Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Glass Soldier ❯ Chapter One. ( Chapter 1 )

Clairol <clairolxx@hotmail.com>

Title: Glass Soldier

Rating: PG-13

Warnings: TWT, Sci-fi, Shounen-ai, Yaoi.

Pairings: 1+2+1 leading to 2x1, 3x4, 5x?

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing. Short and to the point, ne?

Glass Soldier

Chapter One.

Dusk was just beginning to fall; casting that deceptive half-light over the restful forest scene laid out for his eyes alone. Nothing moved to disturb the peace, the birds had long since retired to their twigged homes for the night and it was too early for the nocturnal life to come prowling. Even the breeze had died down; creating only a transient background noise as it brushed through the dying leaves on the forest trees.

There was only one word for it -- tranquil.

Heero sighed quietly as he crouched low in the underbrush. This was ridiculous. It was obvious to anyone that the dilapidated building in front of him had seen no sign of life in quite some time. Not even the faintest chink of light could be spotted at any of the begrimed windows and a good two inches of leaf mulch lay undisturbed around the entire perimeter. The metal gate and high chicken wire fence were brown with rust and the gate swung gently in the wind, creating a shrill *shreek* noise that grated on his nerves. Heero wouldn't have been surprised if he were the only human being in a good ten-mile radius.

And yet his orders from J were quite clear, it was a simple reconnaissance mission, he was to report back any findings of Oz activity in the area. Just what sort of activity Oz could be doing in such a backwater location Heero couldn't even begin to fathom. They were too far from even the most basic of roads for the base to be visited regularly. The nearest point of habitation as the crow flew was over twenty miles north and that was only a small village containing ten houses and one local store stroke post office stroke public house. The rest of the locale was simply forest. No lakes, no source of fresh water. No, the place didn't exactly scream out strong holding to him.

Heero fidgeted slightly as his right foot began to prickle with pins and needles. Not much longer now, he thought, glancing up at the sky for confirmation. It would be dark enough soon for him to make a closer examination of the building, then he could return to Wing and be back at the safe house before morning. For a second an image of the others sitting around the table, eating breakfast or watching television came into his mind. He sighed, despite his constant pleas to be left alone something about that homely scene was intrinsically more desirable than his present location. Hunching his shoulders slightly against the slight chill in the air he shifted his weight over to the other foot and wiggled his toes to get his circulation flowing once more before falling back into his previous contemplative state.

Darkness fell swiftly in the forest, the dense cover of the trees helping to block out what little light remained. It was almost surreal when Heero glanced up at the sky and noticed it was still only a light violet of sunset. The first star of the night had yet to make an appearance and yet down in the forest it was almost completely pitch.

Time for action.

He stood up slowly, stretching the kinks out of his joints before stepping forward cautiously towards the base. Faint rustlings came to his ears and he frowned at first, until realising the field mice were out in force. Reaching the gate he was once again reassured of no military operations. It was practically rusted through, if soldiers had been present it would either have been replaced or removed, a broken gate served no purpose.

Still maintaining a stealthy approach Heero moved slowly from cover to cover, getting closer to his objective each time, his gun cocked and ready to fire. Earlier surveys of the area had told him that the entrance he was heading towards was the only one the building possessed - yet another reason it could not possibly be a military base. Heero sighed in frustration, obviously J had got his facts wrong this time.

Reaching the perimeter of the building Heero shook his head - deserted... and it had been that way for some time judging from the run down state it was in. He abandoned his stealth and straightened up, returning his gun to its position, tucked into the spandex shorts he wore. Pushing open the door with difficulty he peered into the gloom and frowned.

It was dark.

Much darker than the forest. He stepped inside silently and proceeded down the corridor slowly, running one hand along the wall in order to avoid running into anything and to memorise the layout of the building as he travelled.

If he had looked back he might have seen the small red LED above the door, which signified the position of a surveillance camera. A brand new, state of the art, infrared camera, which had been, installed a scant two weeks previous.

But he didn't look back.

It was an error that would cost the perfect soldier a very high price.

***

Deep underneath the building the feedback from the infrared camera was being carefully studied, the blurry red and orange figure it displayed stood out from the dark surroundings strikingly well. A hand shot out and flicked the freeze frame button, effectively capturing the figure in mid-stride. Silence shrouded the room for a few seconds before the curious voice rang out.

"Is that him?"

"Yes." The second voice came from a video phone, which had been angled so that the camera feedback could be viewed.

"He's only a kid." The tone was scornful.

"Don't underestimate him."

"You promised me a decent subject. *That*," The tall man waved an arm at the television displaying the camera feed in disgust, "won't even last till morning."

"He will last."

"You seem awfully sure of this."

The figure at the end of the video phone chuckled quietly, "He may surprise you."

The tall man passed a hand over his face wearily; "Well I guess it's too late for complaints now isn't it."

"You learn fast."

"You know we still haven't discussed the small matter of the fee yet."

The chuckling started again causing the man to frown. Money was *anything* but a laughing matter to him.

"All in good time my friend, all in good time. Succeed and you will be paid handsomely." The dark figure leaned forward suddenly, shrouding his face in shadow even more, "Fail me and you will be the ones who pay." The final words were hissed and were a very real threat, "This discussion is over."

The video phone flickered off suddenly, leaving the tall man alone with his thoughts, none of which were very pleasant.

A flick of the light switch behind him caused him to spin suddenly, blinking as the room was bathed suddenly in the bright light of the halogen bulbs. A slightly smaller man stood at the doorway, smiling in concern.

"How did it go, Cain?"

The tall man shrugged despondently, "Good and bad. We have our test subject." He indicated the screen with a casual wave. The other man stared at the screen for a while in silence, judging age and weight from the blurred freeze frame of the slight figure. If the slender frame surprised him he didn't show it.

"Well that's the good out of the way...now what about the bad?"

"We don't get paid until the experiment is a success."

"Shit!"

"I know."

"Does he know this is still in the first stages of experimentation? I mean, we haven't tested this on anything bigger than lab rats yet and even those..." the voice trailed off, unwilling to voice their past failures at this time.

"Oh he knows all right, but failure is *not* an option this time." He gulped, "believe me."

"OK then," the smaller man cracked his knuckles decisively, "We best get started."

***

Consciousness came back to him slowly, one sense at a time.

At first it was little more than the lightening of the blackness that had shrouded him into a dim grey. His sense of smell was the next to wake; informing him of the strong scent of antiseptic that saturated the air around him.

He kept his eyes closed and tested out the strength of his bonds surreptitiously. They were gundanium. Rustles to his left informed him of at least one captor in the room with him and he risked a small peek from under half lidded eyes.

"Ah, ah, ah. Sorry kid no dice. No viewing the merchandise unless you want to buy."

Immediately a bright light blinked on, shining down directly into his eyes. Heero almost jumped at the combination of the light and the voice, a scant centimetre from his right ear. He gritted his teeth in frustration as he was forced to screw his eyes closed, bright spots of colour dancing behind his lids.

"What do you want?" Heero was furious.

"Nothing much," came the whispered answer, "just a little of your time in the name of science."

Slight footsteps announced the arrival of the second man and Heero felt the coldness of an alcohol swab on the side of his neck. He gave one last ditch attempt at escape, straining against the gundanium bonds futilely and thrashing his head from side to side in order to make it difficult for them to inject him.

They only chuckled before the sharp pricking sensation in his neck informed him of his failure. A sensation of liquid cold flowed rapidly through his veins; paradoxically leaving a soft warmth in its wake as it travelled. His struggles began to lessen as an incredible lethargy overtook his system, relaxing his limbs totally. Dimly he heard the click of the light being switched off and, with a monumental effort, he forced open his eyes to try to get a glimpse of his captors.

Four blurred figures coalesced into two, then back to four. Their faces were turned towards him but he could make out no detail, they only appeared as pink blobs. Wearily his eyes closed, the dosage of anaesthetic being too strong even for his reasonable levels of immunity to combat. Before the darkness closed back in he forced out a question.

"Why?"

The answer came so softly that Heero was sure he dreamed it; plunging down into the dark abyss of unconsciousness helplessly, the half-heard words teased at his senses.

"To perfect the soldier."