Duo's Rat:
The Trap
by Nix Winter
Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing. I do spend too much money buying little Deathscythes though.
Notes: I should be writing original. But I just wanted to play tonight. Sometimes my chapters are short. This story takes place before the other two Duo's Rat stories.
Duo hissed as his fingers touched his boot. Even through the leather he could feel the heat, just like he could feel the chill coming from Heero's glare. Okay, so it was, technically, his fault that the door had closed on his ankle. It wasn't like he hadn't been trying damn hard to keep that from happening. He wore the uniform of an oz guard and more than anything he missed his own thicker boots.
The mission had been one of information acquisition and they had very much acquired what they were looking for. What it came down to was that Heero was the perfect soldier and oz needed a few of him. A little bit of titanium reenforcement on the skeletal structure, a great deal of brainwashing, and voila! Even oz could take a handful of genetically similar kids and make them Heero. At least that was the idea.
Duo thought they were a bit damn stupid, as if it took oz another ten years to lose he'd be twenty-seven and he'd be ready to by pass nice military targets and just assassinate their asses. The pain he knew he'd feel eventually in his ankle made the rest of the world look rather sour. They had already sent the information on the shuttle containing the selected kids to Wufei. It was his and Trowa's job to reacquire the kids, get them somewhere safe.
All he and Heero had to do was get their aces off this station.
Trowa frowned at the data coming back from the shuttle bull's eyed by the data Heero and Duo had sent. Silence from Shenlong's energy signature told him Wufei the same thing. It looked like a transport, just a simple troop carrier. It flew heavy, too much radiation shielding. It wasn't possible to know how many lives were on the shuttle, but Trowa had the deep feeling that it was a trap, just a nasty little rat maze. That only made the silence from Heero and Duo more concerning. Shenlong withdrew first, fading back from the scene of a battle that wasn't in their favor.
There was the option of taking the shuttle on by himself, but Trowa hesitated still. A text based messed came across his main screen then, 'High density explosives. Designed self destruct. Withdrawing. W.'
They each had their specialties. Wufei understood self destructing. Trowa retreated as well, sending a silent prayer for their friends.
Every rat trap needs it's bait, and someone must have known both Heero and Duo pretty well to have set this one.
Heero could not believe the idiot had gotten his ankle broken. The mistake was infuriating. And the longer they were trapped there in that storage room, waiting for Heero's worm to tell them when a ship met the right criteria to be easier to steal, the more confused Heero got.
Duo hadn't really done anything to give them away, even though Heero knew he was in pain. And deep under this soldier mode, Heero knew he would be surprised if Duo did anything to put them at risk. They'd been running, moving from the first planned hiding spot to this one, staying just far enough a head of the rounds the guards were making to be invisible. It wasn't that Duo was slow, though he wasn't as fast as Heero.
Sealing the hall door had been Heero's plan and they'd been forty seconds behind schedule. Heero had made the control panel and set the door to seal. Duo had been on his feet then and when he's fallen Heero's world had stopped, his feelings for Duo chiming out like some obscene violet coocoo bird. Time was up. It was worse than the little girl with the puppy. Killing Duo felt like he'd killed himself and really, that had not mattered in his own memory. Death wasn't something to be avoided, just something to be gotten to as slowly as possible.
"Don't look at me like that," Duo said, drawing Heero back to the present.
"Like what?" Heero really wanted to know, his voice soft and gentle.
Duo turned away, stray hair clinging to his face.
Heero wished he'd never told Duo to shut up, not even once. Duo's words had faded back slowly, until now it took a couple of questions to get something out of him. Heero wished he knew where his own words had gone. Somewhere, sometime, he must have had words that were simple ordinary words to ask someone out for dinner or simple words to ask someone if maybe you could sit by them. "Is it broken?"
"I can walk," Duo said, defensive, voice a little strained.
Heero had no doubt that Duo could walk. Duo could have lost the foot in the door and have nothing but a stump and Heero would still believe Duo could walk. There was no one in the world he respected more, though he wished he'd see Duo smile more. "I'm sorry."
"What for?" It was Duo's turn to turn back around, to look for an answer.
"I shut the door too soon," Heero said, but what he meant was anything that had ever diminished or inhibited Duo.
"Not a problem."
It had to have been night when Heero's worm gave them a signal. It was a clean escape from there. Shuttle bay 8, fully fueled, and all they had to do was drop off and fly away home. They'd even get away with some useful parts to cannibalize. They even made it half way before the dart hit Duo.
The dart sank into Duo's neck and his hand flew to it. Before his fingers had even found it, the bay was spinning, dark around the edges. 'Go Heero!' he thought, willing his dark haired friend forward, on into the shuttle. Duo was behind anyway, the possible crack or strain, or whatever in his ankle screaming louder with every step. Heero. God would have to forgive, Duo decided, staggering forward towards the ramp to the shuttle still, refusing to give up until Heero closed the ramp. God would have to forgive because he really loved Heero. The drug rose around his thoughts, pulling them down, and he admitted to himself that he loved Heero. He would die this time, if someone had to, so that Heero could make it out. Heero had the most beautiful eyes. Heero had smiled at him once, and he remembered that now, as his knees gave, sending him towards the ground.
He never hit. Heero caught him, pulling him close, even as the second dart took Heero's shoulder with an angry bite. Heero held them both there on their feet long after his own mind had lost everything except the darkness and the warmth of Duo's breathing chest against his own.
