18-Aug-2001
Title: Kidnap 2/?
Author: Lady Murasaki (sylver_wind@yahoo.com)
Genre: Drama/Suspense
Disclaimer: Not mine, don't sue!
Pairing: 1+2
Warnings: none for this part, really...
Archive: GWAddiction, everyone else please ask first
Notes: Well, I'm nothing if not prolific ^_^ Here's part 2 for your enjoyment! And thanks to everyone who replied to part 1, I appreciate the feedback. I'm afraid the next part is going to take a while since I'm in the process of moving back to campus right now...Well, have fun =)
'...' denotes thoughts
Duo giggled as something tickled him on the nose.
"Heero, stop it!" Obediently, the tickling stopped. He looked around and saw he was in the backyard of their garden, next to the rose bushes. As he started walking around, the bushes somehow kept grabbing at him, pinching. Wait, how could a bush pinch? Something wasn't right. Duo caught a movement by his feet - a garden snake. He bent to pick it up, and suddenly the innocuous snake became a cobra, with its hood fully stretched out. He tried to throw it back on the ground, but it rose up and bit him on the cheek, then on the other -
- And Duo woke up. His cheeks still stung, and he saw a person standing in front of him, hand still raised as if to slap him. So that explained the snake dream. Duo shook his head, trying to clear it without much success. He was groggy, and if he was having a major hangover. His head still swimming, he tried to focus on something in the room, and finally stopped on the man in front of him who was saying something.
"Focus, damnit! Listen to me! How much of that stuff did they put into you, anyway?"
"Wha...? Wha' 're ya talkin' 'bout?" Duo's slurred voice sounded strange even to his own ear.
The other guy, apparenty having lost his patience, grabbed Duo's chin and tilted his head upward.
"Listen to me. You have to repeat a few words I tell you and then you can sleep all you like. Okay?"
"'kay."
"Good."
Something small and black was thrust in Duo's face and the guy made him repeat a few phrases that Duo could not remember afterwards. Then, true to his word, the man left him alone.
'Blue Dragon.' The name made Heero look up involuntarily. He remembered the times Duo would come home and punch walls in frustration. And then Heero would learn that the mastermind behind the largest crime organization on Earth had once again given the Preventers the slip. And now the guy was here - why? Heero frowned slightly as he considered the possibilities, and none of them made sense. Perhaps Takeda would explain himself in time. Heero waited for him to say more.
"I have long been interested in you, Mr. Yuy."
"How flattering."
"Oh, don't be so sarcastic. You and your friends are the heroes, the Gundam pilots. Surely you have many fans?"
"."
"Well, since you don't care for small talk, let's get down to business, shall we? I need your help in a certain enterprise of mine, Mr. Yuy. I am a generous man; surely the job of a physics teacher doesn't pay very well? Would you consider becoming my associate for a while? What do you say?"
"No."
"I beg you not to be so rash in making your decision, Mr. Yuy." A twitch of Takeda's hand brought one of his flunkies over. The man extended his hand and a small tape cassette player was immediately placed in it. "Perhaps you'd care to listen to this before you decide." He pushed a button.
The voice that came out was definitely Duo's but he sounded terrible, the words jumbled together and almost incoherent. Heero listened, trying not to let his face show his rising fury. The tape finished and Takeda stopped it.
"Well, what do you say now, Mr. Yuy? As you can see, your friend Mr. Maxwell is our guest for the moment. I am certain you'd like me to show him only the highest hospitality."
"I am not sure that you are not trying to play me for a fool. You could have faked this tape. It doesn't sound much like Duo."
"Oh. I also have this - you may recognize it." He flicked something small and yellow at Heero and Heero caught the object automatically. He'd recognize it anywhere - it was Duo's golden cross.
"It comes down to this, Mr. Yuy: how much do you care about your friend?"
"If you claim to know me as well as you do, you should know I would not accept such a bargain."
"Your friend would not thank you for that, I'm sure."
"He wouldn't thank me if I agreed, either."
"Very well, if that's your final answer. I will tell you one more thing, though. You know the elementary school about five blocks from here? There is a bomb placed under the food counter in the student cafeteria; it will go off at exactly 12:35 tomorrow. Think about that."
Blue clashed with onyx as the two men's eyes met for a moment. In that split second, Heero knew that the man was not bluffing. He looked away first.
"I will meet you here at 12:30 tomorrow, Mr. Yuy. If you are even one minute late, you will be sorry."
And then the man was gone, and Heero was left alone to consider his options. Something was cutting into his thumb; looking down, he saw the little golden cross he was still clutching, now stained with the blood from his hand. Slowly, he willed himself to to unclench his fist. A plan was beginning to form somewhere in a dark corner of his brain, and Heero needed to think, so he headed home. There, he made a phone call.
tbc...
C&C craved!
(:./murasaki/kidnap2)
