By nightfall, Duo was responsive again; he had even made a feeble attempt to insult Heero's cooking. Heero, of course lost his temper, but instead of clowning around, Duo simply stood up and walked out of the cabin, into the forest.
"Iye, that was stupid," Heero muttered to himself as he heard Duo's footsteps grow faint. He didn't want to go after Duo right now-he knew that he was not very good at this sort of thing. He looked for him an hour later, after he had finished double-checking the two mobile suits in the cave.
He was in the middle of a clearing in the forest, lying on his back, looking at the stars.
Heero approached Duo slowly, carefully - he did not want to look his usual no-nonsense self. Heero had cultivated that image for himself, that of the machine boy, as much a weapon as a mobile suit. But it had also occurred to him that he might have missed out on many things in the pursuit of his perfection.
Duo just lay there, looking at the stars; usually, he would be half-smiling, as if remembering a something pleasant from his past. Tonight, though, he was, in Heero's eyes, almost brooding.
"You're not in a very good mood." Great, Heero thought. That was a great opening. Where was Quatre when he was needed?
Duo simply lay there, his arms behind his head. After some time, he turned to Heero and gave him a thoughtful look. "Do you ever wonder why we don't look at stars anymore? Or why we don't talk much about our pasts? Heero, have you ever wondered why we don't bother to think about our future, either?"
Duo said it all in a slow, haunting tone, reminding Heero of the Shinigami's generators - a low humming felt more by the heart than by the ears.
"When we finish all this, then maybe the future is something to think about." Heero sat down next to Duo. He wanted to hold him right now, but he didn't want to look weak. In his mind, his lover needed a strong person right now.
Silence.
"You never think about it at all, do you?" Duo looked at him, his eyes betraying the sadness he was trying to hide with his smile. Minutes passed, while Heero sat silently, and Duo just stared at the stars.
"Heero, can you just leave me alone for now? I'm not good company for the evening. I guess I should have brought that whiskey bottle in the Shinigami."
Heero left.
Hours later, Heero stole silently into the cave. His Wing was there, but tonight, it was the Shinigami that he wanted. Once he got to the parapet that had access to the cockpit, he turned the cockpit door latch, and Shinigami opened with a sigh.
Once again, Heero shivered. Why couldn't this damn machine sound like one? It always sounded like it was Death itself. Heero shook his head; this was no time for doubt.
He accessed the computers. As can be expected, there was a password system.
He remembered:
Duo was explaining his feelings about his mobile suit one day, while they were relaxing in bed. "Whenever I see my enemies on the screen I remember what the old gladiators used to say, haha! 'Thought I didn't know history, eh? I got that from Sister. Anyway, they used to say 'morituri te salutans.' It meant 'we who are about to die salute you.' Very few things can survive a battle with Shinigami."
He giggled and looked at Heero. "And, whenever I look at you, I feel like I'm going to die myself." Heero look perplexed. Duo started laughing.
"You're never going to lighten up, you know that? No, don't say anything, just come here." They kissed, and Heero made him happy for the second time that day.
Heero grinned. He typed in "morituri". The computer didn't beep in assent. It actually had a voice, and it sounded exactly like his beloved: "password confirmed."
He looked around in the files. He was amazed at how disorganized Duo's systems programs were, and at the complexity of their design. Shinigami was obviously designed for much more than he had previously seen it do. Perhaps Duo was holding back, he wondered. Maybe Duo is even better than I am. Once again, Heero shivered.
The computer's menu had an interesting option: he saw that it had video recordings of the various missions. Something pulled at his guts; he rolled the trackball until the arrow pointed at the access button.
The moment he clicked on it, another menu sprang updates and places. On the bottom of the list was one word: Hephaestus. That was the name of the base that they last hit. The arrow moved to it.
The video came on in all the combat screens. Heero felt like he was reliving the fight. He could hear the sounds through the internal speakers, as well. Duo was very good, he realized, as he retraced how Duo had actually crept within sighting distance of one Leo, before he activated the boosters and half-jumped, half-rammed into it scythe first. He killed two more with a simple half-moon slash at both Leos' abdomens.
The Shinigami walked to another part of the complex. It seemed that the buildings were combination dorms and hangars; efficient, but easy pickings as targets.
A Leo equipped with a cannon and a shoulder-mounted shield stepped out of one of the hangars. Shinigami went after it, using its main booster to go to attack speed. Not bad, Heero thought. Very efficient. Suddenly, the left viewscreen magnified on a detail on the dorm building. As the magnification increased, it showed a little girl, no more than five years old, looking out the window, terrified. She was banging at the glass, her mouth forming one word over and over again.
Heero mouthed the word himself.
"Daddy."
The Shinigami, from the looks of it, had slowed down. It seemed to be standing, waiting for the Leo to attack. The Leo took aim and fired the cannon. The scythe came up and deflected the shot.
Heero was surprised. He didn't know that could be done with energy weapons. Obviously, the Shinigami's weapon was more than it seemed, too.
The Leo started going into combat maneuvers, trying to outflank the Shinigami. Heero noticed that there was one smaller button in the menu on the computer screen: "cockpit audio". He clicked on it.
Duo's voice boomed into the cockpit.
"Don't make me do this, dammit, get out of the way!"
He was using the external speakers, Heero realized. By this time, the two mobile suits were interweaving in S-patterns, trying to outposition the other. This was a good pilot, he thought. He's been able to avoid most of the slashes.
Suddenly, the cannon fired again.
"NOOO!" Duo screamed, almost deafening Heero.
He maneuvered the Shinigami so that the shot hit it right on its shoulder. The problem, from the looks of it, was that the mobile suit had not yet gotten its feet in a proper, stable stance. The screen views tilted, going towards the sky. Static arced across the screen.
All he could hear was Duo's voice.
"No! I couldn't stop it" He heard something close to a sob as he saw the view right itself again. The Leo, this time around, was the one who seemed immobilized. Heero saw the scythe, in naginata position, lance out and surgically disarm the Leo. A few seconds later, the legs also collapsed. The final swing of the scythe was more than a dramatic flourish.
Heero heard explosions in the background, and he saw the base fuel-depot go up in flames. He saw the view moving towards research facilities, and heard his own voice crackle through the radio.
"Duo, mission accomplished! Get me out of here!"
He saw the view stop and turn, looking back at the hangar/dorm building.
It was now a pile of rubble.
Heero shivered for the third time that night. Duo took the cannon shot to protect the girl. But Shinigami fell onto the building.
Heero slowly went through the motions of shutting the computer down.
What Duo needs now, he thought to himself, was a good shot of that whiskey he's been talking about. Heero knew where it was stashed; Duo was always forthcoming about using it, especially when they wanted to get drunk before having fun. He opened the side-panel that led to the food compartment. The bottle wasn't there. Heero returned to the clearing.
Duo was asleep, the bottle of whiskey on the grass beside him nearly empty.
"Iye" Heero mumbled to himself. He slowly picked Duo up, as if he were a delicate toy, carefully avoiding the ponytail so he wouldn't accidentally pull it.
The Shinigami pilot was like deadweight. After a bottle of whiskey, who wouldn't be, Heero thought to himself. Duo mumbled something, but Heero couldn't make it out.
They reached the cabin after some effort. Heero gently tucked Duo into bed, putting a small pail next to it, just in case Duo wasn't as good with alcohol as he thought. Heero turned off all the lights. He sat there, on a chair next to the bed, looking at Duo's face as it was illuminated by the moonlight.
He kissed Duo on the forehead, and sat back, waiting for the morning.
Hephaestus Base
"The research facilities have been destroyed." Major Diez was looking at his friend. Poor man, he thought. His daughter had only been there to visit for the night. Being a Test Pilot was not a good way to earn a living, he mused further on.
"Ocho, I may have some good news for you, such as it may be."
The pilot was still silent.
"They did not get the main bunker for the prototypes. They assumed, from the way they targeted the facilities, that we hadn't advanced that far. They don't know about the Leo Striker, or the Leo Hammer."
The pilot's head suddenly jerked upward. There was a gleam in his eye.
"Exactly what I was thinking, old friend; we can take care of those damned gundams, and you can have your revenge as well"
Pilot Ocho looked at Diez, and a smile slowly formed on his face. "Yes." He stood up, saluted the Major, and stalked out the door.
The Major looked at the doorway. "There's one born every minute," he muttered to himself, and began to look over the specs of the two most precious suits in the whole base.
End Part 2
(:./lee/dogs2)
