Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Family Ties ❯ Chapter 78 ( Chapter 78 )

“Family Ties”

 

January 2007 ShenLong

 

Chapter 78

 

[Corridors on Satellite XRB 23]

 

Quatre moaned softly and closed his eyes, Trowa was at his elbow in a flash. Wufei also turned to the blonde a concerned look on his face

 

“Quatre? Where is Duo? What can you feel?” asked Trowa his voice carrying an urgency to it.

 

The blonde moaned again and then opened his eyes. “He's close but I'm getting a jumble of emotions from him. He's scared, worried and angry. I - I can feel pain too, but I don't know if he's badly hurt...”

 

“Let's go,” Wufei stated and pulled his gun from inside the shirt he was wearing. Flipping the safety off, he motioned for the others to follow.

 

Trowa and Quatre followed Wufei's lead, producing their own guns and running after the agent. Trowa cast worried glances to his husband as they moved swiftly and as silently as they could down the corridor. Quatre gave his husband what he hoped was a reassuring smile and did his best to put up shields against the strong emotions he was getting.

 

*

 

Hearing the booted feet running after him, Duric sprinted down the corridor. He had no intentions of being locked up again if he could help it. He heard Duo's curses but paid them no mind, opting to try and put as much distance between himself and Barton's men as possible.

 

“Stop or I'll shoot!”

 

Duric heard the words but ignored them, he could see another branch in the corridor coming up and intended to take it.

 

The sound of a gun being discharged rang in his ears a split second before a searing pain shot through his calf muscle and he went tumbling to the ground.

 

“Fuck!” he screamed as the polished floor took several layers of skin from his elbow and other parts of his body when he skidded along it. Managing to halt his slide, he looked to his leg and noted the blood seeping through the pants.

 

Pushing his hands against the wall, he did his best to pull himself upright again. He managed to stand, only the tips of his toes on his right leg managing to touch the ground. He tried to limp forward but as soon as he put the right foot to the ground his calf muscle protested, sending sharp pains shooting up his leg and reusing to work at all.

 

He gave a cry as he tried again, lurching against the wall to stop from hitting the floor once more. And then there were hands on him and a gun pointed to his head.

 

“I don't think so.”

 

Duric hung his head in defeat.

 

The soldiers saw the man go down and knew the bullet had connected. Running forward they watched as he tried to get up and continue in his flight, only to have his legs give way on him.

 

Two soldiers reached forward and grabbed him, pulling him up whilst a third pointed a gun at the prisoner's head. The other two remained just behind, guns at the ready.

 

“Where do you think you're going?” asked the soldier who held the gun.

 

Duric looked at him and sneered. “Got tired of sitting in my cell so I thought I'd take the dog for a walk?”

 

That cost him a punch to the gut.

 

“Ain't this the dude that was doing some training with part of the army?” asked the fourth soldier.

 

The fifth grabbed Duric's chin and wrenched his face up. “Yeah, that's him.”

 

“Isn't he supposed to be in a room in 'B' block with that other guy, the one that was doing something with the mobile suits?” questioned soldier two.

 

The third soldier waved the gun in Duric's face “Taking the dog for a walk, hey? Where is the bitch then?”

 

It took Duric's mind a few seconds to comprehend what the soldier was talking about. “He's not my bitch,” he spat. “I don't swing that way.”

 

“Sure, sure,” the soldier jeered. “I'm sure any straight guy could turn gay with him around. He's hot and I'll bet that tight ass of his is a good fuck. But you would know, wouldn't you?”

 

“I said, I'm not gay!” Duric snapped and tried to break free. A punch to his jaw sent him reeling.

 

“What you got up to with him doesn't concern me. What I want to know is where is he?”

 

“I don't know,” Duric replied.

 

“Wrong answer.” Another punch to the gut that had Duric gasping for air.

 

“Last chance. Where is your bitch?”

 

“I don't know. I took off running and left him in the corridor,” Duric wheezed out.

 

All five soldiers looked back down the corridor.

 

“He's got to be hiding then.” The third soldier who seemed to be the leader of the five studied the corridor. “We search all rooms leading off the corridor, when we find him I want to have a little fun before we take them both to Barton.” He added a leer for Duric's benefit.

 

Duric shuddered.

 

Turning, the five and their prisoner began to walk back along the corridor.

 

* * *

 

[Preventer Shuttle 121]

 

Heero had almost finished the diagnostic checks on the Gundams when he felt a distinct shudder in the shuttle. He looked up and the lights dimmed a fraction. Pushing the laptop to the side, Heero left it to continue the checks and slid down the side of the Gundam. His feet were running before he'd hit the floor.

 

Zechs looked up from his perusal of the documents in the folder as the shuttle shuddered. Tossing the papers aside, he grabbed the yoke and studied the control panel. Lights were flickering on and off, the panel instruments going a little haywire.

 

Heero burst into the cockpit a few seconds later and dropped into the co-pilot's seat. “What is it?” he asked as his eyes traversed the instrument panel and noted the weird readings.

 

“I don't know,” Zechs replied. “One minute everything was fine, the next all this started happening.”

 

Heero's mind worked overtime, cataloging what was happening with the instruments. “Hang on a minute.” He reached for the on-board computer console and fingers flew over the keyboard. Moments later the instrument panel returned to normal, the lights came back on at full strength and the shuttle settled into its flight once more.

 

Heero leaned back in his seat and exhaled a soft puff of air.

 

“Mind telling me what the hell that was?” Zechs asked, clearly confused.

 

“I'm ninety nine percent certain that Barton has released the Firecell.”

The words hung in the air for a moment.

 

“What?!”

 

“You heard me.”

 

“How? Why? I thought you said you'd reprogrammed the shuttles?”

 

Heero ran a hand over his face and checked the computer again. “I did. We weren't sure if this Firecell would affect the different file system or not. It seems there's a slight hiccup, but the file system hasn't been taken over.”

 

“Thank god for that.” Zechs felt the sweat running down his back. The thought of drifting around in space for evermore and eventually dying from cold, lack of oxygen or starvation wasn't exactly pleasant “You said a hiccup?”

 

“Hai. The virus has tried to penetrate the system and take over, with the file system being different, it can't so it's looking through all the data base for any files at all it can corrupt. Whilst that is happening the new file system is trying to continue to function and as it does some of its programs are unavailable for a moment or two whilst this virus is looking for a way to penetrate, hence the system going a little haywire.”

 

Zechs raised a pale eyebrow. “What did you do?”

 

“The system should and would have come back on line within a few more seconds, a minute at the most. I just rebooted the firewall.”

 

Shaking his head, Zechs couldn't help the small snicker. “Firecell. Firewall,” he muttered. “Makes sense I suppose.”

 

“We need to contact Une.”

“Communications?” Zechs said. “Won't they be affected too?”

 

“Generally speaking, yes they will. Normal communication forms will most likely be unavailable if this is the Firecell. I did, however, reprogram the Preventer communications network. We should be able to contact headquarters on the headset through the usual channel.”

 

“I hope you're right.”

 

“Only one way to find out.” Heero put on his head set, as did Zechs. Fiddling with the radio switch, Heero changed the frequency a touch and then tried his luck.

 

“Preventer Headquarters, this is Preventer shuttle PA 121, do you copy?”

 

* * *

 

[Corridors on Satellite XRB 23]

 

Hiding inside the janitors closet, Duo heard the soldiers run past and the cry of `stop or I'll shoot' and following gunshot. He knew Duric would have most likely been hit and that posed another problem for him. Duric would probably rat him out. His eyes had adjusted to the dim light of the tiny room and he frantically searched around for some way to hide himself.

 

He could still hear the muffled sounds of the soldiers down the hallway and it would only be a matter of time before they came back this way. Scanning around, his stomach sank as he realized there wasn't anywhere he could hide.

 

The shelves were stocked with cleaning products, brooms, mops and a couple of buckets. The shelves were too small for him to crawl onto and the space at the bottom also too tiny for him to squeeze into.

 

Duo cursed. If he'd still been fifteen and as skinny as he'd been back in the war, he would have managed to crawl into the small space between the floor and the first shelf. But he wasn't, he'd grown and filled out - and he had a bit of a belly on him to consider too.

 

Running a hand over the small bulge, Duo's eyes softened. “Don't worry, munchkin. I'll find a way to get us out of here safely,” he told the child within.

 

`How?' his mind asked. Short of putting a bucket on his head and holding a mop or broom in front of him there wasn't much he could do. But he had to try.

 

He crouched down and wormed his way as best he could to the back of the closet. He pulled several cleaning rags and other items around and over him, trying his best to make himself blend in with the surroundings. Hopefully, if anyone opened the door they would just take a quick look and not let their eyes stray to the floor and he would be safe.

 

`Yeah, and pigs might fly too.' his mind told him.

 

The sound of the soldiers making their way along the corridor infiltrated the tiny room and Duo slowed his breathing.

 

With two soldiers keeping Duric upright between them the remaining three began their search of the corridor doorways. There was a total of four doors leading off the corridor and each one was methodically checked.

 

The first two yielded empty meeting rooms, those rooms checked from top to bottom just to be sure. The third door opened into a bathroom - obviously unoccupied much to the soldiers' relief.

 

They came to the last door and paused. “You'd better pray we find him soon otherwise Barton won't be too happy with you,” the third soldier sneered.

 

Duric just slumped in his captors arms, unable to hold himself up at all. The blood loss, whilst not too serious had made him a little light headed. The pain in his leg was a dull, throbbing ache when he was still, and on fire when he was forced to move. The thought of what Barton would do to him though sent chills down his spine.

 

Two soldiers stepped forward and yanked the door open.

 

Inside the closet, Duo was doing his best to become one with the cleaning items. When the door opened and light shone in, he was forced to close his eyes momentarily.

 

Then all hell broke loose.

 

The soldiers spotted Duo crouched low in the corner, Duo sprang forth at the same time, clobbering one in the face with a metal bucket and swinging a mop at the other.

 

The soldiers were taken by surprise. The one who had `worn' the bucket fell backwards, hands scrabbling at his face as the blood from his broken nose spattered all around. The other soldier managed to pull the mop strands from his face only to have a bottle of cleaning fluid pointed at him and then squirted.

 

“Ah, shit!” he screamed as the chemicals began to burn his flesh.

 

“That's enough!”

 

Duo found himself facing off against a loaded weapon and an extremely pissed off looking soldier on the other end of it. He looked at the bottle of bleach he still held and shrugged his shoulders. When it came down to it, it might be a clean death, but there was no way a bottle of bleach could defeat a loaded gun.

 

“Put it down.”

 

Duo lowered the bleach to the ground and stood back up, hands raised in surrender.

 

“Step out, slowly and keep the hands where I can see them.”

 

Duo did as ordered.

 

Keeping his gun trained on Duo, the soldier spoke to his companions. “Get Fletcher and Barnes to the bathroom; and shut the fuck up. ”

 

One soldier remained holding Duric whilst the other went to assist his fellow soldiers back to the bathroom a little further back down the hallway.

 

Duo looked at the soldier currently pointing the gun at him and weighed up his options. He could try to jump the man, disarm him and take the gun. Problem there was the other soldier who also had his gun out. He would most likely disarm the one in front of him, but the other would have shot him before he could fire himself. Not a good option.

 

He could try for a kick, disarm soldier boy and then try to take out the other guy. A slightly better option. He could try for the kick and hope that Duric had enough brain cells to also go for the one guarding him who would be distracted for a second. On second thoughts, better scrap that option, Duric didn't look like he could fight his way out of a wet paper bag right now.

 

Third option would be to go along with them until he had a chance to either distract and overpower them or escape. Knowing he was carrying another life within that was totally dependent on him, Duo decided to go with the third option.

 

"I told you not to run," Duo hissed at Duric, doing his best to put the distraction part of his plan into operation.

 

"It beat the hell out of hiding in a fucking broom closet," Duric snarled back.

 

"We wouldn't have been caught if you'd listened to me," Duo snapped.

 

"Yeah? And I suppose you were going to take on Barton's fucking army using bottles of bleach and disinfectant?! What did you hope to do? Kill them with cleanliness?"

 

"Actually, I had planned on using the broomstick to fly away out of here," Duo sneered with sarcasm. Seriously, he really hadn't thought ahead of just managing to get to the shuttle bay area. He glanced at the soldiers still holding them captive and noted his idea of distraction was working.

 

“You know your problem? You live in a fucking fantasy world,” Duric snarled.

 

Duo was ready to make his move, muscles coiled and ready to strike when the other three soldiers stepped out of the small bathroom.

 

“That's enough!” the soldier who appeared to be in charge snapped. He waved the gun in Duo's face, destroying all chance of taking the soldier by surprise. “The pair of you, shut up.” Gun still trained on Duo, the soldier spoke to his fellow soldiers, keeping his eye on Duo all the time. “Status report!”

 

“Broken nose and superficial cuts, but still functional,” Fletcher replied.

 

“Chemical burns to the eyes and face. Hurts like a bitch and he can't can't see properly,” replied the soldier who had accompanied the others on Barnes' behalf.

 

“It fucking hurts and I need to see a medic as soon as I can,” stated Barnes.

 

The soldier thought for a moment. “Okay. Here's the plan. We will take the prisoners to Barton, swinging by the medic station on the way and drop off Fletcher and Barnes.”

 

“Fine with me.” replied one soldier. The others nodded.

 

“Right. You,” he said indicating to Duo, “ You walk ahead and don't try anything, I'm right behind you with a gun trained on your back. Waddle, you bring the other prisoner. Barnes and Fletcher can assist each other and Hewitt, you bring up the rear.”

 

The soldiers all nodded and fell into position.

 

“Squad, move out.”

 

Duo felt the shove of the gun's muzzle against the small of his back and stepped forward. A movement up ahead caught his eye and he blinked, unsure of what he'd seen. Reaching the end of the corridor, Duo turned to the left, eyes peeled. There was another brief movement and Duo caught it. He gave an unholy smile as he recognized both the movement and the hand.

 

*

 

Hearing voices up ahead, the three Preventer agents slowed their run and dropped to a walk. All melted into the shadows and inched their way along until they came to the juncture of a corridor.

 

The voices were louder here; one they recognized immediately.

 

“Duo,” hissed Quatre.

 

Whilst they couldn't make out the full conversation, they could hear snippets. Wufei rummaged around in his pockets and produced a small, dental like mirror. He slid the thing around the corner of the wall and the three agents watched, eyes wide as they saw Duo and several soldiers conversing in the corridor.

 

“What do we do?” Quatre asked.

 

“We have to get Duo out of there,” Trowa stated.

 

“We can't go in there with guns blazing, not only do we run the very tangible risk of Duo being killed, but it would alert even more people to our presence,” Wufei said flatly.

 

“I know that,” Trowa huffed.

 

“We need to take them out, surprise them,” Quatre offered.

 

“How?”

 

A few more snippets of conversation came their way and Quatre's eyes gleamed. “They plan on taking Duo to Barton, but via the medical section. Wufei? Look up on your palm top where the medical section is located.”

 

Chang duly checked. “It's located here and we are currently here.” he pointed out.

 

“Then they will need to come down this corridor to get there.” Quatre closed his eyes as he thought. Opening them again he looked squarely at Chang. “Wufei, I know you're in charge, but here's my plan. Once you hear it it's up to you if we go with it.”

 

Chang nodded.

 

“Right. I suggest Trowa hides in the room back there, you and I hide in another room further up ahead. When they have come down this corridor far enough we give a hand signal. The more able bodied soldiers are at the front and back. Wufei, you and I will take out the two at the front, Trowa will come from behind and take out the rear guard. Then we can take out the three injured, although I don't think they will be too hard to take down.”

 

“And Duo?” questioned Trowa.

 

“As they come around the corner you will be the closest to them. See if you can give Duo a hand signal from when we were in the war to warn him. Otherwise I guess he will get the gist of what is going on and use his common sense.”

 

Wufei snorted. “Common sense?”

 

“Contrary to belief, he does have some, Wufei,” Quatre returned with an added emphasis on Wufei's name.

 

Chang wisely opted to hold his tongue.

 

“Well, is this an acceptable plan?” Quatre asked as he looked from Trowa to Wufei and back again.

 

“Yes. It seems our most logical choice and I can't think of anything better or even remotely close to it,” Wufei conceded.

 

“Good, let's get into position then, I think they're starting to move.”

 

Wufei and Quatre ducked inside a room, peering out the door as Trowa slunk down the corridor for one last look around the corner with the mirror. He noted the soldiers forming up, Duo at the front and he quickly pulled the mirror back and turned to head for his own hiding spot. He nodded to the others as he located his doorway and stepped inside, pushing the door to almost closed after himself.

 

Wufei and Quatre moved back inside their own room, leaving the door open a crack to watch for their approaching targets.

 

Trowa flattened himself against the wall, eyes watching for when Duo would step around the wall. As soon as he spotted the long haired man, Trowa slid his hand out, gave a signal and then pulled his hand back.

 

Duo walked forward, eyes scanning ahead and body prepared. “You know, you don't have to take us to Barton,” he began, thinking that if he could keep the soldiers' attention on himself it would help those that were lying in wait - if he'd read the signal correctly; and he was pretty sure he had.

 

“Shut up,” snarled the leader.

 

“You could just come with us and get off this floating piece of space junk. Barton's plan isn't going to succeed.”

 

“Of course it will,” snarled Waddle.

 

They passed by a doorway, Duo's eyes sliding to the left and noting the sliver of a crack

 

Duo shrugged. “Your funeral.”

 

“Barton will succeed, he has this all planned out,” snapped Hewitt.

 

Duo gave a laugh. “So stupid. Just wait and see, the shit will hit the FAN!” As Duo yelled out the word `fan' he suddenly dropped to the ground, taking his captors completely by surprise.

 

Hearing the code word, Trowa jumped out from behind the group as Wufei and Quatre shot out from in front.

 

“Freeze!” yelled Wufei. “You're all under arrest.”

 

The group all froze for a brief second, then the leader and Waddle began to fire at Quatre and Wufei. Behind the group, Trowa had grabbed Hewitt, intending to disarm the soldier. Fletcher had seen what was going on and fumbled for his weapon, spinning around to take a shot at Trowa. Barnes was caught in the middle along with Duric, neither man sure of what to do.

 

Noting the threat, Trowa raised his own gun and sent a bullet into Fletcher's brain. Hewitt managed to twist around and punch Trowa in the gut, pulling himself and his gun free from the agent. Trowa was quick to respond, the knife strapped to his thigh freed in a second and following the fist through to land in Hewitt's gut.

 

Quatre and Wufei ducked back into the doorway, using it as a cover. They returned the fire, Wufei taking aim and managing to shoot the leader through the shoulder, sending the man to the ground in agony. A second bullet pierced the heart and the body lay still.

 

Quatre was aiming for Waddle who suddenly dropped and grabbed for Duo's ankle, trying to pull the man towards him and use him as a shield.

 

Barnes was caught in the cross fire and went down as a bullet creased his thigh. With his vision blurry from the chemicals, he had no chance.

 

Duo managed to kick himself free, scrambling across the floor and staying low. Waddle sent a bullet in his direction and Duo tried to flatten himself against the floor. The bullet whizzed by, nicking his left biceps.

 

The pain was sharp and intense, Duo flinching and biting his tongue to stop from crying out. The anger inside him flared, violet eyes changed shades to a deep purple and the demon within surged forth.

 

Quatre doubled over with the pain in his heart, the emotions rolling off Duo were too much for him to cope with and he desperately tried to slam his shields up.

 

Waddle grabbed Duric and hauled the man to his feet, holding him in front and backing up to the wall. He had Duo and Wufei on his left, Trowa on his right. “Put your weapons down and surrender otherwise I will kill him,” he snarled.

 

Duo snatched up the gun from the lifeless fingers of the lead soldier and checked the chamber. Two bullets remained. He crouched and then raised his head to look squarely at Waddle and Duric.

 

Swallowing hard, Waddle noticed the slightly demonic look on that face. Duric saw the flames of hell burning in purple eyes and barely managed not to wet himself.

 

“Didn't you hear what I said?” Waddle shouted. “Put down your weapons or he dies!”

“Oh, I heard you all right,” Duo replied, his voice calm and icy as he raised himself to his full height. “What makes you think I give a shit about him?”

 

“Ah?” Waddle exclaimed, clearly confused.

 

Duric's eyes were as wide as saucers. “M- M- Maxwell... Just do as he says. Remember I kept you alive...”

 

Duo's eyes turned to meet Duric's. “You kidnapped my son,” he said, tone deadly. “No one, no one touches or threatens what is mine and lives.”

 

Spotting the finger on the trigger about to move, Duo took aim and pulled. The gun recoiled twice in his hand, both bullets slamming into the chest of Duric, piercing the heart. Still holding Duric against him, Waddle gave a sneer, but then everything started to go dark around him and he pushed Duric from him. As the body slipped to the floor, Waddle looked at his own chest and the blossoming crimson stain appearing. Both bullets had passed through Duric and lodged in his own heart.

 

He began to slide down the wall, the shadows enfolding him. As his life force ebbed, he looked up into purple eyes.

 

“I am Shinigami and I have come for your soul.”

 

~ * ~

 

tbc...