22-Oct-2000
Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing nor any of its characters.
Warning: Bad language, implied yaoi.
C & C not only most welcome, but highly craved.
"Damn", Heero said out loud, "How the hell did this happen?" Heero Yui was sitting on a bunk, in a cell at the Oz base they had infiltrated mere hours earlier. Wufei was sitting on the bunk, next to him.
"I've been thinking about that as well," Wufei answered. "I have no answer, we had this planned perfectly. They were expecting us, Heero, they knew we were coming."
"But how? There is no way they could have anticipated we were going to need to steal power cores. We didn't even know, if it weren't for J's message we still wouldn't know. I can only assume they intercepted that message."
"Do you think the others got away?" Wufei asked.
"I think so, the only reason we're here is 'cause that truck ran out of gas. Remind me to teach Duo to check the gas gauge the next time he steals a vehicle, ok?" Heero knew he really couldn't blame Duo, he hadn't checked that gauge, either. It was just as much his fault Wufei and he were sitting in that cell.
"Or maybe next time we bring our own trucks, instead of stealing them on the spot." Wufei suggested. "So, what's the plan on getting us out of here?"
Duo was pissed. "Hell, damn, shit, fuck!" he yelled. Anything and everything that was within arms reach was being tossed and thrown around.
//Thank Allah, we're in the garage// Quatre thought as he was dodging miscellaneous objects flying around in the air. The idea of Duo wreaking that kind of carnage in his home instead of out here was almost more than he could bear. "Duo, please, settle down, this isn't solving anything, you need to keep a clear head right now."
Duo took a few deep breaths and made himself calm down. "I know, but that felt good, you should try it sometime." He looked around at the scattered tools and parts and with a sigh, started picking them up and putting them away. Quatre started straightening up the garage as well.
Treize Khruzhenada stepped into the cell. He stood there for a moment just observing the two young Gundam pilots that had been captured. The fact that he was seething under the calm countenance on his face said much about the control the young Lord had over himself. //Those idiots really bungled it this time. They had orders to capture all five, and they blew it. I guess I should be happy with two, for now.//
"Chang Wufei" he acknowledged, "So nice to see you again, and you as well, Mr. Yui. I am sorry this meeting couldn't be under as friendly a circumstance as our last, but those are the fortunes of war, yes?"
Wufei glared at Treize. "How did you know?" was all he asked.
"You don't really expect me to answer that, do you?" Treize chuckled.
"How fortunate for you to be back in Romefeller's good graces." Heero spoke up. "How did you manage that?"
"My charming personality of course!" Treize laughed, Lady Une was entering the cell as Treize spoke.
Both Heero's and Wufei's eyes grew wide as they recognized her. "You orchestrated that whole *assassination* scene at Relena's coronation." Wufei growled. "Now I really do need to kill you."
Treize started laughing, "I must say, I like your confidence Chang, considering the position you're in now. But enough of that, I have to decide what to do with the two of you now. Do I kill you or do I use you? You Gundam pilots make great propaganda, but Romefeller would rather see you dead. Quite a conundrum, don't you agree?"
"Lord Treize", Lady Une spoke up. "I'm sorry to interrupt you, but there is an important matter that needs your attention."
"Very well, Lady," Treize turned to leave. "We'll talk more," he addressed the two pilots as he left the cell.
Once alone, Heero told Wufei, "You're going to have to beat me to it."
"Beat you to what?"
"Killing that bastard." Heero said. The coldness in his voice gave Wufei the chills.
Trowa was sitting in front of Heero's laptop. They had the layout of the base, but they needed the blueprints to the brig, the most likely place they would be holding Heero and Wufei. No place else would be secure enough to hold them. With Duo's help, Trowa retraced what Heero had done to find the base when he originally hacked into Oz's system. Once in, the blueprints were easy to find and Trowa started printing them out.
"I think we are going to need some help." Quatre said. "Rashid has offered and he is bringing some of the Maganacs with him."
"No mobile suits", Trowa suggested. "At least not for the rescue mission, but keep them on standby, we still have to finish what we started. After we get Heero and Wufei, we're leveling that base." Quatre and Duo agreed.
They had stood by, helpless, when Heero and Wufei were captured. There had been too many Oz troops and Heero had signaled them to keep going. Getting out with the power cores was more important, Heero had said. Quatre had reluctantly agreed, overriding Duo's loud protestations, it had been part of the contingency plan if any were captured. Duo had been mad as hell at first, even taking a swing at Quatre that would have connected if Quatre hadn't reflexively ducked. Afterward he'd managed to calm Duo down until that outburst in the garage. That outburst seemed to have helped, Quatre had to admit, Duo was thinking with his head now, instead of his heart.
Quatre's thought's were interrupted by a very excited outburst from Duo. "Look at this!" he exclaimed. "Can you believe it?"
"Believe what?", Quatre was staring at the computer screen, but didn't get the point Duo was making.
"Look! Quatre, don't you see? This base is a factory, not only do they make the power cores, but they make the Leos here as well. And the ironic thing is, there are no mobile suit troops assigned to this base, only ground troops."
"What? Great! That should make the rescue a little easier then. But of course you know they are really going to be expecting us this time. Which reminds me, do you have any idea how they knew we were coming? I've thought about it, they must have intercepted that message from Doctor J, or Heero's hacking was somehow detected."
"I think they intercepted the message." Trowa spoke up. "Heero is just too good at hacking, the route he takes would lead them to about a thousand other computers before they finally traced this one, and I don't think Oz has anyone that knows computers as well as Heero does. I'll bet they still don't know they were hacked." Trowa was almost right.
In an office at the headquarters of Oz's Information Corp, a young computer specialist was reporting to his C.O..
"It is taking time to track down that hacker sir, and I apologize for that, but we are closing in on 'him'. It may take us a few more days, the route 'he' traveled is very convoluted, he has many loops and backtracks, plus some routes that don't go anywhere. We have to search all of that, but we will find 'him'."
"You had better, or it's both our butts," his C.O. answered. "Now get back to work."
"Yes sir!"
Treize was sitting in the office he had commandeered from the base C.O.. "Keep the base on high alert until further notice, Lady," he ordered. "The rest of the pilots are going to try to 'spring' those two, it's just a matter of when."
"Yes sir, I've already given the order, they know what to expect."
"I wonder if they really do." Treize observed.
Heero and Wufei were sitting in their cell. "Why are we waiting for the guys?" Wufei asked. "We've been sitting here for two days now, and I'm wondering why. We could have made our escape already."
"We're waiting for the guys." Heero answered. "'Cause we're going to take out this base once and for all."
"When do you think they'll come?"
"I'd say they're just outside the base right now."
Trowa and Quatre took out the two guards at the small side entrance, rendering them unconscious, took their weapons and propped them up inside the guardhouse. From a distance, things would still look normal. They climbed back into the jeep and Duo started driving in the direction of the brig. Rashid and the three Maganacs he had chosen to assist them followed behind, in a truck. The rest of the Maganac Corp was a half mile away, waiting for the order to attack.
Once again, they were wearing the uniform of Oz. Duo had his braid tucked under his cap. He needed to be as inconspicuous as possible and he couldn't do that with a braid trailing down his back. Too many Oz soldiers had recently become familiar with that braid and who wore it.
It was late at night, and the base personnel should be asleep, except for the night crews. Hopefully, this would make the rescue easier, they were counting on that.
"They've been spotted?" Lord Treize asked.
"Yes sir, they took out the guards at the west entrance."
"Well, Lady Une, it looks as though the game is afoot."
"They're here," sensed Heero. "Get ready."
"How do you know that, Yui?" Wufei asked.
"Because this is what Quatre and I planned, in case any of us were captured."
"Oh," was Wufei's only response.
A jeep and a truck pulled to a stop in front of the brig. Three Oz soldiers got out of the jeep and entered the building. They approached the main desk
"May I help you?" The sergeant at the desk asked the three.
"Yes, you can release the two prisoners." Trowa said.
"On what authority?" the sergeant demanded.
"The Smith and Wesson pointed at your head," responded Duo, as he pulled his gun and aimed.
"Here's the keys," the sergeant held them out to Duo.
"No, you are going to release them, I'll follow," Duo ordered.
The sergeant led the way to the cell block with Duo right behind. The sergeant unlocked the cell and Heero and Wufei stepped outside. Duo handed each of them a gun and they motioned the sergeant to enter the cell and locked it behind him.
"Right on time," Heero told him.
"Yeah, but next time let the rest of us in on your plans, ok? Not only did I almost punch out Quatre for leaving you, what if he had been captured as well?"
"That's why we were in separate groups."
"Smartass," Duo grinned.
Quatre and Trowa had been rounding up the rest of the soldiers in the brig while Duo was freeing Heero and Wufei, then all five left the building as soon as they had locked them up.
They were about to get into the jeep and leave, when they were surrounded by Oz soldiers, guns pointed at them.
"This feels like deja-vu, all over again," Duo remarked.
The five pilots were getting ready to surrender their weapons when gunfire rang out. It was Rashid and two of the Maganacs. The third made a sudden appearance when the canvas cover over the truck dropped, revealing him behind the trigger of a very large machine gun. The Oz soldiers scattered as he started firing. The five pilots jumped into the jeep and took off while Rashid and the two jumped back into the truck, all four Maganacs firing, giving the pilots the needed cover for escape. They then followed right behind.
The escape wasn't easy, they were being fired upon in an almost constant hail of bullets and Oz was chasing them in their own vehicles. Rashid radioed the waiting Maganacs, their mobile suits at the ready. The attack was on.
"What the hell is going on?" Treize was infuriated. // How did those damned pilots pull this off?// Even with the base on high alert and the soldiers in place, just waiting for the three others to show up, they still managed not only to free the two captured ones but to make their escape as well. The in competency of the troops on this base was mind boggling, the commander of this base had a lot to answer for, Treize was going to make sure that man never had another command and see to it he was assigned to the worst shithole of a base he could find. Someone had to pay for making Treize Khruzhenada look bad. Lady Une ran into the office, a panicked look on her face.
"Lord Treize, the base is under attack by mobile suits. Please sir, we need to get you out of here. We have no defenses against them, hurry, please!"
"Very well, Lady. Make sure the base commander accompanies us, he has a lot to answer for."
"Yes sir, your plane is ready, we need to leave now before they take out the airfield."
"Let's go then."
Lady Une had a car waiting for Treize, the base commander was already inside, handcuffed and guarded. They raced to the airfield and took off as quickly as possible. They made it out just in time. A few minutes later the airfield was a mass of rubble.
The Maganacs had the base under their control in just a few hours. Rashid had their nuclear specialists flown in to dismantle the core factory, the only untouched building on the base. Large craters dotted the area where the mobile suit factory had been. The rest of the buildings were in varying degrees of destruction. Rashid was proud of what his men had done. They had dealt a very serious blow to the Oz war machine, helping to even the odds a little bit. They just might win this thing after all.
The five pilots were back at Quatre's estate. Duo breathed a big sigh of relief now that Heero was safe. He also apologized to Quatre for his behavior. Quatre had to admit, he would have acted the same way if it had been Trowa.
Duo went up to his bedroom, his and Heero's bedroom, he corrected himself. He was thinking of ways to show Heero just how much he had missed him and how worried he had been. Apparently, Heero had a similar idea. Heero was laying on the bed, stark naked. The manuals laying beside him.
"You've got a promise to keep." Heero said with a devilish grin.
TBC
End of Act 2
KwyckSylver
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