22-Apr-2002
revised: 16-Jun-2002
Title: Magic Happens
Author: Ebonydove
Pairings: 2+1
Warnings: none
Author's notes: Duo's POV. Duo has joined the Preventers and finds himself thrown into a
mysterious plot after Heero agrees to return to earth and join up with him and
the Preventers. Duo is trying to figure out if he and Heero can have a
relationship and is struggling with getting his feelings across to Heero.
Feedback craved like so much chocolate...
Disclaimer: Go where the money's made. It ain't here. This is just for fun.
I counted to ten before darting my head around the crates to see where Heero had gone. There was no sign of anyone, so I crept from my hiding spot with the bags and laptop in tow, and made my way to where our shuttle was. I knelt by a hatch in the rear of the shuttle where the cargo is usually loaded into and checked it for a lock. I almost laughed and breathed a sigh of relief as it clicked and swung open.
Either it was too easy or I was entirely too lucky. I stashed the bags securely inside, but kept Heero's laptop with me. It would come in handy if I needed to make a fast break and contact Wufei later and the gods only knew what kinda shit Heero had on it. I closed the lid and was about to see if the front of the shuttle was open as well when my Maxwell luck ran out.
"Hey you. What are doing out here? Passengers aren't supposed to board for another fifteen minutes." I saw him tense as he recognized the Preventers jacket. It was the second time the damned thing had given me away and I was going to be sure to tell Wufei about it when we saw him next.
I turned to the gruff voice with a wide smile and mustered all the charm and innocence I could in the three seconds I had to respond to the question. "Uh, just checking things out, ya know, random safety check. Just wanted to make sure she was safe and all." I hadn't meant to add jumpy to innocent and charming, but it came through in the voice anyway. The guy looked to be a part of the spaceport security, at least that what the patch on his jacket said, but something just wasn't right. I glanced at the name badge. "So Bart, what do you do here?" I asked conversationally.
When I saw the confused look on his face it confirmed my suspicion. He must have realized it too because he lunged forward tackling me to the ground. I had tucked my gun back into its holster when I was loading the bags, and with Heero's laptop swung over my shoulder, it added ten pounds to my own momentum. I hit the ground hard, smashing my elbow on the asphalt with the burly guy practically knocking the wind out of me as he fell on top. My elbow was screaming but I was more concerned with the chokehold the guy now had on my throat. That and he began to try to beat my skull off the ground. I brought my knee up hard, slamming into him and knocking him off balance enough for me to roll and push up effectively getting him off me, but I was still on the ground. I felt his kick connect with my already abused ribcage as I tried to get up off my hands and knees. The kick sent me back down clutching my side and gasping for air. Who was the guy? An ex-heavyweight?
Now I was pissed. I scrambled up before he could deliver another kick and pulled the gun out from its' holster to level it squarely between his eyes. He might be big, but I was fast. He was surprised how quickly I had moved from pray to predator and rose his hands in a gesture of defeat once he saw I was brooding no argument. It gave me enough time to get some air back into my lungs as I held him at bay for a few moments. I glanced to my elbow that was already swelling and hissed as I tried to bend it. I snapped my eyes back up when I heard the guy thump to the ground.
"I told you to stay put." Heero growled as he gave me a once over.
"You're not the boss of me. And you said you'd be right back too. That was ten minutes ago." I shot back harshly. I was however relieved to see him. "Who was this guy? He's wearing a stolen uniform from port authority." I lowered the gun and took a few more deep breaths as trying to make conversation was leaving me breathless.
Heero didn't seem too surprised. He also didn't answer me and I was starting to get really ticked off. My ribs were screaming and my elbow was throbbing, but hopefully not broken. I was confused and pretty keyed up, so when he went to take the laptop from me I pushed his hand away and gave him my best Shinigami stare down. "Tell me what's going on. Now."
He actually smirked at me. If it had been anyone else; he'd be dead.
"The piece of paper you have is a code. It's something that I had been working on with the Preventers for the past year. It's a communications code that keeps our operatives safe while they are involved in covert activities. If it falls into the wrong hands our people in the field could be compromised."
Fuck.
"Our people?" I wanted to ask a million other questions but I watched his unease grow the longer we stayed still so I turned off the stare and handed him the strap to the laptop. We then moved to the cockpit, which was blessedly unlocked and crawled up inside. Maybe my luck was still holding out after all. We were up in the air and heading toward earth in twenty minutes.
Once we cleared L1's port and got underway I emailed Wufei to fill him in on our arrival, but at Heero's request didn't mention the whole ransack, running, hiding, ambush thing. At least not until I got a further explanation from my partner. Which gave me the next sixteen hours to get it out of him. Right now I was flying our 'appropriated' shuttle and he was in back doing... something, so I had to wait to give him the Spanish Inquisition until he chose to relieve me. Or until I deemed it safe enough for auto pilot.
I felt like I was two steps behind. Heero was acting strange, he never kept things like mission objectives from me in the past and I tried not to think about the knot it gave me in my gut. After all this time, you would think he would know who his friends were and who he could trust with his secrets. But then again I reminded myself how many things I had kept from him and had to shake my head.
I keyed in the coordinates to the base on earth and was about to throw her into auto pilot when the source for my growing agitation finally decided to grace me with his presence. He sat in the co-pilot seat and stared out at the darkness of space. "It's been a long time since I've been out here." He said in a distant voice, throwing my need for a tirade out the window.
"Feels good though, don't it?" At least I knew it did for me. I felt like the time I had spent on L2 waiting to get my act together was forever ago. Being there with Heero was right where I should be.
"Why did you come to L1 if it wasn't for Preventers business?" He asked me instead of answering my question.
"I told you, it was personal."
I guess I replied a bit too quickly, because he let out a little snort and turned to me as I fiddled with the gages. "I remember you had said that. But what personal business?"
"Since when do you pry into other people's personal affairs?" I shot back feeling defensive. I had too many other things going on in my head, like freakin' supercodes, and what did I almost get my elbow smashed for? Who the fuck was after Heero? Who was that old guy in the Chinese restaurant who gave me the paper in the first place and how did he know to give it to me? And why didn't Wufei warn me about any of this in the first place? The last thing I wanted to do was discuss why I really come to L1. I felt my tirade building back up when I got the wind knocked out of me for the second time in an hour.
"I missed this." He said quieter than before. "I missed you."
He was staring out into space watching as we floated past the stars and I saw the thing I had missed when we were in Relena's sitting room. The sparkle in those dark blue eyes of his was back. That fire that was always lurking behind those cobalt depths had been lacking when I first saw him, and now it shone through again, like it had so very long ago. When we were just two young kids fighting in something so overwhelming I still had trouble wrapping my brain around it. I smiled and wondered if that glimmer of adventure, of joy, of the closeness I felt when I was near him was as obvious in my own eyes. Damnit. "I missed you too, Heero."
End Part 5
(:./ebony/magic5)
