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 5
"Honey, be quiet!" I whispered sharply, holding the little girl close to my chest, trying to keep her as still as possible. I wrapped my hand around her mouth, feeling her little body shake in terror as I reached into my vest for my gun.
Despite the metal being cold it felt like it was burning into my hand. I was holding it so tight that I was sure it would fuse into my skin. So many times during the war I'd heard people describe their gun as their lifeline, something they would never go anywhere without. I never understood that because of my gundam, but at that moment, I understood why people said that.
I tried to let my eyes eyes adjust to the pitch blackness that surrounded me, but the best I could do was seeing dark shades of grey and black.
"It's okay, sweetheart," I whispered, feeling her hot tears run down onto my hand. "You're going to be okay."
I kept repeating it and I desperately wished I knew if it were true or not. I tried to push the pervasive thoughts about the girl's parents, Heero, and my men out of my head if something went wrong. It's not good to think too much in those types of situations. Thinking gets you killed, instinct helps you get out of a jam when you think you're dead. That was one of the first lessons G taught me, and I was quickly forgetting it, pushing it into the back of my mind to make room for less important thoughts.
I kept surveilling the area even though I could barely see the hand stretched in front of me. Clutching the little girl to my side, I strained my ears for any kind of sound, almost afraid to breathe in case I'd miss some faint sound. I needed any kind of sign that whoever was living in the house was downstairs with me and the little girl. Between her little sobs and the hiccups in between them, the silence enveloped us. I gripped my gun tightly, and furrowed my eyes, ready to fire at anything that moved.
The little girl shifted in my arms, burying her face into my chest and clutching my jacket in her little hand. I ran my hand over the back of her head.
"Its okay, honey," I whispered so soft that I was barely able to hear myself.
Suddenly, a dim light flicked on and I found myself pointing my gun at a tall, pale man who looked about 45. From what I could see his hair was in the stages of turning gray, receding along the hairline, and he was wearing jeans and a ratty t-shirt with stains all down the front. I swallowed the saliva that was accumulating in the back of my throat. I didn't want to think about what those stains were from. He was cloaked in darkness but the light bulb glowed red, emitted a pale light into the room, making his pasty, white skin appear as a florescent red.
"Put your hands where I can see them," I growled, clutching my gun tightly with one hand, and keeping the little girl pressed tight against my chest with the other.
The man stared at me with cold, hard eyes, not making any signs of doing as I asked.
"Are you fucking deaf?" I growled out, my finger tightening on the trigger. "Put your hands where I can see them, or I will shoot you!" I yelled.
Slowly the man raised his hands in front of him, cocking his head to the left and giving a coy smile. "Shall we show him my little magic trick, daffodil?" His voice was higher than I would have expected. It was shrill and cold.
My eyes narrowed. "On the ground," I growled, attempting to stand with this little girl clutching my neck. When I finally got to my feet the little girl had her legs wrapped around my torso, her small arms wrapped tightly around my neck as I held her midsection.
My gun remained focused on the man, his smile widening as he slowly collapsed to his knees.
"All the way on the ground!" I screamed. "Get on your stomach!"
He wouldn't stop smiling, and it infuriated me. I had to stop myself from dropping the little girl and beating the shit out of him. My whole body tensed up and sweat perspired on my forehead in little beads. "Are you deaf?! Get on the ground now or I'll shoot!"
His smile widened, showing his crooked teeth. "Shoot?" He asked, raising both hands on either side of his head. "Say cheese."
Suddenly a massive light flashed, and my eyes began burning from the difference in light. I instinctively raised the arm that wasn't holding the little girl to shield my eyes, unfortunately that was also the hand holding my gun.
I let out a scream as I felt my wrist bending backward before it snapped. I dropped the gun, still clutching the girl to me when I felt a bullet rip into my foot. "Ah fuck!" I screamed, falling to the ground, the girl collapsing onto my chest screaming.
I was vaguely aware of the sound of the upstairs door slamming shut, as I rolled away from the girl, clutching my bleeding foot in my hands.
"Fuck, fuck!" I whimpered, tears stinging my eyes. Sitting up, I leaned against the wall, biting my lip. Keep focused, Maxwell, don't let the pain get to you, keep focused. I rested my head against the wall, adding as much pressure to my foot as I could. I felt like screaming, but I wasn't sure whether it was from agony or frustration or some sick mix between the two.
For the first time since I'd gotten on L2 I honestly wanted Heero to there. Heero always knew what to do in situations like this. While I knew what to do if someone around my got shot, it had been so long since I felt the hot sting of a bullet that I wasn't thinking clearly.
"Fuck," I sighed out, closing my eyes tightly.
"We're going to die, aren't we," came a little voice next to me.
I let out a long sigh and tilted my head to look at the little girl next to me, her outlined bathed in the red light emanated by the light bulb. She was a very cute little girl, and it hurt me to see her look so scared.
"You listen to me," I breathed out, clenching my teeth as I began to untie my boot with my good hand. "None one is going to die. You are not going to die down here. I am not going to let anything happen to you," I said firmly, my eyes furrowed in concentration as I tilted my head towards her.
Even in the dark I could see the tears welling up in her eyes. She was too young of a child to have lived through something like this, I thought to myself as she shuffled over to me and wrapped her arms around my neck.
I gave a little smile, trying not to wince as I took my hand from my foot and wrapped it around the little girl. "It's gonna be okay."
Taking my hand off her, I moved it back to my ankle, trying to take off my boot as gently as possible. The little girl let go of my neck and sat back against her legs, staring back at me with a horrid fascination.
"Honey," I started, pulling my sock off. "You might want to turn away for a second."
Her eyes stayed glued to my foot, dripping with blood. I rotated my wrist. It stung but I could do it, meaning that asshole hadn't actually broken it. Wrapping the sock around the bottom of my foot, directly under the bullet wound, I began tying the sock, pulling it tight enough to stop the bleeding but not cut off circulation.
My face twisted in pain as I tucked the ends of the sock under the bullet hole. I vaguely wondered how infected my foot was going to get after using my sock as a bandage, and had I been in another situation, I probably would have cracked a few jokes about it, something cheesy about athletes foot being like murder... Whatever, you can't have everything, and I guess appendages apply to that statement.
"That'll have to do for now," I muttered to myself, leaning my head back against the wall behind me. I scoffed to myself and thought about when I had first met Heero and he set his own leg. Smirking to myself, I had to stop myself from chuckling at the memory. He was such a freak of nature. A bullet to the foot probably wouldn't even phase him.
I felt the little girl crawl next to me, sitting just close enough for her leg to brush against mine. Feeling a little uncomfortable at the contact, I glanced down to see that she had her eyes glued to the packed dirt floor, like she wasn't sure whether or not to get close.
"What's your name sweet heart," I mumbled, draping my arm over her little shoulders.
"Susan," her little voice replied. It was strained, probably from screaming.
"That's a very pretty name," I said, giving her a little squeeze and looking down to give her a small smile. "A very pretty name for a pretty little girl."
Susan smiled up at me and shifted against my side, wrapping her arms around my stomach. It was obvious she craved human contact, any safe human contact that is. It made me wonder how long she had been locked in that basement.
I've come to know two types of kidnapped victims. The type who have been captive for a relatively short amount of time, maybe a week to two weeks, who latch onto the first person they don't see as a threat, and the type who have been in custody for months. People who have been kept by bastards like this guy for that long avoid everyone. They think everyone is in with their kidnapper, and due to their circumstances, I can't say I blame them for being so distrustful.
"Susan, do you know how long this man has kept you here?" I asked, or at least I think I did. My voice began to fade out as I breathed the sentence out, becoming nothing but background noise in the back of my head.
I didn't hear her response. My eyelids began to fall, suddenly feeling like they weighed thousands of pounds. It would be so easy to drop into that silence. If it weren't for the meddling kid that is...
I was vaguely aware of her little hands gripping my shoulder and shaking it with about as much strength as she probably had. It was somewhat uncomfortable, at least to the point to shake me from my stupor.
"Mister! Mister!" Her voice was shrill, and riddled with tears. It cracked and she began to hiccup as she continued to yell and shake me. She was depending on me. Desperate to be with someone, and not to be alone.
'Get a grip on yourself, Maxwell," I thought to myself, raising my hand to her back and pulling her closer to me. 'She's counting on you.'
I rubbed my hand across her back in small circles in an attempt to quiet her sobs. Her hiccups were shaking her small body, making her seem much more frail than before.
"Susan, how long have you been down here," I asked, giving myself a mental slap on the face to make myself sound more confident. In situations with a kidnapped victim, as an officer it is your objective to make the victim feel safe in your presence.
She shook her head against my chest, signifying she did not feel like answering that question. I let out a deep sigh.
"Honey, you have to tell me everything you know so I can get you out of here. Does he bring you anything? Food? Water?"
She took in a deep breath and tried to clear the snot out of her nose. "He takes pictures," she mumbled into my chest, trailing her words off.
I scoffed. So that's what that fucking light was. "How often, hon?"
She continued to sniffle as she lightly pulled away from my chest. "I don't know," she mumbled, staring into her lap. I raised my hand under her chin and used the edge of my jacket to wipe the snot that was trailing out of her nose, giving her a small smile. She kept her eyes away from my face.
I let out a sigh and lightly patted her on the back, pulling her back against my chest. She obviously wasn't going to talk anymore, and I couldn't say I blamed her. She was so young, and I didn't even want to think about what this freak was taking pictures of.
Lightly pulling the little girl off me, I leaned again the wall for support as I attempted to stand without the use of my foot.
"Where are you going!?" Susan nearly yelled, her arms flying around my legs.
"Ack!" I grunted, my hand flying to her shoulder to stable myself as pain shot up from my foot and into my leg.
"Shh, shh. Don't worry, I'm not going to leave you," I whispered, gritted my teeth before leaning to give her a brief hug. "I just need to look around, okay?"
Her eyes were wide and watery, but she finally gave me a slight nod and loosened her hold on my legs. I gave her head a light pat before I stood straight again and tried to steady my breathing.
The basement was smaller than I had previously thought upon first sight. Probably about 20 feet by 20, with the stairway directly in front of us and ending up in about the middle of the floor. Behind the stairway looked like a bunch of potato sacks full of something bumpy.
I pushed away from the wall and held my arms out as I hopped towards the stairs, intending to check out what was behind the stairway. My fingers gripped the wood tightly as I hopped beside the stairs. What the hell was that? I squinted my eyes, leaning over a bit to get a closer look before a noise startled me from upstairs.
My head snapped towards the ceiling as a muffled pounding sound came from upstairs. I looked down to the little girl and raised my finger to my lips, signaling her to be quiet. I needed to know what that bastard was doing upstairs. The pounding came again.
"Maxwell! Agent Maxwell are you in there?!"
My eyes became saucers in seconds, and I threw myself at the stairs. It was one of my recruits.
"Down here," I screamed, slamming my body against the stairs, using the rail to stable myself before propelling my body up them. My feet slipped in my haste, and pain shot up my legs, but it was a vague thought in the back of my head.
"Maxwell! I'm coming in!"
I strained my hearing, trying to tell which one it was. "Matthews! Is that you?!" I called, reaching the top of the stairs and bracing myself as I slammed my shoulder into the door. Locked. Of course.
"Yes, sir! I'm coming in," he yelled, and I paused in my assault of the door as three gun shots were fired and the sound of wood cracking as his foot collided with the door.
"Matthews, be careful there's someone in the house," I yelled with my ear pressed against the door, trying to hear as much as possible.
"Negative, sir! This house is tagged as repossessed!"
I growled, and let out a yell of frustration as I slammed my shoulder against the door. "Matthews! Listen to me! There is a man in this house and he has my gun so be careful!"
"Sir, I don't..."
His voice was cut out as a gun shot rang out.
"Matthews!" I screamed, my voice cracking. Leaning back I used the railing as leverage to slam my body hard into the door.
The pain in the shoulder echoed throughout my chest with each collision it made with the door.
"Matthews, answer me!" The wood finally began to make the tell tale cracking sounds of it giving way to my assault.
My body was flung to the floor as the lock finally gave out. I quickly got to my knees and and stood with my back facing the wall, scanning the area for the man and anything I could use as a weapon. Moving quickly and clumsily I threw myself towards the sink and grabbed the bowl from it, dumping out the fruit loops and holding it close to me. If anything I could bash his head pretty good with the ceramic.
"Susan you stay where you are!" I called, keeping my back to the wall as I made my way to the front hall where Matthews laid faced down on the floor, blood pooling around him.
"Stay with me Matthews," I mumbled, pressing two fingers into his jugular to find a weak pulse. "It's gonna be okay."
I dropped the bowl onto the ground next to me and quickly ran my hands down his body, searing for his emergency line.
"Thank God," I whispered, holding the walkie talkie tight to my chest as I began scanning the area again. The door was still open, so it was possible the man had left. But it was never good to rely on that.
My finger depressed the button and my voice called into the device. "Zechs, get a medical escort to 213 Grand Valley ASAP, this is not a drill. This is an emergency situation and we need a medical escort to 213..."
That's really all I remember before the bowl connected with the back of my head. It would figure.