Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Fighting the Darkness ❯ Chapter 15
[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
By: deathangel125 
Anime/Manga: Gundam Wing Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Horror / Psychological / Supernatural / Thriller / Angst | Type: Yaoi | Uploaded On: 06.30.2012 | Pages: 2 | Words: 4.1K | Visits: 298 | Status: Work In Progress
Anime/Manga: Gundam Wing Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Horror / Psychological / Supernatural / Thriller / Angst | Type: Yaoi | Uploaded On: 06.30.2012 | Pages: 2 | Words: 4.1K | Visits: 298 | Status: Work In Progress
Disclaimer: The G-boys and Gundam Wing don’t belong to me.
Warnings: Located in the first part. Be sure to look or you might be surprised.
FIGHTING THE DARKNESS – PART 15
Sobbing brokenly, Trowa was vaguely aware of arms holding him tightly, smoothing his hair and whispering soothing words. He tried to get control of himself, to no avail. Eventually he was reduced to hiccoughs, left with burning eyes and a sore throat.
Shamed at his loss of control, he pulled away, swiping at his eyes, “God, I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be an ass. Want to talk about it?”
“I needed to know what the last man looked like. To show me, Duo remembered…fuck!” Off the bed in less than a second, Trowa prowled the room like a caged animal, unconsciously rubbing his chest to ease the way his heart was beating against his ribs. “He had to remember that night all over again. It wasn’t like a memory, though. I swear he had to live through it all over. Christ, Howard. Once in a lifetime is too many times, but twice? I never thought I’d feel that kind of pain and anger and hurt…”
He was abruptly being shaken roughly, Howard’s eyes pinning him. “Twice? It happened to you before?” Trowa looked away, stunned when his head was forcefully turned back by strong fingers on his chin. “Answer me, boy.”
The emotion in his eyes must have been answer enough because Howard was cursing as he led Trowa to a chair. A long moment passed in silence, before the older man spoke softly, his eyes on Duo. “If he had known he never would have asked for help. You don’t have to help anymore. You can walk out that door and I wouldn’t blame you one bit.”
His heart was pounding as Duo’s memories and his own mixed together to become one. For just a second, Duo’s attackers became his, the two men that had left him for dead long ago. Emotions raw, Trowa focused his pain until he could see those men as he had left them, dead in a pool of muddy water, their slit throats a cheerful smile of blood under their horrified death masks.
Instead of being fearful of those long-dead men, he directed his anger at the ones that had caused Duo pain – a pain he would spare his worst enemy. Knowing the older man was disturbed, he placed a hand that trembled lightly on Howard’s shoulder. “No one could understand what he’s going through, or what he went through better than I can. I’m not leaving. I have to stay.”
“Because you love him.”
No longer able to deny his feelings, he nodded, though he still refused to say the words aloud. “Yes, and because I know what it will take before he can feel normal again. What was done to Duo was horrible and brutal, but he’s strong enough to be…whole again.” He waited a minute, emotion threatening to cut off his air. “I’m no good for him, Howard.”
It was amazing the older man didn’t get whiplash from the speed his head spun to stare. “Why the hell not? He needed you here and you came. You stayed when you had to share his memories. From where I’m sitting, no one else could be better.”
Trowa frowned deeply, wishing he was better at expressing himself. “Duo has a darkness that eats at him, not only now, but all the time. I could feel it when I was in his head. I have darkness of my own I’ve lived with almost my entire life. How could I help him fight his when I can’t even banish my own?” He managed a small smile, “And have you forgotten Duo’s straight, while I’m gay? He’ll probably go back to Hilde, and we both know it.”
“You’ll really let him go back to her, even after what she did?”
“I won’t keep him from anything that’ll make him happy.”
“She doesn’t love him,” Howard asserted. “Duo’s like a prize stud won at the county fair. He’s a trophy, something she sees as a possession. She doesn’t love him the way you do.”
“You don’t know she doesn’t,” argued Trowa.
The older man was having none of it. “Yes, I do. You can see how you feel in your eyes, Trowa. Hilde considers Duo as some sort of…reward. She expects him to be there because of what she did during the war. I know because no matter how much people try to fool themselves or others, eyes don’t lie.”
Eyes don’t lie.
The phrase played over and over in Trowa’s mind long after Howard had left in search of a shower and some sleep that wasn’t had while sitting in a chair, also taking Trowa’s bloody clothes with him to discard. Eyes don’t lie. Something about the phrase resonated inside his brain, so he worried it like a dog with a bone.
Sitting beside the bed with Duo’s hand in his, he turned the words over and over, looking at it from every angle. Absently he lifted Duo’s hand to rub against his cheek before deciding it would be best to think about something else and let it stew in the back of his brain, knowing the answer would eventually come to him.
Kissing the back of Duo’s hand, he lowered it to the bed and let go. Crossing his arms on the mattress where they were in contact with the other man’s legs, he shook his head as he realized he made sure he was touching the other man in some way, still needing the comfort from his trip into the night life of L2. “If I could go back in time and change one thing, it would be that night, Duo. If I could take those memories from you I would, but I can’t. Maybe it would be better to go back and stop Hilde from meeting that asshole Bo, and then you wouldn’t have come in contact with him at all.” Still wondering how much of an idiot Hilde could be, he rolled his eyes, “I still don’t know how she didn’t see what he really was. It was right there in his face, right in his…” he trailed off for a moment, stunned. “Right there in his eyes. Eyes don’t lie.”
Forcing himself to remember, Trowa closed his eyes and thought of the memories Duo had forced into his mind, slowing down the images of the third man, erasing the scruffy beard and the blood – Duo’s blood - smeared across his face. He ignored the ragged dark clothes worn that night, forgot about the hands wearing thick black gloves that grasped pale skin. Freezing only the face in his mind, Trowa focused on the eyes, only the eyes – the one thing a person could never change. Contacts could change the color, plastic surgery could alter the shape, but no one could modify what the eyes contained.
“Eyes are the window to the soul,” he murmured as he envisioned the eyes of Duo’s tormentor. “Eyes don’t lie.”
The eyes of the third attacker fixed firmly in his mind, Trowa began pulling the faces of every security guard he had met. It took a few seconds to come upon the eyes Duo remembered, set in a clean shaven face as they had stared at Trowa, first with excitement, then contempt. The brown eyes had belonged to the second guard from the trio he had met on his first visit to the hospital, one he had tried to avoid since. Brown eyes belonging to a man called Dewitt.
Using his computer to hack into the hospital employment records, he pulled up Dewitt’s file. Clint Dewitt, age thirty-one, had a varied and interesting past employment history, most of which Trowa believed false. Backing out of the hospital system, he logged into the Preventers system and began a search, not of just Clint Dewitt, but also the alias Sharp. He was only marginally surprised at what he discovered.
The name Sharp had been brought up in a number of investigations, recently on L2, and on L1 three years before. It had been suspected Sharp had arranged and led a number of crimes but there had been only the lone name and a vague description. Any other perpetrators of the crimes had been astonishingly closed-mouthed about who the leader had been. The L1 government had issued a request for information regarding Sharp – proving they had no leads at all.
While there was little information on Sharp, mostly rumors and speculation, the data on Clint Dewitt was almost as sparse. Dewitt was born on L1, the only son of two wealthy government officials. The father had been vocal about the colonies receiving freedom from Earth, the mother supporting her husband in his political aspirations. When the parents were assassinated, the ten-year-old boy was sent to live with his only remaining family, who happened to be a high-ranking member of the Alliance. Trowa didn’t hesitate to hack into the locked file he found, discovering Dewitt’s juvenile records, starting when the boy was eleven with some petty larceny – stealing some video games from a retail store. By the time Dewitt was fourteen, he had graduated up to more severe crimes, being arrested for assault and peering into a schoolmate’s room at night while she was changing clothes. There had been a number of arrests over the next few years, but charges were never filed against young Dewitt, likely due to his Uncle’s money and position in government. It wasn’t hard to imagine the pressure put on the families of the victims, or the victims themselves, to forget the crimes had occurred, and probably chose a monetary payment instead of pursuing the matter.
At sixteen, Dewitt was arrested twice more, once for assault with a deadly weapon and once for sexual assault. The last crime seemed to be the end of the Uncle’s willingness to cover-up his nephew’s doings. Then again, there wasn’t any way to wave off the rape of a fourteen-year-old girl, especially when combined with the multiple cuts Dewitt had inflicted on the girl during the act.
Reading the girl’s statement, Trowa swallowed bile. The things Dewitt had said and done during the rape would have been bad enough on their own, without the added humiliation of violation. “Jesus,” he muttered at the level of violence, “The world would have been better off if they had locked this monster away and never let him out again. If his uncle had made him take responsibility for any of the other things, he might have stopped. It’s doubtful, though. Once Dewitt discovered he liked causing pain, he couldn’t wait to do it again.”
Scanning through the closed record, he frowned, “He spent the next year and a half in a juvenile detention center. Once he reached eighteen and his record was sealed, he was arrested for another assault, this time on his Uncle. The poor man was paralyzed and left in a wheelchair. The police couldn’t find Dewitt to arrest him. He pretty much disappeared from the criminal world, from the way it looks. Some would assume he straightened up and stayed out of trouble. I think he got a lot smarter and a lot more careful about his crimes. He probably stays in an area for a few years, keeps his criminal life separate from his legal one, then moves on. I doubt there are many of his associates that even know what his real name is. I wonder how long he knew the Whitakers?”
Not that it mattered. Now that he knew who he was looking for, Trowa was already working on a plan that didn’t involve Duo being hurt while destroying Dewitt. He had an idea forming, but it was going to take a lot of cooperation and some quick work.
The next evening, Ellen rushed into the room, a large grin on her face, “So the rumors are true. You’re finally awake.”
Trowa winced at the still open door, able to see curious night staff peeking their heads in. The sight of the man sitting up in bed facing away from the door, braid hanging down to rest in the center of his back had them making gestures of awe and scurrying off, presumably to tell others.
“Are there really that many rumors?” Trowa asked, shoulders slumping. “I was hoping to keep the news quiet for a little longer.”
Coming to the opposite side of the bed, she smiled while patting Trowa’s knee in a motherly way. “Sorry, Trowa. When a patient suddenly wakes up that showed no signs of recovery, we tend to get excited. It gives us hope for other patients.”
He picked up on the emphasis, recalling their previous discussion. He lifted his eyebrow, “Is he going to be moved to another room tonight? Don’t scratch at that,” he chastised the man on the bed, seeing him scratch at the IV.
“Now, sweetie,” Ellen crooned as she smoothed the tape that had been bunched up around the IV tube. “We’ll get those out as soon as we can, but we won’t be moving you until tomorrow morning. We’ll keep you here for observation tonight, where you can be left alone. There’s a bit more commotion than usual, but we can limit the amount of people on this floor.”
Trowa shook his head, glancing at the door again, where several nurses had gathered. “I noticed there’s more people on the floor tonight. Something I need to know before I leave? I have some things to take care of, but I’ll be back before you’re transferred to another room,” he added to the man sitting beside him.
“It’s the darndest thing. There was a small fire on one of the lower floors today. Nothing major, but the floor has to be cleared until they can clean the rooms. They reeked of smoke. Since we have so many empty rooms, we’re taking some of the other patients here.” Seeing his frown, she smiled, “It’s happened before. Probably a kid setting off a smoke bomb as a prank. Everyone still has to be checked through security before entering the ward.” Turning her attention to the long-haired man, she smiled more gently, “As for you, we’ll be giving you a sedative so you can get some real rest. You have a big day ahead of you tomorrow. I’ll make sure you’re left alone.” Nodding to Trowa, she strode from the room, only to come back minutes later with a syringe she emptied into the IV bag. “This should take effect quickly, so you’ll get sleepy very soon,” she advised before turning her attention to the green-eyed man watching her warily. “Go get your errand done so you can be here in the morning. Is Howard coming to sit with him?”
“He’s supposed to be here by midnight. He has something he needs to finish up on his shuttle before he can come back.”
“I know you like James to watch his door when you and Howard aren’t here, but he’s off work tonight,” she told him of the security guard Trowa trusted.
A small smile found its way on the tall man’s mouth, “I know. He was excited about it. His daughter and son-in-law are bringing the baby to see him. He actually got mushy when he told me.”
When Ellen laughed and left the room, Trowa didn’t bother to say goodbye to the man on the bed, following behind the woman, dimming the lights before shutting the door firmly behind him. At the locked door of the ward, he found Ellen was right. A desk had been set up right outside the doors, a guard sitting behind it. For a second he fought to remember the man’s name before giving up. “You’ll check everyone’s ID before they’re allowed to enter?”
The guard nodded soberly, “Yes sir, Agent Barton. I won’t let in anyone that doesn’t belong here. You coming back tonight?”
Glancing at his watch, Trowa nodded, just as serious. “I shouldn’t be gone all night, but I can’t guarantee I’ll be back before morning. There’s something I have to check on, but I don’t know how long it will take. I have to say I’m a bit worried to find more people on the floor tonight.”
“Don’t you worry, sir. Mr. Maxwell is a symbol of our freedom. I’ll take good care of your…friend. I know how important he is, to all of us.”
Opting to take the stairs instead of the elevator, Trowa hesitated as he thought of everyone already on the floor, including patients, their families and visitors, and extra staff. He had expected some kind of incident when word of Duo’s recovery began to spread, but he was surprised at what form it had taken. Shaking his head, he went up the stairs rather than down, spending the thirty seconds he needed to pick the rusty lock for the second time that day, staying low as he made his way out the door and across the rooftop. Glad to find the climbing gear he had left early that morning, he strapped on the harness, making sure the rope was secured, and slipped over the side of the building, grateful Duo’s room was at the back of the hospital, instead of the front. It would be difficult to explain why there was a man climbing down the side of the building, and would bring unwanted attention.
L2 was never fully dark, just as it was never fully light during the day, though it was enough to hide his frame against the side of the building in case someone happened to be in the alley. Carefully making his descent, it only took ten minutes to get from the roof to the seventh floor, where Duo’s room was located. Spying the book he had left on the window sill to mark the correct room, he peered inside to make sure it was unoccupied other than the man lying motionless on the bed.
Prying the window open took less time than he had thought; getting it shut behind him took more time than it should have. He could only hope no one spotted the rope hanging off the side of the building. Finally, when his entry had been concealed, he walked to the bed on feet that made no noise and tapped the man on the shoulder.
Instinct and planning had him slapping a hand over the other man’s mouth the instant eyes shot open, scrunching up his nose as the moustache and goatee scratched at his hand. Seeing awareness in the eyes staring up at him, he removed his hand, “Any visitors yet?”
“Couple of nurses stuck their heads in right after you left, but I heard Ellen yelling at ‘em, telling ‘em Duo needed sleep.”
“Howard, I swear if you don’t ask that woman out once this is over, I’m gonna drug you and leave you in a room with psycho-nurse-Bobbi.”
Gently pulling the brown wig off, Howard actually blushed. “Was plannin’ on it anyway, boy. Mind your own.” Switching places with Trowa, the older man arranged the wig so none of Trowa’s own hair would be visible, spending several minutes pushing the long bangs back. “How’d you get her to help?”
“After you left, I let her know who I thought had attacked him before. She was more than happy to go along.”
Rubbing his tufted hair, Howard grinned, “She’s one helluva woman, right kid?”
“She is. It was her idea to get Duo out of the room last night, while no one was around. Since Dr. Giovanni wasn’t supposed to come in today, it was easy enough to keep everyone else out. I just said I wanted some time alone. Ellen’s the one that started the rumor about Duo being awake before she left last night.”
“One helluva woman,” repeated Howard, waiting as Trowa slipped off his jacket and shirt, replacing them with the hospital gown. Once the tall man was lying on his side, Howard made sure the wig was still in place before making a sound of satisfaction. “You sure you’re gonna be okay up here by yourself? I can stay and hide in the bathroom or something.”
“I have enough weapons hidden in this room to take down half the gangs on the colony, Howard,” he teased, understanding why Duo cared about the grizzled man so much. Hearing the soft knocks that announced Ellen’s planned arrival, he smile, “There’s your ride. Take care of Duo until I get down there.”
“I ain’t gonna let nothin’ happen to him. You make sure you have all your skin intact when you get done.”
Not willing to let the opportunity pass, Trowa spoke softly, “You would have made a great father, Howard.”
Tears were glistening in the older man’s eyes as he turned away, “When this is over and done, both my boys better be in good shape.”
The whispered comment had unexpected moisture springing into Trowa’s eyes. He forced them away as he listened to hushed cursing as Howard contorted himself into the bottom of the rolling cart Ellen was using for cover as she replaced the towels and linens in Duo’s room, one of the many jobs she did nightly.
As the door closed, Trowa settled down for a long wait, closing his eyes and dozing fitfully. He had explained his idea to Duo the night before and had patiently answered the seemingly dozens of concerns the braided man had, so he wasn’t expecting to be pulled into the other man’s mind.
That was why he snapped to full awareness when Duo’s voice screamed inside his head. “Wake up, Trowa! He’s coming! He’s there!”
Warnings: Located in the first part. Be sure to look or you might be surprised.
FIGHTING THE DARKNESS – PART 15
Sobbing brokenly, Trowa was vaguely aware of arms holding him tightly, smoothing his hair and whispering soothing words. He tried to get control of himself, to no avail. Eventually he was reduced to hiccoughs, left with burning eyes and a sore throat.
Shamed at his loss of control, he pulled away, swiping at his eyes, “God, I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be an ass. Want to talk about it?”
“I needed to know what the last man looked like. To show me, Duo remembered…fuck!” Off the bed in less than a second, Trowa prowled the room like a caged animal, unconsciously rubbing his chest to ease the way his heart was beating against his ribs. “He had to remember that night all over again. It wasn’t like a memory, though. I swear he had to live through it all over. Christ, Howard. Once in a lifetime is too many times, but twice? I never thought I’d feel that kind of pain and anger and hurt…”
He was abruptly being shaken roughly, Howard’s eyes pinning him. “Twice? It happened to you before?” Trowa looked away, stunned when his head was forcefully turned back by strong fingers on his chin. “Answer me, boy.”
The emotion in his eyes must have been answer enough because Howard was cursing as he led Trowa to a chair. A long moment passed in silence, before the older man spoke softly, his eyes on Duo. “If he had known he never would have asked for help. You don’t have to help anymore. You can walk out that door and I wouldn’t blame you one bit.”
His heart was pounding as Duo’s memories and his own mixed together to become one. For just a second, Duo’s attackers became his, the two men that had left him for dead long ago. Emotions raw, Trowa focused his pain until he could see those men as he had left them, dead in a pool of muddy water, their slit throats a cheerful smile of blood under their horrified death masks.
Instead of being fearful of those long-dead men, he directed his anger at the ones that had caused Duo pain – a pain he would spare his worst enemy. Knowing the older man was disturbed, he placed a hand that trembled lightly on Howard’s shoulder. “No one could understand what he’s going through, or what he went through better than I can. I’m not leaving. I have to stay.”
“Because you love him.”
No longer able to deny his feelings, he nodded, though he still refused to say the words aloud. “Yes, and because I know what it will take before he can feel normal again. What was done to Duo was horrible and brutal, but he’s strong enough to be…whole again.” He waited a minute, emotion threatening to cut off his air. “I’m no good for him, Howard.”
It was amazing the older man didn’t get whiplash from the speed his head spun to stare. “Why the hell not? He needed you here and you came. You stayed when you had to share his memories. From where I’m sitting, no one else could be better.”
Trowa frowned deeply, wishing he was better at expressing himself. “Duo has a darkness that eats at him, not only now, but all the time. I could feel it when I was in his head. I have darkness of my own I’ve lived with almost my entire life. How could I help him fight his when I can’t even banish my own?” He managed a small smile, “And have you forgotten Duo’s straight, while I’m gay? He’ll probably go back to Hilde, and we both know it.”
“You’ll really let him go back to her, even after what she did?”
“I won’t keep him from anything that’ll make him happy.”
“She doesn’t love him,” Howard asserted. “Duo’s like a prize stud won at the county fair. He’s a trophy, something she sees as a possession. She doesn’t love him the way you do.”
“You don’t know she doesn’t,” argued Trowa.
The older man was having none of it. “Yes, I do. You can see how you feel in your eyes, Trowa. Hilde considers Duo as some sort of…reward. She expects him to be there because of what she did during the war. I know because no matter how much people try to fool themselves or others, eyes don’t lie.”
Eyes don’t lie.
The phrase played over and over in Trowa’s mind long after Howard had left in search of a shower and some sleep that wasn’t had while sitting in a chair, also taking Trowa’s bloody clothes with him to discard. Eyes don’t lie. Something about the phrase resonated inside his brain, so he worried it like a dog with a bone.
Sitting beside the bed with Duo’s hand in his, he turned the words over and over, looking at it from every angle. Absently he lifted Duo’s hand to rub against his cheek before deciding it would be best to think about something else and let it stew in the back of his brain, knowing the answer would eventually come to him.
Kissing the back of Duo’s hand, he lowered it to the bed and let go. Crossing his arms on the mattress where they were in contact with the other man’s legs, he shook his head as he realized he made sure he was touching the other man in some way, still needing the comfort from his trip into the night life of L2. “If I could go back in time and change one thing, it would be that night, Duo. If I could take those memories from you I would, but I can’t. Maybe it would be better to go back and stop Hilde from meeting that asshole Bo, and then you wouldn’t have come in contact with him at all.” Still wondering how much of an idiot Hilde could be, he rolled his eyes, “I still don’t know how she didn’t see what he really was. It was right there in his face, right in his…” he trailed off for a moment, stunned. “Right there in his eyes. Eyes don’t lie.”
Forcing himself to remember, Trowa closed his eyes and thought of the memories Duo had forced into his mind, slowing down the images of the third man, erasing the scruffy beard and the blood – Duo’s blood - smeared across his face. He ignored the ragged dark clothes worn that night, forgot about the hands wearing thick black gloves that grasped pale skin. Freezing only the face in his mind, Trowa focused on the eyes, only the eyes – the one thing a person could never change. Contacts could change the color, plastic surgery could alter the shape, but no one could modify what the eyes contained.
“Eyes are the window to the soul,” he murmured as he envisioned the eyes of Duo’s tormentor. “Eyes don’t lie.”
The eyes of the third attacker fixed firmly in his mind, Trowa began pulling the faces of every security guard he had met. It took a few seconds to come upon the eyes Duo remembered, set in a clean shaven face as they had stared at Trowa, first with excitement, then contempt. The brown eyes had belonged to the second guard from the trio he had met on his first visit to the hospital, one he had tried to avoid since. Brown eyes belonging to a man called Dewitt.
Using his computer to hack into the hospital employment records, he pulled up Dewitt’s file. Clint Dewitt, age thirty-one, had a varied and interesting past employment history, most of which Trowa believed false. Backing out of the hospital system, he logged into the Preventers system and began a search, not of just Clint Dewitt, but also the alias Sharp. He was only marginally surprised at what he discovered.
The name Sharp had been brought up in a number of investigations, recently on L2, and on L1 three years before. It had been suspected Sharp had arranged and led a number of crimes but there had been only the lone name and a vague description. Any other perpetrators of the crimes had been astonishingly closed-mouthed about who the leader had been. The L1 government had issued a request for information regarding Sharp – proving they had no leads at all.
While there was little information on Sharp, mostly rumors and speculation, the data on Clint Dewitt was almost as sparse. Dewitt was born on L1, the only son of two wealthy government officials. The father had been vocal about the colonies receiving freedom from Earth, the mother supporting her husband in his political aspirations. When the parents were assassinated, the ten-year-old boy was sent to live with his only remaining family, who happened to be a high-ranking member of the Alliance. Trowa didn’t hesitate to hack into the locked file he found, discovering Dewitt’s juvenile records, starting when the boy was eleven with some petty larceny – stealing some video games from a retail store. By the time Dewitt was fourteen, he had graduated up to more severe crimes, being arrested for assault and peering into a schoolmate’s room at night while she was changing clothes. There had been a number of arrests over the next few years, but charges were never filed against young Dewitt, likely due to his Uncle’s money and position in government. It wasn’t hard to imagine the pressure put on the families of the victims, or the victims themselves, to forget the crimes had occurred, and probably chose a monetary payment instead of pursuing the matter.
At sixteen, Dewitt was arrested twice more, once for assault with a deadly weapon and once for sexual assault. The last crime seemed to be the end of the Uncle’s willingness to cover-up his nephew’s doings. Then again, there wasn’t any way to wave off the rape of a fourteen-year-old girl, especially when combined with the multiple cuts Dewitt had inflicted on the girl during the act.
Reading the girl’s statement, Trowa swallowed bile. The things Dewitt had said and done during the rape would have been bad enough on their own, without the added humiliation of violation. “Jesus,” he muttered at the level of violence, “The world would have been better off if they had locked this monster away and never let him out again. If his uncle had made him take responsibility for any of the other things, he might have stopped. It’s doubtful, though. Once Dewitt discovered he liked causing pain, he couldn’t wait to do it again.”
Scanning through the closed record, he frowned, “He spent the next year and a half in a juvenile detention center. Once he reached eighteen and his record was sealed, he was arrested for another assault, this time on his Uncle. The poor man was paralyzed and left in a wheelchair. The police couldn’t find Dewitt to arrest him. He pretty much disappeared from the criminal world, from the way it looks. Some would assume he straightened up and stayed out of trouble. I think he got a lot smarter and a lot more careful about his crimes. He probably stays in an area for a few years, keeps his criminal life separate from his legal one, then moves on. I doubt there are many of his associates that even know what his real name is. I wonder how long he knew the Whitakers?”
Not that it mattered. Now that he knew who he was looking for, Trowa was already working on a plan that didn’t involve Duo being hurt while destroying Dewitt. He had an idea forming, but it was going to take a lot of cooperation and some quick work.
The next evening, Ellen rushed into the room, a large grin on her face, “So the rumors are true. You’re finally awake.”
Trowa winced at the still open door, able to see curious night staff peeking their heads in. The sight of the man sitting up in bed facing away from the door, braid hanging down to rest in the center of his back had them making gestures of awe and scurrying off, presumably to tell others.
“Are there really that many rumors?” Trowa asked, shoulders slumping. “I was hoping to keep the news quiet for a little longer.”
Coming to the opposite side of the bed, she smiled while patting Trowa’s knee in a motherly way. “Sorry, Trowa. When a patient suddenly wakes up that showed no signs of recovery, we tend to get excited. It gives us hope for other patients.”
He picked up on the emphasis, recalling their previous discussion. He lifted his eyebrow, “Is he going to be moved to another room tonight? Don’t scratch at that,” he chastised the man on the bed, seeing him scratch at the IV.
“Now, sweetie,” Ellen crooned as she smoothed the tape that had been bunched up around the IV tube. “We’ll get those out as soon as we can, but we won’t be moving you until tomorrow morning. We’ll keep you here for observation tonight, where you can be left alone. There’s a bit more commotion than usual, but we can limit the amount of people on this floor.”
Trowa shook his head, glancing at the door again, where several nurses had gathered. “I noticed there’s more people on the floor tonight. Something I need to know before I leave? I have some things to take care of, but I’ll be back before you’re transferred to another room,” he added to the man sitting beside him.
“It’s the darndest thing. There was a small fire on one of the lower floors today. Nothing major, but the floor has to be cleared until they can clean the rooms. They reeked of smoke. Since we have so many empty rooms, we’re taking some of the other patients here.” Seeing his frown, she smiled, “It’s happened before. Probably a kid setting off a smoke bomb as a prank. Everyone still has to be checked through security before entering the ward.” Turning her attention to the long-haired man, she smiled more gently, “As for you, we’ll be giving you a sedative so you can get some real rest. You have a big day ahead of you tomorrow. I’ll make sure you’re left alone.” Nodding to Trowa, she strode from the room, only to come back minutes later with a syringe she emptied into the IV bag. “This should take effect quickly, so you’ll get sleepy very soon,” she advised before turning her attention to the green-eyed man watching her warily. “Go get your errand done so you can be here in the morning. Is Howard coming to sit with him?”
“He’s supposed to be here by midnight. He has something he needs to finish up on his shuttle before he can come back.”
“I know you like James to watch his door when you and Howard aren’t here, but he’s off work tonight,” she told him of the security guard Trowa trusted.
A small smile found its way on the tall man’s mouth, “I know. He was excited about it. His daughter and son-in-law are bringing the baby to see him. He actually got mushy when he told me.”
When Ellen laughed and left the room, Trowa didn’t bother to say goodbye to the man on the bed, following behind the woman, dimming the lights before shutting the door firmly behind him. At the locked door of the ward, he found Ellen was right. A desk had been set up right outside the doors, a guard sitting behind it. For a second he fought to remember the man’s name before giving up. “You’ll check everyone’s ID before they’re allowed to enter?”
The guard nodded soberly, “Yes sir, Agent Barton. I won’t let in anyone that doesn’t belong here. You coming back tonight?”
Glancing at his watch, Trowa nodded, just as serious. “I shouldn’t be gone all night, but I can’t guarantee I’ll be back before morning. There’s something I have to check on, but I don’t know how long it will take. I have to say I’m a bit worried to find more people on the floor tonight.”
“Don’t you worry, sir. Mr. Maxwell is a symbol of our freedom. I’ll take good care of your…friend. I know how important he is, to all of us.”
Opting to take the stairs instead of the elevator, Trowa hesitated as he thought of everyone already on the floor, including patients, their families and visitors, and extra staff. He had expected some kind of incident when word of Duo’s recovery began to spread, but he was surprised at what form it had taken. Shaking his head, he went up the stairs rather than down, spending the thirty seconds he needed to pick the rusty lock for the second time that day, staying low as he made his way out the door and across the rooftop. Glad to find the climbing gear he had left early that morning, he strapped on the harness, making sure the rope was secured, and slipped over the side of the building, grateful Duo’s room was at the back of the hospital, instead of the front. It would be difficult to explain why there was a man climbing down the side of the building, and would bring unwanted attention.
L2 was never fully dark, just as it was never fully light during the day, though it was enough to hide his frame against the side of the building in case someone happened to be in the alley. Carefully making his descent, it only took ten minutes to get from the roof to the seventh floor, where Duo’s room was located. Spying the book he had left on the window sill to mark the correct room, he peered inside to make sure it was unoccupied other than the man lying motionless on the bed.
Prying the window open took less time than he had thought; getting it shut behind him took more time than it should have. He could only hope no one spotted the rope hanging off the side of the building. Finally, when his entry had been concealed, he walked to the bed on feet that made no noise and tapped the man on the shoulder.
Instinct and planning had him slapping a hand over the other man’s mouth the instant eyes shot open, scrunching up his nose as the moustache and goatee scratched at his hand. Seeing awareness in the eyes staring up at him, he removed his hand, “Any visitors yet?”
“Couple of nurses stuck their heads in right after you left, but I heard Ellen yelling at ‘em, telling ‘em Duo needed sleep.”
“Howard, I swear if you don’t ask that woman out once this is over, I’m gonna drug you and leave you in a room with psycho-nurse-Bobbi.”
Gently pulling the brown wig off, Howard actually blushed. “Was plannin’ on it anyway, boy. Mind your own.” Switching places with Trowa, the older man arranged the wig so none of Trowa’s own hair would be visible, spending several minutes pushing the long bangs back. “How’d you get her to help?”
“After you left, I let her know who I thought had attacked him before. She was more than happy to go along.”
Rubbing his tufted hair, Howard grinned, “She’s one helluva woman, right kid?”
“She is. It was her idea to get Duo out of the room last night, while no one was around. Since Dr. Giovanni wasn’t supposed to come in today, it was easy enough to keep everyone else out. I just said I wanted some time alone. Ellen’s the one that started the rumor about Duo being awake before she left last night.”
“One helluva woman,” repeated Howard, waiting as Trowa slipped off his jacket and shirt, replacing them with the hospital gown. Once the tall man was lying on his side, Howard made sure the wig was still in place before making a sound of satisfaction. “You sure you’re gonna be okay up here by yourself? I can stay and hide in the bathroom or something.”
“I have enough weapons hidden in this room to take down half the gangs on the colony, Howard,” he teased, understanding why Duo cared about the grizzled man so much. Hearing the soft knocks that announced Ellen’s planned arrival, he smile, “There’s your ride. Take care of Duo until I get down there.”
“I ain’t gonna let nothin’ happen to him. You make sure you have all your skin intact when you get done.”
Not willing to let the opportunity pass, Trowa spoke softly, “You would have made a great father, Howard.”
Tears were glistening in the older man’s eyes as he turned away, “When this is over and done, both my boys better be in good shape.”
The whispered comment had unexpected moisture springing into Trowa’s eyes. He forced them away as he listened to hushed cursing as Howard contorted himself into the bottom of the rolling cart Ellen was using for cover as she replaced the towels and linens in Duo’s room, one of the many jobs she did nightly.
As the door closed, Trowa settled down for a long wait, closing his eyes and dozing fitfully. He had explained his idea to Duo the night before and had patiently answered the seemingly dozens of concerns the braided man had, so he wasn’t expecting to be pulled into the other man’s mind.
That was why he snapped to full awareness when Duo’s voice screamed inside his head. “Wake up, Trowa! He’s coming! He’s there!”