*Sigh* Labour day. Tomorrow I have to go back to school. Why can't summer last forever like it's supposed to? --Lady PhoenixDagger *//.^*
*****
Walker got to his feet, swearing at the top of his lungs. He could see the exit to the desert before him, but he knew he couldn't in good conscience go through. Dammit! They had been so close! The tossed the detonator to Ryu, whose shoulder was almost done healing. "Get the others to the Jeep," the Lord of Alaryan's Keep said. "Wait there for Darien and I for no more than ten minutes. If we don't come out by then, blast this hellhole and go on home without us."
Ryu nodded and collected Dulcet, the stricken ex-pilots and the white-faced Kari. "Be careful, friends," he warned and they left, leaving Walker and Darien alone to stalk the Succubus Project.
*****
Meat kill blood good.
Wufei suppressed a whimper as the Succubus Project cast her thoughts at him while loping down identical miles of corridor. He moaned as the beast shifted him in its grasp, piercing his skin with her dagger-like claws and took a sharp corner.
Boy-thing good meat good blood taste like sweet.
The biological mother of the Broman twins hissed in primal delight and ran its sharply rough tongue down the curve of Wufei's throat. Gasping at the fetid stench of the putrid creature's mouth, Wufei's stomach heaved and he vomited on the quickly passing lengths of floor.
*****
"Darien! Take a look at this." Walker pointed to a discoloured puddle on the floor. Gingerly, he held a hand over it a moment. "Still warm. They're close."
"Yeah, but it looks like they're going fast." Darien indicated the thin, spattered pattern on the floor. Without another word, they took off, Darien on two legs, Walker on four. "You be stealth, I'll be offence!" Darien shouted, and Walker veered off, leaving his brother to run on alone.
The Succubus Project was close. He could feel the vibrations her heaving bulk made as she ran and the booming thuds she made every now and then when she pulled herself into a halt. Muffled shouts also came, defiant and loud, but clearly afraid.
Ah, so Wufei's still alive. That's a plus.
Darien burst into the closed-off room the Succubus Project apparently used as a lair just as the monster was beginning slice off Wufei's body armour with a single claw. Broken casks lay everywhere and the fetid stench of hazardous chemicals hung like a pall over the entire room. Fleetingly, Darien caught sight of the fragmented words "angerously flamm" on a broken cask before the Succubus Project heaved itself in front of him.
Darien kicked himself then, realising that he had no idea what he was going to do next. His ammo was gone and he had no matches, no lighter, nothing that could set off the dangerous fluids that covered the floor. Normally, he would have used his elemental powers, but this Black Hood base had an anti-magic barrier, so his gift was useless. He sensed Walker stalking unseen in the shadows and knew his situation must be the same. And through all this, Wufei watched him, wide-eyed, his face bathed in blood. Please, those onyx eyes seemed to say. Help me. Furiously, Darien began to search the barrier for holes.
The beast snarled and hauled Wufei up by the throat, swinging him like a rag doll. Man-thing move, boy-thing die, it promised in Darien's mind.
Now what? Darien looked harder, faster, Wufei's scared eyes watching him all the while. Finally, he found what he had been looking for, a minuscule give in the barrier, but it was all he needed.
"Walker!" he screamed, letting sparks fly from his fingertips. Walker darted past, snatching Wufei and was gone before the first spark hit the floor, Darien not far behind as they made for the exit.
Back at the Succubus Project's lair, the roar of the fire coupled with that of the burning monster shook the rafters as instantly the flames found more and more ground.
*****
Please, just let them all be alive.
Kari clasped her hands over her breast and closed her eyes, her mind filled with thoughts of the Broman brothers and Wufei. He saved you, a wretched voice said within her. And you had vowed to make him pay. You thought him to be soft.
Shut up.
You killed him.
NO!!
Yes.
Sudden, kind hands took Kari's shoulders. Trowa, his hair free of the elastic but still slicked back, pulled her close into a comforting hug. Kari immediately went stiff. From where she stood, she noted the back of Trowa's neck had gone hot again. A silent sob escaped her lips. Trowa hugged her harder, burying her face into his leather-clad shoulder.
"Hey," he said softly. "You did all you could."
Yeah. Just hold me. I don't want to think anymore.
"Eight minutes," Ryu said from the Jeep.
"He went down like a fighter," Trowa said, stroking Kari's soft blonde hair. Her braided bun had come loose in their flight, spilling a long braid down to the small of her back. Even hot and sweaty as she was, Trowa noticed she still managed to smell good. "He would have wanted to go this way. With honour."
Yeah. Just let me stay here. Don't talk anymore. Slowly, slowly, she reached out and wrapped her arms around Trowa's neck, pulling herself in closer. Gently, he buried his face in her hair.
"Kari, I-"
Hush. Don't talk. Just let me stay here a while.
Trowa wrapped her his arms around her even tighter. "Of course." Forever.
"It's them!!" Dulcet shouted, pointing to a set of figures moving towards them from the base. Darien and Walker, who carried a limp Wufei like a giant baby in his arms. Darien waved cheerfully at them. Dulcet sighed in obvious relief. "They're okay!"
"Hallelujah!!" Nat crowed over Trowa and Kari's earpeices. The sounds of the other wizards' cheering came in behind him.
"Heeeey!" Darien came up to them first, grinning like a maniac. "He's a bit banged around and bloodied, but I think our boy Wufei will be alright." He nodded to Ryu and then to the "research facility". "Make it go 'boom'. I want to go home."
Ryu nodded and pulled out the trigger, but stopped at the last moment. "Here." He tossed it to Heero. "You do it."
Heero smiled faintly and held it out and away from his body in that all-too familiar pose. The others held their breaths and watched, Kari and Trowa still wrapped in each other's arms.
"Mission…complete."
And with that, he hit the trigger.
*****
Later, minna-san!
--L.P.D. *//.^*