Chapter Two:
Heero was hanging upside down, cheeks flushed as the blood rushed to his head. He forced himself to remain as steady as he could, not that he was unnerved by the situation.
Duo grunted from above Heero.
Slowly, the braided man lowered the metal cable as he leaned away from the support beam they were using as a lever to add extra support. Duo thanked god today that he decided to wear gloves, or if he was going this now, it would hurt like hell.
"Tell me again why I do this?" Heero questioned as he was lowered back down over the elevator.
"Oh come on!" Duo joked merrily, "Thirty more years and you'll get a pretty cheap gold watch and a small little sack of money for you're service!"
Heero snorted, "Thanks for reminding me." The wire let him down some more and his fingers skimmed along the metal of the elevator, "Ho!"
The cable stopped, locking in place as Duo positioned himself so that he was holding Heero up. For all they knew, the bomb could be sensitive to being touched or something.
Heero attached the metal hook to the elevator and looked up as best as he could, pulling the cable holding him suspended in the air with two sharp jabs. Slowly, he was pulled up at first, then more quickly.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
After a period of silence, sounds filled the ear piece as the shadowed figure paused once more in his work. Growling, he picked up his device to pick up on the sounds and cursed softly, "What the hell!"
He pressed the ear piece more into his ear, intently listening to try and differ what was making the sounds. He glared at the wall of the freight elevator he holed himself up in.
Growling as he heard odd sounds of metal being moved and what sounded like ropes, the old man dropped the device he used for listening and picked up the control for the bomb.
"Don't screw around with me." He dropped the stick, smirking coldly as the sounds of the bomb exploding reached his satisfied ears.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Duo and Heero raced through the halls and made their way down the stairs once again, jumping steps as they rushed down to the twelfth floor. Duo panted as they raced full out towards the elevator area and skid to a halt at the access panels of this floor.
"Damnit, the son of a bitch jumped it!"
"I thought so." Heero said as he pulled out some pliers and pulled the doors apart, his muscles taunt as he held them as best as he could while Duo bent down to the other side and jammed the doors with his pliers on either side.
"Please held us!" They could hear people screaming as they looked up to see the elevator showing a little bit.
"I don't want to die!"
"Get some back-up sent up here!" Heero shouted, prying the doors apart and jamming them in place. Just as he completed his task, his hands were jerked to a halt, a woman holding his wrist tightly in place.
"Please!" His captor shouted, "Don't let me die!"
"Don't worry," he assured, "I'm going to get you all out of here." The woman looked at him with teary eyes and nodded, releasing his hand to let the Preventer do his job.
Grabbing the woman's hand once more, he calmly stated, "Watch you head, I'm going to pull you through!" The woman nodded and let Heero pull her, the elevator dropping a few inches—enough for them to get her out.
"Next!" He shouted as he detached the woman's arms from around his neck and set her down, turning swiftly to get the next person out.
A hand grabbed his and he eased the next person out, officers running around the corner to help. "Hurry!" They shouted, checking the woman to see if she had any injuries.
"Duo, grab her!" Duo nodded and pulled the hysteric woman off of Heero's body, letting the woman cling to her as she panted and gasped, mumbling things as another officer pulled out a hypodermic needle and eased it into her arm slowly, allowing some morphine to calm her down.
"Sally, go!" Heero pulled the woman named Sally out of the elevator as it dropped a few inches more, the crane already having collapsed and hitting numerous different beams which slowed the elevator from it's deadly descent.
"Une!" Sally shouted, letting out a sigh of relief when she saw her friend being pulled out.
"Don't let me go, please." Une said to the prussian eyed man, who looked to be in his teens.
"I won't." He calmly assured her, and his words did the effect and promise as he pulled her up and Duo grabbed her hand to help her down.
"Come on, sir." Heero said, hand out stretched as he looked at a stiff younger man who was standing at the edge of the elevator. He shook his head.
"Come on, sir! Grab my hand, now!" Heero shouted, voice urging the man.
Once again, said man shook his head back and forth, eyes fearful, "I don't want to die," was what he whispered to the young Preventer.
"Mueller, please!" Noin whispered as she looked at the man with wide eyes. Why wasn't he getting out?
"Look, just take a step and grab my hand." The man took a step and reached, Heero's strong hand encircling the other mans and pulling him up.
"Don't let me go," the dark-haired man panted, "Please!" He begged as Heero pulled him up, muscles straining as he leaned back and pulled the man to safety. Just as the man's feet were out, within seconds, the elevator came crashing down.
"Thank you," the man looked at Heero and Duo with teary eyes, "You saved my life."
Zechs came running around the corner with more back up to escort the hostages out. He froze in his tracks as he looked at one of the hostages, "Lucrezia?"
One of the women in the group gasped, short blue hair rising in the air slightly with her sudden spin as she stared at the officer in front of her, "Zechs?"
"Well, well," Duo commented as he sat down in a chair with a heavy collapse and Heero followed suit next to his partner. "Looks like Commander knows someone…"
Zechs shot Duo a warning look before he turned back around, getting a grin from Duo.
"So it seems." Heero gruffly commented as he picked his gun out of his holster and flicked the safety off, then back on.
"Let's get these hostages out of here." Preventer's rushed around to bring to people to a safer level, preferably the first floor, and then evac the building with the rest of the police and hosatage's.
Duo and Heero got up, walking away from the group as they headed in the opposite direction than the others.
"He jumped the gun."
"Yeah," Duo darkly muttered, "Son of a bitch. We still had three minutes left."
Heero frowned, "But why would he risk loosing all that money?" Him and Duo sat down on a chair with a tired look on their face. After all, it was a long day's work for them to go running around from one crime scene to the next.
"Maybe he didn't have the balls to wait it out." Duo shrugged, "It's getting pretty common now-a-days in all them old men..."
"No." Heero stood up, looking around with narrowing eyes, "He's here."
"What?" Duo laughed slightly for a minute, "Heero, he could have dropped the stick from anywhere. For all we know, he's half way around the world!"
"No," Heero shook his head, cold eyes looking around in a calculating manner. "He knew something was up. He's here—he must have seen or heard us somehow."
"But how?" Duo leaned forward, "All the elevators have been shut down and the building has been evacuated. Why would he corner himself in a place like this?"
Heero licked his lips, eyes darting with suspicion in some places, "I don't know, but I do know he's here."
"Well…" Duo's eyebrows knit together in concentration, "The express have been shut down but… what about the freight elevators?" Heero looked up, pointing to Duo as if he won the jackpot and turned. Walking down the corridor silently, the two of them trained their guns on any possible threats as they made their way back to where the hostages were pulled from.
Finally at said spot, Duo looked at Heero and Heero at him. Nodding, Heero pointed his barrel towards the ceiling in a armed fashion. Looking down and leaning into the access panel, Heero stood silent and listened. A cough came from the shaft and Duo and Heero both looked at one another once more.
"How you come up with these damn things still gets me, buddy." Duo said as he watched Heero grab some of the ropes holding the elevator up and slid down with expertise as Duo followed behind him.
Duo looked at Heero as he made his own way from the beams and ladders to the elevator holding their bomber. He looked at Heero as they both landed on their destination.
Then, metal went flying as a gunshot exploded.
"This'll teach you to mess with me!" The man shouted, firing his gun as Duo shouted a string of curses and tried to dodge the erratic paths of the bullets being fired at both him and Heero.
Hissing with pain as one grazed his arm, Heero didn't have time to remove his gun before Duo's surprised yelp jerked him from his movements.
Duo felt the metal beneath him collapse as he fell into the freight elevator, the man instantly pointing a gun at him before looking up to see Heero dart back from the view of the bomber.
"Get up, bastard!" The old man hissed, wrenching Duo up from his spot on the floor. Duo growled as he hissed in pain, hoping that none of his bones were broken.
Duo panted as he leaned against the wall before collapsing once again onto the floor, surrounded by bits and pieces of debris. He saw the man reach forward and press the button forty-six; the top floor.
Duo's violet eyes widened in realization—he was going to make Heero either come into the compartment where he was waiting or he would be crushed against the top of the floor.
"Damn." Heero muttered as he looked up and saw the metal and pulley pulling the elevator up coming closer and closer. He'd either die or… He bit his lower lip and jumped in through the same hole where Duo had fallen in.
He looked up from where he was on the floor to see the barrel of a shotgun in his face. He glared coldly at his enemy, not showing any fear.
"Well," the old man chuckled, "I don't think that they'll give me three million for you, now will they?" He pulled the trigger.
The safety clicked off and the cartridge fired, nothing coming out of the barrel. Heero blinked in an instant when the trigger was pulled and instantly, when he didn't feel the bullet hit him, yanked the gun out of the man's hand.
The man hissed with anger as the gun was removed from his hand, cursing himself for not loading it with more shells. Grabbing the still stunned braided man beside him, he yanked him up and brought him next to him with his bomb trigger out, control panel for the freight elevator behind him.
The same instant that the gun was pulled out of the enemy's hand, Heero whipped out his gun in an instant, aimed and ready at his foe.
He growled when he saw the detonation switch. He didn't care if he died if it meant taking out the bad guy as well, but Duo… he had a steady girlfriend who was soon to be his fiancé and she would haunt them forever if Duo died.
"You have no where to go." Heero growled, "There's back-up on the ground floor and they'll be waiting for you."
"Oh," the old man said as if it was someone telling him the weather, "Well, I guess that I'll have to go to floor three then, eh?" Heero narrowed his eyes.
The freight began to move down, slowly lowering to reach their destination. Chiming as it stopped, the doors to the elevator opened and Heero walked out, gun still trained on the man holding his partner as a hostage.
"Why are you willing to kill yourself?" Duo questioned, looking down at all the explosives strapped to the crazy man's head. "Three millions not worth it."
The man growled at him, "You have no idea how much three billions worth. You're probably never going to know."
"Tch." Duo replied sharply back, "Go ahead and drop the damn switch."
"Oh," the man questioned cheerfully, "Do you want to die now, huh?" He laughed, "So you want to die, friend?" Duo glanced at the crazy man and narrowed his eyes.
"You…Son of a bitch," Duo seethed. "You have no friends where you'll be going!"
"Oh," the man's arm felt like metal, making Duo gasp as it dug into his skin where the vest wasn't protecting him. "So it goes from, "I only have but one like to give for my country" to "son of a bitch"?"
Duo gasped again, looking down when he felt cool metal press against his open flesh on his torn shirt. He saw a mass of wires and metal, shaped into what looked like a…arm? The man snorted, "So you've noticed my arm, eh?"
Ignoring whatever the man was talking about, Heero settled to glaring and trying to get back his partner from the clutches of the bomber and his crazy ideas. "Give it up," Heero hissed, "You'll be caught eventually."
The man laughed coldly, "Oh you think so, do you?"
"Shoot…" Duo whispered, "Shoot the hostage." Heero stared at Duo, shaking his head fiercely in a negative.
"So he does really want to die?" The madman kept backing up, slowly making his way to the door.
"Shoot me." Heero glanced at Duo once again, then at the old man and then… then he pulled the trigger.
"Aah!" Duo clutched his leg as he was released, falling down to the ground and looking at Heero with a glare, "You bastard! You SHOT me!" Heero shrugged, looking at the deer-in-headlights look on the soon-to-be-caught criminal.
"Freeze!" He leveled his gun once more, "You're under arrest." The man stared at him, coming out of his daze with a laugh, then, more laughs, and then came some sort of rather loud evil laughter.
The man opened the door and walked out, staring at Heero before his disappeared from sight.
Heero looked down at Duo, still facing the door, "Are you all right?"
"Yeah… I gu—"
An explosion tore the door from the wall, along with some of the wall itself. Heero was thrown backwards, roughly colliding with the wall, head hitting the drywall and some cement chunks scraping against his side and glass cutting into his skin.
Heero lost consciousness the minute that his head connected with a sharp 'crack!'. Rivulets of blood began trailing down his neck from the head wound.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"You're such a crazy bastard." Duo crossed his arms and huffed rather loudly as he shot a glare at Heero without moving from the hospital bed.
Heero remained calm, not wanting to get another painful headache. His head was still against a pillow, wrapped in gauze like it had been for almost a day now. "You're the one who told me to shoot you."
"Well, I didn't expect you to!" Heero sighed heavily, getting a look from Duo.
"Are you all right?"
"I should be asking that question to you." Heero said as he tried to reposition himself on the uncomfortable bed, getting a painful reminder once again on why not to move when you've been thrown against cement and drywall and you're head connects with it.
"Well, six inches off the mark and I would have been a dead man." Heero snorted, muttering, "I knew where I was shooting."
Heero pulled himself up, staying still as he waited for his body to adjust to the pain. "I'm leaving."
"What! No way!" Duo protest, "The doctors and nurse' said for you to stay in bed too!" Heero raised an eyebrow at the braided chestnut teen, "I don't wanna be alone in here with their crappy hospital food!" He whined.
"Hn." He replied, "I'll bring you some McDonalds."
"Really?" Duo's eyes were shining with hope.
"No."
Duo glared and Heero smirked, "Dude, that's not funny!" He crossed his arms once more, something he had taken up to over his time in recuperation.
Heero snorted and Duo decided to change the subject from food (which made him want to eat something), "Look, we're lucky that Zechs hired us."
Heero looked at Duo, "No, we aren't. We're some of the best and he knows it, even if we are fifteen." Duo grinned at that nodding.
"Still," the braided man continued, "The Preventer's might not like it if the public turns against them since we got hurt and all. Usually people our age are flipping burgers as Burger King or something."
"We're far from our age in mind and skill, Duo." Heero replied, eyes distant, "The public doesn't care if we're underage, Duo. They'd think of us as a possible threat."
"Hey, buddy—" Heero got up and grabbed his stuff, walking into the bathroom to change into his loose black jeans and tight-fitting black shirt.
"Hey," Duo called after Heero walked over to the door. The brunette turned to look at his partner, "Say 'hi' to Quat n' Tro for me." Heero nodded and opened the door, taking his exit and slipping easily out of the building.
Duo shook his head with laughter as he noticed none of the personnel noticed Heero leave until they came to check up on him. They were so frantic, Duo felt guilty and decided to cut them a break by telling them information on him from that, "He's already gone."
The next morning, Duo woke up and saw a McDonald's bag on the chair nearest to him, sill hot and fresh. A grin filled his face and he let out some laughs as he happily ate his breakfast that wasn't hospital food.
TBC
Author's note:
I should be working on a project for Government. And I should be working on catching up for my Bio class, which I just got transferred into, and I should be getting ready for the go-karting race I'm going to be participating in this weekend, but… I'm not. I bring you an update after a much long and hectic week of school work and other crap. I got a wicked replica of a WWI American army trench coat for winter and well… I grant this to all my reviewers for sticking around and bearing no updates for the span I didn't.
Yes, it was shorter than the other one. XP Love y'all! Thanks so much to everyone for the awesome reviews and I hope that you enjoyed this chapter! I tried to make it somewhat amusing in some parts and as in character as I could. Cheers!
Love, Red Tail