Chapter 5 - Capture

Warnings: LOTS of Duo pain, a little Duo torture. I am cruel. Potty mouths. OOCness, in the
middle. Sorry. And predictability (com'n, look at the title).

* * *

The Lieutenant studied the report Sergant Harrings had just put in his hand. "Hmmmm," he
muttered. "Gundam self-detonation? I wonder . . . Sergant Harrings, did the Aries ever identify
the ID of the Gundam?"

The sergant shifted on his feet. "No, sir, Aries 204 never described its appearance beyond its
being battered-looking."

"Really." Slowly the Lieutenant stood. "Well, then, send out a keep to examine the wreakage,
along with two Aries to patrol the sky for attack while searching the area. I'll be coming along."

"I presume we'll be searching for the pilot of the Aries?" Harrings saluted.

"No. . ." the Lieutenant shook his head. "The pilot of the Gundam. They seem to survive the
craziest things, don't you think?"

* * *

Hell was indeed hot, but it was awfully bright, too. Duo didn't think Hell was supposed to be
bright, though. It was also stuffy, but the only reason he could tell was because he could breathe,
and that probably wasn't a requirment in the afterlife, either.

Which could mean only one thing. He was still alive.

This was what? His second brush with death in about the last 24 hours? Duo wanted to tell the
world that he must have Heero's sort of luck to be alive, but his throat was so dry he couldn't even
croak.

With water on his mind, Duo struggled to stand so he could get back to Heero, the campsite, and
most importantly, drinkable liquid. However, only one attempt to rise, and Duo decided that at
least for now, right here was just fine. After all, staying here didn't require the impossible - like
moving. Besides, he couldn't feel enough of himself to do much. Daring only to use his neck,
Duo tried to get an idea of where he was.

It was definitely still the desert, not that Duo had expected any different. He was pinned under
something really big - it looked like a piece of his Gundam. Since his mouth was partially covered,
it was stuffy to try and breathe through it. Duo was on his back, and he could see that his braid
had, once again, survived along with him. Duo smiled slightly.

Feeling slowly returned to areas below his neck, and along with it came agonizing pain. Duo
discovered that he could indeed raise his voice above a croak as long as he had motivation, since
he managed to scream for quite some time. Once he finally had it out of his system, he tried to
move again, and found it much easier - and much more painful - to do so.

He couldn't budge the huge piece of Gundanium, so he tried to wiggle out from underneath it.
The sand shifted, allowing him to push away from the metal plate. Every part of him screeched in
agony at the pain of moving, but Duo commanded them to shut up silently and kept going. He
wasn't about to give up! He couldn't!

He was out from under the plate to his hips now, and Duo sat up slowly, gasping, to try and see
what the hell was wrong with him.

If his left arm had looked bad with a complex fracture, it was mangled now. Blood ran over his
hand from the crushed wrist, and the broken bone in the upper arm was once again snapped out of
place. His favorite black shirt was torn nearly to shreds, red-tinged with blood from shrapnel
wounds on his chest and back. Amazingly, he had gotten away with only a severe laceration down
his upper right arm. "Don't even wanna see my legs," he croaked out, smirking slightly. Even his
face hurt, and rubbing it caused Duo to think it was mildly burned.

As Duo continued to wiggle out from under the Gundanium, he tried to remember what had
happened. He recalled watching the beginnings of the explosion, then being pelted by shrapnel just
before being tossed from where he stood like a rag doll by the blast of compressed air.
Remembering that the Aries had been destroyed too was encouraging, luckily, because after that
he remembered landing on his left wrist, striking the sands heavily with the rest of his body, and
rolling before his right leg snagged on a settled piece of the Gundanium armor. Then he recalled
something falling out of the sky on his body before blacking out. It wasn't a very pleasant thing to
remember. With a shiver, Duo set his mind back to the task on hand before his body began to
relive the pain, too.

Finally Duo managed to free his legs completely from the plate, and he leaned back, breathing
hard. "Damned . . . Aries . . . making me . . . self-destruct . . . ," he grunted. Dammit, he HURT!
"Least I'm not dead," he smirked, imagining the cooked Aries pilot. "Dumbass." Finally he got the
courage to check his legs.

The only thing that was really serious-looking was his hip and the dislocated kneecap on his right
leg. His hip was literally slashed; a long diagonal stripe from his lower ribs to just below his
buttocks was bleeding sluggishly. His knee would just need to be snapped back into place, and the
cuts, bruises, and other wounds could wait. Duo sucked in his breath to stop tears again. He did
NOT want to set another bone! In fact, the idea of dealing with the pain of moving back to the
camp made him want to faint.

This was ridiculous. He didn't have a hope of living unless he went back to where Heero was.

Heero. Another reason to get back to camp. With a sigh of frustration and resignation, Duo
forced himself to roll onto his stomach, clenching his teeth to hold in the cries. Keeping his teeth
set, he pushed to his knees. His right knee gave out, and he collapsed back into the sand. "F***,"
he gritted out. The word hardly covered the pain he was feeling. Once again Duo pushed to his
knees, and before he could fall again, he crawled haltingly across the desert to where he hoped
Heero was, the litany of "Boys don't cry" barely keeping him from screaming or crying in pain.

* * *

"Here's some sattelite pictures of southwestern Egypt last night when we lost the signal," Trowa
laid out the photos in front of Quatre, who yawned and eyed them worriedly.

While Trowa appeared rested despite little sleep, Quatre struggled to keep his eyes open and dark
circles marred the skin under his eyes. It had been a bad night, and now it was about 12:30 pm.
He and Trowa had debated ways of investigating the disappearing signal and finding their
partners, and settled on hacking into the sattelite system. Quatre had spent the early morning
getting as far as he could legally - after all, the Winner family had plenty of influence - and Trowa
had continued the process by hacking while Quatre had examined maps of the area. Now Quatre
was exhausted, but Trowa . . . Trowa was made of something akin to what Heero was made of,
because both of them could go for about a week without sleep, it seemed.

Something in the third sattelite photo caught Quatre's eye. "Is that an explosion? It looks like it."

Trowa nodded. "That's what I thought. Keep going; the pictures continue into about an hour
ago."

Quatre whiffled through the pictures, looking for anything interesting, but he didn't see anything
until the last photo. "A . . . a keep, maybe," he muttered. "Headed towards the location of the
explosion. Trowa, we've got the Deathscythe on our hands for sure. But if this *is* a keep . . . "
He looked up at Trowa with a pale face, communicating silently.

Trowa nodded. "Yeah. Let's get in our Gundams. We've got a lot of flying to do."

* * *

Heero was still laying under the blanket, happy and peaceful, Duo noted shakily. Duo wasn't
sweating anymore, and he thought that somewhere he had heard that was a bad sign, but he
couldn't muster the strength to care. He had guzzled the water as soon as he got back to camp,
and now all of his energy was devoted to wrapping his middle with gauze. "J-jeez, Heero, you
slept th-through a g-goddamn Gundam e-ex-explosion," Duo stammered out between chattering
teeth. He was going into shock, but he wouldn't succumb to it; Duo couldn't afford to, now.
"Wh-what the hell?!"

Of course, the unconscious boy didn't reply, and Duo grunted as he managed to cut and tie the
white gauze in place. His left arm and wrist were already wrapped, and he'd succeeded in cleaning
the slash on his hip and upper right arm *with* antiseptic,
and *without* screaming. Antiseptic always did sting badly. Maybe someone would come up with
a way to stop it from hurting so much.

It was nothing short of a miracle that no more bones had broken. If any more had, Duo wasn't
sure he would've gotten here. Now that everything was snapped back to where they belonged,
Duo didn't look all that bad anymore. How he felt was another matter entirely. Heero sure was
lucky; being knocked out looked very attractive.

Still breathing shakily, Duo flopped backwards onto the sand and shivered despite the heat. He
was becoming numb. Now would be a very, VERY bad time to fall asleep, Duo thought. First, he
had to look for OZ - by now they were sure to be looking for *him*. Secondly, if he fell asleep,
he didn't trust himself to ever wake up, and Duo had no intention of dying from a lack of will.
With real effort Duo again sat, ignoring his sore, screaming muscles.

Living was beginning to take a lot more willpower than it ever had before.

* * *

The keep of Leos was approaching the explosion site quickly, the Lieutenant noted with pleasure.
He kept finding his mind was wandering to the identity of the pilot of the Gundam that had
apparently been self-destructed last night. Could it be that . . . that it was indeed the boy Heero
Yuy, Gundam pilot number zero-one? It would be a pleasant surprise if it were so. If the last time
he had self-destructed was any indication, he was probably still alive, too. He had a lot to ask the
pilot if that was the case. Unfortunately, there were so many 'ifs' . . .

"Lieutenant, we'll be arriving at the explosion site in about five minutes," announced one of the
Aries pilots over the vid-comm. "Orders to dispatch?"

"Yes," nodded the Lieutenant. "You and Aries 518 stay about a mile up and make sure no other
Gundams show up. Ten Leo pilots will remain in their mobile suits and patrol. The rest will land
and travel on foot to look for the Gundam pilot. Please relay the orders."

"Yes, sir!" replied the pilot, and his image disappeared as the vid-comm link was closed.

The Lieutenant sat back and settled comfortably into the seat of his own Gundam, the Tallgeese,
and continued to follow his troops into the site.

* * *

Humming, lots of humming, was coming from the northeast. Duo grimaced and sat up to scan the
horizon. No, now was such a bad time. "Don't let OZ show up now," he muttered. The numbness
was wearing off, but now sharp stabs of pain seemed to strike various parts of his body randomly.
He wasn't sure if it was shock or just nerves, though. At least everything wasn't hurting at once.

Heero still wasn't awake, and Duo was becoming frustrated. He tried shaking Heero again, but
still there was no reaction. Duo had slapped, pinched, punched, and even kicked the Wing pilot,
but he had only succeeded in hurting himself while not even a bruise showed on Heero. "Dammit,
Heero," Duo growled, leaning his mouth next to the pilot's ear, "WAKE UP! OZ is COMING!!!"

No response. Duo sighed, sat back up again with a wince, and grumbled under his breath about
the absolute inhumanity of Heero Yuy. Slowly he looked back across the northeast horizon.

There they were. It looked like a keep of Leos, along with a couple of Aries. "Woah, nice
reception party," he muttered with a laugh. If they didn't get out of their Leos he didn't have a
chance. Which meant there was only one thing he could do. With trembling fingers, Duo grabbed
the gun laying next to Heero and gripped it tightly, feeling the rubber grip under his numb, cut
hand. He was going cold all over again, but now Duo was sure it was nerves and not shock. What
he was about to do would be enough to fray anyone's nerves.

The humming was getting louder. Duo could make out individual Leos easily now. But all they
would find was two dead bodies. Yeah. "Sorry to do this to ya, Heero, without waking you up so
you'd know," he muttered, once again changing his grip on the gun. Slowly, as though moving
through water, Duo pushed the gun's muzzle to Heero's temple. "But . . . but at least we won't
be alive for OZ, right?"

The keep was approaching fast. Duo tightened his grip on the gun, and pulled back the trigger a
bit. Why was it so hard to move it? Why couldn't he just pull the trigger? It would save them both
a lot of misery and potential security leaks if he could just kill both Heero and himself. Gritting his
teeth, squeezing his eyes shut, Duo tried again. Everything logical said he should kill them, *had*
to.

He couldn't do it. He couldn't kill Heero. Gasping, Duo let the gun slip from his fingers and
slumped forward, then clapped his arms around himself and curled into a ball. He shaking like a
leaf.

Now, if everything hadn't been ridiculous enough before, *this* was crazy. The God of Death,
curled into a ball in the middle of the desert, waiting for OZ to come and take him alive?! As
Duo's mind once again seemed to run in its natural order, he stopped shaking and grabbed the gun
from the sand. Maybe he had to go down, but he was gonna go down fighting.

* * *

"All right, men," Sergant Gratius announced to the twenty soldiers in his command, "We're going
to be landing and searching on foot for the Gundam pilot! Orders are to bring him in alive,
assuming he is found alive. Emphasis on *alive*, or you'll be the one facing the Lieutenant's
wrath!

"Here's the game plan: split up in pairs and cover all the ground you can, then report back to the
landing site in 30 minutes. Is that clear?"

"Yes, sir!" came the chorus of replies, and the search for the Gundam pilot was underway.

* * *

"Man, I was losin' it," Duo grunted as he watched about twenty Leos land 300 meters away. With
one gun in his right hand and another tucked in the back of his belt, Duo was feeling normal
again. He could even ignore the pain from most of his wounds, as long as he wasn't moving too
much. Here, hidden behind a huge dune, Duo probably had the best vantage point, and he didn't
have to twitch a muscle.

Abruptly Duo tensed. Waaaaiit a minute . . . the pilots were getting out of their mobile suits? He
had hoped they would, but the chances of it actually happening . . . "The Shinigami must be
smiling at these pilots today," Duo smirked.

They were beginning to spread out, obviously to cover more ground. All the better. He only had
so many bullets.

* * *

Gratius looked around, holding his gun up and ready to shoot, or at least point it, at the slightest
provocation. His partner was a private under his own command. "Be careful," he advised. "If the

pilot is alive, he's probably wounded, but we don't know how dangerous he is, still."

"Of course, sir," agreed the private. "But what if he escaped the blast and is okay? What if he's
trying to attack just n-" he was cut off when abruptly the back of his head exploded in a cloud of
blood and brains. Gratius jumped back in horror, then looked up to see the cause.

A young person was standing on the dune in front of him, smirking widely. His face was red from
too much sun, and his shirt was shredded along with bandages up and down his left arm.
However, the thing Gratius noticed most was the .45 magnum in his hand - an old model, but still
very deadly. "I suggest, sir, that you lay down and don't move," directed the boy in English. His
voice was a little deep for how old he looked to be. "But first, put that gun, and the one tucked
behind your pants, on the ground."

Astonished, Gratius did as he was told. He heard scuffling next to him as the boy scrambled down
from the dune and grabbed Gratius' standard-issue .38 caliber. The other gun he emptied of
bullets, then it sounded like he was pouring sand into it, making it useless.

"All right," the boy said, sounding satisfied. "You're going to stand, now, with your hands on your
head. You're my . . . bargining chip, shall we say."

Gratius once again did as he was told, and he quickly felt the muzzle of a gun pressed to his back.
"Walk, please. I'm going to ask you to be a good captive, since I know more than just how to use
a gun." A threat Gratius wasn't clear on hung in those words, and he decided that he'd be better
off not knowing what the boy meant. He walked.
* * *

Duo nearly sighed with relief when the apparent sergant didn't try anything funny. He *did* know
how to fistfight, and was good at some basic Ikiedo moves, but he was sure that in his current
state he would lose to a full-grown man like this one.

But now that it was clear the soldier was subdued, Duo felt thrilled. All he needed was a Leo,
then he could pick up Heero and fly someplace safe after contacting Quatre and Trowa. They
were nearly home-free! Smiling, maybe even smirking a little, Duo directed the sergant towards a
Leo and kept going.

"HALT!"

Duo snapped his head towards where the voice was coming from, grabbing the sergant's neck and
dragging him around to block any bullets. All he saw was two men, one of them pointing his gun
at them. "I'm not stopping!" Duo shouted back. "If you shoot, you'll only hit your sergant! I
wouldn't advise that!"

"I wouldn't be so sure," came a quiet reply.

Duo visibly started, then leapt back, pulling his .45 out and pointing it at the speaker with his left
hand. Pain struck with a vengance, and Duo winced but backed off, forcing the sergant to join
him. "Who the hell are you?"

"First-class Sergant Harrings," replied the man calmly. Of course, some of the calm might have
resulted from having a .38 caliber in his hand. "You are just about surrounded, young man. You'd
best let your captive go and come with us, or I'll cause you a lot more pain then that crushed
wrist."

Duo glanced at his wrist quickly, then at the others appearing around him. Damn! The plan had
completely backfired. "I'm not just giving up," he whispered. Then he added more loudly, "Get the
hell away and put your guns down, or I'll kill this fellow!"

Sergant Harrings just looked at Duo for a moment, his piercing blue eyes making Duo want to
panic. He barely held his cool as Harrings lifted the gun, pulled the trigger - and Duo found his
front covered with blood. Not his own blood - the blood of his captive. The sergant was dead in
his arms. Duo looked up at Harrings, who serenely explained, "Now you don't have a bargaining
chip. Don't try any heroics, please, and put all three of your guns down."

The Shinigami pilot dropped the dead sergant and searched his mind quickly for what to do. Just
getting captured wasn't an option! Maybe he could do something to force this Sergant Harrings to
shoot him, or something -

"Oh, by the way," added Harrings casually, "I believe we've found your friend. Quite unconscious.
He's over there, and we'll be happy to kill him unless you kindly cooperate."
Duo lifted his eyes to where Harrings had nodded, and saw that they did indeed have Heero with
them, cuffed securely. Duo's insides scrunched up into a ball, then he let the two guns fall from his
hands, and pulled the one in his belt out and dropped it as well. "Happy?!" he demanded, lifting
his hands.

"Quite," smiled Harrings. "Take him in." Suddenly Duo was grabbed from behind and roughly
tossed to his face while someone yanked his arms behind him and cuffed his wrists together,
causing him blinding pain. When his vision cleared he was being dragged to a huge mobile suit,
one Duo hadn't seen before . . .

Duo gasped. It was none other than the Tallgeese. "Bu-but that's Zechs' Gundam!" Duo wheezed
before he was thrown to the dunes facefirst again. Spitting out grit and sand, Duo got his knees
underneath himself and sat up to find himself at the feet of none other than Lieutenant Zechs
Marquiese.

Zechs looked somewhat disappointed, and somewhat surprised. "Well. I wasn't expecting a girl."

Duo had the sudden urge to tear Zechs to shreds. "I'm not a girl," he snapped, and immediately
wished he could take it back. If it was that easy to get information from him, Operation Meteor
*was* in trouble.

Zechs lifted his chin a bit, then squatted down to meet Duo's eyes before eying him up and down.
"So you aren't," he agreed. "Forgive me.

"It seems you are the pilot of the Gundam that self-destructed last night. With this in mind, I also
see you have the pilot of the Wing Zero here as well. I am aware that you two are responsible for
the destruction of the Yukusho base, and I want to speak with you about that, among other
things.

"For the time being, I have called for a transport to take you and your fellow pilot back to an OZ
fortress about 140 miles from here. I hope you are willing to talk by this time tomorrow, or I
cannot guarantee that questioning will go easy on you, even in your wounded state." Zechs stood
up again. "Make sure he has water and some food before the transport arrives," he directed
Harrings, then he looked back down at Duo. "I have to admit I'm impressed. You seem to have
managed to survive not only a crash, but this desert for 36 hours, and a detonation." He turned to
leave, and Duo was dragged to his feet and marched to a Leo to wait for the transport.

"Dammit," Duo growled. "DAMMIT!" He kicked the sand, then huffed and slid to a sitting
position.

Captured. It *was* gonna suck when Heero woke up now.

* * *

Lots of Duo torture, but don't say I didn't warn you. Only a couple more chapters to go! Yay!!!
* * *