21-Oct-2000
Disclaimer: Neither Gundam Wing nor any of its characters belong to me.
Warnings: Shonen-ai, 1x2 pairing, yaoi implied.
This is part 10 of Belle of the Ball and as you can see, the story will be
split into parts.
C & C greatly appreicated and most welcome.
Heero had awakened early, a momentary sense of disorientation swept over him, this was not his bedroom. Then he remembered, he was in Duo's room, in Duo's bed. He turned over on his side, propped himself up on one elbow, cradled his head in his hand and watched Duo as he lay sleeping. A gentle smile warmed Heero's face as he recalled the night before, replaying their lovemaking in his mind. It had been so exciting, so incredible, so awesome, and so so beautiful, he wished it hadn't taken him so long to show Duo how he felt. It took Duo's almost falling off the side of that cliff before he found the courage to kiss him, and an even greater courage to see that kiss through. Heero had planned on just taking a shower and getting some sleep last night, but the disappointment on Duo's face had been more than he could bear. Trowa's words had echoed in his mind and made him realize if he didn't do something soon, he might lose Duo, he couldn't expect him to wait forever. If it were that obvious to Trowa how he felt, it was doubly obvious to Duo and Heero's reluctance to take that first step had only been confusing and hurting Duo. Now if he could just get the courage to tell Duo how much he loved him, calling him 'koi' was one thing, telling him 'ai shiteru' and making him understand how much he meant it, was another.
Heero leaned over to brush a kiss against Duo's lips when a loud beep! beep! beep pierced the air. Duo's eyes opened suddenly, startled out of his dreams by that horrible noise. He looked up and the vision of Heero's smile filled his eyes. He let out a big yawn and smiled back, he then rolled over onto his stomach, pulling his pillow over his head, trying to silence that noise. The pillow was no help at all, he could still hear it. Duo then covered his ears with his hands, the pillow still covering his head. The incessant beep! beep! beep droned on in his ears. He gave up and pulled his head from under the pillow and turned to look at Heero, who was still watching him, but now his smile was one of amusement.
"So, I wasn't dreaming," Duo said, stifling another yawn. "You're awake. So will you please turn off that thing?" he pointed to Heero's laptop sitting on the dresser. "And why did you bring it in here anyway?"
"In a second," Heero responded, "But first things first." Heero said, avoiding Duo's question as he again leaned over and brushed a kiss across Duo's lips. Duo responded with a lick of his tongue against Heero's mouth, sending shivers down Heero's spine. Heero devoured Duo's mouth, thrusting his tongue deep within its recesses, marveling at the feel and taste of him. Duo wrapped his arms around Heero and did a little tasting of his own.
As they continued their foreplay, the beeping seemed to get louder and more insistent. Duo couldn't stand it any longer and pulled away from Heero.
"Heero, please," he begged, "It's killing my concentration."
Heero let out a small laugh and purposefully crawled across Duo very slowly, their bodies rubbed together, sending shivers of pleasure through each. Heero then got out of the bed and turned off the offending computer, returned to Duo, and continued their foreplay. Heero started licking and massaging Duo's nipples with his tongue when Duo pressed his hands against Heero's chest, stalling him momentarily.
"You mean you're not even going to check the message?" Duo asked, a shocked look on his face.
"No, it's just the daily news reports. Besides, I have more important things to do right now," Heero said as Duo wrapped his arms around him. "Now, where were we! ?"
"I think it was right about here," Duo said, pressing his lips to Heero's.
Dr. J was furious. He had sent a message to Heero over two hours earlier and there was still no response. He knew that troublesome Deathscythe pilot had to be behind it somehow. That kid just seemed to be a bad influence, gradually chipping away all the long hard training he had put Heero through to make him the perfect soldier. He could only hope that Heero had read the message and would respond soon.
He and the other scientists had gone into hiding when they learned that Oz had discovered their identities. He had chanced this one transmission to Heero, praying beyond hope that Oz would not intercept. The pilots' lives depended on Heero getting this one message, Dr. J could not risk sending another.
Heero was already dressed, waiting for Duo to finish his shower , he had asked the cook to bring their breakfast to Duo's bedroom. Heero was sure that had raised a few eyebrows among the staff, but he didn't care. As he waited, he flipped open the laptop, now was a good time to check out the news articles. It wasn't what was said in the reports that Heero was interested in, it was what wasn't in the reports, the slant that Romefeller put on the news. The majority of the people living on Earth didn't even know what a Gundam was and the ones who did thought they were terrorists. All of their attacks had either been hushed up, reported as 'accidents' or the acts of fanatics whose 'cause' was not known. Most of the people who lived on Earth had no true idea of the events that would shape their futures, and Romefeller intended to keep it that way, as Heero saw it.
Heero logged in, and to his surprise, there was a message waiting for him. But from whom? The scientists had disappeared weeks ago and none of the pilots had heard from them since.
Heero clicked on the 'read message' icon and the screen came up. He began reading.
'Heero, you and the other pilots CEASE ALL USE OF THE GUNDAMS, IMMEDIATELY,' the message read. 'There is a design error in the power cores, this will cause them to either stop functioning or they will become unstable, with an explosion a possible result. We are working on fixing the problem and will get word to you once it's done. I repeat CEASE ALL FURTHER USE OF THE GUNDAMS! J! end message.'
"Kuso," Heero uttered loudly, as he sent his 'understood' response, letting Dr. J know the message was received. He opened the door to the bathroom, "Meet me in Quatre's room," he yelled to Duo, then left the room.
Heero knocked on Wufei's door. "What's wrong?" Wufei asked.
The look on Heero's face said 'Trouble with a capital T'. "Important news, I've heard from J, follow me."
They knocked, then entered Quatre's bedroom. Quatre had decided he'd had enough of the infirmary and moved back to his own room the night before. He was still confined to bed, per doctor's orders, but he'd decided that was soon going to change.
Quatre and Trowa were finishing breakfast. Quatre sensed an urgency within Heero, something was wrong, deadly wrong. He also sensed something else about Heero, something underlying the urgency, Heero was in a good mood, a very good mood. Quatre inwardly grinned. He could guess what was making Heero feel happy, or, he corrected his thoughts, who.
"As soon as Duo gets! " Heero began to say when Duo walked in, dressed but still half wet, his clothes sticking to him, drying his hair with a towel. That vision of Duo was almost more than Heero could stand, he had to close his eyes and take a deep breath before he could continue. "! I got a message from Dr. J this morning," he said, getting his mind back to the business at hand.
"So that's why your laptop wouldn't shut up this morning and woke me out of such a sound sleep. And you thought it was just the daily news..." Duo's voice trailed off as Heero gave him a mock glare, Wufei stared, Quatre smiled and Trowa muttered, "It's about time."
Duo felt a slight blush rise in his cheeks. "Ahem," he cleared his throat, "! uh! what were you getting ready to tell us?" directing his question at Heero and getting everyone's eyes off him.
"As I started saying," Heero continued as he gave Duo a wink that said it was ok. " I got a message from Dr. J, and no, he did not say where he and the others are right now" he volunteered, responding to questions obviously forming on several pairs of lips, "but we are to immediately discontinue operation of the Gundams. There is a design flaw in the power core, it can either shut down completely or it can become unstable, possibly exploding. That explains what happened to Sandrock and Quatre, you are one very lucky guy, it seems Sandrock's core shut down instead of the other possibility. Well anyway,they are working on finding and fixing the glitch but until then no more missions using the suits. I say we don't have time to wait for the docs to figure it out, we should go out and steal ourselves some replacements."
"Steal power cores from Oz?" Duo chuckled. "I think I like that idea."
"It will be very dangerous, " Wufei pointed out. "Why don't we get replacements from the Maganacs?"
"We can't, their mobile suits are designed differently, their cores are fission powered, and the Gundam's are cold fusion, same as Oz's." Quatre replied.
"We don't have a choice, do we?" Trowa added. "The longer we're out of commission, the stronger Romefeller's power becomes."
"I don't think we have a choice either, Trowa," answered Heero. "We need to plan this out very carefully. I'll need to find out where the core factories are, first. I would expect they have more than one, so we might want to target the largest, or the closest. Finding their locations may take some creative hacking on my part, but once that's done, not only can we plan on stealing what we need but we can destroy the factory as well. That should slow their offensive long enough for us to get the Gundams repaired. Once I find the locations, we'll decide which factory to hit and plan our attack! I should go get started." He and Duo left the room while the others talked among themselves.
"C'mon, let's go get breakfast, I'm starved." Duo said, pulling on Heero's arm as he turned to head for the stairs and the kitchen. Heero gave Duo a playful tug, pulling him back and slipped an arm around Duo's waist.
"We are having breakfast in your! our room," Heero told him. "I asked the cook to send up a tray."
"Great, 'cause I've really worked up an appetite this morning, I wonder why?" Duo teased. It was Heero's turn to blush.
They were entering the bedroom, when Duo came to a sudden stop, almost making Heero fall.
"Did you say our room? As in our bedroom?" Duo asked, surprise in his voice.
"Gomen koi, I forgot to ask you. It is alright isn't it?"
"Of course, baka," Duo answered. "But are you sure you want to share my room? We could just as easily share yours."
"No, I know how much you like the room Quatre picked out for you, and in truth, I do too, the furnishings are simpler and I feel more comfortable, as I know you do."
"I'm glad," Duo admitted with a low, deep laugh. "I don't think I could stand that red satin nightmare Quatre stuck you with, for very long.. Let's get you moved in, after we eat."
"I did that while you were asleep."
Duo did a double-take, then hugged Heero tightly. "You never cease to amaze me, Yui. It takes you forever to make your move, but once you do!" he left the rest unsaid as they entered their room.
Heero had spent two days hacking into Oz's computer files, but still had not found any references to power cores or factories. Duo had kept the coffee coming, strong, black and hot. Heero didn't really like coffee but the caffeine helped keep him awake and alert. It was only at Duo's insistence he would stop long enough to eat, and give his eyes some rest.
Heero was about ready to call it quits and get some sleep, also at Duo's urgings, when he spied a file he had not seen on previous screens. The file was titled 'Tin Man'. He clicked it open, only to be sent to a security screen. 'To gain access, please enter the password', it read.
"Damn," Heero muttered. Selecting the wrong password would probably kick him out of Oz's system completely, as well as send an alert to Oz that someone was attempting entrance to their files. He was just too tired to start from scratch.
"Try *heart*," Duo suggested. He had been leaning over Heero's shoulder, looking at the screen when Heero had found the file.
"Heart? Why that?"
"There's an old story Sister Helen used to read to us at bedtime, it was called The Wizard of Oz.. In the story there was a character called the Tin Man, sort of a human sized mobile suit, he wanted the wizard to give him a heart. It seems to me someone at Oz has a sense of humor and is familiar with the story."
"So what happens if I try this and it doesn't work?"
"I know that's the password. But if I'm wrong, you name it and I'll do it." Duo offered.
"Well, there were a couple of things in those manuals! " Heero started to say.
"Not the manual thing again, I knew I should never have shown you those." Duo said, shaking his head and letting out a low moan.
"You said 'name it' and I'm going to hold you to your word if you're wrong." Heero was already letting his imagination take over, there had been a couple of things in those manuals that had caught his interest.
"Just type in the password, baka, and we'll figure something out later... that is if I'm wrong." Duo started teasing Heero's ear with his tongue.
"Umm, Duo... cut it out, your going to make me type that word in wrong."
"What? You mean the perfect soldier gets easily distracted when there is a tongue in his ear? I'm definitely going to remember THAT." Duo whispered in a low, husky voice.
All Heero could do was groan as he typed in h-e-a-r-t, and clicked 'enter'. They waited and after a few excruciatingly long seconds, another screen opened. They had found what they were looking for.
"YES!," Duo yelled and slapped Heero on the back. A very small part of Heero felt almost disappointed, the mixed emotions showed on his face.
"Oh, alright." Duo gave in, "We'll give those manuals another look, but I get to pick what we do. But first, let's get this information printed out and you get some sleep."
"Mission accepted." Heero responded as he pulled Duo into his lap and kissed him deeply, passionately and longingly. Sleep could wait a little while longer.
"Lord Treize," Lady Une said excitedly, as he entered his office. "There is an important message for you, an intercept you will find most interesting." She handed the memo to Treize.
Treize read it over, "Hmmm, cease use! power core defect! ," he broke into a big grin, "Well Col. Une, we both know what those pilots' next move will be," he said with confidence.
"Yes sir!" Col. Une responded. "They'll try to steal replacements."
"Let's make sure there is a reception committee waiting, shall we?"
"Of course, sir. Would you like some tea?"
"No, Lady, this calls for a celebration, " Treize pulled a 150 year old bottle of Napoleon brandy out of his desk drawer. "You will join me in a drink?"
"Yes, of course si..Treize, let me get the glasses."
"I couldn't have asked for a better piece of luck." Treize remarked, a Cheshire grin spread across his face. "Now we get to see just what those boys are really made of."
TBC
End of Act 1
KwyckSylver
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