Thump! "Owwww!"
"Duo! What in the world do you think you're doing?"
"Um…would you believe testing the hardness of the desk with my head?"
"No. Now don't fall asleep again!"
" Yes ma'am." Duo rubbed the growing red spot on his forehead where the desk had jolted him into wakefulness. He grumbled to himself about surly math teachers who should just let sleepy students sleep. He situated himself in his seat and prepared to sink back into his blissful dream world, but the dull throb in his head quickly developed into a full-fledged headache and sleep seemed nearly impossible. Duo tried to concentrate on the logarithms the teacher was writing on the board, but, after having taken the same math class in four different schools, his mind didn't feel like logarithm reviews. So instead, his mind wandered to his upcoming mission.
Tonight he was supposed to break into an OZ base and listen in on an OZ leader meeting. Trowa was usually the one to do the espionage, but this base had some new fangled computer codes and Duo was the only stealthy code breaker. So he had to skip out before dinner and drive 20 miles to the base, which was out in the middle of God knows where. He didn't even get to blow anything up. This was certainly not his kind of mission. He wondered why they didn't just get Heero to do it. The codes couldn't be that hard and he was a pretty decent hacker. 'Oh well,' he thought. 'Guess I gotta pull my share of boring missions.'
Briiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing!
At the sound of the bell Duo leapt from his seat. "Don't forget to write down your homework!" the teacher shouted after him.
'Yeah right. I've got way more important things on my mind!' he though. Just as he hopped out the door, another person walked right in front. He yelped as he collided with the person. They collapsed to the ground in a pile of arms and legs. Duo found himself looking at a very angry pair of Prussian blue eyes hidden behind hair that never looked brushed.
"Yo Heero! What's up?" Duo smiled cheerfully down at the agitated Wing pilot.
"Duo. Get off of me. NOW!" Duo leapt up as Heero prepared to beat the shit out of him. He quickly ducked behind a rather tall onlooker.
"Now Heero, just, calm down! It was an accident! Trowa! Tell him!" Duo pleaded with his barricade.
"Heero. Chill. He didn't do it on purpose. Plus," he whispered quietly, "he has something to do tonight." The anger quickly faded from the boy's face and his mask of indifference slipped back into place. He glared at Duo one more time and then turned around and stalked away.
"Woah. Talk about near death experiences. Thanks Trowa. What the hell is his problem? Spandex too tight?" Duo brushed himself off and tried to settle his nerves. Heero had been really upset. He had really wanted to beat the shit out of him. For an accident…
"He doesn't want you to go on the mission," Quatre said, slipping up behind him. He stared to gently push Duo toward his room. He and Quatre had become pretty close friends, and they talked a lot. They usually helped each other get ready for missions. Quatre had often confided in Duo his feelings about a certain tall, spiky haired pilot, and he and Duo had thought up ways for the shy Arabian to confront Trowa, but only once had Duo mentioned anything about his secret thoughts of the Perfect Soldier.
"Say wha'?" How would Quatre know? He and Heero weren't exactly best buddies and Heero didn't share his thought with just anyone. Heero didn't share his thoughts with anyone period.
"I overheard Heero talking to Doctor J. He doesn't think you'll be able to break in alone and that you will become a liability. Personally, I think he's worried about you," Quatre added with a smug little smile, which quickly vanished as his forehead wrinkled in worry. "To tell you the truth, so am I."
"Oh come on, Q-man! I'll be fine! I've got this one covered! All I gotta do is do a little hacking and keep my ears open. I don't even need Deathsythe. This'll be a piece of cake." Duo smiled, hoping to quell his friend's fears, despite his own apprehensions. If Quatre admitted to Duo that he was worried, he must really mean it. And Quatre had never been wrong before….
Duo shook off his doubts. There was a first time for everything, and that included Quatre being wrong. Plus, he didn't need any stray thoughts of worry distracting him from his goal.
As they approached his door and Duo took out his room key, Quatre grabbed his arm, stopping him.
"Just, please be careful. This new system is supposed to be very, very good and we're not quite sure exactly what it can do. So, watch your back." Quatre gave him a reassuring pat on the back as if to emphasize his last statement, then went into Duo's room and began getting out the weapons.
Duo followed him in, closing and locking the door behind him. It would be bad news in someone other than another pilot walked in while he was getting ready for a mission. He glanced around, taking the look of the small dorm room he shared with Heero. It wasn't exactly what you would call spacious. It had basically two beds, a nightstand (yes, only one), two dressers, and a desk. That was about it. There was a little window on the far side away from the door that was just big enough to fit a teenage boy/Gundam pilot. It was pretty dirty, with the wallpaper peeling and watermarks on the ceiling. The carpet was coming up in places, exposing the bare, unfinished wood floors beneath.
Duo walked up behind Quatre as he searched through their large assortment of handguns. Along with the basics, each pilot had their own personal weapon. Heero had one or two machine guns stashed beneath the floor boards that were exposed by the carpet, while Trowa had some of the daggers his friend used in the circus. Quatre had a machete given to him by the Maguanacs and Wufei had enough martial arts swords to make even the greatest collector jealous. He also happened to have a rather large bazooka, but none of the other pilots had ever asked him where he had gotten it. Duo had his own special set of lock picks he had made himself, plus his favorite gun, which he considered lucky and took on every mission. He threw both of these things into a black duffle bag, along with a few more guns and some ammunition Quatre had gotten out from underneath his mattress. He grabbed his extra lock picks and secured them firmly in his hair and attached a gun to his ankle holster. He slipped two knives into his hip sheaths and grabbed his shoulder holster from the desk drawer. He put that on, along with the two guns and threw over his black trench coat. He put his mini-computer in his bag and was ready to go.
"Do you think this is a little much?" Duo asked as he surveyed himself in the full-length mirror on the back of the door. He thought he might be a little over-prepared.
"You can never be too careful and we're not sure about the perimeter security. You may need every last bullet just to get in…or out of the base."
Duo nodded. Quatre was right. No one was quite sure what the security was like where the computer couldn't cover. He might very well use everything. And if not, he could always stash what he didn't use and pick it up on the way out. If he got out…
'Stop it!' he told himself. 'Everything will be just fine. I'll get in, get the information, and get out. And I'll show Heero that I can do the job just as well as he can. If not better,' he thought smugly.
He turned and smiled at Quatre. "Save me some dinner for when I get back, will ya? I'm gonna be starving!"
"No problem. Just be sure you come back and eat it. Otherwise I've got dibs." Quatre smiled back at him, while his eyes tried miserably to hide his worry for his friend. He just had such a bad feeling about this mission.
Duo walked over to the window, throwing the latch that kept it locked while he and Heero were away. He stuck his legs out the window and looked back at Quatre. "Well, see ya in a few hours! And don't you dare eat my food!" He vaulted out the window and landed behind a bush. He looked up to see Quatre wave before closing the window. He made sure Quatre didn't lock it before setting off at a sprint for the woods behind the school. He had stashed his motorcycle there shortly after they came and now he unlocked the chain wrapped around the tree trunk. He didn't want anyone steeling his bike. He hung the helmet over the handlebars and walked it through the woods. He really wished these woods had bike trails, or even dirt paths. When he finally reached the road he secured his bag to the back, strapped on his helmet, and sped off down the highway with his braid flying out behind him like a kite tail.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
'Damn it! This security looks tough. I should probably wait here and pick off an officer as he's coming out,' Duo thought as he surveyed the ground around the base. Soldiers patrolled everywhere and none of them looked like the slack guys he was used to. His mind kept wandering to what Heero had said about him not being able to do it. He was beginning to agree. Night was coming soon and if he didn't get inside, the meeting would start without him.
He crept over to the entrance. He had to do this right. It was his mission. If he were caught, he would become a liability. He couldn't let that happen. He had to show Heero he could do it. He had to prove himself to him. He would be successful. Then he would rub it in Heero's face.
Just then a soldier walked through the gates into the woods. Probably going home to see the wife and kids. Duo had other plans for him. After he crossed into the shadows and out of sight of the guards, Duo slinked out of the bushes. He came up behind the man and banged him on the head with the butt of one of his guns. The man fell like a stone and Duo dragged him behind the bushes. He stripped of the man of his uniform and tied him to a tree. He made sure to gag the man, then put on his uniform. He put his clothes in his bag and stashed it behind a tree. He had made sure to grab his mini-computer, a few more guns, and his picks before putting his clothes in, and now he was ready.
'Okay,' he thought to himself. 'Just get in, plant the bugs, get the files, and get out. How hard could it be?'
Duo casually strolled out of the woods. He looked like your typical OZ officer. Actually getting his uniform had taken long enough for the guards at the gate to be changed. 'Must change them every hour. I'll have to remember that.' Duo walked past the guards who admitted him with no questions asked. He walked around the base, nodding to some soldiers he passed, all the while looking for the conference room. He felt like he had searched the whole base before he finally found where the meeting would be held. "You think they would design these places all alike to cut down on confusion." Duo mumbled to himself while he looked around for places to plant his bugs. He looked around. He decided to plant one under each person's chair. He slit the fabric under each chair and slipped in a little microphone. These little things had been designed by the five scientists and really came in handy on missions. They would destruct at the push of a button, and if he waited till everyone was out of the room, no one would even know that he had been there. These bugs were powerful, too. They could pick up the sound of a pin dropping from twenty feet away. The chair cushion would be no obstacle.
After he had secured the chair bugs, he left. No good waiting around for them to show up. Too many things could go wrong. So he strolled down a corridor until he found a closet. All of the closets in OZ bases had air vents connecting to them so the janitors could clean the air ducts easily. Duo hoped that this base wasn't the exception. When he looked in the closet he found himself in luck. Not only was there an air vent, but a stepladder as well. He climbed the ladder and picked the lock on the vent. As he reached up to pull the grate down, he thought he felt a little electrical shock, but nothing happened afterward so he just passed it off for static electricity and hoisted himself into the shaft. It was relatively dark, but he followed the wall until he thought he was a safe distance inside. Then he got himself situated and popped out his mini computer.
The little computer had been a gift from Professor G. He had called it " the hacker's best friend." The computer could crack almost any code by itself and with it, Duo could break into just about anything he wanted to. He put the computer on his lap and turned it on. The tunnel was illuminated with it's harsh light and Duo began to type. He first took out the little hearing device that was connected with the bugs. He put that in his ear and turned on all of the bugs. The hearing device was connected with the computer and the whole conversation would be recorded and saved for later reviewing. Then he set about his other job.
He was supposed to hack into the base's top-secret files. Word was they were planning the designs for a whole new mobile suit that was supposed to rival even the Gundams in power. They needed those plans to find a weakness to exploit. Without them, they just didn't know what to expect. He started working on bypassing the security without notice. Here was where the new security system would be a bitch. He set to typing furiously, hoping not to take too much time to break this, in case someone got suspicious. Finally, after about fifteen minutes, he was able to break the access codes. The little computer had gotten him in and he began his search.
At first he wasn't quite sure where to look. He took his time searching through the files. He didn't want to miss anything. He was still looking though the files. He didn't want to miss anything. He was still looking through files when he heard the sound of voices from the device in his ear. 'Good. I was wondering when this thing was going to start.' He glanced at the screen while half listening to the meeting. A file suddenly caught his eye. It was in some of the personal files of Trieze, labeled "Gemini." "Woah. What is it with these guys and their damn astrological signs?" Duo muttered to himself as he opened the file. The one had a lock on it too. He muttered about stupid OZ people and their paranoia about people hacking their files as he proceeded to break the code. This code was even harder than the last one, taking up almost twice the amount of time as the last one. He was finally able to get in, now having access to all of Trieze's private files. He opened Gemini, glancing over the file as he did. What he saw almost took his breath away. The mobile suit model in front of him was almost perfect. It had the same shields as the Virgo, only with about 3 more, and the laser rifle was about 3 times stronger.
"Woah." Duo looked at the plans, amazement gleaming in his eyes. He had to find a weakness. He just had to. Otherwise, the Gundams were pretty much guaranteed scrap metal. Duo scoured the plans, desperately hoping to locate anything that the pilots would be able to exploit. He searched every plan, every angle of the mobile suit, inside and out. Finally, after about twenty minutes, he found what he was looking for. It was small, but it at least gave the pilots a fighting chance. The designers of the suit had made it so electronically advanced up in the cockpit area, there had been no room for the self-destruct module. Therefore they had seen fit to slip it into the upper left leg of the machine, just behind the knee. If a Gundam could hit the spot, instant bonfire. It was just the type of thing he was looking for. He couldn't wait until the other guys saw this. He was just about to save the files, when he suddenly heard the meeting going on in the conference room take an interesting turn.
"So, how do you plan on taking down the Gundams, Colonel Treize?" a rather nasally voice said.
"You see, it's not so much a matter of destruction as it is a matter of capture. We could learn a lot from those pilots and their machines. Given time, we may even be able to convince them to join us," Treize said in his silky smooth voice.
'Yeah right. Like we would ever work for OZ,' Duo thought bitterly as he listened to the other officers talk amongst themselves. They weren't quite sure what to make of Treize. He was an up and coming figure, the leader of the elite Specials group. The older members of the meeting were rather resentful of the Colonel's new methods and were constantly looking for any way to discredit him.
"Well, you still need a plan, so what do you intend to do?" The officers all sat patiently, waiting for the suave man to grace them with a response.
"It's simple. All we need is one. If we capture one pilot, the rest will come to either rescue him or silence him. And I believe that we already have a Gundam pilot in this very base listening to our conversation and tapping into our files right now."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Duo's blood ran cold. How could they have known about him? Where had he messed up? His mind ran back over the last couple of hours. Had they found the guy in the woods? Had someone leaked information? It was then that it struck him. The new security system. The damned new security system. How could he have been so stupid? He thought back and remembered the little shock he had gotten from the vent gate. 'Great. That must have set off a MAJOR alarm.'
He took some deep breaths to calm down. He had fucked up and fucked up real bad. But he still had a mission to complete. He had to keep his cool. He was a Gundam pilot. He could get out of this. 'And if not,' he thought, 'a few strategically placed bombs could blow us all sky high.' He grabbed the back up disk he had made of the files and shoved it into his pocket. He turned off the computer and closed it. He stuffed it into his shirt as quickly as he could.
Silence was not a real big issue now as he worked his way down the vent, but he didn't want the entire base to know he was there just yet, so he shuffled as quickly as he dared. When he reached the vent opening, his breath caught in his throat. He heard muffled sounds coming from outside the closet door. 'OZ troops,' he thought. So they were already watching the door. Well, he wouldn't go down without a fight. He grabbed a gun and removed the clip. He quietly opened the vent hatch before chucking the empty pistol at the door. It hit with a loud 'thud', and fell to the floor.
"Shhh!" came a voice from outside. "Did you hear something?"
"Yeah. Sounded liked someone kicking the door. I think our little friend has finally come down for a visit." The soldier reached out and grabbed the door handle. He jerked the door open with a pull, guns ready to fire at the first sign of resistance.
Duo almost laughed out loud when he saw the looks on the soldiers' faces. They went from smug triumph, to utter confusion to even more confusion when the found the gun. They both walked into the closet, putting their own guns back in the holsters. They picked up Duo's gun and were just about to ask each other what the hell was going on when Duo burst out of the grate feet first and slammed them both in the head, knocking them into the shelves lining the walls, spilling cleaning material everywhere. Duo landed next to the two prone figures, grabbing their guns and replacing the clip in his.
Duo mad sure to secure the soldiers before locking the door with their key and snapping it off in the lock. 'That should hold them for a while,' he thought as he walked down the hall, guns at the ready. He knew that a whole group of OZ soldiers was probably hot on his tail, but he tried to blend in, and not look too obvious. He hadn't been able to hide his braid in the rush to get out of the closet however, and now it swung conspicuously behind him as he walked.
Just a he turned a corner Duo heard sounds behind him. He thought he heard footsteps coming down the hall. A lot of footsteps.
"Look! There he is! The one with the hair!" a soldier shouted after him. Duo took off at a dead run as the soldiers started shooting at him. He had almost made it around the corner at the end of the hall when the first bullet hit. It buried itself deep in his left shoulder, causing him to drop on of the guns he was holding. The pain caused him to slow down a little before he was able to block it out, but that gave the soldiers enough time to get a little bit of a gain on him. Another bullet whizzed by his right side, slightly nicking his thigh. More bullets flew by as the rest of the guards rounded the corner. 'Lucky for me these guys are such awful shots while running,' Duo thought as he sped ever closer to the exit.
By now pretty much the whole base knew he was there and those that weren't hunting him down like a convicted criminal were out of the halls, making it pretty easy going. He managed to fire a couple of backward shots before a bullet knocked the gun from his hand, cutting his fingers in the process. 'Damn,' he thought. 'That was either a really great shot, or pure dumb luck.'
He finally spotted the exit in front of him. He ran outside, only to find that the gate had been closed and bolted. His mind was racing. He had to get out of this base…but how? He looked around and as luck would have it, and OZ truck was sitting by the side of the building. Sure it had two OZ officers in it, but at the moment, Duo thought he would rather face those two than the twenty behind him. He ran over to the truck, guns flailing. The officers, terrified out of their wits, leapt from the truck. Duo slid behind the wheel and started the car. He punched it into drive just as the soldiers flew out of the door. They started firing at the car. One bullet h it the windshield, shattering it and causing glass to go everywhere, including a big piece that hacked up Duo's left thigh. His face was covered with little scratches and he could feel the blood running down his cheek. He rammed forward, straight into the soldiers, running over several in the process. He swerved left, ramming into the gate, it bent, but not enough, so be smashed the car into reverse, running over even more soldiers behind him. He backed up enough to allow the car to build up a good speed, and then drove straight at the gate as fast as he could, pushing straight through it and out of the base. For some odd reason, the soldiers he hadn't mowed down with the truck stayed inside the base, helping the others instead of giving chase, allowing him to get away. It was kind of unnerving, but Duo didn't really want to think about that just now. He stopped off to grab his bag, and thought about untying the soldier he had strapped to the tree, but decided that since he was pressed for time, he'd just ungag him. 'They'll find him eventually,' he decided.
Duo made his way to the truck, limping badly from pain, throwing the bag into the back and wincing as the pain in his shoulder came speeding back. He couldn't tell how much blood he'd lost, due to the black clothing, but his shirt was feeling sticky all up and down the left side, a sign he knew couldn't be good. He slid behind the steering wheel of the truck just as a wave of dizziness overtook him. 'Just concentrate on driving,' he told himself. 'The school isn't that far away.' He headed for the highway, hoping beyond hope that he could reach the school without blacking out.