~*Chapter Three*~
The sun was brutal as it beat down through the tall, grimy towers of downtown New York as Quatre hurried through the streets, a cloth tied about his nose and mouth to keep the disease from his face. He carried a small but efficient satchel of medical supplies in his hands as he walked down the dusty streets; his destination wasn't much farther. He turned a corner and stepped past a large warning sign that hung overhead that read, "Danger! Quarantined Area! Authorized Personnel Only!"
Along the streets stood the family members of the ill; standing outside their home with grave looks on their faces. Quatre saw a few doctors along the streets, rushing around with identical masks over their own faces. One such doctor approached Quatre and started walking alongside him.
"Excuse me, sir, but do you have clearance to be in here?" he said, stopping Quatre as he walked.
"Yes, doctor. I'm Dr. Winner from London; I was called in from Britain by your president to aid you. Now, if you would kindly show me to a home that I may treat, I will help in any way I can."
"Oh, now I understand! Come with me then, Dr. Winner." And with that, both doctors took off running; very unorthodoxly down the grimy streets; past crying women and happily oblivious children. As they ran, the stench of death and decay became worse, as no one was brave enough to come and clear away the dead for fear of catching the potentially lethal disease. Finally, the American doctor stopped in front of a more refined house than the others; at the very edge of the slums.
"Up there is a young woman, German I believe. She just contracted the virus a few days ago after her husband died of it. She speaks no English; her husband was her translator. Her name is Hilde Schbeiker. Can you speak German, Doctor?" The American asked breathlessly, looking at him with scrutiny. Quatre froze; he knew not a word of German…but there was one person who did…
"I'll return as soon as possible, Doctor. I know someone who can help me."
Quatre's hurried footsteps echoed off the bare whitewash walls as he stepped inside the poorhouse, and breathlessly ran through the foreboding door into insanity. He threw aside all thoughts of refinery as he ran; his mind occupied with thoughts of helping those he had come to aid.
"ALEX!" He cried out loudly, his voice echoing effectively off of the wet granite walls as he stopped inside the dark corridor, his eyes slowly adjusting to the dim light. "Alex, I want to have a few words with you!" With a heaving chest, he strode proudly over towards the keeper, who was leaning against a wall at the far end of the corridor before the turn.
"Yea, what do you want, damn Brit? I've got more important things to do that to fuck around with you!"
Unabashed by Alex's crude comments, Quatre glared with great purpose into his adversary's contemptuous eyes, and moved not one muscle in his arms. "You will release Duo Maxwell for the day. If you do not comply to my wishes; I will charge you with voluntarily letting an innocent die; and you will receive the blame because of your own stupidity."
"Ah, why would I have to release that hell stricken loon for you? Why do you need him so badly? Do you want to take him somewhere private and fuck him? I'm sure he'd enjoy that REAL well! Fuck him right up the-"
Alex was unable to finish his sentence, as the enraged doctor's fist pummeled into his nose at full force. Quatre could feel the bones in his nose smash satisfyingly as he struck, and blood seeped slowly out from the "jailer's" nostrils as he sank to the wet floor for the second time in two days, victim to Quatre's wonderful sense of timing. Anger seethed in the doctor's usually calm, caring eyes as he knelt and retrieved the keys from Alex's belt.
"How do you enjoy my diplomacy, Alex? I do believe that it serves me quite well," Quatre said grittily as he passed by the keeper's unconscious form and towards Duo's cell. Duo was smiling ironically at the current events and stood, dusting himself off.
"G'day, Doctor. I'm not too sure 'bout what Alex thinks o' your diplomacy, but I be getting rather fond o' it, I am." He said levelly, the same knowing smile placed upon his face as Quatre unlocked his cell. "Now, what d'ya need me for? I'd be glad t' help in any way I can."
"There is a woman who was stricken with cholera, and she speaks only German. Due to the profound fact that I speak not a word of German, I came to the conclusion that…you were my only hope."
Duo's eyes suddenly lit up with a light that seemed uncharacteristic as these words escaped Quatre's lips; as though a long forgotten memory was being stirred.
"Lead th way, doctor. I shall follow where ye lead."
"Vater Righteous im Himmel, schützen bitte unsere Seelen, während wir durch diese harten Versuche und Ihre divine Energie durchlaufen, helfen uns, sie aus lebendigem zu bilde," came Duo's low tenor as he gently held the German woman's hand, his head bowed in soft prayer as he soothed the frightened and ill woman. She had her eyes closed and was trembling as Quatre worked swiftly; but said the gentle prayer along with him.
Quatre took a few slight seconds to regard his aide with a fond smile; he had loaned Duo a few articles of clothing so that he wouldn't appear so frightening to his patients; some might ask why an asylum shut-in was there. Where rags had been were now a fine British overcoat and trousers, and his hair was now neatly braided and not as bedraggled. His roughened hands were covered with white gloves, and his face was neatly washed. Where a destitute prisoner had been now was a fine gentleman; a shadow of Duo's former years before New York.
"Duo, tell her that this injection, " Quatre began gently as he held up a thin syringe, "will help to aid her body in fighting off the cholera. Luckily, we caught her's soon enough to save her; the disease was in the early stages." The doctor looked down at her with a warm, reassuring smile, and although she was still trembling, the caring presence of the two men seemed somewhat comforting. As Duo leaned down and told her this, the doctor slid the needle gently into her upper arm and injected the small amount of serum into her bloodstream. "There you are, Ms. Schbeiker. You should be fine within a few days. Godspeed to you, madam."
Duo relayed this to her in soft German and then stood after Quatre, and pulled her blankets back up over her as she lay in bed. She nodded tiredly up at her two saviors and smiled.
"Danke..." she said sweetly in her light voice, then drifted off to sleep, her dark eyes closing into a long awaited rest from the pains. Duo turned to Quatre as they walked out and smiled, putting a hand on his shoulder.
"She said, "Thank you…""
Quatre shook his head. "I should've told her that there as no need for that…" He smiled at his comrade and sighed lightly. "There is more that we can help…"
The moonlight was barely visible through the smoky skies of New York as the doctor and the former theologian wandered back towards the poorhouse, and Duo's demeanor was diminishing slightly as they rounded the last dark corner and the dilapidated yet familiar building where they were living. His smile was now turned back into a thin, calm line, like he had been when Quatre had first laid eyes upon him. The wind blew gently through the Irishman's long braid, tousling it a bit as they stopped in front of the poorhouse.
"Duo…I wish that you did not have to come back to this hell...I truly do…"
At Quatre's gentle words, Duo looked up towards the stars in the sky and sighed. "I was "Satan's Man", Quatre…Called so because o' me damned sexuality…" He looked quickly back to Quatre for any signs of contempt, but he found none in those warm marine orbs. "I know not to be ashamed of who I be, but they treat me like I be a Hellspawn…" He sighed a heavy sigh, and locked gazes with the doctor. "But I want t' thank ye, doctor…thank ye for lettin' me see th' sky again-"
Duo's soliloquy was cut short by the surprising and gentle press of the doctor's lips against his own in an assured caress. There was no pretense to this action; it was a true emotion; full to the brim with meaning that Quatre wanted to imply towards him. Quatre hadn't told anyone, fearing the same fate that Duo had been made to endure for his own self. Not even his own sister knew; she might have shunned him. But here was one person that knew his inner torment; someone who felt the same fear. The blond felt a few uncharacteristic tears in his eyes as he pulled away and looked at Duo with an unashamed gleam in his eyes.
"You're right…we shouldn't be ashamed…" he said softly. Duo regarded him with a somewhat surprised look, then broke into a true smile; the first Quatre had ever witnessed on his roguish face. It as an amazingly refreshing image, one that Dr. Winner would never be able to erase from his mind.
Unbeknownst to the two that stood outside the rotting door; two pairs of spiteful, watching eyes had witnessed everything. And neither Alex nor Mueller was very pleased with what they had seen.
"So, I see that Satan has won both of you, has he now?" came the nasty voice of Mueller as the two stepped through the doorway. Both Duo and Quatre had an appearance of those who had been among death; there was no sign of any kind of romance. But they knew; all too well. "Perhaps we can perform an exorcism, eh Alex?"
Duo spat at Mueller's feet. "Oi, what d'ye know about Satan and God? What makes ye think that ye be worthy enough to have God's judgment? His judgment awaits us after this life; and I await the time when he judges ye!"
A pair of hands suddenly grabbed at Duo's neck and yanked him away from Quatre's side; an enraged Alex lifting him above the ground without mercy. "How dare you speak to us like that, you damned ass fucker! I'll beat Satan out of you!!"
Quatre watched in abject appall and disgust as Alex raised a mighty fist and began to pummel Duo viciously, all the while screaming terrible profanities and insults at him. He stepped quickly forward, but he was struck in the stomach roughly by a mallet like fist, knocking the wind from his lungs. He doubled over in surprise; not expecting this sudden movement from the heavier man. He glared up at Mueller contemptuously and took a labored breath.
"Let him go; you bastard…damn it, let him go now!" the doctor wheezed, looking up quickly to see the change in Duo's calm demeanor. Instead of a monotonous gleam in his eyes, there was terror and immense pain wavering in those fathomless cobalt eyes, and his body quickly was becoming bruised; but his face was contorted in absolute pain; and he had blood starting to seep from his nose, mouth, and his left ear. "Let him go, you bastards! You sadistic bastards!"
Mueller looked down at the kneeling doctor with a look of pure scorn and kicked at him in the chest, causing him to drop to all fours. He was grinning malevolently, and laughed. "That must be Satan talking. Sadly, I can't do anything to you while under the service of the President. But just wait…one of these days I'll get both of you cock suckers. Just wait. No get on up to your room, now; or I'll make sure you sleep on this floor!"
Quatre staggered to his feet and looked at Duo as Alex dragged him into the doorway of the asylum and closed it. He didn't hear the sound of a whip as he was walking up the steps; but he vowed that he would repay Duo for his mistake of kissing him the next morning. But he couldn't so easily wipe away the torture that Alex and Mueller had done. He sighed as he stepped inside his chamber painfully and lay across his bed wearily, falling into slumber.
"Forgive me, Duo…"
