21: First welcome darkness....
Heero whipped his brow for a second time. He wasn't sure how much time he had spent trying to pick the right wire to cut but he knew he hadn't spend seconds trying to do it either. He swallowed roughly wishing he had Quatre to coach him through this, the boy seemed more knowledgeable out of all them when it came to disarming wires inside bombs; he had done it numerous times on their Preventer 5 missions without a hitch, Heero hadn't learned that much about disarmament of any bombs from Dr. J, the old man taught him mostly assassination techniques and combat strategies concerning mobile suit battles and covert missions.
Although he had brought up the need to learn how to disarm a bomb properly without sounding too eggier, Dr. J simply stated to trust his instincts on that sort of matter. Heero wished the old man was still alive so he could kill him himself, the irony of the entire situation was gnawing at him like crazy. He sighed blinking wearily at the moment his instincts were telling him to cut the blue wire, which to him seemed just about the right to do at that time but his knotting stomach wasn't so sure. Which one would Quatre cut, I wonder? The Japanese teenager's eyes shifted from the blue wire to the red wire his heart throbbing hard, why did this have to be so hard?
Heero groaned bowing his head out of pure frustration, if he didn't get this right he'd not only kill himself he'd be killing everyone within a thirty-four Kilometer radius, everything he cared for was riding on his decision! "Damnit, I don't have time for this," He growled gripping his Swiss army knife tightly. Heero looked down at the ground that had suddenly become farther away than he last remembered. His stomach lurched causing his footing to shift slightly, dizziness invaded his senese causing his vision to blur slightly, Heero shook his head jerking his head back up and placing his eyes on the wires in front of him, it was easier to forget that he was standing on unstable ground if he wanted to call it that, than it was choosing a damn wire.
He had to make a choice and he had to do it now. Heero's hand wavered slightly as he placed the blade upon the plastic covering of the blue wire, his eyes blinked rapidly as if he had seen something that wasn't there as he pressed his Swiss army knife's blade against the wire cutting through its exterior. Now, or never, Heero, the young man thought, swallowing he severed the blue wire clamping his eyes shut awaiting the inevitable. The sound of an alarm blaring louder than the one that had previously being ringing in his ears tore the Japanese teenager out of his panicked state of mind causing him to look toward the control room; the sound that assaulted his ears wasn't a good one, Heero knew this because it was the alarm that alerted soliders that an intruder had infiltrated the base or that a bomb had gone off.
He had cut the wrong wire! Heero looked down at his hands he was unaware were trembling he looked down at the red wire with wide Prussian blue eyes; he should've cut that one instead, now he was going to die because of his incompetence! Heero let his head lower expecting to hear the sound of an explosion but instead the high-pitched alarm began to slow in speed at a rapid pace until it was there was not a sound to be heard except his own labored breathing. With trembling arms Heero pushed away from the missile falling back onto the catwalk, his breathing slowly returning to its normal rate. Swallowing Heero climbed to his slightly shaky legs as he tried to calm his nerves. His eyes stared intently at the destructive force before him for the longest time before he could feel a very familiar emotion welling inside his chest.
Unable to hold within him the young man began to laugh a laugh of disbelief unsure if he were dreaming or already in heaven. Had he actually done it? Heero managed to silence his laughing long enough to gather his wits to realize he was in fact alive and had stopped the missile from self-destructing. Standing upright a little more the young man straightened his tattered sweater then headed toward the control room; he entered and exited the room quickly racing across the catwalk as fast as he could and barged through the door that would lead him through a corridor toward the emergency exit's door. His feet were the only thing echoing throughout the empty halls of the base as he traveled further down the corridor his thoughts wandering aimlessly toward Relena ensaring his mind. If he hurried he could get to the others before they left the base if they hadn't done so already.
Wing Zero? Wing Zero was destroyed that last time he remembered, Quatre had seen the mighty mobile suit's destruction with his own two eyes and Jin was claiming he had piloted it ramming the mobile suit into a wall at the same time, self-detonating Zero as well. The 17-year-old was unsure to take what Jin had said to them seriously or to think it was just the ramblings of a seriously wounded teenager that happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
For the moment Quatre decided to believe what Jin had said to them instead of thinking the complete opposite, he had a feeling this boy had no reason to lie to them: Why would he? A dying man usually told the truth before death took him in an attempt to redeem himself, but Jin had no reason to redeem himself. Did he? Quatre looked down at the boy's pale face worry etched across his face unhidden from plain sight, Jin's side had been wrapped in Une's bloodied jacket, the only thing they had to keep Jin from bleeding to death. His eyes shifted over to Trowa who kept a sharp watch eye out for any sort of medical assistance, whether in the form of a vehicle or a helicopter the tall Latin American kept his eyes and his ears open, listening to every sound around him, watching all that moved.
Quatre sigh wrapping his arms around himself wishing they had let him keep his down jacket, his sweater wasn't doing a very good job in keeping him from freezing. He sighed making his way over toward his friend walking stiffly along the snowy rooftop, he looked around him surveying the snowy trees across from the base with a questioning gaze. When he came up beside Trowa he noticed that the taller man young appeared to be worried about something beyond of that of Jin's well-being, Quatre stared at Trowa until the young man acknowledged he was beside him. "What is it Quatre?" Trowa mumbled. The Arabain teenager's words were caught in his throat when his eyes met Trowa's green ones.
There was something foreboding about the gleam in Trowa's eyes that made Quatre wonder what had possibility managed to get underneath his skin so much that his emotions were showing through his mask? Quatre decided he couldn't let his friend sulk in silence and let his curiosity eat away at him for never asking. "There's something bothering you, Trowa?" The young man said. Trowa's body tensed; he knew the blonde's wasn't asking him, he was stating a fact; there was something bothering him..... or maybe someone to be more precise but he wouldn't say anything, Quatre couldn't make him say anything.
The Latin American remained silent turning his eyes back to the world before him concentrating all his senses on the sound of a vehicle or helicopter, Quatre sighed lowering his head. "I'm always around to talk, Trowa," Quatre whispered turning away from the sulking 17-year-old. Trowa's eyes narrowed at his words but ever shifted to watch the blonde retreat from his position. As Quatre headed toward Une and Jin, the sound of the rooftop door being swung open caught all of them off guard. Une looked up removing a protective arm from around Jin's body (which she had managed to prop up against her chest, his body between her legs which she sat on) bringing her arm back Une moved her hand toward her boot where her knife resided as the slender body came stumbling out of the building looking worn and tired from what she could see.
The figure's semi-long blonde hair fell over her shoulders obscuring half of her face in the process, Une lowered her defensives slightly having already known who it was when the person tucked her hair behind her ears, tossing the rest behind her shoulders. Quatre almost swallowed his tongue whe Dorothy's turned to look at him, the last he saw of her was when he was being dragged into the elevator while she was being drugged, he was surprised when she didn't put up a fight when they stuck her with the needle.
Some part of his mind relaxed overwhelmed with relief, now that he knew Dorothy was alive and well practically unharmed despite the ordeal she had experienced. Dorothy nodded in his direction as she moved forward across the snow focusing her attention the remaining warmth left in her body while the snow-riddled wind napped at her exposed parts of her body that the ski-suit didn't cover, her pale blue eyes focused on Quatre's bewildered expression before she took notice of Une on the ground. Dorothy's hand shot up to her mouth when she saw the pale thin body of Jin's between Une's legs in a protective the woman's protective arms. "Dear God, what happened?" She asked looking up at Quatre.
The young man came up to the blonde girl placing a hand on her wrist, carefully he brought her hand down before telling everything he could salvage from Jin's broken sentences, turning them into a explanative form to Dorothy. To his surprise the girl was almost brought near tears when he finished speaking, she looked down at the boy who was barely aware of the world around him, Dorothy jumped slightly when his lifeless eyes seemed to rest upon her face, he appeared to be examining her. But before Dorothy had a chance for confirm this his head slumped against Une's chest. "Someone did this to him?" Dorothy whispered with a bitter look on her face. Jin eyes opened halfway at the mention of the word 'him.' He looked up at Dorothy again but this time his expression was that of a confused one, as if he had no idea who she was.
Trowa, who had been standing at edge of the building for over an hour and a half let out of a frustrated sigh turning to face the others. "We need to get him away from this place, it doesn't look like we're going to get help anytime soon," Trowa announced walking over to Une. The brown-haired woman looked up at the tall young man in question as he kneeled down beside her, his expression was that of a stern one, Une knew better than to argue with him despite her authority. Slowly she removed her arms from around the boy letting Trowa place his hands upon both Jin's shoulders, he pullled the Jin away from Une's body and slowly pulled him up off his bottom, a sharp intake of breath hinted with fear caused Trowa to pause mid-rise.
His green eyes shifted toward the young teenager's face with an inquiring expression, Jin's eyes had snapped open wide staring down at his waist for the longest time before he looked up at Trowa with his empty onyx blue eyes, the 17-year-old shivered inwardly at the feeling of Jin's empty eyes looking into his. He once felt like that, empty and without feeling, he wouldn't let it happen to Jin, not when the world was at peace. "C'mon, He-- Jin, I need you to stand up, I can't carry your weight by myself," Trowa spoke as softly as he could. Jin's brow furrowed in confusion at the broken part of the sentence before Trowa spoke his name; had he had mistaken him for Heero? The young man groaned as he used his hand to push himself up off the ground commanding his legs to straighten themselves.
He winced when the warmth of his blood running through his legs chased away the chill of the snow that was upon them. When Trowa stood up he flung Jin's arm over his shoulder hoping his height wouldn't hinder Jin's ability to walk, If he was right he was just about as tall as Heero and Trowa only stood a head and a half taller than he. Trowa looked down at Jin's feet since they were still slightly on the ground, Jin's heel would lift up at times but the brown-haired young man didn't think it would slow them down. Looking up at the others standing before him, Trowa parted his lips to speak. "Lady Une where are the other Preventer's?" He asked. "They should be rounding up the rebels inside the base, if not they're scouting the area for rebels," Une explained briefly scratching her ankle with the tip of her boot.
"I've ordered them to radio me when they've completed their task, then return to HQ. There's a mobile suit carrier near by, I'll contact them as soon as were on the ground." Trowa nodded weighing the information he learned against any odds of getting any help from the Preventers, he shifted his gaze beyond the edge of the building focusing his sights on what he could see of the cliff that separated them from safety; they'd have to find another way across it if they were to escape. If what he thought was right, they would probably be able to radio for help from the Preventers that was in this area, he didn't trust mobile suit carriers. "I'll be fine...Trowa," Jin's voice, barely above a whisper startled everyone around him, even Trowa.
All eyes turned to the young boy who flex his wrist in Trowa's grasp but made no move to try and slide it from the tall Latin American's hand. "...Sooner we get out of here the better. I wanna go home...wherever that is." Quatre's eyes reflected that of pity when he heard those words uttered from the 13-year-old's mouth, where home was, indeed. Dorothy had been standing behind Quatre turned and rushed toward the rooftop door causing Une to look in her direction, the 19-year-old grabbed the slender pole attached to the door pulling it open wide enough for at least three people to go through, she grinned slyly when Quatre arched his eyebrows in question at her. "Well, come on, we don't have all day," Dorothy announced haughtily tapping her foot.
Duo paused in mid-step the moment he stepped out of the dark corridor and into a wide space-ish area full of fallen derbies covered in fire and a large hole in the structure of the building, the smell of blood and mobile suit fuel lingered in the air causing Duo's nostril's to flare in irritation the smell had such strength. He groaned rubbing his nose with the back of his hand as Wufei and the girls came up behind him, he lowered his arm looking at his Chinese comrade in question as Wufei's onyx eyes darted from side to side as if he were looking for something. However, whatever Wufei was looking for eluded Duo's perception completely.
Wufei shifted his eyes toward Duo raising an inquiring eyebrow at the worn American before he received a frown that could match his own from his friend. "What's wrong?" Duo asked. Wufei shook his head uncertain himself, there was something about this room that felt all too familiar to him and he didn't like it in the slightest. "There's something here," Wufei uttered to himself stepping forward. Hilde watched Duo with worried eyes as he and Wufei moved toward the darkest part of the room, her chest heaved when the sound of a machine activating itself somewhere in the darkness, this caused her to bolt forward.
Duo's ears picked up the whirring sound his eyes shifted to the right catching sight a faint green above him illuminating the darkness for a brief moment before fading out of existence, the braided young man's eyes winded in suspicion before the lights above him came to life chasing all shadows away. His eyes widened in disbelief at the sight he would've grinned at several years ago, he could hear Hilde coming up behind him and pause in her footsteps knowing she spotted what he had saw. Relena's pupil's dilated in disbelief as well her ears picking up on a foreign curse from Wufei across from her looking just as tense as Duo. Relena's hands were at her side balled up from the pent up anger she had been suppressing since she was kidnapped.
Her blue eyes stared up at a nearly constructed Wing Zero's head and body, the four Gundams, not even as near completed as the third model (custom) of Zero was. "They rebuilt them...," Relena's whisper was hoarse. Duo's coalbolt eyes wavered in fear as his eyes gazed upon the face of Deathscythe Hell whom had yet to have its Gundanium armor placed over its vulnerable parts of its body. How could the preventer's not've known about this? Duo took another step forward toward Deathscythe only to pulled back by Hilde, he snapped his head in her direction meeting her fearful aquamarine eyes. What did she have to be afraid of, he wondered. He certainly wasn't going to revert back to a rebel solider, not after working so hard to achieve the peace he cherished so.
Duo turned to look at Wufei who appeared for than displeased at the sight of their old comrades "So this is why they wanted us to join them," Wufei muttered with disdain folding his arms across his chest. "It seems that we shall never find peace as long as people have the means to rebuild them." Relena nodded in agreement in turn looking away from Wing Zero when a dull ache throbbed inside of her, she shifted her eyes toward Hilde taking notice of the German's firm grip on Duo's uninjured arm as if she feared he was going to vanish if she released him, Relena knew the feeling all too well. "We have to destroy this base!" Hilde blurted unconsciously.
Relena stepped forward with haste shaking her head in objection "No, we can't do that. Not with those missile's underneath us. They'd take out this entire area! What we need to do is contact the Preventers, they'll know what to do!" She stated firmly. Hilde practically glowered at the honey blonde girl standing across from her while wondering how exactly they were gonna contact the Preventers without any means of doing so. Duo gently removed himself from Hilde's protective grasp stepping away from the Gundam's with every intention of agreeing with Relena but the sound of a strangled yell originating from the outside and the violent sound shattering glass following after it, drowned out any and all thoughts of verbal patterns in Duo's mind.
His head turned toward the devastated wall just in time to see a body collide with the ground, the glass following suit sparkling like tear drops reflecting in light. They all remained still watching the body on the ground, awaiting the moment it would move, Relena watched from behind Wufei with worry when she saw the person's body raise up from the ground; the sound of the person's groan hauntingly sounded much like Heero's when he was hit or injured. Duo's face contorted in uncertainty when he recognized several spikes of brown hair come into view, before he or Wufei could react Relena bolted from her place and outside of the base to Heero's aid. "Damn it," Duo grumbled. He ran after her, Wufei and Hilde following after him. He began thinking Relena acted on impulse a little to much for his tastes at times, but she was quick on her feet and he respected that much, it was, after all apart of her selfless personality. "Heero, what the hell happened!!" He shouted.
Heero rushed down the corridor, his chest heaving with ever breath his took. His unattended injuries were beginning to wear him down with all too familiar feeling he had brushed sides with far too many times for his tastes, but it came with the job description. He had been a little too careless when he had left the lower level of the base, he hadn't been paying attention to his surroundings when he had exited through the emergancy stair way after the elevator had broken down on the floor he desired to exit on.
Heero made a mad dash down the hall expecting smooth sailing, but was instead met with a barrage of machine-gun fire. The Japanese teenager figured they (the five remaining rebels) were either after him because Margaret put them up to, or they just wanted to nab themselves a Gundam pilot, former. They had stopped shooting but continued to peruse him through the halls despite the lead he had on them. Rounding the corner Heero expected to find another path dived into three corridors but instead found himself met with yet another dilemma; the ceiling had caved in blocking all such paths he wished to venture.
Basically he was at a dead end and the rebel's were hot on his trail, he cursed under his breath. Nothing was going according to what he had planned out in hs mind, shifting his eyes he stared at the world outside the window for a brief moment before stepping back until he was up against the wall, the rebels were approaching fast, so he had to make this quick otherwise he was a dead man. Swallowing hard Heero took one quick glance at the hall he had come down before pressing his feet hard against the ground, now he would see just how lucky he could get in one day. Heero rushed at the glass as fast as he could and the next thing Heero felt was glass shattering from the force of his impact, cutting through his sweater like knives in their own right, he stifled a yell. He shielded his closed eyes as he felt himself plummeting toward the earth wondering how high up he really was, Heero could feel the weight of his body pulling him down faster to the ground.
Heero wasn't sure of it at first, but when his body finally touched the ground he swore he felt the distinct shift of a bone in a limb somewhere on his body, he grunted in pain his body tumbled across the ground until it came to a complete stop. He laid there for a moment letting the sensation of the cold snow numb the pain in his body before removing his arms from his sides and placing his hands upon the snow, Heero pushed himself up with his upper body strength alone. He would've grunted in pain if he had not heard Duo's uncharacteristic voice from behind along with several footsteps coming toward him. "Heero!" The Japanese teenager's head raised even higher at the sound of Relena's voice, she was the one coming toward him!
Turning himself around Heero fell onto his back, he examined his body thoroughly before a wave of pain shot up the side of his left leg, he stared down at it knowing he had either broken or dislocated something. "S-stay back, Relena!" He snapped upon hearing the angry shouts of the rebels above him. The world around him was moving in circles, but not fast enough to confuse his already weary senses, with a shaky hand the 17-year-old pulled his gun out from between his pants and aimed it straight for the dumbfounded rebels; He took them all out, three of them with shots to the arms and ankles, other two in the leg and wrist. All with the last of his bullets, Heero groaned dropping his gun falling back onto the ground. Relena resumed her approach hoping there no more danger to heed her, she ran up to Heero falling at his side, her mouth hung open slightly at the sight of his injured body.
"Heero.... oh God," She whispered reaching out to him with trembling hands. "Relena.... you shouldn't be here, why aren't you with Duo and Wufei?" He groaned, feeling her lift his upper-body off the ground. He choked back a cry when his body spasm involuntarily he could feel her body vibration's against his shoulder. Heero placed a hand upon the snow trying to force himself up off the ground into a standing position, Relena despite the objective expression on her face helped him up off the ground. She flung his arm holding the gun over her shoulder to support him. "Heero!" The two looked up at the American ex-pilot, Wufei, and Hilde fast approaching them, the Japanese teenager sighed in annoyance; what else could go wrong? Duo brought himself to a halt standing a few feet away from Relena and Heeero panting hard.
Hilde and Wufei came up beside him show an equal amount of worry. Coalbolt eyes met Prussian eyes locking gazes for a long moment of silent confusion and misunderstanding before a cocking sound shattered the trance. All five heads turned in the direction the sound came from and gazed upon the tall female figure of Margaret Cypher holding a gun in her hand, grinning devilishly. "You didn't think I'd leave did you? I have a job to finish after all. Eliminating the likes of you!" She sneered. Heero's eyes narrowed. I had to ask.
(TBC....)