Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Forged Together ❯ chapter 3 ( Chapter 3 )

“Oh, shit,” cursed Duo as everything that could go wrong, did go wrong.

 

“You can say that again,” Quatre said as he blew up something. He was sure it was a mobile suit but it had been on the ground. and maybe it was a ground unit which was…

 

Duo cursed again as a suit fired on him from the left, shaking him in his harness and making him almost bite his tongue off. “Quatre, what the…”

 

“Duck, you fool,” Wufei's voice came over his frequency and Duo dropped his gundam to its knees, knowing when to trust his ally. It didn't stop him from making `quack, quack,' noises over the open frequency as a jet of fire flew over his head.

 

“What's taking them so long?” Quatre asked as he swiped at a mobile suit which was trying to sneak up behind him.

 

“Nothing they can't handle,” Duo said, more as a reassurance, though he was sure Heero and Trowa could take care of themselves. `Yeah, it was not like they'd stop for a quick blowjob on the way and where had that idea come from?' he thought as he fired up his scythe and did a full sweep, getting rid of a bug or two in the process.

 

The compound they were attacking came in two main sections, separated from each other by a distance of few kilometers. So both Heero and Trowa had to go in together to the main base, while the three of them caused a distraction at the training / testing facility. It should have worked out perfectly, since Trowa was to set up explosives and blow up the suits in the launching bay while giving time for Heero to download the data, before they blew up the whole compound.

 

They were to concentrate on the testing facility, and the suits there were not really set up for maneuvers. The test pilots, a mere handful since the introduction of the mobile dolls, always slept in a dorm away from the main hangar. All they had to do was keep the two separate and take out a few minor guards. The main base would send reinforcements when they realized a part of their facility was under attack, and if their calculations were correct, it would go sky high somewhere in between. With no base to return to and three gundams to deal with, the attack force would fall. Should fall…

 

Only, they had met with a few drawbacks.

 

“They have dogs,” Wufei had said when he'd come back from his scouting mission.

 

“We kill them,” Heero said looking up from cleaning his gun. Simple.

 

“I'll go first,” Trowa said softly. “I can handle animals better than you can.”

 

“Are you going to kill them?” Duo asked looking up from where he had been snipping away the split ends of his hair. He did not like killing animals for the sake of war. To him, children and animals of war were the same. Roped into something they did not understand by someone higher up.

 

“Not if I can help it,” Trowa said.

 

“It'll take too much time,” Heero pointed out, coolly.

 

“I'll buy us more time,” Quatre said. “We don't have to kill more than we already have to.”

 

“All right,” said Wufei with a scowl but nodding in agreement. “There has to be some honor in acting as bait to a bunch of morons.”

 

So the three of them were acting like the decoy, trying not to use too much fire power and finish it off far too soon.

 

“Can we start blowing things up, uh?” Duo said in frustration.

 

“We don't bring out the big guns until everyone is out,” Quatre said firmly. It they were to blow up the Training Base and there would be nothing for the Main Base to protect which meant they might turn their attention inwards es[ecailly with two of their number inside. “Anything you say, boss,” said Duo, rolling his eyes.

 

“I'd say the two of you should stop chatting like old women and …ahhhhh.” Wufei's voice got cut off abruptly

 

“Ok, double shit,” Duo said opening up his scanners. He could see the heat signature for Sandrock, but Altron was nowhere to be seen. “Wu…where are you?”

 

“He fell through,” Quatre's voice came over the speaker in his helmet. “There was a hole in the ground and…”

 

“Damn,” said Duo scanning the ground for said hole. Anything a gundam could fall though couldn't be that small. “Found it,” he said as he moved back. “Quatre, cover me. I'm going to…”

 

“I'm fine,” Wufei said, sounding angry at his predicament. “Leave me.”

 

“Already,” said Duo. “You people always have fun with the self destruct buttons.”

 

“Shut up, Maxwell,” Wufei snarled. “Move forward.”

 

“Who died and made you Heero?” Duo sang out. “Can you boost out?”

 

“No,” there was frustration in Wufei's voice. “This was an oil storage silo…crude oil. It's blocking my boosters and if I fire, it might explode.” And the chain reaction would blow up their target before time. Duo scanned the sides; they looked as if they would collapse inwards, trapping Altron, and it would take some time to get the gundam out. Altron was not Wing.

 

“You idiot,” Duo raged. “Get out of there and we'll come back for Altron…”

 

“No,” Wufei snarled back over the screen. “I'm not leaving…”

 

Duo knew what Wufei was feeling. The gundam and its pilot were linked almost to the point of death, which was why they never thought of leaving it till they'd run out of options.

 

“Plus, the sides are pretty close so I can't pop the hatch open,” Wufei admitted reluctantly. “I'll crawl out somehow.”

 

“Duo,” Quatre's voice came over the com-link, calm, despite the fact he was keeping the ground arms busy by pinning them down with overhead fire. It was not going to take long. After all, Quatre had calculated they were only going to need two minutes, twenty seconds and fifteen milliseconds of distraction. He couldn't blow up the hangar while Trowa was still inside. “Get Wufei. I'll hold them off.”

 

“Got you,” said Duo lunging back to land, the legs of his gundam on either side of the hole. He could see where Altron had broken through -- and had fallen a long way down. He could barely make out the top of the head in the gloom of the oil reservoir. “Wufei, I'm going to throw my grappling hook down. Grab it.”

 

“You fool,” Wufei snarled back. “You should not bother with…”

 

“Fallen comrades,” Duo said with a snicker. “But you really are in the pits this time, aren't you?”

 

Wufei had either not heard of bad puns or was totally humorless, since he did not react to Duo's last comment. It could also have been because Deathscythe's grappling hook had plunked on Altron.

 

“Just…grab it,” Duo instructed.

 

“Can't,” Wufei admitted reluctantly. “These sides are too close for me to deploy the fang straight up.”

 

“Then, hang on,” said Duo, folding over his gundam so it was in a kneeling position over the hole. That would give him cover should someone fire from overhead. He pushed open his hatch and jumped, winching down along the grappling line with practiced ease. The hook at the other end was heavy but he was strong. Not as strong as certain genetically modified cold blooded…well…back to business.

 

“I'm hooking you under the chin,” Duo said over the com.

 

“Fine,” Wufei grunted. Duo knew that the hatches were not programmed to open unless there was opening space. Another security protocol which they all could have done without.

 

“Done,” said Duo then scrambled up the same way he had come down. “Heero couldn't have done it better, if I do say so,” he said to himself as he sat back in the cockpit, then decided that Heero would probably not bother with someone stuck in the hole. He'd probably expect the person to kill himself or dig his way out with a spoon handle. “Hang on,” he shouted instead. “I'm boosting up.”

 

For a moment Duo thought they were not going to lift off. Altron, after modifications, was heavy and the crude oil seemed to suck the gundam down. His forehead was beaded with sweat and the left thruster started to overheat as Duo pushed his gundam to the limit. Then suddenly Wufei's mecha broke free of the pull of the viscous fluid and gravity, and they were spiraling over the tarmac. Even as they did, an explosion rocked them from the left.

 

“Quatre,” Duo called, changing frequencies.

 

The blond came on viewscreen, looking pale but determined. “I had to blow up the dorms,” he said. “They were going to bring out the mobile dolls but it's too soon. We made enough noise so people must have gotten out, but even if they hadn't, I didn't have much choice. The others aren't out yet and it was either us or them.”

 

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11

 

“Don't be too hard on yourself,” Trowa said as Quatre climbed down from Sandrock. “You had to do it.”

 

“Yeah,” said Quatre, looking slightly sad. “It doesn't make it feel right.”

 

“Nothing ever does,” Trowa said helping the blond down the last few steps even though he didn't need help. Duo didn't think of Quatre in terms of nice, little and weakling. Not since the Zero incident. But Trowa did act protective around him and Duo noticed the way the taller boy regarded Sandrock's pilot, as if he was something…important. Ok, maybe Duo was seeing things a little warped but hey, a guy could hope.

 

`So,' thought Do. `Trowa cares for the Quatre …but what's holding him back?'

 

As if in answer to his question, Heero emerged from the other side of the room, a bandage on his upper arm, face blank. Out of long practice, no one asked Heero how badly he was hurt or if he needed any medical assistance. If Heero was in need of medical assistance, he'd fall flat on his face and they'd pick him up. Anything else was merely a scratch. After all, this was the guy who set his own leg after breaking it.

 

As Heero appeared, he looked from Trowa to Quatre who were facing each other then stood waiting, as if he needed to speak to one of them. He kept his distance and did not look impatient but it was enough. Trowa's stance stiffened a little and Quatre would have to be blind not to notice it.

 

“I need to get dinner,” the blond said and moved towards the partition they called kitchen.

 

“Are you alright?” Trowa asked softly. Didn't anyone notice his voice softened when he spoke to Quatre?

 

`Say no,' Duo urged mentally. `Say no, and he'll come with you to the kitchen away from Heero-fucking-Yuy.'

 

Apparently, Quatre was not telepathic. “I need some time alone,” he said firmly, though his gaze lingered little on Trowa and then on Heero, as if sizing them up.

 

`Dimmit,' Duo raged internally. `Heero, go away. They don't need you.'

 

“Fine then,” said Trowa as he moved towards Heero a little. “I'll be with Heavyarms if you need me.”

 

Duo fumed. Both he and Quatre had seen Heero emerge from the Heavyarms cockpit the night before, and though neither had mentioned it, both knew that it had not been a casual `can I borrow your spare spanner' visit.

 

`How dare he,' Duo raged. `Trowa likes Quatre and all that's keeping the two apart is Heero.'

 

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Duo made it his special duty to cheer up Quatre after he had killed a large number of people. This consisted of jokes, food and cuddling in a sleeping bag. Not sex. Sex with Quatre was like sex with your much, much younger brother, and Duo wasn't into incest. Most of the time, human contact seemed to make the blond more comfortable, and Duo knew that Quatre didn't look at Duo as anything other than a friend. However, Duo woke up in the middle of the night to an erection pressed to his middle, and someone nuzzling his neck. The fact that Quatre was murmuring something close to `Trowa' was the only thing that stopped Duo from panicking. He pulled down the zipper on the side and rolled out carefully, leaving a pillow in his place. He sooooooooooo did not want this.

 

He walked on bare feet towards the main hangar and stopped. He could see the faint light, which meant someone was working on their pet project.

 

“Heero,” mumbled Duo. “Maybe you should give it a break…” however as he walked in, he saw it was not Wing, as expected, but Altron that was undergoing repairs.

 

Duo winched up to the cockpit, more because he didn't want to go back to Quatre and his wet dreams than anything else. And given a choice between Heero and Wufei, Duo chose the Chinese boy hands down. Wufei looked up when Duo came in then grunted and returned to his fiddling with the controls.

 

“How bad?” Duo asked as he settled to sitting on the open edge.

 

“I'll have it ready by tomorrow,” Wufei said. `even if I have to stay up all night,' remained unspoken.

 

“What are you doing?” Duo asked as Wufei continued to tinker down the open hatch.

 

“I disconnected the ground sensor to have an extra feed back for the forward scanner but after today…”

 

“Oh,” said Duo. “I did wonder how that happened.”

 

“It wasn't as if I expected the ground to fall out from under me,” Wufei said. There was a tense pause as Wufei returned to his labors and Duo fiddled with his hair.

 

“Did you get the oil out of the boosters?” Duo asked finally to break the silence.

 

“Yes.”

 

“How did you do it?” Duo asked. “I mean, that stuff is hard to get out. I remember the time I…”

 

“I fired the jets once and the excess burned away.” Wufei snapped.

 

“How about the forward thruster,” Duo pressed. “I saw your left side drag when you…”

 

“Maxwell,” Wufei growled. “What do you want?”

 

“I'm bored,” Duo said. “Aren't you bored?”

 

“I'm busy,” Wufei said shortly before kneeling down to peer under the console panel. He opened the hatch below and …

 

“You're no fun,” Duo teased as he swung his legs in. It wouldn't do for Wufei to accidentally close the cockpit and have his legs sliced through. “Talk to me `Fei, I'm bored.” `And I don't want to have my leg humped my Quatre.'

 

Remembering what Wufei had said in the kitchen earlier, he had to agree that there was some truth in it. But hey, they were fifteen so what did they expect? Perhaps, Trowa and Quatre needed time alone to talk things over. Privacy was, after all, hard to come by.

 

Duo inched forward on the cockpit floor (it had to be some male minded moron back somewhere who'd named it cock pit) and watched Wufei's butt wriggle…a nice firm butt toned from hours of practice and hard work. He pushed a leg forward and brushed a toe up and down the white cloth covered behind, then leapt back before Wufei could turn around and break his ankle. “You have such a nice derrière,” Duo said in his worst French accent.

 

“Maxwell!” Wufei roared and in an instant, he was on his feet and Duo was scrambling backward, wondering what he had poked his foot into. He was going to be killed just there and then; Wufei was better at hand to hand fighting and while Duo could move when he wanted to, he did not think he had enough space to maneuver inside a gundam and… “Why you worthless perverted…” Wufei seethed for a second before seeming to collect himself visibly and his body straightened. “Maxwell,” his tone was flat. “Thank you.”

 

“I can poke you butt anytime…”

 

“For earlier today, when you helped me out,” Wufei finished.

 

“Oh,” said Duo weakly. “So letting me live now is a good idea, right? You know, eye for an eye stuff - not that I mean an eye literally. Never know with you warrior types, so it's more like a life for a life and …”

 

“I owe you one,” Wufei continued smoothly and bowed formally to Duo, who was still sitting on his floor on his bum, his legs spread out in front of him.

 

“Oh,” for a moment Duo was speechless.

 

Wufei turned back to his work. Duo watched the way the loose white pants played against the firm behind and smile. “Does this mean we'll be even if you do something for me like pull me out of a tar pit or…”

 

“Leave, Maxwell,” Wufei said, his back still turned to the 02 pilot.

 

“But you said you owe me,” Duo protested. “Does that mean you'll be nice to me from now on?”

 

“You wish.”

 

“But then what do you mean when you say you owe me one?” Duo wailed. “Come on Wu-baby, you're breaking my heart.”

 

“Will you go away?” Wufei said exasperatedly.

 

“But you said you like me,” Duo continued to wail, betting himself that in two more seconds, Wufei would finally snap and throw him bodily off Altron.

 

“Fuck off, Maxwell,” Wufei snapped. Hmm, the guy had gotten better at controlling his temper.

 

“Any time, anywhere,” Duo said with false bravado though the thought had him mentally running to Quatre for comfort.

 

“That's it,” said Wufei snarling in frustration. “Maxwell, I own you one favor. Ask me for something and if I can give it to you, I'll give it. Then you get out and walk away, and do not speak to me ever again.”

 

“Wow,” said Duo impressed. “A favor, anything like those damsels in distress who give their hero a …”

 

“I'm not a woman,” Wufei said with as much anger as possible. “Name you price Maxwell if it meant keeping your mouth shut and get it over with. Then get out before I push you out.”

 

Duo thought it over for two seconds before swinging off the gundam; he was going to collect his price after careful consideration. He was not one to squander away something given for free.