Waking Up In Vegas
Chapter 49
#
Quatre saw the man at the other end of the lobby pause, then throw something. And Quatre recognized exactly what it was.
"No! Duo! Wufei!"
Emily reacted quicker than anyone would have expected, throwing herself at the petite blond as he tried to re-enter the building. She dove on top of him, driving him to the ground even as the windows of the lobby burst outwards in a shower of glass.
"Duo!" Quatre struggled away from the slim girl, raising himself up to inspect the scene. Nothing but all the glass was broken, just as he'd expected. A concussion grenade going off inside a lobby made of glass and windows... what else? He saw Duo half sprawled over Wufei, as if trying to protect his husband.
"Damn fool! Down!" Emily hissed, grabbing his ankle and yanking him, causing him to face plant only a split second before gunfire resumed. She jerked him back behind the safety of the wall so they weren't sitting ducks anymore.
"We have to get them out of there!" Quatre argued, trying to get away again.
"We *can't*," Emily replied calmly. "We can't. We're outnumbered. And that was a concussion grenade. It could be worse, Quatre. *Alot* worse. At least they're alive! Staying here and getting ourselves shot and killed will not help them. We have to retreat and regroup."
"She's right, Mister Winner,"
Quatre looked up into the worried brown eyes of the receptionist. Kim, his mind supplied. Two children, a sister, a husband over-seas in Iraq. She'd recovered well during the fire-fight. But then, that's why Quatre had liked her as a receptionist. She usually had a pretty calm head on her shoulders.
"Now would probably be a good time to run away and live to fight another day," Midii quipped. "And to call lover-boy."
Reluctantly, Quatre nodded. They would get nowhere near Duo and Wufei like this.
"Let's retreat..."
Besides... he was confused. Why the hell was Duo and Wufei in New York to begin with? And what was Midii Une doing here? And *helping* him at that? He clearly remembered slapping the shit out of her.
He suddenly felt like he didn't know quite as much as he thought he did. Casting one last look in at his still prone friends, he allowed Emily and Midii to lead him and Kim away.
Breifly, he wondered how Catherine and Delana were doing. How was little Meilan? Wait... *where* was Meilan? If Duo and Wufei were here, was the little girl with Cecilia and Howard? How would he be able to explain if Duo and Wufei...
No. He wasn't going to think about it.
He looked up, startled, as he saw Zechs and Noin jogging around the corner.
"Quatre! Are you okay?" Zechs demanded.
"We took the elevator to the second floor and then took the service elevator at the back down," Noin explained. "Quatre? What's wrong?"
Aqua eyes blinked up into dark sapphire as he had a sudden, silent epiphany.
"Epyon," he said calmly. "We're going to destroy Epyon."
#
Sei exclaimed in relief as she pulled the small car into the empty field. Well... it was empty save for the helicopter.
"Chip," she nodded to the black haired man waiting on her as she turned off the car and got out.
"Ms. Lovecraft. Madame L said you needed an escort to NYC?"
"Indeed," she said. "I have a few pests to exterminate. Including a few big fat rats named Heero Yuy and Quatre Winner."
"Not while *I'm* here."
Sei spun around, and Chip whipped out a gun from his belt... only to find themselves face to face...
With a ten year old?
"You're the Maxwell brat, right?" Sei demanded. "And Barton's little cousin."
Vanny's sapphire eyes sparkled as Maia stood behind her. God, but that voice just irked her. Annoyed, she pulled back another centimeter on the string held in her right fingers.
Chip- who rather looked like a *chimp* to Vanny- laughed at her. And she hated when people laughed at her.
"That's really cute, kid." He cocked the gun in his hand. "But don't bring toys to a gunfight."
Vanny hissed her annoyance and let go of the string.
*Thrum*
She held the bow down and reloaded another arrow from the black leather quiver Maia held out before the man even knew what happened.
"What the fuck?" The man demanded, clutching his bleeding hand. The gun was on the ground, where it had skittered away as the man dropped it.
Vanny was sure she hadn't actually hurt him. She's only nicked him, she thought. At least... she hoped.
She hadn't the time or the room for the composite bow she used when she, Hilde and her father went hunting. But she'd at least remembered to grab the *real* arrows this time. The steel tipped, sharpened ones and not the flimsy practice things that she'd threatened that blond girl with. These arrows could rip through skin and flesh
"Fucking brat," the man howled. Vanny had brought the bow back up, keeping it trained on the man.
"Nice shooting, kid," Sei complimented, tilting her head. "Where'd you learn?"
"My dad. I've been bow hunting since I was old enough to hold the bow."
"Okay. I'll bite. But why are you here, kid? Why aren't you at home with your family?"
It was Maia who spoke. "My cousin's one of the ones you're after to kill. We won't let you do that. And I *like* Quatre. You can't hurt my family."
"Hn. Shoot me if you must, but I'm leaving." Sei turned, pushed Chip out of her way and climbed into the helicopter. Vanny hesitated a moment too long, and missed her chance to shoot.
"Come on, Maia." Vanny brought the bow down and rushed forward.
Sei didn't say anything as the two girls climbed into the helicopter. She only started the engines and took off, after grunting at them to strap in.
Hn. Looked like she could be adding 'kidnapping' to the massive list of charges already against her. Oh, joy.
#
Duo awoke, not quite sure where he was. The ground beneath him was hard, unforgiving. The air was stale and umoving. He imidiately hated it.
"Ugh... did y'get the name o' that 747 that hit me?"
A soft chuckle met his ears.
"Duo? Duo, listen to me. Are you okay?"
Duo's eyes blinked open and he stared above him. It was dark, no light anywhere, it seemed... but he could still make out the onyx eyes of his beloved.
"Um... 'Fei?" he muttered.
"Careful," Wufei warned as Duo tried to sit up. Duo looked at his lover, hands reaching out so that palms could trace the face he adored. There was a split lip and a growing bruise to the temple... and his hair was loose and tangled, but he was alive, and mostly safe.
"Satisfied that I'm all in one piece?" Wufei asked warmly.
"If something had happened to you..." Duo said quietly and let the sentence trail off. Wufei didn't need to hear the rest. Duo would likely either go homicidal or suicidal. He tended to take things to the extreme. Including anger and depression.
"I'm safe, Duo," Wufei comforted, arms going around his lover. "Well, relatively speaking, of course."
Duo chuckled. "So... where the hell are we?"
"I'm not sure where. Those men. They were saying something about someone called Ninette and someone called Quinze. I'd never heard those names before. Once they figured out I didn't know anything, they put me in here and I found you still asleep. The concussion grenade really hit you, didn't it?"
"Concusion grenade? Ah, that explains why I'm still alive."
"Yeah."
"Um... 'Fei?"
"Yes?"
"I get the feeling there's something you're not telling me."
"Just that they tried to be a little *persuasive* in getting their information."
"The split lip?" Duo growled, tracing his lover's lips in the dark. How dare they hurt his love? He would...
"Yes. Just a few bruises is all," Wufei said, interrupting Duo's darkening thoughts. Duo could hear the lie in his lover's voice... but he didn't call him on it. There was time for that later. Well... maybe.
"Wufei? There's something else, too... isn't there?"
"Just go back to sleep, Duo. It's all we can do for the moment."
"But I don't FEEL like sleeping," Duo grumbled, trying to get in a good look at his surroundings. It was dull, he decided. Four walls, a ceiling, and a floor. And nothing else. Come to think of it... he couldn't even see a door. Or see any source of light. Or feel any...
"Wufei?"
"Yes?"
"The air feels stale. Like... really really stale. And unmoving."
"Yes," came the whisper.
"Oh, God," the reality hit home, the dots connecting. They'd cut off their source of air? "Don't tell me we're going to suffocate in here!"
"Duo, please calm down. Just go back to sleep, love."
"Go to sleep? What? So I can just go out peacefully like that?" Duo layed back down, thudding his head almost painfully against the floor. "What a lame way to die."
"Duo, please..."
"Don't 'Duo, please' me, Chang Wufei. I'm... Why are you sitting there so calm?" True, Duo thought, his husband was sitting there peacefully, as if meditating.
"Stay calm if you want to live a little longer," Wufei sighed, annoyed.
"We don't stand a chance if something drastic doesn't happen," Duo snipped back.
"I'm doing everything I can just in case that something drastic does happen," was the reply.
"Huh?"
"Sleep. Or meditate," Wufei sighed. "You breath less than you do by talking and ranting. Please Duo... I don't want to die here any more than you do. I don't want to loose you. I came too damn close before... not again, Duo. No. I don't want to come that close ever again."
Duo heard the pleading in his lover's voice, and crawled up next to him, resting his head in his lap as Wufei's hands came to softly stroke his arm, his hair, his side. He was overcome with love... love and devotion.
"Okay," he whispered. While there would have been more fun and exciting ways to die... he could accept going out in his lover's arms.
"Hey Wufei?" He asked.
"Yes Duo?"
"Keep me company until the end?"
"Forever, Duo. Forever."