After Dark
Part X
By Mieren
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Being drugged had no effect on the Perfect Soldier. He was trained to ignore almost anything conceivable. No sedative would slow him down. With only minor concentration, he was able to shake off the effects of the drugs they had given him to keep him under control.
There was no hesitation as Heero leveled his gun at Wufei. Of his two targets in the room, the Chinese teen was the greater threat. After listening to Trowa, he had decided to accept the other pilot until he was forced to do otherwise. Before he could pull the trigger, the Asiatic youth jerked a final time and went still. The only discernable movement was the quivering of his jaw.
Heero paused at the vulnerable expression on the other boy's face. Something was off and it bothered him. He cursed himself for being weak, but made no move to correct his actions. In the short delay, he noticed that both Quatre and Trowa had gone still as well. Growling, he moved to tie up the two unbound pilots. He froze for a second time when he heard Wufei speak. Every muscle in his body went rigid in disbelief. Slaves of vampires could not speak while under direct control. Either Duo was speaking or Wufei was temporarily in control.
"Where am I?" he asked tentatively. Heero remained silent, glaring at the raven-haired youth. "Winner? I know you're there. I could feel you. What did you do?" He stopped again, breathing heavily. "What did you do, Winner?" he shouted, tears seeping past his blindfold. "Maxwell is dying!"
At this, Heero moved, gripping Wufei's throat in a crushing motion and hauling him into the air, chair and all.
"What are you talking about?" he snapped.
"Maxwell," he gasped. "Winner… empathy… killing him…"
Grudgingly accepting the fact that suffocating the person you were interrogating was fairly counterproductive, Heero placed Wufei back on the floor and released his grip. He growled softly.
"Explain."
"I'm linked to Maxwell. Whatever Winner did affected him too. Something's wrong, but I don't know what. Maxwell is dying. I can feel him."
Heero pulled back, frowning as he reviewed everything he knew about vampires. What he heard had a ring of truth to it. The mental links vampires established weren't constructed to withstand the blow of an empath. It was obvious that Quatre had been tampering with the Chinese boy's mind. After a short internal debate, he lowered his gun, choosing to believe the impossible. That Quatre had succeeded in freeing the minds of his friends.
"Where is he?" Heero asked. Wufei swiveled his head to the side and frowned.
"I'm not sure," he admitted. "But he's in that direction." Heero followed the movement of his head. North.
Nodding, he walked to where Trowa was still lying dazed on the floor, slow to regain his senses. Heero grabbed his arm and hauled him to his feet. After blinking several times, obviously trying to force his vision to clear, he jerked slightly in Heero's grasp, trying to pull away. After receiving a blank look from the Japanese pilot, he was left to stand on his own as Heero moved to rouse the small blond pilot.
"What's going on?" Trowa asked warily, struggling with himself to keep from drawing a weapon on the freed Japanese pilot.
"Duo's somewhere to the north. We're going after him," Heero answered. He frowned when Quatre just murmured sleepily and tried to roll over and go back to sleep. Grunting in irritation, he pulled the blond pilot to his feet, holding him up for a few seconds while the groggy Arabian struggled to regain his senses.
During the entire exchange, Trowa's eyes flickered between the other three pilots, concentrating on Heero. He finally relaxed slightly, coming to the conclusion that if Heero had wanted to kill them, he could have done so easily while they were unconscious. He smirked at his thoughts, having used the same reasoning on Heero only minutes prior.
The three unbound pilots began to pack the massive collection of weapons they had brought with them, preparing to leave. Heero moved to collect Wufei to take him down to the van Trowa had managed to procure when the Chinese pilot stiffened in his chair. Reflexively, Heero raised his gun, ready to fire if the other boy so much as shifted.
"Maxwell," he mumbled. Heero made a point of pulling back the hammer of his gun, the movement producing a distinctive click. Wufei held still, waiting for the order he would undoubtedly receive.
"Explain," Heero snapped.
"I can't feel him anymore."
\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
Pain.
Darkness.
Searing cold.
A shivering figure on a nondescript stone floor flopped weakly, unable to stand. He drew a shuddering breath and went still. Consciousness flickered. His battered mind tried to feed him information, but the miserable feelings that registered in his mind were weak and poorly organized, only marginally more coherent than moments ago.
I'm alone.
Helpless.
Where am I?
Sound.
Someone's coming.
I smell blood.
Danger.
Blurry violet eyes opened again. Grunting, Duo tried to lever himself off of the floor again, his groggy mind snapping to full attention at the knowledge of the approaching danger. He hissed out a pained breath and slumped to the ground again.
I need to move. I have to. Someone's coming, he thought. He bared his teeth in realization. Xellos.
It was only pure orneriness that caused him to stagger to his feet. He was too weak to walk properly and he leaned against the wall for support. Teeth could be heard grinding in fury as he slowly walked away from where he heard the approaching footsteps. He could smell the slight draft of fresh air down the hall he was currently in and knew that there was an exit from whatever underground hideout he had been brought to.
He didn't hesitate before shoving the door open with his remaining strength and staggering out onto the street, wincing at the light from the setting sun. He glared miserably at the faint traces of light still peeking over the horizon, slowly fading as the day turned to night. Having spent so much time in complete blackness, the meager light burned his eyes. Ignoring his watering eyes, he began his drudging walk down the street.
Exhaustion set in immediately. He leaned against a wall for a few seconds, catching his breath and picking a few pockets as people passed by him. He staggered towards the street and flagged down a taxi, barely paying attention to where he ordered the driver to take him, his thoughts burning on his revenge.
You caught me off guard, freak, Duo thought darkly. It won't happen again. Soon, I'll teach you why I call myself Shinigami.
\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
To Be Continued…
Sorry about the delay. Work is chaotic. I'll do what I can to keep posting though. R&R!
Oh, and shameless begging here. Go read Afterimages. I worked really hard on that one! It's finally done now. If you've gotten this far in this story, I can only assume you like the violent ones. It has plenty of Duo torture, so go read it!