1998
All characters of Gundam Wing belong to Sunrise and other legal copyright owners.
This fic is just something I did to use up the time I don't have. No money is being made off this enterprise, so please don't sue this pathetic fic writer who can't even decide which tenses to use.
I don't have any money worth suing anyway.
All comments, criticisms, flames (in moderate amounts, ja!) and whatever else you might want to say may be hurled via e-mail at: shirini@pc.jaring.my
The cruiser finally came to a halt.
The doors opened and he could see two pairs of legs come out, walking away amidst loud laughter. Duo sighed as he slowly let go of the cruiser's undercarriage, lowering his aching body onto the concrete. His arms and legs felt like they were going to fall off at any second. Five minutes longer and he was sure that he would be sprawled across some highway or open road. His body felt like it was being held together by scotch tape. Every joint and muscle ached. Even his hair hurt!
I bet Heero never feels this way, he thought. I'd bet that he'd just laugh it off. If the bastard could laugh!
The thought brought a smile to his mud-splattered face. He luxuriated in the feel of the flat, solid surface beneath his aching back for a few moments before inching out from under the vehicle. He seemed to be in a large warehouse. Looking round to make sure no one saw him, he scooted over to the wall, hiding behind the many large wooden containers that lined it. Perhaps this unexpected turn of events could be brought to their advantage, he thought as he surveyed the room. He knew that Trowa would be by soon, hopefully with reinforcements. He had made sure that the homing device was secure and working perfectly. Trowa should have no trouble in tracking the vehicle down.
The room was dimly-lit, light coming from two fluorescent tubes on the ceiling and the windows that lined the upper portion of the large room, probably from street lights or the moon, as it had stopped raining sometime during his bumpy 'ride'. Other than the now-closed entrance that the vehicle had entered by, there were only three other doors that he could see. One probably led outside as it was situated next to the entrance. Besides, the word EXIT glowed above it, Duo noted wryly.
That shouldn't be too hard to figure out, even for me, he grinned.
Another door stood ajar at the top of a flight of metal stairs, a narrow slit of bright light spilling from the opening. This was the door through which Quatre's kidnappers had disappeared. He could hear loud voices coming from it, interspersed with raucous laughter. There was also a large plane glass window through which he could make out some human movement. The last door stood to his right. Among the three, it was the one nearest to him and the one that looked most promising.
Satisfied that no one had spotted him, the long-haired boy silently made his way to the third door, slowly turning the knob. Cautiously, he opened the door, peering through the crack. Inside, it was dark and seemed unoccupied. Glancing back to make sure that his presence was still unnoticed, the boy slipped into the dark room.
Trowa cursed at the dead communicator. He shook it vehemently, a string of expletives accompanying each shake. Duo would have been proud of him, he thought as he angrily glared at the useless piece of equipment in his hand.
Of all the times for it not to work, it had to be *now*!
The rain must have somehow seeped through the plastic casing, short-circuiting some of the wiring, rendering it totally useless. If he had had the time and the equipment, he could have gotten the communicator working in no time but as it was, his resources were sadly replete. Well, he thought, there goes the cavalry! He hoped Jelana or Rasheed would have the presence of mind to rig up another tracker when they had not heard from the boys. Until then, he would just have to go it alone. Hopefully, Duo had managed to get to Quatre by now.
Trowa waited a little while longer outside the silent building. It looked like just another warehouse, nondescript and unoccupied, except for a square of light that filtered through a large window on the upper level and the soft lighting from the windows that lined the walls. The cruiser he had been tailing had disappeared into the building about ten minutes ago, during which he had tried to contact Jelana to radio in their location. After a few more minutes of restless waiting, he decided that Duo had had enough time and if the Shinigami pilot hadn't found Quatre by now, he'd probably need help.
Trowa got out of the car and quickly crossed the road, ducking under the cover of a few vehicles parked by the side. He sidled up to the side of the warehouse and moved over to where he saw the cruiser entering the building. Nobody ever expects the enemy to enter through the front door, he thought as he tried the handle on the small door by the main entrance. The door opened, but it was creaky and difficult to budge, probably due to disuse. The boy grunted as he pulled at the door, opening it just enough to admit his lanky body. Fortunately, no one seemed to be around inside the dim interior of the warehouse. Hopefully no one heard the creaking of the door although, to him, it had seemed loud enough to wake the dead Trowa saw the cruiser parked in the middle of the garage-like space, and hurriedly ran over to hide himself behind the empty vehicle. Peering from his vantagepoint, he searched out the other entry points, discovering the same ones that Duo had earlier identified. Like the other boy, Trowa decided on the door that was on the ground level, and he silently made his way toward it, disappearing behind it just as silently.
Duo leaned against the wall, his heart beating a mad rhythm that thumped in his ears loudly. The room he had first entered seemed to be a reception area or an office of some sort and had been joined by a short corridor to some other rooms, mostly offices and store rooms, if the few he had peeked into had been any indication. At the end of the corridor, another flight of stairs had led him to another room simply furnished with a few bureaus, chairs and filing cabinets. This was the room he was now in. The room had a door that seemed to be adjoining the one where the kidnappers had gathered, judging by the voices filtering through the door. He crouched by the wall, trying to make out what they were saying , but could only catch snatches of their conversation.
"I still can't believe it!"
"Yeah! Easy money"
Laughter.
Muffled conversation.
More laughter.
What a happy bunch of bastards!
The next thread made Duo strain his ears more.
"How's the boy?"
"Hah! Probably still sleeping off the chloroform. Jenks really dosed him good."
"Well, he was kicking up hell! What'd you expect?"
"Good-looking boy, isn't he?"
"Yeah, too bad we gotta let him go. Could be fun."
"Who says we gotta let him go?"
"They've paid...Oh yeah! We're calling the shots!"
Even louder laughter.
"We'll let him sleep off the chloroform before we decide what to do with him. Why don't you go check up on him?"
"Yeah. OK."
Footsteps.
Duo flew under one of the nearby office desks, keeping himself hidden in the shadows. The door opened and one of the men walked through, across the room, and through another door on the side of the room. In the dark, the long-haired pilot grinned. This was going to be a piece of cake.
When he was sure the coast was clear, Duo crept towards the door the man had gone through, careful not to make any noise that might alert the men next door to his presence. As he reached for the knob, a small sound froze him in his tracks, making his heart skip a beat.
A door was opening!
Damn!
"Duo!"
Trowa!
Recognizing Trowa's voice, Duo released a long sigh of relief, thanking all the gods he could think of. He whirled around to face his friend. "Don't you *ever* do that again!" he whispered. "You almost scared me to death!"
Trowa allowed himself a lopsided smile as he moved toward the American boy. "Did you find him?" Trowa reached up to pick at a dried speck of mud on Duo's nose. Duo made a face as he swatted Trowa's hand away.
"Jeez, stop that! One of them went to check up on him. He's in here somewhere," Duo said as the two boys slipped through the door into another corridor dimly lit by a few light bulbs that hung precariously from the ceiling. A small sound to their left alerted them to the man's whereabouts, and they promptly ducked the other way. Scrunching their bodies as close to the wall as possible, Duo and Trowa held their breath as the man walked back from one of the rooms at the other end of the corridor. As soon as he was gone, the two of them scuttled toward the room where the man had emerged from, the room where Quatre was most probably held.
Trowa must have been blessed by the patron saint of Open Doors that night as the knob turned noiselessly in his hand. The room seemed to be filled with different-sized boxes, arranged by the walls and some stacked to the ceiling. Making their way into the room, Duo could make out a still, huddled figure on the floor.
"Quatre!" both of them called simultaneously.
Trowa was the first to reach the blonde, shaking him lightly by the shoulders. Quatre seemed unconscious but a harder shake from Trowa succeeded in getting a muffled groan from the Arabian pilot. Trowa pulled the smaller boy to a sitting position while Duo worked on the ropes that held his arms securely behind his back. After untying Quatre, Duo reached for the tape that covered Quatre's mouth, pulling it off with a little more force than was necessary.
"OW!"
"SHHHHH!"
"You idiot!" Trowa punctuated his exclamation with a slap on Duo's head. "What'd you do that for?" Duo rubbed his stinging scalp where Trowa's hand had made painful contact. "It woke him up, didn't it?" he grimaced.
Trowa got up, pulling Quatre to his feet.
"Unh....what....who....Trowa?" Quatre still seemed a little confused as the two boys half-carried, half-dragged their friend toward the door.
"Shit! They're out there!" Trowa hissed back at Duo, who stood some ways behind him, half-supporting Quatre's limp weight. The two Gundam pilots had managed to reach the ground floor without mishap, supporting the other pilot's body between them Quatre was still under the influence of the chloroform, drifting in and out of consciousness as they manouvered him to where they stood now. Now, only about a fifty meters of open space separated them from the exit. Unfortunately, that open space was now a trifle crowded. A group of men were standing by the cruiser, talking and smoking. Trowa could see that two of them were the ones present at the ransom drop. He counted five of them before he slipped back inside the side room with the bad news.
"What are we gonna do now?" Duo asked as he gently lowered Quatre to the floor. He moved to Trowa's side, peeking through the slightly open door.
"Dunno. You're the one with the bright ideas," Trowa replied gruffly as he pulled out his gun from wherever it had been hidden. He checked the ammunition then glanced at the long-haired boy. "Did you bring yours?"
Duo looked at the gun uneasily. He never liked shootouts. "Yeah, but..." He glanced back toward Quatre, who was snoozing away on the floor. "I don't think we should risk it. Quatre..." He jerked his head toward the prone body, and got the reaction he had hoped for. Trowa looked toward the blonde boy, a wistful light coming to his eyes.
"Yeah," he whispered, his voice almost inaudible, as he put away the gun.
The guy's got it bad! Duo could not help but grin at the taller man's actions.
He closed the door and crouched down, wrinkling his nose.
What to do? What to do?
A ghost of an idea began to materialize in his head.
It might work, he thought.
It just *might* work!
Trowa hefted Quatre onto his shoulder, balancing the boy's slight body on his own. Checking his watch, he glanced toward the open door behind him through which Duo had once again disappeared.
Almost time...
He shifted, making sure that his friend was securely held, and took up his position by the door.
Any minute now...
A small explosion came from the first floor room, the one where the kidnappers had previously gathered. The lights flickered as hell broke loose. The men that were meandering in the garage space broke into a run, heading up the metal stairs toward the source of the blast.
That was his cue!
Trowa threw the door open and made a wild dash toward the exit. Between the noise made by Duo's handiwork and that raised by the kidnappers themselves, his footfalls went unnoticed.
Duo peered through the large window with satisfaction. Rigging up the plug points in the room had been child's play, resulting in a perfect diversion. He saw the men rushing toward the room and Trowa running unnoticed in the opposite direction.
Perfect!
Just as he turned to make his own getaway, his face paled when he noticed that one of the men had stopped running up the stairs, turning instead to look toward the door Trowa had left open, his eyes settling upon the figure of the running boy. He saw the man raise his gun, his mouth opening to raise the alarm.
Shimatta!
Without thinking, Duo grabbed his gun and fired at the man. The glass window shattered as the bullet made its way toward its target, showering the men below with a million shards of glass. Duo did not wait to see whether his aim was true, turning instead to run from the room that had suddenly started to resemble a cage.
Trowa turned when he heard the shot, torn between getting Quatre to safety and returning to help Duo. He had almost reached the exit when he saw Duo's figure dash out of the side door.
"Go!Go!Go!" The boy in black shouted to him, his long braid flapping against his back as he ran. Shots rang out as Duo dove for the cover of the cruiser. He glanced back at Trowa who had managed to reach the door out, and settled to let loose a few more bullets at the men running toward them.
Trowa pushed against the door, throwing his weight against the stubborn surface. The cool night air on his face greeted him as he almost fell out. He could hear the commotion inside as Quatre's kidnappers realized what had happened. His blood froze when he heard several more shots echoing off the inner walls of the warehouse. Running with his living burden, Trowa quickly made his way to the car. Depositing Quatre's limp body in the back seat, he hurriedly started the car, waiting for Duo to make his appearance.
Duo never came out.
End Part Three
Shirin
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