Chapter 14
The ARCHFIEND Strikes Back!!!
2:45AM. Lemur City Convention Southern Atrium Lobby Area
Despite the joyous reunion, Heero and Duo had to share some pretty fucked up news with Quatre. They found, yet, another well-informative document that did NOT seem to improve the dilemma at hand:
The Lemur City area will self detonate at 6 am... on the dot!
Duo didn't freak out half as much as Quatre did upon first hearing this. Heero was forced to tranq the Frantic Preventer about 3 times before he decided to calm down.
Quatre finally sunk into the lobby couch cushions and took deep breaths. Duo perched upon the top of the couch beside him. Heero just stood over the both of them.
"I can't believe I wasted 3 darts on you. Even Duo calmed down after 2!"
Duo smiled, "Yeah! It was so trippy!"
"H-How can you two be so cool, calm, and collected about this?"
Heero folded his arms and responded, "What good does acting like a punk-bitch accomplish?" He continued, "You're STILL the officer of the law here, and it is YOUR job to BE the mellowest out of all of us---EVEN ME. We have a few hours left. We need to make haste to the factory, past the cemetery, and then..."
Quatre looked up and concluded, "Make our escape to the docks."
Duo bounced off the couch and followed Heero towards the exiting doors. Quatre reluctantly followed behind.
He looked back at Trowa who was STILL just lying there unconscious and frowned. "Good-Bye, Frin Trowa." Hmm... I wonder where's Wufei?
2:50am. Lemur City Artificial Beach.
As Heero marched through the fake sand, Duo and Quatre followed behind. Duo, being the most humane of the two mercenaries, gave Quatre a consoling pat on the back and comforted him....
"Don't worry, Lil' Guy, I'm sure Trowa is better off being blown to bits. Perhaps having his brain poisoned was probably torture for him and he would rather go down in a ball of raving flames than run around beating the shit out of you. See?!"
(Scratch THAT...)
Quatre gawked at Duo. "Uhh.... Gee, thanks for the different perspective....Uhm...."
Even Heero had to turn around and glare at Duo. "What the FUCK did you say something like THAT for?"
"WHAT?!"
"Uhm, actually, I was worried about Wufei? Do you think he's still----"
"You mean The Great Wu-googly-Googly?" Duo exclaimed. "Oh shit!! He is missing!!! Hey!!! Heero, should we go back and look for him!"
Quatre looked past Heero and tried to speak, "Uhm, guys---"
"Hell NO." Heero replied. "We can't afford to waste any time. Besides—I never liked him anyway."
"I HEARD THAT!" Wufei yelled. He was actually standing at the Beach Entrance waiting for them. "Motherfucker."
"Up yours!" Heero snapped.
"I was talking to Duo---JACKASS!"
"ME?!!?" Duo blinked. "But--Wu-Man!!! I thought we were tight!!!"
Quatre tried to intervene, "Hey Mr. Chang---"
Heero insulted, "Don't go insulting the weakest link to avoid ME!!!"
"Yeah!!!! Bitch!!!----Hey!!! I'm not the weakest link!!!!" Duo stormed up to Heero and shoved him into Wufei, "Skeezer!!!"
"!!!" Heero stumbled towards Wufei, who stepped to the side. He slammed into the beach entrance sign. "BAKA!!!!" Heero got ready to tear Duo a new one when he suddenly shouted, "Oh, SHIT!!!"
Quatre dove into the sand just in time to avoid the ARCHFIEND's tentacle. He rolled towards the artificial beach grass to safety.
"Aayh!!!" Duo scream as the tentacle stabbed him in the side. The poisonous wound immediately took effect, and Duo fell lifelessly to the ground.
"Duo!" Quatre screamed. He staggered to his feet and took out his fully reloaded Magnums. "WHY!!?"
"You son-of-a-BITCH!!!" Heero yelled as he snatched the entrance sign and charged at the ARCHFIEND. "Take this!!!" He took a swing and smashed it into the ARCHFIEND's side.
"ROOOOOAR!!!" He shook the impact off and lashed another tentacle... this time in Heero's direction.
BLAM!!! BLAM!!! Quatre fired his guns into ARCHFIEND's back, distracting him. "No more killing!!! I WON'T let you take ANYMORE lives----OOPH!!!"
The ARCHFIEND quickly turned around and swatted him across the sand past Duo's lying form. Quatre shook the stars from his head just before seeing the ARCHFIEND towering over him. He reached down and grabbed Quatre by the neck and lifted him in the air. "GRRRRRR!!!"
"AAAAAYH!!!" Quatre screamed as he sighted that familiar tentacle spearing towards his face----
"ROOOOOOA----ooooph!!!" ARCHFIEND was tackled from behind by Wufei and Heero from behind. He went flying across the sand and into the artificial beach water. SPLASH!!!
Heero and Wufei got up from the sand and took out their guns--
Heero: 2 Sub Machine Guns. (oh yeah!!!)
Wufei: The Flame Thrower...... (oh dear....).
Quatre crawled out of the way (.... mainly Wufei's), and hurried over to Duo. "Guys!!! We have to get Duo some medical help...... and I'm not talking about that back alley shit, either, Heero!!!"
"Quatre, take him to the hospital." Heero replied as he kept his eyes towards the ARCHFIEND's fallen form.
Quatre argued, "But you said---"
Suddenly the ARCHFIEND got up and went charging after Heero and Wufei. Mr. Chang did not hesitate to blast his flamethrower.
Heero open fired with his guns. "None of us will get anywhere with him chasing back and forth---JUST get the hell out of here and take care of Duo."
Wufei snapped, "That's an order, Mr. Winner—You have a much bigger mission ahead of you anyway!"
With the hail of bullets and flame showering the Cycloptic Freak--- Heero and Wufei made a perfect distraction for Quatre to escape with Duo. He made haste and carried Duo off the beach. Taking a short unwanted glance back he saw that the two survivors were luring the ARCHFIEND back to the convention center.
"Allah please keep them safe..."
And suddenly the whole convention center burst into flames.
Quatre gasped, "OH ALLAH!!! Noooo!!!!"
3:15am. Philsem Payne Lemur City Holy Hospital
Even Quatre couldn't believe his own strength as he carried the young man upon his shoulders for like the past 5 city blocks. He also couldn't believe that he made to the hospital without confronting ANY zombies, mutants, or ARCHFIEND. Perhaps Heero and Wufei's death was not in death. He finally made it through the hospital's sliding doors and saw exactly why....
"YIIIIIIIIIIIIIEAY!!!!" Screamed a pair of Hunters that were in the distant lobby area. They had just finished dismembering a mercenary zombie when they sight Quatre's entrance. The hunters and the zombies basically had a free meal within the hospital--- with the patients and injured mercs inside. And now another meal was standing before them. They didn't hesitate to take the initiative...
They moved so damn fast, Quatre didn't have time to put Duo down and take out his weapons. "Oh shit!!" He went into a frightened crouch to the floor shielding Duo.
FWOOOOOOOOSH!!! Flames cut through the heavy air and ignited the hunters in mid run a few feet in front of Quatre. The scaly freaks went scampering everywhere before running into a wall and dying in a heaping pile of ash....
"It's a good thing you ducked, Mr. Winner." Heero calmly stated as he switched the flamethrower off. He walked up to Quatre who was more than relieved to see him hugged him. "Don't make me kill, Mr. Winner."
Quatre look at Heero's additional luggage upon his free shoulder and gasped, "Oh NO!!! It got Mr. Chang!!!!"
Heero walked past Quatre and spoke. "He actually shielded me. It should've been me." He walked through the Medical Records Office, flamethrower in one hand, Wufei upon the other shoulder. He took a deep breath and added, "After that, I took the flamethrower and went apeshit, hit a gas pipe—causing massive destruction. All was well."
Quatre, of course, followed with Duo upon both his shoulders and said. "Wow, you guys really do get along. I can't believe Mr. Chang did that."
"Me neither. I can't stand him."
"Oh?!"
Heero looked around the records room. His icy blue eyes spotted a typewriter and storage bin. He had a feeling they were safe in this room. He laid Wufei's unconscious body upon the long work table and announced, "Leave they guys in here. We'll go get this vaccine."
Quatre, following actions, placed Duo upon the table next to Wufei. "But is it safe to leave them here? Maybe one of us should stay and..."
Heero, ignoring Quatre's newfound whining habits, walked over to Duo's form. He unbuttoned the boy's black vest and lifted his t-shirt. Heero stared at the stab wound left by ARCHFIEND and frowned. The veins at his side were showing through his now paled skin and changing into a dark purplish color... much similar to the zombies and the ARCHFIEND. He placed his hand over Duo's heart....
"We don't have much time. Duo's heart is slowing down. In about 15 minutes, he's gonna turn into a zombie. Wufei has a little more time, but you have to realize---- we have less than 3 hours to get out of here."
Quatre shook his head, "Oh my gawd.... How do we find this vaccine!!?"
Heero responded, looking a bit surprised. "You wanna do this?" He added, "Have a map and documentation. This operation has to be quick. And it WON'T be easy—"
"I DON'T want to lose anymore friends, Mr. Yuy--- Let's do this!" Quatre asserted. He took out his guns and stormed through the doors opposite of where they came.
"A simple 'Affirmative.' would've sufficed...." Heero mumbled before following Quatre's exit. He glanced back at Duo and Wufei. Don't worry, guys. We got this.