only him and Septum facing off with each other.
"Cute," Septum sneered. "You think you're some kind of hero, trying to protect them, eh?"
"No, I might trip over their dead bodies," Duo replied casually. "If they had stayed, dead they would become and I need all the room I can get without obstacles to kick your ass."
Septum blinked. "Guess you aren't so noble after all," he grinned maliciously.
"Whoever said I was?" Duo shot back as he blasted a wall of frozen time at the man in the mobile suit, blasting him back and through the wall into the room on the other side. The braided one reveled in the sounds of crashing as Septum and his suit seemed to hit everything that happened to be in there.
Forming his time knives casually, he strolling through the large hole that he had made, pumped for a good fight. This would be a nice warm up, he thought to himself, something to help limber him up for the tougher stuff.
A bright blast shot towards him but Duo was ready with his barrier of frozen time. Confident, he waited for the blast to strike and detonate but to his surprise, the blast cut through his transparent shield as if it wasn't even there. The blast hit him in the torso and he was blown off his feet into a wall back out in the hallway behind him.
Well, that had certainly been unexpected…
Other than being a little bit on the crispy side and overheated, Duo was none the worse for wear but his legs felt like jelly, making it harder than usual to stand up. Back in the room, Septum had gotten back up onto his mechanical feet and waited for the braided one to come to him. He was charged up and ready to send this bastard to hell.
No sooner had Duo reentered the room did Septum fire another blast. However, Duo was ready this time. He fired a blast of slowed down time to intercept Septum's blast but the beam of light was traveling through the air quickly and Duo's retaliation blast did nothing to slow it down. Eyes widening, the braided one had rolled out of the way and was in a full blown run.
Something wasn't right here; there was no way the man could take him, even in that oversized tin can.
Meanwhile, Septum was recalling what Xavien had told him this suit could do. Harnessing light itself and making it into a weapon, oh he could see the possibilities with it. He knew for a fact that the braided rat scurrying before him was able to manipulate time but he was nevertheless surprised when his blasts of light had given him the upper hand.
Then again, light was the fastest moving energy in the universe; it could cross vast distances in such little time that…wow, now he understood. His attacks were just too quick for the rat to comprehend and amend to.
This fight was his.
Since Duo knew none of this, he was forced to run about, shooting as many blasts of time as he could while avoiding Septum's as best as he could. It was mindboggling how the other's attacks were swallowing his up as if they weren't even there but he was determined to take this golem down. The best way, he believed, was to get up close and grab the thing before working his magic on it.
The problem of course being he had to get close in the first place.
Apparently, Septum was a quick thinking man when engaged in combat and he caught on to what Duo was doing. Thus, he lulled the braided one into a sense of complacency and when he got close, he swung one of his arm cannons, striking Duo and flinging him aside like he was a rag dog.
Like the time before, the wall was unforgiving as his back came into contact with it. Pain erupted from this swath of his body as well as throbbing from where Septum hit him. This was not going the way he had planned it out in his head, not at all.
The floor underneath him shook with every step that Septum took towards him. Lifting his head up to glare, Duo ready himself for his next assault.
---
Quatre was by no means affected with each boom created by his shotgun but he did vaguely notice each flinch and wince Dorothy made each time he fired. After separating from Duo, the two had trekked deeper into Xavien's lair, coming across a blockade of guards who fought their hardest to stop the intruders.
So, whenever he didn't use his shotgun, he fired off his pistols, he shots usually hitting something, be it a limb or a head. By his count, he had avenged about twenty of his Maguanacs and the heat of battle was still presiding.
Pulling around a corner he was using as a shield against the returning fire, he reloaded his pistols and waited for a lull. The very second the last bullet was fired, he popped out around the corner and fired his own barrage of bullets, one of his first shots true.
Another Maguanac was avenged.
He didn't stay to gloat; he slid back around the corner and weathered under the returning fire that could only be delivered from submachine guns and assault rifles. As much as he liked this bantering of gunfire, he was getting impatient as neither he nor his companion had been able to move further. It was getting infuriating thus far and his exemplary patience was already wearing thin.
He wanted Xavien's head and he wanted it five minutes ago.
He was another wince from Dorothy that nearly set him off. He was about to shout his anger at her but stopped for a minute to take out a grenade and lob it down the hallway. The following explosion did nothing to defuse his frustration.
"Will you quit doing that?" he finally snapped, glaring at the blonde girl. "Or at least do something useful!"
"Well excuse me!" Dorothy snapped back. "Unlike some people, I don't have any special powers or know how to use guns!"
"Then why are you still here?!" Quatre snarled. "You're utterly useless here! Do you need to get a bullet in your head before you get how pathetic you are?!"
Before Dorothy could retort, another voice spoke up. "Don't bother trying to put logic into her head. It hasn't worked yet. Why would it now?" A gust of wind blew past them and down the adjoining hallway where screams and cries erupted. Immediately, it all became quiet but Quatre's attention was more set on the sight of Jason fucking Ciliars standing a few feet away from them, looking absolutely bored.
"What are you doing here?!" he exclaimed.
"Got bored. You were taking too long," Jason shrugged.
"Well that's fine and dandy," Quatre spat bitterly. "I swear, you're like a little kid!"
"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Jason retorted. "Just get your business finished so we can get out of here. I could be drinking something right now."
"Great, you're an alcoholic now," Quatre rolled his eyes. "Saw that one coming a mile away."
"What's that suppose to mean?" Jason glared at the blond, his eyes slowly fading to green.
Before Quatre could shoot a reply, the floor around Jason suddenly crumbled from beneath him due to large icicles spiking out from it, dropping the teen to the floor below.
"Christ," Quatre breathed in wonder before the familiarity of this struck him.
"Fuck!"
---
"That hurt…" Jason moaned as he came to his senses.
"We haven't even gotten started."
Jason's head snapped up. What he saw was not one of the things he wanted to see right now.
"Mordred?"
For once, a smirk caused the ever frowning corners of Mordred's lips to quirk upwards if only for a moment. "Good, you recognize me. We can skip the pleasantries and get down to the good stuff."
Jason groaned. "I don't want to do this, buddy."
"You have no choice," Mordred snarled.
"Since when?" Jason demanded.
"Since the moment you killed my baby brother," Mordred hissed. "You've forfeited any mercy that may have been shown you're way. It's time that you pay for Stone's death and trust me, this is going to be long and slow."
Jason groaned again. "I knew I should've stayed top side."
