Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Diablo ❯ Winter wonderland ( Chapter 1 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

Duo stepped on the gas and the Ski-do roared pass 90 to 100 mph. He did wild zigzag patterns on the fresh powder as the sound of heavy artillery followed him. He could hear bullets zing pass his ears and over his head, he ducked low and powered over to 110.


At this speed one wrong angel and he's toast.


Shinigami grinned under his ski-mask. It's past 0700 and the sun hasn't even risen yet, It's the peak of the winter solstice meaning at this latitude sunrise won't be till 0830 hours. They had more than enough time to do their sneak work and bust out of that Chemical weapons factory disguising itself as a petroleum refinery.


His Oz pursuers couldn't keep-up, he was glad this part of Canada is all flat, no mountains as far as the eyes could see. Ski-do country in short and this sweet racer is Oz property.


This mission was given to him and Heero, Heero's gone the other way to divide the pursuers. They'll need to meet at point kappa delta by 0900 hours or they won't get picked-up.


Duo does not want to be left behind in a full blown Canadian winter, specially when a blizzard has been predicted for the night. It's going to be brutal and the shelter they will meet in is a small wooden hunting lodge near a lake. Heero has seen it, no heating, no lights, no water, holes in the wall... completely rustic. Duo wasn't looking forward to it.


He checked his gas he estimated he had an hour's worth of escaping to do. The pick-up point is 15 miles south from here, he'll make it but, first, he has to loose those 5 stuborn Ozzies on his heels. And the right opporturnity just came up.


He slowed down a little and went straight for a big snow bank it's pretty steep and the drop looks like it's going down a ravine but he had checked the maps and memorized them for this mission, there are no ravines in these area. Still his heart pounded loudly in his ears, he braced himself and under a hail of bullets made the leap.


A bullet nailed him on his side. He gritted his teeth and held on. The ski-do went into the air and soared over a clearing, he turned the engines off and he landed with a bounce on the powder snow. He locked the steering handles with his arms and ignoring the pain on his side pulled his submachine gun out and twisted around to aim at his pursuers. The momentum kept the ski-do going but at a very slow speed and as the first of his pursuers soared over the drift he fired.


BOOM. The unlucky ski-do with it's occupant landed in a ball of fire, below the drift the second one got the same treatment, as well as the third. Duo gunned his engines and once more roared off, he risked looking back and saw the fourth land on the debris of the 2nd ski-do. Men ran around dropping and rolling on the snow to turn their flaming suits off.


"WoooHooo!!! Shinigami shoots and he scores!!! The crowd goes wild!!" He sped off as fast as he could towards the east to mislead his pursuers. He planned to turn south after 5 or six miles.


They came in on a night HALO jump from Wing. Wu Fei saluted them as they put on their IR goggles and breathing masks. He'd never done a High Altitude Low Opening jump before, it's the most dangerous but sneakiest way to get in a hot spot. They have to jump from an altitude so high they need breathing masks then open their parachute short of a mile from turning into pancakes. At that height Wing won't be obvious, the base is situated near a busy air traffic lane. They'll thing Wing is just another personal flyer while he drops 2 packages specially dressed to not show on radar.


Heero walked Duo through the technical detail in his usual brief, conscise, military manner. He has the altimeter on his wrist and he promised Duo he'll tell him when to pull. Needless to say Duo wasn't thrilled.


He remmebered how the bastard leapt off a 40 storey building, opened his parachute when it's almost too late, broke a leg and set it himself refusing any medical help. Oh and later that night he had the energy to cannibalize Deathscythe so he could take off on Wing and go on another mission.


Bastard.


Well the jump went okay, the g's made him want to puke and it also shook him up really bad, add to that the fact that he was also in mortal fear of dying in the hands of a certain suicidal fanatic. Shhhh let's hide him under the name of Heero Yuy...


Duo touched the subvocal communicator on his throat and called his partner. "Rudolf? Rudolf This is Santa, report up."


"Santa this is Rudolf, Status 70%, ETA at point Kappa Delta in 45 minuites. Mark. Over."


"Gotcha Rudolf, the presents?" he asked.


"Delivered and return package recieved. Over."


"Great, see you in 60. Over and out."


"Roger. Over and out."


70%? He's been injured then. But he'll get to the pick-up point faster. That's good. It was getting windy, and that was bad. He looked at the digital thermometer on his wrist GPS tracker and groaned. Right now it's minus 18 Centigrade. It was warmer than last night...


It was funny, Heero had ordered the clothing and the package arrived in Quatre's Safe house in Georgia. The box was big, he thought Heero ordered extras like skis or skates or stuff...


As it turned out there was nothing in it but clothes for the two of them, for this one operation. Two pairs of fat socks, Thermal underwear, fleece pants, a fleece shirt, Ski pants, black thermal overalls for the jump and a jacket so thick that could double as a pillow or a sleeping bag. Thick insulated ski masks and mitts so thick he could barely feel his hands. Under that Heero made him wear a pair of leather gloves with the fingers cut off.


The skiis came in a different box.


So the ride in Wing was literally a sauna. They had vacumm packed the jacket so it won't be too bulky in their backpacks. Duo was so hot he just couldn't believe they'll need all these clothing. He had no idea how cold minus 18 was...


So the HALO jump. WuFei announced it was 3 minuites to the drop zone, Heero began putting on his ski mask then the helmet and the breather, he heard Heero's voice hissing over the subvocal communicators. "Duo do you copy over."


"Yep, hear ya Yuy. Hey we need code names."


"You make them up."


"K, if you say so." he slapped his visor down and turned his oxygen on they went to the cargo hold door and waited for it to open "I'm Santa and your Rudolf. Fei you get to be Blue Toes the Christmas elf!"


"Whatever Maxwell." WuFei muttered.


"Hn. Copy that. Radio silence until further notice." The hold door opened and the cold was like a slap. It somehow managed to wheedle itself through all the layers of clothing he had on. And he hasn't even jump yet! That was when he realized all the clothes he had on was not enough.


Good luck Yuy, Maxwell, see you in 8 hours."


Heero jumped head first. "Wait!" Duo leapt after him. He shuddered. The wind and the ice numbing his wound with little razors is kinder. He felt the cold ice his overalls. It was wind proof but the cold seeped itself through sending knives to his bones. He ground his teeth to most of the best curses in his arsenal.


The ground was radioactive green through their IR goggles and it was racing up to meet them. Heero....!


"Pull." cold, calm, matter of fact.


The god of death on the other hand was almost blue as death from the cold. His teeth ground themselves together his first breath of the air froze the insides of his nose, his lips chapped and dried... ugh, not the lips.... he never took his ski mask off after that.


They Skiied 2.5 miles to the target zone and separated. Heero to hack the system and Duo to plant his bombs. It was 0300 hours, 3 fucking am, and he's running around jacked up on triple shot espresso and a bag of chocolate covered roasted coffee beans. The bombs found their places Heero confirmed with his usual "Item acquired. Package delivered." They went off undetected until the factory went bye-bye. They did not know of the 4 new cloacked and snow covered bunkers they ran into. Thus the wild ski-do chase. Good thing the night shift was almost over which meant the guys chasing them were actually more intent on getting their time off.


Duo glanced at his tracker and veered south. The sun was begining to rise and by the time the east was bathed in brilliant sunshine he found the little one room cabin at the edge of a small lake almost covered by bush and snow. He took his ski-do into the leafless cluster of skinny trees and bushes and found a likely place to hide it against a mound of dirt and snow. He pushed some snow over it a few branches here, some more over there and one more here and voila! A camouflaged escape vehicle. Just in case.


He went to the cabin after confirming on his wrist GPS that this was point Kappa Delta. The house looked empty, he pulled his gun out, he never had any occasion to use his .45 14+1 so he was sure it was fully loaded. He took the safety off and knocked on the door. "Pizza delivery for a Mr. Rudolf Deer."


The door opened and he pointed low while Heero pointed right between his eyes. Duo's amethyst orbs crossed "Whoa, that .38 again. You love palm sized things do you?" he holstered his gun and watched as Wing's pilot did the same. Only then did he noticed the blood running down the left arm. "Oh hey, they got you too."


"Hn." Heero snorted, of all the pilots to be paired up with why this Baka? He went in and sat back on the ratty broken down couch that was the only furniture in the house aside from the 3 legged table and the rickety chair next to it. Survival in this rathole at the estimated temperatures the blizzard will reach will be very slim. He had enough time to reconniter the place and found the crawlspace under the house to be their best bet for survival in case Wu Fei won't make it. The weather has decided to change dramatically, he saw this on the latest weather reports from his laptop.


is left arm is next to useless, a bullet went through the middle part of his humerus, severing the vital radial nerve and a gusher, a major artery. His arm bone wasn't completely broken but that was a very lucky shot it shut down a vital group of muscles in his hand that allows him to un-grip things.



"You've been hurt too?" he asked Duo who nodded solemly. As he closed the door behind them and pulled off his ski mask. The ski mask left it's impression on Duo's skin leaving him with a corrugated face. "Lucky shot." He lifted his arm and showed Heero the path the bullet has taken "It's clean though and by the sound of it I think it's actually one of those that got me." he pointed at Heero's gun which was holstered on his boot. "We need to bandage up. Can this place get any colder?" He complained.


"Wu Fei will be reporting for pick-up in a few minuites." Heero said as he threw a roll of bandage to Duo. Duo caught it before it hit his face and he began bandaging himself over the clothes around his waist. Heero was doing the same to his arm. They didn't have the luxury of heat so taking their clothes off was out of the question they both knew this. They deliberately chose this nasty weather so the Ozzies won't be expecting them.


Anyway Wu Fei will call in a few minuites and in an hour or so they'll be out of here...


Half an hour passed. No call.


"Should we risk it Heero?" Duo asked as they listened to the broad band babble of Oz looking for the 2 gundam pilots who blew their base up. They do have their own secure line...


Heero pulled his laptop over and dialed WuFei's com number. Wu Fei was immediately on the screen his face a study in concentration, "01 I have encountered resistance, there's too many of them I have to retreat. 04 and 03 are on a mission, in the Atacama desert, I have no back-up, I will try again later." Bright flashes of explosions rocked the cabin interior, Wu Fei got pushed against the harness bad, he grunted and resumed fighting.


He has a decided disadvantage, he's using Wing to pick them up.


"Copy that 05, call us when pick-up is possible before 1700 hours." Heero answered.


"Roger that." the line went dead. Heero looked at Duo who has started to shiver now that the adrenalin rush is over. "We are stuck." he announced.


"Fuck."


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


An hour later found Duo and Heero trying to patch up their shelter. They've gathered enough wood for a fire and a cozy little flame was already melting snow for water. It was so cold the snow was stubbornly set on remaining in it's powdered state refusing to form a snow ball. Duo had to wet some snow slap it on the holes in the walls then pat more snow over it till it turned to ice. It was painful finger work. Heero on the other hand has taken on the task of patching the broken windows up with a blocks of hardened snow he dug up somewhere.


When Duo went in for the 3rd time in 10 minuites to warm his fingers by the fire he was already glum. He wore mitts but his mitts ar now thoroughly soaked, it was freezing and his fingers really hurt. It was warmer inside now and they have enough firewood to last them the night just in case. The wind has also started to blow.


Heero came in then good hand holding the jungle knife he used to cut the snow. He looked frozen, his cheeks were burning red and he kept sniffing. Not good.


"Heero come here by the fire you need to warm up." He moved a little to one side to give him space. "I've patched up most of the major holes, I think this will be survivable."


"Hn." But he went staright for his packs "I have 4 energy bars, did you bring any provisions?"


"Uh... I have some jerky, a bag of chocolate covered coffee beans, some M n M's, gum..." Hero shook his head and threw 2 energy bars at him.


"Wu Fei won't make it. We may have to stay here the night then try to go to the town 15 miles south of here." he said.


"You sure of that?" Duo said miserable that he had to bear with this cold for an entire night. But then again he is here with Yuy...


The perfect soldier gave him a look then took out his laptop. He gave the laptop to Duo, it was on the weather channel site. The storm is moving in, Arctic winds is coming down on them at 60 miles and hour, the current temperature was -20C the windchill was posted at -40C.


"Holy shit." Duo muttered.


"Oz set up a perimeter they alerted the nearby base and they won't call off their search till the blizzard hits." Heero stood "We can use the parkas as beddings, the fire musn't go out or we'll freeze to death. Tomorrow we'll take the Ski-dos South, if the weather permits."


"Oh man. I'm going to miss my favorite show." Duo muttered.


Heero frowned. How could such an irresponsible, juvenile be the pilot of a gundam?


5 pm Heero's laptop beeped. Duo looked over Heero's shoulder at Wu Fei who looked seriously at them dressed in arctic camouflage "Sorry 01, I'm mapping out their search patterns and there's an entire division on a tight perimeter over your area. They've declared the area a no fly zone, they diverted air traffic 50 miles south I can't go in even on a registered flight. You guys need to hole in for the night."


Heero noded "Confirmed 05."


"This galls me, but I'd be outnumbered 20 to 1. Be assured, I will be out there as soon as the weather clears. I may need to use Deathscythe to pass their detectors. May I have your permission to use your unit 02?"


"Sure Blue Toes, but keep your hands off my stuff d'ya hear? The remote is in my pants on the bed in the safe house." he leaned in "Oh and ah, could you throw it in the laudry while your at it? I've been wearing those for a week now. Their my favorite pair."


Wu Fei's brows went up. "Your pants 02 are your business." he said firmly.


Duo laughed "O come on man! Be a buddy, just throw my pants into the laundry, you know how Quat-man gets when we leave laundry lying everywhere." he saw Wu Fei grit his teeth, then he took a deep breath and calmed down.


"Whatever. I'll be in contact."


"Thanks man, your a life saver." Duo said with a thumbs up.


"Roger that." Heero said acknowledging Wu Fei. 05 signed out.


Heero put his laptop aside, he sat staright hands on his lap as he thought of probablities.


It's completely dark outside and the wind had began to blow in earnest. It howled around the house and the cold radiated from the walls. The weathermen predicted a break in the storm before sunrise tomorrow. It would be best if they could leave under cover of darkness. He watched the pilot 02 leaning over the mantle piece of the fireplace, it was warm enough for them to take their parka's off they need to attend to their wounds.


"The water is hot enough, let's get our owwies cleaned up, I don't want to die of some exotic Oz germ." he mock shuddered as he went to his pack and fished out his first aid kit "God I hope we didn't pick anything up."


Heero stood to get the water off the hook in the fireplace. Good thing the wind is blowing hard enough to take the smoke away, and the windows have been covered. Hopefuly the search will pass over them without finding them. He tried flexing his left hand it was weak because he couldn't bring his wrist up. He can put the pain aside but a busted nerve needs immediate medical attention to heal.


"That looks bad. Nerve down, bones alright?" Duo asked he tried to open Heero's overalls but the pilot of 01 swatted his hand away.


"I'm fine." Duo raised a brow at Heero as he unzipped his overalls.


"Geez man, I was only trying to help." He took off his own bandages and winced at the bloody sight. "Ugh, maybe later. I'm bleeding again." He took a deep breath and tried sucking his stomach in. He grimaced at the pain and tightly rewrapped his middle. "Owwie..." he whined.


"You should rest." Heero said as he took his bandages off, then his fleece sweats, then the buttons on the long johns. He sat there half naked looking at his inner arm. The severed artery had stopped bleeding, he reached out for a fresh bandage but Duo handed him an antiseptic swab. He looked at the other boy who was looking intently at his wound.


Duo forced his mind off the sight of Heero's well defined chest. Of course Heero dosen't know that Duo is gay. He made sure no one knew, he didn't know how his fellow pilots will react to that little bit of information. He gave the swab to a glaring Heero. See? He hasn't done anything wrong and already the man looks like he's going to kill him. What if he finds out?


Heero cleaned his wound sucking his breath in as the antiseptic stung. Then a gentle breeze eased the pain. Duo was blowing on his wound. Heero frowned, when the swab was red with blood, Duo handed him a new one. Duo kept a near constant stream of air that alleviated most of the discomfort.


"Nothing caught in there?" The long haired boy asked.


"No."


"Nothing broken...yet, you have to be careful when you use that arm."


"You don't have to warn me." He answered. Heero wrapped up his arm with Duo's help. Then Duo helped him back into his clothes. He let him since there was no stopping him anyway. When the overalls was zipped up again Heero fixed the other boy with his stare "Your turn."


"Uh no not yet, I think the bandages are stuck to the wound if we try to move it I will start bleeding all over the place."


"Let me see." Heero went close to Duo who held his arms up and winced as Heero probed his injury "It went clean through, ripped muscles?"


"Yep, hurts like a bitch." Duo grinned in contrast to what he said. Heero nodded.


"The bandages are drying up, but your right the wound itself is still too fresh, we 'll try and clean it up later." He stood up and picked up his parka. He threw it on the floor with the inside up and taking Duo's parka stood over the other boy "We need to sleep, we leave at dawn tomorrow."


"K." Duo crawled gingerly near the fire "Gimme my coat please."


"You've lost a lot of blood Duo, your purple from the cold."


"Really? Do I look weird?" he asked with a smile. Heero glared at him.


"You sleep closer to the fire, I'll sleep besides you." Heero indicated the spot he was to occupy.


Duo hid his face as he went to the end of the parka nearest the fire. His eyes had bugged at Heero's suggestion. Wow, he grinned wickedly, I'm going to sleep besides Heero! Nummy Heero Yuy! He calmed his expression as he laid down on the wooden floor. Heero laid down besides him and without preamble the perfect soldier put his hurt arm around him and a leg over his. Duo almost squealed.


"Uh Heero man?" He said.


"What?" Heero asked in his level colorless voice. Then answered himself "I'm compromised, I have the disc, you have a copy, I need you to get out of here and accomplish the mission. It will be colder later we need to share our body heat."


"K. If you say so man." Duo settled back under his parka Heero's head was near his shoulder and the unique animal scent of Yuy kept Duo awake wishing the night will never end.


But eventually he fell asleep thinking that, so the condition required by Oneiros the Lord of dreams was met. When the two woke up the next day they weren't in Canada anymore.