Magatama: Chapter Nineteen: Second to Last
The treetops careened in submission to the whipping of the helicopter blades. Six men jumped from the hovering machine. Each man was loaded with an automatic machine gun, a pistol, two knives, and of course, plenty of extra ammunition. The sextet was camouflaged from head to toe in green. Each face was stern, yet the eyes varied. One pair swam in complacency, another pair wore unaccustomed apprehension, two pairs appeared determined, and two other pairs were searching for blood.
The departing wind subsided leaving an uneasy silence to the area. Not even the songbirds would sing.
The troop began the six-mile jog to the ELF base camp in quietude.
---------
Wufei resisted the temptation to yawn as the sound of Devon Steele's descent reached his ears. He had been waiting long for this match. Straightening his smutty shirt, he scolded himself for not taking the upcoming fight more seriously. It could hill him.
Steele set his feet down inside Wufei's cave, causing dust to rise up around his crisp dress uniform. He looked around, and flashed a disarmingly malicious smile at Wufei.
"I am Devon Steele, Sir Chang, and your opponent. Please allow us to begin this sortie as gentlemen, with a respectful handshake."
Wufei eyed the handsome Englishman warily and shook his head, drawing his sword. "Gentlemen do not encage their opponent two weeks prior to a duel in order to weaken him. I have no respect for you, Steele. You are nothing but the left over idea of what was once a great man. Treize was twice as noble as you. "
"Have it as you like them. It was your choice to fight as bitter foes..."
Devon drew his sword, and the two men began to circle.
----------
Zechs was the one to first reach the ELF camps. Tents littered the valley. The soldiers were numerous, but unassuming. A host of Swiss soldiers could be at their aid within ten minutes should they be called. He pulled a twig out of his silver-blonde ponytail and watched. No one had noticed him. There was a pool of Jeeps about one hundred yards to the west. He motioned for Heero, Legion, and Judas to go. Their mission was retrieve Wufei. He would search for Steele himself, and battle it out for Treize. Barton and Maxwell were to take care of anyone that got in the way of their strategy--and gather any information that could be salvaged.
Two jeeps started up and pulled away from the pool. So far so good.... He signaled to his two remaining men and moved forward.
They followed soon after.
During his youth, Zechs had spent much time in training for ground combat, but her rarely actually fought without the aid or shield of a mobile suit. He was severely out of practice.
A thorn grazed his face and a thin trail of blood formed over his left cheekbone. He winced, but kept on. The battle apprehension had almost reached its boiling point. He longed for the steam to be released, if only so that he could be killed by a stray bullet rather than the suffocating notion that he may never live to meet his child.
A shot was fired from behind him. His head spun around, his ponytail whipping his cut as he did so. Trowa stood rigid and erect, his pistol pointed to Zech's own back. Behind him, in the shrubs lay a dying ELF soldier. Zechs thanked his protector with his eyes and heightened his alertness.
---------
Steele feinted, but Wufei struck first, his blade striking Steele's with enough force to ignite a spark. Steele struck back. Wufei parried and pushed back, once again taking a defensive stance.
"I must admit that I underestimated you, Chang. Your age belies your ability."
Wufei only grunted as he blocked another blow and struck again in retaliation. His blade was heavier than Steele's thin European blade, but he was more agile than his odious opponent. Wufei sprung backward to avoid a slice that would have left a scar across his belly. The effect of the two scars would have caused on X over his blemished skin.
"Does this fight not appeal to your notorious sense of justice, Wufei?" Steele said.
"This is not justice. This a revenge game." The dull side of his blade struck out, contacting Steele's side, forcing the air from his lungs. Steele's eyes grew suddenly remembering the myth of a Gun dam Pilot's ruthless wrath. Instead of taking the chance for victory as he would have done during the war, Wufei stood back scrupulously, allowing his opponent to gather his air.
"You call this fight Justice, to punish me for killing Treize. The truth is Treize skewered himself upon my saber during the EVE Wars. I am fighting you to protect my family and honor. I could have easily flown from here. You knew that. My honor kept me here, even though I know of your true motivations. You wish to punish not myself, but my wife. You want to defeat me for you own glory--you wish to reap you revenge upon Meiran for repressing your army for so long. You were a fool to kill Phoenix so early on. An idiot such as he would have made a better scapegoat than a puppet... I will defeat you Devon Steele. I will defeat you to defend Treize and his people, and to protect the honor of my wife, both of whom you very existence defiles!" Wufei sneered, and lunged with ferocity as Steele jumped up as if he were a scared rabbit.
----------
Recoiling to avoid the long arrows being shot at him, Duo threw himself upon the ground and into the underbrush.
Arrows! He'd known that the armaments allowed to those other than Preventors was low, but arrows seemed drastic. Could they not have attempted a raid of Preventor arms stores, or perhaps even forged their own? NO. That was too obvious. This attack was meant to surprise everyone. Shaping arrows from twigs and stone and practicing in the privacy of the alps was much less conspicuous than openly raiding the store of the most powerful and mysterious army in the world.
Another flying twig embedded itself in the ground beside his arm. He took a moment to examine its rough construction and ponder just how long the archer had been able to practice. He fired off a blind shot in the direction of the arrows incoming flight. Amidst all the ruckus, he heard a body fall into a patch of shrubbery, and made his fifth mournful mental tick mark of the day.
Trowa followed the shadow on the other side of the canvas. Zechs was in pursuit of the leader and Trowa had vowed to protect Zech's life that day. It was for the good of the mission--and for the good of his unborn childe. Zechs was distracted because of the baby--and Trowa would see to it that this soldier survived.
He crept round the corner of the tent to stealthily ward off one of those problematic and strange arrows.
They'd traversed most of the camp by now, and it seemed as though the object of their mission was absent, and his army did not want to come out of hiding. Cowards.
The brave ones had been knocked off in the first fifteen minutes. The rest had either been bound and gagged in their tents, or his in the tree, shrubs, and false underbrush of the valley.
The mission had hardly proved a challenge. It was a disappointment to any warrior. What happened to the army that had ruthlessly desecrated four populated sites around the world? Did they know how to do nothing without their leader? or were they just tiring them out?
A whizzing played at his left ear and a sharp, lasting pain seared his left shoulder. He looked down momentarily to see a thin trickling of darkness down his camouflaged sleeve. His eyes glowed.
----------
A barrage of arrows rained upon Duo, who shot random bullets from his shielded spot inside a tree. He feared his weapons only struck down foliage, but he did not dare poke his head out. IN a quick spare moment he click he radio to signal Trowa for aid. He didn't have time to answer back, for he could see the elven bodies moving in, and picked them off as the closed in around him.
Frantically he grabbed at his radio and screamed for Trowa to come west.
What was here that they were protecting? What the hell had he stumbled upon?
Zechs heard Duo's messaged and turned to Trowa, who nodded in agreement. Zechs clicked his call button to signal for the first wave of their small allotment of the Swiss army to aid them. He smirked to himself. The Swiss were waiting just behind the tree line on the west side of the camp.
-----------
Sweat slid periodically into Wufei's left eye, but he hardly dared to pause to wipe his brow upon his sleeve.
Chang and Steele struck, parried, and feinted for a long while, using up much energy. Neither truly made much ground during this stalemate. The duel was quickly tiring the warriors. For this reason, the possibility of falter increased with each exhausting moment.
The opportunity came suddenly. The movements Wufei performed happened so involuntarily that he felt as if he were watching his own actions in slow motion. Devon struck close and to his right. Wufei caught the guard of the hilt with the tip oh his own blade, and wrenched the sword from his opponent grasp. The metal clattered to the floor and echoed within the small cavern.
While Steele watched the descent of his blade in the astonishment, Wufei knocked his feet from beneath him. he landed seconds after sword. He opened his eyes after his fall, only to find Chang's machete at his throat. He swallowed.
"I have defeated you," Wufei stated.
Steele closed his eyes and bowed his head in resignation. "Rid yourself and your family of the menace then. Finish me."
"It is not my place to decide you fate. I have stolen enough lived to condemn me for this life, and the next, and the next..."
Devon looked baffled at the act of benevolence, which had been bestowed upon him with such audacity. "You do not wish to finish me?"
Grating was heard overhead. Devon attempted to wriggle his way from beneath Wufei's sword. However, he only succeeded in grazing the underside of his chin against the sword at his throat.
Two sturdy feet landed just inside the window. A tall, slender, scruffy man stood and said gruffly, "Wufei, allow me to finish him."
A smirk momentarily crossed Wufei's mouth. "Do with him as you will, Heero. Turn him into the Preventors. As I will not be returning to them, I no longer have the privilege of holding him hostage."
Heero nodded, and bound Devon Steele as Wufei kept his sword trained up the sad form of his defeated adversary.
--------
The sight of the five hundred or so head bobbing down the mountain brought Duo back to a not so nostalgic state of mind. The arrows and bullets forgot him and trained themselves on the army faction, which greatly outnumbered them. He stood straight and checked himself over. He had little more than a few seeping scratches. He smiled despondently to himself. The God of Death still resided within him.
Taking advantage of his freedom, he set out in the direction of where the most arrows had flown from, hoping to discover whatever it was which they were so ferociously guarding.
Pushing through the foliage, and climbing over the rocks, he found a green clearing. The trees were tall and had dropped many of their lower needles. The shrubs were healthy and lush. And a large coating of moss covered the ground as well as the rock face. There was something peculiar looking jut on the right of the clearing. The greenery looked as if it unnaturally continued up the mossy wall. Duo climbed closer with as much stealth as was allowed him, which was quite a bit. About fifty feet away he stopped and backed into a crevice in he rock to hide. A woman with a particularly large gun sat upon a green ledge, fiddling with the gun's scope.
"Trowa," Duo whispered into his radio. "Trowa!"
"Yeah."
"They have a mobile suit!"
------------
With difficulty Heero and Wufei managed to heave Steele up and over the ledge where Heero had parked his vehicle. Pal Legion and Marcus Judas were there waiting for them.
"They followed me," Heero grunted, lugging Steele away from the cliff's edge.
"Suspicious..." Wufei murmured as Steele began squealing and grunting and kicking like a pig. The two pilots looked up simultaneously to see the two camouflaged Preventors run at the trio. Unsure of whether the soldiers were charging them, or their prisoner, the two pilots stood, ready to ward them off.
Legion took on Heero, and Judas attacked Wufei. Legion pulled a knife out and Heero dodged three of his opponent's attempts to pierce him. Wufei kicked Legion in the chest so that he fell back stunned, gasping for air. He grasped Steele by his sleeves and began dragging him over the rough, rocky ground toward the jeep.
Meanwhile, Heero defended himself form every attempt Legion made at harm. After tiring of the foolish, amateur maneuvers, Heero pulled out his pistol, and held it to Legion's nose. His knife clanged upon the rock as he rose to his full height, which was even to that of Heero's.
We work only for peace," Legion said. "But we cannot allow you to execute our leader."
"You are a traitor," Heero said, and shot him in the shin. Blood trickled over the rock as Legion collapsed with a shriek of pain. Tears fell down his contorted face.
Two shots sounded from behind Wufei. Heero recoiled, landing on his back. Lunging toward the gun wielding Judas, Wufei drew his sword. Fear rounded in his eyes, and he froze. The hilt of Wufei's sword smashed into the back of his neck, knocking the traitor unconscious almost instantly. Judas crumpled to the ground and Wufei sheathed his sword.
Heero sat up, wincing, cursing to himself. He shook his head and blood splattered from the spot where the sharp ground had sliced it open. He tore his pant leg to attempt to wrap the wound just below his right shoulder as if he had no notice of the terrible head wound.
Legion had gathered himself a bit, but was unable to stand because of his point-blank shot to the leg. He raised a pistol, pointed it at Heero. Heero, whose leg was not injured, kicked the gun away from his predator just as Legion was about to pull the trigger. The stray bullet embedded itself in the chest of Devon Steele, who sat propped next to the jeep. He coughed and blood poured from his mouth and wound. He was dead within moments.
Heero kicked again, knocking the gun from Legion's hand and stood up, only to fall back to the ground.
Wufei hurried to Heero. Legion sat laughing. Wufei kicked the man in the chin and looked Heero over. The blood loss and exertion had no doubt made him light-headed. He stuffed his Preventors jacket behind Heero's head and coaxed him to stand, and hold the wadded jacket in place.
"I have to her you back in town. You're bleed too quickly."
"Yeah..." Heero said, and lay down in the back of the jeep. "Constance is about an hour southwest..." Wufei stated the car and drove southwest as fast as he could go, while calling base to notify them of the injured traitors. Then he paged Sally, before finding a semi-descent road.
----------
Trowa and Zechs showed up within minutes, along with the Swiss army, who took out the woman, and stood guard around the frightening machine.
The three stood back until a Swiss runner confronted Zechs with a message. He came back and related to the two pilots what had occurred on the mountains.
"Trowa, I would appreciate it if you would accompany me to retrieve the traitors. Duo, you've got the choice of whether to stay or go..."
Duo nodded and rushed to the pool of jeeps. Tires were heard running on gravel and stone within mere seconds as Duo left the camp with thoughts of an injured friend plaguing his mind.
-----------
Sally sat on her knees, strapping the walking cast securely onto Meiran's leg when her beeper went off. She excused herself to answer it, and came back looking sallow.
"Wufei is bringing Heero into the hospital. I have to go secure him a room and bed," she said, gathering her things.
"Wufei?" Meiran said.
Sally nodded and rushed out the door.
Hilde stood in the doorway with her arms crossed.
"I'll go call a cab," she smiled.
Wow. My goodness that took a long time to get out. But I got it out less than a week after Thanksgiving! (barely)... I actually had the chapter finished over two weeks ago, but it's taken me since the day after Thanksgiving to type it up. I haven't had much time to do it.
I've been reading a lot of Orwell, Shelley, and Tolkien lately. I hope that didn't affect my style too much.
ONE chapter left!!
The treetops careened in submission to the whipping of the helicopter blades. Six men jumped from the hovering machine. Each man was loaded with an automatic machine gun, a pistol, two knives, and of course, plenty of extra ammunition. The sextet was camouflaged from head to toe in green. Each face was stern, yet the eyes varied. One pair swam in complacency, another pair wore unaccustomed apprehension, two pairs appeared determined, and two other pairs were searching for blood.
The departing wind subsided leaving an uneasy silence to the area. Not even the songbirds would sing.
The troop began the six-mile jog to the ELF base camp in quietude.
---------
Wufei resisted the temptation to yawn as the sound of Devon Steele's descent reached his ears. He had been waiting long for this match. Straightening his smutty shirt, he scolded himself for not taking the upcoming fight more seriously. It could hill him.
Steele set his feet down inside Wufei's cave, causing dust to rise up around his crisp dress uniform. He looked around, and flashed a disarmingly malicious smile at Wufei.
"I am Devon Steele, Sir Chang, and your opponent. Please allow us to begin this sortie as gentlemen, with a respectful handshake."
Wufei eyed the handsome Englishman warily and shook his head, drawing his sword. "Gentlemen do not encage their opponent two weeks prior to a duel in order to weaken him. I have no respect for you, Steele. You are nothing but the left over idea of what was once a great man. Treize was twice as noble as you. "
"Have it as you like them. It was your choice to fight as bitter foes..."
Devon drew his sword, and the two men began to circle.
----------
Zechs was the one to first reach the ELF camps. Tents littered the valley. The soldiers were numerous, but unassuming. A host of Swiss soldiers could be at their aid within ten minutes should they be called. He pulled a twig out of his silver-blonde ponytail and watched. No one had noticed him. There was a pool of Jeeps about one hundred yards to the west. He motioned for Heero, Legion, and Judas to go. Their mission was retrieve Wufei. He would search for Steele himself, and battle it out for Treize. Barton and Maxwell were to take care of anyone that got in the way of their strategy--and gather any information that could be salvaged.
Two jeeps started up and pulled away from the pool. So far so good.... He signaled to his two remaining men and moved forward.
They followed soon after.
During his youth, Zechs had spent much time in training for ground combat, but her rarely actually fought without the aid or shield of a mobile suit. He was severely out of practice.
A thorn grazed his face and a thin trail of blood formed over his left cheekbone. He winced, but kept on. The battle apprehension had almost reached its boiling point. He longed for the steam to be released, if only so that he could be killed by a stray bullet rather than the suffocating notion that he may never live to meet his child.
A shot was fired from behind him. His head spun around, his ponytail whipping his cut as he did so. Trowa stood rigid and erect, his pistol pointed to Zech's own back. Behind him, in the shrubs lay a dying ELF soldier. Zechs thanked his protector with his eyes and heightened his alertness.
---------
Steele feinted, but Wufei struck first, his blade striking Steele's with enough force to ignite a spark. Steele struck back. Wufei parried and pushed back, once again taking a defensive stance.
"I must admit that I underestimated you, Chang. Your age belies your ability."
Wufei only grunted as he blocked another blow and struck again in retaliation. His blade was heavier than Steele's thin European blade, but he was more agile than his odious opponent. Wufei sprung backward to avoid a slice that would have left a scar across his belly. The effect of the two scars would have caused on X over his blemished skin.
"Does this fight not appeal to your notorious sense of justice, Wufei?" Steele said.
"This is not justice. This a revenge game." The dull side of his blade struck out, contacting Steele's side, forcing the air from his lungs. Steele's eyes grew suddenly remembering the myth of a Gun dam Pilot's ruthless wrath. Instead of taking the chance for victory as he would have done during the war, Wufei stood back scrupulously, allowing his opponent to gather his air.
"You call this fight Justice, to punish me for killing Treize. The truth is Treize skewered himself upon my saber during the EVE Wars. I am fighting you to protect my family and honor. I could have easily flown from here. You knew that. My honor kept me here, even though I know of your true motivations. You wish to punish not myself, but my wife. You want to defeat me for you own glory--you wish to reap you revenge upon Meiran for repressing your army for so long. You were a fool to kill Phoenix so early on. An idiot such as he would have made a better scapegoat than a puppet... I will defeat you Devon Steele. I will defeat you to defend Treize and his people, and to protect the honor of my wife, both of whom you very existence defiles!" Wufei sneered, and lunged with ferocity as Steele jumped up as if he were a scared rabbit.
----------
Recoiling to avoid the long arrows being shot at him, Duo threw himself upon the ground and into the underbrush.
Arrows! He'd known that the armaments allowed to those other than Preventors was low, but arrows seemed drastic. Could they not have attempted a raid of Preventor arms stores, or perhaps even forged their own? NO. That was too obvious. This attack was meant to surprise everyone. Shaping arrows from twigs and stone and practicing in the privacy of the alps was much less conspicuous than openly raiding the store of the most powerful and mysterious army in the world.
Another flying twig embedded itself in the ground beside his arm. He took a moment to examine its rough construction and ponder just how long the archer had been able to practice. He fired off a blind shot in the direction of the arrows incoming flight. Amidst all the ruckus, he heard a body fall into a patch of shrubbery, and made his fifth mournful mental tick mark of the day.
Trowa followed the shadow on the other side of the canvas. Zechs was in pursuit of the leader and Trowa had vowed to protect Zech's life that day. It was for the good of the mission--and for the good of his unborn childe. Zechs was distracted because of the baby--and Trowa would see to it that this soldier survived.
He crept round the corner of the tent to stealthily ward off one of those problematic and strange arrows.
They'd traversed most of the camp by now, and it seemed as though the object of their mission was absent, and his army did not want to come out of hiding. Cowards.
The brave ones had been knocked off in the first fifteen minutes. The rest had either been bound and gagged in their tents, or his in the tree, shrubs, and false underbrush of the valley.
The mission had hardly proved a challenge. It was a disappointment to any warrior. What happened to the army that had ruthlessly desecrated four populated sites around the world? Did they know how to do nothing without their leader? or were they just tiring them out?
A whizzing played at his left ear and a sharp, lasting pain seared his left shoulder. He looked down momentarily to see a thin trickling of darkness down his camouflaged sleeve. His eyes glowed.
----------
A barrage of arrows rained upon Duo, who shot random bullets from his shielded spot inside a tree. He feared his weapons only struck down foliage, but he did not dare poke his head out. IN a quick spare moment he click he radio to signal Trowa for aid. He didn't have time to answer back, for he could see the elven bodies moving in, and picked them off as the closed in around him.
Frantically he grabbed at his radio and screamed for Trowa to come west.
What was here that they were protecting? What the hell had he stumbled upon?
Zechs heard Duo's messaged and turned to Trowa, who nodded in agreement. Zechs clicked his call button to signal for the first wave of their small allotment of the Swiss army to aid them. He smirked to himself. The Swiss were waiting just behind the tree line on the west side of the camp.
-----------
Sweat slid periodically into Wufei's left eye, but he hardly dared to pause to wipe his brow upon his sleeve.
Chang and Steele struck, parried, and feinted for a long while, using up much energy. Neither truly made much ground during this stalemate. The duel was quickly tiring the warriors. For this reason, the possibility of falter increased with each exhausting moment.
The opportunity came suddenly. The movements Wufei performed happened so involuntarily that he felt as if he were watching his own actions in slow motion. Devon struck close and to his right. Wufei caught the guard of the hilt with the tip oh his own blade, and wrenched the sword from his opponent grasp. The metal clattered to the floor and echoed within the small cavern.
While Steele watched the descent of his blade in the astonishment, Wufei knocked his feet from beneath him. he landed seconds after sword. He opened his eyes after his fall, only to find Chang's machete at his throat. He swallowed.
"I have defeated you," Wufei stated.
Steele closed his eyes and bowed his head in resignation. "Rid yourself and your family of the menace then. Finish me."
"It is not my place to decide you fate. I have stolen enough lived to condemn me for this life, and the next, and the next..."
Devon looked baffled at the act of benevolence, which had been bestowed upon him with such audacity. "You do not wish to finish me?"
Grating was heard overhead. Devon attempted to wriggle his way from beneath Wufei's sword. However, he only succeeded in grazing the underside of his chin against the sword at his throat.
Two sturdy feet landed just inside the window. A tall, slender, scruffy man stood and said gruffly, "Wufei, allow me to finish him."
A smirk momentarily crossed Wufei's mouth. "Do with him as you will, Heero. Turn him into the Preventors. As I will not be returning to them, I no longer have the privilege of holding him hostage."
Heero nodded, and bound Devon Steele as Wufei kept his sword trained up the sad form of his defeated adversary.
--------
The sight of the five hundred or so head bobbing down the mountain brought Duo back to a not so nostalgic state of mind. The arrows and bullets forgot him and trained themselves on the army faction, which greatly outnumbered them. He stood straight and checked himself over. He had little more than a few seeping scratches. He smiled despondently to himself. The God of Death still resided within him.
Taking advantage of his freedom, he set out in the direction of where the most arrows had flown from, hoping to discover whatever it was which they were so ferociously guarding.
Pushing through the foliage, and climbing over the rocks, he found a green clearing. The trees were tall and had dropped many of their lower needles. The shrubs were healthy and lush. And a large coating of moss covered the ground as well as the rock face. There was something peculiar looking jut on the right of the clearing. The greenery looked as if it unnaturally continued up the mossy wall. Duo climbed closer with as much stealth as was allowed him, which was quite a bit. About fifty feet away he stopped and backed into a crevice in he rock to hide. A woman with a particularly large gun sat upon a green ledge, fiddling with the gun's scope.
"Trowa," Duo whispered into his radio. "Trowa!"
"Yeah."
"They have a mobile suit!"
------------
With difficulty Heero and Wufei managed to heave Steele up and over the ledge where Heero had parked his vehicle. Pal Legion and Marcus Judas were there waiting for them.
"They followed me," Heero grunted, lugging Steele away from the cliff's edge.
"Suspicious..." Wufei murmured as Steele began squealing and grunting and kicking like a pig. The two pilots looked up simultaneously to see the two camouflaged Preventors run at the trio. Unsure of whether the soldiers were charging them, or their prisoner, the two pilots stood, ready to ward them off.
Legion took on Heero, and Judas attacked Wufei. Legion pulled a knife out and Heero dodged three of his opponent's attempts to pierce him. Wufei kicked Legion in the chest so that he fell back stunned, gasping for air. He grasped Steele by his sleeves and began dragging him over the rough, rocky ground toward the jeep.
Meanwhile, Heero defended himself form every attempt Legion made at harm. After tiring of the foolish, amateur maneuvers, Heero pulled out his pistol, and held it to Legion's nose. His knife clanged upon the rock as he rose to his full height, which was even to that of Heero's.
We work only for peace," Legion said. "But we cannot allow you to execute our leader."
"You are a traitor," Heero said, and shot him in the shin. Blood trickled over the rock as Legion collapsed with a shriek of pain. Tears fell down his contorted face.
Two shots sounded from behind Wufei. Heero recoiled, landing on his back. Lunging toward the gun wielding Judas, Wufei drew his sword. Fear rounded in his eyes, and he froze. The hilt of Wufei's sword smashed into the back of his neck, knocking the traitor unconscious almost instantly. Judas crumpled to the ground and Wufei sheathed his sword.
Heero sat up, wincing, cursing to himself. He shook his head and blood splattered from the spot where the sharp ground had sliced it open. He tore his pant leg to attempt to wrap the wound just below his right shoulder as if he had no notice of the terrible head wound.
Legion had gathered himself a bit, but was unable to stand because of his point-blank shot to the leg. He raised a pistol, pointed it at Heero. Heero, whose leg was not injured, kicked the gun away from his predator just as Legion was about to pull the trigger. The stray bullet embedded itself in the chest of Devon Steele, who sat propped next to the jeep. He coughed and blood poured from his mouth and wound. He was dead within moments.
Heero kicked again, knocking the gun from Legion's hand and stood up, only to fall back to the ground.
Wufei hurried to Heero. Legion sat laughing. Wufei kicked the man in the chin and looked Heero over. The blood loss and exertion had no doubt made him light-headed. He stuffed his Preventors jacket behind Heero's head and coaxed him to stand, and hold the wadded jacket in place.
"I have to her you back in town. You're bleed too quickly."
"Yeah..." Heero said, and lay down in the back of the jeep. "Constance is about an hour southwest..." Wufei stated the car and drove southwest as fast as he could go, while calling base to notify them of the injured traitors. Then he paged Sally, before finding a semi-descent road.
----------
Trowa and Zechs showed up within minutes, along with the Swiss army, who took out the woman, and stood guard around the frightening machine.
The three stood back until a Swiss runner confronted Zechs with a message. He came back and related to the two pilots what had occurred on the mountains.
"Trowa, I would appreciate it if you would accompany me to retrieve the traitors. Duo, you've got the choice of whether to stay or go..."
Duo nodded and rushed to the pool of jeeps. Tires were heard running on gravel and stone within mere seconds as Duo left the camp with thoughts of an injured friend plaguing his mind.
-----------
Sally sat on her knees, strapping the walking cast securely onto Meiran's leg when her beeper went off. She excused herself to answer it, and came back looking sallow.
"Wufei is bringing Heero into the hospital. I have to go secure him a room and bed," she said, gathering her things.
"Wufei?" Meiran said.
Sally nodded and rushed out the door.
Hilde stood in the doorway with her arms crossed.
"I'll go call a cab," she smiled.
Wow. My goodness that took a long time to get out. But I got it out less than a week after Thanksgiving! (barely)... I actually had the chapter finished over two weeks ago, but it's taken me since the day after Thanksgiving to type it up. I haven't had much time to do it.
I've been reading a lot of Orwell, Shelley, and Tolkien lately. I hope that didn't affect my style too much.
ONE chapter left!!