18-Nov-2000
Category: Action, Adventure, Romance, ANGST
Pairings: 1x2, 3x4x5 (Combinations there of)
Rating: R (Violence)
Disclaimer: Not mine, no money being made or sought here.
NOTES: A little longer then I expected, I apologize. Umm, the only
warnings is the violence and a touch of LIME but nothing too heavy or
graphic. Bonne will be the wonderful puppeteer of
Wufei and Heero. I'm responsible for Quatre and Duo.
Wufei moved as a blur, heading inside the shop. Heero grabbed the child's hand and circled to the front of the shop, lifting the boy off his feet when he could not keep up.
Heero's gun materialized in his other hand as he moved.
Two men, lithe of build dressed in black masks, nondescript jeans and dark sweaters, stood at the front of the shop with automatic weapons, sending down a hail of gunfire throughout the store. Some people, ducked in time. Some did not.
Duo and Quatre had been towards the rear, waiting for a signal from Heero or Wufei. Duo's senses had also keyed up with the appearance of the child and he kept flitting around Quatre, watchful. The attack, when it came, had been a split second too slow to outmatch the reflexes of the God of Death.
Duo had grabbed Quatre and flattened him against a low, short wall, pressing the little blond into the carpet and laying out across him as plaster exploded over their heads and shoulders. Duo had his weapon drawn but for the moment he was staying down across Quatre, waiting for the two to pause in their hail of bullets.
Wufei came in the rear entrance, darting sideways and hitting the ground almost immediately. His eyes cast around for Quatre and Duo. Once he spotted them, he began working his way towards the front of the shop, using whatever cover was available.
Heero made it to the front of the shop, scanning the area quickly for getaway transportation and back-up for the shooters.
It was a disturbing development when Heero spotted ... no one. No back up.. no transportation. Duo reacted when the back door opened, drawing a quick sight on Wufei. He lowered his gun without firing, watching the Chinese boy, torn between keeping Quatre pinned and moving forward to give Wufei back up.
The two figures continued to move forward, shooting but not really aiming at anyone. People who had gotten in their way in the initial attack were down, some injured but they were left alone, positively ignored by the gunmen.
Heero approached the shop's main window quickly but carefully. He looked down at the child and said. "Remember... Heero Yuy." Then he released the boy's hand. Watching the shooters from the back, he took a bead and prepared to take them out.
The child looked at the gun in Heero's hand, then to Heero's mouth. He gave a rather adult little nod, then once he was free he quickly darted away. Many children might have stayed to watch the excitement but this little one knew better. He was gone into the shadows like a small ghost.
In the building the men continued to close on the position they had last seen golden hair. Quatre's hands clenched with the desire for a gun but he didn't try to squirm out from beneath Duo. He'd peeked up enough to see Wufei go flying by and his heart was hammering in his throat with terror for his lover.
Duo kept his hand firmly planted against Quatre's shoulders, holding the little one down though Quatre remained very still of his own accord. The sound of Duo cocking his weapon echoed in Quatre's ears.
Wufei saw Heero get into position and called out suddenly, in Mandarin. "You are a disgrace to the House of Chang!"
Heero fired twice.
The two figures turned as one towards Wufei's voice, then they both crumpled down to the ground as Heero's shots ran true. Their weapons clattered to the hardwood floor and then for a moment there was silence. Slowly the soft whimpering of frightened and injured people began to fill the silence.
Duo remained flattened out across Quatre, keeping the little blond pinned on the ground as he peered around the edge of their cover.
"They down?" He called out, his voice the low gravely growl that signified Pissed Off Maxwell.
Wufei was beside the two men, kicking their weapons away and checking them for vital signs.
Heero was on his comm to WEI security. "Get ambulances here five minutes ago."
There were no vital signs but Wufei's checking hands found two more notes. Folded, intricately like the one the child had delivered but thicker, indicating more writing this time.
"This was a sacrifice." Wufei muttered, scowling like thunder. He stood up and looked towards the back of the shop. "Down and out. Quatre?"
Duo was still keeping the little blond pinned. The braided boy wasn't planning to move until Heero called him off. Quatre peeked around the edge of the wall they had taken cover behind. Plaster dust made his bright hair seem washed out, just like the pale face beneath his bangs. His jewel like eyes were bright and burning, though, as he searched for Wufei's position.
"Yes, koi?" He answered.
"Hn." Wufei answered, simply needing to hear his voice. He took the two notes and stuffed them in a pocket with the first.
Heero came in, checked the bodies, checked the room, checked outside the back door one more time, then nodded to Duo. "Clear."
Duo waited a half beat longer, then he moved up to his feet, taking his weight off Quatre. Quatre continued to stay stretched out on the floor, taking in quick breaths of air. It felt like he'd been holding his breath for the past five minutes. Duo's laser like gaze swept the room, his hand still holding the readied weapon as his eyes fixed on the two still forms. His lips twisted in anger and he looked back up, searching out Heero's eyes, questions in his violet gaze.
Heero inspected Quatre visually, then stepped back by Duo. "Wufei's right. It was a sacrifice. No getaway, no backup. Just a message." He glanced at the bodies. His face appeared impassive but only Duo would have been able to see the spark of regret. 'I've killed again,' Heero thought. 'Couldn't be helped.' But he'd never take it casually again.
Duo stepped closer to Heero. His slender body still thrummed with the adrenaline and the fury that the attack had left burning through his veins. In some way, Duo was perhaps still the most vicious of the two as he looked at the bodies with an expression that spoke of a very real desire to bury a couple more bullets in them. Duo made himself flip the safety onto his weapon, keeping his eyes averted from the sight of the injured innocents that was fanning this rage in the dark corner of his soul.
Quatre, slowly got to his feet, looking around himself at the destruction. He'd heard both Wufei and Heero's words. His eyes once again quickly sought out his lover, making certain that there were no unauthorized holes in his young dragon before he stepped out from behind his cover.
Quatre's chest felt like a vise was trying to squeeze his heart, his eyes glistened with tears he fought to hold back as he knelt next to one of the assistants who had been helping him with his fitting. Speaking soothing words, he took the young woman's hand and held it, visually inspecting the bullet wound in her upper arm.
WEI security and the ambulances had responded quickly to Heero's summons and not long after Quatre stepped out from behind the wall, EMTs came crashing through the doors of the tailor shop.
Chaos ensued as the EMTs went to work on the injured.
Heero inspected the weapons of the shooters, checked them for id, and collected all the information he could. Then he ordered an armored limo, herding Quatre, Duo and Wufei into it and getting them all back to the hotel. Heero went ahead and checked all their rooms completely from top to bottom and inside and out.
By the time they got back to the hotel, Quatre was angry. The Arabian played completely by the rules. Waiting when Heero said wait and advancing only when given the signal that the coast had been cleared. Once in his suite he paced towards the tall desk chair he seemed to enjoy sitting in, forgetting that the chair sat in front of the picture window.
Quatre halted in mid-step. Confusion flashed across his features and his hands clenched at his sides. Not since Oz had held the colonies hostage had he felt so damn helpless.
"Go ahead. I had the glass replaced this morning while you were out. It's one way and as munitions-proof as, in fact more so than the rest of the building." Heero said, finding a chair. "All done at WEI's expense of course," Heero added nonchalantly. "From the sheer number of improvements on the building ... it's a good thing you own it already."
Quatre looked at Heero, then at Wufei and back. He took another deep breath, forcing himself to let go of more of the anger and the upset at the people who got hurt. He swung the chair around, facing the window and the view beyond, his lips quirking slightly.
"I'm going to have to remember to up my life insurance policy. Make sure I'm worth all these modifications." He couldn't seem to stop the touch of slightly macabre humor.
Duo, moved silently till he could stand behind Heero. The American had calmed down to that icy stillness he could sometimes inhabit. His hands resting on the back of Heero's chair, close enough to tangle, just a little in the silky softness of the Japanese boy's hair.
Wufei glared at Quatre's remark. Then his eyes narrowed and he said, "Don't worry, Trowa and I already took care of that for you." It was in the same vein of humor, perhaps a hair darker even.
Quatre turned back slightly, looking towards Wufei. Even more of the anger bled out of his face and his eyes as he gazed at his lover. He knew that the remark was meant to be a match to his own irreverent comment but it also drilled home the reminder that he had already *upped* his life insurance to a priceless level. Swallowing, he held his hand out towards Wufei, suddenly needing his lover's touch as desperately as Wufei had needed to hear his voice earlier.
Wufei crossed the room and ignored the hand, preferring to pick the blond up in his arms and kiss him with desperate urgency. Some moments later, Wufei sat in the desk chair - with Quatre across his lap.
Quatre's hands bracketed Wufei's face as he returned that near desperate kiss. Across the room, Duo's fingers dug into Heero's shoulders a little. He would wait, till they were back in the privacy of their own room but the promise for a similar action/reaction, was there in his touch.
Heero answered Duo's grip by taking the braided boy's hand and locking it in his own, fingers entwined.
Quatre curled up against Wufei's chest, trying to gather together his scattered wits so that he could do.. something... they should be doing something, going over what happened while it was still fresh in their minds.
"You both said it was a sacrifice ... they didn't mean to extract, did they?" Quatre's voice was soft but it carried the whole of the room.
Heero shook his head. "No transport outside. They certainly weren't going to walk out of there."
"So it was a message." Duo spoke for the first time since getting into the limo.
Wufei scowled. He pulled the three notes from his pocket, dropping the first one on the desk. The he opened the second, from one of the two gunmen's bodies.
Again, it was the flowing, elegant Chinese script. A type of kanji very specific to the Chang family. Again, it was addressed to Wufei.
~ Chang Wufei,
By now I have no doubt you are aware that I too survived. How
fascinating these circumstances, you have no idea. As you can tell, these
men were not meant to survive. You now know that I have the resources to
get to him if I so desire. For all your vigilance and the vigilance of the
Japanese boy, I doubt that even you could stop a man willing to die to
fulfill his duty.
Now that we have that understanding, I hope you will take seriously my invitation to you. I desire to see you again Little Wufei. You will find instructions and directions on the other body, I will have to hope you don't obliterate the corpses before you check them. If I do not see you, I will have to assume that you did not get these messages and I will have to send them again. ~
The message was unsigned.
Wufei resisted the urge to crumple the paper, though his hand quivered. He passed the note to Heero and then opened the second.
As promised, it was a set of instructions and directions leading Wufei off the colony they were currently on and deep into the heart of the L5 Le Grange points. Back, very close to the same area that Wufei's destroyed home had once been.
Wufei passed the note along as well.
"Arrogant - giving the location," he said. "If I had Nataku..."
Quatre watched the notes go passing back and forth from where he rested against Wufei's shoulder. He frowned, sitting up a little. "What did it say? Location?"
Wufei glanced at Quatre, having momentarily forgotten he wouldn't be able to read the Chinese characters. "He wants me to come for a little visit."
Wufei could see the little blonde's immediate response in his bright eyes. *Out of the question.* Then Quatre remembered his promise to his lover and his teeth clamped together, stopping the words before they could be spoken.
Quatre looked over at Heero, almost as if he hoped that the Japanese boy would squash this *visit* idea.
Heero felt a deep stab of regret. "There really is no other choice, Quatre," he said quietly. "This is what we wanted - to find out who was behind all this. This is what all our work and your sacrifices have been about."
Quatre trembled in Wufei's arms. He wanted to rail against Heero's logic. He tensed, looking ready for the battle of wits and wills, the search for another way another solution but he just as quickly discarded it all.
He had promised Wufei, that he would *understand* when the time came. He could not throw away the hard work that Heero and Duo had put in, protecting him from the threat of Unity. He could not disregard that by failing to follow up an important lead.
Pushing himself up to his feet, his hands trailing down Wufei's chest, Quatre walked a little distance till he stood very close to the soothing cool of the window. He didn't say anything. He couldn't bring himself to throw his vocal support out there, but at the same time he didn't try to fight the inevitable.
"I'm sorry, koi," Wufei said softly.
Quatre's folded his hands up under his chin in a classic Winner pose, leaning his forehead against the glass. For a long time he was perfectly still, then he straightened and bowed his head.
His voice was nearly inaudible. "I understand."
Duo watched the pair and he reached down, giving Heero's shoulder a gentle tug.
Heero stood up. "I have some things to check out. Call my comm if you need me," he said, retaining his hold on Duo's hand.
Duo's fingers held tightly to Heero's. His violet eyes watched Quatre. At least, he and Heero faced their demons and the danger together. Duo's fingers tightened almost painfully on Heero's hand. Quatre gave a quick nod to Heero's words but he didn't say anything.
After Heero and Duo left the room, Wufei sat watching Quatre, letting the silence fall between them.
Quatre remained motionless in front of his window. His head would lift a little ... then would lower ... then lift again. He finally turned around, till he once again faced Wufei. His expression was ... calm but not fixed or stony. Warmth brightened his turquoise eyes. The weight of his thoughts darkened those eyes a little. Finally, Quatre simply admitted.
"I don't know what to say."
Wufei took in a deep breath and let it out. "Neither do I," he said. "As Maxwell would say, this sucks."
As if unable to help himself, Quatre giggled. He quickly smacked his hand over his mouth, chasing the inappropriate sound back down his throat. People had been injured today ... like in the war, only now in a time of peace. Wufei was facing great danger, and Trowa.... Trowa.... Quatre's eyes closed and for a moment he swayed before he lowered his hand catching himself against his desk.
"Yes, ... yes it does." His eyes studied Wufei's face. "We don't have too many other options, do we koi?"
Wufei shrugged. "This is peacetime. If I had Nataku, I'd simply go and remove the threat. That would have been my preferred option."
Quatre reached up and unbuttoned his suit jacket, shrugging out of it and tossing it across the desk. His small fingers began to work at his tie. "Believe me ... there have been numerous times when I've wished I had Sandrock to help take care of some of this." He got the knot loosened and dropped his hands down by his sides, leaning against the desk and looking over at Wufei.
"Guess, that's not a very kind thought to have."
Wufei smiled slightly. "These aren't kind people were are dealing with."
Quatre took a deep breath. "Relena didn't deal with kind people koi. Yet she didn't take up a Gundam suit to make her point and she doesn't now. I don't think I've ever heard her raise so much as her voice in these meetings. Gah, Wufei what am I doing?? I should be out there with you Trowa, Duo and Heero."
"You *are* out here with us. We're all out here together, with some cowardly enemy hiding and taking potshots as they please," Wufei growled. "As for Relena Peacecraft, I remember hearing that she took a shot at Col. Une once, at a ball, no less. No one is perfect, so get over yourself."
Quatre took a deep breath. "You ever notice I get arrogant when I'm trying to *do the right thing* and it goes completely against my own wishes?" He gave a weak grin towards Wufei, then settled down on his knees in front of the desk chair, laying his head down in Wufei's lap.
Wufei smiled, stroking the pale blond strands of hair that curled over his questing fingers. "Yes, I have noticed that, actually," he said softly.
Quatre reached up and gave Wufei's calf a quick, gentle pinch. He then ran his hand down along the Chinese boy's shin, wrapping his arms around Wufei's legs. "I was scared today ... for you, Duo... Heero. All of us. I haven't been that scared since the war."
The Chinese boy nodded. "I was afraid also - when I saw the message and heard the shots." He opened the first message and read it to Quatre. " 'Divide and conquer'. Kisama. I am going to take an unrighteous pleasure in sending him to meet our ancestors."
The little blond listened to the words Wufei read and snuggled himself up closer to his lover. Wriggling till his shoulders were between Wufei's thighs, his face cradled in the curve of Wufei's hip. "This enemy knows us. Not just you koi... us. And Trowa's out there... alone."
"That's another reason I have to go," Wufei said, his eyes reflecting that the knowledge of Trowa's aloneness had been with him every minute of every day.
Quatre turned his face into Wufei's thigh, taking a deep, shuddering breath."I'm so scared Wufei...if I loose you both."
"We all have to have faith," Wufei said softly. "I don't like leaving you out of my sight for a moment, especially not with someone out there who has tried to kill you."
Quatre gave a little nod. He kept his face tucked against Wufei's thigh then lifted it. A fierce expression came across his features. "I am not going to cry... I am not going to cry... I am not going to make this harder then it already is." He scooted up a little and crossed his arms across his chest, doing a very good impression of a certain unflappable Chinese young man.
Wufei bent down and lifted Quatre in his arms. He stood and carried the blond into the bedroom, crawling on the wide bed with his acquisition. He leaned over and kissed Quatre deeply.
"Cry if you need to," he said softly. "It won't make it that much harder - it's pretty damn hard as it is," he said and then his lips curved and he pressed against his lover's body.
Once again, Quatre found himself mobil without moving his own little feet. He really was getting used to this mode of transportation, though he knew better then to let Wufei know this. He didn't want to land on his designer dressed rump.
Curling up on the bed with Wufei he took a couple of long deep breaths, determined he would not weep, despite being given permission. Then he felt his lover pressing against him, heard the double meaning of the words and he gave a fierce little growl before rolling over, till he could pin Wufei to the bed, straddling him.
Looking down into his lover's dark eyes he frowned darkly. "I can see that. Very hard indeed." He held the pose for a moment longer, then his gentle grin broke through and he darted down to zerbert Wufei's neck. He raspberried and zerberted Wufei's entire neck and upper torso before laying his face down against Wufei's ear, whispering.
"If I have to let you go ... let it be with a smile and the memory of our warmth ... our love.. not our pain."
Wufei stroked his hands down Quatre's back, nodding. "If I have to watch you get shot at," he growled softly, "I want to assure myself completely that everything about you is still in full working order after it's over."
Quatre wriggled atop his lover, aligning their bodies, groin to groin and laying his head down on Wufei's shoulder. He couldn't help grinning a little. "Hm... All the things I must have missed out on during the war." His hands moved lazily down along Wufei's sides, then back up and down along a strong arm, stroking tenderly, touching, just to touch. He caught the wrist of one hand and drew the hand up towards his mouth, catching the index finger in his teeth and teething on it with sharp little bites.
Wufei's chest moved in a near-silent laugh. He nuzzled Quatre's neck until his lips could find a bit of soft skin there to lick and nibble. His hands continued the stroke Quatre's back, ending each time by cupping and squeezing his curved rear possessively.
Quatre felt the movement of the chest beneath him and he smiled around the finger he was nibbling on. He broke away from the finger, arching his head a little to give Wufei's lips access to his neck as he trailed his lips down along a calloused palm. His eyes closed and he pushed away the awful image of this hand being cold and still in death.
He wouldn't think about it. Faith... Wufei said they needed to have faith and damn it he would. His questing lips found the more sensitive skin of Wufei's wrist and settled there, paying loving, detailed attention to the warm veins he could feel beneath his mouth.
Wufei shivered at the soft attentions to his wrist and transferred his reaction to his seeking mouth against Quatre's skin. He was content there for a while, then growled softly, "You have on too many clothes," in a tone of clear complaint.
Quatre couldn't help the soft chuckle that escaped him and he broke away from his meal of Wufei's lower arm so that he could look down into those dark, beautiful eyes. "You really are going to try to get me to a point where all I do is run around nude aren't you? Besides..." He didn't finish the statement but instead plucked at Wufei's shirt in a pointed manner.
Wufei answered the last gesture. "Well, get busy," he growled, reaching up with his hands to follow the same instruction, unfastening Quatre's tie, shirt, anything in the way and pulling it off impatiently.
The little blond arched an eyebrow at Wufei as if to say... *Me? Valet service?* Then he grinned wickedly and bent down to Wufei's shirt. His fingers quickly undoing the buttons as he nuzzled it apart, mouthing the soft skin beneath. Once he had it mostly unfastened he reared back, once against straddling Wufei's hips with his strong thighs and tugging at the shirt. "Ahem ... while your fantastically sexy, muscular and ... did I say sexy already ... chest and upper body fascinate me to no end.. they are a little heavy."
Wufei sat up, using just his stomach muscles. "Sue me," he said, shrugging out of his tunic.
Quatre caught the tunic and tossed it over his head behind him somewhere, taking a moment to shrug out of his own shirt, vest and tie, he dove forward pinning Wufei down to the bed... well.. mock pinning him anyway. Once there he let his eyes travel the length of Wufei's exposed upper torso, slowly and thoroughly, then back up to his eyes.
"Mmmm I think there are other things I'd rather do with you instead."
Heero left the room with Duo, going next door to their suite. Once there he kissed the braided one deeply before sitting down in front of his laptop.
Duo returned the deep kiss, stroking his fingers along Heero's cheeks and through his hair. His nostrils filled with the scent of his lover and his mouth tingling from the kiss. When their lips parted, Duo quietly took Heero's gun and his own, then retreated to a small table to set about cleaning both weapons while Heero worked on the laptop.
Heero's actions were very specific. He'd planted a bug on the child.
A bug that the little one was not keen enough to even know or suspect was there as he traveled his own little underground system, alone through the night.
Heero saw that he was getting an echo location and called the head of WEI security. He explained that he was going to be absent for a while and Mr. Winner was not to leave to hotel under any circumstances nor be away from Mr. Chang. He'd report when this instruction was lifted.
"Done?" He asked Duo, getting up.
Duo skillfully slid the reloaded clips back into the guns and chamber one round into each gun. Setting their safeties back on he laid them carefully to the side and looked up towards Heero nodding. "Yep, clean, loaded and ready for action."
"Good." Heero said, picking up a portable signal tracer. He took his gun and slid it into the waistband of his pants. "Then come on ... we're going to go hunting."
Duo bounded lightly back up to his feet, picking up his own gun and tucking it into the pocket of his jacket which he then pulled on. Grinning maniacally at Heero he winked.
"You are such a fun date."
"Glad you think so," Heero said, deadpan, but for a rare twinkle in his eye. "We get lucky, maybe Wufei won't have to make the trip."
Duo's eyes responded to that rare twinkle with a flood of warmth and love. He allowed the twin emotions to stay in his eyes as he nodded, his face sobering a little. "Let's make some luck then. I'm tired of playing this damn game on *their* terms."
"Hn," Heero acknowledged. He headed out, knowing Duo would be stuck to him like glue.
One step to Heero's right and on his flank, smooth as silk. A warm, loving, yet deadly presence.
End Part 5
Laekin
Please send comments to: seregill@aol.com or bonnejeanne@yahoo.com