1-Aug-2000
Category: Adventure, Action, Friendship, DARK DARK ANGST
Rating: R (Violence and adult situations. )
Disclaimer: Not mine, just playing with them not seeking to make any sort
of money. ((Except for Shelby and Penny.. they're mine. :> ))
Pairings: Those established in my timeline (Companions of Fate) this is
just Duo and Quatre out and about at the moment.
NOTES: As I've said before 4th Colony in L2 is NOT A NICE PLACE!! Lot's of emotional angst!
Quatre stood in the doorway of the orphanage, watching as Duo melted away into the shadows. He rested one arm along his bruised ribs, the other hand gripped the butt of his handgun. Duo had insisted that there was something he needed to take care of; solo. Quatre had tried to argue with Duo, he worried about the braided boy's haunted eyes and pale features. He didn't like letting Duo go out on his own...
~ but he's not on his own. ~ Quatre's inner voice replied.
For a moment Quatre looked up and around, trying to penetrate the shadows for the figure of Heero. He couldn't see anything. He didn't truly expect to. Taking a deep breath and trusting to faith, the small Arabian ducked back into the orphanage and bolted up the doors tight.
Duo moved like liquid night through the streets. His violet eyes were as dark as his clothing. A fixed sort of rage was back, twisting his pale features and his hand remained closed on his gun, the weapon drawn and held close to his body, like a child would hold a teddy bear to ward of nightmares. Only the nightmares Duo moved through were a little more substantial. He didn't delude himself into thinking the Alpha knew who he was. Or recognized him. He didn't care. Right now his mind wasn't exactly clicking logically.
Quatre had faced him in the small cracked room of the orphanage, the little blonde's eyes had screamed for him not to do this but never once had Quatre uttered the words asking him to stop. Duo was glad. He hated having to say no to Quatre.
Duo knew the streets and the buildings by heart. He approached the warehouse they had visited earlier from an angle that would give him the greatest advantage of surprise. To his left, down an alleyway, a pair of toughs with silenced weapons waited. They didn't know who might come down the street the next minute nor did they care - they were positioned to take out anyone who might come this way.
As Duo drew even with the concealed thugs, the slightest sound of a rat moving among the debris could be heard. One of the men tensed, his finger tightening. A split second later his hand fell, numbed from the elbow down. He had time to see his buddy on the ground. Then nothing. All was still.
Duo wasn't really looking down the alley. His focus was getting into the building. He never let go of the gun as he scrabbled silently up along the wall to the window above the crate. In through the window, he took a moment to disable any nasty surprises, he was running on automatic pilot. His training and experience reacting to the threats on the instinctive level. His conscious mind focused completely on reaching the man he wished to destroy.
The room he entered was empty. Outside it, in the hallway, a shadow passed silently from an access further up. If Duo had been consciously aware of what he was reacting to automatically, he might have alerted on the shadow. As it was, his subconscious supplied knowledge to his nerves. He took no notice of the shadow not because he was sloppy but because a part of him recognized the shadow and the shadow was not a threat. If Heero looked back he would see Duo take up position and move in a way that the American used when the two of them were doing a job together.
Duo was unaware of this though. He moved out of the room and began to work his way down the hall. He knew where to find the inner rooms of the building, the Alpha's private quarters. Just a matter of picking the right door. He made a couple of wrong choices and the sleeping occupants of the rooms paid the price if they woke up and saw him.
As Duo moved towards his goal, the shadow at his back moved right, left, sweeping silently, leaving every living thing it passed in a state of deeper unconsciousness. Even those who did not wake, would not - not for a long time. No one would be coming behind to surprised or disturb what was going to occur. Duo finally pinpointed the room he wanted. He could hear through the door that the Alpha was within. Stepping back, he took the knob in his hand and turned it silently. Creeping in but leaving the door open, he took in the scene before his eyes.
It was as twisted as his mangled memories remembered. Duo could not look at what he saw. His simply could not take in all the visual stimuli so he blocked it out with the same single minded focus that allowed him to fight one mobile suit while a fleet of them buzzed around him like angry flies.
Just at the foot of the bed, the Alpha blinked. His face sliding from annoyance at being disturbed to a sort of curious amusement. This was new.
"I take it you want something."
Duo stood there, trembling. He couldn't find his voice. Now that he faced the man he could see the flashes in his mind's eyes. The leering features twisting into the terrible monstrous face of his childhood boogieman. The laughter that sounded like it came from deep within some can. Duo shuddered, his training snapped the gun up into position, fingers on the trigger.
The American boy held the gun in a double handed grip. Rare for him. He usually used a single handed grip, the other hand either wielding another gun or some other instrument of destruction. Now, he held the gun as if he was trying to crack the butt between his long, strong fingers. The stance was not lost on the Alpha. Stepping back from the bed, the man turned, sliding the thongs of the cat o nine tails through his leather clad fingers.
"Yes... yes I'd say you do seem to want something. Rather badly at that."
The man's voice was conversationally normal. A part of Duo cringed at that fact. How the hell could the man be standing there in... well that outfit, in this... this... Duo couldn't bring himself to call it a room, it was a twisted box of someone's nightmare... a gun focused on his head... yet the Alpha spoke as if he were at his leisure.
Duo knew anger. How dare the man mock him. He pulled the hammer back on the gun. The Alpha stopped his slow advance and quirked a well kept brow upwards.
"Hmm.. you do seem intent upon shooting me. I wonder why. Not very smart for a Real Estate Broker."
Duo had left the door open behind him, which made it easier for Heero to canvas the area. It took a short survey to determine that the room had one other entrance. The guard who was dozing outside of that other door, who was supposed to be available at the call of a raised voice, did not wake up and never would wake up again. The door was blocked from the outside.
Duo wanted to yell at the man. He wanted to throw every angry word and horrible thought at him. He wanted to attack him, as he'd attack Quatre earlier. But the motions wouldn't come. None of it would come. All he could think was... ~He doesn't know... he doesn't know.~ For some reason that was worse then if the man had known him. If the man had stood there and teased him about what happened.
As Duo looked more and more confused, the Alpha again began to advance. "Killing me really isn't all that bright you know. I'm mild mannered compared to those waiting for my turf. I'm established. I don't need to... make my mark."
The child Duo pushed the memories to the front. The silent horrors that could happen when the druggers set out to prove themselves and subdue their territory. It was a time when any atrocity was open for use and innocents were used as so much fodder. He looked back up into the man's face. The Alpha's head did a low rotation to the side and he was close enough that he could reach out with the butt of the whip, running it alongside Duo's cheek thoughtfully.
"Hmm... those eyes. Large violet eyes. I have seen you before."
Duo felt ill. Shivers ran through his body like a black ice and he broke. Wheeling away from the horror in front of him he dashed out of the room into the hall. All he could think of was getting away. Duo impacted something solid that blocked his way. Strong arms reached out to hold his shoulders.
"Duo."
All his training shattered for a moment and he just thrashed against the hold on his shoulders. He knew how to bring the gun up and over the shoulders of his opponent and crack it against the collarbone but right now he was unaware that he even held the weapon still. Even the voice didn't penetrate his mind, which was looping back on another voice, laughing cruelly from somewhere above him.
Watching over his lover's shoulder, cobalt eyes like dark glaciers, Heero kept the man in the room locked in his sights. He gave Duo one, simple shake.
"Shinigami."
The one word burrowed through Duo's tangled awareness and he looked up, finally looking *at* Heero. Duo swallowed tightly and squeezed the name past a throat that felt too tight. "He-..Heero."
Heero nodded, his face a familiar, cold mask, his eyes trained over Duo's shoulder. "You want me to do your job for you, God of Death?" he said softly.
Duo shook his head, a tight almost painful motion. His voice a raspy whisper. "Out... extract." He squeezed out, it took all the effort of his lungs. He was gasping for breath but he couldn't seem to get any air.
It wasn't what Heero wanted. The scene in the room was not lost on him, nor Duo's reaction to it. He wanted to kill. Or see Duo kill this man. "Affirmative," he said. His eyes continued to lock on those of the man in the room.
The Alpha stood in the doorway, watching the two young men with an almost curious expression on his hard handsome face. He continued to slick the thongs of the whip through his fingers as he met Heero's eyes directly. An Alpha did not step away from a young challenger, though the man obviously showed a healthy amount of interest and respect towards the cobalt blue eyes watching him.
The man's respect meant less than nothing to Heero. "Enjoy breathing for a while. You're already dead."
The words were not lost on the Alpha and the man broke eye contact with Heero to let his gaze travel along Duo's trembling back and buttocks. "If that is the case, I'll have to make sure to make the most of my last moments. Thank you for the warning."
The words made no impression. Heero put one arm around Duo and pulled him away from the open doorway. Moving quickly, he maneuvered them out of the now still house. He grabbed Duo's communicator and punch a button.
"FC."
The response was immediate and calm. "Here."
"Get here. You shouldn't have any trouble. I need you to complete an extraction."
"Mobile." Came the single word reply and then silence as Quatre shut off his communicator and put action to word.
Duo stood, shivering in Heero's hold. He made no move to lean against the other boy, instead he stared at a spot looking as if he was trying to figure out how the hell he'd gotten here.
"Duo," Heero said quietly. "Quatre is coming. When he gets here, I'm going back in. I'm going to kill that man. Do you understand?"
It was the street smarts that came to the fore. The knowledge that he had grown up with. The laws of the streets. Behind it came the nature that made him a Gundam Pilot. The protection of innocents.. of those unable to defend himself. He snapped free of the stupor and looked up at Heero, finally getting dilated eyes to focus on his lover.
"No... no Heero. It... it will cause a power struggle... in the middle of a territory war... innocents... innocents will be hurt. Needlessly."
"Any time innocents are hurt it's needless," Heero said. "There was a boy with him. I won't leave him there. I understand what you are saying but try to trust me. Most of his nearest rivals are already dead. He doesn't know it. I've been cleaning house."
Duo hadn't really.. looked at the bed. He couldn't. Though a part of him recognized that the Alpha wouldn't have been there without a reason. He turned his head back towards the room a stricken look on his pale features. Heero should not be cleaning up *his* mess. Duo didn't even slow down long enough to wonder just what Heero was doing here. It seemed natural that the Japanese boy was at his side.
"You... you shouldn't be cleaning my job." He whispered, anguished and terrified as he tried to force his leadened limbs to turn around, back towards the room.
Heero gave Duo a shake... a very gentle shake, so at odds with his habitual demeanor. "This isn't... just a job, though," he said.
"It's... it's my... fight." Duo didn't know if he could walk back into that room. ~An innocent is in there Maxwell. As unknowing as you were and you are wasting precious time.~ His teeth nearly cracked as he ground them together. Breaking away from Heero's hold and stumbling a bit as he moved back towards the room.
Silent as a small ghost, the little not-quite-blonde popped out of the shadows at Heero's elbow.
"Keep the door open for us. Shouldn't be a problem but we've been here a bit long," Heero said. Then he followed Duo like the braided pilot's own shadow.
Quatre nodded, silent though he cast a worried look at Duo's back before he slid away to keep their exit open.
Duo walked towards the door. He could feel his heart in his throat and hear it in his ears. It felt like the organ was going to jump out of his own chest. A part of his mind supplied the fact that he was letting the fear make the reality worse then it was but he was in no mood to listen to logic at the moment. Stepping through the doorway he forced himself to look at the bed and the figures on it.
His young heart twisted at what he saw. The Alpha looked up with an expression of boredom. He opened his mouth and began to speak.
"You aga..."
The gunshot echoed through the room.
The youth on the bed screamed but the noise was muffled by the restraints. Duo stood there shaking with helpless rage, pain, and terror. He wanted to turn.. to run.. instead he forced himself to walk further into the room. Towards the bed with it's grisly scene. Reaching the bed he began to undo the restraints holding the terrified boy to the mattress.
Another pair of hands joined him, helping it go faster. Heero took off his jacket and wrapped it around the youth. Duo was grateful for the assistance. His fingers kept fumbling the restraints they were trembling so badly. As soon as Heero had his coat around the figure of the boy, Duo picked the shivering youth up, peering into the dilated eyes. Contentment no doubt. The boy was probably close to coming down off the first dose.
"We... we need to get him back to the orphanage before he comes down completely."
Heero nodded. Then he stopped Duo for just a moment, making him look at the body on the floor. "This... can't hurt him, or you, or anyone again. You took care of it."
Duo fought Heero at first, then forced himself to look at the body. He swallowed tightly and shook his head a little, looking from the corpse to Heero. "What about the next monster." The 4th was full of them. Duo tightened his hold on the jacket clad little body in his arms and walked towards the doors, he wanted out.. out, OUT.
Heero nodded, letting him go. Once he was out of the room, Heero looked back at the body. "Maybe I can't stop the next one, but I can give them a reason to hesitate," he said aloud.
Quatre had knocked a head or two but the coast was clear for the extraction. He waited in the shadows, wincing as Duo blew by with the figure in his arms, then turning to wait for Heero to move through the door. He got a call on his communicator.
"Stick with Duo. I'll be there later."
Quatre just nodded and then moved out the door behind Duo. As he exited the building he found the American standing in the alley, looking lost and confused once again. The little Arabian stepped quickly up behind Duo, pressing his hand against the small of Duo's back and urging him forward into the safety of the shadows thrown by the buildings. His own gun drawn, Quatre began to lead the shocky Duo and the drugged child back towards the safety of the orphanage.
In the next three hours, each and every dealer, enforcer, or wannabe bad boy in the territory got a small package with a neat, clear note attached. The package contained a half pound of human flesh. Some of it wasn't recognizable but most pieces were. The note said, "This could be you next time. Leave the children alone."
The building was left intact, complete with bodies. The bedroom of the Alpha was most especially left in a condition that would cause those who found it later to get together and torch the building themselves, but not before the stories began to be told. Each and every person who received a 'package' soon knew at least what they had, and where the cutting had occurred from the descriptions in the stories. It was against every rule or procedure the team had ever used. Heero was making special rules for the 4th. He knew things about terror that he'd never used in the war.
Quatre and Duo had gotten back to the orphanage. The youth placed in Shelby's capable hands. Quatre had nearly had to pry Duo's hands off the boy to get him to pass the young man over to Shelby. Then he had quietly guided Duo up the stairs to the small room they used. Duo had slid back into a state of pure withdrawal. Quatre had sighed, worry making his chest ache as it seemed that for every ghost Duo defeated, two more popped up to take it's place.
Quatre had gently gone about loosening the American's clothing, removing his shirt and making it easier for him to rest in his trousers. Boots neatly undone and set off to the side. Then the little Arabian had settled himself into a rickety chair, leaning his head back against the rest and watching Duo as the other boy lay quietly curled up on his side. Duo's eyes had closed while Quatre had gently manipulated his body and he'd felt himself slide down into a sort of half doze.
In a well-guarded room in the nicest hotel the colony had to offer, a light tap on the door of the room brought the attention of a young girl up from the reams of information she was reading.
"Yes?"
The door opened. Heero entered, his hair damp, wearing fresh clothes, looking as if he had just stepped from a shower. His face, always impassive, seemed the slightest bit more set than usual to the girl's eyes. She noticed such things... she'd studied him with greater focused attention than all of her many projects and tasks.
"You look tired, Heero."
"I need to talk to you," he said.
Relena Dorlan nodded, patting the bed beside where she was working. To her surprise, he actually came over and sat where she indicated. "What is it, Heero?"
"This colony needs something more than proposals and speeches. If it doesn't get it, and soon, the peace you made will turn out to be worthless to the people here. They are still locked in a war. For survival. And the casualties are greater every day."
The young girl frowned. She looked around her at the reams of information, the proposals, projects, attempts to use the beauracracy to reach a situation that was beyond emergency.
"This... isn't going to do, is it?"
Heero shook his head.
Taking a deep breath, she nodded. "Then we'll have to begin again. If we can't find answers, we'll just have to make new ones. Please ask my secretary to get me a communicator with a secure line. I want to speak privately with Lady Une."
Heero stood up, nodding once. He went to the door and looked back.
"Thank you, Relena," he said, and left.
She watched the door close and sighed. "If that is the only time I ever hear those words from your lips," she said softly, then shook her head. The Vice Minister had work to do.
Quatre was dozing when the door opened. It was very, very late - almost eight hours after he'd gotten Duo back to the orphanage.
"Go get some real sleep," Heero said softly, touching Quatre's shoulder. He was dressed in different clothes and his skin held a faint scent of soap as if he'd washed several times.
Something Quatre planned to do when he got home. The small blonde's eyes opened immediately and he looked up at Heero. He really couldn't lay down and get comfortable enough to actually sleep.. which was why he was sitting in the chair. Still, he knew a push off when he heard one and he smiled gently to Heero as he stood and silently ghosted out the door.
Shelby saw him come through, and held up a hand. "FC? There's someone waiting in the other room for you."
Quatre turned to Shelby with a gentle expression, he couldn't help it.. he couldn't bring himself to be icy to her.. but his features slid into a wary frown at her words. He nodded, remembering to smile to her.
"Thank you Shelby."
He moved cautiously towards the room, his hand sliding to the small of his back where his handgun was tucked. The small room held a cot and a chair. The chair was occupied by a figure swathed in a long black coat, and a black fedora was tilted across the face of the one who sat there. When Quatre entered, a graceful hand reached up and took the hat off, tossing it onto the cot's surface.
Wufei looked closely at Quatre's face. "Okay, so I'll wait for Duo to recover. *Then* I'll kill him."
The wariness had hit a peak of near paranoia as he had first entered the room and taken in the black on black figure. True recognition took a moment to sink past *FC's* defenses. When it finally hit.. Quatre exhaled and deflated like a popped balloon. His hand fell away from the grip of his weapon as he stumbled forward and dropped on his knees, pressing his face into Wufei's legs.
End Part 10
(( Again, I didn't want to spoiler the surprise of Relena showing up. Bonne is the voice of Relena, Heero and Wufei here and she's done a great job with them all! In my humble opinion. I'll take responsibility for the blonde and the braided baka. :D))
Laekin
Please send comments to: seregill@aol.com or bonnejeanne@yahoo.com
On to Part 11