06-Aug-2000
Category: Adventure, Action, Friendship, DARK DARK ANGST
Rating: R (Violence)
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).
NOTES: All right. Sorry about the small break there during the week. Real life got ahold of me and this part, as you will see took a bit of work! Bonne is the puppeteer for Heero, Wufei and the very interesting addition of Relena! I'm keeping track of the small cute blond and the braided baka.
Quatre didn't sleep long. Even as exhausted as he was, his nerves were still mission keyed and as such he woke when light trickled through the dirty windows. Immediately, he became aware of a stillness in the air around him. It bothered him. For a moment he lay quiet, trying to pinpoint the source of his unease. Wufei's heart beat reassuringly under his ear... he could hear the tiptoeing of inexperienced small feet trying to sneak around the hall ways. The lowered voices fussing over toys or pillows. These were normal noises in the orphanage at any time. Still.. beyond that... something was too still.
Straightening from where he rested against Wufei he blinked and looked around, brows furrowed. "I want to check on Duo."
Wufei looked down and nodded, stretching. He pulled out a bag that had been sitting, unnoticed, under the cot and opened it. Extracting a black t-shirt with a red dragon handpainted across the back and shoulder, he pulled it on over his head.
Quatre scrabbled up to his feet, tugging the pullover down till it brushed against the top of his jean clad thighs. He brushed his hand through his hair, giving the t-shirt a double look, he waited for Wufei to get ready, then slid through the door. Stepping out of the room into the hall he blinked in the brighter light a couple of times before moving the few steps down the corridor to the room where he'd left Duo with Heero.
Pressing open the door quietly, he peeked inside. Duo seemed to be resting more or less peacefully curled up on the cot: alone. Quatre frowned, a little surprised that Heero had left the braided boy. He took a breath and forced himself to dispel the minor irritation he felt. He didn't know the circumstances and Heero was like a desert wind, unpredictable. Trying to second guess him only got you lashed more fiercely by the blowing sand.
Backing up slowly, so as not to risk waking the American, he pulled the door closed and looked at Wufei for a moment. "Heero's not here but Duo's sleeping."
So that wasn't the problem. Turning, Quatre walked down to the end of the hallway, looking out the large fenced window into the street below. As he gazed at the way the morning grey made the streets seem foggy it began to sink in. There was no one moving on the streets. There was always someone moving around... one of the gangs... early morning pushers plying their wares, people without homes moving through the few remaining dumpsters. Now there was nothing.
Quatre chewed on his lip and looked over at Wufei. "There's no one in the streets."
Wufei nodded. He placed a hand on Quatre's shoulder for a minute, then disappeared down the hallway. Finding a back way out of the orphanage, he cut through the back alleys and was gone. Quatre looked over his shoulder, puzzlement bright in his turquoise eyes. Frowning, in frustration, he turned back to the window, gripping the fencelinks with his hands and watching the street below.
By the time Wufei returned, he found Quatre in the kitchen with Shelby. Quatre had a small arsenal laid out on the kitchen table in front of him. Handguns and a couple of pump action sawed off shotguns. He was busily loading one of the shotguns when Wufei returned. Wufei said nothing, simply placed a crumpled piece of paper in Quatre's hands.
Resting the loaded weapon along his shoulder, Quatre looked up at Wufei then he gazed down, reading the leaflet. It was a printout from an underground 'news' publication, which was circulated in the streets both from unauthorized servers and in a limited supply in printed form. Normally used as a podium by whatever criminal element might be in power at the moment, this copy had been hastily issued in the wee hours.
It contained a description of what appeared to be a serial killing of the most recent territory ruler. The details were graphic and might have been exaggerated but... even if they had been it was enough to turn even a nerveless stomach. A description of the small packages delivered was also given along with the note ordering the recipients to 'leave the children alone'.
Quatre's eyes widened at the descriptions both of what happened and the note. In fact he looked a little green around the gills and had to swallow repetitively a couple of times before he could force the meager contents of his stomach back down. He quickly crumpled the paper up and shoved it into his pocket. Grabbing Wufei's elbow he dropped back a couple of paces to where Shelby couldn't overhear them.
"Shelby just thinks this might be the prelude to a territory skirmish. I was inclined to believe her. It might be what it is. But... this." He looked down, his eyes troubled as he obviously began to try to outguess his enemy. "I don't know if it figures in or not Wufei. If it does... if someone is retaliating..." He let the thought drift off.
"Do you recognize the 'serial killer'?" Wufei asked softly.
Quatre's mind once again filled with the description of the mutilation. The kind part of his psyche shied away from his thoughts. No... no he didn't want to believe it. However, the more logical part of his mind was riding to the fore, over-ruling all thoughts of kindness in preparation for battle. Still, he couldn't help thinking about the sleeping boy upstairs...
~By Allah, if it's true...~ He couldn't bring himself to say it... but he looked up at Wufei, letting the knowledge show in his expressive turquoise eyes.
Wufei looked back. His own expression showed neither condemnation nor approval. "Serious circumstances warrant drastic actions. That was how we all played it in the war," he said quietly.
Quatre couldn't find it in himself to be horrified by what happened to the Alpha. Even he had a level of anger towards the man that made him cold to the circumstances of the man's death. The pain in Duo had driven *Quatre* to do things he normally wouldn't have considered, he couldn't imagine what it must have done to Heero. For a moment though, his eyes lost their focus as he turned his thoughts inwards. Turning something over and over in his mind. Letting himself work over that little part of him that was beginning to see a truth he didn't want to accept.
Shelby broke through his silence by clearing her throat. "There's movement on the street. I'm going to go round up the children. The kitchen is usually the safest place." There was no hint of censure in her tone but she did look at the guns laid out on the table.
Wufei retrieved his bag from the back room and began stowing the weapons inside it, leaving it unzipped but placing it out of reach of small hands.
Quatre motioned towards the bag as he walked out of the kitchen, calling over his shoulder. "Bring it. I want to stay in the front rooms. We'll have a better view."
Quatre didn't want to wake Duo but he couldn't just leave the other boy fast asleep unprotected in a room where bullets could fly by at any moment. He turned and trotted up the stairs. As he pressed open the door, he blinked in surprise as he found Duo sitting up on the edge of the cot. The American's violet eyes were large in his face and he looked as if he were waking from a drugged sleep. He focused up on Quatre blinking a couple of times.
"It's too quiet."
"Yes."
Duo nodded, still looking muzzy.
"Duo..." Quatre began. Then he walked on into the room and pressed a handgun he had in his shoulder holster and the shotgun into Duo's hands. Sometimes... sometimes the training was all any of them had to hold on to. The only grounding force. "The children are in the kitchen. Wufei and I are taking the front rooms. I want you to guard the back door into the kitchen."
Duo's hands began to check over the weapons, almost as if they had minds of their own. He looked up and his brows lifted. "Wu-man's here? Excellent."
Quatre didn't fail to notice that Duo didn't ask about Heero, it was as if the braided boy already had the answers he needed. Quatre waited till Duo got to his feet and began to move down the hall towards the kitchen, then he took the second set of stairs down to join Wufei in the front rooms.
"How is he?" Wufei asked, not taking his eyes from a regular sweep of the streets outside.
Quatre picked up a second shotgun and automatic pistol from the bag, tucking the pistol into the back of his jeans as he double checked the shotgun. "He'll cover the kitchen. Let's try to make sure he doesn't have too though." Quatre didn't doubt in Duo's ability to defend if he needed to. He just had no intention of letting anyone close enough to engage Maxwell.
"I'd rather be outside," Wufei remarked. "I noticed an old fire escape up to the roof when I was out before. Any objections to my going up there?"
The small blond had stepped up to a window and was scanning the outside. He could see forms flitting from cover to cover, getting into position. When things went down it was going to be quick. He shook his head. "No.. go, you'll get a better view of the situation."
Wufei nodded and left, not taking any of the weapons with him - he had his own. He did take the long coat, throwing it over his shoulder so he'd not have to worry with it as he climbed. "Keep your communicator on and handy." He said and then he was gone.
Quatre nodded, double checking the little device and sliding it onto his belt, locking it into place. Outside, he could see the different groups getting into position. They seemed to be coming from the top of the street and the end. Almost polite in the way they approached. Quatre didn't let himself be fooled though. There were alleys that ran between the buildings and lead to other streets up and down the block. They would be fools if they didn't use those avenues of approach as well.
Quatre ground his teeth. He could track the movements of people coming from up and down the street but he was blind to anyone coming up an alley from behind him.
The communicator clicked on. "I'm in position," Wufei's quiet voice said. "It's... they seem to be avoiding the block just around us in all directions."
"All right... that could be good or bad. For now.. hold position. We need to see what they do. If they don't come after the orphanage, I don't want to give them a reason." Quatre felt the way his heart began to pound and the adrenaline run through his bloodstream. Though he still didn't have enough information for his peace of mind, he could feel the keenness fill him.
As he'd predicted, suddenly everything seemed to shift into high gear. It was like the motions around him were moving faster then he was. Reacting quickly to the sound of the first shot, Quatre tucked himself alongside the window frame. With that one shot, all hell broke loose, with each side beginning to fire wildly at the other. True to Wufei's report, no stray bullets struck against the outside of the orphanage, telling Quatre that the two sides were keeping away from the structure.
Quatre had to blink.. impressed. If the people of the 4th put the amount of money into food that they did into arms and ammunition that would be the end to half their problems right there. The battle, for all its noise, lacked one important element. It had no direction. There came a point when the factions could no longer stay in hiding - advancement was necessary, even without direction. The street became the focal point, as if that piece of turf could somehow determine one group's supremacy over the other. With no strategic objective, both sides would fire until they ran out of ammunition or everyone was dead.
A sound, began soft, faraway and rapidly became thunderous, was recognized instantly by Quatre, Wufei and Duo. They were the only ones even remotely prepared when the Taurus mobile suit descended, gracefully from the sky above to occupy a space in the middle of the street. Though its weapons were held at ready, it did not fire on either side, simply occupied the strategic ground. A hail of terrified bullets didn't even scratch the smooth finish.
Braced or not... Quatre still blinked in surprise as the Taurus landed. Within the kitchen, Duo could see the mobile suit and he grinned a little. Quatre straightened in the room, listening to the hail of terrified bullets, waiting a strategic second as the two sides spent the majority of their ammunition on the Taurus's tough skin. Then he moved towards the front doors. Laying down the shotgun, he grabbed a second hand pistol and slid out the door with both drawn. Playing a hell of a hunch, he ducked through the firestorm till he could dart across the open ground, dashing for the cover provided between the Taurus's legs.
Once there, in the relative safety of the mobile suit's shadow, he began to fire back down the street at the two sides. From the kitchen, Duo watched this. He was moving almost as once so that it wasn't long after the little blond popped up between the Taurus's legs that Duo joined Quatre there.
For a moment, bullets flew everywhich way till confusion on the parts of the gangers finally kicked in and silence descended on the smoking street. As the silence fell, another sound from the air caused all those in the area to look up once again. A small, almost dainty helicopter descended, coming down next to the Taurus, dwarfed by the mobile suit. The helicopter appeared delicate but the pilots recognized it as the Preventer's latest model. A model that shouldn't have been anywhere near this colony.
A voice from the Taurus was projected out into the street. "Come out into the street, and do not institute any aggressive action." To make the point, the Taurus, which had been still as a statue, raised an arm and with a quick, precise blast, shook debris over a group crouched in one of the alleys. No one was hurt but they were now exposed.
Quatre and Duo turned as one unit, following up the Taurus's action by leveling their freshly loaded weapons on the small group.
Duo quirked a brow upwards.
People began to pour out of the alleys and other bits of cover that were around. Quatre watched this closely, his reflexes sharp as he rotated about. Duo was looking up at the mobile suit with something akin to longing and fascination. On one of his turns, something caught Quatre's eye. A fixed gaze.
Stony Eyes.
Quatre didn't even hesitate, just grabbed Duo and threw him down on the ground as a bullet pinged off the heavily armored skin of the Taurus. As the sound echoed through the street, the large woman was already lost into the crowd but Quatre could see the back of her head through the red mist that went across his vision.
Snarling, the little blond launched away from the wriggling Duo and dashed after the woman, unconcerned about going right through the throngs of gangers who just a moment before had been shooting at them. The large woman might have made her escape... however a black-clad figure dropped from the rooftop above, directly into her path. She suddenly found herself facing a cold Chinese pilot and the muzzle of an automatic.
"Stop, onna," Wufei growled, cocking the gun reflexively.
Stony Eyes pulled up at the site of the boy and gun in his hand. Her small eyes darted left and right as she contemplated her options, which became quite narrow as Quatre barreled into her from behind. Winner was in no mood to be forgiving. He'd had it. The momentum of his rush took them both crashing onto the mucky ground, Quatre didn't even bother turning her around, just grabbed that back of her head and began introducing her face to the pavement... a close, personal introduction ... repeatedly.
Wufei watched, keeping his eye on the surrounding area. She might have had confederates. "Finish it, FC," he growled.
Quatre almost, almost let himself kill the woman. His blood was up and he had never felt more ready to destroy something at any time in his young life. In the end though ... he stopped. Even FC couldn't make him kill a defeated and limp enemy. Pushing the moaning woman aside, he threw himself off her and sat quietly at Wufei's feet for a moment, his back to the Chinese boy's legs.
Wufei reached down briefly and let the fingers of one hand brush the top of Quatre's head.
End Part 12A
Laekin
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