Archive: http://www.fanworkrecs.com
Disclaimers: I don't own the characters from Gundam Wing, I just play with them for non-profit fun until they run screaming back to their creators.
Warnings: AU - AAAAAAAAAAAU. Some yaoi, lemon, violence, language. You should be a legal adult to read this. Open-mindedness helps, too.
Pairings: all over the map; Duo-centric. yaoi and het.
Author's Notes: A huge helping of "suspension of disbelief" would be appropriate before you read this. I'm sure J or G could explain the science behind it, but they're kinda dead right now...
Part 4 ~ Confusion (cont'd)
They walked along the crowded street, planning mayhem and destruction in quiet voices.
"You said it was a black-hole generator."
Duo nodded. "Yeah. They wanted to create a black hole large enough to destroy anything from an airlock to an entire ship, yet small enough to be dissipated on command. When we infiltrated the base the first time, they were still in the experimental stage - they could only keep the field steady for about a minute before it collapsed. But if they're moving the machine tonight, they must be farther along in their research this time around."
Duo sighed, blowing the bangs out of his eyes. "We still have to decide on an approach. If we try to grab the scientists, one of them might get away with the weapon. But if we sit on the weapon, then the scientists will get away with all their research, and they'll just build another generator in a couple of months."
"Blow up the generator, capture the scientists, then destroy the data," Heero said flatly.
Duo grinned slowly. "Scratch a Preventer and find a terrorist lurking underneath, ne? Shouldn't that be 'arrest' the scientists?"
"We're not Preventers on this mission, Duo. We don't have Une's sanction, or the luxury of backup. We'll deal with the consequences after we've neutralized the threat."
Heero suddenly nudged him with an elbow, flicking his eyes skyward and then lowering his gaze to the sidewalk. Duo grabbed his arm and they stepped under an awning in front of a corner store. They stood for a moment, pretending to be interested in the display of magazines and comics in the window, as the black Preventer helicopter roared overhead toward the motel they had so recently vacated.
"He's getting faster, damnit," Duo chewed his lower lip nervously as they continued along the sidewalk, keeping their faces down in the far too likely event of backup vehicles driving down the street.
"Then we need to be faster, too. Pick a vehicle."
Duo crouched down behind the driver's seat.
Heero drove the stolen delivery van up to the security checkpoint at the gate and parked. He held out a clipboard to the guard who approached, then suddenly rammed it into the man's larynx as soon as he was within range. The guard dropped, choking, and Duo lobbed a tiny, homemade concussion grenade over his head into the tiny booth.
They were out of the van before the windows had stopped rattling. Heero gave the still-choking guard a casual chop to the back of the neck as he passed, ensuring he would stay down. They stepped neatly over the two unconscious guards in the booth, Heero moving to feed a loop into the security cameras while Duo planted a few surprises and flipped the switches to open the gate momentarily. In less than a minute they were heading back out to the van.
Even as he hopped aboard, Duo could hear the Preventer vehicles racing to intercept them. It must have given Wufei a shock to see their van at the gate. No doubt he had noticed the lack of response from the agents he had left guarding the approach road. Said agents were now gagged and tied to a sticky spruce tree.
The gate rumbled closed behind the van, shutting the Preventer jeeps out. A muffled explosion from the security booth meant that the mechanism for opening the gate had just been fused. It would buy them a little more time.
And as a bonus, it would also annoy Wufei. Duo grinned, cheered at the thought.
He hadn't felt like grinning when he and Heero had first arrived at the Pandora Research facility. They had hidden the van and scouted ahead, only to discover Preventer agents all around the site. That might be normal for an infiltration attempt, but the fact that most of them were facing away from the building was a dead giveaway that this was more a trap for the two of them than a serious weapons violation crackdown.
Heero had sworn softly at the realization that Wufei must have intercepted and decrypted the pager message at the same time that he had traced the signal. Duo knew that it was the breach in his defenses that irked Heero, not the fact that Wufei was clever enough to circumvent them.
But at the moment the most irksome things were those pesky bullets zipping through their vehicle. The Preventers behind them were firing, the shots too high and level for them to be aiming at the tires. The walls of the van offered no protection at all from the high-powered missiles.
Duo hissed at the sudden burning sensation along his ribs and the almost simultaneous pain-and-wet-trickle from the junction of his neck and shoulder. He dove for the spot behind the driver's seat, collecting a neat hole through his upper arm as he did so. Even as he was landing in a tangled heap, three carefully placed shots tore the stuffing out of the passenger seat right at heart level.
"Shit," Duo muttered, righting himself and eyeing the neat grouping of holes. "He's been practicing."
Heero made a screeching turn, putting the bulk of the main research lab between them and the escalating fight at the gate. He pulled up neatly into the loading dock and they both piled out.
A tense-looking security guard approached them with a drawn gun. Acutely aware of Heero behind him, Duo stepped forward and said with a suitably shocked and disbelieving expression on his face, "There are Preventers attacking at the gate! They shot me!" He held out his bleeding arm as proof.
The man's eyes widened as he took in the sight, and he automatically turned his head in the direction of the increasing gunfire. Duo hit the conveniently exposed neck with both hands fisted together. The man crumpled with a satisfying immediacy.
Alarm klaxons were sounding and Duo could see steel shutters descending over the windows. They would have to get inside before the lockdown made it impossible.
Duo didn't even bother pulling out his electronic lock descrambler - he could still remember the codes from the first time they'd done this. They breezed through the same route, Duo opening the coded doors as fast as they came to them.
"Man, this is way easier the second time around," he said in a cheerful undertone, ignoring the slow pattering of blood dripping from the hasty dressing around his right arm. Heero said nothing, keeping a watchful eye on their back trail.
So far they had not seen anyone else. Most of the security forces would have gone to the gate or the perimeter fence, while the remainder were probably guarding the weapon. Anyone not involved in the actual move had probably been cleared from the building beforehand, to cut down on the number of witnesses.
The quiet surroundings made the contrasting sound of gunfire ahead of them quite clear. They exchanged a quick glance and broke into a run. They could hear the strident squawk of a bullhorn as the occupants of the lab were ordered to cease firing - evidently the Preventers had made it past the gate.
Duo slid to a stop outside the door leading to the main lab, already reaching for the code keypad. He punched the number in swiftly and the lock clicked open. He nodded to his partner, and pulled on the handle.
Heero dove through the narrow gap, driving a hard fist into the throat of the single guard inside to prevent any outcry. A quick blow to the back of the neck dropped the guard to the floor.
Duo slipped in behind his partner and dodged the other way, taking cover behind a work bench. He peeked over the top to see a dozen or so Pandora guards at the other end of the room, obviously preparing for the Preventer assault. They were hunkered down on either side of the big armoured roll-up door that led to the loading dock. None of them appeared to have noticed the pilots' arrival.
In front of and aimed directly at the large door sat the generator, its curving lines of gleaming metal sending a cold shiver up Duo's spine. The sight of the weapon was unnerving, but what really frightened him was the blonde researcher standing behind it with her back to the loading dock. She was holding the remote control unit he remembered, pressing the buttons with a look of blended annoyance and concentration on her face.
Heero was already moving forward, weaving between the desks and workbenches. Duo darted after him, taking the other side of the room and keeping a watchful eye on the scientist. He didn't trust her.
Sure enough, the blasted woman raised her head from the controls and noticed them. "Preventers behind you!" she yelled to the security team, ducking down behind one of the larger bits of machinery.
Under the sudden cries of alarm and the resulting shots aimed their way, over the thump of his body hitting the floor and rolling for cover, Duo heard the sound he had been dreading.
The generator was humming.
Duo swore and headed for where the scientist had hidden, ducking and weaving to avoid being shot. He had to get that remote away from her before she finished readying the weapon. Then he could plant the explosives in his bag and -
A muffled 'whump' shook the room, and one side of the cargo door blew off its tracks, hanging bent and useless from the other side. Duo found himself sprawled on the floor several feet back from his last position by the force of the blast.
He shook his head and got to his knees, peeking over the desks to assess the damage. A few of the hardier guards were already firing through the new entrance, trying to keep the Preventers out. Others hadn't been so lucky, and were lying lifeless where they had been flung. He caught a glimpse of Heero, still on his feet and moving forward, firing deliberately.
He gritted his teeth in a fierce grin, and headed for his goal again. It was touch and go as he drew closer to the wreckage of the door, but the pressure of the Preventers drawing near outside split the guards' attention and he was finally able to throw himself down behind the bulk of the weapon itself.
While the cover was reassuring, the deep throbbing vibrations coming from the weapon were not. He didn't have much time...
He rolled sideways, aiming his gun for where he had seen the scientist duck for cover. She was still there, sitting with her back to the machine she had hidden behind. But in hiding from Duo, she had left herself open on the other side. There hadn't been much shrapnel flung about by the explosion at the cargo door, but it had been enough to kill her where she sat.
The remote was in her lax hand, resting on the floor in a rather large puddle of blood. Duo squirmed to the edge of his cover, then lunged out and grabbed. His aim was accurate - he snagged the controls - but his luck was out. He fell to the ground as a shot hit bone and took his braced arm out from under him.
Almost immediately after, he heard a strangled shriek from the general direction of his assailant. Apparently the guard had exposed himself in order to make the shot, and Heero had retaliated.
Duo managed to struggle back into the shadow of the generator, still clutching the weapon controls and vainly attempting to ignore the agony in his now useless arm. The machine's thrum was rising in pitch, raising the fine hairs at the back of his neck and all down his spine.
He swiped blood and hair and sweat out of his eyes and took a look at his prize. There were various readouts and dials, but the one that interested him the most was a backwards-counting timer.
14... 13... 12...
He searched frantically for a shut off, a kill switch, an abort, anything to stop what he knew was about to happen. Nothing.
11... 10... 9...
He staggered to his feet, turning to the door, comparing the range figure shown on the remote with the scene in front of him. Through the swirling smoke and dust he could see the figures of several Preventers in assault gear charging forward to take position right outside.
8... 7... 6...
He scrabbled in his pocket for the throat mike he had taken from the unlucky Preventers he had tied to the tree an eternity ago and pressed it into place.
5... 4...
"Wufei! Abort the assault! The weapon is powered and ready to fire!" The purple light he remembered began to gather near the front of the machine.
3...
He hastily shoved the earpiece on in time to catch the end of the response.
2...
"...going ahead. Your threats won't make any difference."
1...
"NO! Wufei, stop! I..."
End Page 5
(:./wingnut/alter5)
