Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Integration ❯ Death and New Year's Eve ( Chapter 9 )

Warnings and Disclaimers on page one of this story

Integration

By: Bane's Desire

Part 9 - Death and New Year's Eve

The three days following his goodbye to Debra were productive and passed quickly. It was New Year's Eve and Duo finished making his preparations for his departure. He took the rest of his personal days, which extended until January third. He'd be long gone by then and Jason Phillips would truly be a missing person.

Yet the best laid plans always seemed to come with a snag. For Duo it was in the form of Scott changing their annual plans.

Though Scott insisted he didn't celebrate holidays, New Year's Eve meant serious partying. Jason had come to hate New Years. Scott usually got the both of them wasted and the man was anything but a happy drunk. A red flag went up in his mind when instead of dressing in their usual style of party clothing the older man always picked out for them for the occasion, they had dressed in their jeans and winter sweaters over their t-shirts. Keeping himself out of hitting distance, Duo hesitantly questioned the change and was answered by a grin that silently spoke of trouble brewing as did the simple words, "Something different."

Duo searched his mind for what the bastard's plans might be, but tapping into Jason's memories brought a feeling of dread at Scott's words and that hideous smile. He pushed Jason back down, removing the memories, insecurities and fears that were so much a part of his former self. Those feelings were immediately replaced by his own anger towards the other man. Thankfully, he'd managed to keep himself in check and Scott hadn't tried to sexually assault him in any way since he'd regained his memories. It appeared he'd managed to play the part of Jason well enough to fool his abuser, biding his time until this night. But now there was a change in their plans and a snag in his own for his escape. He wasn't going to give up though. He'd certainly learned to re-think his options without much notice during the war and he was generally very good at being spontaneously. He just needed to keep his eyes open for a chance to slip away, no matter where they went tonight.

The two men left the apartment at nine thirty and Scott drove them into the city center. Jason's fears came back, unbidden, warning him not to ask Scott any questions, that the other man's mood could change in a second and now that his body had begun healing, there was no doubt that Scott wouldn't hesitate to punish him for a simple misstep.

Duo hugged the handle of the passenger door, his anticipation and need to be free urged him to jump out of the car and escape into the dark streets of the city; but he fought the knee-jerk reaction and forced himself to wait, waiting until the right opportunity presented itself to disappear.

The car was parked in a public parking garage and upon exiting the structure, Scott took his hand in a painful grip and pulled him quickly after him toward the part of town he'd never ventured before. Soon the signs and marquees on the front of the older city buildings made it clear what Scott had in mind and a strong sense of foreboding urged him to be alert and cautious. "Where are we going?" he asked, knowing he might be risking the other man's wrath at his presumptuousness

"To meet a friend of mine," Scott answered distractedly. "We'll go to his place after a couple of drinks."

That was more of an answer than Jason usually got and it made Duo wonder, not for the first time, what was up.

Towards the end of the city block that was filled with seedy establishments that pandered to the baser side of man, they entered a club. The red sign hanging diagonal against the corner of the brick building identified the place as The Cock Crows. Without asking, Duo knew it was a gay night club. He'd always loathed placed like these, businesses that thrived on the lusts of patrons too preoccupied by themselves and their own sexual gratification. He'd seen enough of them on L-2, and knew what this type of business did to the poor bastards that worked there out of necessity because it was the only way they could find to make a decent living. He'd grown to hate those establishments on L-2 because they promised better things for their sorry employees, a pathway to more money and a bright future. But more times then not it proved to be a dead end to their hopes and dreams.

Scott forcefully pulled him through the red double doors and into the dim-lit interior. His footsteps faltered as they came to stand in front of a desk that sat square in the center of the garish lobby. Flashing their driver's licenses to prove their age, the older, slightly hunched man sitting at the desk collected a large cover charge from Scott, then depressed a button to the right of his desk which activated a buzzer and a blinking light over the door to their right. He instructed them to enter the door and that an escort would take them to a table. Duo was once again propelled towards the indicated red door by having Scott's arm slung around his shoulders and a painful grip on his arm, just above his broken wrist, to remind him who was in charge. He bit his lip and fought back the urge to break that hand and crush the fingers. Patience, he told himself.

As the door opened, the blaring music from within the darker room assaulted their ears. The door closed behind them with a resounding click, and Duo took a moment as they waited for their escort to arrive to look around the large room. It was dark, with the sconces fixed to the wall barely throwing off enough light to see. There was a bar on each side of the room, with lights set under the counter, a stage in the center everything and was surrounded by circular booths with high backs, tiered so that the occupants could clearly see the stage but not necessarily anyone else sitting down and around them.

Suddenly, a young man appeared before them, dressed in low on the hip pants that were held up with red suspenders, no shirt. He appeared handsome in the dim light, his muscular build was shown off by the lack of attire. Duo estimated him to be in his early or mid twenties, most likely a college student or some uneducated guy with few options other than a job for the desperate. With a forced smile, the man led them to a booth to the left of center stage. Scott pushed him into the booth, finally letting go of his aching wrist.

The escort took their drink order, selected by Scott, then turned and disappeared quickly into the crowd of men standing by the bar. To say he felt uncomfortable was the understatement of the year. Duo could only console himself with the fact that at least it was dark. In this environment he figured he could slip away from his tormentor and hightail it out of there unseen. That thought comforted him for only a moment before another man, a tall, crew-cut blond with large muscles bulging underneath his obscenely tight t-shirt, stood in front of the table. He greeted Scott by name and then sat in the booth with them on Duo's other side, pinning him in the middle.

"So, Scott, is this the little boy toy you've been telling me about?" the man said with an ungodly grin that caused the hair to stand up on the back of Duo's neck in warning.

"Harris, meet Jason."

Duo looked at the man warily, sizing up his chances of taking down the well-toned man. Harris was obviously strong and it wouldn't be easy with his current injuries, but he'd be damned before he let anything interfere with his escaping tonight.

"Harris and I met a month ago at the health club downtown and have since become better acquainted." Scott said as the two men shared an identical smirk, and to Duo's great discomfort they leaned towards each other, directly in front of him, and began an open mouth kiss. He leaned as far as he could away from them, against the back of the booth, and tried to calm down his racing heart, now getting an idea of what Scott's agenda for the night included. He jumped as a large hand landed on his thigh and moved up towards his crotch. He reacted instinctively and pushed the offending hand away, causing the two men to separate and look at him.

"Seems to me your little mouse isn't interested in playing tonight," Harris said with a concerned expression.

"Don't worry," Scott replied with his eyes narrowing as they bore into Duo's with a look of warning in them. "He'll do as I say or pay for it later."

Jason's memories reared up in Duo's mind, followed by a strong sense of fear which momentarily showed on his face. Scott gave the chiseled-face Harris a knowing look and Duo's stomach flipped-flopped in a bad way.

Just in the nick of time, the drinks arrived. Harris quickly ordered a whisky and rye and as soon as it arrived, the two men sandwiching him began to drink and enjoy the act just announced on the stage. The music started up and a slender young man came out from behind a curtain and began to dance for the audience, his clothes seductively removed one piece at a time.

Harris put his arm behind Duo's neck to reach Scott and massaged the back of the other man's neck. The situation plus overwhelming scent of the citrus cologne the blond man wore, combined with the musk scent of his deodorant and underarms smell was immediately repulsive to the smaller man. He kept his face down and schooled his expression so Scott wouldn't see how angry he was. It seemed that surprise was going to be everyone's strategy tonight.

He suffered through their drinking, touching, and close presence longer than he thought possible as the two men continued to enjoy themselves. When he could take no more, he told Scott that he needed to visit the restroom.

"Two minutes," his so-called lover warned. "And you better be back here by then."

Duo nodded submissively and moved to his left as Harris's bulk slid out of the booth. As he stood, his departure was marked by the hulking blond who grabbed his ass and squeezed it hard.

"Why don't you go with him," Scott suggested with a malicious grin at Jason, seeing his discomfort. "Get better acquainted before we leave."

Duo turned and quickly made his way towards the lit sign stating the restroom was located against the room's back wall. Keeping his head down and eyes to the floor as much as possible, he all but ran to the men's room, staying ahead of the hulking man he knew was following.

He threw the door open to the restroom, surprised to see its lighting was as dim as the main room. The reason for it immediately became clear. The smell of sex seemed to permeate the room holding six closed stalls, three urinals and two sinks. In one of the corners, two men were lip locked and their hands were in each other's pants. Sounds coming from the stalls let him know something similar was going on behind one of the metal partitions.

The door behind him opened and he dashed forward, quickly looking under the stalls for an empty cubicle. Seeing only one toilet area was occupied, he went to a vacant one near the far end of the row, entered the stall and locked the door behind him. Turning around, he sat on the edge of the toilet seat while several possible solutions to his problem ran through his mind. Two large feet stationed themselves in front of the door of his stall even as the sound of moans and panting echoed through the tiled, unsanitary room.

The couple going at it in the stall finished first, Duo noted. A fact that was made clear by the grunts, exclamations and blissful moans. The couple in the corner of the room came just after, a little more loudly than the first pair. He caught the sounds of the other stall door opening, of whispers and zippers being closed, followed by running water and the shuffling of feet as they headed towards the door. The room then fell silent.

"Hey kid, let me in." Harris's voice was deep and needy.

Duo remained silent and watched as the man's large hands came to rest on the top of the stall's door and gave it a forceful tug as he tried to force it open.

"Scott won't be happy if I tell him you were uncooperative," he said, and let the unspoken threat linger in the smelly air.

"Is everyone out of here?" Duo asked in a small, timid voice.

"Yeah. Why?" Are you shy or something?"

"Yeah," he whispered back and watched the two large shoes shuffle closer to the door. Standing, he silently eased the lock back.

"I'm sure I can cur.."

The blond stopped speaking and squawked loudly when the door was forcefully slammed open, striking him soundly in the face. He shouted obscenities as blood spurted from his nose and into his hand gingerly touching it. "What the hell did you do that for?" he raged, trying to focus past the pain. He only had time to look down at his hands to see blood there before Duo planted his foot, with all the force he could muster behind it, on the bulging area at the apex of the large man's legs.

Harris bent over, gasping in agony, unable to defend himself as the smaller man quickly moved behind him and kicked the pervert's ass, sending him stumbling into the newly vacated stall.

Jumping high on the man's broad back, Duo grabbed his head and jaw, and from nearly-forgotten skills, jerked sharply up and to the right at a very precise angle, easily breaking the man's thick neck. The bulky body between his legs fell lifelessly over the toilet bowl. Duo instinctively stretched out his arms to brace himself for the fall and caught the toilet's handle, inadvertently flushing the commode.

Scrambling to get off the slumped, lifeless body, Duo struggled with the heavy mass to place it properly on the seat before anyone else entered the room. Once the dead man was in place, Duo took a moment to catch his breath and wipe the sweat from his forehead. He look down at the first man he'd killed since the wars ended. "Sorry, man. You were with the wrong man at the worst possible time." With his apology said, he locked the stall's door and then crawled underneath it, leaving the small toilet space occupied and hopefully not disturbed until he was far away. He then quickly left the bathroom with every intention of slipping away into the darkness of the night.

~~~~

"Where's Harris?" Scott asked as he grabbed Duo's arm and held him fast to his side before he could get out the front door.

Keeping his face down as other patrons of the club passed by, he answered. "Said he was going to his place to get things ready and told me to tell you to follow." It was a risk, not knowing if Scott even knew where the other man lived. He hoped the lie wasn't going to be his downfall. To his relief, the man shrugged and gave a dismissive snort. "All right, we might as well go now."

Tugging on Duo's injured arm, Scott led him out of the club and into the cold night air and down the less than respectable street. Prostitutes and drug dealers lined the buildings and gawked appreciatively at the two men as they passed by.

Duo kept his eyes open for an opportunity to ditch the other man. He figured the further away from the strip club they got, the better. Harris's body could be discovered at any time, and the police would be called. That was the last thing he needed tonight. Damn, but he hated when his well thought-out plans went awry. They turned the corner at the end of the street and headed down a darker avenue and continued walking. Scott muttered unhappily about having to make the walk in the dead of winter.

Duo spied the dark space of an alley ahead and saw his chance for escape, just as he heard footfalls behind them. He found himself in a bit of a quandary. Flight or fight. No doubt, whoever was tracking them were after their wallets or something more. As they neared the dark alleyway, Duo dug his heels in, bringing them both to a halt. Scott turned on him, his eyes narrowing viciously and his hand rising, clenched in fist.

"I'm not going, Scott," he told the other man in a voice that was totally his own, not Jason's.

"What the hell did you say?"

Duo smiled back, letting his war-time persona of Shinigami surface at last. He decided it felt pretty damn good to finally be in control again. "I said, you sadistic son of a bitch, that I'm not going anywhere with you."

As expected, Scott lunged forward and grabbed for him and pulled him into the alley where no one would see him lash out at the smaller man. Perfect. Duo was now in his element. He reached forward and grabbed the other man's jacket with one hand and flung the larger man against the wall, then attacked, using his good arm, hand, elbow, knees and feet in ways that felt both familiar and foreign to him at the same time. He pulled up Jason's memories of the rapes, beatings and other abuse that had been both painful and degrading and let the anger and hatred Jason felt towards Scott come to the surface. He allowed those feelings an outlet as he attacked his abuser in the dark alley with only the rats to witness the justice he administered.

Scott, to his credit, managed to fend off some of the blows. "What the hell is going on?" the older man gasped, slightly panicked as he struggled to regain his breath after an effective blow of one of Duo's elbows to his stomach.

Just then, two shadowy figures entered at the alley's entrance and stood watching them, their bodies silhouetted against the dim street lights. "Give us your wallets," the voice of one of the shadows ordered, and as the both of them turned to face the new danger, Duo caught a glimpse of light reflecting off of metal in one man's hand.

Moving quickly, Duo pulled Scott's wallet from out of his jacket pocket and forcefully threw it at the man holding the gun. It hit him in the head, startling him enough that his finger pulled the trigger and the gun went off, the shot echoing loudly in the alley way. Not knowing who was more startled, Scott or the two men, Duo watched as one of the shadows bent to pick up the wallet, shouted something at the man with the gun, and they both turned and ran down the street. Taking advantage of Scott's shock, Duo jumped on the man's back, just as he'd done with Harris. He planted his hands with confidence on his head and jaw and felt Scott's body shaking beneath his.

"Jason?" he pleaded.

"Not Jason," Duo hissed in his ear. "Call me Shinigami."

"Oh, God!" Scott gasped and the faint sound was followed by the snap of neck bones and the thump of a body as it hit the ground.

Duo stood up, wiped his hands off on his jeans and looked disdainfully down on the lifeless, dark shadow that had been his keeper and abuser. It seemed odd to him that he didn't feel any remorse for the man's death, but at the same time, his feelings of hate towards Scott seemed to diminish. Maybe that's what was meant when people talked about closure. He wasn't totally satisfied with the evening's events as his initial plan hadn't been to kill the other man, but to ruin and humiliate him. But the last minute change of the evening's plans and having met Harris had complicated everything. He felt a slight twinge of guilt at Harris's death, but it couldn't be helped. He couldn't leave any witnesses to his escape. With a shrug of his shoulders, he dismissed both men from his mind, then turned and walked away from Scott, the dark alley, from Jason's past and into the darkness of that New Year's Eve, to embrace a new year and a new life; a free man at last.

TBC