Don't worry, Sparda219, Shichan. I couldn't kill my poor lil Duo... Besides, I'm sure Heero would hunt me down and kill me slowly and painfully if I did... Even if he is just an imaginary character, I'm not taking any chances...
Kazoku
by ReySolo and Tori Sakana
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Chapter 10 (In which the paperclip saves the day)
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Duo woke up with a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. Glancing over to make sure Sifir was still safely—'safe' being a relative term at this point—curled up in his blankets, he tried to pinpoint what was wrong. Not that he had any reason to feel anything was right, he still felt unusually anxious. He concluded it must be that Sifir's training was to start today.
As he watched his son sleep, he realized he should wake the boy so he could talk to him before Dr. White came. Reaching his arm out to shake the sleeping form, he said quietly, "Sifir? Time to get up."
Sifir stirred, the slowly sat up, rubbing his eyes. "Dad?" he asked sleepily.
"I want to talk with you before you have to begin your training," Duo explained.
That statement had the boy up and alert immediately. "I told you, I'm not gonna make you a promise I can't keep," he warned warily.
Duo nodded. "I know. I'm not going to ask for a promise, just that you do your best. Whatever your training involves, today or any other time, don't act against your morals. Don't allow harm to come to others, unless it is absolutely your only way out. And if you get the opportunity to get out of here without me, take it. I can find a way out on my own, but only once I'm certain you'll be safe. Okay?"
Sifir nodded, looking very mature for his age. "I'll try."
His father gave him a bittersweet smile. "I guess that's all I can ask."
Before Sifir could reply, the door slid open. Dr. White entered, and looked almost eagerly at the boy. "Well, are you ready for your first day of training?"
Sifir looked as if he wanted to be excited, possibly to appease the doctor, but couldn't work up the enthusiasm. Instead he just nodded, looking back at his father. Duo tried to give his son a reassuring smile, but he doubted it worked.
As the woman and the boy left the cell, Duo hoped his son could deal with whatever challenges were thrown at him.
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Heero opened his eyes, wincing at the slight kink in his neck from sleeping in an awkward position. …Sleeping? Kuso! I wasn't supposed to fall asleep!
Glancing outside at the slowly lightening sky, he determined he couldn't have been asleep for more than an hour. Still, he cursed himself for falling asleep at all. If anything had happened to Ven and Juuni because of him…
He looked over and back, noting with relief that both kids were still sleeping. He guessed that the reason he'd fallen asleep was that he was unaccustomed to going quite so long without sleep. He hadn't really done so since the war. Besides, he hated admitting to himself, but he was getting older. Shoving aside that thought, he realized one good thing that came from his lapse: at least he'd gotten a short nap before the rescue proceeded, so he wouldn't be running on quite so little sleep.
Deciding it was about time to wake the kids, Heero turned to Ven and placed a hand on the boy's shoulder. Ven opened his eyes and blinked up at his father, confused. "Tousan? Where are—" He looked around the car, and appeared to become fully awake. "Rescue time?"
Heero nodded, turning to wake Juuni. The instant he touched her, her eyes opened. "We're gonna go rescue Dad and Sifir now, right?" She was practically bouncing in her seat.
Heero marveled at his daughter's ability to go from deep sleep to complete wakefulness, though he figured most of it had to do with their plans for today.
Speaking of which… "Are you two ready to go over the plan for the rescue?" he asked.
Ven nodded calmly, while Juuni exclaimed, "Yup!"
"Okay, here's what we're going to do…" Heero began to explain.
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Only minutes after Sifir had gone, Duo heard the cell door open again. Breakfast, he guessed.
He looked up to see the doctor who had 'treated' him earlier—White had said his name, Wong was it?—enter, carrying a large gun that he pointed at Duo's chest. Two armed guards came in behind him.
That bad feeling in his stomach from earlier was increasing. "That's not food! Where's my pancake breakfast?" he demanded, trying not to show his unease with the situation.
Dr. Wong grinned—not a pleasant sight. "Guess today they decided you could eat bullets instead."
Duo grimaced. "Hey, I'm the one who's supposed to be cracking jokes here. Besides, yours wasn't even funny."
The grin widened. "Funny or not, it's true. Now, you're coming with us."
One of the guards approached Duo, handcuffing his hands behind his back. The braided man figured it wasn't worth fighting them yet, with two guns aimed directly at his heart. "Where are we going? I thought you guys needed me alive, to make my son behave. He's not exactly going to be thrilled with you when he finds out you killed his father."
"Exactly." Wong was getting far too much pleasure out of this, in Duo's opinion. "What better way to get the boy to willingly kill someone than to tell him the man killed his father?"
Duo's face paled at this. Not only did they plan on killing him, they intended to have Sifir make his first kill—at age four. No, he had to stop them. Thinking quickly, he remembered the paperclip he had stashed in his hair. Covertly moving his hands to his braid, he retrieved the clip and began maneuvering it to pick the locks on the handcuffs.
To distract the men from his moving hands, Duo questioned, "So why do you have to bring me somewhere else to do it?" Not that he minded, it would give him a better opportunity to get away.
Wong just shrugged. "They don't really want the kid coming back here to his father's blood smeared all over; figure it might traumatize him or something. Though I'm wondering why they think that'd be any worse than what they already plan to put him through…"
Duo paled even more, the image of Sifir finding his dead body laying cold in the cell… Thankful for at least that little amount of thoughtfulness on someone's part, he followed Wong out the door into the hall. The guards trailed after him.
He had just finished freeing his right hand from the cuffs, when one of the guards shouted, "Hey! What are you—?"
His first mistake was not shooting Duo the instant he realized the prisoner was getting free. His second was giving the former Gundam pilot warning that he knew.
A second after the shout, Duo had slammed a kick into the guard's stomach, grabbed his gun, and smashed the barrel over the head of the other guard. Both dropped to the floor, unconscious.
Whirling around, he turned the gun on Dr. Wong, who in turn had his weapon trained on Duo's chest.
"Well," the doctor said, smirking, "Looks like we have a good old-fashioned standoff, here."
Duo smirked back. "Yes, except that you're dealing with Shinigami." Before he'd finished talking, he'd dropped to the floor, supporting his weight with his arms as he swept his legs around to take the other man down. Wong, not expecting the move, lost balance immediately and crashed to the floor. Instantly, Duo kicked all guns from Wong's reach, then brought a fist down on the back of the man's neck, knocking him out.
While wishing he could move the men to a less conspicuous location, Duo realized that dragging the three bulky bodies would take far too much time, and only draw more attention to himself. Instead, he just grabbed the three guns from the floor, then took off down the corridor.
He didn't know what he was going to do next, only that he had two goals: find Sifir, and get them both the hell out of there.
[1]
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Heero stared at the ventilation tunnel. For once, even his small stature would not fit through the tiny area. He cursed the little amount he had grown in the past few years, certain he would have fit into such a tunnel during the war.
He returned to where he'd left his two oldest. Solemnly, he reported, "It's too small. We'll have to find a different way in."
Juuni's face fell at seeing the obstacle to getting her dad and brother back.
Ven, however, looked thoughtful. "Too small for you, or me?" he asked.
"No," came Heero's immediate reply. "We'll find another way."
"But you said the ventilation tunnel was our best shot at getting in, and—"
"And since that's no longer an option, we'll have to find a second best route." Heero was not going to send one of his kids into the very probably heavily guarded facility alone.
"Please hear me out?" Ven looked at his tousan pleadingly. Juuni watched both of them in silence.
Heero sighed and nodded, indicating he would not interrupt again.
"I can do this. Dad has been training me in sneaking around, you know? I can steal stuff and return it without anybody noticing me at all most of the time! And you know how good I am at sneaking around avoiding you and Dad when I don't want to go to bed yet." The last part he said with a smirk, but his voice was completely serious.
"This is different, Ventuno," Heero pointed out. "If you get captured here, the consequences will be a bit worse than when you stay up past bedtime."
Ven swallowed, and nodded. "I know. But I won't let myself get captured. For Dad and Sifir's sake." Meeting his tousan's eyes, he looked the most mature Heero had ever seen him. "Please, Tousan."
Heero hated this. He hated that these people took his partner and son. He hated that his other children were being forced to grow up faster to deal with it. He hated his own inability to prevent it all from happening.
However, he recognized that it was unavoidable. Sighing again, he gave in. "Fine." Ven's face showed excitement, but before he could say anything, Heero continued. "You will go in as slowly as necessary to make as little noise as possible. Once in, you will make your way to the front doors and unlock them. We will take care of the guards outside. You are to avoid confrontation at all costs, but if you are discovered, use the tranq gun before they can report back. And under no circumstances are you to attempt to rescue your dad or Sifir on your own. Understood?"
Ven nodded. "Mission accepted."
Heero held his gaze for another few seconds, making sure his instructions had sunk in. He then lead the boy to the ventilation tunnel, Juuni following along silently.
After Heero removed the cover from the shaft, Ven climbed in, looking back for only a moment.
Breaking her unusual silence, Juuni whispered to her brother, "Good luck." Her eyes held a combination of worry and pride.
"Good luck, Ven," Heero warned his son. When the boy turned to disappear down the dark tunnel, he added in a whisper, "Be careful."
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"Well? Where is Maxwell?" Green eyes flashed, promising a horrible punishment if the proper answer was not given.
Wong looked at his superior, trying very hard not to betray his nervousness. "He's dead, Sir. You can proceed with the kid's training."
The blond man looked at Wong suspiciously for a moment, the nodded. "Very good. Dismissed."
Wong saluted his superior, then exited the office. The instant the door shut behind him, he allowed himself a huge sigh of relief. I wasn't lying, he told himself. I was just telling the truth early…[2]
Upon waking, he and the other two guards had agreed that it was in all of their best interests not to inform their superiors of Maxwell's escape. All three would confirm the story that the man was taken outside and shot, the body hidden deep in the woods. They were incredibly lucky that apparently no one had happened upon them as they lay unconscious in the hallway.
Now all they needed to do was find that damn escaped prisoner and make their lie into a truth.
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Duo stared at the ventilation tunnel. If he could fit into that, he would have almost full access to the facility, and finding Sifir would be a piece of cake. If.
He removed the cover, then got down on hands and knees to climb inside. When his shoulders hit the top of the shaft, he sighed and stood. He could have fit if he really tried, but his maneuverability would be nil, and that could end up complicating matters instead of helping. Getting myself stuck in the middle of a tunnel somewhere would definitely put a cramp in this whole escape idea, not to mention be embarrassing as hell, he thought to himself.
Sighing, Duo resigned himself to wandering the halls in search of his son, hoping not to run into any more guards. He placed the cover back on the vent, then headed back down the corridor.
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Ven froze. He thought he'd heard something up ahead. It sounded like… like a vent cover being removed! Had someone realized he was in here?
Keeping as still as possible, barely even breathing, he listened for any more sounds. There was a bit of a shuffling sound, then the sound of the vent being closed.
Ven mentally breathed a sigh of relief. Either they'd heard something but then figured it was their imagination, or the vent had been opened for some other reason. Whatever the explanation, he waited until he heard footsteps leaving the area, then continued on toward the front doors.
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"Sir. He. Is. Not. Ready." Dr. White spoke through gritted teeth. She was itching to pull out her gun and shoot something, but knew she would get severely reprimanded for such an action. Especially seeing as her superior would be the most likely target of her attack.
Calm green eyes stared back at her, looking almost amused at her fury. "Whether or not he is emotionally prepared is insignificant. He will do it. Stage 10 has already been put into motion."
Her anger was immediately replaced with worry. She swallowed, forcing herself to maintain her composure. "What do you mean, put into motion?"
Her superior smirked. "The boy's father has been killed."
Dr. White's face paled. She didn't feel anything but a grudging respect for Maxwell, but her heart ached in pity for Sifir. The boy would be crushed… and infuriated. Stage 10 could very well succeed, but at what cost to Sifir's psyche?
However, she realized she had no choice in the matter. Nodding in resignation, she asked, "What are my orders now, Sir?"
After he explained what was to take place, Dr. White headed back to the training area from which she'd been called away. Sifir waited there patiently for her, though she could tell he was nervous by the glances he kept giving the guards. "What training will I be doing today?"
The doctor swallowed, unsure how to break the news to him. Instead of speaking, she handed him a gun.
The boy looked at the weapon held loosely in his grasp, then looked up at her in fear.
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TBC
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Footnotes:
[1] Knew that paperclip would come in handy…
[2] Tori came up with this line, and seems to enjoy it a bit too much… :)
Coauthor Rant: Guten Tag! We're back from our spectacular world tour involving Hungary, Austria, Switzerland, and fifteen minutes in Slovakia and we're bringing the next part of Kazoku back with us! Yay! With our Hungary trip out of the way, our work load should (theoretically) lighten somewhat, but I wouldn't hold your breath for an improvement in speed...especially since I was struck by a new fic idea in Budapest that is now eating my time and brain power. But we had a great time, so hooray! I also brought back a ton of junk...I went with one checked bag and one carry-on and returned with two checked bags and two carry-ons. Ugh. But Budapest is unbelievably beautiful and I loved it! Vienna was okay...not as impressive as I'd expected. Hungary is great though, I suggest you visit!
In other news...not much. Jet lag. The ever-growing stress of being the campus tv station weather girl. I got a new shirt that says "McLenin's - the Taste of Communism" and it cracks me up. Anyway.
And I do love the line 'I'm not lying, I'm telling the truth early.' I use it all the time. So there :P
Hope all our readers have/had a wonderful spring break and you keep enjoying our lil fic!