Finally satisfied that his hair was done up properly, the young man turned towards his bed and the package that lay atop it.
Ten days earlier…Duo shivered against the air duct he squatted in, wishing that Heero would hurry up about setting the bombs. He had already been gone for twenty minutes. Unless the room was larger than what their floor plan had said, he should have been back ten minutes ago. There was yet another possibility for why he was late, but Duo pushed that thought to the back of his mind.
'No. There is no way that he would have gotten caught. I, on the other hand, since I've had it happen before, it's possible. But that was only because I was being stupid.'
Duo waited another five minutes before finally deciding to go and search for him. As he pulled the grating up, he saw a hand try and push it up at the same moment.
"Yuy, that you?" Duo whispered
"Yes, it's me, now move over so I can get in."
"What took so long?"
"There were about twenty manned Aries in there. It takes a bit longer trying to dodge people's gazes than just the camera's."
"Yeah, that's true." He squeezed to one side so Heero could take the lead. He merely lay down next to Duo, however. "What? Something wrong?"
"You got yours done before I did?"
"Yeah, why?" It took a second for it to register. "Oh shit! They knew what our real target would be!"
"Move. Now!"
Alarms screamed in their ears as they scrambled through the duct. Duo and Heero glanced at each other, neither needing to ask what they both thought. The next grate they came across, they kicked it out, swinging down and pinning two OZ soldiers rushing about. Now with better back-up weapons, they proceeded to an exit. Nearly every two corners turned, they had to replenish their weapons, mostly because the clips that remained within the guns were partially depleted.
Finally emerging from the building, spotlights glared down from Leos, Aries and helicopters. They knew what had to happen in order to ensure partial success. They bolted in opposite directions, hoping to find something-anything- that would aid them in getting to their gundams faster. With them inside their gundams, the playing field would be nearly level. However, they had to avoid the spray of bullets fired in both their directions.
'FUCK!' Duo swore mentally, clutching his shoulder as a bullet cleaved into his skin.
Upon opening his eyes, he spotted a small bike only meant for one, but if he could find Heero, he'd grab him somehow. It was not until he had climbed on it and sped off that he heard a similar engine starting up a few yards away. Glancing over, he spotted Heero atop another bike, trying to weave in and out of the hail of bullets. Some fancy turning later, he had managed to get the mechs chasing him to shoot each other, leaving him open enough to make a break for where Wing was hidden.
'Dammit, if he can do it, then why shouldn't I be able to?'
Duo revved the engine, swerving the back end around so he faced the mechs again, and proceeded to weave his way around their legs, almost as if he were trying to tie them with wire to make them fall over. Only they fell over because of huge bullet wounds, and not any rope. Illuminated partially from one of the sets of bombs going off.
Duo glanced back at his work. 'Well shit, I can be just as good as him. Yuy, I'll catch up with you soon.'
Reorienting himself, Duo listened to where Heero's bike was going. Soon, he was on his trail, merely two minutes behind. They had hidden their gundams near a mountain and covered them in leaves and brush.
Arriving at the site, he immediately noticed that there were absolutely no sign of mechs, like the two earlier times. Dismissing the fact that they may have been better at hiding them this time, Duo dumped his bike and began running towards the place to start uncovering Deathscythe. It kept registering in the back of his mind that there was something wrong with the situation, particularly with the total absence of the helicopters that had been pursuing them from the base.
Heero had already started uncovering Wing as Duo was dumping his bike. Fully uncovering it, he scrambled down the mech's slick covering to the cockpit. However, he did not find Wing in the condition he had left it. There were no mars of battle on the outside, belying that it had been found, but what was inside that counted. A man was sitting in the place that he should have been.
TBC