Zodiac, Full Circle
First Realignment
AN: For all relevant information about this fanfic, read the first bit of the prologue.
Again, sorry for the wait - Only a short interlude this time though, not a full chapter.
My thanks to Maeko, cardinal, Link Worshiper, Tiger Shinigami and Windrage Shinigami for reviewing - oh, and Link, ease up on the caffeine pills. They're only hurtful in the long run. ;-) ...as for reading the ending, no worries; you shall, eventually. I have no plans whatsoever to discontinue work on this story, but I have to write it at my own, slow pace. Please have patience. ;-)
The propellers on the plane whirled up a true sandstorm as Duo prepared to disembark. Still, it didn't bother him much. The feathers sticking to his bag, his clothes, his hands and his face were of greater annoyance. Even so, when the going gets tough, the tough get going to their destinations with whatever means of transportation they can find - which usually isn't much to brag about. His backside ached from the rough ride. He glanced back inside the fuselage, and between the stacks of poultry cages he could see the heavily black-bearded pilot and the lightly veiled co-pilot, both with a pair of funky pilot goggles, waving back at him from the cockpit. One could be excused for thinking wearing such goggles was a common Arab fashion statement. He spit out a chicken feather, grinned, waved pack and stepped out, noticed just in time there was no stairs beyond the hatch, grasped at the frame and barely avoided falling down. He looked to the side, and saw the three-step detachable staircase resting next to the hatch, installed it, took the steps down and jumped the last bit to the ground.
Duo held on to his baseball cap and shielded his face from the flying grains of sand with one hand, the other tightly clutching his bag. On the far side of the packed dirt airstrip, he spotted Sally leaning against a beaten-down jeep. She waved at him as he walked over. At last beyond the reach of the propellers' draft, he waved back.
"Hi, Sally," he shouted, trying to bring his voice through the noise from the aircraft's engines. "What's the latest?"
She waited until he was close enough to avoid shouting the reply. "I've found out where they're holding Wufei."
Duo put his bag down. "Huh? I thought you said he defected, or something."
Sally gave him a quizzical look. "Didn't you hear what I said on the vidphone?"
With a sheepish grin, he scratched the back of his neck. "Well, you see... The line was really, really bad. I could barely make out the place you wanted me to go - this place."
She rolled her eyes. "Why didn't you tell me the line wasn't good?"
"I didn't really have time - you were talking a mile a minute, and I was a bit stressed myself. I caught a few words, like the name of this lovely location." He demonstratively swept his hand along the horizon, pointing out the low, arid hilltops and sun-torched bushes.
Sally rubbed her temples, fighting the oncoming headache, slight temper marking her voice, though fading as she spoke. "Okay. I'll go over this one more time... When I got back to Corsica base and didn't find Wufei there, I began asking the base staff if they'd seen him. No one had, so I called Lady Une to alert her Wufei was gone, and that I'd be looking for him. Then I went into the nearby town, and found out a young man matching Wufei's description had been seen carried through the back streets by a large brute, apparently unconscious. The big fellow was escorted by a smaller, elderly man. They were heading for the airport, so I went there to get the flight logs and passenger rosters. Found out they had chartered a small jet, and headed for Dimashq."
"Dimashq?"
"Damascus."
"So... Why are we here, miles and miles north of Damascus, and not there?"
"Because this was the closest airfield to our destination. I went to Damascus, got a few helpful airport officials to point me in the right direction - Wufei's captors rented two jeeps, and the clerk remembered what road they took. Those jeeps helped a bit in tracking them down, as the rental company likes to advertise with their vehicles."
She took a step to the side, revealing a hideously messy company logo; Arabic letters, ornamental swords, some sort of leaves, a star or five and even a car hidden amidst it all, crammed together on a coat of arms backdrop, the entire thing in colorful shades of gray. Duo cringed on the sight. "Yeah, I can see how that one would stick to mind, even if you fought it."
Sally smirked. "They traveled to a small compound about half an hour's drive from here. The place looked abandoned, but the camouflage netting they dragged over the cars hadn't been applied properly. I'm sure it'd be adequate to prevent aircraft or satellites from spotting any activity there, but from the nearby hillside I was on, a set of binoculars were enough to see they were hiding there. I doubted they'd be moving Wufei to another location, so I drove here, called back to headquarters, and got your call patched through. That's basically it. We can take the rest of the details as we drive back - okay?"
"Yeah, sure." Duo put his bag in the back of the jeep, tucking it in between the right-side wheel cover and six huge gas cans, tightly strapped down to the flat section along with two wooden crates, not only side-to-side between the hooks above the wheel covers, but also from the spare tire at the back to the roll bar behind the seats. Apparently, the car rental company was determined not to get any 'I ran out of gas' or an accompanying 'I couldn't find a gas station' excuse for late return of the vehicle.
The aircraft's engines died off, propeller blades flapping to a halt. They both looked back as a flatbed truck drove over, stopping by the rear side hatch. The pilots and the truck driver began unloading the poultry cages onto the truck.
Sally walked around to the driver's side of the jeep, but Duo froze, jaw vaguely drooping. "Did I fly here in that?"
Sally opened her door. "What, didn't you see the plane before take-off?"
He turned to her, and got in the jeep. "Well, not really - There was a huge thunderstorm over Munich Aerodrome when we landed, and the heavy rains hadn't exactly diminished when I managed to find a flight heading for this godforsaken airstrip. Couldn't see a foot ahead outside as the overzealous madman of a pilot more or less dragged me across the tarmac to the plane. I knew it was a cargo hauler, but I didn't ask what the freight was. Wish I had." He picked out one last chicken feather that had gotten stuck in his braid. "Heck, I was damn lucky to find a flight going here in the first place." He nodded towards the plane. " 'Flight' meaning that thing, though I think I consider it a miracle that plane - and me with it - got off the ground in the first place, much less made it all the way here in one piece. Look at it - that thing has to be ancient!"
Sally snickered as she started the engine. "Not really. I think that's a DCR."
"A what?"
"DCR - It's a highly improved Replica model of the DC-3 aircraft, one of the most successful designs in aviation history."
"Never heard of either."
"Doesn't surprise me. The DC-3 design is some 270 years old."
"What?! Are you saying I voluntarily flew in a piece of junk that old? I like tinkering with antique machinery, but jeez..."
She laughed. "Not at all, Duo. The DCR model was designed a mere 120 years ago, when they realized they needed a workhorse that could service remote places - such as this - at reasonable maintenance expenses and freight capacity. The DC-3 had many of the qualities needed, so they took that, mixed in 150 years of avionics advancement, and got a design almost as successful as its predecessor."
Duo crossed his arms, muttering something about 'rain', 'junk', 'flying coffin' and mixing in a few choice words that could have made even the shadiest resident of L2 blush.
With a grin, Sally put the jeep in gear, and the transmission protested loudly, signaling its lack of recent maintenance. "You know, that tin-can just might be a genuine C-47 cargo hauler - the military transporter type of the DC-3. Perhaps you flew the real deal, after all."
Somewhat shell-shocked, Duo was about to offer a rebuttal when Sally pressed the gas pedal, causing the old jeep to jump into action - literally; starting with a hard skip before the wheels spun into the dirt road as it soared ahead. Whatever Duo had planned to say, was forgotten as the seat impacted his already aircraft-abused back, knocking the wind out of him, and he frantically searched out the seatbelt, attaching it before Sally hit the first turn.
To bring her voice across the engine noise, Sally near-yelled. "So, what was the stressful situation back at Munich Aerodrome? You weren't put out just by some bad weather, were you?"
The jeep made another light series of jumps as it hit a rocky section of road. Duo grabbed the door frame with one hand, his black baseball cap with the other. "Of course not. It was more the landing procedure and trying to escape prosecution."
Sally shot him a brief, odd look, inquiry written all across her face.
Duo grinned. "See, the captain on the shuttle announced we might not land at Munich after all, because of the weather - we were about to be re-routed to Frankfurt Spaceport instead. Heero disapproved, since we had already told Lady Une we were heading for Munich, and our contact would be there. He went up in the cockpit to 'chat with the pilot', he said." Snicker. "He closed the door, so I don't know what happened. Wasn't any further announcements made over the shuttle's PA system, and the stewardesses told us to fasten our seatbelts. The landing was rough, given the thunderstorm - but we got down in one piece, though more than one vomit bag on that shuttle were put to good use. Heero didn't come out of the cockpit until the shuttle had taxied to the right aisle, so I'm not entirely sure if he convinced the pilot to land, put the pilot at gunpoint or in a chokehold and convinced him that way, or knocked the poor guy unconscious and landed the shuttle himself."
"It better not have been either of the last two - that would be in serious violation of protocol. Lady Une would not be pleased."
Duo gave a short chuckle. "Well, I think I recognized the moves of the landing as Heero's handiwork, but I'm not sure... After we'd given the Aquarius key piece to our contact, I asked Heero about it, but he wouldn't tell me what happened up in the cockpit. Told me to forget it, before he ran off to rent a car."
"Car?"
"Yeah. He's to meet with Quatre and some other contact in Vienna. I'm don't know who or why, but those were Lady Une's orders."
"And what about Trowa?"
"I think he's teaming up with Lady Une on L1. Don't know any more about that, either. I'm sure the good lady found a few leads at both ends."
Sally nodded. "So, we have at least one piece of Ziegler's key."
"Two. Trowa and Quatre found the Leo segment at L3. Never thought they'd be able to track down the thing with such a cold trail - gives us hope for the rest of the zodiac, doesn't it?"
Sally sighed, and veered the jeep down a road branching out to the left - if it could even be called a road. Duo grabbed a hold of the dashboard, and winced as he felt two wheels leave the ground, if but a few inches, and for a few seconds. "Duo, we might have run out of luck already. Wufei and I were tracking down the Aries piece. Apparently, one of you pilots destroyed its owner - and the token along with him - during the war."
Duo slumped, glared into the dashboard and clenched his fists. "Damn." He snapped to face Sally. "Eleven pieces aren't enough, right? We have to have all twelve for the key to work, right?"
Sally nodded.
He threw his arms up in the air in frustration, only to knock his cap off, quick reflexes snapping it up before the wind caught it. He put it firmly back on. "Great. Just great."
She ventured a brief, vague smile. "We'll worry about that later. Right now, we have to free Wufei."
Yeah..." He leant back in his seat, and crossed his arms. "Don't you think it's weird he got nabbed? I mean, Wufei isn't exactly helpless."
Sally shrugged, making another tight turn along the winding, nigh-on invisible cattle trail. "That has me puzzled too. From the last witness account I got back in Damascus, he was still unconscious. Perhaps they drugged him somehow. It doesn't really matter, though. We can always ask Wufei when we get him out of that place."
Duo grinned. "What makes you think he hasn't already escaped? I doubt he'd be sitting idle in a cell, if he's awake."
Sally dared smirk. "Could be, Duo. Could be - but just in case he's not awake yet, or in case the compound's security is too much for him to escape, we'll help."
"Well, don't we need some 'tools'? Guns, explosives, lockpicks, ham sandwiches?"
She shot him an odd glare.
He grinned. "Well, I'm hungry. Couldn't eat my lunch on the flight here, could I? All those chicks jabbing like crazy, and feathers and dust everywhere. I swear, it was worse than a high school cafeteria - Who'd want to even try to eat something in those surroundings?"
Sally snickered. "Why do I get the impression you made the attempt?"
The grin grew quite sheepish, and Duo lowered himself a bit further into his seat. "Well... The flight was really, really boring. Had to do something, figured I might as well put the time to good use. Regretted it as soon as I got a mouthful of feathers, instead of ham."
Snicker, continued. "When we reach the site, we'll find ourselves a good lookout point. We can eat while we observe and plan. Deal?"
"Deal." The jeep swerved again, tires spinning in the gravel as the vehicle strived to cross another low hilltop. Grabbing a hold of the doorframe was becoming second nature to Duo now. "What about equipment?"
Sally pointed her thumb at the cargo section, not taking her eyes off the would-be road. "I did some shopping while I waited for your flight to arrive. I think we have everything we need in those two crates back there."
Duo turned to look at the anonymous-looking crates. "Well, that depends on what we're up against." He faced front, and shrugged. "I'm sure we'll manage."
"We'd better. Those crates depleted my cash reserves. Black market goods aren't plentiful anymore."
Brief chuckle. "Preventer laws finally coming back to bite you in the butt, huh?"
She smirked, spun the steering wheel hard to make another tight turn at far beyond recommendable velocities. Two wheels definitely left the ground. Duo gritted his teeth, knuckles at the door frame turning white, free hand grabbing the roll bar. As the driver side again hit ground, he let go a sigh of relief.
"Sheesh. Sally, I know you're aching to spring Wufei out of jail, but do you have to attempt killing us in the process?"
She gave him a quick, fiery glare. "If you were the one in the cell, I'm betting you wouldn't mind if the rescue came quickly, instead of too late."
Duo rolled his eyes, crossed his arms again. "Yeah, yeah, yeah..."
For a whole three minutes, the roars of the engine, the shrieks of bad suspension and the sound of rubber clawing at gravel, dirt and dust was all there was of noise. The truce of silence didn't last, though.
"Uhm, Sally?"
"Yes?"
"The guys that kidnapped Wufei - do you know anything more about them? Or how many goons they've got guarding that compound?"
Another hilltop, jeep clearing it with a jump, landing not-so-gently, wheels spinning against the pebbles below as Sally floored the gas pedal yet again, smirking at hearing Duo's vague gasp and gnashing of teeth. "I've got something better - there was a small tour group at just the right time and place back at Corsica. One of the hobby photographers snapped a shot of a fountain, catching our 'friends' in the background. After some gentle persuasion and flashing the Preventer badge, I got the photograph. I have it here somewhere, just-" She kept one hand at the wheel, using the other to reach for the inner pocket of her vest. After some brief searching, she got a hold of the Polaroid in question, and handed it to Duo. He was about to grab it when they hit another sharp turn, and he felt his side of the car get airborne, climbing to a forty-five degree angle before he threw his weight over the door, forcing the vehicle down again with a crash and loud protests of the nearly dead suspension. Infuriated, he snapped the photo from Sally's fingers.
"Would you please keep both hands on the steering wheel?!" He went on to mumble some quite vivid expressions, all of which were buried by the engine roar - except one little sentence commenting 'woman drivers', which reached Sally's ear. On near-automatic reflex, she gave him a hard punch to the shoulder.
"If you have a problem with my driving, you're welcome to walk."
Wise of injury, Duo shut up - for a few seconds. "You know, you're just like Hilde. How come every woman on and off the planet think I'm such a damn good punching bag? Now, if they were hitting on me, instead of landing hits on me-" He forgot whatever else he intended to say as he took in the three figures in the background of the photograph. The brute carrying the unconscious Wufei he didn't recognize, but the elderly gentleman leading the way rung a bell. "Hey, I know this guy!"
Sally raised a brow. "What do you mean?"
Duo tapped the photo fervently. "This old guy - someone with his exact description tried to get to Howard's stuff back on L2 - and I swear I've seen that hat before." He rubbed his forehead with his free hand - something he regretted as soon as the jeep hit another pothole or five in the non-road, rattling its passengers up pretty good. He cursed as his sore back got another pounding. Sally smirked.
"Where did you say you saw him?"
"I didn't - When Heero and I went to search through Howard's junk, the clerk told us there had been another guy there to get the stuff, too. The description the clerk gave fits the old man here just perfectly - and I know I've seen that hat somewhere..."
Sally shrugged. "You could have seen that hat just about anywhere, Duo."
"Yeah, I know, but there's something that's-" Epiphany hit. "Wait, that is where I saw this hat - on the flight up to L2! There was a guy with a hat just like this a few seats in front of us."
Sally eased up a bit on the gas pedal, and gave Duo a worried glance. "Then it sounds like there's a major leak within the Preventers. That someone else is looking for the key pieces, and shows up at two of our best leads nearly as fast as us, is just far too unlikely to be just a mere coincidence."
Duo nodded. "Yeah, probably. Heero thought as much, too. He mentioned it to our contact back in Munich - I thought he was just growing a bit paranoid."
She chuckled. "Growing?"
Grin. "Anyway, we have to let Lady Une know ASAP. If we're compromised this badly, we'll have a lot more than a missing agent to worry about."
"We can't do anything until we've freed Wufei - and didn't you say Lady Une went to L1?"
Faint groan. "Right. Forgot about that."
Smile. "Don't worry, Duo. We'll get through this just fine. The others can take care of themselves."
"Like Wufei?"
Smile fading, silence.
"Sorry."
Sally sighed. "No, that's okay." She paused, floored the gas pedal yet again, and sent the jeep off the side of the road - or, off the faint grooves that resembled a road - and up a flat hillside. The ride became just a tad bumpier. "What did Wufei's abductor do back on L2?"
Duo shrugged. "Other than ask for Howard's stuff, I don't know. According to the clerk, he gave up after trying to offer a bribe."
"Doesn't sound like they're a violent bunch, then - if they gave up on recovering that part of Ziegler's key that quickly, and didn't even consider breaking into the governmental storage facility to-" She paused, noticing Duo's sudden grin. Realization struck. "You didn't..."
He turned to her, grin going from ear to ear. "Break in? Well, we had to search through Howard's junk, and the clerk wasn't very cooperative, so..." He shrugged.
Sally rolled her eyes, and sighed. "I thought Lady Une gave you a very clear message you were working for the Preventers now - that means playing by the rules, not making them up as you go along."
Snicker. "Well, neither Heero nor I are known for following the rules. We just do what we have to."
Sally minutely closed her eyes and shook her head, before putting the foot on the brake, jeep screeching to a halt close to the top of the hill. Duo nearly bumped his head in the windshield, but was saved by the slack seatbelt - just barely. "We're here." She put on the handbrake and killed the engine before getting out, immediately busy with unfastening the equipment crates and fuel cans.
Duo followed after putting the photograph in the glove compartment, and did his best to stretch his aching back before lending a helping hand. Having acted as a fall guy - quite literally - for Heero back during their break-in, hadn't done it any good, nor had the fall from the air duct afterwards, or the rough landing at Munich, or flying the museum-worthy plane, or this latest drive. He hesitated to think what fate had in stored for his sore body next.
"They're holding Wufei in a compound right on the other side of this hill. We'll set up an observation post here, monitor the base for a while, and plot the best strategy for getting him out of there. It'd be nice to know just where his cell is before we attempt any rescue attempt, don't you agree?"
Duo grinned, nodding in agreement. "Yeah - but first things first!"
And with that, he fetched his bag, and dug out a fairly squashed piece of wax paper. He unwrapped it, and was rewarded with a bruised and beaten ham sandwich - the fact it was disintegrating between his fingers didn't stop him from getting every crumb of it in his mouth.
Smile fading to sigh. "How can you be so indifferent, Duo? Wufei could be-"
"Hm?" He swallowed a mouthful. "Look, we don't know anything about Wufei's condition right now, but thinking the worst isn't going to help at all. For all we know, he could have busted out already. He's a pretty resourceful guy, after all." He shrugged, grinning. "At least when he has made up his mind about which side he belongs to."
Sally opened one of the two wooden crates, and fetched out a set of binoculars, throwing one to Duo, who caught it with one hand, the other curling the wax paper into a ball promptly discarded inside his bag. Sally gave him an odd look.
He grinned in defense. "Hey, you said we had to play by the rules - 'keep the planet clean', and all that stuff, right?"
She couldn't help but smirk. She picked up a camera, a sniper rifle and a few other items from the equipment box, and trotted up the remaining hillside, crouching as she got closer to the top. A small crevice in the rocks there would serve as a decent hiding spot. Duo followed, and soon they were both busy monitoring the facility, attempting to determine how many guards there were, their level of alertness, perimeter defenses, and patrol routines, in addition to making guesses to where inside the small building mass they might be keeping Wufei. Only one thing was certain; their friend was not to be held captive for long.
-end First Realignment-
-TBC-
