The Stand Still
By: SukiNora
Disclaimer: Sadly, I don't own them, I just like to play with them.
Pairings: 1+2, 3X4, 5x?
Chapter 4
A.N. I know what it's like to be waiting for something you want for a really long time. So I'm sorry to any of you who have plucked all your hairs out in anticipation.
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Duo POV
I did feel bad, honestly. Granted, I understood that it may have seemed like I didn't due to my farewell wink to Heero, but honestly, I just couldn't resist. Ever since I'd met Heero he liked to assert his power over me, and for once I felt like I was in the position of power, and I wasn't about to let go of that magnificent feeling for a second.
He'd screw me with Relena, I'd screw him with a low risk mission. An eye for an eye. It was completely reasonable.
"He's going to kill you," Zechs mumbled next to me, resting his forehead in the palm of his hand, probably trying to hide his face from Heero's glaring face. "And then he'll probably come after me."
I couldn't get the smirk off my face as I tilted my head to get a glimpse of my current partner.
"You're over exaggerating," I chuckled, reaching above my head to engage the shuttle path to L2, feeling the shuttle pick up speed as we retreated from the docking station and Heero's angry face.
Zechs glared over his shoulder at me. "I think we both know that's not true."
"Well," I started, continuing to prepare the shuttles systems for the journey. "Maybe not," I chuckled, imagining all the things Heero was probably breaking in the docking station control room.
"Yeah maybe," He muttered, crossing his arms as he glared down at the control panel.
"You're not going to get crabby on me too are you?" I asked as I leaned back into my chair, the slight hum of the engines making the chair vibrate under my body, a feeling I've always enjoyed. "You know we need to get these recruits trained in the field."
Zechs scoffed next to me. "I'm pretty sure crabby doesn't describe what Yuy is feeling right now."
I let out a little sigh, reaching out my arm and patting my taller partners shoulder twice. "He'll be fine, just don't worry about it."
"Easy for you to say," he said as he leaned his head back against the head rest. "He wouldn't actually shoot you."
My brow furrowed as I contemplated that last statement. "I'm not sure about that one." And I actually wasn't. There have actually been quite a few times that I've found Yuy's gun pointed between my eyes. Not to say I didn't deserve it of course. A soldier only has so many reactions when they're snuck up on.
"He wouldn't..." Zechs trailed off, turning his head away from me to examine something that must have been very interesting on the control panel. "Looks like we're good," he stated, reaching down to unbuckle himself from the restraints. "Do you want to come brief them?"
I shook my head. "No, you go ahead. I'm going to make sure things run smoothly for a while. Wouldn't want to have a shuttle malfunction on their first mission to the colonies."
He gave me a skeptical look as he floated towards the hatch that separated us from the recruits. He knew I was lying, but anyone who had ridden on a shuttle to a colony would know that. The technology had become so advanced that most shuttles didn't even need pilots anymore. It was okay. I just needed to be by myself for a while.
I crossed my arms and stared out into the dark void of space. We'd be to L2 soon. I let out a sigh and began to feel a slight headache coming on. What was I doing?
Heero really was going to kill me, and honestly, I don't think I could say I wouldn't do the same if I was in his position. I'd be lucky if he ever talked to me again.
"Maxwell."
He'd probably make me move out, and then what? I'd be homeless.
"Maxwell."
Maybe I could stay at Quatre's for a while.
"Maxwell!" I was startled from my thoughts by Zechs, floating near the door way.
"What?" I asked, shifting in my seat to look at him.
"We need the anticipated locations." Locations? Oh, right. Mission plans.
"I'll be right there," I responded, reaching down to unbuckle myself from my restraints. Zechs nodded, pushing himself back into the other room.
I let out a sigh and rubbed a hand over my face as I floated over to the brief case that I had strapped down in the personal affects corner of the cockpit.
The mission really was going to be simple. The annual L2 festival celebrating the end of the war would be going on for the duration of the weekend. Surprisingly it was the one time L2 really went all out. It was like Mardi Gras, attracting hundreds of people to L2 for a three day street party.
Unfortunately, with the increased population for the weekend, it had also become quite a holiday for the drug dealers of L2, as all of them knew that all the police on the colony would be on the street, ready to break up any drunken fights or riots that occurred.
That fact was the reason we were taking the newbies to L2. How do you get a trainee into the field with a guaranteed low risk mission? You bust a known drug deal with repeat offenders. And to make it even more of a low risk mission, you give them information given by a rat. A drug squealer. He gave it all. The day, time, and place the deal was going to go down. All we had to do was show up and bust.
When I finally found the documents I was seeking, I gave myself a firm push towards the doorway. I floated through it, the documents zipped in a plastic bag to make sure they weren't going anywhere.
"Got them?" Zechs asked, holding himself in place by holding onto one of the metal beams above the trainees, all strapped into their seats.
I nodded, carefully unzipping the bag and handing each recruit a copy of the same list of locations.
"These are the places the drug swap may happen," I said as I passed them out. "Anderson, how do you want to proceed?"
Anderson was my top recruit, and so Zechs and I gave him the title of squad leader. He was about 27 years old with a nearly shaved head and deep brown eyes. He stood about 5'10 with a well defined body.
He flipped through the locations with a look of determination. I smiled, he was probably completely aware about the fake locations we randomly put in with the real one. I could practically see him making the connections from the preliminary information and the locations. He was going to go far.
I'm not ashamed to say he was my favorite recruit. Even though he was older than me I almost considered him to be a son. He wasn't like one of the recruits who were bitter about being taught by a 21 year old. He soaked up everything he could with no sign of disrespect or resentment.
"We're going to focus on St. Jonas' Church, 1900 Grand Central Ave., and 346 Johnston Street," he decided, firm with his decisions.
I smiled. I knew he'd pick St. Jonas' first.
"We're going to split into groups of three, and we're going to scope out each area before we determine which location we'll all bust."
I looked at Zechs across the hull, his smile had grown almost as large as mine.
"Good," I stated, giving a slight nod. "Work out your teams. Zechs and I will be in the cockpit. Come up with a plan of action to give us before we dock."
Anderson nodded at me and began sizing up the eight recruits as Zechs and I floated back to the cockpit.
I pushed myself back to my chair, strapping myself back in. When I heard the sound of the door slam shut I looked over my shoulder to see Zechs heading for his chair.
"He's going to go far."
I smiled, closing my eyes. "I know."
Zechs and I sat in silence the remainder of the flight. He most likely contemplating all the ways Heero was going to kill him, and me contemplating the things I could say to make Heero not kill me. It was depressing that I couldn't really come up with anything.
After we docked in the L2 shuttle port I stared absentmindedly at my recruits as they filed off the shuttle.
"Captain?"
I was shaken from my trance and found myself staring into the concerned eyes of recruit Anderson.
"Are you alright, sir?" He questioned, his eyebrows furrowed with worry.
"I'm fine," I said, running my hand over my face. "Did you need something?"
Anderson looked towards the floor of the shuttle before nodding, as though he was ashamed to ask for help.
"There's still one location that's bothering me."
I raised an eyebrow. There wasn't anything that would really link the drug bust to any other location.
"This, 213 Grand Valley," he answered, pointing to the random address I planted on the paper. "There's just something about it."
I stared at the older man standing across from me. He was being sincere. I let out a sigh and took the paper from him.
"I'll tell you what," I began, sucking in a deep breath. "I can't say that I haven't gone by gut feelings, but I can guarantee you, this location is of no interest to you or the assignment."
He looked down to the paper and shook his head. "With all due respect," his voice began to choke as he looked up at me. "I just know," he nearly whispered.
I sighed, staring at the man who looked so intently at the location on the paper. As if he was trying to force the paper to expose information about the location.
I rested my hand upon his shoulder and gave a small squeeze. He looked up at me with wide eyes, his mouth slightly open. "I'll tell you what," I began, removing my hand from his shoulder and moving it to the back of my neck. "I'll check it out while you do your preliminary scoping. I'll meet you back at the motel."
The look of relief on the man's face was nearly overwhelming.
"Thank you," he said softly, giving me a slight nod before he walked through the shuttle door, leaving me in my tracks.
"No problem," I mumbled, following him suit.
Anderson was jogging over to the rest of the recruits as I climbed down the slight incline. They were clumped together like a group of worker ants harvesting a leaf. I chuckled to myself, imagining the sight I hoped to see in a few hours. My worker ants huddled around each other harvesting cocaine.
I loved it.
"That's a rather disturbing smile on your face," Zechs mumbled next to me, buckling on his bullet proof vest that also carried his gun, mace and badge.
I turned to him, flashing a toothy grin. "Oh, I'm so giddy," I replied, barely being able to wait for the look on Heero's face when my top recruit got moved to active field duty before his had even seen a day of field training.
"I take it you think things will go well?" He asked as he handed a vest to me that was identical to his.
I nodded. "I do, but I'm not going with the rest of you," I said, accepting the vest.
Zechs raised his eyebrow at me. "Going home to gloat? Already?"
I chuckled and shook my head, buckling the vest on at the sides. "No, Anderson has a gut feeling about one of the places on the list I gave him. I'm going to go check it out to ease his mind."
"You're actually going to go?" He asked incredulously, his eyes widening a bit. "Why?"
I shook a finger in his face. "You should know better, Zechs. I don't lie to anyone, about anything." Patting his face twice with my palm I began walking backwards through the crowd, waving to him as I navigated my way out of the shuttle gate. "It'll be an hour deal, then I'll meet up with you all, ok?" I called to him.
Zechs gave me an exasperated look but waved me off as he walked towards our recruits.
I smirked as I turned around, walking out of the busy shuttle port with an address clutched in my hand. Before I got too far away from the vicinity of the building I zipped up the pale brown jacket I brought with me, clutching it around myself. After you've lived on L2 for a while you realize there are quite a few people who are all too eager to shoot a cop, and I didn't want to be a sitting duck for them.
Walking around L2 was different now that I was an adult, but there were still frightening similarities that made my heart ache. Things that most people wouldn't notice. Things like twenty pairs of little eyes tracking every step you took, sizing you up, thinking if they could get your wallet without you noticing. I used to be one of those kids. I guess things don't really ever change.
I didn't really notice as the crowds began to loosen, and I found myself walking towards the outskirts of downtown. The side walks were riddled with cracks, and old, broken down houses were lining the streets. I sighed as I looked at their broken frames, wondering about all the families broken by this damn colony. They were probably all empty, or being used as crack houses. My brow furrowed in anger, they might as well burn this whole colony down and start over. No matter what that bitch Peacecraft said this colony would never recover, not that there was any money going into saving it anyway.
I suddenly felt very bitter to be walking down the sidewalk to 213 Grand Valley. I suddenly just wanted to be off that godforsaken colony that stole my childhood from me and beg Heero not to kick me out of his apartment.
The numbers on the houses kept whittling down until I found myself standing in front of a broken down, white house. It had ivy growing up the sides, and the paint was scraping off in most places.
I sighed as I began to walk up the sidewalk leading to the house. The stairs creaked as my weight depressed on their wood frame until I found myself standing on the porch in front of an old oak door. One thing people didn't cheap out on in L2 neighborhoods was a door. You got the best damn door you could find.
I sighed and reached into my pocket, pulling out my cheat sheet of locations. Grand Valley was abandoned, just thrown on the paper as an extra to choose from.
I couldn't help the look of distaste that came over my face.
"Gut feeling," I snorted, crumpling the paper in my hands and stuffing it back into my pocket.
The wood creaked as I stalked back down the steps off the porch, my hands stuffed into my coat pockets.
"What a waste of time," I mumbled to myself, breathing out a sigh of annoyance. When I got to the sidewalk, I turned, giving the house one last scathing look before I began walking.
I pulled out my cell phone, my fingers ready to dial Zechs's number when a loud crash sounded down the street. My head snapped around, back towards the house. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, but air suddenly felt about ten degrees cooler.
I took in a deep breath, turning myself around and began walking again. I got about five feet away when I paused in my step, looking back at it over my shoulder. I squinted my eyes at the broken down house. There was something about it, something wrong.
My feet moved involuntarily. I vaguely heard Heero's voice in the back of my head, reminding me of all the protocol procedures I was breaking, that you should never go in without backup, that being rash only lead to disaster. My feet quickened their pace, the wooden steps squeaking violently as my weight passed over them. My breathing became shallow as I made my way across the porch. Everything seemed to be going in slow motion as I reached for the door knob and turned.
The door was open. It creaked as I pushed it open with my foot, reaching into the holster under my jacket for my gun.
As I entered the house, I poised my gun, ready to fire if necessary. The air was stale, and there was an unspeakable stench that seemed to intensify with each step I took into the house. Jesus, I thought to myself, wondering if the last residents had bothered to take out the trash before they got evicted.
At first glance it looked like any house than had been abandoned or foreclosed on. There were dishes left on the counter, waiting to be cleaned by the people who had left them there, the space was dirty and the carpet and linoleum stained with things I didn't even want to think about. I kept my back to the wall as I walked through the kitchen, off to the right from where I entered, and the door remained open.
I nearly gagged as the smell intensified. I've smelled that smell many times. It was rot. But I'd never smelled it so intensely.
"Holy shit," I mumbled to myself, taking one hand from my gun and using it to cover my nose and mouth. Standing adjacent to the sink, and directly in front of the broken refrigerator I leaned forward to peer into the sink. Fruit loops. My brow furrowed in confusion. There were fruit loops in the sink.
"Fruit loops don't stink," I mumbled, leaning back against the fridge.
Taking my hand away from my mouth and nose, I replaced it back on my gun as I realized I was probably not as alone as I thought I was. Someone was living here.
A drop of sweat made its way down my face as I proceeded further into the house. The living room had a recliner with a blanket over it, facing an old tv with an antenna on top of it, the kind only set to pick up the local L2 channels.
The house was small, the bottom floor consisting only of the small kitchen, a living room doubling as a dining room, and a small hallway that led to a stairway to the second floor.
I found myself craning my neck to see up as far up the stairwell as possible. My foot hit the first step, my gun poised as I proceeded to move up.
A creaking sound erupted from the kitchen, making my body jump about four feet in the air as I was in mid step.
My mouth fell open a bit as I stepped back down the stairs, looking back in the direction of the kitchen, my brow furrowed.
I made small, quiet steps back to the kitchen, nearly gagging as the smell in the house intensified ten fold with each step closer. There was a door that was partially open, one that I had somehow missed in my initial walkthrough. My mind has probably dismissed it as a closet or pantry.
I used my foot to pull the door open, keeping my gun aimed at the doorway.
When the door was fully open I had to hold my breath to keep from vomiting. There was a rickety stairway leading down into what I could only assume was a basement, and the smell came wafting up it like a cloud of everything obscene.
My feet felt glued to the floor, refusing to leave their spot no matter what my mind told them to do. Every fiber in me was trying to tell me to leave, but a feeling began rising in my gut, telling me to keep going.
I finally forced myself to make a dissent down the stairs, holding my breath as the air became thicker and hotter. I thought about turning around and explaining the feeling in my gut as rising bile, but I kept going.
As I reached the last stair my foot fell upon packed dirt, instead of the concrete floor I was expecting. Gulping down the bile that was raising in my throat, I squinted my eyes trying to let them adjust to the darkness of the self made basement.
"Oh my god," I muttered, my eyes widening as the contents of the basement came into focus, as well as where the smell was coming from.
Little bones riddled the floor. My eyes felt permanently glued to the floor. Glued to those little bones.
"Jesus christ." The words came out as bare whispers, as bones became parts of bodies.
"Please no," a little voice came, causing me to whip around.
"Who's there?" I called, clutching my gun closer, taking small steps to the corner where the whimpers came from, stepping over bones as my eyes adjusted to the light.
"Oh," I breathed out, dropping to my knees as a little girl with long dark hair came into view, curled into the corner, her eyes to the floor.
"Are you alright?" I asked, replacing my gun into its holster and running my hands over the girls arms to check or surface wounds. She had dirt on her face and torn sun dress. "Honey, are you alright?" I asked again, putting my hand under her chin and raised it slightly, forcing her to look at me.
Her little face was tear stained, the left side of her face nearly shredded. My lip quivered as I ran my hands down her cheeks.
"Don't you worry," I said, swallowing all signs of fear I may have had to ease the little girl's mind. "I'm not going to let anyone hurt you."
My head snapped around as the door to the top of the stairs slammed shut, and pitch black descended upon us. I was sure that if I survived, that little girl's scream would haunt my dreams forever.
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Yes I KNOW that's a very mean way to end the chapter, but I actually know where the story is going for once, so you are guaranteed with a quicker update than last time.