A/N: Enjoy!
03 Loosing Gear - Doctors and Tracers
"In here."
After going just a short distance down a couple of hidden allies, the blonde man flashed a key fob on a seemingly random section of a wall, opening a door that was impossible to discern from the brick it was a part of. He quickly stepped inside and Trowa wasn't far behind.
"Wait, Trowa. How do you know it's safe?" I was trying to be discrete, still unsure of how safe we really were with these men.
Trowa, like always, could see right through me. "Trust me Duo. If anyone can help us escape, it's these two."
"Hn." Our dark haired escort pushed by me through the door ahead of Trowa who'd paused to look back at me.
"Is that all he says?" My eyes followed the green clad back as it disappeared in the building.
Trowa simply gave a shrug and continued into the building. Sighing, I followed suite. As soon as I passed through the door, it closed and sealed itself into a flawless wall once again.
I examined the place I'd stepped into. To me, it seemed like a simple hallway, one that might belong in an office building. The passage had a warm and inviting tone created by the décor, while glass doors held names and numbers that I presumed were to advertise whatever business sat behind the see-through entrances.
"-okay," came the blonde's voice. "Perfect. We'll be there in just a moment." A hand lifted to hang up the ear piece hanging just under a lock of smoothed back hair. "You'll need to give your helmets and any communication gear you have on to Heero. He'll take them to our team to keep them moving for the remainder of the Hunt so that you don't raise suspicions. We can't afford for your internal trackers to be activated just yet."
Trowa immediately began removing his Hunting gear and I followed him. If he trusted these two, I was going to trust his judgment. He was the closest thing I'd ever had to family. It was a task to say the least, but we managed to get everything.
With his stony expression still in place, Heero took our gear and went back through the invisible door. We waited only a few minutes before he was back again.
"They're moving." He said making his way through us and continuing down the hall.
"Good. Okay guys, this way." The blonde turned and followed his comrade down the corridor another twenty feet before stopping just outside of an elevator and swiping the key fob once again.
In just moments the smooth stainless steel doors slid open and the four of us stepped into the car. I expected one of our two guides to press one of the buttons that would lead us to a higher floor and was surprised when neither moved to do so. Instead, the silver doors closed without a floor being chosen.
"Please identify." Came a smooth electronic voice from somewhere near the ceiling of the car.
"Quatre Reberba Winner," said the blonde.
"Heero Yuy." His rumbling voice came from the back of elevator as he settled in against the wall.
"And two guests." Quatre added.
"Voice recognition accepted." Came the smooth voice again.
"The labs, please," the slighter man spoke again in a clear voice.
Whoa! I'd nearly lost my balance when the elevator not only started to move, but went down instead of up.
A small noise sounding very much like a snort from behind me caught my attention. Looking around to find the source I met a pair of deep blue eyes set in the shadows of chocolate bangs.
I envied how relaxed he was, settled against the wall: one foot pressed back against the barrier, even with the opposite knee, arms crossed against his chest. He pushed off the wall just a moment before the door opened and swiftly slid passed me into a new corridor.
This hall was as different from the previous as white is from black. Instead of the warm, rich tones, carpeted floors and glass-plated doors there was stainless steel everywhere. The floors, ceiling, walls and door all shown with the same blurred reflection.
"This way." A few yards down the hall, Heero stood with Quatre holding a door open.
We entered a room that looked like an operating room of sorts. Seeing as we were clearly waiting for something, I started to nose around, curious what this room was for, but the door opened again before I got too far.
"Ah! Well, look who we've got here, boys."
"You gotta be joking…" The words slipped out as my sight fell upon the group filing in to the room.
In front of me stood the same men that loomed over me nearly fifteen years before, just as old and wrinkled as they had been then.
"Well, it's nice to see you, too, Duo." said a man with a long almost hooked nose.
"But…" I immediately turned my attention to our escorts and supposed comrades. "What are they doing here?"
"We're here," said the man with a claw hand and long white hair, "for the same reason you are."
"Yes," said the first. "We're getting out, as well. If you don't like it, then you can just make your way back to that damn ship." I just stood there staring at them as all five of the 'doctors' filed into the room, each still wearing their lab coats.
"You've done your part?" It was the sound of Heero's voice that broke my stare.
"Of course we did," said the man with the claw hand. "Did you think us incapable, Heero?"
"Hn." Heero, it seemed, didn't dignify anyone with a real answer. "Quatre?" He caught the attention of our other escort.
"Right." The blonde nodded as if he was giving some sort of confirmation.
Heero slipped back out of the room and I really didn't know what to make of all this.
"Quatre, is this where we'll be working?" This time it was a shorter man with a thin, dark, and pointed mustache that seemed to defy the artificial gravity of the colony.
"Yes. Please start. If we wait much longer, I'm afraid they'll start the trackers before they can be removed."
"Trowa, Duo, you'll need to remove the rest of your uniforms. They needs disposed of. Doktor S, Master O, would you be so kind?" It was the hooked nosed man.
"Of course, Professor G." replied the tall bald one.
I quickly found myself being stripped out of my armor and clothes, down to nearly nothing, and watched as the bald one and another that had some sort of false nose carried our armor out into the hall and off to who knew where. It all felt like some weird dream.
"C'mon, Duo. This needs to be done quickly." Trowa led me over to tables that looked like the ones in the morgue back on the ship. He climbed on one and I on the other, following his lead and laying on my stomach, my eyes never leaving his.
"Doctor J, there's only 20 minutes left to the Hunt."
"Thank you Quatre." said the one with the claw hand. "Well, then." he turned to us. "We need to remove your tracers. Don't move."
Before I could even react, I could feel the cold metal cutting through the skin on my back, just under my rib cage. I watched as the one with the pointy mustache did the same to Trowa.
I cringed as my flesh was pulled back, wishing they'd at least given a local anesthetic, but knowing it was impossible with the current time frame. The taste of blood filled my mouth before I even realized I'd bitten down on my lip.
Something pushed and prodded past the hole in my skin, digging and scrapping at the tender nerves and muscles that lie below. The pain was unbearable and the 'doctors' could tell I wasn't withstanding it well, I felt myself start to squirm, trying to pull away from the intruding instruments in my back.
"Quatre." One of them called out, I no longer cared who.
The blonde was immediately at the head of my table, taking hold of my wrists as I felt something metal clamp down on my legs.
"AHH!" My whole body jerked as something was torn from the tissues in my back.
I felt like I was going to be sick, but relaxed back in place while needles worked to sew up the hole that was surely present in my flesh. They bandaged the site and helped roll me to my side and then gently over the rest of the way to face the ceiling.
"Now for the anti-venom." Said 'hook nose,' standing over me, just like he had so many years ago. Cold and boney fingers probed my chest, obviously looking for a particular spot. I felt the needle against my skin, posed between two ribs, just to the left of my sternum. Just above my heart.
"Wait!" Realization hit me too late. The needle pushed through my skin, sinking deep in the tissues before embedding its tip into the life sustaining organ.
The thumb pushed down on the plunger and my heart felt like the blood it held instantly congealed turning to a cold stone instead of the warm fluid that flowed through it only moments before.
My breath caught in my throat, the air being sucked out by some unseen vacuum.
I was going to suffocate.
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