Author's Notes: Gee! Ok, ok, I'll post even if I don't get 10 reviews. I
just wanted to be happy (sniff) But well, thanks to the ones who reviewed.
Always Li-chan and Chibisora, my betareaders. Thanks to Whodunnit, the one
who hates review blackmail. Sorry for that.
Lets go on with the story......
warnings: bad words, angst, blood, torture.
"Beyond Life and Death"
By Shinigami's Voice
Chapter Two
[ All alone, all alone.......
where's the moon to wipe away my tears? ....
where's the voice that came to me in my dreams?.....
all alone...........]
The IV poured drugs into the system of the slender figure strapped and cuffed to the rustic bed. The eyes had been fluttering open since some time now, taking into fleeting glimpses of his surroundings.
'How much time has it passed?' -Duo wondered as he looked down at his form stretched on the hard mattress.
His chest was bandaged all over, as well as his injured left arm. Medical equipment surrounded the spot, the one that Oz had used to keep him alive.
However, the pilot felt completely drained. He could barely move his limbs, and the mere rhythm of his breath caused him pain.
'It surely is because of the drugs' -he thought, closing his eyes again- 'I wonder what kind they used to make me feel so tired.......'
Then, Duo frowned at some idea. He looked up again, and registered with his sight that there were no blood containers added to the IV or the other machines around.
'Bastards' -he thought with contempt- 'They probably let me bleed until my body gave up. No wonder I'm so tired.........'
In that moment, a silhouette entered the room, turning the lights on. Duo feigned sleep, but rapidly understood he wasn't going to fool this person.
"Good afternoon, 02. I see you're awake" -the somehow petulant voice spoke, as the man approached to the bed.
Duo didn't respond or gave any signs of listening the words. Suddenly, an agonizing pain ran through him as he felt something cold and sharp dig into his bandaged left arm.
His eyes shot open as he strangled the curses forming in his mind before they reached his lips.
'Damned bastard! Shit!'
The man pulled out the scalpel from Duo's arm, letting the boy saw the blood streaming down the thin blade.
"We'll be setting some things clear here. You will listen when I talk and you will answer when I ask. I don't want a spoiled child wasting my time" -the man said the words with scorn in his eyes and voice.
Duo stared at him as coldly as he could muster. It was a young commander, from the signs in the ozie's uniform. He was tall and red-haired, with a set of horrible yellow eyes.
"Just to set your mind clear, we're in base no one knows about, so you can forget the idea of being rescued. You will remain a prisoner until my partners and I decide you can be useful. If you don't prove to serve our objectives, we have no qualms into giving you a slow death. Understood?" -the man said, one of his eyebrows quirked.
The boy clad in tattered black didn't even flinch.
In response, the red-haired commander lowered his eyebrow to its original level and lifted the bloody scalpel, burring it into Duo's left hand with force.
"Understood?" -he repeated his question, but 02 just pressed his lips together and held the ozie's hard glance.
Then, a smirk surfaced the commander's face, as he drew the instrument down further, making Duo shudder in pain.
"Understood?"
"Bastard" -Duo hissed, his eyes shutting.
"Good. A starter" -the man said, pulling the scalpel out again.
The man gave him a depreciative look, and then tossed the metal object on the little table.
Without one more word, he turned his back and exited the room.
"What do you think, T?" -a woman's voice asked the red-haired ozie as he came into the other room.
"He is tough. Will last at least three days. Then we'll break him, M" -he answered to the smaller woman wearing a sergeant's uniform.
"Three days?" -M, the woman with dark short hair to her shoulders and small glasses covering her blue eyes repeated in disbelief.
"That's too much time, T" -another voice sounded from the shadows. A man clad in the same commander's uniform stepped out- "Two days it's always been our limit. And he will be no exception" -the man with dark blond hair and cold green eyes added in perfect level voice.
"In that case, we'll have to extra-work him out, A" -T shrugged at the comment.
The three ozies nodded and made their way into a hallway, as M said to the other two:
"I'll take the 1st session in half an hour......."
***************
In the rebels' battleship, 4 silent pilots sat in the computers room, each one of them studying the screens in front of them, searching every detail, every schedule, every communicate.
"Nothing" -a sigh accompanied Quatre's worried voice, as he changed to another screen.
"Nothing here" -Trowa added, one of his hands drawing over his face in tiredness.
"These bases are clean too" -Wufei said as his search finished.
"Keep looking" -Heero ordered without turning his eyes away from the computer in front of him.
The other three pilots straightened their backs and turned to their tasks again. Suddenly, a console biped in familiar sound.
"It's from Dr. J" -Trowa said, opening the file.
The old man appeared in the screen, clenching and unclenching his metallic hand.
"Report advances in 02's search" -he said in serious expression.
"The base we attacked has been evacuated. The probabilities of his transport to another facility or base are highly possible. We're searching into the closest areas to the first mission, and also in the vicinities controlled by Oz. Nothing found yet" -Heero said in his monotone voice, as if it was another usual report.
"Well, here's your next mission briefing" -the scientific said as he sent another file- "You'll be leaving in two hours, considering none of you were hurt in the past task. Tell the engineers to prepare your suits........."
"What about Duo's search?" -04 interrupted J's words.
"We'll continue it while you accomplish your mission" -the doctor answered.
"Retrieving the captured pilot should be our priority, not another mission" -Trowa said in reflective tone, in clear disagreement with Dr. J.
" I agree" -Wufei offered immediately.
"Wrong" -Dr. J unclenched his hand one more time- "You were not trained to run behind every captured soldier. You will continue your missions' schedule until useful and trustworthy information about his whereabouts is located"
"Leaving a pilot, not a common soldier, in enemy's hands is not prudent. He holds important information that Oz will try to get from him" -Heero, for the first time, showed his disagreement.
The doctor's face turned directly in Heero's direction.
"A Gundam pilot is trained to retain information at any cost, Heero Yuy. Pilot 02 is not the exception. Following that pattern, there's no real danger of any information's leak"
"But the time his retrieving takes is vital. The war can't afford to lose a pilot at this point. By stretching the time of his capture, his life's possibilities grow weaker" -Heero said, his voice still level, but his glance intense.
"The war can't afford it? Or you can't afford it?" -Dr. J said as he tilted his head, giving a derogatory look at the four of them- "Do not forget that you're soldiers in the middle of a war. Any emotion or sentimentalism is unacceptable. Judge what is more important: retrieve a pilot who can endure torture or accomplish the mission of destroying a keep of enemy suits threatening a civil station" -and before the old man turned out the communication, he repeated: "Here's your mission briefing. You leave in 1 hour and 45 minutes now"
The four youngsters exchanged reflective looks, as each one of them tried to make their minds.
Finally, Heero stood up from his place, and he started walking towards the gates.
"Collect the mission data in your panels and prepare your Gundams"
"Are we accepting the mission?" -Quatre asked, his eyes sad.
"Hai. That's our duty" -Heero answered as cold as possible.
"Maxwell?" -Wufei made the single question.
"It's been 33 hours by now. We still have time" -the Japanese pilot replied as he crossed the automatic gates.
The three pilots looked at the floor, still confused.
"Duo would never let innocent people die" -Heero's voice sounded behind the doors, and then his steps could be heard as he walked away.
"He's right" -Trowa said, looking up- "We have a mission"
"And Maxwell can hold more time. We'll just have to hurry and return as fast as possible in order to look for him again" -Wufei agreed, also heading towards the doors.
"Yes, you're right" -Quatre said thoughtfully- "I hope so....." -he murmured, his hand to his chest.
He had lost contact with Duo since they escaped from the explosion the day before. Maybe because of the distance, maybe because 02 fainted, maybe because of the drugs. Quatre wasn't sure.
************
"I do not like to repeat myself, 02" -the woman, sergeant M, said in serious tone to the boy lying helpless in front of her.
Duo raised his eyebrows at mockery and kept silent.
M's face didn't show any emotion as she turned to the medical equipment and started disconnecting the different machines that kept Duo's organism working.
'This....b**ch' -the longhaired boy thought as he realized what the woman was doing.
"As you prove to be very strong, I don't see the need to help you stay alive" -the woman said casually- "Besides, we can stop drugging you. Truth serum doesn't seem to work on you, and in this way, your organism will start reacting to the pain your injured body has acquired"
Duo took a deep breath. He could take pain. He had been this badly injured before.
"The bullet wound seems to be healing perfectly" -the sergeant commented as he glanced the boy's chest. After a pause, she added seriously- "We'll have to change that" -and she proceeded to rip the bandages, leaving the fresh wound exposed to any infection.
"Besides, this room is quite nice. You'll be immediately transported to a dungeon"- the woman lifted a hand, indicating the soldiers to come to the bed's side.
Three ozies started to remove the straps and the cuffs from Duo's hands and ankles.
Amethyst eyes narrowed a bit and then returned to normal.
'Good. Untie me and I'll show you what an orphan has learned to do' -he thought, with the hope of being able to break free.
"Wait" -Sergeant M said, stepping ahead and carefully studying the boy, and without any previous warning, she took hold of Duo's right hand, and with a firm movement, twisted his wrist completely.
Duo jerked from his place in blindly pain as the woman broke his hand.
'Hell! Damn!' -his eyes watered slightly as reaction to the pain.
"Your left hand is injured and your right is broken. Don't try any silly attempt to escape" -the woman said, her expression calm, and then addressed to the soldiers- "Transfer him to the dungeon. Don't put any blankets or clothes. And don't treat him gently. Be rough"
The soldiers nodded, the three of them a bit scared by the beautiful but cruel woman's actions. As they started to lift the pilot, the sergeant turned to leave, but then, as in second thought, whirled in her boots and dug her long nails into the very fresh gash in the teen's chest.
The L2 pilot squirmed, suffocating with strong determination the cry.
"Be rough" -M repeated as she left the room- "My partners and I can't stand any mercy or weakness"
*******
The mission went well, as well as possible. It took the four Gundams to destroy the Dolls and the cannon-ship the Ozies were training on the civil station to explode it.
Wing Zero fought rapidly and efficiently, just as the other three Gundams. But even if they were desperately trying to end the battle, more Dolls kept coming and coming. They couldn't rush the things, or they would only endanger themselves.
"No more enemy activity. North zone clear. Station secured" -Quatre informed, panting in exhaustion.
"Mission accomplished" -Heero declared- "Lets go back to the ship"
Two hours later, the pilots entered the computer's room again, but before they could take their places, the main console activated as a message was delivered.
The Neo-Arabic pilot left himself fall on the chair, as he inserted the code to open it.
"Gundam Pilots, this is the information found about Oz's activities" -Dr. J's voice sound as some pictures were displayed on the screen.
"An intercepted communicate from an Oz's satellite confirmed the presence of the A.G. force in space. Three analysts are now decoding different messages in order to find their location"
The pictures displayed depicted three Oz's officers, a red-haired man, a dark blond one and a dark haired woman, but no profile or any other information accompanied the images.
Wufei turned his confused black eyes to Trowa, Heero and then Quatre, but they all shook their heads in negative.
"These are the members of the A.G. from Oz. The Agony Group" -J's voice paused for a moment and then continued- "Commanders T and A and Sergeant M. These officers are in charge of important prisoners, and their duty is to develop different methods in order to break the rebels.......we have our reasons to believe that they were called to space to handle 02 pilot........."
An uncomfortable silence followed J's statement. The four young soldiers studied the faces of the torturers, carving them in their minds.
"Further information will be sent to your actual location. Don't move without authorization. We'll be expecting your mission's report in two hours."
And the communication was shut off.
"Do we have any other data about these officers?" -came Trowa's question.
"Not in these files" -Wufei answered as he searched the documents.
"We have to keep looking" -Heero said in low voice, feeling anger rising inside of him, but he kept collected and sat on the other chair.
"Now we have one more data piece. Look for the bases that have receive Earth's ships or inter-colony transportation" -Quatre said, and they all started once again.
However, the net was highly codified and it will take time to find a source of Oz's most recently information. Even for the high-level hackers the pilots were, it was a difficult task.
And their actual performance wasn't the top best.
As hours went by, anxiousness and exhaustion washed over them, both feelings clear in their expressions and body language.
"I can't take it any longer" -Quatre said, lowering his face over the keyboard- "I'm not even sure what I am doing now. Maybe it's the third time I've checked this zone..........I don't know"
Trowa brushed his hair out of his face, his green eyes almost blurred.
"I'm not taking in all the information either. My sight is not helping" -he admitted with remorse, halting in his typing.
"We're over doing ourselves" -Wufei murmured, passing his hands on his black hair- "Our current condition doesn't allow us to perform at full capacity"
Heero's typing also stopped, and he turned to look at his comrades. Their features spoke for them.
The Japanese's expression was serious and cold, though his eyes betrayed him. The dark circles and gazed look in the blue eyes revealed his also tired state.
During 49 hours now, they had kept an uninterrupted search for 02's whereabouts, with no success.
"We need rest" -Quatre said- "We won't find Duo if we keep like this"
The 01 pilot frowned slightly, but nodded in affirmation, setting his watch for three hours of sleep.
The other pilots imitated the movement, and then, with silent and regretful steps, left the room towards the halls.
************
In a dark and moist dungeon, a boy with shining violet eyes moaned in pain, as fresh blood streamed down his chest.
"Just a bit more, pal......."
"Just a bit more.......the guys will come in any minute........."
"Hold on........."
Duo's voice murmured as the time went by.
To Be Continued.......
A/N: R&R. I'm not blackmailing you, but listen to your conscience and leave me a review, please. How nice it would be to find many comments.....
warnings: bad words, angst, blood, torture.
"Beyond Life and Death"
By Shinigami's Voice
Chapter Two
[ All alone, all alone.......
where's the moon to wipe away my tears? ....
where's the voice that came to me in my dreams?.....
all alone...........]
The IV poured drugs into the system of the slender figure strapped and cuffed to the rustic bed. The eyes had been fluttering open since some time now, taking into fleeting glimpses of his surroundings.
'How much time has it passed?' -Duo wondered as he looked down at his form stretched on the hard mattress.
His chest was bandaged all over, as well as his injured left arm. Medical equipment surrounded the spot, the one that Oz had used to keep him alive.
However, the pilot felt completely drained. He could barely move his limbs, and the mere rhythm of his breath caused him pain.
'It surely is because of the drugs' -he thought, closing his eyes again- 'I wonder what kind they used to make me feel so tired.......'
Then, Duo frowned at some idea. He looked up again, and registered with his sight that there were no blood containers added to the IV or the other machines around.
'Bastards' -he thought with contempt- 'They probably let me bleed until my body gave up. No wonder I'm so tired.........'
In that moment, a silhouette entered the room, turning the lights on. Duo feigned sleep, but rapidly understood he wasn't going to fool this person.
"Good afternoon, 02. I see you're awake" -the somehow petulant voice spoke, as the man approached to the bed.
Duo didn't respond or gave any signs of listening the words. Suddenly, an agonizing pain ran through him as he felt something cold and sharp dig into his bandaged left arm.
His eyes shot open as he strangled the curses forming in his mind before they reached his lips.
'Damned bastard! Shit!'
The man pulled out the scalpel from Duo's arm, letting the boy saw the blood streaming down the thin blade.
"We'll be setting some things clear here. You will listen when I talk and you will answer when I ask. I don't want a spoiled child wasting my time" -the man said the words with scorn in his eyes and voice.
Duo stared at him as coldly as he could muster. It was a young commander, from the signs in the ozie's uniform. He was tall and red-haired, with a set of horrible yellow eyes.
"Just to set your mind clear, we're in base no one knows about, so you can forget the idea of being rescued. You will remain a prisoner until my partners and I decide you can be useful. If you don't prove to serve our objectives, we have no qualms into giving you a slow death. Understood?" -the man said, one of his eyebrows quirked.
The boy clad in tattered black didn't even flinch.
In response, the red-haired commander lowered his eyebrow to its original level and lifted the bloody scalpel, burring it into Duo's left hand with force.
"Understood?" -he repeated his question, but 02 just pressed his lips together and held the ozie's hard glance.
Then, a smirk surfaced the commander's face, as he drew the instrument down further, making Duo shudder in pain.
"Understood?"
"Bastard" -Duo hissed, his eyes shutting.
"Good. A starter" -the man said, pulling the scalpel out again.
The man gave him a depreciative look, and then tossed the metal object on the little table.
Without one more word, he turned his back and exited the room.
"What do you think, T?" -a woman's voice asked the red-haired ozie as he came into the other room.
"He is tough. Will last at least three days. Then we'll break him, M" -he answered to the smaller woman wearing a sergeant's uniform.
"Three days?" -M, the woman with dark short hair to her shoulders and small glasses covering her blue eyes repeated in disbelief.
"That's too much time, T" -another voice sounded from the shadows. A man clad in the same commander's uniform stepped out- "Two days it's always been our limit. And he will be no exception" -the man with dark blond hair and cold green eyes added in perfect level voice.
"In that case, we'll have to extra-work him out, A" -T shrugged at the comment.
The three ozies nodded and made their way into a hallway, as M said to the other two:
"I'll take the 1st session in half an hour......."
***************
In the rebels' battleship, 4 silent pilots sat in the computers room, each one of them studying the screens in front of them, searching every detail, every schedule, every communicate.
"Nothing" -a sigh accompanied Quatre's worried voice, as he changed to another screen.
"Nothing here" -Trowa added, one of his hands drawing over his face in tiredness.
"These bases are clean too" -Wufei said as his search finished.
"Keep looking" -Heero ordered without turning his eyes away from the computer in front of him.
The other three pilots straightened their backs and turned to their tasks again. Suddenly, a console biped in familiar sound.
"It's from Dr. J" -Trowa said, opening the file.
The old man appeared in the screen, clenching and unclenching his metallic hand.
"Report advances in 02's search" -he said in serious expression.
"The base we attacked has been evacuated. The probabilities of his transport to another facility or base are highly possible. We're searching into the closest areas to the first mission, and also in the vicinities controlled by Oz. Nothing found yet" -Heero said in his monotone voice, as if it was another usual report.
"Well, here's your next mission briefing" -the scientific said as he sent another file- "You'll be leaving in two hours, considering none of you were hurt in the past task. Tell the engineers to prepare your suits........."
"What about Duo's search?" -04 interrupted J's words.
"We'll continue it while you accomplish your mission" -the doctor answered.
"Retrieving the captured pilot should be our priority, not another mission" -Trowa said in reflective tone, in clear disagreement with Dr. J.
" I agree" -Wufei offered immediately.
"Wrong" -Dr. J unclenched his hand one more time- "You were not trained to run behind every captured soldier. You will continue your missions' schedule until useful and trustworthy information about his whereabouts is located"
"Leaving a pilot, not a common soldier, in enemy's hands is not prudent. He holds important information that Oz will try to get from him" -Heero, for the first time, showed his disagreement.
The doctor's face turned directly in Heero's direction.
"A Gundam pilot is trained to retain information at any cost, Heero Yuy. Pilot 02 is not the exception. Following that pattern, there's no real danger of any information's leak"
"But the time his retrieving takes is vital. The war can't afford to lose a pilot at this point. By stretching the time of his capture, his life's possibilities grow weaker" -Heero said, his voice still level, but his glance intense.
"The war can't afford it? Or you can't afford it?" -Dr. J said as he tilted his head, giving a derogatory look at the four of them- "Do not forget that you're soldiers in the middle of a war. Any emotion or sentimentalism is unacceptable. Judge what is more important: retrieve a pilot who can endure torture or accomplish the mission of destroying a keep of enemy suits threatening a civil station" -and before the old man turned out the communication, he repeated: "Here's your mission briefing. You leave in 1 hour and 45 minutes now"
The four youngsters exchanged reflective looks, as each one of them tried to make their minds.
Finally, Heero stood up from his place, and he started walking towards the gates.
"Collect the mission data in your panels and prepare your Gundams"
"Are we accepting the mission?" -Quatre asked, his eyes sad.
"Hai. That's our duty" -Heero answered as cold as possible.
"Maxwell?" -Wufei made the single question.
"It's been 33 hours by now. We still have time" -the Japanese pilot replied as he crossed the automatic gates.
The three pilots looked at the floor, still confused.
"Duo would never let innocent people die" -Heero's voice sounded behind the doors, and then his steps could be heard as he walked away.
"He's right" -Trowa said, looking up- "We have a mission"
"And Maxwell can hold more time. We'll just have to hurry and return as fast as possible in order to look for him again" -Wufei agreed, also heading towards the doors.
"Yes, you're right" -Quatre said thoughtfully- "I hope so....." -he murmured, his hand to his chest.
He had lost contact with Duo since they escaped from the explosion the day before. Maybe because of the distance, maybe because 02 fainted, maybe because of the drugs. Quatre wasn't sure.
************
"I do not like to repeat myself, 02" -the woman, sergeant M, said in serious tone to the boy lying helpless in front of her.
Duo raised his eyebrows at mockery and kept silent.
M's face didn't show any emotion as she turned to the medical equipment and started disconnecting the different machines that kept Duo's organism working.
'This....b**ch' -the longhaired boy thought as he realized what the woman was doing.
"As you prove to be very strong, I don't see the need to help you stay alive" -the woman said casually- "Besides, we can stop drugging you. Truth serum doesn't seem to work on you, and in this way, your organism will start reacting to the pain your injured body has acquired"
Duo took a deep breath. He could take pain. He had been this badly injured before.
"The bullet wound seems to be healing perfectly" -the sergeant commented as he glanced the boy's chest. After a pause, she added seriously- "We'll have to change that" -and she proceeded to rip the bandages, leaving the fresh wound exposed to any infection.
"Besides, this room is quite nice. You'll be immediately transported to a dungeon"- the woman lifted a hand, indicating the soldiers to come to the bed's side.
Three ozies started to remove the straps and the cuffs from Duo's hands and ankles.
Amethyst eyes narrowed a bit and then returned to normal.
'Good. Untie me and I'll show you what an orphan has learned to do' -he thought, with the hope of being able to break free.
"Wait" -Sergeant M said, stepping ahead and carefully studying the boy, and without any previous warning, she took hold of Duo's right hand, and with a firm movement, twisted his wrist completely.
Duo jerked from his place in blindly pain as the woman broke his hand.
'Hell! Damn!' -his eyes watered slightly as reaction to the pain.
"Your left hand is injured and your right is broken. Don't try any silly attempt to escape" -the woman said, her expression calm, and then addressed to the soldiers- "Transfer him to the dungeon. Don't put any blankets or clothes. And don't treat him gently. Be rough"
The soldiers nodded, the three of them a bit scared by the beautiful but cruel woman's actions. As they started to lift the pilot, the sergeant turned to leave, but then, as in second thought, whirled in her boots and dug her long nails into the very fresh gash in the teen's chest.
The L2 pilot squirmed, suffocating with strong determination the cry.
"Be rough" -M repeated as she left the room- "My partners and I can't stand any mercy or weakness"
*******
The mission went well, as well as possible. It took the four Gundams to destroy the Dolls and the cannon-ship the Ozies were training on the civil station to explode it.
Wing Zero fought rapidly and efficiently, just as the other three Gundams. But even if they were desperately trying to end the battle, more Dolls kept coming and coming. They couldn't rush the things, or they would only endanger themselves.
"No more enemy activity. North zone clear. Station secured" -Quatre informed, panting in exhaustion.
"Mission accomplished" -Heero declared- "Lets go back to the ship"
Two hours later, the pilots entered the computer's room again, but before they could take their places, the main console activated as a message was delivered.
The Neo-Arabic pilot left himself fall on the chair, as he inserted the code to open it.
"Gundam Pilots, this is the information found about Oz's activities" -Dr. J's voice sound as some pictures were displayed on the screen.
"An intercepted communicate from an Oz's satellite confirmed the presence of the A.G. force in space. Three analysts are now decoding different messages in order to find their location"
The pictures displayed depicted three Oz's officers, a red-haired man, a dark blond one and a dark haired woman, but no profile or any other information accompanied the images.
Wufei turned his confused black eyes to Trowa, Heero and then Quatre, but they all shook their heads in negative.
"These are the members of the A.G. from Oz. The Agony Group" -J's voice paused for a moment and then continued- "Commanders T and A and Sergeant M. These officers are in charge of important prisoners, and their duty is to develop different methods in order to break the rebels.......we have our reasons to believe that they were called to space to handle 02 pilot........."
An uncomfortable silence followed J's statement. The four young soldiers studied the faces of the torturers, carving them in their minds.
"Further information will be sent to your actual location. Don't move without authorization. We'll be expecting your mission's report in two hours."
And the communication was shut off.
"Do we have any other data about these officers?" -came Trowa's question.
"Not in these files" -Wufei answered as he searched the documents.
"We have to keep looking" -Heero said in low voice, feeling anger rising inside of him, but he kept collected and sat on the other chair.
"Now we have one more data piece. Look for the bases that have receive Earth's ships or inter-colony transportation" -Quatre said, and they all started once again.
However, the net was highly codified and it will take time to find a source of Oz's most recently information. Even for the high-level hackers the pilots were, it was a difficult task.
And their actual performance wasn't the top best.
As hours went by, anxiousness and exhaustion washed over them, both feelings clear in their expressions and body language.
"I can't take it any longer" -Quatre said, lowering his face over the keyboard- "I'm not even sure what I am doing now. Maybe it's the third time I've checked this zone..........I don't know"
Trowa brushed his hair out of his face, his green eyes almost blurred.
"I'm not taking in all the information either. My sight is not helping" -he admitted with remorse, halting in his typing.
"We're over doing ourselves" -Wufei murmured, passing his hands on his black hair- "Our current condition doesn't allow us to perform at full capacity"
Heero's typing also stopped, and he turned to look at his comrades. Their features spoke for them.
The Japanese's expression was serious and cold, though his eyes betrayed him. The dark circles and gazed look in the blue eyes revealed his also tired state.
During 49 hours now, they had kept an uninterrupted search for 02's whereabouts, with no success.
"We need rest" -Quatre said- "We won't find Duo if we keep like this"
The 01 pilot frowned slightly, but nodded in affirmation, setting his watch for three hours of sleep.
The other pilots imitated the movement, and then, with silent and regretful steps, left the room towards the halls.
************
In a dark and moist dungeon, a boy with shining violet eyes moaned in pain, as fresh blood streamed down his chest.
"Just a bit more, pal......."
"Just a bit more.......the guys will come in any minute........."
"Hold on........."
Duo's voice murmured as the time went by.
To Be Continued.......
A/N: R&R. I'm not blackmailing you, but listen to your conscience and leave me a review, please. How nice it would be to find many comments.....