Blood Bonds
By Tygerlilee
Chapter Twenty-Five
A Second Death
Disclaimer: It ain't mine
That day was the most difficult of Heero's life, and that was really saying something.
He knew where Huy was, he knew who had Huy, and he knew roughly why they had wanted him. But he had to go to school so that the police wouldn't grow suspicious and detain him for questioning. He fidgeted and squirmed in his seat, a nervous leg would jump up and down, and he tapped his fingers on his desk. He didn't know how much more he could take.
The moment dinner was over, he snuck away from the other boys and dashed to his dorm room. Digging through his closet, he pried back a board that he had loosened last night to hide his weapons in. The police had surely searched his room everyday since Huy's disappearance, and he could not afford to be found with so much as a butter knife in his room, much less ammunition and eight inch blades.
Heero changed into a T-shirt and jeans, pulling on his sturdy tan boots. He stuffed one gun in the front of his waistband and another into the back. Then he strapped a knife to his ankle, two others to each arm, and stuffed five magazines in his jacket pockets–lots of ammunition was always a necessity and precaution. He filled his backpack with library books and crammed in a water bottle as a last minute thought, then he swung it onto his back. They would be his alibi if the police tried to search him: going to the library to return some books. If the police tried to frisk him, he would whap them over the head with the bag and run. Then he slipped out of the red brick building.
Quickly and discreetly, he covered the street and escaped the campus. After passing the city library, Heero caught a bus and sat down in a seat mid-way through, trying to calm his jumping nerves.
Huy would be okayHuy would be okayHuy would be
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"Official Preventor business, out of the way, official" Wufei yelled, parting the crowd in the police station, Sally following in his wake trying her best to smother giggles.
Wufei stormed into the Chief's office and glared meaningfully around.
The older man ignored Wufei and asked pointedly to the older Sally, "Preventors? What the heck's goin' on?"
"Five days ago Huy Iwasato was abducted. His disappearance has been linked to a group of terrorists. It is now in our jurisdiction. I am Major Po, and this is my partner Lieutenant Chang; we are requesting that you turn over all records dealing with this case and recall all you're men from their stations." Sally's face was stern now, swiped of the earlier amusement caused by Wufei's usual brash manner.
"You expect me to turn over this case to a young giggly woman and a cocky teenager?" the Chief asked, not failing to notice the long purple bruise on the boy's forehead and nose. "I don't think so. You have to have forms signed as well. Besides, we have no evidence that Huy Iwasato was involved in any illegal"
"Huy is innocent," Wufei interrupted. The Chief expected him to continue and explain, but Wufei remained silent.
"Here is our authority," Sally said, breaking the silence with the presentation of a long form signed by Lady Une.
The Chief recognized the signature and grudgingly called all the detectives and policemen involved in the investigation to his office. "They will all be here shortly and will brief you on the situation."
Wufei smirked condescendingly. Sally smacked him on the shoulder. Wufei glared at her and then they both stood still in place, waiting for the men to come in.
The first to show was a man in his mid thirty's. "This is Detective Helmer," the Chief said abruptly. "Helmer, these people are from the Preventors. They are taking over the Iwasato case, kindly brief them while I gather the files."
Helmer looked like he had swallowed something nasty. The Preventors always forced their way into everything, and now they were even further insulting the local police department by sending two children ingrates. This obviously wasn't that important to the Preventors, but they still felt that they must claim their territory, the detective thought angrily.
"Basically we've got nothing. From what we can gather, Huy disappeared sometime early Saturday morning, between midnight and four a.m. Four of his friends alerted us about seven thirty that morning. Huy's roommate was missing, out looking for Huy according to the other boys. We searched the room, found nothing. The roommate reappeared, but it was like talking to a brick wall. He didn't give us a thing. We suspect that all the boys were out doing well, God only knows what–what teenagers get up that early on Saturday? But none are talking. One has left the little circle and we are trying to crack him, but he seems terrified of something. Two just stare at us blankly. Another glares at us, and then, once again, the roommate is a wall. Until they talk, we can't go any further. Merry Christmas," he spat out.
Then it hit him. The roommate' looked uncannily like Huy Iwasato. Huy disappeared and the boys were all terrified, yet Heero Yuy remained unmoved and seemingly unaffected. Now the Preventor's were here. "This has to do with the roommate, doesn't it?" he asked quietly.
Neither Sally nor Wufei said a word.
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Neas looked around the library for Heero at the usual table. Mandatory study. Ugg.
Heero wasn't there yet, so Neas took his usual seat. Shortly thereafter, Kumen and Jimbo joined him. After another fifteen minutes they were all looking nervously at each other.
Then they realized the same thingHeero wasn't going to come. He was gone too.
The boys made a run for it, but were waylaid by two teachers. "Where do you boys think you are going?"
"We left our essays in our dorms!" Neas said breathlessly before the other two could give them away.
The teachers looked at them skeptically. "But you knew that you had study today."
"Yah, but we still forgot," Neas retorted dumbly, a little panicked. Every minute that passed, Heero was getting farther away.
"PLEASE!" Kumen suddenly pleaded.
The teachers rolled their eyes as if each were saying, I've heard this a million times and it drives me insane. "Okaybut if you are not back in ten minutes, we are going after you. Understand?" The boys nodded. "Good. I need your names"
Another two minutes later, the four were sprinting down the street to the dorm, barreling up the stairs, and pounding on Heero's door. "HEERO!! ARE YOU IN THERE!!!! GET YOUR SORRY BUTT OUT HERE!!!!!!" Neas yelled at the top of his lungs.
"What on Earth is all this screaming for?" the landlady asked suddenly appearing behind them.
Jimbo screeched like a girl and jumped three feet in the air he was so surprised. "How did you get here so fast?" Kumen asked.
"You boys were galloping around like a bunch of race horses, I could hear you all the way from the school. What's going on?"
"Our friend didn't show up for study, so we came to see if he was here."
"I take it you boys don't have a key." They all shook their heads. "Where is his roommate?"
"His roommate is Huy Iwasato, ma'am," Kumen said softly.
The woman started a moment, then shook her head. "Well, for the life of me, I don't understand why I can't remember this room number. I've had to open it at least twenty times in the past four days. Give me a couple minutes and I'll get it for you," she sighed.
They grinned appreciatively and as soon as she disappeared, they began to pound on the door again.
Three minutes later she appeared again. "Good grief!! Don't tear down my door!! Outta the way" and she unlocked the door and jumped out of the way quickly so as to not get mauled by three teenage boys.
They quickly rummaged around the room. "He's not here" Kumen said quietly.
"Oh, thank you for that very perceptive deduction. Why don't we give him a prize!! I'm calling the police," Neas said harshly as he strode out of the room. "Can I borrow your phone, ma'am?" he asked more kindly.
She sighed again, but said, "Okay."
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Ai sat down on the foot of the bed and watched her husband pace up and down the carpet. Threads would surely be showing through soon. "Should we call?" she asked.
"NoI don't think so. This is something Heero has to do on his own. The police would just mess everything up."
Then the vidphone rang. Ai lunged for it, Ryuzou two steps behind her. "Hello," she said quickly, anxious when she saw the Chief's face on the screen.
"Mrs. Iwasato," he greeted. "I think that you and your husband had better come down to the station. There has been a little change in the investigation" he trailed off.
"We'll be there in a couple minutes." And she hung up.
They sprinted down to the rental car and Ryuzou sped to the police station, rushing through the doors. Everyone at the office now knew the parents of Huy Iwasato, so no one stopped their entry. Ryuzou threw open the Chief's door to see the room full of detectives and lieutenants that he had seen over and over, looking for his son. And then he saw the teenager with an odd bruise and a blond Chinese woman; both were dressed in Preventor uniforms.
"What is going on," he questioned immediately.
"Mr. and Mrs. Iwasato, these people," the Chief said motioning to the Preventors, "are Major Po and Lieutenant Chang. The are here on behalf of the Preventors. They will be taking over the search of your son."
Ryuzou quickly sized up the two. A young woman with slanted eyes and twists, and a very, very Chinese teenager with a hard gaze and a tight ponytail. Then it struck him, once he got past the purple linethe look in his eyes was identical to Heero's. And then he knew that he was facing another one of the five Gundam pilots. "Nice to meet you," he said quietly.
Chang nodded in quiet respect, something that did not pass over the Chief's notice. That boy had been a pain in the you-know-what since he came, demanding and barking orders. Why did he respect Ryuzou Iwasato so suddenly? Did he mistake the man for being Chinese?
"We will find your son, but we want to ask" the phone interrupted Sally before she could finish her statement.
"What is it Lily," the Chief barked into the vidphone's audio receiver.
"We've got call you should listen to," Lily told him.
"Not now"
"But siryou should REALLY listen to it NOW."
Something in her voice made him nervous. "Play it for me."
"Right away sir." Then her face disappeared as she hooked up several wires and made a transfer. Then the screen fizzed out and a teenage Arabian appeared on the screen with a tall black boy and a large white boy behind him. The room became deathly silent, and Wufei and Sally crouched over the screen.
"This is 9110 department. What's your emergency?" an unseen voice asked.
"This is Neas Abish. I'm calling to report a missing person."
"How long have they been missing?"
"His name is" the boy rambled quickly, ignoring the question.
The voice cut him off, catching the deliberate disregard of the question. "If your friend has not been missing for more than twenty-four hours, then I suggest you go looking for him yourself."
"But you don't understand!" the boy said, panicked.
"I don't have time for pranks."
"But you have to listenit's really important," he pleaded.
"And so are the hundreds of other people calling in. Goodnight kid, and go do your homework."
And the screen went blank. The room's silence became almost hostile. "That was one of Huy's friends" the Chief breathed out heavily. Then Lily's face reappeared.
"I told you that you would want to see it."
"Where was that kid calling from?"
"I've already dispatched several men to pick the boys up."
"You're a good girl, Lily. When will they be here?"
"Any minute."
"Thanks. Send them to my office as soon as they arrive."
"Will do." Then the screen blipped blank.
"Will anyone care to explain what just happened?" Ryuzou asked from the back of the room.
"Neas just called in to report a missing person. We can only assume, since Kumen and Jimbo were behind him and Culver hasn't associated with them since Huy's disappearance, that they were going to report Heero–the roommate," he told Wufei and Sally.
"We know who Heero is," Wufei retorted.
Then the Chief looked carefully at the Chinese boy clearly for the first time, and then back to Ryuzou. "What's going on here? What do you know that we don't?" he pressed.
"It's none of your concern now that we are in charge," Wufei said shortly.
Then the door burst open again to admit three high school students escorted by two fuzzes. "What's happened to Heero?" the Chief immediately asked.
"We don't know. We haven't seen him since dinner and he's not in his dorm," Neas quickly answered, looking relieved that someone was listening to him. Ai whimpered from the wall and sank into a chair. Wufei raised an eyebrow at her reaction.
"But he's disappeared before. What's so different this time?"
"I knew where he was then. He didn't say a word this time," Neas said firmly.
"I think that it's about time that you tell us what is really going on. The information that you have could save both boys' lives."
Neas stood tall and kept his mouth shut tight. Jimbo and Kumen cowered behind him.
The to everyone's surprise, it was Wufei who did the distracting to lighten the moment, albeit unintentionally. "I need to borrow your computer," he directed his request to the Chief.
"What for?" he began as Wufei sat down and typed quickly.
"Crud" he muttered under his breath.
"What is it?" Sally asked, standing behind him. Then she swore.
"Enlighten" the Chief muttered.
"Heero sent me an e-mail. He's found Huy and he's going after him tonight," Wufei said.
"But he can't do that alone" Helmer began, but was interrupted when Wufei and Sally burst out laughing. Everyone stared at them as if they had just been declared legally insane.
"Just you wait. There isn't anything Heero can't do," Sally said confidently.
"Then why did you say crap' just a second ago?" Helmer asked.
"Because we're going to have to clean up after him," Wufei smirked. "Heero's not too nice sometimes." Then he looked over at Ryuzou. "But you already knew all of this, didn't you?"
The Japanese man nodded. "I talked to him last night. He told me everything." But only Wufei and Sally and Ai truly understood what he meant by everything.' It certainly wasn't something so insignificant as where the boys were the night Huy disappeared.
"HEERO TALKED TO YOU AND YOU DIDN'T TELL US!" the Chief boomed. "I THOUGHT YOU WANTED TO FIND YOUR SON AGAIN!"
"I DO!! AND THAT'S EXACTLY WHY I'M LETTING HEERO TAKE CARE OF EVERYTHING!!" Ryuzou yelled twice as loud as the Chief, startling everyone.
"But Heero can't do it on his own, not after how sick he's been" Ai whispered in a strained voice. Her face was pale and she looked worn, a shadow of her former self.
"Sick?" Sally and Wufei asked at once, looking at each other.
"Since when does Heero get sick?" Wufei wondered out loud.
"He's collapsed twice at school. The doctor said it was anemia," Jimbo volunteered.
"That doesn't sound right. We'd better find him and fast" Sally whispered. "Heero's to strong for something like that to affect himhe relocates his own bones, for heaven's sake. And he understands that you need to take care of yourself, anemia is self-inflicted to a certain extent."
"You guys sound as if you know this boy personally," the Chief said a little menacingly.
"We do, as does Lady Une," they both said quickly.
"Wha?" the Chief was badly startled, for the fifty-millionth time that day.
"I told you that Huy was innocent. Not Heero. I wouldn't be surprised if we find those terrorists shot through the head when Heero is done with them," Wufei said.
The Chief paled. "But he's a teenager"
"So am I," Wufei said quietly.
"Wufei" Sally began.
And then Jimbo blurted out innocently, "You're the Gundam Pilot, aren't you!!" He seemed very pleased with his observation.
Wufei smirked and strode out of the room. "Sally, get instructions to Heero's dorm room."
"Hey! I'm your superior youNeas, come on kid. We need to tell mister I-got-out-on-the-wrong-side-of-the-bed-this-morning' how to get there. He has the worst humanly possible sense of direction"
Neas numbly followed Sally out, and everyone stared from Jimbo to Kumen to Ai to Ryuzou.
"YOU KNEW THAT HEERO YUY WAS A GUNDAM PILOT!!" the Chief screamed.
"Heero's a what?" Jimbo asked, nonplussed.
Wufei screeched around a corner, nearly running over several little old women. "Wufei!! Slow down!! You don't own the road!" Sally yelled.
"Yes I do" he gritted out defiantly.
"Turn left he-re" Neas voice cracked nervously. "It's the big red brick building over there," he said weakly as Wufei jerked to a stop on the side of the road.
He jumped out, dragging Neas by the collar of his shirt and barked at him to unlock the door. Neas' hands shook a little and Sally yelled at Wufei to stop terrorizing Neas.
They ran into the building and the landlady took one look at the wild-eyed Wufei and lunged for the vidphone.
Wufei jumped into the office and knocked the phone away. "I need the key to Heero Yuy's room," he said fiercely.
Neas and Sally followed in. "It's okay, ma'am. He's a Preventor," Neas explained.
"And I'll make sure to put the leash and muzzle back on him as soon as we leave," Sally assured.
The older woman sighed and got the key for room C-17 once more, then plodded up the stairs so slowly that Sally was afraid the Wufei would grab her and sprint the rest of the way up with her over his shoulder.
Finally, they entered the room and Wufei plopped into the Heero's desk chair, clicking away on the direction pad. "Try that"
"NahHeero's never that obvious. It'll have a pass word." Wufei was sure that Heero would have some clues as to where he thought Huy was on his hard-drive, somewhere. "Here it is," he said softly. "I just have to figure out how to break the code"
"That could take forever with Heero," Sally said, not very encouragingly.
Neas sat numbly on Heero's bed, watching the Preventors nose through Heero's computer with quiet wonder and awe at that night's revelations, dissolving into the background.
" wingzero'!! Do you honestly think that he would use his Gundam as his password?"
"It's been done before," Wufei defended himself.
Sally sighed in disgust. "Try something less obvious."
"Relena? Peacecra" he said when Sally smacked him.
" Hi Wufei'? Where did that come from?"
"I don't knowI'm just typing for the heck ofoh. Holy. Crap. That was it"
"What do ya knowhe knows you better than you know yourself"
"wait, something's not right here."
Sally's face grew serious as she peered over her partner's shoulder. "I don't get it? What is all of this stuff?"
"It seems this operation is a bit more extensive than Heero let on. Look, they've got some governor involved!"
"Wait, I know that name," Sally said. "Help me remember. George Morris"
"Isn't he the local governor for a group of colonies?" Wufei asked.
"Yah, he is. Andpeople were really worried because the last colony he was in charge of had a few problems" Sally trailed off in thought.
"A few problems? Didn't it completely fall apart?"
"You're right. I think we had better get back to the station, contact Lady Une. This is bigger than we thought."
Wufei nodded numbly.
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The light clicked off again and the door slammed shut.
Jothan Kirkpatric's heavy footfalls had everyone in the kitchen on their feet as he entered. "He hasn't said a word, but we will break him."
"I don't get how pretending to think that he is Heero will get any information from" Traz grumbled.
"If he knows anything at all, he'll probably yell it out and try to get us to leave him alone. Force eventually gets all the answers," Yajoroo volunteered.
Jensin sat on the floor looking pale Jothan was worried that he'd give out soon. He didn't have the same constitution as the rest of them having joined the group after the wars ended.
Huy allowed himself to groan out loud, but he breathed in too hard. A sharp pain shot up through him, a shock that settled in his brain and he tried not to breathe. He laid on his back and took shallow breaths, trying not to further injure himself. He had a sneaky suspicion that a rib was forced inward and ripping at his lung. Well, if he started to cough up blood, he would know for sure.
He stared up at the ceiling, trying to focus on happier times to prevent himself from wailing, playing his mind's pictures across the canvas of the blackness above. Though the room was pitch black, he could hear little noises from outside of the roomthere was a crack in one wall, and the floor was coated in a thin layer of dustwhere was he? He didn't know. When was the last time he'd eaten? When they had forced some bread into his mouth last night. They had to keep him alive, they said. He had nearly choked on the water. The room smelled of human excretion. There was no bathroom, but Huy wouldn't have been able to stand and use it if it was there.
His chest was throbbingcouldn't anyone find him?
Something began to crawl on his leg and panic arose in his chest. Calm down Huy, he told himself. You are just imagining thingsyour imagination is a bit too vivid and active for your own goodcalm down
Then the door opened, flooding the room with light. Huy choked back a sob. They had just left! What else could they do to him? He hadn't even heard footsteps to warn him that they were coming
The light disappeared as the door closed. Soft footsteps approached him. He braced himself for the strike, trying to continue his pained breath
A hand rested gently on his neck, feeling for a pulse. "Huy" Heero's familiar and welcome voice whispered softly.
Huy's eyes flew open to meet Heero's, the light from the crack in the wall reflecting off of them. Huy began to cry.
"It's okay. I'm getting you out of here," Heero told him.
Huy nodded, unable to speak. He felt the ropes binding his wrists and ankles fall away and hands rubbing circulation back into his bloodless appendages. Heero started to lift Huy up when he moaned out loud and Heero let him back down.
"What's hurt, Huy?"
"They broke a couple of my ribs and one is stabbing inwardI'm not sure what else"
He couldn't see Heero's face, but Heero lifted him up again, more carefully and slowly until he was in the upright siting position. He heard a zipper clink and then a bottle was pressed into his hands. "Drink," Heero instructed. "Slowly."
Huy lifted it and gulped it all down as slowly as he could force himself. The door opened a crack, and Heero peered out cautiously. Then he turned back to Huy and helped him to stand. Huy pitched forward and Heero caught him before he smashed his nose on the floor. "I guess I'm just really weak"
"That and your leg is at a right angle"
"Heh, guess I was concentrating so hard on my ribs that I didn't notice."
"Apparently. You can't walk on that. Hold onto me."
Huy gratefully wrapped an arm around his friend and they limped out of the room slowly.
Two men came sprinting into the kitchen and center of operations. "Lieutenant Kirkpatric, sir, we believe we've had a break in. We noticed a blip in the camera's. Someone has fixed them so they show the same pictures over and over."
"What?! How could that be done from the outside?" Jothan asked harshly.
"I don't know, sir," the younger man was sweating heavily.
"It's got to be Yuy," Yajoroo said at Jothan's elbow.
"Naturally," Jothan said. "Send two men to check on the prisoner. Alert me on channel seven if anything is out of order," he said, switching on a portable radio.
Huy noticed the gun in Heero's hand. Every time they reached a doorway or a corner, Heero peeked around it, weapon first, and then pulled Huy onward.
They plodded along at a painfully slow pace through the darkened corridors–little curls of ancient paint decorated the floors and incessant dripping helped to fill the unnerving silence. Several men suddenly strode out of a room on the left side of the wall about ten feet in front of the boys and stopped in the hall, staring in shock at them. But in a second they had pulled their own guns and aimed for them.
"Put the gun down, kid," a brunette ordered. The other man said something on a walkie-talkie.
Heero put the safety on his gun and dropped it with a clatter to the concrete floor.
"Good, now put the kid down too."
Huy could sense Heero almost smirking as his friend lowered his weak, bruised body to the frozen floor. Then he stood boldly staring the men down.
"Well, wellthe boss was right after all." He evidently expected Heero to ask him what he meant, but Heero didn't say a word; he just stared on with a cold calculating gaze.
"Com'on, let's get them to the South hall. The Lieutenant said he'd meet us there."
Then two things happened almost at the same time. In a swift movement, Heero reached back behind him for the other gun. Then another lone man from behind silently jumped at Huy and shoved a gun at his neck.
"Touch that weapon, and he dies," he said, implying Huy.
Heero let his hand fall, dropping the weapon uselessly to the ground and held his hands up.
"Good. Now walk. And you kid, get up and walk."
"He can't. His leg's broken," Heero interjected.
"Shut up," he snapped. "Get up boy," he yelled at Huy again.
Huy leaned forward carefully on his hands and pushed himself up on one leg, the other flopping uselessly. "Ga" one of the soldiers cringed.
"Help him Garber," the other barked to the gasping man, as he held a gun to Heero's spine. "You"
Heero walked, steadily but his mind was frantic. He couldn't believe that he had been caught this easily–clumsy and stupid. But he was out of practicehe could not and would not failthis was not for himno mission ever was. He had to think and fast.
They wove in and out through several corridors. The place was a labyrinth of passages, a virtual piece of art. Rundown though it appeared on the outside, it was a sturdy barrack on the inside.
Heero made notes of the directionsright, right, through the middle of a room, left, down stairs, left, left
They entered a large room full of large sheet-swathed equipment with high latticed windows, and a blond man was standing in front of them with four men behind him. Heero quickly recognized this man and decided that he was the leader and then sized up the blond man's companions--his other opponents.
Two tall and lean, two short and muscular, the one with a gun to his head, another odd man guarding the door that they had just come through, and the one helping Huythen the blond. All were armed with semi-automatics and pistols. The blond carried a bullwhip in his belt.
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Wufei turned to Sally as he put down the vidphone receiver. "Well?" she asked, anxiously.
"She doesn't want to go after Morris yetmight endanger Huy and/or Heero. She figures Heero'll probably take care of the guys and we'll get a couple to confess the whole plot. Scandal, law suits, yadda, yadda, yadda, Morris is in jail."
"So what does she want us to do?"
"Find Heero, give assistance where needed, and clean up after him," Wufei said calmly.
"But" Sally stopped when Detective Helmer knocked and entered the room.
"So what's going on? Do you honestly expect us to just step out of this mess and let you take care of it all after everything that we have done trying to find that boy? Do you?" he said quietly.
Wufei glared stiffly out a window and Sally rubbed her temples. "This is a lot more complicated than we thought. Political reaso"
"Politics my foot! A kid could be dead out there! I don't see how the two of you can take care of everything." Helmer was fuming.
"You're right," Wufei said softly.
Helmer's face scrunched in confusion. "Right about what?"
"We can't do it on our own. We may not be able to do anything about the root of the problem, YET, but we can help Heero and Huy. We are only two. We are weak, thus we need the help of the stron"
"Oh shut up Wufei!" Sally burst and Helmer raised an eyebrow at her reaction. Sally turned to the detective. "What Wufei is saying is that this whole thing was started by someone else. There are a lot of people involved, and the instigator is not on this colony. Lady Une instructed us not to reveal the presence of this person in any shape, form, or fashion. We are to find Heero, thus we will find Huy, and get them out of this mess as quickly and quietly as possible. For that we will need some help. You see this as a local kidnapping, thus it is in you jurisdiction. But because of its far reaches, it is in our jurisdiction. We can carry out a mission and get the kids in and out. But we will need your help in hiding from the media and the holding of the men or women involved here. We have reason to believe that thirty or so trained men are holding Huy in a compound. The two of us won't be enough." Sally stopped and looked at Helmer, waiting for a reaction.
Helmer stood still for a moment as if digesting all of the information, then he turned, opened the door, and yelled for the chief.
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"Hello, Heero Yuy. It's a shame that you went sneaking around. We would have let you in, had you knocked," the blond man greeted Heero and the band of men. "I have a proposition for you, Zero One. You are a soldier, and from what we have been able to learn, you have always been one, thus you should be quite ready to listen. So please desist looking for an escape, for you will not see one. It would be quite beneficial to listen to us; you might even find what we have to say to your liking."
Heero kept his eyes focused on the man speaking before him but poised himself to grab at the blade attached to his forearm. They had bungled in not checking him for other weapons.
"The Earth and Space Colonies have chosen to co-exist. That is very admirable, however it cannot work. Eventually someone will give and fighting will begin again. But our wonderful, angelic Miss Darlin has eliminated all weapons except for those, which the Preventors use during emergencies. I cannot see the good in this. Everyone is defenseless, thus there are millions of perfect openings for attack. Anyone with any amount of ambition could easily take over.
"I am Jothan Kirkpatric, one of the leaders of a new organization. Our organization wishes to show this weakness to Miss Darlin. Perhaps it will help her to realize her flawed system and make certainamendments to her laws. But much like the former White Fang, we need a figurehead, an emblem, atitle. Would you be willing to pilot our new Gundam and be that figure, Heero Yuy?"
Huy looked from Kirkpatric backed by four to Heero standing with a gunman at his head and another with himself and behind. He wanted to run and hide very, very badly.
Heero didn't blink. "Do you think you are God?"
"No more than Trieze Kushranada or Zechs Marquis, or even yourself for that matter, did."
Heero shook his head sadly. "But you missed what they were trying to accomplish."
"No I didn't. It's just what they were doing was wrong. They wanted to show how horrible battles were by creating the worst one imaginable. Thus they would incite the people all over the Earth and Colonies to lay down arms and eliminate them. Even you Gundam Pilots destroyed your weapons. But this idea cannot work for someday someone will rise up and take over."
"Like you?"
"Don't be so pessimistic and distrustful, Zero One." The blond was persistent, and Heero had to think fast.
"That's not my name," he heard himself saying. This Jothan was lying about what they were doing and all of his subordinates were buying it from the looks on their faces. Did they even know about Morris? It had been difficult enough for Heero to find the information about that obscure colony and it's plight from about fifteen years ago and then link it to Morris. After several days of frantic searching and following his instincts, Heero had had an epiphany and realized what had happened only last night. So if this Jothan hadn't told his underlings the truth, there was only a very slim possibility that they knew the truth. That was when he decided to act. But Heero didn't like the way this conversation was going. He couldn't let Jothan know that he already knew all about the plot for Morris to take over. Heero's mind continued to spin.
"Oh, is that so? Then what is it? Heero Yuy?" Kirkpatric laughed, amused and annoyingly confident.
Huy felt very awkward. He knew Heero had another namebut Heero didn't. He wanted to yell the name out. But he couldn't.
Heero laughed suddenly. It was his strange, off-balance laugh of someone pushed too far, and it scared everyone in the room and managed to unnerve them. Then Heero stopped as suddenly as he had started, grabbing the knife from his sleeve and lunged for Kirkpatric, aiming for his heart.
But Kirkpatric's reflexes were nearly as good as Heero's, and he reached up to grab the boy's wrists. Heero had Kirkpatric on the floor and was pressing the blade down, blue-white light reflecting off of it.
A burst of strength from Kirkpatric threw Heero off of him and the four other men had their guns cocked and ready to shoot. Heero rolled over to the side and flipped up and behind them. They all whirled around in confusion, firing randomly now. A man fell in the crossfire. Heero landed in their midst and delivered quick, paralyzing blows to their exposed necks.
However, Kirkpatric was not startled by any of the actions. He fired quick, precise, and accurate shots one after the other at Heero, who used his knife to deflect them, the bullets ping-pinging off the silver-white blade and chipping into the hard, stony floor.
The man who had had a gun to Heero's head fell dead to the cold floor as a stray bullet struck him, and the man holding Huy was now cowering and using Huy as a body shield.
Huy, ignoring the pain in his leg and ribs, rolled on his side, and with his good leg, kicked the man squarely in the face and grabbed for his gun.
After managing to knock the knife out of Heero's hand with his whip, Kirkpatric ran out of bullets and could not spare any precious moments to reload it. So he jumped at Heero preparing to bludgeon him to death with the empty weapon and rip at him with the leather strap. Heero ran forward to meet him, swiftly pulling the knife from his ankle out and plunging it into the man's stomach as the metal collided with his skull and the whip lashed through his coat and at the bare skin of his shoulder. He could feel the knife grinding against bone and the sting of fresh blood on his flesh.
Heero fell back stunned and Kirkpatric, half in shock, fell forward on top of him. Huy pushed himself up and hopped on one leg over to the two fallen men. Panting and sweating, Heero pushed Kirkpatric off of him and pulled the knife out of the man's gut with a grunt, feeling the grinding and releasing of suction inside the body. Kirkpatric grasped for the whip and attempted to lash out with it, but his strength failed. Then, with one final swing of his blade, Heero severed his life.
Then, not looking up at Huy, Heero got up. "We'd better get going. I counted twenty-four men here in the compound. This is only eight. They will be here soon."
Numbly, Huy held out the gun he had grabbed. "Here," he said, his voice quiet. "You might want this." Huy was about to comment on Heero's injured shoulder, but decided that he was not needed to point out the obvious.
Heero grabbed the gun and shoved it into his waistband. Then he carefully wrapped one of Huy's arms around his neck and left the room, plodded along the hall. The walking was uncomfortable. Huy couldn't stand on his bad leg at all and he had just watched Heero, his brother and friend, kill. He had always expected Heero to be involved with something bad–but it was drugs that he expected. This was much worse. Heero was a cold-blooded assassin. But he didn't want to show Heero how nervous he was.
When Heero heard some footsteps, he stopped and deposited Huy against a wall. Then he jumped up, pushed up a ceiling panel with his hands, gripping the thin metal frame, and kicked open a vent to the side, a blast of stale, rank air smashed into his face. After he swung himself up and into it, turned his body head forward, he pulled Huy up. "Stay here. I'll come back for you. If shooting gets rough here, move to the left and try to get over the top of an empty room. Got it?"
Huy nodded and laid down, closing his eyes, his body deadened with pain. He heard Heero jump down, landing softly on the balls of his feet and then nothing.
Heero sprinted down the halls, listening for sound and following it. He came upon a yellow kitchen with fluorescent lights, an old gas stove, and a refrigerator in a corner. Five men were crowded around a table fiddling with a radio transmitter, calling into it.
"Lieutenant Kirkpatric, do you read! Answer, do you read, Lieutenant?" one man was calling. Heero could smell the fear it was so evident.
Heero crouched down close to the floor, cocked his gun, and disposed of the equipment. Then he took out their knees.
Someone grabbed onto his neck from behind. "Thought you were really sneaky, didncha, little boy?"
Heero stood up and awkwardly flung himself backward against a wall, making his attacker groan in pain. He continued the barrage of attacks until the man fell off, and Heero glared down at a redheaded man. He cocked the gun and fired one shot straight in the center of his forehead. He was trying to spare as many lives as he possibly could, but some of these men were too dangerous and he couldn't risk having them around.
This was another six. That left ten.
But he didn't have to wait long. Two came running down the hall to meet Heero's knives and four more lost their knees.
Only four left. Heero's shoulder was leaking blood and he stopped to bind it so as not to leave a trail behind him. But he could feel his pulse rising and his reaction time was improving with each fight. His mind was clear and he was focused. It felt great and at the same time, depressing.
Heero figured that these last four would have figured out what was going on, so he had to search them out and come up with a plan. He had plenty of ammo, he took five fully loaded guns off of the men he had attacked and removed his three knives from the bodies.
He stopped and searched every room that he came too until he heard a soft scratching noiselike ratsbig rats with guns
Heero pulled the old trick of hiding in ceiling tiles and waited patiently. Then the sirens startled him.
Crapthose stupid cops had found him. They would just get in the way.
Heero almost growled but stopped himself. Two men flung themselves out from behind a corner, guns poised and ready. When they saw the hall empty, they stopped and stood up.
"No one's here"
"But we saw him in the camera"
"I don't get it," one said, scratching his head in confusion.
Jumping down, Heero shot carefully and the men fell with yelps. But then Heero realized his mistake too late. Perhaps he wasn't as good as he thought–he was careless. A third had been behind him all along.
He felt a gun at his neck. "Put down your weapons." Heero dropped the guns. "All of them."
"I'm not carrying any more."
"The knives." Heero dropped them too. "Good. Now where is Huy Iwasato?"
"I don't know. I left him somewhere, but I'm lost in all of these corridors," Heero lied effectively. He could smell blood
"No matter. The boy's immobile anyway," the voice said. "Good bye, Zero One."
Before the shot could be fired, Heero spun a one-eighty and uppercut the man in the stomach and took the gun. He saw another out of the corner of his eye, sprinting down the hall, and just in time spun around and shot him in the knee. But the first man wasn't down permanently.
The man with jet-black hair jumped and tore at Heero like a lion, but Heero quickly bounded back out of the man's range and aimed for the head. Jet had sharp reflexes however, and ducked out of the way in time, switching to the offensive during the split second that Heero was realizing that he had missed.
Grabbing Heero by the neck, Jet rammed him into the wall and punched him in the face several times. But then Heero pulled himself out of his dumbfounded state and dropped on his knees and kicked out, unable to swing around with his leg as he was backed into a wall.
Jet fell backwards, his skull cracking loudly against the concrete, but then he bounced back up, with Heero ready and waiting on the defensive. Then Jet grabbed at his injured shoulder. Heero almost screamed, but contained himself. The pain was wicked, grinding, clutching, and cutting through his concentration.
With his good, free arm, Heero reached around and latched onto the man's neck and stabbed at the pressure point. Jet's eyes rolled up into the back of his head, but Heero didn't let go until the man fainted. Heero fell onto his knees and breathed in free oxygen for a couple breaths before he grabbed a gun and disposed of the twenty-fourth man.
Five dead. Seventeen without knees. Two seriously wounded. Heero smirked and walked off to find Huy.
Before he climbed up, he called to Huy so that he wouldn't run. Huy was lying unconscious and Heero had to drag him out by his good ankle using his one good arm. Then he picked him up like an infant and carried him to an exit, his bad arm throbbing painfully.
Sirens sounded from outside reminding Heero that his ordeal wasn't over.
Now Heero had to make a choice. He could, A., walk out the door, turn Huy over, let himself be discovered and all that he was trying for dissolve, B., he could have Huy drag himself out on his own and then he'd run for it, C., help Huy out and then run for it, D.,there was no D. Who was he kidding, there was no A., B., or C. eitherhe had no choice, Heero thought as he looked over at Huy's sweating, pale, strained face.
He could never leave Huy, now or later. Huy needed him right now
Buthe needed his friend too
Heero grit his teeth and pushed open the front door, and walked out dragging Huy with him, allowing himself to be surrounded with policemen, reporters, nurses.blinking blue and red lightswailing sirens. He could feel someone take Huy from him. He was being dragged by a strong handforced into a vehicle of some sortHeero didn't notice what kindit didn't matterhe didn't carehe would be discovered and shunnedhe could never be a humanzero one
He vaguely saw Huy carried away on a stretcherthe hospital
He slumped down into the car seat, his head bent down. He felt the pains of tears threatening to spill overbut he didn'the forced them away. He could before, and he would now.
He felt someone sit down next too himhe heard a familiar voice out side barking orders, but his mind didn't register who was yelling.
"You okay, Yuy?" Wufei asked from beside him.
Heero nodded numbly.
Wufei seemed to understand and didn't press him for any more information. "Huy's being taken to the hospital now, and Sally is taking care of the turkeys outside. Just stay here." Then he got up to help his partner.
Heero leaned forward and clasped his head between his knees and under his hands.
It was overit was all overall of it
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A/N That's what Heero thinks!! Ra-ha-hathere are at least three chapters left to this story
Hmmthanks Stargazr for your help with the fighting scenes. I appreciated it sooooooooo much!!!! I can't write them worth crapprobably due to one, I'm a girl, and two, I've never been in a real fight before, and three, I don't like violence. Also, accurate and precise are two very different things (I used them in a description and I didn't want you to think I was getting redundant on you ^_~). Oh welltell me what you think. At least it's a lot better than the fight scene in "Trowa Smiled" (not that that's saying too much)
Also, "pissed off", I'm very sorry that you feel the family spoils the fic, but for me, it is the entire point of the fic (hence the title "Blood Bonds"). If you care to tell me why it spoils the fic, my e-mail is easily accessible.
I really hope that you guys still like this story---it's going to be getting a little angsty again, just as a warning for the upcoming. I really appreciate all the reviews and notes I've received–the have kept me going on thissaga, I guess I should call it. I love you guys!!!! I haven't said it in a while because I wanted to keep the A/N's short and not give anything away, but now I'm saying it a whole bunch. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!!!!
Toodles for now, Tygelilee =^,^=
P.S. Even though I've put up a chapter of a new story, I'm still working on this one, and will finish it, I promise. But that other one just won't get out of my head so I had to put it on paper. Thanks again for reading!!!