Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing, or any of the characters, machines, etc. Comments, please.
Genesis Gundam
Chapter Two
The wind blew gently, stirring the grass and his hair; he wore it out now, because he was not fighting any longer. He frowned down at the gravestone, elaborately decorated for such a horrible man. Wufei squinted as he read the inscription. It was laughable.
Another gust of wind; he hunched his shoulders and pulled his jacket tighter over his body. Then his mind wandered back to that day. Back to her.
"It's done, Nataku," he whispered. "I've avenged you, and justice has been served." Why, then, did he feel so hollow? Was it because the victory was not really a victory? He had gone into the battle expecting to die, only to win because Treize had charged at him. Had forced him to react the way any warrior would. Then the OZ commander had rocketed up and been blown to pieces.
Wufei shook his head. That wasn't the reason. Was it because he realized now that even though the man responsible was dead, it would not bring his wife back? There was a void in his life, it was true. He'd known that for some time. He'd been aware of this since…
"Wufei?" He whirled, only to find three women watching him, two of which had bouquets. Sally Po had been the one to call his name. Her, he tolerated. But the other two, Noin and Une, made him want to spit. The latter had scraped and bowed at Treize's feet, submitting to every little whim he had. She had red roses. And as for Noin, he'd held her in contempt since they had first met; that night at Lake Victoria when she hesitated to kill him. Plus she was as bad as Une, but with Zechs. She had white roses. Disgusting.
"What are you doing here?" he asked. Une narrowed her eyes at him.
"I could ask you the same thing," she said.
"They came to see the graves," Sally interjected. "I said I would come with them. You know, for emotional support."
"They would need it," Wufei grudged. He was aware that both Noin and Une were glaring at him. Good. "And what do you mean graves?"
"Zechs and Treize," the doctor explained. That was right, Zechs' headstone was here too. Wufei snorted.
"The dead don't need to be remembered this way. Actions are a much better way to remember them." He stopped, glanced at Zechs' grave, then back at Treize's. "Not that they had ideals to act on."
"Listen to me, you little-" Une began.
"Zechs isn't dead," Noin interrupted. Wufei blinked at her rapidly.
"Then why are you visiting his grave?" he asked her, condescending. She walked past him, and placed the bouquet near the headstone.
"I visit this place out of respect. It's as close as I can get to seeing him. Until he comes back, I can at least remember him."
"You," he informed Noin, "are a bigger fool than I thought. At least Une accepts Treize's fate. But you cling to Zechs like a parasite. He is dead, woman. There's no life left to suck out of him." Noin looked up at him, glowering, then started to smile.
"And what would you have me do, Wufei? Name a Gundam after him?" The Chinese boy bristled.
"You should leave," Une said. "I don't care what you say about him. I know that Treize-sama was indeed a great man. No angry teenager on an ego trip can change that." Wufei laughed.
"Just like the inscription says, ne? General, Leader, Inspiration. They left out murderer."
"And what would that make you?" the brunette returned.
"The savior, I suppose." He cast a glance at Noin. "But no, that would be Zechs, wouldn't it? Since he's going to come back from the dead." He turned and started to leave, knowing fully well that if they had the weapons, Une and Noin would have killed him. "Stay on and worship them like they were gods. I'm done here."
"That bastard," Noin sighed once he was gone.
"Someone needs to teach him a thing or two," Une added, placing her bouquet down. "Any volunteers?"
"Let it go, ladies," Sally said. "He's just a messed up kid."
***
"Heero? Hey, Heero!" The Japanese boy took his eyes off the sky long enough to glare at his partner. "About time you responded. That bandage on your arm is looking kinda red. I think we should change it." Heero gave him a skeptical look.
"Leave the bandage alone, Duo."
"Look man, I'm not going to be slowed down because my partner got gangrene in his arm and had to have it amputated. Just put the damned plane on autopilot and let me set the bandage. I don't care how perfect you think you are. No one can set a bandage well with one hand." Heero frowned, and pressed the button for autopilot.
Duo sighed, and led Heero to the back of the plane. He pulled out the first aid kit, and started to unpack it. Heero undid the bandage, which had started to drip blood.
"…What's that bump?" the American asked. Heero gave him a look. "Aw man! I know that's not the bullet!"
"What else would it be? Like you said, one person can't do that good a job."
"Jeez, why did I say I would help you? How am I supposed to get that out? We don't have a pair of forceps small enough." Heero dug into the kit, and showed Duo a scalpel. "Christ! You're not serious!"
"Do it."
"Okay," Duo sighed. He dabbed at the wound with alcohol, then dug the knife into Heero's skin. Heero did not struggle; instead he relaxed his muscles to make the job easier. The knife went deeper into his flesh, until it bumped into the bullet. Duo moved the scalpel until it was under the bullet, and dragged it out. He held it up for Heero to see. "Souvenir?"
"Just finish up," the Japanese boy growled. Duo doused Heero's arm with alcohol again, applied some antiseptic, and wrapped a fresh bandage over the wound. He tied a tight knot, then went to wash his hands.
"All done! Now if you'll give me a sec, I'll start on the ones on your back."
"Scratches," Heero told him. He coughed, and frowned at the tart taste in his mouth. He swallowed quickly, ignoring the fact that it was blood. "We'll worry about those later. I'm going back to flying. We should be landing soon." With that, he walked slowly back to the cockpit.
"Man," Duo said. "Didn't even flinch once. He's a hell of a guy."
***
Quatre placed a palm against his forehead, looked at the five cards in his hand and thought furiously. "How was that?" he asked, glancing hopefully around his shoulder at Dorothy. They had been practicing this blocking drill for hours now. He had his back to her, so she couldn't see the cards.
"Not bad," she said. "But you're still shaky. I got the ace of spades, and the four of hearts." At least he was showing signs of improvement. Quatre sighed.
"This is hard," he complained. "And why are we even doing this?"
"Because if I have to go one more night with you in my head, I'll kill you," she informed him. The Arabian boy sighed again, and reshuffled the deck. He picked out five cards, and held them face down.
"Ready?"
"Just go." He flipped the cards up and looked at them. At the same time, he concentrated on keeping her from knowing. This gave new meaning to the term Poker face. She was silent for a few minutes. He kept the cards in view, but refused to give up.
"Well?"
"…Nothing." She turned around and smiled, genuinely smiled, for the first time today. "I didn't get a thing!"
"All right!" he cheered, throwing the cards into the air. "I've got it."
"Maybe tonight I'll be able to get some sleep," she said. He nodded apologetically, but did not say anything. And if he was thinking it, she wasn't picking it up.
"Now what?" he asked. "Do you want to try…"
"Oh, that." Dorothy frowned, shrugged. "We both need to practice at it. If that can even be controlled."
"I think it can," Quatre responded encouragingly. "But we have to try."
"Your confidence is almost as annoying as your apologies," she sighed as she raised a hand. Quatre slowly lifted his own, and pressed their palms together. The golden glow returned, engulfing them both. Dorothy winced at the feeling of Quatre, picking and weaving his way through her mind. It was very disturbing, yet at the same time oddly soothing. Like he belonged there.
She pulled away from him at that last thought, scowling. He didn't belong anywhere near her! Quatre took a deep breath, opened his eyes.
"I didn't feel you," he said, confused.
"…I wasn't even thinking about looking in your mind," she replied hastily.
"I know. You were too uncomfortable with having your own mind open." Quatre looked her in the eye, suddenly serious. "You didn't even try to keep me out. I saw a lot, even if it was such a quick…session." It was an interesting thing to call what just happened.
"Yes. So?" she prompted. He continued to watch her carefully.
"I was just saying that I saw a lot. More than I did the first time. That means aside from a natural state, there must be two extremes: Locked out, and completely open. That was all."
"…Let's try again, then. I'll concentrate this time, and go for the other extreme." He nodded and lifted his palm; Dorothy could still sense his concern, and she wondered just how much he had seen.
***
They landed the plane a few miles away from the base, and used motorcycles to ride in. Duo wondered briefly just where Heero got all of these vehicles, but he couldn't really put anything past the other boy.
"How long until we get there?" he called.
"Not far," Heero responded. The Japanese boy swerved to the right, and they both stopped a few yards away from the base. "You go around to the left side, and start setting explosives. I'll take the right side. We work our way towards the center of the base, then we escape."
"You're the boss," Duo grinned. They boys rode in opposite directions. Slowly and carefully, they worked their way inside the base, and left a plastic explosive ever ten feet. "Leave it to Mr. Perfect to make such a big deal out of blowing a place up. I say just take the Buster Rifle and blow it to pieces if there isn't going to be a car chase," the American muttered as he pressed a sequence of buttons. The light on the explosive went green, indicating that it was on standby. He touched the bandage on his cheek and smiled. "Then again, I can't be doing too much damage to this face."
It had been about another ten feet. Duo slapped the explosive against a nearby door. As he was setting the code, he read the words on the glass. "Archives, huh? Might be something useful." As soon as the light was green, the braided boy pulled out his lock picks. After a few twists and turns, the door slid open. Pleased, Duo crept inside. All of the archives were on computer files. That only made his job easier.
He sat down in front of one of the screens, booted up the computer system, and cracked his knuckles. Duo tried several of the basic OZ pass codes, and was pleased that one of them worked. He began to skim the files, finding a few juicy ones and setting them aside on the taskbar.
A gun cocked behind his head; he gulped, and turned around slowly. Heero lowered his gun.
"That could have been any soldier, baka," Heero told him coldly. Duo let out a breath.
"But it wasn't. So don't look for excuses to scare the crap out of me."
"The mission is to destroy the base. It's not to recover data."
"Yeah, but this stuff could be useful! Just check out these schematics, weapons designs, even plans to…hey. What the hell's an 'Other'?" He clicked on the file, only to find it heavily encrypted. "Goddammit," he muttered.
"We need to go," Heero said, his voice unusual.
"Not without this. Give me your palmtop." Heero reached into his pocket, and handed over his small computer.
"Make it quick," he growled. Duo attached the computers, and started downloading all of his selected files. After two minutes, he had everything he wanted.
"All done!" he announced, unplugging the palmtop and turning around. Heero was leaning against the desk. He coughed. "You okay, man?"
"Let's go." The Japanese boy started to walk out, but faltered. He coughed again, and blood came out of his mouth. Duo jumped up from his chair and caught Heero before he could fall.
"Dude, what's the problem?" He felt something wet on his hand, and looked down to realize it was blood. A dark stain had started to spread on Heero's tank top. Duo pulled up his partner's shirt, only to find a large bandage that was crimson and dripping. "Why didn't you tell me you were shot here?!"
"We need to get out of here. I'll fix it once we get back to the plane," Heero said, shoving away from Duo and standing up again. He walked a few feet, but collapsed before he reached the door. Duo looked up at the ceiling and cursed.
"Why?" he asked. He turned off the computer, pocketed the palmtop, and ran to Heero. He tossed the other pilot's arm around his neck, and wrapped an arm around Heero's waist. "Ya crazy ass. What kind of idiot ignores a gunshot wound to his stomach? You'll be lucky if you live," he muttered, looking around to make sure no guards were coming. He slipped out, dragging Heero with him.
"Stop! Who are you?" he heard someone behind them say. Duo swore, and looked over his shoulder with a smile.
"Don't mind us, fellas! We got lost from the tour group! We were just leaving though! Bye-bye!" With that, he broke into a run. The soldiers behind them set up their guns, and opened fire.
Duo ducked behind a corner, and rested Heero against the wall. He dug into his partner's pocket, and pulled out the detonator for his half of the explosives.
"I tell ya, I didn't sign on for this! You owe me an all expense paid vacation after this one, pal!" he told Heero as he pressed the button. The entire right side of the base exploded. Bits of debris and shrapnel flew from around the corner, and screams could be heard. Duo waited for the fire alarm to sound, then picked up Heero again and started to run. Just as he'd planned, most of the guards had been called to the right side to help take care of damages. Using the confusion and panic to his advantage, they were able to make it back to the where Duo's motorcycle with very little trouble. He hefted Heero onto the bike and rode about a mile away.
"And now, just for fun." He pressed the switch for his own explosions, and watched the rest of the base reduce to rubble. Satisfied, he rode back to the plane, and got it into the air before going to check on Heero. Duo yanked the other boy's shirt off and grimaced.
"Man, not cool!" he exclaimed as he lifted the bandage off. The wound was deep, and Heero had already lost a lot of blood. This wasn't something he could handle right now. The boy would need actual medical care. But they needed to go somewhere that wouldn't ask questions. Duo patched Heero up as best he could, then checked the map for their coordinates. There was nothing close by that he knew of. Unless…
In a little under an hour, if he rearranged the flight pattern, they could reach the Sanq kingdom. Relena would let them stay there, and have Heero taken care of. She would ask questions, of course, but only after she was sure Heero was safe. Still, having to be around Relena for any stretch of time was…
Heero groaned on the table, and spat up more blood, and Duo dove for the radio. He could deal with Miss Prissy for a little while. Heero's life was at stake. He checked the frequency, and clicked it on.
"Mayday! Mayday! Come in Sanq kingdom!" Nothing. Then some static.
"Roger, aircraft. Identify yourself."
"We don't have an identification. But we have an injured pilot and need to touch down. Patch me through to—" he almost choked on the words "—her majesty Relena Peacecraft."
"I'm sorry, aircraft, but unless you have ID-"
"Tell her it's Heero Yuy!" Duo yelled. There was static, then dead silence.
"Hello? Heero?"
"Princess, this is Duo."
"…What are you doing? They said it was Heero on the line. They said you had an injured person."
"Heero's the injured person!"
"What?!"
"He's got a bullet in his stomach, and he's lost a lot of blood. I don't know how long he has until he's-"
"What do you need? Where are you?" she asked frantically.
"In a plane, not too far from you. About an hour, less if I put the engines on full."
"Land in the airport and-"
"No. No police, no hospitals. I don't know if you remember or not, but we're terrorists, babe! They catch us, and we're as good as dead anyway!"
"…The palace has a private airstrip. You can land here."
"Good! Have a medical team ready, with a surgeon to get that thing out of him, someone to put a few stitches in on his back, about a liter and a half of plasma for a transfusion-"
"He's lost that much blood?!" Relena howled.
"I'm guessing, princess!" he shouted back.
"How could you let this happen to him?!" Duo gritted his teeth; now he was to blame for Heero being an idiot? As if life wasn't bad enough already.
"Look, just get it all ready for when we land!" he snapped. "Have them meet me at the plane!"
"Fine! Hurry!" Duo switched off the radio, then turned the plane in the right direction. He put the engines on full throttle, and was pinned back into his seat from the speed.
"Hang on, buddy!" he called to Heero, though he was sure the other boy couldn't hear him. "We'll be there in no time!"