Scarlet Love

            Chapter Sixteen:

            Bleak Rescue

            By: NightChild

            ***

            As soon as Heero passed out, Duo instantly started yanking the restraints from his body. 'He's going to die…' were the forlorn thoughts that ran through his head as he struggled with the buckles on the leather-like straps. 'I…can't live without him.'

            Strong hands wrapped around Duo's wrists and he looked up to see Trowa staring at him with his emerald eyes, one half-hidden by his hair. He shook his head. "Let me do it, Duo. Go stand with Quatre." When Duo opened his mouth to protest, Trowa's eyes hardened and his voice grew stern, "Now." There was no room for argument with that.

            With a worried glance at Heero, Duo walked over to where Quatre was standing. He was close to the edge. What was on the other side of the edge was something that he really didn't want to experience, but if Heero died, he would die too. Life was pointless without Heero in it since he found him again.

            "Duo…." Quatre's soft, comforting voice brought Duo out of his thoughts. Duo looked at Quatre with a questioning look in his violet eyes. "We need to stay on guard; it was too easy getting here. This could be a trap. Hold on for a bit longer and we can get Heero and us out of here. Can you do that, Duo?"

            Pulling at every bit of training he had had, Duo nodded to Quatre and took his semi-automatic out of the waistband of his black pants. "Yes." Was his only answer. He ignored everything inside of him that told him he needed to stay by Heero and went to stand by the door; where Wufei had posted himself.

            Wufei glanced at Maxwell before turning his onyx gaze back to the long, dirty hall. "Are you going to make it through this, Maxwell?" he asked in a hard voice, but the voice held sincere concern.

            With a nod Duo said, "I have to; for Heero." He posted himself just inside the doorframe, keeping a watch in the opposite direction that Wufei was. The hall looked calm, beside the fact that there were bloodstains on the walls and floors and signs of obvious torture practically written all over the place. But no one seemed to know they were there. 'Something's not right here…' it was too easy, just like Quatre had said.

            As if Duo's thoughts were some sort of cue, the sound of a large body of people running was heard. 'Shit.' The near-thundering sound of footsteps was getting closer. 'Shit!' "Wufei, Trowa, Quatre! We have company!" he yelled, although he was sure the others had heard it by that time. It was doubtful that anyone couldn't hear it with how loud it was.

            There was a pause in the footfalls.

            Clank.

            "Wufei! Duo! Take cover!" came Quatre's yell as a hand grenade rolled into the hallway. Wufei and Duo barely had time to dart into the cell where they had found Heero; help Trowa and Quatre drag Heero's limp form behind the now-upturned gurney-like table before the blast went off, sending a could of smoke and dust into the doorway of the said cell.

            While they waited for the dust and smoke clear enough for them to see, Duo clutched Heero's unconscious body to him in a possessively protective way; somehow managing to do so with one hand, as the other held his handgun in front of him, ready to be fired at the first sign of threat.

            Quatre peered over the top of their temporary shield, his firearm ready to fire. 'They're coming…I can feel them.' Keeping his voice as low as possible and still be heard, he whispered, "Get ready. They're coming."

            Wufei, Duo and Trowa instantly tensed at Quatre's words, shifting their positions slightly to make fighting and seeing a bit easier; Duo still clutching Heero to him, refusing to let him go.

            Only the sound of their own hearts could be heard in their own ears. It had been a trap, but they had to save Heero and any risk was worth saving him.

            Clank.

            "GET DOWN!" yelled Quatre again as he ducked behind the upturned-gurney-like table. He could hear the others doing the same before the roaring explosion of another grenade going off drowned all sound out.

            Duo heard Quatre's yell and tucked himself around Heero as a human shield as he tried to move while in that position to a safer, more covered location only a few feet away from him. The grenade went off and he felt something strike his left shoulder, instantly starting to sting in a way that only a deep flesh wound can. He gritted his teeth against the pain as he scrambled the last few inches to a safer place behind the table.

            Hearing Winner's yell of warning, Wufei quickly ducked into a safer location behind the table, closer to the center of it. 'This is bad.' He thought before the loud explosion went off.

            When he heard Quatre's voice raise to alert them of danger, Trowa moved quickly, using his agility he had gained while working at the circus, he grabbed Quatre and pulled him down behind the table, nearly landing on top of Wufei.

            As the smoke cleared, Wufei glanced at Maxwell--as he was the closest to him--and noticed that there was a large, bleeding gash that ran from his shoulder to his mid-back. Maxwell also was laying half on Yuy and they both seemed to be unconscious, when only minutes before, Yuy had been the only unconscious one among them. He reached over with the hand that wasn't holding his gun and nudged Barton's shoulder, jerking his head toward Yuy and Maxwell when Barton's emerald eyes turned to him.

            When Trowa felt Wufei nudge his shoulder, he glanced at him, and then he followed his head-jerk to Heero and Duo. His eyes almost widened at the sight of them. Duo was laying half on Heero while blood oozed from a large wound in his shoulder-to-mid-back. The blood was quickly pooling around them. "We need to get out of here." He said calmly, a façade he had mastered well. Calmness had been the façade he had hid behind during the wars. And old habits were hard to break.

            Quatre sensed something amiss at the tone Trowa had used and looked behind him to Trowa, Wufei, Duo and Heero. He quickly assessed Duo's condition. "Wufei, use this," he took off his jacket and slid it across the floor to Wufei, "to stop the bleeding. Trowa, do you have the explosives with you?" Quatre had noticed that Duo hadn't taken any explosives with him and hoped that Trowa had.
            Trowa nodded.

            "Good. Get one of the larger grenades and throw it as hard as you can out the door." Quatre was quickly taking over "command". 'We won't lose anyone. We can't.'

            Trowa reached into one of the small backpack-like bags he had attached to his back before leaving their vehicle and pulled out a fairly large hand grenade; he had taken the packs when he noticed that Duo only grabbed his gun. "Get down!" he warned, listening as Wufei and Quatre took cover before he threw the grenade has hard as he could through the doorway, then took cover himself. 'Three…two…one.' Just as the thought of "one" passed through his mind, there was a loud, near-deafening bang, then a whoosh and a flash of bright light that could be seen through tightly shut eyelids.

            There wasn't a sound being made as the dust and smoke cleared. Wufei stood up, Maxwell flung over one shoulder, Winner's jacket torn in strips and tied around his wound as best could be managed. He watched as Winner helped Barton get Yuy situated on his shoulder before turning his attention to the room around them. Debris were scattered all over the floor, slivers of wood somehow staked in the rough, gray stonewalls and floor. He glanced at their shield and was immensely grateful they had had it. The table had large slivers and splinters of wood and metal sticking out of it from the blasts it had protected them from. "Let's go." He said simply as he stepped around the table, Maxwell still on his shoulder.

            Trowa and Quatre followed Wufei as he slowly walked toward the battered doorframe, their guns readied and Trowa had a grenade tucked into his waistband where he could easily reach it. As sense of trepidation hung heavily in the air, seeming to get thicker and heavier as they got closer to the door, almost as if it were some omen that was trying to warn them of danger. But they had never listened to omens of any sort; they couldn't with the parts they played in the wars.

            ***

            Phearsun sat in his darkened office scowling at the surveillance monitors. The ex-pilots were proving to be a nuisance, as they had just blown a platoon of men to smithereens with one grenade. The time had come for them to meet Neo Romefeller Foundation's organizer and leader. Quickly standing, grabbing two handguns and a few grenades, Phearsun tore out of his office to go meet the ex-pilots and eliminate them.

            ***

            AN: My chapters keep getting longer and longer. Though, my cliffies are probably getting worse and worse. *shrug* You'll have to live with it, though.

            I never expected "SL" to get nearly 200 reviews, I'm sort of shocked, but happy.

            THANK YOU to Lord Havok's Minion; Bunch-o-Nuts; Freefall; Shellie; Alana Quinn; Fragile Reflection; Shin-chan; and PATTY 40 for reviewing and making me smile.

            Until next time…

            Ja`ne