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 6 ~ Mess (cont'd)
Oh shit! Trowa's cover was blown. Had Wheat overheard everything they had said in the shower? If so, then Wheat would know that Duo was Trowa's friend - an effective death warrant in this instance.
There was no sign of an assault from the Preventers outside, which meant that Trowa's backup didn't know he was in trouble. Duo had to get out of here and let them know. An immediate Preventer raid would likely be the only thing which could save Trowa's life - if he hadn't already been killed.
Duo firmly turned his thoughts from that bleak prospect immediately. He would act as if he could still make a difference.
He eyed the comlink. If only he knew the com channel the Preventers were using for this operation, he could talk to them directly. But maybe he could contact them through the more basic emergency frequencies.
He quickly switched the comlink to the standard distress channel, but all he heard was static. He flipped through the frequencies. Everything came back white noise except the one Wheat's people were using.
He leaned his head back against the wall and banged it gently. Wheat had probably started using a local jamming signal as soon as he had captured Trowa, just in case he hadn't caught the only Preventer around.
"Can the chatter," came Wheat's voice over the comm. "Salvage crew report to the garage. Sticksy, bring that thief down, too. Everyone else stay above ground; prepare for an attack."
"Yes, sir."
"OK, Mr. Wheat."
Now what? Duo's mind raced. He had five minutes, tops (and probably a lot less) before Wheat realized that he had escaped his keeper.
Wheat's shuttle was prepared, and there was a crew meeting down in the garage. It sounded like Wheat was making a break for it before the Preventers could discover that their agent was taken.
As far as escaping went, the front entrance, the garage and the roof were likely the best-guarded spots right now, and should be avoided. On the other hand, Wheat's gang would be expecting to see pods leaving the garage, and would be unlikely to open fire on one.
Duo's feet were already taking him down another level, into the basement. Garage it was, then.
He reached the bottom of the staircase and pulled out his magnetic blade again. Within moments he had the rough location of the lockbox mapped out. Now he just had to figure out where the wires supplying the power for the box were, and cut through them. With the power cut, the electromagnet would release, and the door would open.
He pulled out the comlink and slowly ran it up and down the wall, hoping to hear a little static or feedback that would tell him where the wires were. Nothing.
He was about to turn the volume up all the way and try again, when he heard a door opening above him, and footsteps rattling on the stairs.
As in most colony buildings, this stairwell was a spiral, with a central firestation-like pole in case of gravity loss. If the colony ever stopped spinning, people could still use the pole to control a jump or fall in reduced gravity, or even to pull themselves hand over hand to whatever level they wanted. The landings in front of the doors, and the steps themselves, were made of strong but lightweight slabs of horizontal plastic, with holes spaced in them to further lighten their mass.
The problem, as far as Duo was concerned, was that without solid stairs and risers, there was no place to hide.
The footsteps continued downward, and Duo cursed mentally. He scooted under the spiral as far as he could, scrunching himself up into a little ball and huddling against the wall in what shadows he could find. He made sure to cover his hands, and to hide his face against his knees, leaving only his eyes to peek out at the door.
Then he settled into a profound stillness that even a meditating Wufei would have had trouble matching.
The footsteps clattered right above his head - three people, carrying duffels. The first pressed a card-key to the wall, and the door released with a dull thunk. The three passed through, swinging the door wide to accommodate their luggage.
Duo was moving before the last man was even clear, slipping out of his hiding spot and reaching for the door. His traitorous feet scuffed on the floor instead of moving silently, but he was lucky this time - no one questioned the tiny sound.
He caught the door just before it could latch, slowly letting out his breath with relief. He held the door still a beat or two, wanting to give the men time to move away. He didn't want to wait too long - the lock likely had a preset time it could remain open without sounding an alarm.
Peeking through the narrow slit, he could see the end of a large pod parked alongside the wall. Good - he would head for the space between pod and wall, and hide there until he could figure out what to do next.
Easing the door open slightly, he slipped through and scuttled into the welcoming shadows. The door closed behind him with an audible thunk, but no one seemed to notice.
This lowest level was mostly just open space broken up by support pillars. Other than 'his' pod, there were 3 or 4 smaller ones, parked somewhat closer to the exit ramp. There was a room in one corner, marked 'Recycling', and standard emergency space suits racked against one wall.
In addition, there were several people gathered in a rough circle not far from his position. Duo found his attention drawn to them immediately, for the simple reason that one of them had his hand fisted in the material at the front of Trowa's shirt.
Trowa dangled from the large man's grasp. All his gymnast's grace had deserted him, his arms and legs moving feebly in random directions. His head lolled, mouth and eyes half-open. He was awake, but not very aware.
For one horrified instant, Duo thought Wheat had given Tro some kind of overdose, that his friend was dying before his eyes. Then he saw the thick, metal-tipped rod Trowa's captor held in his other fist - an electric stun baton.
It was both good news and bad; good because Trowa was still alive and relatively unharmed, but bad because criminals usually only used stunners when they wanted their victims disabled, yet available for questioning, or didn't want them leaving telltale traces of blood for coroners to find.
Or both.
"Where the hell is Sticksy?" Wheat demanded into his comlink.
"Sir, he's here in the video room, out cold. No sign of the thief."
Wheat swore. "Find him!" he growled into the com.
Wheat's face twisted with rage, and he wheeled, planting a solid kick in Trowa's ribs. Trowa grunted and twitched, but he was obviously too dazed to respond.
"I need that thief!" Wheat hissed. "If we had access to the stealth technology from that lab, we could cloak our ships and retreat to space. The Preventers would never find us. That little runt could be our last chance to break into that damned asteroid..."
Duo's mouth dropped open. Stealth technology from a lab on an asteroid...? How many labs specializing in stealth technology could there be on asteroids near L2? Not too many. In fact, he could only think of one - G's old lab, where he had developed Deathscythe.
But the lab Wheat was referring to must belong to someone else. Duo himself had headed the Preventer team that had gone through and cleaned out G's experiments and half-finished inventions.
He wouldn't have left that job to anyone else - it would have been too dangerous. G had been well-funded, inventive, and very paranoid. Anybody attempting to get in without intimate knowledge of the lab's layout and the security system would have failed rather spectacularly.
"Boss, maybe we should go without him," suggested one of the women. "The little shuttle from the asteroid is cloaked - we can slip past the Preventers in that, and round up another infiltration team for the lab."
Duo frowned. G had had a little runabout which he had used to test the stealth systems eventually installed in Deathscythe...
He shook his head. Coincidence. G's lab was gone.
And he should be gone, too. If only the gang weren't between him and the exit, he would have already made good his escape. Unfortunately, there was no cover between his current hiding place and the ramp except the support pillars, and Duo didn't think he would have much success sneaking from post to post in his current shaky condition.
He would have to wait until Wheat left the garage, and try to slip out then. He couldn't cling to the bottom of the pod lik-
He clung to the bottom of the jeep as it trundled up the exit ramp to freedom, letting go and dropping to the ground as the vehicle paused at the top. When the jeep had passed harmlessly over him, Duo stood up and dusted himself off, waiting for the gate guards to notice him. He even had time to pull his distinctive braid free of his jacket (so there could be no question as to his identity) before the alarm went up. He grinned, waved, and sprinted away, content that the search would be directed away from the building. That would make it easier to break in when he returned to Preventer HQ.
Duo blinked as the vision subsided. That was a weird one. But at least it hadn't been about one of his friends dying...
Duo came back to reality as four of the gang began walking towards him. One of them held out a little remote, and the pod Duo was hiding behind beeped and obediently unlocked its doors.
Crap! He should have realized they would be using the larger vehicle to get the crew and their gear to the launch bay. He crouched lower and looked around desperately. He couldn't slip away without being seen, and the electric vehicles rode too close to the ground to make it possible to hide underneath.
Lower lip caught between his teeth, Duo could do nothing but wait as the men approached. He ghosted closer to the front of the pod as two of the men went to the back and opened the trunk. He could feel the pod shift as the crew's duffles were thrown in. The door slammed, and the pod shifted again as some of the men leaned against the far side.
OK... The door to the stairwell was locked, and he couldn't disable the mechanism quickly. The 'recycling' room might be a possible hiding place, but it was on the far side of garage. Also past the gang was the exit ramp. He doubted he could either sneak past them or evade all the bullets that would surely be aimed his way if he made a mad dash for freedom.
So... When Wheat finally decided to leave, they would find him crouched behind the pod. That was assuming that he wasn't tracked down via security videos before then. How could he turn that certain discovery to his advantage?
Wheat hadn't said anything about him being in cahoots with Twister - he must not know. Trowa must have been exposed by something other than their conversation in the shower. That meant that Duo would be safe for as long as Wheat needed his abilities.
Well, then, it would be best to show himself as competent. The more respect he got, the more solid his position within the gang would be. And if he were given any sort of privilege... maybe he could repay Trowa for saving his life earlier.
Duo risked another peek. Wheat was pacing angrily, and Trowa was blinking groggily.
Carefully, Duo eased open the side door to the pod, sliding it back on its track. He very gently slid inside, careful not to rock the vehicle and alert the gang members leaning against it. He eased the door mostly closed, but didn't risk engaging the latch. Then he scooted to the side closest to Wheat, conveniently shielded from view by the back of the guy leaning against the pod.
He sat back comfortably, putting his feet up on the front seat's headrest, and hit the switch to lower the window.
The gang members scattered with gratifying speed as they realized there was someone behind them, leaving a clear avenue between Duo and Wheat.
"Hey, boss!" Duo drawled, "Let's get this show on the road!"
End Page 19
(:./wingnut/alter19)
