15-Sep-2000
Category: Adventure, Action, Emotional Angst, Romance.
Pairings: 1x2, 3x4x5 (Combinations there of)
Rating: R
Disclaimer: Not mine, no money being made here or sought.
NOTES: More plot and other fun past times. The R is for a little bit of violence. Also we're going to be gearing up for some serious emotional torment in Prt 14 which will be out shortly. Bonne ( bonnejeanne@yahoo.com) is the puppeteer of Heero and Relena and I keep track of Duo and Quatre.
The Japanese boy crossed the room instantly, grabbing Quatre's wrist and pulling him along as he proceeded at top speed down the long hall to the Vice Minister's rooms. Quatre was already moving, so Heero didn't have to tug much. At the rooms, security was swarming and Quatre tried to drop back a little.
Chaos reigned at the moment, Duo's tell tail braid gave Heero a starting point in the center of it all. Two men were sitting on the floor, blood spilling down their heads from head blows. Heero never released Quatre's hand so the blond was pulled along as Heero made a beeline for Duo.
"Situation?"
Quatre stumbled a little. He was looking around and not keeping up with his own two feet. Duo straightened and nodded towards the two injured men. His thin lips were curled in an expression of annoyance.
"Someone hit them from behind, must have thought they'd be out longer. Relena's safe, they seemed to be after something in her room. Her assistant is going over the paperwork now to see if there is anything missing."
Almost as if on cue the assistant's pretty red hair popped up from behind the desk. "Most everything is here but I can't find the personal memos that Master Quatre sent over last night. Oh.. hi Master Quatre." She smiled cheerfully.
Quatre cursed softly under his breath. The memos were some of the only hard evidence they had of Unity's suspicious past. Heero handed Quatre's wrist to Duo like handing off the trigger of a bomb. Then he went to see Relena. The Vice Minister was wrapping a robe around her body and tying the sash as she advanced on her assistant.
"Hello Heero," she said absently. "Aslan! You said the memos from Master Winner are missing? Are you certain?"
Aslan's elfin features were buried in the paperwork. This was her strength, she knew ever piece of paper in the Vice Ministers's possession. She could put her hands on receipts that were months old. For all that she sounded like a chipper air-head she was an organizational wizard. "I'm certain Vice Minister. I put them in with the Cronket reports as well as the reports from the Bio-Lurge corporation. They were on the top. I can find those files but not those memo's. There's no trace of em."
Relena nodded. "Very well, thank you." She turned and spotted Quatre. "You heard?"
Can you see the unhappy little blond creature? Yep he heard. Quatre looked positively furious, like someone had just punched him in the gut. He wheeled at the end of Duo's hold on him, looking back out through the crowd, who knew for what but his body froze as he saw ... something.
It should be remembered, that Quatre was a Gundam pilot. He was small, quick and slithery as Duo's fingers were curled around a silk clad arm. Duo really could not be blamed for the way Quatre slid right out of the robe, leaving Duo's hand holding fabric as his small form shot past the startled security guards. They were there to protect Relena after all not stop a hurtling Winner.
Duo cursed roundly, throwing the robe aside as he bolted after Quatre. Heero followed, treading on the braided boy's heels.
Quatre was as much a hunter as any of them. He didn't mean to be disobedient but he'd been handling his own targets for those formative years, just like the others. He'd acquired two lurking forms and as soon as he had bolted towards them, they had moved.
Quatre hit the door to the stairwell at top speed, his prey about four flights ahead of him. Duo flew down the corridor, heedless of Heero treading on his heels, he wouldn't have the Japanese boy anywhere else. Quatre sprang down the stairwell, trying to close the distance but he still reached the ground basement floor too late to see anything other than two motorcycles tearing out of the underground parking lot.
Undeterred he headed for what he knew. In this case... Duo's jacked up, custom outfitted, motorcycle. Duo had been giving the little blond lessons back on Earth. Quatre knew the keycode to start the big machine up.
Zoom.
Heero made for his own bike, grabbing the flying braid as he did so, pulling the other boy with him. He jumped on the machine and started it, knowing Duo would jump on behind him. As soon as he felt the other boy's weight, he was gone.
Duo was dubious but he knew that tell tale tug. Grabbing Heero's waist he leaned forward shouting. "I've got it jacked through the ceiling Heero, under his weight we'll be lucky to keep him in sight!" With that he shut up and held on. Nothing like giving Heero Yuy a challenge.
Heero was fully aware of the advantages of machine and weight. He also believed, as he always had, that the difference wasn't the machine but the pilot. As he took off after the speeding blond, his mind was already racing ahead, calculating trajectory and projecting flight path.
It was still early morning. The artificial light was just starting to switch from night to morning and greyness covered the still streets. Still, except for the racing machines. Quatre double clutched the big bike, hunkering down behind the windscreen, making himself a part of the large fuel tank under his chest. Though he still enjoyed transportation with four wheels, he had to admit, there was something exciting about the wind in your hair and the powerful engine right under your torso.
Quatre kept his eyes focused on the two bikes ahead of him. He saw the two riders reach out to each other, as if the one on the left was passing something to the one on the right. Then they split.
Quatre snorted.
Predictable. They knew he was behind them. It was an admirable ploy. Pretend to swap information and throw him off the true carrier. He leaned his weight to the side and went wheeling around the corner to the left, nearly laying out on his side.
The back wheel of the bike skewed a little as Quatre rightened it back up and he had to fight the big machine to straighten it out. Once he did, he pressed hard on the accelerator. He wasn't thinking about 'breaking curfew' he was focused completely on the chase. It filled his senses.
Touch, the feel of the bike under his hands.
Taste, the wind in his face.
Sound, the roar of the engines and his own blood.
Smell, the scent of the fuel burning.
Sight, his enemy directly ahead of him.
Heero caught sight of his target and beyond, the two being pursued. He saw the split and saw the blond head left. He surveyed the terrain, judged how tightly Duo was holding on and then cut to the side at an angle. A maneuver which should have thrown them off the road and splattered the two boys like peanut butter and jelly but which instead caused the bike's wheels to hit the slight grade of an embankment and shot it forward, cutting off a loop of the road with three inches of air under the tires for about 5 yards before they touched the road at the exact right angle. It put them behind Quatre with no more than 5 yards distance between them.
Quatre was also making those minute calculations as he closed on his enemy. He wasn't quite as adept at it as Heero but once again, the power and ability of Duo's modifications helped him. That and the fact that the man he pursued was not a Gundam Pilot. Their quarry lead them into one of the tunnels, weaving through the tall pillions that held the structure up. Quatre actually found himself enjoying the swing and sway of the bike but he needed to come up with a way to stop the man ahead of him, before they ran into innocent traffic.
Zipping in between the pillions, Quatre straightened out and accelerated, trying to come up even with his opponent. He was banking that these men were not packing any sort of weapons ... well ... of the projectile variety anyway. As they shot out of the tunnel, he was almost even steven with the other bike.
It wasn't going to be particularly.. neat or dainty. When in doubt.. and when you have the bigger machine... hit em. Quatre slued Duo's bike over and bumped against the back wheel of the fleeing suspect. He had to do it a couple of times, till he got up enough momentum to really give the other bike a hard knock.
As the back wheel wrenched out from under him, the suspect found his motorcycle skidding down along the ground. His leg burned along the asphalt. Quatre clung to the handlebars of his own machine, fighting it's bucking attempt to send both of them into a somersault. Once he had control of the front wheel reestablished, he then had to dodge around the downed bike ahead of him. Duo's bike hit the curb and launched up into the air.
Quatre felt like he wrenched something in his shoulders as he struggled with the bike upon landing but to his credit he and bike remained relatively upright.
Heero muttered inaudibly, watching the acrobatics as he was upon them, wrenching his own bike around the wreck, then Quatre and sluing it around to end up where the Arabian landed. He was off the bike, with gun in hand, in seconds heading for Quatre and motioning for Duo to watch the suspect.
Before Heero got out of earshot, Duo couldn't help muttering, "told you it was an adventure. You didn't believe me.. did yah."
Then the braided boy was moving towards the suspect who lay moaning on the street. It had not quite sunk in to Quatre that he might be in trouble. He was used to seeing Heero with guns, usually he had one himself. Putting down the kicktstand he was wriggling off the bike and heading towards the suspect as well, his eyes still focused on the man on the ground.
Heero simply stayed stuck to Quatre's hip like glue.
Quatre moved towards the downed suspect nodding as Duo lifted the bike off him. Hitching his trousers he hunched down on his heels and looked into glazed eyes. Reaching out, he patted the man down, tsking softly.
"Those broken bones are going to hurt. Where are the papers... Ah... here we go. " Quatre pulled out the papers, handing them back to Heero. Heero took the papers from Quatre and handed them to Duo. The papers were not *his* mission.
"It was a nice trick but amateurish. Something tells me, you're not regularly employed at this sort of thing." Quatre continued urbanely.
The man's eyes narrowed and his mouth worked. Quatre tilted his head slightly to the side, as if to better hear the man's words and got a bit of a surprise as he got a cheekful of blood touched spit instead.
Reaching up with a finger, he brushed it away, fighting not to show disgust. "Polite."
Heero looked at Duo, catching his eye. "Check your bike, I'll watch this guy." Then he looked at Quatre and said quite audibly. "Shall I kill him?"
Duo looked down at the guy with an expression of.. 'Nice knowing yah' then he bounced on his toes as he headed towards his beloved bike. Quatre tapped his lips with his fingertips. He was a little startled buy Heero's actions but he fell into the game quickly enough.
"MMmm.. don't see why not. He's not useful for all that much. We got what we wanted." Quatre felt a little relief that he did have to work at affecting the uncaring nonchalant tone to his voice.
Heero looked at Quatre, nodded and pointed the gun at the man's head.
The guy quickly looked from Quatre to Heero. Something in those cobalt blue eyes told him that Heero wasn't bluffing. He looked quickly back to turquoise eyes and stuttered in a breathy tone.
"Wait... Wait! I saw faces.. .. I saw faces." He stammered over and over.
Quatre reached over and touched Heero's wrist. Not enough to truly deflect or even hinder the shot, just enough for show.
"Yes?"
"Well dressed gentleman. Gray hair, brown eyes, weathered face. He always came by in a wreck of a car but was dressed fancy like. One time, Dirk said we should follow him, yah know. Dirk thought we might be able to make a little extra on the side, see where he lived... little second story work. Guy would drive to the warehouses. There a limo was waiting for him. It had tags... BeX-2"
The guy was having real trouble breathing now, pink froth edged the side of his of his mouth.
Heero uncocked the gun and shrugged. He could hear sirens in the distance, no doubt alerted by concerned citizens who'd seen the reckless race and heard the crash. He jerked his head to Duo. "Take your bike, if it's okay and get back." He looked at Quatre. "You come with me."
Duo had finished looking all over his bike and except for a couple of nicks and dings it was in good shape. Though he'd probably have to replace the front wheel. Duo gave Quatre a glare that quickly died as he heard Heero's words. Duo decided he'd take whatever pieces of Quatre were left when Heero got finished with the little blond. Jumping onto the big bike, he turned it on, expertly swung it's ass-end around and shot off into the shadowy back streets.
Quatre watched Duo head off into the morning shadows, then he looked towards Heero. He looked as if he wanted to say something ... but realized now was neither the time nor the place. He walked over to the other bike and climbed on.
Heero waited until the official vehicles drove up, then went to the bike and climbed on in front. Turning it on, he ignored the glances from the police and gunned the engine, heading back to the hotel.
Quatre hung on tightly for the ride back to the hotel. Now that the blood was no longer pounding through his veins he had the grace to wince. He could not seem to get the hang of this...'protectee' business to save his life. He'd jokingly talked to Relena about it, trying to get her take on the whole subject, how she managed it with grace. At some point, without realizing what he was doing, Quatre leaned forward, resting his forehead between Heero's shoulderblades.
When they arrived at the hotel, Heero parked beside Duo's bike and then sat there for a minute. "Did you want to say something before we go in?"
Quatre released Heero's waist and slid off the bike. He winced as bare feet hit rocks. He'd forgotten a lot of things when he'd gone hunting. Putting his hands in his pockets, he shivered a little as the morning chill hit his bare torso.
"I'd love to be able to say something. However, sorry is inadequate and 'I promise not to do it again' would be a lie and we both know that. Not because I wouldn't mean it right here, right now...but because I have no idea that it won't happen again." Quatre looked over at Heero and for once his normally expressive eyes were clouded and murky. "You should protect Relena, Heero. She's the pacifist."
Heero looked at Quatre, not getting off the bike but sitting there. "You don't need to be sorry and you don't need to promise not to do it again. The mission I accepted was to protect you."
Something ... snapped. Not at Heero but something finally snapped. Quatre made an agitated movement and then he shook his head. " I can't. I cannot live this life. It's not who I am. I am not the dutiful heir, I am not a pacifist. Not anymore. I'm playing at this game and I'm letting you and Wufei help me pretend that I'm something I'm not. My instinct in this is counter to Relena's, Heero. Her plans are proper and they aren't easy.. they aren't direct but... they're a peaceful woman's way of making change. My instincts are to go in and cripple my enemy. Tell me Heero, how are you going to protect me then."
Heero's lips curved slightly as he listened to the little speech. "It's not my problem," he said simply. "Talk to Wufei." Then he added. "I don't care whether you are a pacifist or not. I never assumed that you were or that you would behave in any way other than as yourself. I didn't make any conditions to the assignment, I just agreed to do it so Wufei could complete *his* mission."
Quatre reached up his hands, in a classic Quatre pose, folding his fingers together and blinkering his eyes with his bridged hands across his forehead. All the threads around him were fraying at the edges. The lines were blurring and for the first time Quatre doubted his own strength to hold it all together. Hell, he couldn't seem to hold himself together.
"Get off the bike Heero."
Heero got off the bike and waited patiently.
Quatre walked to the bike. He took the handle bars and he swung his leg over the seat. Releasing the kickstand, he reached for the ignition. "Contact Merylin. Tell her to take the three meetings that cannot be missed this morning. Everything else, have Alexis cancel."
Heero's hand clamped onto the handlebars of the bike and his eyes pinned Quatre's. This time his voice was a few degrees colder. "I am not your secretary. Take care of your business yourself, Master Winner."
Quatre met Heero's eyes, just as dead cold. "Very well. Let them worry. Give me your gun."
"Come take it."
End Part 13
Laekin
Please send comments to: seregill@aol.com or bonnejeanne@yahoo.com