***peeks out* Hi there! *ducks thrown objects* I'm sorry!! I know it took a long time, but…but…absence makes the heart grow fonder! Wait…..that doesn't work…Never mind. Just be content with the fact that I have another chapter up! So go and read! And then review! And make the world a better place! GO! **
**Little author's note: I don't think that I ever mentioned whether I was using the original Deathscythe or Deathscythe Hell. I guess I just kind of figured that you guys would figure out that if there is Altlong, there's Deathscythe Hell, but I just thought I'd set the record straight that I am using Deathscythe Hell. ^_^ Sorry for any confusion!**
The sweat drop rolled its way down his forehead and between his eyes. Reaching the tip of his nose, it clung desperately to his skin before taking the final plunge and splattering on his hand below.
"Geez it's hot in here," Duo complained as he wiped his hand on his pant leg. The three of them were piled into the OZ truck with Wufei driving, Quatre riding shotgun, and Duo sprawled out in the back seat. Since he had been kind of out of it the first time he rode in it, Duo didn't realize that the truck had no air conditioning and the bright spring sun was beating down on all of them through the windows.
They were on their way to the lake Duo had submerged his Gundam in, before heading over to the base. Quatre and Wufei would wait for Duo's signal and then quietly make their way inside. Hopefully all of the guards would be too distracted by the Gundam to notice a few extra people around.
Quatre had repaired the holes and washed the blood out of the uniform Duo had worn and was dressed in it as the rode to the lake. He was supposed to lock Wufei in handcuffs and take him into the base as a "trespasser." He hoped that the scheme would fool the few soldiers that would remain behind long enough for them to knock them out and steal their guns. Then he and Wufei would split up from there.
"Maybe," Wufei growled, "if you wore something other than black long pants and two shirts, you would be cooler." Duo had been complaining about the heat for half an hour now and Wufei was about to snap.
"Nah, it's not the clothes." Duo stretched out, sending a surprisingly strong jolt of pain through his left shoulder. He hissed as the newly forming skin and muscle yelled in protest of the jostling.
Quatre was turned around in a flash, checking on his still wounded comrade. "Why are we letting you do this?" Quatre cried frustrated beyond the breaking point. "These suits took down THREE Gundams! How can we expect an already injured pilot to hold off an entire base? This whole idea is ludicrous!" He reached up to run his hands through his hair. "I know I shouldn't be so negative, but how can we ask you to do this? There's got to be something else you can do. Let me pilot Deathsythe. I know how these things fight. I'll take them on."
Duo stared into the eyes of one of his closest friends. He understood Quatre's emotional struggle. He was pretty sure he was not going to make it out of this battle, and he would feel the same way if he thought he was sending one of his best friends off to die. But that didn't change the circumstances.
"Quatre," Duo said, looking at him, his eyes full of understanding. "You and I both know that, no matter how bad I do in the Gundam, I'd do worse inside the base. Every officer in that place probably had my face memorized. There's no way I'd get within 1000 yards of those prison cells. You and Wufei need to get the guys out. I need to create your distraction. That's all there is to it. Besides," Duo added, his characteristically light nature showing itself again, "you guys got to have all the fun earlier. It's my turn to blow some stuff up." He smiled at Quatre as the other boy's eyes, already filled with worry, took on some measure of understanding. Quatre would be just fine. He was a pilot and he knew what he had to do.
Wufei sat in the front, driving the car and trying to stay out of the conversation. This emotional type of interaction was not something that came naturally to him. He knew that they were probably sending Duo off to die, just as he knew there was a very slim chance that he would make it out alive with his hostage. But it was a chance they all took.
Glancing over at Quatre, he saw that the boy was still rather upset, despite Duo's semi-reassuring words. He knew that if anything happened to Duo, Quatre would blame himself. He blamed himself for everything. However, if they were forced to sacrifice one life to save two more, so be it. Wufei knew that the thought was a terrible one, and he hated himself for having it, but it was the cool logic that had been drilled into his head since he became a Gundam pilot. Always fight for the greater good. And that was exactly what Duo was doing. He admired the American pilot.
Their path suddenly left the clear, asphalt road as they headed down a dirt and gravel road off to the side. The sun filtered through the trees, casting constantly changing shadow designs on the three pilots as their truck ambled through the underbrush.
They soon found themselves on the edge of a large, shimmering lake, its icy blue water shining crystal clear under the sun. Duo leapt from the car, sliding a small remote control out of his pocket. There was a large red button in the middle of the control with Duo promptly pushed. The water started to shake and ripples appeared, followed by waves which crashed upon the shore as the giant form of Deathscythe Hell emerged from the watery depths of the lake.
Quatre gave Duo one last pleading look. "You don't have to do this if you don't want to. I can always take your place."
Duo just laughed, putting his hand on Quatre's shoulder. "You always were the persistent one. Not used to not getting your way? That's what you get for being brought up a rich kid." He reached up to ruffle Quatre's hair, smiling at the blonde's distress. "Quatre, you can't be out on the battle field. You have to go into that base and be Trowa's knight in shinning armor! I don't think he'd be as happy with me." Duo just laughed as Quatre's face took on an amazingly bright shade of red.
Wufei came over to the two after allowing them to say their goodbyes. "Well," he said, looking Duo in the eye, "guess it's time for you to go, Maxwell." Wufei crossed his arms in front of his chest, as if about to say something he was uncomfortable with. "Just, don't play the hero out there. If things get too tough, back out. Quatre and I can take care of ourselves. We're not injured already."
Duo just stared at Wufei in shock. "Are you…are you trying to tell me to be careful? Does this mean you actually are worried about me? Why Wu! I didn't know you cared!" Duo, smiling from ear to ear, punched Wufei in the arm lightly to show the other boy he was teasing.
Wufei just cleared his throat and continued on. "We'll each have our com units turned on. If anything goes wrong, just tell us and then get yourself out. We'll be on channel 2." He held up his com unit, making a show of switching it to the correct channel.
"Just get out of here already," Duo said, shoving them both toward the car. "You still have quite a ways to drive and we want to try to get there sometime today."
Wufei turned go to go the car, but Quatre hung back. He looked at Duo and hugged him before following Wufei over to the truck.
Crossing over to the side where the hulking machine had finally stopped it emergence from the water, Duo leapt up into the waiting hand of his Gundam.
"Alright. I'll see you guys there! Don't forget the signal. It'll let you know when to begin. Good luck!" And with that, Duo grabbed the cable that hoisted him into the cockpit of the large fighting machine.
Once he was finally inside the Gundam, Duo wasn't sure if he felt calmer, or more nervous than ever. The familiarity of Deathscythe's cockpit had always soothed him, but now the close quarters were making him feel just the slightest bit claustrophobic. He also had a very strong desire to blow something up. But he'd be getting to do that soon enough. Or, at least he'd get to attempt to.
'No!' he thought to himself. 'I can't be that way! If I got into a battle like this with a bad attitude, I might never make it out!' That same cruel voice told him that he might never make it out anyway, but he tried his best to ignore it.
He started up the Gundam, knowing that he had to make decent time to get there in time to empty the base for Wufei and Quatre. He started up the cloaking device and started to make his was to the base.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Silence had taken over the truck as Wufei and Quatre resumed the drive to the base. Quatre, periodically wiping his continuously sweaty hands on his pants, reached over to flip on the air conditioning. The unit sputtered, desperately trying to pump out cool air in the constant inferno. After several seconds of pathetic attempts at cool air, Quatre finally gave up and turned it back off.
They finally approached the dirt road that led turned into the path that Duo had used to get to the base. It kept them off the main road and pretty much out of sight, making their trip slightly less nerve wracking. If they were caught now, then it was game over.
Wufei directed the truck through a space between two trees which opened into the beautiful alcove Duo had used to keep his motorcycle in. Allowing the engine to idle for a few moments, the boys took some time to collect their thoughts before they officially began.
Reaching over and unbuckling his seatbelt, Quatre exited the truck just as Wufei turned off the engine. His feet moved noiselessly over the green grass as he moved to the back of the truck to get his supplies out of the trunk. Opening the hatch, he fitted himself with three guns, extra ammo, and a grenade or two, incase of dire situations.
Wufei, coming up behind him, carefully stashed two guns in his shirt, a knife in his boot, and extra ammo in whatever nooks and crannies it would fit in. He had to make sure to not have any lumps in his clothes though, or the OZ officials that Quatre might walk him past would get suspicious.
"You ready?" Quatre asked Wufei, looking him in the eye.
Wufei closed his eyes, taking one final deep, calming breath. "Yes. Let's get this over with as soon as possible."
Quatre nodded, understanding his urge for speed, and slowly led the way to the edge of the alcove, to await Duo's signal.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
The base slowly came into view as Duo lumbered up in Deathscythe, the Gundam giving off a menacing glare in the afternoon sun. Its bright green eyes stared out at the OZ facility, watching and waiting for a chance to strike. The twin tipped thermal scythe crackled with energy, ready to slice open anything in reach.
Duo wiped the sweat out of his eyes and off of his forehead. The temperature inside the cockpit was made even more unbearable by the nervousness Duo was feeling. His heart was beating twice its normal speed and his blood was roaring in his ears. Nervous was an understatement. Duo was scared out of his mind.
He reached the top of the hill that sat across from the base, deciding this was the best place to start the fighting. 'Well,' he thought to himself, settling into his fighting mind frame, 'let's get this started.'
Without any warning, Duo unleashed a barrage of bullets from Deathscythe's guns, sending the hammer drill into the part of the base he knew was the mobile suit holding area. Something, presumably one of the mobile suits inside, exploded with a satisfying bang, unleashing a pillar of black smoke and orange flames that licked at the rubble.
Like ants spilling from a kicked over hill, OZ soldiers began running around the ruins, searching madly for the source of the attack. Green eyes flashing, Duo stood on top of the hill, showering the suits and soldiers alike with all the bullets he had.
Movement from the ruined hanger caught his eye as the first of the mobile suits came out to face him. Taking an attack position, Duo readied himself for the coming onslaught.
The suits systematically formed a line in front of the base, creating a barrier between him and it. They were an awesome sight, their shields radiating energy all around them, giving the air an electric hum. One suit, painted a bright blue as opposed to the grey-whites of the others, stood in front of the wall of Gemini's, almost waiting for Duo to attack.
'Pretty cocky guys they have working at OZ now,' Duo thought, just as a communications line was sent to him. It was from the pilot of the leader suit.
"We have you drastically outnumbered. You can either surrender to us now and join your comrades, or you can fight me, and join them when you lose. Either way, you are not leaving this battle field." The line was closed after that, not allowing Duo time to verbally respond.
"Please," Duo said to himself. "Like a Gundam pilot would ever just surrender." He resumed his attack position, thermal scythe raised high and ready to strike.
The leader Gemini almost seemed to nod at him, acknowledging his challenge, before hurling himself across the field. The battle was on.
Grabbing a laser beam from a shoulder nook, much like Wing Gundam's, the Gemini slashed at Deathscythe's right shoulder, hoping to disarm him with a single blow. Using the scythe, Duo easily deflected the blow, pushing the suit back, scraping up dirt and grass.
Without warning, the Gemini launched it's shield generators* at Duo in an attempt to distract him from the beam saber. Using the scythe like a bat, Duo swung at the disks, sending them flying, but not quick enough to come back and deflect the slice the beam saber made to his left leg.
Duo raised the scythe, bringing it down in an arc to cut the suit in half, but he pilot was too fast. He jumped back, leaving a charred trail across the front of the Gemini, but no real damage anywhere else. Cursing his bad luck, Duo backed up from the suit, wanting to assess the situation before running to anything rash. He needed to buy the guys as much time as possible. He tried to remember exactly what Quatre had told him about the suits. Everything so far seemed to be perfectly accurate: amazing speed, strong beam saber, shields like Virgos. If that stuff was right, then the information about the weak point being at the back of the neck had to be right too. Duo thought that he was beginning to come up with a plan.
Allowing the Gemini to make the next move, Duo took a defensive stance, scythe raised to chest level to make it easier to block attacks. Checking his watch, he wondered if the guys had gotten in all right and where they were right now.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"You need to look more ruffled!" Quatre said quietly for the third time. He and Wufei were nearing the base, but he thought Wufei looked more like an honored guest than a captured prisoner. His hair was still neat and he'd only let Quatre rub a minute amount of dirt into his clothes. They were coming close to the edge of the tree line, so, in a desperate attempt to make his disguise more believable, Quatre reached up to the top of Wufei's head, and ruffled his hair; pulling some out of the ponytail and making it stick out at odd angles.
Wufei's eyes lit up like a Gundam's, his outrage at this sudden un-Quatre like behavior evident. He shot the young boy a death glare just as they exited the tree line, putting Wufei just a little bit more into character.
Quatre shoved him toward the base, holding his handcuffed wrists behind his back, and causing him to stumble a little. He could see the black smoke rising from the mobile suit hanger, but he couldn't hear any obvious signs of a big battle. This caused him to worry even more as they approached the gate that guarded the facility from the outside world.
Putting on his best proud-soldier face, Quatre approached the guards, pushing Wufei along in front of him.
"Found this one out in the woods on my way in. I think he may be a friend of the one causing so much ruckus over by the hanger." Quatre's hands were sweaty, and sweat poured down his back in rivers. It was all he could do to keep himself calm.
The soldiers stood there flabbergasted, not quite comprehending what Quatre was telling them. "Didn't you guys here what I said? I think commander Treize would probably like to see him, don't' you?" The mentioning of Treize's name snapped the soldiers out of whatever amazed stupor they had been in, and allowed them to find their voiced.
"Of…of course!" The first soldier said. "Take him to the detention facilities in the west wing, right away. Then alert commander Treize." Saluting to Quatre, the soldiers opened the gate and allowed him to pass into the base.
Walking through the gate, Quatre let go of the breath he'd been holding. They'd done it! They were inside the base. Now all they had to do was find the guys and get out. Easier said than done.
Finding an empty conference room, Quatre quickly slipped inside, pulling Wufei after him. "Okay," the blonde said as he undid the handcuffs on Wufei's wrists. "If they wanted me to take you to the west wing, that must mean that is the empty one. Why don't I head toward the east wing, and you take the north wing. Does that work?"
Wufei nodded, glaring at Quatre as he reached up to fix his hair. "That sounds like a reasonable deduction to me. I will keep my com device on, as will you, and we will coordinate where to meet after we have the others."
Quatre held out his hand to Wufei, a look of sadness in his eyes. "See you in a few, right?"
Wufei stared at Quatre's hand for only a moment, before firmly taking it in his. "Of course. In a few." They both quietly slipped from the conference room, each headed in different directions, hoping this wouldn't be the last time they saw each other.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Well, the fight is on! ^_^ Our boys are in position, but will they emerge victorious? Stay tuned for the next installment of "Turn of the Tides"!!
….okay. Sorry about the random T.V. announcer moment. ^_^;; got a little carried away. But anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter! And in only three months and two days! ^_^;; but there are some new fics on the page that should have kept you satisfied for a least a little while. And please, now that you've read it, it would be awesome if you would review!! Go! Go push that little "Go" button next to "Submit Review." You know you wanna tell me how much you loved it. Go!!
~Queen Vixen
P.S.- due to the unfortunate "events" of yesterday (the website refusing to work) I was unable to post this on one of my best friend's 18th birthday!!! *pout* but since it's only a day late, it would be wonderful if you could all wish her a happy birthday in your reviews! Thank you! And Happy Birthday Libby!!!