18: Counting the minutes go by (19:01:20:02)
Duo was gently rocked out of his pondering state by the abrupt halt of the elevator. He looked up through his bangs as the doors opened up revealing an empty cargo hold bathed in the red flashing lights of the alarm. "Eh?" He uttered following Wufei out of the elevator, the entire base below felt stuffy and very unwelcoming to the two young men as they ventured out of the cargo hold into a large room. Above them resided a catwalk that went around the entire room branching from several different entrances to a room above them.
Needless to say Duo was impressed by the sheer size of the lower level; it was like standing in Quatre's mansion only much bigger. Of course there was one major let down in the large room outside of the cargo hold, it contained several large missiles semi-clustered together in a maze like way, the largest one that resided in the center of the room couldn't be seen. Wufei's mouth gaped in sheer disbelief, they were standing in the middle of a missile room much like the one in New Edward's although he hadn't been around to know this. Turning to the equally stunned Duo, Wufei said, "I think your feelings were telling you the exact opposite of what you told us, Maxwell," Duo cocked his head to the side as they continued onward inside the missile area.
His expression was that of a perplexed one and wondered if he had read what he felt inside of him wrong as well. They were standing in a highly unsafe area and that wasn't exactly a good thing Duo-standard wise. "Feh--- I won't lie to you Wufei, but I just had this feeling that we should come down here, there's not much more too it than that," Duo mused. Wufei's eyebrows narrowed but he said nothing, they continued to walk through until they reached the missiles themselves. Duo let out a long whistle pretending to tip his imaginary hat upward, Wufei rolled his eyes adjusting the strap of the riffle upon his shoulder.
"Talk about your rooms of the view," The American muttered with a smirk. "I suppose so," Wufei replied not smiling at all. The two continued weaving their way through the seemingly endless towers of missiles, their legs aching from the illusion that they had been walking for endless hours when it had only been several minutes. Duo groaned feeling the pain his broken arm resurfacing once more when the sound of someone's feet pounding against metallic floors beneath them not far from their current position Wufei also noticed this. Silently the two continued walking through the towering objects known as missiles until there was a grunt from the unknown assailant situated somewhere in the area.
Duo wished he could press himself against one of the missiles but the small fences around them prevented any such thing from happening, he and Wufei stuck out like a pair of sore thumbs. Looking about him Duo searched for any sort of movement besides Wufei's, after getting nothing he walked past Wufei and stared down an area that reminded him of a corridor. But it had missiles instead of walls creating a narrow pathway. As he pasted a missile the braided teenager sensed a familiar aura beside him, an aura that left quiet an impression on him and he admired very much. When he turned however Duo's cobalt eyes did not gaze upon a face but the end of a gun.
With widened eyes Duo slowly looked over the gun at the stoic face of none other than Heeeo Yuy himself who looked surprised himself to see Duo standing in front of him. After a moment much needed silence between them both young men's shoulder's slumped with relief, their defenses lowering slightly. Heero lowered his gun his facial expression returning to that of an impassive one while Duo himself up straighter plastering the best grin he could put on despite the slight animosity that welled inside him. "What? Your not happy see Shinigami? You can't kill death you know," Duo stated wagging his finger at his friend. "Its not that," Heero grunted in annoyance looking away from Duo.
The American arched an eyebrow in confusion just as Wufei came up beside him unfazed by Heero's presence since he had heard the braided young man talking to him. "Didn't expect to see you here, Heero," Wufei said folding his arms across his chest. Heero looked at the Chinese preventer with unpleasant look in his eyes, checking his gun over Heero shrugged lowering his arm back to his side. "Life's full of surprises," He said simply before walking away. Wufei frowned slightly before following after Heero leaving Duo behind. The ex-pilot watched the two usually silent young men vanish around a corner behind a missile wondering what exactly Heero had meant by 'its not that.' Maybe he would never know, that is unless he pryed the answers out of the ol' Japanese boy. With a sigh the 17-year-old rushed off to catch up with the two.
Quatre and Trowa dodged behind a wall just as machine gun fire came after them, Quatre leaned up against the far corner of the wall while Trowa leaned against the wall adjacent to the one Quatre was up against readying his pistol, or rather what Quatre liked to call: counting how many men were currently in the hall worried that he wouldn't have enough bullets to take them all out or at least those who posed more of a threat to their escape. "I thought they were all escaping from the base?" Quatre blurted in sheer surprise kneeling down. Trowa looked down at his blonde friend wishing he had another weapon to give the Arab boy, but Wufei had only given him the pistol and kept the rifle.
Turning his attention to the chaos he peered past the wall at the men summing up a total of sixteen of them in the front and twelve of them hiding behind the walls. Averting his eyes down at his pistol he removed the magazine from the weapon and ejected the bullets from their resting place and counted them. Ignoring the fact that the bullets were the special armor piercing kind he slowly recounted them. At that moment Trowa thought he faint from dread he had a total of twenty-seven bullets and there was twenty-eight of them in all.
"Not good," He uttered to himself reloading the magazine and placing it back into the gun. Quatre looked up at his brown-haired friend in question. "What do you mean not good?" Quatre repeated with a fearful voice that matched Trowa's grim face. Cocking his gun Trowa leaned out from his hiding place when they machine gun fire stopped and shot three men in the chest with swift precision before ducking back behind the wall. "I've only got twenty 24 bullets left and there's twenty-five of them left," Trowa finally answering Quatre's question.
"Which means there's going to be one more guy left, and I'll have run out of bullets by then." Quatre's face paled slightly as he proceeded to search for something that would aid them in their current crisis while Trowa continued to take down the rebels with one bullet at a time. Their so stupid, Quatre though with a frown, can't they see they're just being used for someone's benefit and not really fighting for anything? Quatre looked around the rubble covered ground and spotted a fallen detonator and a small bomb that resembled the ones Duo carried with him when he was assigned to Preventers missions with Wufei or himself.
Maybe even Trowa but those chances were few and far between. Which sort of upseted Duo since Trowa was one he saw the least out of all them next to Heero. Picking the two objects up Quatre stood up and leaned against the wall Trowa was up against and scooted closer to him. Trowa withdrew his arm in that moment before looking over at his friend in question, Quatre smirked and carefully, gracefully, he tossed the small bomb into the hall. The bomb rolled toward the men and paused at the tip of one of the rebels foot, swallowing hard Quatre pressed down onto the detonator's button and the next thing either of them knew an explosion rocked entire hallway sending them to the ground as if the wind itself had knocked them down with a pluck of its mighty finger.
The two young men threw their arms over their heads having been thrown onto their stomachs hot air flowed around them as the fire slowly began to dissipate into nothingness leaving not trail of itself except the black smoke that encircled the entire hallway. After a long moment the two boys climbed off the ground looking bewildered not expecting that much power from such a small object. Trowa's face was smudged with dirt along with a few insignificant bruises from the rubble he had landed in giving him a bumish look, his hair in the front was disheveled mess and revealed his other eye. Quatre blinked wide-eyed but did not comment Trowa's look. "What is it?" Trowa asked pawing his hair. Quatre shook his head his serious face melting at the sudden worry Trowa showed for his air rather than his face. "Nothing, let's get going before more of them come," He said his serious face returning. "Right," Trowa nodded before bolting from his place taking the head while Quatre trailed behind him.
Jin came barreling up the sitars crashing unintentionally into the rooftop door, he was sent tumbling into the snow covered roof's surface. Jin's body stung sending his mind hundreds of messages at once which all meant the same thing and that was get off of the ground before Margaret had a chance to catch him in a time of utter helplessness. Grunting the young boy rolled onto his back kicking the door shut he climbed off the ground ignoring the cold that was swallowing the warmth that once engulfed his entire being, ripping a piece of jagged metal hanging above him Jin readied himself to jam it between the doors handles to prevent Margaret from barging onto the roof he still hadn't found a place to hide.
But to his dismay there were not handles on the door instead there was a sort of spacebar like handle going across the door, Jin dropped the piece of metal and jumped onto of the foundation the door was attached to, he shrunk back as the door was kicked open and Margaret came thundering across the rooftop her gun pointing upward. Jin swallowed hard unsure what how he was going to escape the madwoman that plauged his mind ever since he met her. Something welled up inside him when Margaret turned around revealing her face behind the long flowing red hair of hers; her bangs ... they were discolored slightly looking more orange than red.
Unbeknownst to him a smile manage to creep onto his sullen and cold expression, his eyes brightening slightly. Auntie, the word rang in his head like a distant memory he knew he could not remember, frowning Jin shrank back more when Margaret looked up in his direction his heart pounded wildly in his chest causing ache to form in his ribcage, his breathing became more erratic when he saw Margaret's fingers clamp the edge of the top of the roof he was hiding on. His onyx blue eyes widened in fear, swallowing hard Jin rolled off the roof ignoring the sound of exclamation from Margaret when he hit the ground.
He scrambled to his feet breaking into a run passing Margaret by Jin's feet pressed hard against the ground sending him soaring through the air for seconds as he continued run until he found himself shrouded by smoke emitting from the building's ventilation system. Jin ducked behind a wall searching for the gun he had latched onto the side of pants, his hands searched his pants and loose fitted sweater but to his great disappointment he could not find it anywhere on him. He gritted his teeth kicking himself mentally before the sound of maniacal laughter reached his head.
"Why are you hiding Jin?" Margaret sneered. "Afraid to die? You certainly don't take after you mother or father do you?" Jin swallowed hard raging raising up inside him, his vision blurred as tears ran freely down his face at the reminder of his parents. Margaret began to walk toward the area where Jin was hiding at knowing he would show himself sooner or later when the taunts became too much for him to handle. Licking her lips, Margaret continued. "Did you know that your mother and I were close friends? Chuckle, we were so close that she allowed you to call me auntie Margaret. That is before she died in that horrible accident ... you loved me so much, I can't say I felt the same way." Margaret paused hearing the sound of a sharp intake of breath. Her wicked smile grew even wider. "How did you manage to survive? I've always wondered about that. Did she send you away?" Jin heard Margaret's slow steady footfalls pause beside his hiding place, he peered upward taking notice that she hadn't spotted him yet.
Swallowing he carefully scooted over to the other side of the wall then crawled over to a transformer careful not to brush up against it, electrocution was not on his list of ways to kill himself. Jin peered from behind the transformer relieved to find Margaret standing in the same place she had been when moved. "Jin.. I know you're still up here, I know you can hear me.... Why don't------." Jin cut her off with a loud grunt. Margaret's head turned in the direction she believed the grunt came from arching her eyebrow in suspicion. The grunt sounded so distant Margaret began to think that he was no longer on the rooftop but such a feat was impossible, especially for a brat such as Rei's child.
Taking a step forward the red-haired 44-year-old woman scanned her surroundings spotting several footprints, some were hers, some were different from hers. In front of her she noticed a long beaten path in the snow as if someone had dragged something across the rooftop. "Why did you kill them?" This time Jin's voice was menacing, unkind, and much closer to her. Surprised by the closeness of the young boy's voice Margaret spun around aiming her gun straight toward the assailant she recognized as Jin; his face reflected the expression of someone who hadn't slept or rested in ages on end, his clothing bore holes in his sweater and his pants, especially his sweater.
There was gaping hole on the side where his healing injury resided, his hair was a mess his unruly bangs were split and they laid against the side of his head revealing the cut on his forehead and his braid was coming undone, his lips were chapped and his hands were covered in bruises. Margaret thought he looked like someone out of a horror movie, the very sight of his current condition had the guilt she had felt rising up inside her again but Margaret made sure it got no bigger than a faint bug bite. Jin's eyes narrowed his fists were clenched so tightly that his nails began cut through his skin.
"I'll say it again, why did you kill them?" Jin repeated. Margaret lowered her gun raising her arm upward her head tilted to the side causing her hair to tumble into her wizened face. "Would it make a difference if I told you? They'd still be dead," She retorted. Jin was beginning to loose his control over his rage and fear, he gritted his teeth in an attempt to keep calm. Sighing Margaret revised her words. "I killed them for Money. Revenge. Perhaps more, I'll never know for sure," Margaret replied. Jin's pupils dilated in sheer horror it was as if the world he barely knew or kept in touch with shattered in that moment.
Margaret watched his feet press hard against the ground ready to launch his body onto her if his emotions reached their breaking point which she sure they were doing right now, lowering her right from its upright position she aimed her gun for his head the moment his feet pushed him forward. Jin's forehead banged against the barrel of the gun causing his bangs to fall in face obscuring the view his eyes, he glanced up at Margaret who looked unpleased by the stunt he had pulled unconsciously his lips were parted showing his gritted teeth. A wicked smile crossed Margaret's face as she wagged her finger in front of his face. "Now, now, you wouldn't want me to pull this trigger would you?" She asked in a mock-sweet tone.
Jin was at the end of his rope, he could no longer keep what he felt inside, the moment his jaw dropped a shuddering gasp escaped his lips. "Why did you kill them? They didn't do anything to you, not at all…!" He snapped amidst the tears that were falling down his dirty face. "You left me parentless when you killed them, you don't seem to care about this at all, all my life I wanted nothing but my family, I've been an orphan practically all my life without idea of what my past was before I woke up in that hospital. And its all because of you!!!"
Margaret was unfazed by the raising and lowering of his voice, she frankly could've cared less what happened to him during that time. She stopped caring several years ago. "But then I find someone who reminds me of my mother, someone who reminds me of you but with a kinder heart and soul. Then you have to come and try to kill both of them, don't you? My parents never wanted me to suffer, you did. Margaret Cypher wants me to suffer because I finally found something to make me happy----- ah!"
Jin was brought to the ground by the might of the force behind Margaret's slap from her hand that held the gun. Jin groaned in pain pushing himself off the ground, he reached up to touch his mouth only to find blood drizzling from it. Jin looked up at Margaret who bore the expression of ebbing anger and sorrow which she could not rid herself of not matter how hard she tired. "I hope your happy in the afterlife...," Margaret aimed for Jin's throbbing heart. Jin closed his eyes no longer having the will to fight. Farewell, Mariemaia. Relena...... A shot rang out in the air.
"What are you thinking about, Noin?" Zechs' raspy voice brought Noin out of her pondering state. She looked up from her hands resting upon her lap at the long-haired platinum blonde hunched over a control panel, his fingers tightly wrapped around a pair of tweezers and electric tape. Noin watched as he tried to fix the communications system linked to the inside of the building since they had no idea where the others were (although Noin's best guess was that they'd be somewhere on the lower level of the base) Zechs decided to take the time despite the risk to repair the important parts of the communication system.
Zechs wasn't a whiz when it came to electronics but he knew enough to get the job done quickly without a mistake made. Smiling to herself, Noin lowered her head once more turning the spinning chair slightly. She wasn't sure what she was thinking about to be perfectly honest with herself, a million thoughts ran through her mind piling up on top of each other she tried to sort them out one by one according to the events that unfolded at the beginning of winter break. Zechs hadn't been around for the first few days of winter break like he said he would, Noin noticed that he was constantly on the move taking any mission Une assigned him.
Noin began to get the feeling that he was trying to avoid her but to her dismay her suspicion was highly incorrect. When Noin had been working late at P.HQ she had seen Zechs lurking about the halls with a shopping bag in his left hand several times. Noin now had the impression that he was Christmas shopping for everyone knew. "Nothing much, Zechs," Noin replied finally. "Just wondering what Christmas will be like." A small smile graced Zechs' features when he shifted his eyes upward toward Noin. The dark-haired woman smiled timidly under his pricing blue-eyed gaze before looking down at her lap.
Zechs continued to work on the control panel until he repaired it to half of its full capabilities which was good enough since all they needed to do was contact the others and warn them about the time bomb or rather highly explosive missiles. Placing the repair utensils down the 22-year-old unhooked the communicator from its resting place. Zechs gripped it firmly in his hand before pressing the button on its side, he turned to Noin who gave him a look of confidence. "Attention preventer 5, this is a code R emergency," Zechs' voice sounded loud and urgent over the loudspeakers inside the base.
"If you haven't already discovered this, there are 80 large missiles situated in this base, with enough power to wipe out half of this entire mountain. I urge you to try and disarm the largest missile, if you cannot I strongly suggest you escape at once, I repeat if you cannot stop it I strongly suggest you escape this base before its too late. There's not much time left. Good luck, keep safe." Zechs placed the communicator onto the control panel a heavy sigh escaped his lips. "We must hurry, we've got to find the others," He said in a steely voice. Noin nodded knowing Zechs was worried to death about Relena's well-being. The two ran out of the communications room and headed down the right part of the hall.
Dorothy watched Hilde Schbeiker, a girl she hardly knew, try to free herself from the bondage of the hand cuffs that held her. To her trying to pry a pair of handcuffs off a metal railing of a fence was like trying to pull Quatre's attention away from his endless mountains of paper work stacked upon his desk. In other words it was a hopeless cause but she didn't want to deter the young German girl by dashing her hopes of escaping from her bondage.
That wouldn't be right, besides it gave her something to occupy herself with while she sat and waited for oblivion to rescue her from the likes of her kidnappers. Dorothy shifted her pale blue eyes toward Relena. Now there's someone she hadn't herd a peep out of since Hilde had awakened from her unconscious state. Dorothy noticed how silent the honey blonde was wondering if Relena had also lost any hope in escaping their fate like herself. How ironic that I never got to spend any time with dearest Quatre Winner. I suppose it just wasn't meant to be, she thought with a rueful smile.
Hilde stopped yanking at the chain of the handcuff for a moment to look at the 19-year-old beside her before relaxing her tense body uncurling her fists. Slowly the aquamarine-eyed teenager settled down beside Dorothy her shoulders slouched in defeat, her eyes were cast downward staring down at her only free hand. "Given up have you?" Dorothy's voice was cool and even as she spoke. Hilde gave her a sideways glance before leaning back slightly to look up at the ceiling. "What's the point. If what you say is right, Duo and the others are probably dead," Dorothy's face reflected a faint expression of sympathy knowing it was all she could off her.
Dorothy placed a hand on Hilde's shoulder in a way to reassure her. Hilde wasn't close to Dorothy, in fact she barely knew the older woman but it didn't change the fact that she held a sort of respect and admiration for her. Dorothy was stronger than she'd ever hoped to be and that's why she couldn't hate nor really like her. "I think there's plenty point in wanting to survive. No one wants to die a meaningless death which is why we strive so hard to survive," Dorothy offered. A gleam of curiosity appeared in Hilde's eyes obviously impressed by the small speech Dorothy had given her. The blonde young woman just smiled before transfixing her gaze beyond Hilde down the long path of missiles picking up on the faint sound of a one-sided conversation.
Over the blaring alarms and blinking red lights Dorothy could not mistake the sound of a human voice. Especially one with an American accent. Relena's head shot upright; there was something at the far end of the room moving at a moderate pace, resembling that a human walking. Squinting Relena tried her hardest to make out the three specks walking in a line when she recognized one unmistakable aspect of the speck behind the other two. It had a braid. For the first time in hours Relena's blue eyes sparkled like the stars in the heavens themselves. "Its Duo!" She exclaimed happily. "Duo's alive!" Dorothy and Hilde's heads turned toward the Vice foreign minister in question wondering what she was ranting about the zero two pilot being alive. "Duo?" Hilde whispered uncertainly.
Duo paused in his steps looking down the narrow path at the figure moving excitedly as if it had found something. Ignoring the sting in his arm he began to walk toward the jumping figure catching his name being spoken twice and once in uncertainty. Strange, he thought scratching his head. Heero and Wufei turned pausing in their stride catching Duo as he vanished down the path of another direction, without a word spoken between them the two stoic young men headed after him. Duo looked behind him spotting Wufei and Heero, looking unpleased by his sudden change in direction but ignored their stern looks he continued forward until he could make out the figure.
His cobalt blue eyes widened in sheer joy, his mouth opened to speak but his comrade Heero beat him to it. "Relena...," Heero whispered overwhelmed with emotion although surprise was the only thing that was visible in his voice and expression. Duo bolted from his place followed by his two comrades toward Relena. She looked like she had seen better days but at least she was still alive. Duo brought himself to a halt inches away from Relena letting Heero rush past him. When the braided-teenager turned his head Duo thought he would collapse of relief. His heart throbbed wildly with a feeling he had long since forgotten; there across from him Hilde sat on the railing she was handcuffed to looking worn and tired.
Wasting no time he rushed over to her, Hilde stood up unsure how to react to this situation, she was far too overjoyed to see his face. "Oi, Wufei, I need some help over here," Duo shouted to his friend. Wufei nodded in response. The Chinese teenager strode over to the German girl, lifting the riffle he motioned for Duo to step back. The American did what he asked stepping back far enough. "Lift your arm," Wufei demanded. Hesitantly Hilde raised her arm high enough so her wrist was out of the range of fire while the chain was left unprotected, with flawless precision Wufei severed the chain of the handcuff freeing Hilde he did the same with Dorothy as well. Hilde rushed over to Duo and embraced him in the biggest hug she could muster avoiding his broken arm, the American grimaced slightly all the while he was smiling. "I'm glad your okay Hilde," He whispered in her ear. The 17-year-old gave him a quick squeeze in response. Wufei watched the scene with a nostalgic look upon his face his mind wandering back to Nataku.
Heero picked the lock of the handcuff around her wrist Relena watched him with tentative eyes scanning his body for any sort of injuries. To her dismay she found a gunshot wound in his shoulder as well as another one on his left leg. Relena did her best to ignore the blood on his clothes despite the knotting forming inside her stomach, she felt a partial amount of vile traveling up her throat from the smell of blood. Heero noticed her sickened expression knowing it was caused by the injuries he had sustained. After a moment He finally unlocked the handcuff from her wrist Relena clutched her sore wrist letting herself be lead by the arm by Heero.
Releasing her wrist she placed a hand on Heero's injured shoulder causing the young man to pull away slightly. "Don't worry about it, I'm fine," Heero spoke before she could utter a word. Relena nodded catching sight of Duo and the others coming up to them with expectant looks. "We've gotta find Trowa and Quatre, if Zechs is right we don't have much time before this place goes," Said Wufei, who had Dorothy's arm flung around his shoulder. In the heat of all that had happened the young woman had forgotten about her hurting ankle. They headed down the corridor toward the elevators to head for the top of the base. "Heero what about Jin? Did you find him?" She asked hurriedly.
Heero didn't need to look back at the vice Minster to know she was still worried about the troublesome boy. Heero kept his eyes focused on the path in front of him. "He's not here Relena," He stated simply without explanation. "What do you mean, Heero?" Relena asked indignantly. Heero glanced behind him feeling her heated gaze upon his back, although Relena awaited his answer Heero never said a thing. He had a feeling that he had ran into Jin when he was running from Margaret and if so, Jin would be smart enough to make tracks and leave the base while he still had a chance.
(TBC.....)