Disclaimer: Don't own them. The only money I'll be making will be coming from that lucky lotto ticket . . .
Warning: Violence (and lots of it), swearing, yaoi (1X4).
Chapter 12Duo fired.
The bullet sailed past Quatre's left ear with a whoosh of displaced air, hitting the guard who had been coming up fast behind them. Duo grabbed Quatre's arm and pulled him, and by extension the girl, Carly, around the corner. Gunfire riddled the wall where they had just stood.
The braided pilot leaned out quickly and returned fire. "Okay Q, do you mind telling me what the hell is going on?"
Quatre didn't answer right away. For a second he had thought his friend was going to shoot him. He was shaken, but this proved beyond a doubt that Duo was not the traitor. Still . . . "How'd you find me?"
"Followed you. Nobody out sneaks the god of the death, not even you. I knew you were lying to us about something, and then I saw you talking to Heero on that communicator. So I'll ask again. What the fuck are you into?"
"Everett Orth is using my company to fund illegal projects. This particular facility is being used to manufacture some kind of aggression drug, and he's kidnapping people to test it out on. Heero was aware of it, and that's why he's leading Red Thorn." Quatre covered Duo while he reloaded.
"What does Mr. Emotionally Impaired think he's doing? He could of called us!" The braided boy snapped the clip in and joined the blonde again in picking off guards.
"No Duo, one of our friends is in league with Orth."
"What?! Heero's paranoia must be contagious to you Quatre."
"It's true. I didn't want to believe it at first either."
"Then what made him trust you? How come he sent you here?"
"That's . . .well, it's complicated."
"When is anything with that guy simple? All right Q, I don't know if I buy this whole traitor angle, but I trust you. What do we do now? You said there are people here being used as lab rats?" Duo glanced at the terrified girl still clinging to Quatre. "I'm guessing you rescued her. Are there more?"
"Yes, and we can't leave them here. These people put no value on human life. They don't care if their victims die horribly from the drug! They'll probably kill all their subjects once they find that the base has been compromised. If we leave, their dead."
"So then what are we waiting for? Let's get them out!" Duo reached into his vest and pulled out a grenade. He set it and then briefly broke cover to toss it down the hallway. There was a brief silence, and then panicked shouts as the security men realized what had been sent among them.
Then there was a very big boom.
Duo grinned maniacally. "Well that cleaned out that nest of snakes. Let's go!"
They ran through the smoke and the flashing red alarms back toward the lab. The violet-eyed boy leading, weapons drawn, with Quatre and Carly bringing up the rear. The girl continued to clutch at his arm, and though he would probably need it free later the blonde did not have the heart to shake her off yet.
They sprinted through the room where the bad guys had tried to inject the girl, the man the Arabian pilot had wounded was still there moaning on the floor, and then they moved out into another hallway.
"Down!"
Quatre dove to the floor as bullets pinged through the air above their heads. This time he didn't have to pull Carly down with him because she was already moving that direction herself as soon as she heard the other boy's shout. She caught on real quick.
Duo tossed another grenade, clearing out the area ahead. They finally reached the lab, and Quatre shot the last two guards between them and the cages.
Of course they also had the doctors to deal with. As soon as the men in white coats had heard the alarms they had took action. Not killing subjects like the blonde had originally thought, but injecting them. They had only had the time to get to three, no one was stupid enough to stand still to be lethally injected, but that turned out to be enough. The men put the drug-crazed people between the pilots and themselves and then made their escape out the other doors.
A blonde girl in her twenties who would have been pretty if not for the expression of rage twisting her features jumped at Duo. He tried to grab her and hold her still, but she sunk her teeth into his restraining arm. He howled and then kicked her off of him, tossing her halfway across the floor.
"Son of a bitch! She took a fucking chunk out of me!" Duo raised his gun and pointed it at her as she jumped back up from the ground, apparently not feeling any pain. She spit at him angrily and started to move back towards him. "Don't come any closer lady! I don't want to hurt you!"
The crazed blonde didn't even appear to hear him. She rushed at him, and at the last possible second he shot her in the left leg.
It didn't even slow her down.
She tackled him for a second time and only his battle honed instincts allowed him to use her own momentum to throw her over and behind him. Quatre recalled the conversation he had heard earlier. "Duo!" He called out. "Shooting to disable won't do any good, once the drug is injected they don't feel any pain!"
"What the hell am I supposed to do then? I can't kill them! It's not their fault that there here!" The blonde couldn't have given an answer to that even if he had wanted to. The other two subjects had rushed him, and it was getting hard to fight them off. His spare gun went sailing across the lab.
Things were not going well. Hampered by their unwillingness to kill, and the pain cushioning rage held by their attackers, they began to have to fall back. Duo had run out of bullets and was not given any time to reload. Quatre had the same problem with his remaining gun, and had drawn his knife instead.
Pilot 02 was suddenly knocked into the blonde and they both went sprawling. Precious seconds were lost as they untangled themselves, and neither saw the crazed man about to plunge a scalpel into Quatre's unprotected back.
A shot rang out.
The drugged man with the sharp instrument fell to his knees as blood bloomed rose-shaped across his chest. They both looked up, and realizing what had almost happened, glanced at the source of the shot.
Carly was holding Quatre's spare gun shakily in both hands. Her green eyes were wide with surprise at her own actions when she spoke to the pilots. "They're beyond saving. I saw what happened when the others were given the drug. If they run out of people to kill they'll turn on themselves, they'll die anyway, and in a much worse way." She glanced at the other prisoners in the cages, and they nodded in unhappy agreement.
She sent the gun skidding across the floor to Duo, and then looked him in the eyes. She had gotten over her shock. "Please make it quick for them, that's how I would want it for me."
The braided boy hesitated, and then nodded solemnly. He turned the gun on the snarling people-turned-experiments, and executed them both with two quick, clean, shots to the throat.
For a second there was silence. Then Duo let out a shuddering breath and slowly lowered the gun. He remained unmoving for several moments and then hesitantly turned and looked into his friend's eyes. They did not contain the condemnation he was clearly expecting. All he saw in them was compassion and sorrow.
"You should have let me do it Duo," the blonde murmured unhappily.
"No Q, I really shouldn't have." He turned and walked to the cages, planning to release the people trapped within. We need to get them out of here. I refuse to let anyone else die. Quatre met the eyes of one of the female prisoners, and saw hope reflected there. The hope that maybe, just maybe, she would live.
And he watched her eyes as they darted behind him, and widened in terror.
The paralyzing sound of guns being cocked echoed through the lab.
The blonde turned slowly, careful to make no sudden movements. There were at least fifteen stone-faced men uniformed in security personnel clothing, all holding guns trained on them. Quatre heard Duo curse behind him.
A ripple stirred through the crowd of killers, and the two in front stepped aside to let somebody pass, and Everett Orth stood facing them. It was the same persona that had peeked out at Quatre when he was six. Gone was the charming man who had the whole world so enthralled. Instead he was a cold-eyed bastard holding a gun, as stone-faced as the rest of his soldiers. In this secret lab beneath his home, Orth no longer hid what he was.
A remorseless monster.
"Quatre Raberba Winner. You really shouldn't have come here. I wasn't going to have you killed until after I married your sister." He shook his head sadly. "Now it will have to be much earlier."
"Like hell you will!" Duo shouted angrily.
Orth frowned, and calmly turned and shot the braided pilot in the leg.
"Duo!" Quatre cried. He took a step toward him, but was stopped when Orth spoke again.
"Take one more step, dear brother-in-law, and my next bullet will go through his heart."
The blonde turned and looked at him, eyes full of helpless fury. He was beginning to wish he had gone with his initial impulse at the party and just slit the man's throat then. "Why are you doing this Orth? What do you hope to gain by subjecting all these people to your sick experiments?"
Orth smiled, a slow, sickening twist of his lips that froze the Arabian's insides. "I hope to gain what every man in history has desired. Power. Which, as you well know, goes hand in hand with money, and I will soon be making a wonderful amount." Orth moved to a metal tray and picked up a syringe filled with scarlet liquid. "With this I will accomplish all my goals. My scientists have dubbed it the Red Formula. It enhances aggression, turns the subject into an enraged killing machine that does not feel pain, that cannot be swayed by any prettily phrased pleas. Can you imagine dropping a batch of injected people on enemy territory? It would be a blood bath." He's eyes positively gleamed with these words. "Do you know how much certain groups would pay me to get a hold of it? You could infect your enemies and send them into their own homes, and they would do all the work for you. And with these psychopathic killers on the loose, the current government will have no choice but to rethink its policy on weapons. Excuse the bad pun, but I'll make an absolute killing at the market."
Quatre stared at him. "Do you realize how insane you sound?"
"Now Quatre, don't be rude. Do you remember what happened the last time?" He chuckled. "After all, all out war is so much more profitable. Besides I would have thought you of all people would be happy to return to the glorious days of heroic battle. After all, during the war you joyfully killed countless numbers, and were applauded for it."
Shit! He knows I was a Gundam Pilot, but how?
"They were glorious days indeed," a new voice interrupted. "It weeded out the weak far better than any plagues of old."
Allah save us! I know that voice!
The guards parted again, and a woman stepped up next to Everett Orth. She looked different than Quatre was used to seeing her. Her hair was tied severely back from her face into two buns, and round glasses perched on her nose. She wore an old Oz uniform.
It was Lady Une.
Notes: Oh come on. Are any of you really surprised? Obviously I wasn't going to make Duo a traitor. Half of you already guessed it was Une in the reviews. But maybe the reasons behind her actions will surprise you . . .
Okay. The stuff with the people in the cages? I depressed myself. But Quatre can't save everyone. Also, I had some trouble with this chapter, and I hope the action didn't come out to stilted. If it did feel free to bitch.
Thanks for all your reviews! I'm glad that none of you are going to have to kill me for making Duo a traitor. I want to live!