DISCLAIMER – I do not own Gundam Wing.
Chapter Five
Quatre winced as the bowl clattered against the countertop. He was attempting a little more stealth so as not to wake the entire household up with his making breakfast. Heero had been asleep on the couch that morning, so he surely heard Quatre's clumsiness. Right on cue, Heero walked into the kitchen, but he wasn't exactly as Quatre had imagined.
Heero was fully dressed in clean jeans and a red t-shirt, and he even had his shoes on, which was a rare occurrence when Heero planned to stay in the house all day. Obviously, Heero did not plan on staying in the house today.
He sat at the kitchen table and accepted the mug of coffee Quatre handed him.
"Is anyone else awake?" Quatre asked, attempting to make small talk. He poured himself a cup of coffee and sat down, waiting for his first batch of pancakes to finish.
"I hope not," Heero answered. "I was planning on leaving without Duo knowing. He'd throw a fit otherwise."
This strange answer had Quatre completely confused. Where could Heero be going that Duo would be mad at him for leaving? "Where are you going?"
"A mission." Heero wasn't planning on saying more than that.
"A mission where?"
Heero took a sip of his coffee. He preferred it black. Quatre knew that Duo liked two packets of sweetener and creamer in his coffee. The packages were already on the counter by an empty mug awaiting Duo's appearance, courtesy of the impeccable host named Quatre Reberba Winner.
Obviously, Quatre thought, Heero wasn't planning on giving any details. That only meant one thing.
"It's a mission from Relena, isn't it?" Quatre asked.
Heero gave a quick nod of his head and stared straight into the black liquid in the mug. He didn't feel like talking about Relena with Quatre. Especially not after…
"You know, Heero?" Quatre started while getting up to check the progress of his pancakes. Heero looked up from his mug. "We never did talk about Relena."
"What's to talk about?"
Quatre flipped each pancake over expertly. "I never said I was sorry."
"Sorry for what?"
Quatre turned around to glare at Heero. "You know full well what!"
Heero set his mug down, concentrating on the correct choice of words to use. "There is nothing to apologize about. She was fair game."
"But I still feel bad about it. Like I betrayed you," Quatre confessed.
Heero's heart softened a little at the sound of his friend's voice. All this time he'd blamed only Relena, not ever thinking of how Quatre felt. And how Quatre felt as used as he did. "I guess she abandoned us both," Heero admitted.
"Yea, I feel like that, too. But I knew that you loved her Heero, and I slept with her anyway. It was the wrong thing to do," Quatre started apologizing again.
"Don't say you're sorry again," Heero cut in. "I had no right to be possessive of her. How can it be classified as betrayal? I never even told her how much I loved her. But, I've moved on now. I don't need a girl messing things up for me anymore." That was the way Heero had reasoned it out in his mind. Now that he spoke it out loud, it didn't seem as convincing.
"I know that you and I never talked about it because neither of us wanted to hurt the other," Quatre continued, "and things are settled between us?"
Heero nodded in affirmation.
"But we need to talk about Relena. And we need to talk about her now. You've been avoiding her for two years, Heero. Now that you have to face her again, what will happen?"
He thought deeply about what Quatre was telling him. His friend was right. No matter how mad he may be at Relena, he had to decide what he truly felt about her. Heero looked back at Quatre, but his friend was looking past him to the hallway.
Quatre's attention was drawn to something behind Heero and behind the kitchen doorway. He thought he saw a flip of braid, as if someone had turned around quickly and he'd only seen the wake of their hair.
* * * * * * * *
Jinx tried to blink back the tears. Heero loved Relena? How could she be so stupid? Of course Heero loved the girl that he'd saved over and over again. Why else would he save her ass all the time?
Even Quatre knew about it, she thought. He's the one talking to Heero about her. Jinx was the only one who didn't know that Heero already loved someone else.
She ran away from the doorway to the kitchen. Jinx had almost gone in there, lured by the smell of something Quatre was making and the knowledge that Heero was sitting at the table. But the conversation she overheard on her way down the hall caused her to approach with more caution. Now she wished she hadn't been so gullible last night, or so careful this morning as to overhear the conversation.
Through her attempts to keep from sobbing, Jinx was actually pleasantly surprised at herself for making it up the long staircase without tripping on her own feet. Just as she was enjoying this little spurt of pride, she fell.
"Ouch," Duo complained, untangling himself from Jinx. "Are you OK?" He got up and offered a hand to help her up.
She didn't look up at him, but kept her hands over her face and remained sitting on the floor at the top of the stairs where she'd fallen after running into Duo.
Duo wondered what to do for a moment, but only for a moment. Obviously, she was upset about something, and Duo had a hunch that Heero was most likely behind it all. Duo sat down next to her, putting his hands on her shoulders.
"Come on," he pleaded, "let me take you back to your room." Carefully, he helped her get up and led her back to Heero's room.
She didn't look at him the entire time. She sat on the bed and kept her face in her hands, too embarrassed to look at Duo and apologize for running into him or thank him for helping her up.
Duo was getting really worried now. The silent treatment was the worst in his opinion. He tried to think of all the things he could do to cheer her up enough to talk to her about whatever problem she had. He tried to think back to that time Heero had consoled him…
Hilde had broken up with him last year. Duo was a mess. He remembered not leaving his bed (because it still smelled like her, a little) for three days. Finally, Heero had enough of his moping and grabbed him by a leg and pulled him out of the bed and across the floor.
That was a little extreme. He wasn't going to do that to Jinx.
Then Heero had thrown him into a cold bath, with his clothes still on. Duo had cursed at Heero for doing it, but he knew deep down that he needed to clean himself and wash the hair.
Duo didn't need to give Jinx a bath. He'd given her one yesterday. After the "I'm going to drown myself" fiasco, they decided that someone had to stay with her during her bath. Quatre couldn't even say the word breast without blushing, so he'd declined helping right from the start. Heero mumbled something under his breath about 'not being right' and left the room, so Duo had been chosen for the task. He was the only one of the three Gundam pilots who was comfortable with the idea of helping a friend bathe. This friend only happened to have a female's anatomy.
After Heero had tossed his ass in cold water, he'd dragged Duo out again and roughly put some clothes on him. Then Heero did the most surprising thing of all. He'd combed Duo's hair. It still amazes Duo. Heero actually showed a little nurturing care by brushing out Duo's hair and re-braiding it. People with short hair just don't know how relaxing it is to have someone bush their hair.
That's it! Duo decided to help calm her down by brushing her hair. Maybe he could even style it in a different way so that they didn't look like twins so much anymore.
He handed her a couple of hair ties to warn her that he was about to get on the bed. "Here," Duo said as he sat on the bed behind Jinx. Carefully he unbraided her hair and started bushing it gently.
Jinx reveled in the pleasant feeling. People with short hair just don't know how calming it is to have someone brush their hair, she thought. She leaned her head back, making it easier for Duo to reach.
Duo smiled. Her reactions told him that she was actually enjoying this. He was glad to help make her feel better. Nothing better than cheering up a friend, he thought. To get more comfortable, he scooted closer to her and put a leg on either side of her body, thinking nothing of the semi-suggestive position.
* * * * * * * *
If he could, Heero would bore holes into the back of Duo's head with his eyes. He watched as Duo ran his hands through Jinx's hair. He watched as she let him run his hands through her hair. He watched as Duo again tried to get more comfortable. This time, Duo bent his knees and put his feet in her lap, effectively wrapping his legs loosly around her waist.
This was too much, he decided.
Heero had come upstairs to check on her, after Quatre said he thought he saw her in the hallway during their conversation. He wanted to explain that he didn't love Relena anymore. He wanted to say that she hurt him too badly by having sex with one of his best friends. And he didn't want to be with Relena, who would use a friend to get back at him just because he was too uncertain to tell her he loved her.
But he was too late. Duo had already been there, and he was the one to comfort her when she needed it.
Defeated, Heero slinked away from his own open door and left them alone.
* * * * * * * *
By the time Duo had finished his masterpiece with Jinx's black hair, Heero had already gone out to work on the shuttle again. Quatre was alone in the kitchen, still making some pancakes. Apparently, Heero had been hungry that morning and eaten everything that Quatre had intended for the four of them.
Jinx smiled slightly as Quatre handed her a mug of coffee, black. Duo was already sipping his own sweet version of brew.
"So what's going on with Heero?" Duo asked Quatre. "I haven't seen him this morning yet."
Quatre looked uncomfortable for a moment, unsure of whether or not to tell Duo. Heero hadn't wanted him to say anything, but him going off alone on this type of mission was a good way to get himself into trouble, Quatre thought. It'd be safer for Duo to be along with him.
"Relena informed him of an enemy supply base on the Siberian continent. He was going to leave for it as soon as he got that shuttle working."
"Alone?" Duo asked, sitting up straight in his chair. "Heero knows better than to do something like that alone. It's a good way to get himself killed, especially if the base is well defended."
"He knows that," Quatre admitted. "Actually, Relena had sent the mission for all of us, but I have a meeting this evening and Wufei is on assignment until this afternoon. Trowa is already on his way here, but it will take him a few hours to get here from L2."
Duo rolled his eyes at Heero's predictability. "So Heero thought he'd go ahead without us, take care of the base, then meet us at Relena's tomorrow after we can all make it to Earth."
"That's pretty much it," Quatre confirmed. "He was planning to just go to her palace after he destroyed the base. We'd meet him there tomorrow morning."
Duo stood up, pushing his chair over. "Well we aren't going to let him do it. Heero's going to go off and get himself killed. We don't know what kind of defense that base has. And he doesn't either." He glanced out the back window, watching Heero make some final touches on their piece of junk shuttle. Duo was definitely going too. But what about Jinx?
He looked down where she was still sitting at the table, watching him get angry at Heero's stubbornness. Heero had obviously done something wrong to make her upset, he thought. And he wasn't going to sit around and let his friends fight with each other. He was going to get them together if it was the last thing he did. "Come on," he said to her, grabbing her hand and dragging her out the backdoor of the mansion.
* * * * * * * *
Heero looked up from his final systems check when he heard the backdoor slam. Duo was clasping Jinx's hand and leading her to the shuttle. Heero's eyes darkened when he saw the handholding. Duo had two suits in his free hand.
"No way!" Heero yelled out to him. "You're not coming."
"Yes we are, Heero!" Duo yelled right back, matching the sternness of Heero's voice. Heero knew that Duo meant business.
Duo didn't get angry often, but when he did, it was best if Heero just went along with whatever Duo wanted. He didn't object anymore when Duo boarded the shuttle, with a confused Jinx in tow.
Heero couldn't help but notice her. Of course, she was still wearing his jeans and Duo's navy t-shirt, but Duo had done her hair in a very intricate manner. It was braided, and then wrapped around her head like a crown, exposing her neck. She was beautiful this morning. Even if she'd rather be with Duo, he didn't mind having her along for the mission.
* * * * * * * *
No one spoke to each other.
It had been the worst trip to Earth Jinx had ever experienced. Duo and Heero were angry with each other, and sat side-by-side in the pilot and copilot seats with their arms crossed in defiance. Neither one of them talked to her, or even acknowledged that she was alive back there in the navigator's station. They really didn't need a navigator, that's just where she happened to be tossed by Duo. And she was too afraid of their best-friend-fight to object to where he sat her.
Now that they were at their target location, a mile away from the landing site on a bluff overlooking the base that was nestled in an icy valley, Duo and Heero still weren't talking to each other or her. They all had on their spacesuits, well she had on an extra one of Duo's, to protect them from the blistering cold. Nothing like the northern hemisphere Siberian continent to cool you off.
Heero was laying flat, watching the base through binoculars. Duo was doing the same. Jinx was just watching them. They were so productive when they were fighting, she thought to herself sarcastically.
Heero glanced back at her. She knew he hadn't heard what she thought, but he definitely felt the sting of her frustration. It didn't seem to faze him too much.
"I count eighteen on perimeter guard. Two patrolling the north fence, three each on the west and east fence, and four on the south fence with two in the guardhouse," Heero informed in his impersonal military voice.
"That leaves four in the guard tower?" Duo asked for confirmation.
"Affirmative."
"No problem," Jinx spoke up from behind them.
"Huh?" Duo asked, turning around to face her.
"I can take out the four in the tower, two in the guardhouse, and at least three of the men on the south fence before an alarm is sounded," she explained.
"So could I," Heero mumbled under his breath.
"But could you do it from here?" she asked, a little bit of challenge creeping into her voice.
"From here?" Heero repeated.
Jinx nodded.
Duo smiled. "Now this I've got to see."
* * * * * * * *
Jinx waited on the icy cliff, watching for Heero's signal from the north fence. She could already see Duo in position near the west fence, closest to the artillery storage. He'd have a chance to sneak in and set up the explosives while she and Heero kept the guards distracted.
Movement caught her eye. Heero's light blue spacesuit did a good job of blending into the immense expanses of ice, but she could see him move closer to the guard at the corner of the north and east fences. She leaned down to her sniper rifle, focusing on a man in the guard tower through her sights. Her target was to the right of the second button of his uniform. She knew his heart was directly under there. Reaching forward to the muzzle of the gun, she screwed on the silencer.
Four quick shots seemed loud in her ears, but she knew that no one over a few feet away could have heard them. The four men in the tower slumped over, one after the other. Each was shot cleanly through the heart.
Quickly, she reached forward and unscrewed the silencer as she focused on her new targets. The soldiers in the guardhouse. The sound of these shots were the signals for Heero and Duo to move in.
* * * * * * * *
Heero watched as the four men in the guard tower suddenly dropped to the ground, dead. Jinx was a good shot, he thought to himself. Soon he'd hear the sound of her fifth shot aimed at the guardhouse.
He focused on the man attempting to light a cigarette in the freezing cold winds. His gun was tucked into the back of his belt. He was planning on using a little bit of stealth at first. Perhaps a breaking of his neck would be sufficient. After this soldier was taken care of, he'd use his gun to push his way further into the compound, distracting the remaining guards from Duo's work at the far end of the base.
A shot rang through the air, followed closely by a second and third. Jinx had started firing at the men on the south fence.
Heero leapt at the man with the cigarette. Pity, he thought. Smoking kills.
* * * * * * * *
Jinx's shots took Duo a little by surprise, though he was fully expecting to hear them, unlike the unlucky fellows who manned this base. He'd seen the guards in the tower disappear beneath the railing. Duo had tensed, waiting to hear his signal.
He wanted to jump out with each ringing shot. But he had to wait. Let the men be drawn to the south and east fences, away from him. Duo heard answering gunfire, but he couldn't imagine what they were shooting at. Jinx was too far away for them to ever find her. He heard Heero's gun, and decided to make his move.
Duo covered the distance to the fence in no time. Utilizing a little bit of gymnastics that Trowa had taught him, Duo was able to get over the fence without ripping his spacesuit or the bag of explosives he carried.
He bypassed the light armored vehicles and small artillery pieces. He knew the big stuff was in the hangar a few feet away. Making his way through the yard, he entered the hangar.
Mobile suits were stacked up against the walls of the aluminum building. Large missiles and storage units for torpedoes were gathered in the middle between the suits. These guys were idiots, he thought, leaving all this stuff so close together.
Duo worked as fast as he could. More men were appearing from the bunkhouse to assist in fending off the attackers. Little did they know that only two people were really attacking them. Finally, he set the last device on an impressively large container of suit-fuel.
He turned and ran from the base, clearing the fence and heading back to a safe area.
Duo dove behind a large chunk of ice, bringing out his radio. He knew that the men on the base were probably monitoring radio frequencies, but he had to check in with Jinx.
"Mimic, do you copy?" he asked with proper military protocol.
"Copy, Death," the answer came immediately.
"Has the Decoy Target cleared?" Duo tried not to laugh at his name for Heero. They'd decided on it after Heero had already left to get into position, so Heero couldn't object.
"Affirmative. Commence with operation."
Good, that meant that Heero was already far enough away from the base that he wouldn't be in the range of the blast. Duo held the detonator in his hand. "Roger that."
* * * * * * * *
From her vantage point at the top of the cliff, Jinx could see as the base exploded into bright and brilliant flames of red, orange and yellow. Dark clouds of smoke billowed up toward the afternoon sky.
Sighing, she rolled away from the sniper rifle and lay on her back to wait for Heero and Duo to return.
Mission accomplished, she thought.