22-September-2001
Title: An Honorable Enemy Part 1/8
Author: Enigma
Written: August - September, 2001
Rating: PG-13
Pairings: {wait and see}
Category: Angst, Mild Shonen Ai, Friendship, Morality, Squick, OOC
Enigma Story Category: G-Boys High Adventure!
Archive: GW Addiction, Sweet&Sweet
Warnings: Angst, very mild shonen ai, friendship, morality, squick, sermonizing on the treatment of prisoners of war, language, plot-related OOC, etc.
Reference Point: In case you don't recognize the OZ pilot, he appears in Episode 13 teamed with Lt. Alex and while he appears to be a real bastard there, I envision him differently here. The action in this fic fits into the series timeline between Episodes 10 and 12.
Disclaimers: I don't own any of the GW Universe. I'm not making any money off this story. It's written out of love, so please don't sue me.
Notes: When captured and badly beaten by OZ, Wufei's existence hangs in the balance. What could possibly motivate an enemy pilot to risk his own life to save him?
//thoughts//
Barely conscious and seriously injured, Chang Wufei felt rough hands toss him into a small, dank room, a metal door clanging shut behind his captors. He tried to push himself up from the floor only to have his stomach lurch as his equilibrium spun, causing him to vomit violently before he could clear his mind enough to stop himself. Within moments, he was gasping for breath and regarding his current situation with disgust.
"Captured so easily, Scholar?" he growled at himself as he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "Meiran was right, you are not worthy to pilot the Gundam," Wufei clenched his teeth against another wave of nausea as he pulled himself bodily onto the low shelf-like bed that was the prison cell's only furnishing. Falling onto his back and laying there as he hoped the room would stop spinning, he drew one hand across his forehead and it came away bloodied, the first physical sign of the head injury and concussion that were about to drag him back into unconsciousness.
Groaning, the fifteen year-old pilot of the Gundam ShenLong carefully tested his mobility only to bite back a scream as he discovered that something was terribly wrong with his left ankle. Even as the blackness pulled him down into itself, he silently begged for death before he might further dishonor his heritage.
//If these bastards are as bad as Master O told me they are, I hope I die before they force me to betray my new-found friends. Gods know, I've never had any friends my own age before, but now that I do, I'd hate to endanger Trowa or the other pilots that I met recently. Just let me die.//
Unconsciousness then claimed the injured teen and he never heard the voices outside his cell door. "Are *you* the Aries pilot that helped my men capture the boy, Mueller?" A decidedly ominous voice asked with more than a hint of disbelief.
"Yes, Commander Tuberov," the dark-skinned Aries pilot answered, saluting and trying to get past the much older man to check on the condition of the young prisoner. "It was pure luck on my part that I was arriving in my mobile suit when he was trying to escape after blowing up the munitions dump here in Shanghai."
Tuberov snorted in disgust, "The people here are all fools to let something like this happen! Poorly trained, useless fools to not be able to keep such an important part of this facility protected from one small boy and a handful of explosives!"
"No, sir," Mueller shook his head in confusion, "that's not necessarily true. If he's who I think he is, this kid is the Gundam pilot that snuck into and destroyed Lake Victoria Base. Instructor Noin herself faced off against him and lost, Commander, so I'd say that the fact that he succeeded here should be no real surprise to anyone."
Hearing for the first time that the new prisoner was most likely one of the annoying group of teenagers that had already caused OZ no end of trouble, Tuberov's face lit up and he exclaimed, "You believe that he's a Gundam pilot? Really?"
Mueller nodded slowly, his concerns for the apparently injured boy shifting as he took in the decidedly unpleasant smile that was overtaking the other man's expression.
"Well, now, isn't this a sweet turn of events?" Tuberov's laugh sent chills down the younger man's spine. "If that is the case, *and* if we can get him to tell us where his three remaining little comrades are hiding, I'll be able to take control of OZ away from that brat Khushrenada after all!"
"Did you say 'three' other Gundam pilots, sir?" Mueller looked confused as he asked, "But the last intelligence briefing I attended said that there were five total and if he's here, doesn't that leave four?"
The ugly merriment left Tuberov as quickly as it had arrived as he growled, "Not any more, Mueller. That bitch Une forced their hand and the pilot of Gundam 01 blew himself up this afternoon. With him dead, that leaves three to find, but that's not important. What's important is that I use this boy to my best advantage to convince Duke Dermail that I'm the better leader for the military strength that he's developed for the Romefeller Foundation instead of that upstart Russian punk!"
Forcing back a desire to defend Treize, a man that his mind automatically labeled "His Excellency", with his fists instead of words, Mueller satisfied himself with, "I'm certain that *General* Khushrenada is doing the best that he can to lead the world towards unity, *Commander*."
After emphasizing the pair's ranks so clearly, the younger man then added in a slightly apologetic fashion, "However, sir, I'm sure that there's always room for improvement and if we can locate this kid's teammates and lock them all up, the resistance movement will fall apart."
Tuberov barked out a laugh as his mind skipped past the insults and picked up on Mueller's attempt to predict the future, "'Lock them up'? Not bloody likely! Une may be a psychotic little tramp for the most part, but she had one thing right. The only way to control these enemies of ours is to round them up and exterminate them like the vermin that they are!" Another ugly laugh left his lips as he clapped a wrinkled hand on Mueller's shoulder, much to the brown-haired man's distaste.
A gleam of near mania entered Tuberov's eyes as he stated confidently, "No, my boy, as soon as I get the information that I need out of the one you helped bring in, I'll see to it that his execution here in Shanghai is broadcast live throughout the Earth Sphere! That ought to demoralize the other three enough so my men can get to them and kill them, too! This war will be over before Khushrenada and his whore can do anything more about it and I'll take my rightful place beside Duke Dermail leading most of humanity into its new role as servants to the aristocracy!"
"How do you plan to get him to tell you what you want to know about the others, Commander?" Mueller asked, warning bells were ringing in the back of his mind as his own sense of honor indicated that he might have made a terrible mistake in assisting in the capture of the boy. "Will you be following the standard questioning methods that Instructor Noin taught us at Lake Victoria Base?"
"Hell no!" Tuberov growled, not bothering to state his low opinion of the woman who had last been seen in the company of Zechs Merquise, another young officer he couldn't stand. "I'll get a professional torturer over here and we'll use any method required to get the little bastard to talk. Beat him, rape him, drug him, break him, it's all the same to me. As long as he tells me what I want *before* he dies, that's good enough for me!"
Mueller suddenly felt nauseous and he realized that he was facing a serious moral dilemma.
//How can he even suggest such a thing? That *boy* is a prisoner of war and not a threat at this point! All prisoners of war are protected by the Treaty of AC175 and to be planning to try to get him to betray the members of his team is one thing, to plan to *force* him to do so by such barbaric methods is quite another!// [1]
The angry tensing in Mueller's muscles was evident only in the tightly clenched fists that went unnoticed by the still laughing older man, currently lost in his own insane ramblings about the future that he would help to force onto humanity. Internally, though, the Aries pilot was filled with indignation as he realized that it wasn't a dilemma after all. Tuberov fully intended to do what he'd already mentioned or worse to the captured boy if it was proven that he was a Gundam pilot.
//He's a *child*, damn it all!! It's illegal and immoral and if I can prevent that level of abuse I will! It's partially my fault he's here and if nothing changes to stop this madman, then I'll see to it that he escapes this place before they can hurt him worse than he already is. I don't care what I've got to risk to accomplish it, that kid is *not* staying here a moment longer than absolutely necessary!!//
Mueller ran through various scenarios in his mind, desperate to find a way to keep the madman at bay even as he felt an overwhelming need to get inside the cell that Tuberov continued to block. The brown-eyed man knew that the soldiers on the ground that had intercepted Wufei as he kept him at bay with his Aries weren't gentle as they took him prisoner and he was desperate to discover the extent of the boy's injuries.
As the seventeen year-old OZ pilot realized he'd missed another lengthy rant by the older man, serendipity struck and a buzzing sound filled the hallway.
"Is that your pager, sir?" Mueller asked, trying to keep the raw hope out of his voice.
"Yes, I was expecting a call from Duke Dermail," Tuberov answered, holding the small device up and then smiling a dark and unpleasant smile. "Ah, good, it's him! I can't wait to tell him about my good fortune to have apprehended that boy in there." He jerked a thumb over one shoulder at the steel door behind them.
The man in charge of the prison block had approached them and snapped a salute before offering, "You may use my office for your call, Commander."
"Very good," Tuberov nodded, then called over his shoulder, "Mueller, find out for me if that really is the Gundam pilot you were thinking of or not, wont you? I'd rather be certain before I have my man come here to take care of him."
Forcing back the urge to point out that torturing and killing a mere child was a far cry from "taking care of him", the dusky-skinned pilot saluted and said, "Yes sir, I'll get on it immediately. Let me just get another look at him, then I can see about checking our records."
Feeling quite pleased with everything, Tuberov nodded and left the area never knowing he'd just given Mueller the perfect opportunity to rescue Wufei. Taking a deep breath, Mueller felt worry replace anger as his dominant emotion and he slid an electronic master key into a slot causing the metal door of the cell to swing open.
End Part 1
Author's Notes:
1. The Treaty of AC175 is my own invention but it is based on the standard precepts of "civilized warfare" as they exist currently among members of the United Nations. The fundamental assumption is simply this: Regardless of intent to maim and kill on the battlefield, after a soldier is captured, he or she should be guaranteed humane treatment, something that Tuberov obviously has no plans to give to Wufei. Hmm, I wonder how realistic my own treaty would be in the real world?
Enigma
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