AN An extra long chapter to make up for the two belate ones form last time. I hope you all will like
it. I kind of liked it myself
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Under pressure
Chapter 16
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.
Duo looked around, trying to figure out where that sound came from. As he turned the corner
he found the source. Heero was banging his head against the wall.
"Hey, buddy, you'd better stop that, or you'll hurt yourself."
"Shut up," the other grunted. "I have a headache."
Duo sighed. "Well, maybe that has something to do with the fact that you're banging your
head against the wall like a maniac?"
The thumping stopped as Heero took a little time off to glare at the braided pilot. "Just
shut up."
"Not until you tell me what's bothering you."
The thumping resumed. "Nothing."
"Yeah, right. And that's why mister Perfect soldier is inflicting a headache on himself.
Come on." He grabbed the Japanese man by the wrist and dragged him along to a small conference room.
There he pushed the man, still clutching his head, into a chair and kept him pinned there. "So,
spill. I'm your friend. If anything is bothering you, you can tell me."
Heero just looked at him silently.
"Come on, you idiot, bottling it up inside of you, isn't going to help you."
For a moment Heero kept glaring at him defiantly, but then he lowered his head in defeat. "I
feel responsible for what happened to Wufei and Sally. If I hadn't run away blindly, I could have
helped them fending their attackers off."
"But if you hadn't run away, Relena would be dead now. Wufei and Sally still stand a chance.
They're smart and resourceful and they'll make it. Besides, how were you to know what was going to
happen? You did what you had to at the time. And moping about past mistakes, isn't going to set
things right, so I suggest you get over this self-pity of yours." At those last words his tone had
become very biting. He felt sorry for the hurt look he caused on Heero's face, but someone had to
tell the man the truth.
"I know that, but that doesn't change how I feel. No matter how you look at it, I am
responsible for what happened."
"Yeah, right," Duo scorned. "The only way for you to be that, is for you to be the leader of
the organization behind the attacks. In that case, I have to place you under arrest. So, Mr Yuy,
will you follow me peacefully, or do I have to resort to violence, because I sure as hell am tempted
to bash you brains in!"
Heero stared at the other openmouthed. Apparently he had not expected such a fierce
reprimand. Well, if the guy wanted sympathy, he should have gone to Quatre. Duo didn't abide
such foolishness. Not that he disregarded the other man's feelings, or thought Quatre a total
weenie, but he hated people blaming themselves for something that wasn't their fault and then
wallowing in self-pity. He never thought Heero would act like that someday. When he had accidently
killed the peace-striving leaders of the Alliance, Heero had found a way to punish himself, but
after that, is was over and done with. Now, it pained Duo to see his friend like this.
So lost.
Duo shook his head. "Listen, buddy, Relena is gonna get better, and we'll find a way to
save Wufei and Sally, so stop cracking your skull and pull yourself together. You're not alone on
this, you know? We're all worried. In fact, I think what you're doing is pretty selfish. You think
only of how stupid you've been, while we were all neglecting the world around us. At least you did
something. I can't say I did." He lowered his head. That was exactly what had been bothering him
for the past few days. While he was playing the happy family man-to be, the world was heading towards
another war. And he hadn't noticed because he had been too engrossed in his own little life. As an
ex-Gundam pilot he had his responsibilities and he had forgotten all about them.
"So?"
Duo looked up in surprise at hearing that one word. "What do you mean 'so'?"
"So what if you didn't do anything? You have a pregnant fiancé to look after. You're going
to be a father, Duo!" Well, at least he had shaken Heero out of his stupor. But now he was acting a
bit too awake, for Duo's sake. "Frankly, I'm amazed you're even here. I had expected you to stay
with Hilde. Not that I'm not grateful for your coming. It saved me a lot of time getting Relena to
a hospital. But you're missing out on the first pregnancy."
"Don't you think I don't know that?!" Duo exploded. Heero had changed over the years and
Duo wasn't sure he liked the assertive version. The quiet version was much easier to yell at,
because you knew he wouldn't yell back. Neither would he do what you said, though. "I wish I could
just jump on the first shuttle home, but I can't. The peace we helped establishing, is crumbling
and I don't want my child to grow up in the same world we did, a world of war. I want my child to
live a happy life, so I'll fight now. Because I know I'm fighting for the most important thing in
the world."
Heero just looked at him. Okay, maybe I don't like the silent treatment. He could at least
say something. He had wanted to lighten Heero's heart a bit, but instead he had opened his own.
Since when did Heero do that sort of thing? It was more something of Relena, or Quatre maybe.
This was just too confusing. He turned and walked away.
"I'm sorry, Duo."
Duo stopped dead in his tracks. Well, that's a first. Slowly he turned to meet Heero's
Prussian blue gaze.
"You were right. I was too selfish to notice I'm not the only one with troubles. I'm sorry,"
he repeated.
Duo nodded. "It's okay. We're all shaken about his whole business. Do you think we should go
after Wufei and Sally?"
"I'm not leaving them," said Heero with strong conviction.
"No, but Trowa was right. We can't use Preventers to get them out."
"It won't be the first time we're on our own," Heero shrugged. "We can do this. But we need
to know where they are."
"The Lady is on it." Duo absently fingered his braid. "In the meantime, I think we should
train, to get back into shape."
Heero stared at him dumbstruck. "You know, if I were Wufei, I'd say that's the first time I
heard you make sense."
"Well, that's not very nice," Duo whined, hoping to distract both of them from their serious
topic.
Heero grinned. "I know. Why else do you think I said that?"
A second later he ran though the halls with a steaming Duo in his wake.
Wufei leaned back in his bonds. He was too tired to stand. For the past week he had been
tortured no end. He was both physically and mentally exhausted. Since that first time out of his
cell he hadn't seen Sally. He was worried about her. Did she receive the same treatment? He hoped
not. He couldn't stand the thought of Sally being hurt like he was.
That was the most painful thing of it all, not knowing what was happening to her. 'I should
have admitted my love to her. Oh, god, Sally!' He fervently wished she was alright. As long as she
was unharmed, he didn't care what happened to him.
It was only then that he realized how it were possible he could have let his mind wander
like that. His torturers had stopped and someone was talking to him.
With all the effort he could muster, he raised his head and met the eyes of an unknown man.
It wasn't the same man, the commander, who he had seen interrogating Sally. His insignias suggested
a lower rank.
Wufei saw the man moving his mouth and he strained to hear the words.
"Still not talking, are you? Your friend is giving us as much trouble as you, you know?"
Wufei boiled. So they were torturing Sally. They would pay for that.
The man in front of him must have noticed something, because he spoke, "So there's still a
spark left. No matter. We will extinguish that easy enough." He turned away from Wufei and nodded
at the soldier standing by the door.
Wufei's heart froze in fear when the soldier opened the iron door to let someone in the
cell. His hands tightened around the chains hanging from the ceiling, bonding his wrists and holding
his arms above his head. From his awkward position he watched in horror as a beaten and bruised
Sally was led in the room and carelessly thrown on the floor.
She didn't move. Her eyes were half-closed. Only her ragged breathing proved she was still
alive.
Wufei didn't flinch. He couldn't show these men his weakness. Because that's what it was,
loving someone, a weakness. The person you loved, was your weak spot, your Achilles heel. The only
way to protect her, was to keep his love secret from this scum. So he refused to show even the
slightest emotion, when the love of his life was thrown on the floor like a bag of potatoes.
"She didn't want to talk to us either, but maybe you have something to say to each other,"
the officer said. He knelt down beside her and patted her on the head. She only blinked, slowly, as
if even that tiny movement hurt. It probably did.
"Get up," Wufei growled. The officer looked up in surprise and suspicion. Wufei didn't even
glance at him. "Get up," he said again, this time in Mandarin. "Get up, woman! Or are you a
weakling?! I didn't think you were, but you're proving otherwise right now. Get up!"
Sally stirred. Her hands shifted to rest beside her shoulders.
"If you want to prove your strong, then get up. You're not too weak to fight, are you?! Get
up, woman, stand on your feet!" He was yelling, he realized. But he didn't care. If Sally could get
to her feet, then she was alright. If only she would stand up.
Slowly he saw the muscles in her arms contracting. She pushed off from the floor, until she
was on her knees.
"Come on, you weakling! Get! Up!"
Wobbly she straightened her legs, still with her hands on the floor. Then, ever so slowly,
she brought her body up, vertebra by vertebra, until she stood straight.
"You didn't have to yell, you know," she mumbled.
Wufei wanted to shout with glee. Not only had she heard him, she had registered him speaking
Mandarin. For one moment his eyes met hers and he saw they hadn't managed to quench the fire in them.
Then she suddenly turned away from him. She looked the officer, a captain Wufei guessed,
straight in the eye and said, "What? This is a former colleague of mine. Is that all you wanted to
show me?"
His fist nearly drove her to the floor. Wufei had to bite his tongue not to yell in
frustration. He couldn't help her. The only way to help was not to do anything at all. So he
had to endure any pain she caused herself and not say anything.
His hands tightened around the chains again, while he struggled back to his feet. Sally had
recovered from the unexpected blow and was now staring blankly at the captain.
The captain grimaced. "Oh, how brave. You know what we want to hear. Now, tell us! The names
and whereabouts of the Gundam pilots!"
Sally raised her chin haughtily. "Even if we did know, what makes you think we'd tell you?"
Bad move. Wufei cringed. That remark would only make the man more angry. He wasn't sure how
much more he could take. He would never talk, he'd rather die, but he figured he didn't have to wait
long for that.
The captain's face contorted in fury. "Because if you don't, you'll have to watch the other
die very slowly."
Sally didn't respond to that.
"Well, at least you seemed a bit more talkative now. More than your friend, though that isn't
that difficult. He hasn't made a noise all day. Surprising, isn't it, considering what we did to him."
Wufei saw Sally fists clench. He wished he could kick her, or something, to warn her to hold
her temper.
The captain must have seen it too, because he grinned evilly. "Well, looks like we cracked
the exterior of the ice-queen a little. Perhaps you do care more about him than you let on. You hear
that, fellows?" he addressed his men, still lining the walls. "We might even have captured ourselves
a couple of love-birds. Isn't that adorable?"
Now the man was really getting on his nerves. How dare he assume such a thing?
"Maybe you'll talk now," he said to Sally. Before Wufei could guess what the man was going to
do, he had drawn his gun and planted a bullet in Wufei's leg.
'There goes my kneecap.' He tried to keep himself on his feet by shifting his weight to his
uninjured leg, but he hadn't anticipated this to happen. The shackles tore at his skin when he was
jerked to a halt, knees just above the floor. The pain hit him unexpectedly. His jaw clenched as he
tried not to scream. He was beyond that. No mere gun wound could make him crack. He had grown weak
though, unpracticed. He couldn't take as much anymore as he used to.
Carefully he placed his good leg underneath him and pushed himself off from the floor, pulling
with his hands tight around the chains. He stood defiantly in front of the sneering captain, not
caring about the blood that dripped on the floor.
The captain glanced at Sally. "Still not talking, are you? What about the other leg?" He
raised his gun. Wufei braced himself for the impact, but it didn't come.
Instead a voice cried out. "No!" Sally stepped forward to try and stop the captain, but at
the wiggling of a finger two soldiers stepped in and held her back.
"Looks like you do care about him," the captain grinned. "Now, are you going to speak yet?"
Wufei's stomach twisted itself into a knot. It looked like Sally was about to crack. He
couldn't let that happen. "Don't you dare," he growled in Mandarin. "Don't say a word, you hea..."
A fist connected with his jaw and he lost his balance. When his vision cleared, he saw the
captain's eyes flick from him to Sally and back.
"I've had enough of your games," the man said. "We've been lenient with you two, but I've
had enough. Time to make you talk."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AN Poor, poor Wuffers. The things I put him through. The horrors. Okay, now I'm exaggerating. Still,
it is pretty sad, wouldn't you say? However, things will get better. It just takes some time before
they come up with a plan to free the two. And of course, they still have to find them first.
Don't worry. It will not take too long. Till next time!
Bye
Dannee
it. I kind of liked it myself
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Under pressure
Chapter 16
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.
Duo looked around, trying to figure out where that sound came from. As he turned the corner
he found the source. Heero was banging his head against the wall.
"Hey, buddy, you'd better stop that, or you'll hurt yourself."
"Shut up," the other grunted. "I have a headache."
Duo sighed. "Well, maybe that has something to do with the fact that you're banging your
head against the wall like a maniac?"
The thumping stopped as Heero took a little time off to glare at the braided pilot. "Just
shut up."
"Not until you tell me what's bothering you."
The thumping resumed. "Nothing."
"Yeah, right. And that's why mister Perfect soldier is inflicting a headache on himself.
Come on." He grabbed the Japanese man by the wrist and dragged him along to a small conference room.
There he pushed the man, still clutching his head, into a chair and kept him pinned there. "So,
spill. I'm your friend. If anything is bothering you, you can tell me."
Heero just looked at him silently.
"Come on, you idiot, bottling it up inside of you, isn't going to help you."
For a moment Heero kept glaring at him defiantly, but then he lowered his head in defeat. "I
feel responsible for what happened to Wufei and Sally. If I hadn't run away blindly, I could have
helped them fending their attackers off."
"But if you hadn't run away, Relena would be dead now. Wufei and Sally still stand a chance.
They're smart and resourceful and they'll make it. Besides, how were you to know what was going to
happen? You did what you had to at the time. And moping about past mistakes, isn't going to set
things right, so I suggest you get over this self-pity of yours." At those last words his tone had
become very biting. He felt sorry for the hurt look he caused on Heero's face, but someone had to
tell the man the truth.
"I know that, but that doesn't change how I feel. No matter how you look at it, I am
responsible for what happened."
"Yeah, right," Duo scorned. "The only way for you to be that, is for you to be the leader of
the organization behind the attacks. In that case, I have to place you under arrest. So, Mr Yuy,
will you follow me peacefully, or do I have to resort to violence, because I sure as hell am tempted
to bash you brains in!"
Heero stared at the other openmouthed. Apparently he had not expected such a fierce
reprimand. Well, if the guy wanted sympathy, he should have gone to Quatre. Duo didn't abide
such foolishness. Not that he disregarded the other man's feelings, or thought Quatre a total
weenie, but he hated people blaming themselves for something that wasn't their fault and then
wallowing in self-pity. He never thought Heero would act like that someday. When he had accidently
killed the peace-striving leaders of the Alliance, Heero had found a way to punish himself, but
after that, is was over and done with. Now, it pained Duo to see his friend like this.
So lost.
Duo shook his head. "Listen, buddy, Relena is gonna get better, and we'll find a way to
save Wufei and Sally, so stop cracking your skull and pull yourself together. You're not alone on
this, you know? We're all worried. In fact, I think what you're doing is pretty selfish. You think
only of how stupid you've been, while we were all neglecting the world around us. At least you did
something. I can't say I did." He lowered his head. That was exactly what had been bothering him
for the past few days. While he was playing the happy family man-to be, the world was heading towards
another war. And he hadn't noticed because he had been too engrossed in his own little life. As an
ex-Gundam pilot he had his responsibilities and he had forgotten all about them.
"So?"
Duo looked up in surprise at hearing that one word. "What do you mean 'so'?"
"So what if you didn't do anything? You have a pregnant fiancé to look after. You're going
to be a father, Duo!" Well, at least he had shaken Heero out of his stupor. But now he was acting a
bit too awake, for Duo's sake. "Frankly, I'm amazed you're even here. I had expected you to stay
with Hilde. Not that I'm not grateful for your coming. It saved me a lot of time getting Relena to
a hospital. But you're missing out on the first pregnancy."
"Don't you think I don't know that?!" Duo exploded. Heero had changed over the years and
Duo wasn't sure he liked the assertive version. The quiet version was much easier to yell at,
because you knew he wouldn't yell back. Neither would he do what you said, though. "I wish I could
just jump on the first shuttle home, but I can't. The peace we helped establishing, is crumbling
and I don't want my child to grow up in the same world we did, a world of war. I want my child to
live a happy life, so I'll fight now. Because I know I'm fighting for the most important thing in
the world."
Heero just looked at him. Okay, maybe I don't like the silent treatment. He could at least
say something. He had wanted to lighten Heero's heart a bit, but instead he had opened his own.
Since when did Heero do that sort of thing? It was more something of Relena, or Quatre maybe.
This was just too confusing. He turned and walked away.
"I'm sorry, Duo."
Duo stopped dead in his tracks. Well, that's a first. Slowly he turned to meet Heero's
Prussian blue gaze.
"You were right. I was too selfish to notice I'm not the only one with troubles. I'm sorry,"
he repeated.
Duo nodded. "It's okay. We're all shaken about his whole business. Do you think we should go
after Wufei and Sally?"
"I'm not leaving them," said Heero with strong conviction.
"No, but Trowa was right. We can't use Preventers to get them out."
"It won't be the first time we're on our own," Heero shrugged. "We can do this. But we need
to know where they are."
"The Lady is on it." Duo absently fingered his braid. "In the meantime, I think we should
train, to get back into shape."
Heero stared at him dumbstruck. "You know, if I were Wufei, I'd say that's the first time I
heard you make sense."
"Well, that's not very nice," Duo whined, hoping to distract both of them from their serious
topic.
Heero grinned. "I know. Why else do you think I said that?"
A second later he ran though the halls with a steaming Duo in his wake.
Wufei leaned back in his bonds. He was too tired to stand. For the past week he had been
tortured no end. He was both physically and mentally exhausted. Since that first time out of his
cell he hadn't seen Sally. He was worried about her. Did she receive the same treatment? He hoped
not. He couldn't stand the thought of Sally being hurt like he was.
That was the most painful thing of it all, not knowing what was happening to her. 'I should
have admitted my love to her. Oh, god, Sally!' He fervently wished she was alright. As long as she
was unharmed, he didn't care what happened to him.
It was only then that he realized how it were possible he could have let his mind wander
like that. His torturers had stopped and someone was talking to him.
With all the effort he could muster, he raised his head and met the eyes of an unknown man.
It wasn't the same man, the commander, who he had seen interrogating Sally. His insignias suggested
a lower rank.
Wufei saw the man moving his mouth and he strained to hear the words.
"Still not talking, are you? Your friend is giving us as much trouble as you, you know?"
Wufei boiled. So they were torturing Sally. They would pay for that.
The man in front of him must have noticed something, because he spoke, "So there's still a
spark left. No matter. We will extinguish that easy enough." He turned away from Wufei and nodded
at the soldier standing by the door.
Wufei's heart froze in fear when the soldier opened the iron door to let someone in the
cell. His hands tightened around the chains hanging from the ceiling, bonding his wrists and holding
his arms above his head. From his awkward position he watched in horror as a beaten and bruised
Sally was led in the room and carelessly thrown on the floor.
She didn't move. Her eyes were half-closed. Only her ragged breathing proved she was still
alive.
Wufei didn't flinch. He couldn't show these men his weakness. Because that's what it was,
loving someone, a weakness. The person you loved, was your weak spot, your Achilles heel. The only
way to protect her, was to keep his love secret from this scum. So he refused to show even the
slightest emotion, when the love of his life was thrown on the floor like a bag of potatoes.
"She didn't want to talk to us either, but maybe you have something to say to each other,"
the officer said. He knelt down beside her and patted her on the head. She only blinked, slowly, as
if even that tiny movement hurt. It probably did.
"Get up," Wufei growled. The officer looked up in surprise and suspicion. Wufei didn't even
glance at him. "Get up," he said again, this time in Mandarin. "Get up, woman! Or are you a
weakling?! I didn't think you were, but you're proving otherwise right now. Get up!"
Sally stirred. Her hands shifted to rest beside her shoulders.
"If you want to prove your strong, then get up. You're not too weak to fight, are you?! Get
up, woman, stand on your feet!" He was yelling, he realized. But he didn't care. If Sally could get
to her feet, then she was alright. If only she would stand up.
Slowly he saw the muscles in her arms contracting. She pushed off from the floor, until she
was on her knees.
"Come on, you weakling! Get! Up!"
Wobbly she straightened her legs, still with her hands on the floor. Then, ever so slowly,
she brought her body up, vertebra by vertebra, until she stood straight.
"You didn't have to yell, you know," she mumbled.
Wufei wanted to shout with glee. Not only had she heard him, she had registered him speaking
Mandarin. For one moment his eyes met hers and he saw they hadn't managed to quench the fire in them.
Then she suddenly turned away from him. She looked the officer, a captain Wufei guessed,
straight in the eye and said, "What? This is a former colleague of mine. Is that all you wanted to
show me?"
His fist nearly drove her to the floor. Wufei had to bite his tongue not to yell in
frustration. He couldn't help her. The only way to help was not to do anything at all. So he
had to endure any pain she caused herself and not say anything.
His hands tightened around the chains again, while he struggled back to his feet. Sally had
recovered from the unexpected blow and was now staring blankly at the captain.
The captain grimaced. "Oh, how brave. You know what we want to hear. Now, tell us! The names
and whereabouts of the Gundam pilots!"
Sally raised her chin haughtily. "Even if we did know, what makes you think we'd tell you?"
Bad move. Wufei cringed. That remark would only make the man more angry. He wasn't sure how
much more he could take. He would never talk, he'd rather die, but he figured he didn't have to wait
long for that.
The captain's face contorted in fury. "Because if you don't, you'll have to watch the other
die very slowly."
Sally didn't respond to that.
"Well, at least you seemed a bit more talkative now. More than your friend, though that isn't
that difficult. He hasn't made a noise all day. Surprising, isn't it, considering what we did to him."
Wufei saw Sally fists clench. He wished he could kick her, or something, to warn her to hold
her temper.
The captain must have seen it too, because he grinned evilly. "Well, looks like we cracked
the exterior of the ice-queen a little. Perhaps you do care more about him than you let on. You hear
that, fellows?" he addressed his men, still lining the walls. "We might even have captured ourselves
a couple of love-birds. Isn't that adorable?"
Now the man was really getting on his nerves. How dare he assume such a thing?
"Maybe you'll talk now," he said to Sally. Before Wufei could guess what the man was going to
do, he had drawn his gun and planted a bullet in Wufei's leg.
'There goes my kneecap.' He tried to keep himself on his feet by shifting his weight to his
uninjured leg, but he hadn't anticipated this to happen. The shackles tore at his skin when he was
jerked to a halt, knees just above the floor. The pain hit him unexpectedly. His jaw clenched as he
tried not to scream. He was beyond that. No mere gun wound could make him crack. He had grown weak
though, unpracticed. He couldn't take as much anymore as he used to.
Carefully he placed his good leg underneath him and pushed himself off from the floor, pulling
with his hands tight around the chains. He stood defiantly in front of the sneering captain, not
caring about the blood that dripped on the floor.
The captain glanced at Sally. "Still not talking, are you? What about the other leg?" He
raised his gun. Wufei braced himself for the impact, but it didn't come.
Instead a voice cried out. "No!" Sally stepped forward to try and stop the captain, but at
the wiggling of a finger two soldiers stepped in and held her back.
"Looks like you do care about him," the captain grinned. "Now, are you going to speak yet?"
Wufei's stomach twisted itself into a knot. It looked like Sally was about to crack. He
couldn't let that happen. "Don't you dare," he growled in Mandarin. "Don't say a word, you hea..."
A fist connected with his jaw and he lost his balance. When his vision cleared, he saw the
captain's eyes flick from him to Sally and back.
"I've had enough of your games," the man said. "We've been lenient with you two, but I've
had enough. Time to make you talk."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AN Poor, poor Wuffers. The things I put him through. The horrors. Okay, now I'm exaggerating. Still,
it is pretty sad, wouldn't you say? However, things will get better. It just takes some time before
they come up with a plan to free the two. And of course, they still have to find them first.
Don't worry. It will not take too long. Till next time!
Bye
Dannee