20-Aug-2000
Title: Inferno's Touch ~ Chapter 8
Author: Ravynfyre
Archive: GW Addiction, Darkflame
Category: Action, Angst
Pairings: 3+4
Standard Disclaimer: Not mine. Theirs. Too bad, but otherwise, I guess I'd never get anything done >nice hentai thought<. Anyway, not makin' any money offa this so dun sue me. You'd only get some college debt, a few dogs, and a pair of fuzzy bunny slippers anyway.
Rating: PG-13
Warning: None
Spoiler: None
Notes: Terminology at the end.
Feedback: Yes, please. All comments welcome (although flames may be fed to my dogs, who, since they have notoriously gassy intestinal tracts, will be spending the night with the flamer afterwards)
Zechs had just finished shrugging his fresh air bottle on when an explosion rocked the warehouse, sending the entire roof caving in on itself. His eyes grew wide and he ripped his radio out of its protective pocket, abandoning all normal protocols and cueing it up.
"Duo! Heero! Report!"
Static filled silence answered him.
He wasted no more time and dashed over to the Batt Chief to deploy the RIT Team.
He couldn´t breathe. It felt like there was a whole fire truck sitting on his chest holding him down. Or maybe the St. Mary´s Rugby team. Now THERE was a group of guys who could hit!
Now when was it that he´d started playing Rugby again? He gave that up for a while when he took this fire fighting job…
Duo tried to move, groaning when he found himself fairly well pinned. He lay there trying to remember what had happened for a long minute, before he realized that his air was warm.
Wait a second… Air? Why was he on air?
He listened to the harsh stutter-rush-hiss of his regulator as he took in a deep breath. He was hot. Very hot, and getting hotter. And the warm air in his tank wasn´t doing anything to cool him off.
Whatever had happened, and where ever he was, it was bad. Warm air was a very bad sign. It meant that his tank was overheating, and that he was probably too far in. Time to leave.
Too far in to where? He growled as he shifted his position again, trying to free himself from whatever was pinning him.
He´d leave, just as soon as he could get that damn ton of whatever it was off of his back!
An arm dropped down, draping itself over his shoulder into his line of sight.
Duo struggled, clenching both of his fists and taking a moment to actually count his hands to himself. Yup. Both there. Which meant that the hand he was seeing wasn´t his own. Who´s-
Oh shit. Heero!
Adrenaline and desperation gave him a surge of strength that he hadn´t realized he possessed. With a savage grumble, he managed to push his way out from under the other fireman and turn to survey the damage.
And felt his jaw hit the floor.
The lower half of Heero´s body was hidden under a pile of what could only be the ceiling and roof. The pile where Duo would have been if Heero hadn´t tackled him and shoved him out of the brunt of the collapse. Steel trusses, tin sheets, charred two-by-fours, tar paper, and unidentifiable chunks littered the area, pinning the unconscious fireman to the floor.
Heero had traded his safety for Duo´s.
Duo tried to stumble to his feet, but the heat pressed him down again. It held him in its oppressive hand, stealing his breath and melting the face shield off of his helmet.
Duo shook his head, crawling forward and seizing Heero´s shoulders in his gloved hands. He gave a mighty heave, trying to pull the other man out, but ended up flat on his butt when his grip slipped.
Heero´s tank began to buzz warningly. He was running out of air.
rowa and Quatre already had a backboard and the gurney ready. The RIT Team, four men with fresh air packs, heavy tools, and a new hose, had made entry about five minutes earlier. Trowa and Quatre had set up the gurney right beside Engine 8, while they took their supplies and the backboard, and waited as close to the main door as they could get without either being in the way, or getting burned by the heat and smoke.
Zechs waited beside them, ready to lend a hand when the RIT team brought the missing firefighters out.
"I should have been there. Should have been me," Zechs muttered as he started to pace.
"No. You´d have been out of air by now if you had been. You can´t blame yourself," Quatre soothed.
Zechs spun and speared him with an intense glare.
"He´s right. It wasn´t your fault. Besides, Duo knows what he´s doing. They´ll make it out of this," Trowa said.
Zechs watched them both, eyeing them gravely for a long moment before he nodded in defeat to their logic.
Quatre slipped up next to the brooding captain and laid a gentle hand on his arm.
"All we can do is wait for the RIT team."
Duo fished out his radio, listening for a second to make sure no other traffic would drown him out before he keyed up the mike.
"Engine 8 Captain, Engine 8 Driver, we need a RIT team here, fast."
"Duo? Where are you Duo?" was Zechs´ immediate reply.
"About twenty feet from the seat of the fire, on the hose about fifteen feet from the nob. Heero´s down, pinned, and running low on air. I´m going to start sharing my tank with him, but I´m down to 30 minutes."
"10-4. RIT team, did you copy that?" the Batt chief asked.
A strange, muffled male voice acknowledged it, and Duo heaved a small sigh of relief. They´d already deployed the RIT team. With one hand, he slipped his radio back in his pocket, while his other hand fished through another pocket for the four-foot length of flexible plastic tubing he always kept coiled there. With a triumphant laugh, he pulled it out and stuffed one end of the tube between Heero´s cheek and his mask. Right as Heero´s tank sucked dry, Duo slipped the other end of the tube between his own cheek and mask. The regulator roared in his ears as Heero drew a breath from Duo´s tank through the tube that connected them. It was strange, feeling the air rush past his face, but not being the one to breathe it.
He was just glad he was paranoid enough to carry that tube on him. While he waited for the RIT team to arrive, Duo started digging through the debris pinning his partner down, tossing off bricks, beams, and burning timbers with abandon. Near the center of the collapse, the fire was steadily eating its way free again, white-hot tongues of fire trickling through the piles and twisted mess of wreckage.
After clearing the rest of Heero´s upper body and untangling his Scott pack from the rubble, Duo pulled out his length of tube webbing. The heavy-duty nylon strap slipped easily under Heero´s arms, snugging up tight against his shoulders. Duo took the other end, wrapped it around his arms, and scooted backwards, flexing his legs against the floor for all he was worth. Both the strap and the air tube stretched between the two firefighters, straining against the pull for a long minute before something within the pile gave way with an audible crack. Duo just hoped that it hadn´t been any of Heero´s anatomy that he´d just heard break as he hauled the unconscious firefighter out from under the pile.
Once Heero´s feet had cleared the debris, Duo scrambled forward to get a better grip on his partner. Wrapping the tube webbing around Heero in an improvised harness, Duo slowly started crawling his way back along the hose. He hadn´t gotten but half a dozen feet when his tank suddenly sucked dry against his face. A split second of panic gripped him before he reached up and ripped off the regulator from the mask. The choking black smoke and searing heat assailed him fiercely before he could get his nomex hood pulled up to cover the regulator hole in his mask. It wouldn´t be much protection, but it would filter out some of the bigger particles of smoke and crap from the air.
As he reached forward to give Heero the same treatment, a figure materialized out of the smoke. Hands quickly relieved him of his burden, while someone else with a fresher tank assumed possession of the tube supplying Heero´s air. Duo felt someone´s shoulder slip under his own and help support him as they led him away from the twisted wreckage that was rapidly blazing up once more.
By the time the outside light started filtering into the smoke, Duo´s racking coughs had stolen what little strength he had left. The threshold loomed up before him, catching him unawares and spilling him out of the building to collapse on his hands and knees on the concrete sidewalk. Before he could move, other hands were quickly tearing off his mask, tank, and gear. Someone was pressing a different kind of mask to his face, while other hands lifted him to his feet again, trying to drag him towards an ambulance gurney. He thrashed in their grip, batting all the hands and the oxygen mask away.
"Forget me… Heero-"
"Duo, sit!" Zechs ordered, appearing at his right side.
"I´m fine… Heero´s…" he managed to gasp between coughs and huge gulps of the cooler outdoor air.
Duo turned to watch two firefighters emerge from the doorway of the building, carrying the limp burden of the Engine 8 firefighter between them. Trowa and Quatre leapt into action, quickly stripping the unconscious firefighter´s mask and gear from him and directing the men carrying him to lay him on the backboard waiting beside them. Without missing a beat, the firefighters had laid Heero on the board, and picked the board up, quickly shuffling off towards the waiting gurney.
Meanwhile, Trowa had already gotten an oxygen mask on Heero, while Quatre slipped a cervical collar on him in case he´d gotten a head or neck injury. Duo staggered after them, following in their wake as they maneuvered Heero onto the gurney. Before they strapped him down, Trowa slipped the last of Heero´s rig gear off, tossing it onto the engine nearby. As the last of the straps were buckled into place, Heero´s eyes snapped open.
"Duo-"
"He´s fine, Heero. Duo´s fine," Quatre assured him as they wheeled the gurney to the ambulance.
"Safe?"
"He´s safe. Duo, come here, you´re riding in with us," Quatre ordered. Duo lurched over, still trying to clear the acrid smoke from his lungs. Heero´s eyes zoomed in on the driver, something like relief flashing through his Prussian gaze for the briefest of moments.
Then his eyes rolled back into his head and his whole body relaxed into unconsciousness once again.
Something was tickling his nose. Not low near the nostrils, but up high, near the bridge of his nose. It was really starting to get annoying. No. Not a tickle… a sting. Like when he´d worn those sunglasses with the really tight nose-grips for too long last summer. It was that tingly stingy sort of feeling your skin gets when you wear a brand new pair of socks without stretching the elastic out first. And the inside of his nose felt really dry, almost like he´d been breathing desert air for a week.
What was going on? Why couldn´t he focus his thoughts? And what the hell was that tickling his damned nose?!
He opened his eyes, blinking them shut tightly again as the blaring white light and pale pink walls stabbed at his brain behind his pupils.
"Duo?"
He almost jumped out of his skin as that voice spoke quietly from beside him. He recognized that voce. Now why wouldn´t his brain supply him with a name?
"Duo, you awake?"
So calm. That voice was low like a rumbling peal of thunder, but not as harsh. Who-
Trowa.
He blinked his eyes open again, slitting his eyelids carefully against the bright glare. Yup. There was the bang. Trowa.
He tried to speak, to at least acknowledge the paramedic´s presence, but his voice wouldn´t come. Pain lanced along his throat, screamed along every nerve from the back of his tongue to his lungs, and then some. Unbidden, his face scrunched up, and a sharp breath hissed between his clenched teeth. The oxygen mask cinched tight to his face pinched along his cheeks as he grimaced. Well, that explained the abuse his poor nose was retaliating against.
"Don´t try to talk. You got a pretty good lungful of smoke and superheated air."
Duo grimaced again.
"Heero´s up getting x-rayed," Quatre said as he appeared beside his partner.
Trowa nodded down at Duo, directing Quatre´s attention there.
"Duo! You´re awake! Don´t try to talk. You hurt your throat and lungs."
After a few moments of watery-eyed blinking, Duo´s eyes finally adjusted to the glare. He speared them both with a questioning glance.
"You passed out right after we got you into the ambulance with Heero." Duo tossed them both a surprised look, grimacing when he automatically tried to speak and his voice rattled harshly in his abused throat.
"If you keep trying to talk, you'll hurt your throat even worse, and then we may have to tube you. You don't want that now, do you?" Quatre admonished gently.
Duo shuddered as he just thought about having one of those large ventilation tubes forced down his throat. He shook his head frantically, clamping his mouth shut with an audible snap.
"Heero's upstairs getting X-rays and a CT scan. He still hasn't regained consciousness since you saw him last," Quatre explained, unconsciously checking Duo´s bandages and IV line.
Duo nodded and gave the blond paramedic a calming, brave smile, a shadow of his normal cheeky grin, but at least a valiant attempt. Quatre saw the smile for what it was and simply shook his head, willing himself to still his nervous hands.
"They'll take good care of him up there, Duo. I promise." Duo feigned nonchalance, shrugging tiredly and flipping them a 'devil-may-care' smirk before settling himself back against his gurney. Darkness stole over him once more even as his head hit the scratchy, sterile hospital pillow.
He awoke once more, this time safely ensconced in a more permanent hospital bed, rather than the wobbly-wheeled gurney in the ER. He wasn't sure if he was any happier about that. Being in a bed, in a room, most likely occupied by a second patient, if the gentle snores wafting from the drawn curtain were any indication, in the hospital, and not still hanging out down in the ER indicated to him that he was likely in for an extended stay. Or at least an overnight stay.
He didn't like hospitals under the best of circumstances. He especially didn't like being a patient in one.
A cheerfully smiling, almost bouncy young nurse flounced into the room and sailed past the curtain into Duo's half of the room. She glanced at him, startled when she realized he was awake, and then smiled brightly. "Mr. Maxwell! You're awake! Very nice. No. Don't try to talk. You've hurt your throat badly. Got a few burns and inhaled some stuff you really shouldn't have ought to have. It's made all the skin on the inside of your throat swell up a little. Now you're doing fine and we don't expect any complications, but the doctor wanted to keep you here in the hospital for a few days just to be sure. It's just a precaution to make sure that your throat doesn't swell up so much that you can't breathe. You'll probably be out of here within a week or so at the latest. Until then, just relax, get some rest, and don't strain your throat. If you need anything, use your nurse call button, on that little keypad right there, and someone will come help you as soon as possible. Okay? Good. I'll bring you some dinner in just a little while then. See you later. Bye!" she chirped brightly as she bustled about his half of the room, checking equipment, giving him a brief once over, and refilling his pitcher of ice water.
He was amazed. Even had he been able to talk, he still wouldn't have been able to get a word in edgewise. He'd never known that was possible until that moment.
He settled himself back after adjusting his bed so he could sit up and watch TV. Hopefully his roommate was a heavy sleeper, because if Duo didn't do something soon to distract himself, he'd start shredding his pillows and blankets from sheer boredom. With any luck, Springer would be on.
Of course, by now, he should have realized that luck just wasn't with him that day. Otherwise, he probably wouldn't have been in the hospital in the first place.
No Springer.
Montel was on, however, and that was usually almost as good. He grabbed a cup of cool water to soothe the ache in his throat and concentrated on the TV.
As his mind started wandering, he wondered how Heero was doing.
"Good afternoon, Mr. Maxwell. I'm Dr. Sorenson. How are you feeling?" Duo jumped, his heart racing as the deep voice broke into his TV coma. His head whipped around and speared the man dressed in the lab coat and holding what were obviously medical charts as he stood at the foot of Duo's bed.
"I'm sorry. Didn't mean to startle you. Feeling all right, other than the heart attack I just gave you?" the Doctor asked with a laugh for his own feeble joke.
Duo shook his head and then gave the doc a thumbs up and a grin.
"Ah, good. Well, I was a little concerned that your throat may continue to swell, so I decided to keep you here for observation for a few days. Hopefully, we'll have you out of here and back on duty as soon as possible."
Duo flashed him a "V for Victory" sign and smiled.
"Well, good. If there's anything you need, just use your call button. Let's see how your room mate is doing, shall we?" he asked, pulling back the curtain.
Duo peered over at the other bed's occupant curiously. A flash of relief shot through him as the doctor reached over and gently shook the sleeping patient's arm.
"Mr. Yuy. You need to wake up now, Mr. Yuy."
Heero's eyes snapped open, his body automatically tensing with a fight or flight response. He recovered quickly and turned, blinkingly staring at the doctor standing beside him.
"Ah, Mr. Yuy. How are you feeling?" the doctor asked pleasantly.
Heero's gaze darted about the room, eyes widening faintly when he noticed Duo watching him intently. Duo winked, and flashed him a thumbs up and a cheerful, if slightly pained, grin.
Duo frowned to himself as Heero glanced back to the doctor. Had that been relief in Heero's eyes when he saw the longhaired driver? Nah. Couldn't have been.
"Hn. Fine. When can I go back to work?" Heero asked tersely.
"Hmmm. Not for at least a week. You've been in and out of consciousness all day, Mr. Yuy. According to your CT scan, you have a brain contusion. You'll be here for a few days, and I'm afraid you shouldn't plan on getting much rest for the next 24 hours or so. I'll be having a nurse wake you up once every hour or so until some of the swelling in your brain goes down. You did take quite a nasty blow to your head, after all.
"You'll also probably be quite sore for the next week or so. How you managed to not break anything, with the extent of crush induced bruising you sustained, is a mystery to us all. You are a very lucky man, Mr. Yuy."
Heero snorted and crossed his arms over his chest belligerently, giving the giving the good doctor the benefit of his rather intimidating glare.
"I hope we can expect your full cooperation during your stay here, Mr. Yuy. I would hate to lose any nurses over a simple contusion," the doctor said, his voice low and even, but his eyes darting about nervously, seeking relief from Heero's oppressive expression.
Duo attracted their attention and tossed the doctor a wink and another thumbs up. The doctor seemed to heave a small sigh of relief.
"Well then, gentlemen, I'm sure your nurse will be bringing you your dinner shortly. I shall leave you to rest."
Without waiting for a response, the doctor retreated from the room. Duo could almost taste the relief radiating from the man to be out of Heero's line of fire.
Duo snorted and shook his head, attracting Heero's attention. Heero turned to glance at him curiously. There was a wary, cautious air about him as he met Duo's eyes.
Duo smiled and mouthed the word "Relax" to his new roommate, cocking his head and giving the Japanese man a mirthful grin.
A calculating gleam entered Heero's eyes.
"Burnt your throat. Can't talk," he guessed.
Duo rolled his eyes and nodded, screwing his face into an exaggerated pout.
"Hn. A week. Where you can't talk. This might not be so bad after all," Heero replied, the tiniest of smirks playing at the corner of his mouth. Duo's eyes narrowed dangerously and he opened his mouth to make a scathing retort. And then snapped it shut again as his throat twinged warningly at him.
Heero watched him, the smirk growing as he cocked his head and cupped one hand to his ear.
"What's that? Oh yes. That would be silence. Amazing."
Duo clenched his jaw and then resolutely turned away from the other firefighter, ignoring Heero as he closed his eyes and begged for sleep to overtake him.
Yet again, fate was to deny him surcease.
"Hi~iye. I'm back, fellahs. Brought you dinner," a familiar bubbly voice called from their open doorway.
The bouncy nurse flounced in, pushing a small cart.
"Hm... Looks like Salisbury steak, mashed potatoes, corn, Jello, a dinner roll, and milk for you tonight, Mr. Yuy," she said, carefully uncovering a tray from the cart and plopping it onto the table beside Heero. She grabbed the bed controls and raised the head end of Heero's bed with one hand while she deftly spun the table about with her other. Within a moment, Heero was sitting, staring down that the congealed mess on the tray dubiously.
"And for you... Can't have any solid food yet. Might hurt your throat some more. So, you get one of these. It's got all of your vitamins and minerals, plus everything a growing boy needs," she chirped brightly as she handed him what looked to be like a glass of thick chocolate milk.
He eyed it suspiciously as she bounced back to her cart and wheeled it towards the door.
"Eat up, guys! I'll be back in a while for your dishes!"
As she vanished, both firefighters stared down at their "dinners" with the air of men expecting the object of their examinations to explode. Blue eyes glanced up and met equally cautious violet.
"Hn."
Duo nodded.
Both firefighters shoved their food away and rolled back into their blankets, praying for some miracle to rescue them from hospital hell. That or sleep. Anything to keep from having to choke down that... biohazardous waste the hospital was trying to pass off as food.
Duo's wish finally came true, and a soft, quiet oblivion stole over him like a fuzzy blanket.
Heero sighed softly to himself as Duo's quiet snores drifted over from the other bed. He rolled back over and glanced over at the longhaired driver, a curious frown creasing his brow. Unconsciously, a hand crept up to his chest, absently flexing and massaging his ribs over his heart.
Duo shifted in his sleep, flipping over to face towards Heero's side of the room. He curled up into a small ball, one hand clutching the sheets and blanket at his throat, while the other hand pillowed his cheek. There was a faint line creasing his brow, not quite a frown yet, but a precursor. Heero's frown deepened as he realized he was staring at the slumbering driver. Worse yet, he was actually starting to get concerned about the slightly distressed expression spreading across Duo's face.
Heero growled softly in the back of his throat and turned over, facing away from his new roommate. This was unacceptable. Duo was becoming a distraction.
:Becoming? Is. Baka,: he thought angrily to himself.
:Had to play hero. That's why you're here lying in a hospital bed with that braided idiot as your new roommate for a week. Fate does have a sense of humor. Baka. Lot of good it did to keep him out of the way. He still managed to land himself here.:
He swallowed convulsively, his stomach fluttering in anger, although at what, he wasn't entirely sure. Was it anger for Duo for managing to get hurt despite Heero's efforts? Or was it anger at himself for not managing to keep Duo out of trouble after all? Or was it anger at himself for even caring? Something about Duo's presence there in that room nagged at Heero. Of course that could have just been the American's uncanny ability to get under his skin. That constant yammering and chattering had been the bane of his firehouse life for the last few weeks since he'd been assigned to Engine 8. Duo always seemed to have an opinion on everything. And an unabashed willingness to share said opinion with anyone who would listen, and everyone who was unable to escape, willing or no.
Heero sighed to himself. Duo's injuries were going to be hard on him. For the gregarious, hyperactive, and very vocal driver, the no speaking restriction would be torture. Heero began to have doubts about Duo's ability to maintain sanity with no means of communication. For Duo, a seared throat had to be among the worst of possible injuries he could have gotten. Seared throat. Now how exactly was it that Duo had managed to sear his throat anyway? He'd entered the building after Heero had, and therefor had a much fresher tank of air. If Duo had burnt his throat, then why wasn't that one of Heero's injuries as well?
Heero shifted position, turning onto his other side to stare at Duo again as he contemplated the quandary.
Duo's frown had deepened into a concerned pout. His braid had slipped over his shoulder and now dangled off of the bed, lying limply and almost dead. Heero turned his thoughts back to Duo's injury. For him to have gotten internal burns, he'd have had to have removed his regulator or mask and taken in a lungful of the hot air in that warehouse. But why would he have done that if he had a full tank?
Heero wasn't sure what had happened after the ceiling and roof had hit him, but he had tumbled Duo to the floor below him, cushioning the driver from the brunt of the collapse. Duo had still had his mask on and firmly tightened down when Heero had been knocked unconscious. So it wasn't because of the collapse.
Something else then. And if Heero, who'd been running much lower on air than Duo had, didn't have the same sorts of burns that Duo did, it could only mean one thing.
His tank had run dry and Duo had started sharing his own air. Which meant that Duo had managed to get them both out from the pile of rubble that Heero had felt himself being buried under before he was knocked out.
Heero's eyes wandered over Duo's features, noting the faint mottled marks of light burns and the soft smudges of bruises on his neck and cheeks. Heero hadn't been the only one to take a beating during the collapse.
And somehow as Duo had been trying to get himself and Heero's unconscious body out of the blazing conflagration, he'd managed to lose his own air for long enough to get burnt.
But Heero hadn't.
Heero growled angrily. The stupid fool had almost gotten himself killed trying to save Heero. What the hell could Duo have been thinking? Yes, Heero had taken on the lion's share of the damage from the collapse, but he'd been pretty confident of his ability to survive the roof dropping on him. But superheated air was nothing to fool around with. Even a single breath of it could kill. What the hell had Duo been thinking?
And now he'd be miserable. Yeah, Heero's body hurt, but he'd been through a lot more debilitating and unpleasant forms of pain before. This was actually something like a vacation compared to some of the other things he'd managed to do to himself over the years.
But Duo? Duo's whole personality, his mental stability, in fact, depended on his ability to chatter incessantly. This was a crueler fate than anyone could possibly guess for the braided driver.
On impulse, Heero pushed his call button, summoning a nurse. Within a few minutes, one appeared. Thankfully not the overly bouncy reject from cheer leading camp, but a much calmer, and hopefully more intelligent and rational young woman with kind brown eyes. She noted Duo's sleeping form and slipped up close to Heero to whisper.
"What can I do for you, Mr. Yuy?"
"Could you... find a dry erase board and marker?" he asked almost hesitantly, his gaze darting over towards Duo for an instant. She didn't miss his furtive glance, but wisely didn't comment on it.
"Of course. Anything else?" she asked, noting his untouched meal, "I'm afraid that edible food is out of my area of influence, but maybe something from the vending machine?" she offered with a gentle smile.
"No. I'm fine."
"Okay. I'll be back shortly with that board."
"Arigato."
He leaned back as she slipped quietly from the room. He didn't even bother to fight the weariness stealing over him and throwing him into slumber.
He wasn't sure how long he'd been sleeping when someone started shaking his arm to awaken him. His eyes flew open, consciousness flooding back into him with a rush. Without even intending to, his hand flashed out to put the person shaking him into a wristlock. He tried to abort at the last second when he remembered he was in the hospital, but it was too late. He was simply too fast.
Or it would have been too late if the person hadn't countered with a swift martial arts block, parrying his attempt neatly and backing a pace away.
"Good evening to you, too," Wufei said mildly as he peered down into Heero's eyes.
"Hn."
Wufei almost smiled.
Across the room, Duo was also awake and clapping in almost childlike glee. Heero glanced over and saw Duo quickly scrawling messages to Zechs, Trowa, and Quatre. Heero made a show of scowling.
"Who's idea was that?" he growled, nodding towards Duo.
"Hn. I wonder," Wufei replied, his eyes narrowing suspiciously. Wufei smirked once, nodding very slightly at Heero.
"You aren't fooling anyone but yourself, Yuy," Wufei murmured softly.
Before Heero could answer, Wufei plopped a paper sack into Heero's lap. Seeing the diversion for what it was, Heero took it gratefully.
"What's that?"
"I've seen what they call food around here. We stopped off and got you guys something edible to eat. Tempura Udon, Gyoza, and Ebi for you," Wufei explained.
He turned and plopped another sack into Duo's lap.
"And a double thick, triple chocolate malt for you."
Heero caught himself staring as Duo smiled widely at the large cup he retrieved from his sack. He flashed everyone a thumbs up and a grateful grin before digging into his ice cream.
Heero shook his head and sighed.
"Sure. Give him sugar. You guys get to go home," he muttered as he started fishing his own containers out of his sack.
"Had to get even with you guys for giving me a heart attack somehow," Zechs replied smoothly, gliding up to stand behind Wufei.
Wufei smirked as he handed Heero a pair of bamboo chopsticks.
"How are you feeling, Heero?" Quatre asked politely.
"Fine. Tell them to send me home," he replied tersely.
"Can't do that. I saw your CT scan. You're stuck here for the next week." Heero sighed resignedly as he started methodically working his way through his meal.
"Is there hazard pay in this?" he asked Zechs, nodding towards Duo's side of the room.
"I'll talk to the Union."
Heero snorted, ignoring Duo who was sticking his tongue out at them all.
"Thought you might like to know what we found out about that fire," Wufei said, drawing Heero's attention.
Heero glanced up, meeting Wufei's gaze squarely. Something about the Chinese man's voice triggered Heero's suspicions.
"Whoever set it was trying to kill you guys."
Duo's jaw dropped open and he regarded Wufei with a comic expression of dismay and bafflement.
"The main body of the fire was a collection of magnesium scraps, most likely auto parts. However, whoever set it up also included several large calcium carbonate 'bombs' in the fire zone.
"When you guys started trying to extinguish the fire, the water reacted with the magnesium, causing it to flare and spark. The worst damage came, though, when you hit those calcium carbonate bombs with the water streams. All that water reacted with the calcium carbonate, releasing a huge cloud of hydrogen gas, which exploded, causing the collapse.
"The building's main structural supports had also already been weakened during, or perhaps even prior to, the fire itself.
"In short, the arsonist set a deliberate trap for firefighters. He was out to kill someone on the department," Wufei concluded ominously.
"The Battalion chief has already been notified, and warnings are going out all over the city. But you two keep an eye out. Whoever it was may be disappointed by his or her lack of success and consider coming back here to finish the job."
"Do you really think anyone would be that crazy?" Quatre asked quietly.
"I hadn't thought anyone would be crazy or malicious enough to set a deliberate deathtrap for firefighters before now. Anything's possible, I suppose," Wufei replied.
Quatre shook his head sadly.
"What is this world coming to?" he whispered to himself, his voice mournful. Trowa draped an arm around his shoulders and gave him a reassuring squeeze.
"Whatever we decide to make of it," Trowa replied quietly.
Quatre leaned into his quiet partner and gave him a grateful smile, thankful for his constant support.
"We'll catch him. One way or the other, we'll find this psychopath and deal with him," Wufei assured the blond paramedic.
"What about the rest of the world, Wufei? What will we do about it?"
"One step at a time, Quatre. One step at a time."
~TBC~
~RavynFyre~