After Dark
Part XV
By Mieren
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A muffled groan sounded from within the wreckage of twisted steel. Quatre pulled at the seatbelt biting into his flesh and the steering wheel that was pressed painfully into his ribs, trying to gauge how badly he was injured. To his side, Wufei was lying motionless, crammed at an awkward angle under the dashboard.
"Wufei?" he asked softly. He yelped and fought when a rough grip yanked him out of the destroyed vehicle. Quatre kicked at his captor, cursing loudly. "Don't you ever die?"
"Not yet," Heero said drolly.
"How did you survive?" Quatre asked, eyeing the scorched pilot critically. Heero gave him a flat look that clearly said 'half vampire, duh'. He glanced at Wufei where he was still unmoving, resisting Heero as the taller pilot tried to pull him away from the wreck.
"Come on, we need to go," Heero snapped.
"Trowa and Wufei…"
"Will take care of themselves," Heero snapped. "Trowa was thrown from the car. He already dragged himself off somewhere. Wufei isn't of interest to Xellos."
"They're alive?" Quatre asked, hobbling alongside Heero as they ran.
"Trowa is a werewolf, Quatre. It will take more than a car to kill him," Heero panted. "And Duo… was caught in the blast. I don't know where he is or if he's alive. If he is, I'll personally kill him for this mess."
"Don't worry, he's not," Xellos mock whispered to the struggling pilots, taunting them still. Heero shoved Quatre behind him and raised his hands in a defensive posture. Xellos was watching them, looking worse for wear. He was covered in third degree burns and slowly healing gashes, some of which were still deep enough to show bone. He raised his staff against them threateningly, the red jewel intact despite the explosion. The purple haired demon smirked at them. "Whatever you do is useless. The Chinese one, I believe you called him Wufei, is not mobile, even if he is alive. Your little werewolf friend is injured too badly to do anything, although he did manage to poison Duo before uselessly throwing away his life."
He's contradicting himself, Quatre thought. He said that Duo was alive, then that he was poisoned. Besides, if we're even remotely coherent, we're dangerous. End of story. He jumped slightly when Heero returned the mental commentary.
Even if he is wrong about the others, we can't rely on them for help, Heero said.
How are you doing that? Quatre asked.
I'm not. You are. I'll distract him. Figure out something.
"I don't know what you're planning, but it's rather worthless," Xellos commented. The ruby gem at the tip of his staff flared to life, causing Heero to grunt in response and lunge forward, grabbing the rod with clenched fists. Even if Xellos couldn't control Heero, he could hurt him.
Quatre watched them wrestle for the control of the cane, feeling helpless. Warlock my foot, he growled to himself. Feeling like an idiot, he reached one hand towards the battle. His azure eyes closed in concentration. Heat. I feel heat. He reached out with something beyond his hands, trying not to allow himself to listen to the battle beyond him. It sounded suspiciously like someone being flung around like a rag doll, and he would place his entire fortune that the person being brutally beaten wasn't Xellos. It's like the aquamarine depths of the ocean. But it's too bright. Blue fire…
Something exploded, throwing Quatre into the wall of a building, bouncing his head off the bricks. Dazed, he slumped to the ground.
\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
Heero lunged for Xellos's staff in a maneuver that he knew was rather pointless, but persisted. All he was attempting to do was to distract the purple-eyed monster long enough for Quatre to get off his pampered ass and do something. He very nearly lost his tenuous hold when Quatre erupted in teal flames. A matching conflagration appeared from within the ruby gem at the end of Xellos's cane, growing in strength for a few seconds before the colliding powers detonated with the force of a nuclear bomb.
The explosion threw Heero back and set him on fire, though he ignored his burning hide in favor of dodging the truly furious assault from the much larger demon. Xellos raised the ruined staff above his head, clearly intending to ram the pointed end through Heero's chest. The demon was in tatters, same as everyone else, and he was truly furious about it.
"Die, Yuy! You've been a pain in my ass for years," Xellos snapped.
Before the down stroke could be completed, a furry form slammed into Xellos from the side, sending them down in a tangle of blood, fur, and ear-splitting cursing. Xellos was dragged several yards away by the largest brown werewolf they had ever seen. In recoiling, he slapped a clawed foot across Xellos's face and neck, raking out one eye and a number of major arteries. He continued along the lines of the attack, snapping and slashing at vital bits of anatomy presented within his range. Seemingly invulnerable to Xellos's counter hits and kicks, it almost seemed impossible to get rid of him until he chose to leave. Twice he was shoved back, the pauses in battle only momentary.
The heavy wolf glanced at his colleagues briefly before resuming his assault, trying to convey a message that they clearly didn't get. There was immediately a stalemate. That lock of powers had created a temporary reprieve that Heero tried to use to his advantage. Standing quickly and scanning for weapons, Heero was shocked when he felt a heavy duffle bag pressed into his hands. To his amazement, Wufei stood firm beside him, battered but resolute as he prepared some of the extra weapons that Duo had brought. Heero did a quick tally, astounded by the number of charges at his disposal.
"Where did you get these?" He demanded, still digging through the bag.
Wufei snorted. "When have you ever seen Duo travel with anything less? There are bags like this hidden all over the area."
"That idiot," Heero growled. "Anyone could find these!"
"Yeah, but only we know how to set them off," Wufei countered, surprised that he was defending Duo.
"Where is he, anyways?" Heero asked, bracing the butt of a small buster rifle against his shoulder. The moment Xellos was open for a clear shot, he'd take it.
"I don't know," Wufei admitted, readying a buster shot of his own. Heero swore when the battle in front of him showed no signs of letting up.
"Heero, aim to the left," Wufei ordered, turning his own weapon.
The Japanese pilot didn't hesitate at the order, even though he didn't understand the rationale. Trowa apparently understood, though, and took full advantage of the situation. Rolling onto his back, he used the power of his hind legs to throw Xellos a few yards from himself. Heero and Wufei fired, the twinned blasts knocking large holes in the monster's body and throwing him into a tangled heap. There was a silent moment that was broken by two groans and a growl when Xellos slowly got back to his feet.
"You can't hurt me," Xellos said stiffly. "There is nothing you can destroy that I cannot regenerate."
"Regenerate this," Duo growled behind him.
Xellos felt something hot impact with his back, burning painfully in one of the holes the buster rifles had created. He spun to face the Gundam pilot, astounded that he had managed to approach without his knowledge. He was about to reach out to grab the brunette when he saw what Duo had in his hands. The empty shell of one of his chemical weapons. Xellos disappeared. Duo tossed the glass tube in his hands to the side before the remaining residue melted through the glass. The chemical slag ate through the glass and started its way through the pavement.
"Where is he?" Heero called, limping forward.
"Off cursing the day I stole my first chemistry set, assuming he survived, that is," Duo retorted, sitting down rather heavily in the middle of the street. "How did I survive?"
"I was about to ask you that," Trowa said, coming up to them, bare-ass naked and seemingly comfortable with that fact, supporting Wufei on one side and a still unconscious Quatre on the other.
"I switched out the darts in your gun," Heero answered. "The one you hit him with was filled with a mixture of horse tranquilizer and cobra venom." A moment of silence followed his remark.
"Would you like to explain why before I kick your ass?" Duo asked pleasantly.
"You're showing some of the early signs that I did," Heero stated flatly. "I was hoping you'd fully recover. You may still if you're immune system is as good as you claim. I used the tranquilizer and snake venom to simulate death so Xellos would ignore you."
"And I'm the one banned from labs across the known galaxy," Duo muttered.
"You're surprised about that after creating that goop that's melting a hole straight to the Earth's core?" Trowa asked drolly.
"What? It's only a level eighteen biohazard," Duo protested.
"Duo, there are only four biohazard levels," Wufei said wearily.
"No, there are quite a few more after they started analyzing some of my experiments."
"After saying that, I really don't think you have any right to complain about my use of a tranquilizer," Heero said, pulling Duo to his feet. "Come on. Someone's will be on the way to investigate by now."
"Really?" Duo asked sarcastically. "Come on. We only leveled twenty-seven city blocks. No one will even notice." He swooned slightly, keeping his precarious balance only because of Heero's stolid presence. "How much did you put in that thing?"
"Enough to knock out a bull elephant," Heero said, his tone serious. Duo shot him a death glare that almost put the Japanese pilot to shame.
Still cursing at Heero, Duo hotwired a car that hadn't been destroyed in the chaos, complaining bitterly when Heero wouldn't let him drive. Between Trowa and Wufei, they managed to get Quatre into the back. The five disappeared into the night towards the nearest safe house.
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To Be Continued…
Going to try to get out a few updates on various stories in the next couple of days. Show me that you love me and R&R!