Note: Planned to post this on Saturday but since I was gifted a lovely snow day I figured I may as well post now. The idea is still to do Saturday chapters.
Chapter Two: Backup
Quatre couldn't find words. Looking at Duo there was only emptiness where there should be life. Eyes that once shone were dull. This was a pale imitation of his friend. It couldn't be the genuine article, especially with all that anger directed towards him.
"What are you doing here, Winner?" Duo didn't cringe when his voice came out more harshly than intended. The effect would be clear: that he didn't want this meeting to be happening. And with the way Quatre floundered before speaking it was evident to Duo the message was received.
"I..." Quatre began before stumbling. "I just. I mean. I can't believe it's you!"
Duo was not amused. "Yeah, well, you're not supposed to be here. Maybe you should find Marcela and figure out where ya need to be." Duo steadfastly ignored the hurt look on Quatre's face and the way his shoulders slightly dropped.
"Duo. We…" Quatre's mind was racing with no known destination. He wasn't expecting to see the missing Gundam pilot let alone discover his jovial attitude was extinguished. Gathering his wits took a couple of seconds longer than it should have, and when he spoke again he finished with more certainty "we've been looking for you!"
If Duo was surprised he did nothing to give it away. His lack of reaction was more concerning than any reaction could've been. Empty eyes bore through Quatre and he felt his hair stand on end. Whether that look in Duo's eyes was fire or ice, the distinction didn't matter. It burned a hole right through Quatre as Duo responded after a few eternal seconds with a dark and low voice, "You need to leave."
Quatre flinched at that. "Duo-"
"Get out, Winner!" As the blonde jumped a little in surprise something tiny inside Duo congratulated himself on being very intimidating even while in a hospital bed. For as quiet as he could be when on a stealth mission he was impressively loud when he chose to be. But now was no time to be feeling smug. Now was a time for unleashing years of pent up anger. "You are not welcome here. I wouldn't want you here if you were the last person on this goddamn planet. Get out! Get out before I throw ya out you pretentious, selfish, fake bastard!"
Quatre finally did reflexively clutch a hand over his heart. He trembled as he took a step backwards towards the door. "I… uh…"
There was no hiding his labored breathing. No hiding how Duo's words pierced him. Quatre was so shaken he almost didn't notice the vibration in his pocket and hesitated to reach for his phone. Habit won over and he grabbed the device but did not look away from the angry patient glaring daggers at him. His instincts were telling him to retreat. His instincts were screaming to retreat immediately and return with backup. Phone in hand he mumbled "I'll be back soon" and bolted out the door, stopping to catch his breath and to look at his incoming text only once he was safely down the hall.
Whoever it was in that hospital bed, Duo or some monster, he'd require the others before facing him again.
Being at the hospital out of an abundance of caution was never a preferred experience, but like many things in life it was better with friends. All of the waiting for medical clearance often added up to hours wasted. Preventers were nothing if not thorough with their follow through on injuries sustained in the line of duty. Heero found it a positive attribute when seriously injured and an absolute nuisance when a simple sprained wrist landed him in patient limbo six months ago. But today he was not alone and instead had the company of Trowa and Wufei. They'd been on a rare assignment that required all three of them to participate. The trio were bruised but not broken, and that meant they could run through the mission postmortem to pass time. The exercise would help with writing up reports later if his two friends would simply take the analysis seriously.
As Trowa sent another text to Quatre updating him on their location Heero watched him and found himself with an all too familiar ache in his heart. He quickly pushed it aside and asked again, "If LaSalle's team was compromised how were the charges set?"
Wufei was slumped in a chair with his eyes closed. He often took up this position when exhausted and thinking. Trowa finished his text and placed the borrowed phone next to him on his hospital bed. The tall man was perched on the edge waiting impatiently for Quatre. He liked to play it cool, but after today anyone would be anxious to see their loved ones. The mission was probably the biggest disaster in the short history of Preventers operations.
"I don't know, Heero. It doesn't make sense!" The tone of Wufei's voice indicated how spent he was and Heero almost felt bad for pressing this point again. He wasn't completely oblivious. He knew going over the mission until they figured out what happened was wearing their patience thin. When he circled back to the intel provided by their confidential informant he received a harsh glare from Trowa.
"Okay, not bad intel. Horrendous intel. And I'm sure she's already been picked up for interrogation to see if she knew this was a setup."
Wefei muttered under his breath exactly what he thought Une should do with the CI and opened his eyes to look at Heero. The Japanese man was sitting on his own bed, idly running fingers over the stitches on his left arm. The motion indicated to Wufei that he was itching to get his discharge orders and hunker down at headquarters to properly dig into what went wrong and just how things went impossibly right. The very idea of a determined Heero Yuy trying to find information where there was none made him want to crawl into a hole and not come out for days.
The three men sat in exhausted silence for a moment until Heero started up again. "LaSalle's team-" Trowa and Wufei groaned in unison "-was cornered immediately. How did their charges get set when half of them were pinned in place under enemy fire and the other half-"
"Just shut up, Yuy!" Wufei was well past the limit of his patience. "You're not going to logic your way into how the charges got set! This will require a full investigation, not a mental exercise!"
Trowa ignored them as they continued to argue, Heero insisting they could learn something useful by brainstorming scenarios and Wufei determined to convince him to let it go for now. Nothing they said mattered as Trowa kept his eyes on the door. Quatre would be here soon and he was ready to admit he needed a shower, a nap, and a hug. That line of thought made me feel a little childish, but they'd all come perilously close to death when the charges didn't go off as planned and the insurrectionists had no distractions to divide their forces.
They needed those men diverted to other areas of the compound. When the charges didn't blow their strike team was overwhelmed and pinned in location. But LaSalle never made it into the compound and the charges still blew as planned, just 32 minutes late. Trowa shuddered slightly. For roughly 20 of those 32 minutes he was uncertain he'd make it back to see Quatre again. His patience was running thin and he made a slight move to stand when the subject of his thoughts walked through the door looking like he'd seen a ghost.
Wufei noticed something a little off about their latest addition but kept arguing with Heero as Trowa bolted from where he was sitting, pulling Quatre into his arms and hiding the shorter man's face in his shoulder. Quatre automatically responded and returned Trowa's embrace, and for a moment he forgot how shaken he was. The security and warmth of Trowa's hug caused Duo to slip from his mind as he held onto his partner like a lifeline. But it didn't take long for him to push out of the embrace and look into green eyes with a fear that froze Trowa in place, worry suddenly taking over his love's features. Wufei's voice trailed off from the argument he was making until Heero was the only one speaking, not having picked up on social cues as he focused on over analyzing every step of the mission.
"Quatre?"
Wufei's voice broke Heero's focus and he turned to see Quatre still in the doorway, a concerned Trowa with one hand resting on his arm as aqua eyes darted from Wufei and fixed on Heero. There was no reading that look and Heero found himself uneasy under the intense gaze.
"Quatre, are you-"
After lingering on Heero the blond man took in a sharp breath and stood taller, snapping into the no nonsense leader mode they'd all first seen during the war. "Follow me. NOW!" As the young businessman turned heel and marched out into the hall the others scrambled to catch up.
"Quatre, wait. Where are you-"
"Duo's here."
Wufei reflexively barked back "What?" and then stole a look to Heero, whose steps faltered, eyes widened, and jaw tensed. Heero looked like Wufei felt: overwhelmed with thoughts and emotions that refused to fully process. The Chinese man felt a pang in his chest at the sight of his friend. He'd hoped the day would come that they'd find Duo but he always feared what that would do to Heero's emotional state. He barely registered Quatre's voice as they turned a corner.
"I was looking for you and a nurse took me to the wrong room. It was Duo."
While Quatre sounded almost commanding as he spoke, Heero sounded wholly unlike himself as he quietly and shakily asked "is he hurt?"
It was only when Quatre replied "not too hurt to yell at me" that Trowa and Wufei realized Heero's question caused them to hold their breath. This was a hospital. It only made sense for Duo to be here injured or sick. But it was also the hospital used as the region's main Preventers trauma center. The timing didn't escape any of them.
For Heero the news that Duo was yelling at Quatre meant both that he wasn't dead and that he wasn't in a coma. After the first year of fruitless searches for the American Heero started to increasingly worry that Duo was incapacitated at some hospital or care facility either on Earth or in the colonies. The idea eroded him, because knowing Duo he'd be under an assumed name and not listed as a John Doe. Heero spent countless nights wondering if Duo was lying unconscious somewhere under an alias, never to be found again.
It was the unknown that haunted him. If Duo disappeared and said goodbye, or asked them not to contact him, Heero may have learned to live with his absence. But disappearing without a word or trace filled his head and heart with worry. He trusted Quatre's word but for Duo to be here, right now, was a lot to process. Part of him refused to believe it could be true until he saw Duo with his own two eyes.
The group was jogging in formation behind Quatre, dodging the few orderlies who yelped in surprise or called after them to stop running. Two more turns and Quatre stopped in his tracks, took a deep breath, opened a door, and gasped.
The room was a mess and the patient was missing. Quatre felt himself being pushed further into the room and saw Heero make his way through before freezing and taking in the sight before them. If there was any doubt in Heero's mind that Duo was here, his reaction to the evidence of someone's hasty retreat made it clear he believed the braided pilot truly was in this hospital room today.
He pushed past the others again, not hearing their voices as they called to him. Duo, he knew, ran and hid. If he could find the nearest exit he could maybe catch up, especially if the American was injured. His heart constricted at that thought. Heero didn't want Duo hurt but if it was just enough to slow his escape…
No. He couldn't think like that.
Heero was reaching to open a stairwell door when a hand grabbed him and stopped him. Turning rapidly he shot Trowa an angry look. "What are you-"
"Slow down. You're over-thinking this. There's an easier way to track down Duo." Heero jerked away from his taller friend's grasp and took off running down the stairs when he heard Trowa call, voice echoing in the stairwell, "Une knows where Duo is."
Those words stopped him cold. When the echo faded the silence became deafening. He turned slowly to look up at his friend and was met with a very serious expression. Cautiously, Trowa began to explain. "Wufei picked the phone off the floor and hit redial. Commander Une answered. Heero... The only conclusion is-" Trowa saw the gears turning in his friend's head and was not surprised to be interrupted.
"He's been working for Preventers this whole time."
"Yes."
Heero was furious. "He's still a Preventer!"