Thanks once again to our loyal reviewer sparda219, and thanks so much to Shichan goddess, who not only reviewed all 6 chapters of Kazoku, but also reviewed a bunch of our other stuff! We love both of you!! :)
Kazoku
by ReySolo and Tori Sakana
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Chapter 7 (In which fun actiony stuff happens!)
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Bored with singing irritating songs to the unresponsive camera, Duo now sat silently, pondering how to escape. He wished he still kept lock picks and other useful items in his braid; however, in the years since the end of the war, storing things there had become more uncomfortable and less necessary, so he'd stopped. Now he decided that once he got out of here, there was always going to be at least one lock pick in his braid at all times.
His thinking was interrupted by the door opening once again, and the soldiers telling him he was allowed another bathroom break. This gave Duo an idea…
There were no surveillance cameras in the small bathroom. He'd checked, feeling the possibly irrational desire for privacy when relieving himself. Thankfully, the guards that escorted him waited outside, allowing him a few minutes of blessed privacy.
Once in the tiny lavatory, he looked around for useful items. At first he believed the toilet paper holder had promise. He took it apart, but it was really just a plastic tube. He put it back so as not to cause suspicion should they notice it missing. He searched a bit more, then grinned. On the floor, behind the toilet, was a paperclip. Quite careless of them, but Duo was pleased. He stashed it in his braid, then did his business and allowed himself to be escorted back to the cell.
Looking at the lock on the cell door, Duo decided against attempting to pick it right then. He didn't know how he'd deal with the security camera without alerting them that he would be attempting something; and besides, there could be guards stationed outside that very moment.
Realizing the paperclip would have to wait for some later opportunity, Duo was once again stuck pacing the cell, trying to come up with some escape plan.
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Heero had determined that, since the van had apparently come through on the small road they'd found, there must be a way to get to it. The road didn't show up on maps he got off his laptop, but he figured it couldn't be too hard to find, especially with the help of the still-operational transmitter, so they headed back to their car again.
On their hike back through the forest, they had a curious encounter with a boy with a bandana in his dark hair. The boy wandered by, muttering, "Where the hell am I now??" Then the three heard a splash and a squeal, and the boy was gone. [1]
Shrugging at the strange occurrence, Heero lead Ven and Juuni back to the car and they eventually managed to find a way through to the road in the forest. Turning toward the west, he felt that they were finally on their way to finding Duo and their youngest son.
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BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
The paper target was brought back to the waiting Dr. White, who looked at it in shock. Six holes were present, each within several inches of the center of the two-dimensional figure's head. Not exactly perfect, but for a boy of Sifir's age…
She stared at the boy, who looked at her calmly. "I'll shoot paper, but I will not kill people," he stated resolutely.
Dr. White didn't know how to reply to that. She didn't want to lie to him, but she knew he would ultimately be used for that very purpose.
When she hesitated, the man beside her, a brown-haired man with glasses and a bit too much stubble[2], spoke to the boy. "Not yet. But you will, kid. Sooner than you believe possible, you will become a well-trained killer." He grinned evilly at Sifir, who did not reply.
"Excuse me," Dr. White put in icily. "I believe Sifir is my charge. I am the one who decides at what pace he is ready to proceed."
"I am deeply sorry if I offended you, Doctor," the man replied, his voice clearly indicating he was nothing of the sort.
She sighed, glaring at him. "What are you doing here, anyway? Don't you have other duties?" There was no one else in the room, besides her, Sifir, and the most irritating man in this facility.
He smirked. "Just taking a break to watch our Boy Wonder in action."
Dr. White just shook her head, turning to her charge. "You did well on this part, Sifir. Let's move on to other tests." She ushered him out of the room, leaving the smirking man alone in the target practice area.
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A guard brought in a tray with food, or at least what his captors referred to as such. Looking at the slop—soup, maybe?—that he'd been brought, Duo hoped Sifir was being fed better, as he was likely having a much more active day today.
Picking up the plastic spork—they didn't trust him with real silverware, or even a plastic knife—he poked at his food. He looked up at the departing guard. "Excuse me, waiter? This isn't what I ordered; my meal was the T-bone steak…" He trailed off when the man exited and shut the door without even turning around. "Fine, then! Don't you complain when I don't leave a tip! Hey, can I speak to your manager??"
Grumbling, Duo began to force himself to eat the junk in front of him. It looked worse than hospital food, and he'd been in hospitals enough to know that they had some of the worst food in the solar system. This was worse, however. He closed his eyes and tried to imagine that he was instead eating some fabulous gourmet at one of Quatre's mansions, or some of Sally's pleasant home-cooked meals, but it wasn't working.
He'd had enough of this. He'd had enough of all of this.
Standing slowly, he held the tray toward the door and glanced pointedly at the camera, his way of telling them to come take the remains of the meal. It worked, and a minute later two guards walked in.
Instead of handing him the tray, however, Duo raised it and rammed it into the back of the first guard's neck. The soup bowl he held in his other hand, and he splashed the lukewarm liquid into the eyes of the other guard.
The first guard dropped like a rock, while the second fell back for a moment but quickly reached for his gun. Before he could fully recover, Duo grabbed the gun from the holster of the first guard and made a break for it. He raced down the hall, intent on finding a hiding place so he could come out and look for Sifir once the guard had passed. However, his hopes were shattered as he rounded a corner and saw a squad of four more guards headed for him. He turned around and saw another six coming from the other direction.
Duo swore, then raced back the way he'd come. If he could make it past the one guard, then he might still get away from the troops. He could still get to Sifir…
That was his last thought before he felt a sudden sharp pain in his neck, then felt no more.
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They'd been traveling west for some time without finding anything apart from trees and more trees. Ven had been sitting in the passenger seat trying to get any new information from Heero's laptop, while Juuni sat in back munching on a bag of chips. Heero just drove, staring straight ahead at the road and hoping they'd find something soon. Not only was he wishing they'd have found Duo and Sifir by now, but he also was getting a nagging feeling that something was wrong, and he didn't know what.
"Ne, Tousan, when are we gonna get there?" Juuni asked.
Heero sensed she was mostly joking, probably just trying to break the silence that had hung in the air for the past hour. Still, he answered, "I don't know, Juuni." He didn't think that the kidnappers would have taken their captives too far, or they'd have used a different form of transportation. If they'd flown somewhere, or taken a shuttle to one of the colonies, there was no way he'd be able to find them. Since he wasn't willing to accept that possibility, he had to assume they were on Earth, and within reasonable distance of his present location.
Juuni didn't reply, and once again silence reigned. The nagging feeling was still bothering Heero, and it was starting to get urgent.
Finally, he realized what it was. Whenever they were on a relatively flat or straight track of road, where he could see farther behind them, there was a glint of metal, as if someone where following them. This road didn't appear to be used much, and they had yet to encounter another vehicle heading the opposite direction, but he realized he'd been seeing signs of the tailing vehicle for a while.
Kuso, he thought. There aren't any turn-offs for me to easily lose them, and they'll get suspicious if we speed up… Heero debated how to handle this. On the other hand, do I really want to lose them? It was a fair assumption that the ones tailing them were working for the same people as the kidnappers. In that case, it might be wiser to catch them and attempt to get information out of them, to determine Duo's and Sifir's whereabouts. However, he didn't want to risk Ven and Juuni's safety…
Feeling that action was better than inaction, Heero decided the risk was necessary. "Ven, Juuni, we're being followed. I want you two to remain buckled in, but keep your heads down, and stay in the car, no matter what happens," he ordered. "Understood?"
"Mission accepted," Ven replied with a grim smile. Juuni nodded her agreement.
Heero glanced in the mirror one more time, then threw the car into reverse, not bothering with turning it around on the narrow road. Accelerating as quickly as he dared, he managed to reach the pickup that had been following before they could react. With amazing speed, he swung around next to them, jumped out of the car, pulled his gun, and shot the tires of the truck. Then, taking a quick glance to make sure the kids were obeying his orders, he raced to the pickup and yanked open the driver's side door.
Only two men stared back at him, blinking in shock before reaching for their own weapons. Heero immediately responded by shooting the gun out of the farther man's grip and grabbing the closer one's weapon with his free left hand.
"Tell me where my son and partner are," he demanded, eyes darting back and forth between the two to catch any sudden movements.
The men just stared back at him, their previous shock giving way to smugness. "Whatever you do to the two of us doesn't matter, your son's still gonna be used for our heinous plans," the farther man spoke, placing a sarcastic emphasis on the word 'heinous.' "The long-haired guy, though; don't think they'll be needed him for much longer. I know some of my buds were hoping they'd get to have some fun with him once his usefulness is gone." Both men snickered.
A deep growl emanated from Heero's throat, as his death glare focused on the man. "You will tell me where they are, or you will soon be pleading with me for a quick death."
"You wouldn't do anything that bad with your kids watching," the closer man stated, head gesturing toward the car, where two heads were pushed against the glass watching. The man sounded confident, but Heero sensed an amount of fear in his eyes.
Without turning his head, Heero raised his voice to speak to the kids. "Ven, Juuni, sit down and keep your eyes shut. And whatever you hear, don't open them until I say you can do so."
He didn't look to see that they obeyed, but watched as the wide-eyed man before him swallowed visibly. "Okay, okay, I'll tell you what you want to know…"
The other man protested, "Don't tell him a thing. He's bluffing."
Heero looked at him coldly. "I don't bluff."
The man's face remained expressionless, but he didn't say another word.
"This is your last chance. Tell me where my son and partner are," Heero ordered once again.
Taking a deep breath, the closer man began to babble, "They're in some old office building, it's not far from here, just keep heading west until you get to a fork in the road, then go left, about five miles from there make a sharp right turn and keep going until you get to a collection of buildings, it's the second one on the left…"
Heero listened carefully to the instructions, memorizing them. He was about to ask for details on security, when he saw the other man reaching for something under the glove box. Firing his gun, Heero realized he would be too late, for the man's fingers triggered the switch before he fell lifeless against the seat.
Quickly, Heero jumped away from the truck, hitting the ground and rolling mere seconds before the pickup exploded.
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TBC
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Footnotes:
[1] Any Ranma ½ fans out there? Sorry, I just couldn't resist; I know Ryouga shows up as a cameo in a ton of fic, but it is my fault the boy gets lost so easily?
[2] Saiyuki fans -- Don't know what Nii is doing in the GW universe, but he seemed to fit the character…
Co-author Rant: La li ho~! Wow, reviews! I'm so excited! See, we promised we get parts out sooner if we got reviews! Yippee! And the new sketch is inked and scanned, ready for coloring. Feedback works wonders. :) Urm, that's about it for now...Rey and I have martial arts testing this weekend, so wish us luck!
Oh yeah, additional note: Heero is a professional. Please don't try this stuff at home. If you try to reverse without shifting through neutral, it would be bad. Your transmission may no longer be attached to your car. Remember, Heero's car is from the future, so it's super spiffy.
Good night, good luck, and may your God go with you.