11-Feb-2002
Title: Death & the Phoenix
Author: Ebonydove
Pairings: 1x2, 3+4
Warnings: Language, Duo-torture, sap, yaoi, some slight OOC, maybe some
spoilers.
Disclaimers: At this point I would love to keep them in my back pocket for
use at a whim, but I still don't own them. Drats.
Heero and Quatre remained in the thickest part of the Orion belt; the magnetic characteristics of the surrounding bits of rock and the close proximity of L2 shielded them from detection. Duo and Trowa proceeded as planned toward the small abandoned base where the lab that engineered the L2 vaccine was located deep inside. Duo took point weaving his way through the maze of booby-trapped wreckage and chunks of floating rock with his thrusters. Heero was quickly approaching his position, leaving Duo under the watchful eye of Trowa, and switched on his long-range sensors.
"Duo, you're drifting out too far." Trowa was all business as scanned the base up ahead. The Deathscythe pilot was getting farther and farther away from him.
"Just doing a full sweep, Tro." Duo's laughter echoed through the comm as he slipped through a tight space between a chunk of rock and a floating piece of scrap.
"Just watch for surprises. I got a strange vibe on this one."
"Damn Trowa, you're definitely spending too much time with Quatre, you're even beginning to sound like him." Duo joked into the comm link. Duo couldn't however, suppress the shiver his own body had felt. He hadn't had a seizure in days, but was feeling that fuzziness he just couldn't shake. His fever was raging making his throat dry and hard to swallow. He had been able to still the coughing and was breathing a little easier once free of the shuttle. He blinked to keep the sweat from stinging his eyes and from the reddish black edge from crowding his vision any further. His head was starting to throb in the base of his skull and he could feel his hands shaking a bit. "Fuck." He hissed softly.
Duo was his usual self on the outside, but Trowa could sense the tension coming from Duo. He was distracted, and took on two hits from drifting debris that he could have easily avoided. Shaking his head he clicked on the comm link and queried the Deathscythe pilot before flying in closer. "Duo?"
"It's okay Tro. Touchdown in 4... 3... 2... and contact." He grabbed onto the edge of an outdoor railing that ran from a maintence bay door in the back of the asteroid around to the front of the base. It was meant to be used as a service access ramp for supplies, and was welded shut ages ago. But the rail would allow them to pull themselves along to a side hatch where Duo and Trowa could cut their way into the base's interior using a minitorch. Duo knew all other entrances had been rigged by Sweepers, Oz, White Fang or Drifters, so there was no sense wasting their time trying to access the main bay doors and risking blowing themselves to another galaxy.
He felt Trowa's tap on his left shoulder and handed him the torch. Trowa set to work and within fifteen minutes had carved a hole big enough for them to slip through. Once inside the dark interior of the base walls, Duo removed the roll of sheetarmor[1] and held it in place while Trowa taped it securely over the hole to keep the pressure from sucking them out once they re-established the gravity and pressure.
"I'm heading toward the bases' north side to begin the search for the A-55. Rondevue in 4 minutes in sector R-7." Trowa started off leaving Duo to begin his search of the area they were in for the lights and GCM.[2]
"Roger that, 4 minutes. It'll only take me twenty seconds to finish scanning this area and one minute to re-establish gravity. Happy hunting, Tro."
Trowa spared a brief glance at Duo, before heading off towards the corridor that would lead him to the labs. They had lifted the blast shields on their helmets and he could see that Duo was looking haggard and strained as the scanning unit shook in his trembling hands. He floated back over and put a hand over Duo's to steady it. "Remember to take things one at a time, and don't rush. I got your back, Duo. I'll catch you if you fall." He locked his green eyes with Duo's fevered violet ones and gave Duo's hand a gentle squeeze. Then he pushed off the wall and floated down the corridor.
After finding the lighting main panel, and knowing that there was no-one but he and Trowa on the base, he flipped on the lights to all internal areas. Main bay, labs and corridors mostly. He was careful to check the circuits for baby dolls[3] and was pleased he didn't find any.
Less than a minute later he found the panel for the GCM, but hesitated upon seeing the scratches on the outer wall between the edge of the panel and the door. On close inspection he found the tiny bit of wire that rigged the device that was sure to ignite the instant the panel door was opened. He reached into a pocket of his suit and brought out a pair of wire clippers and a patch circuit[4] to reconnect the path with so he could open the panel and not worry about the thing discharging. He carefully snipped the thin wire and twisted it with the piece of conduit from his patch. It blinked green and he knew the circuit was steady, so he opened the panel. Very slowly.
He saw the chunk of plastic explosive that had been rigged to the detonator and was glad he saw the trip wire before popping the panel open. That could have been messy. He checked his watch. He was two minutes behind. He found the switch to the GCM and flipped it up. He heard the pop and knew within a second that he had tripped a second wire. Whoever rigged this one was pretty damn good. "Fucking shh... " He swore as he shoved himself from the wall bringing his hands up over his helmet as the charge went off and an explosion rocked the room.
"Duo! Re... ort!" He could hear Heero's voice breaking through over the static on the comm link, but couldn't raise Trowa at all. "D... at's going on in the... " The comm link hissed and buzzed in his ear. The force of the explosion had thrown him clear across the bay over to the other side. He had hit the wall hard. He looked at the panel and found that although the explosion had good sound and no little bit of flash; it did very little damage to the actual wiring for the GCM. The lights had flickered off but where now back on.
"It's okay guys, dumb shits wired the GCM panel with a second trick[5] but never connected it to the plastic explosive. The detonator just blew." Duo reported clearly. Cringing as his lungs burned for air. His head felt like he was submerged under water and the blood rushing in his ears was getting distracting to say the least.
"Stat... s? Report." He could hear Quatre over the link now and it was still breaking up, so he knew it wasn't his comm that was damaged. Most likely a bad link with either jamming from Heero or magnetic interference, or both.
"Proceeding as planned. In zero G. Can't re-establish."
"02 it's 03. I'm in sector R-7. Time to rendezvous?"
Hearing Trowa loud and clear over the link confirmed his suspicion that it was outside interference, not his unit. "Two minutes. Careful Tro. The GCM was tricked out, I can't get the gravity back on, so we're floating."
"It's gonna slow us down."
"Yeah. I know. I'll see you in one minute, 47 seconds." Duo's head was swimming from being blasted across the room and he had hit the wall hard. Even with the helmet he was worried the graying in his vision was getting worse and he was going to lose consciousness. Pushing off the wall he floated down the same corridor that Trowa had taken and ignored the thumping in his head that had increased ten fold on impact. He was glad at least that his link with Trowa was clear.
He drifted down the frigid hallway towards where he could see a dim greenish blue light coming from a room not too far away. He made a beeline for it and paused at the doorway seeing where Trowa had disarmed a baby doll as well.
Trowa was going through filing cabinets that were bolted to the floor and shoving a manila envelope into his suit.
"Pressure's been stabilized... but we're... still in zero... G." Duo bit out, finding that after the quick jaunt down the corridor he was having trouble speaking. And breathing for that matter.
Trowa glanced up from what he was doing narrowing his eyes at the body language Duo was giving off. "Are you all right? You're lips are turning purple." Trowa ran his hands over Duo's suit looking for the tear he knew had to be there. Duo was losing oxygen pressure.
Then Duo started to cough again. Rough, wet sounds that made him double over in an attempt to catch his breath.
Trowa's glove brushed over something, and turning Duo to the side slightly he saw the small rip where a breath of oxygen was seeping out. He dug into Duo's pocket and pulled out the tape tearing a piece off and smoothing it over the rip, resealing it. "Try to take slow breaths Duo."
Duo didn't uncurl himself and was still coughing harshly. When he looked up Trowa's eyes widened at the flecks of blood spattered on the inside of Duo's helmet face cover and the trickle of almost black colored blood coming from Duo's nose.
"Fuck. You're not getting enough oxygen Duo." He grabbed Duo's arms and began to haul him toward the door. "I'm getting you outta here."
Duo shoved Trowa for all he was worth and spun back around to face him. He pointed to the lab equipment on the far side of the room as he continued to cough and sputter. "No. Got... to look."
"Duo, that explosion is going to be bringing them down around our ears. We're out of time. We have to abort."
"No. Gotta try." Duo pushed off and made his way over to the cabinets.
"Duo the chances of there being anything here are slim to nil." Trowa didn't want to say it but he hadn't found a thing that looked to be any vaccine or remainders of A-55. All he found was an envelope with some lab notes on the L2 plague.
"03? Tro... a. If you can... me. You... incoming." Wufei's voice sounded stiff and the echoes of him taking hits from enemy fire bounced through the comm link.
"Shit. Duo. Come on!" Trowa yelled as he headed over to where Duo was tossing things out of a cabinet. He spun Duo around and began shoving him to the door. Duo wasn't coughing anymore, but the thick, black blood was oozing in a steady flow from his nose. He could hear the rasping breaths as Duo tried to get as much air in his lungs as he could. He was about to knock Duo out and forcibly drag the resisting pilot to the door when Duo reached into the cabinet and produced a small black case.
Instant recognition flashed for both of them. The vaccinations were usually kept in airtight cases like that one, with the vials firmly secured in foam. It was locked tight and they didn't have the time to bust it open now. They'd have to wait until they got back to the shuttle. Duo secured it and they both made their way to the corridor.
Just as they reached the plastic covered hole, the base rocked with a hit from a large explosion. "Time to go." Trowa ripped the plastic off, immediately sucking the two of them out into space. He felt Duo rip away from his hold as they got pulled through the opening and tried to get a visual on him. They spun around and flipped a few times in the blackness before he could get his bearings and use his thrusters to right himself. Duo was drifting and flipping ass over end a few feet away and was making no move to engage his suit's thrusters at all.
"Duo? Duo, engage your thrusters. Duo you're drifting." Trowa watched as Duo's head came back around, and saw he was out cold. At least the case was firmly clasped to him.
"03 to 04. We need the pick up now. Relaying coordinates." Trowa typed in the codes on the pad on his wrist[6] and used his thrusters to get him over to Duo. He grabbed a hold of Duo's suit and steadied him. Pulling his head around he saw blood coming from his mouth now too. He lowered the blast shield on Duo's helmet as well as his own and looked around for Quatre or Heero. In the distance he could see and hear the explosions coming from where Wufei had obviously lead the Oz patrol away, giving them time to get out of the base and to Quatre.
"01 to 03. Had to reroute communications link to secondary frequency. Broad band pulse engaged. 05 is providing decoy. 04 has lost comm, but has your coordinates. Pick up in forty seconds."
Heero sounded calm as ever as he relayed the information over to Trowa. He switched to the new frequency and heard the buzz lessen dramatically. "Roger that, 01."
"01 to 02, status?"
Trowa heard the request and took a deep breath. Duo wasn't responding to anything, and Trowa wasn't sure if he was even breathing at this point.
"01 to 03, status?"
"Clear." Trowa held on to Duo as he waited for a visual on Quatre. He could feel and hear the shuttle's approach before he saw it come racing towards them.
"01 to 03, status of 02?"
He had been waiting for that. With a deep breath he gave the only information he could. "Unclear. Not responsive." All he heard was static as it crackled over the comm and the roar of Quatre's shuttle as it maneuvered to where he and Duo were floating in the dead, cold of space.
End Part 13
Notes:
[1] - Sheetarmor - okay I made this up. I had a picture of a plastic like
covering that was light enough to use carried in a roll in their suit that they
could use to seal the hole once they cut a way inside. Overactive
imagination.
[2] - GCM - Gravity Control Mechanism. It just sounded better to leave it like this instead of having to spell it out each time. Me trying to sound technical.
[3] - A Baby Doll is a spring-loaded mechanism that was used during Viet Nam to trigger booby traps. It got its nickname from the fact that the NVA used things like children's dolls to lay on top of the mechanism to camouflage the device. Once it was moved or lifted the spring would pop up and ignite the trigger for the explosive. Pretty nasty.
[4] - Another small device that was used to keep a circuit's path from breaking while the trigger wire is snipped from the explosive. It's basically just a small box that acts like a circuit breaker. Only Duo's has a cool green light on it to as a double check that the circuit is unbroken.
[5] - Trick/tricked out - slang for wired or booby-trapped. Rigged.
[6] - I guess this is kind of like a palm pilot or Batman ™ like wrist computer. Hey, Trowa's gotta have some cool shit too. I can't give it all to Duo. Even though he's my favorite.
(:./ebony/death13)
