Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ One Step Forward, Two Steps Back ❯ The Rescue ( Chapter 14 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Trowa had no idea if their plan would work or not. Most of it depended on perfect timing which they had no way of calculating. Heero and Trowa had done their best to figure out where the most logical spot for surveillance cameras would be posted but there was no way to be sure that there were no others because neither of them had ever been inside the Winner Estate’s control room.
Between the two of them, Heero and Trowa were pretty sure that they had an accurate estimation of where cameras where and that was going to have to be enough.
“All right Trowa,” Heero said as they all huddled around a map of the Estate that Heero had hacked from the city hall database, “you have to get passed this point as quickly as you can. Once we cut the power the back up generator will probably take approximately ten seconds to kick in and be fully operational.”
“You can duck behind a table here,” Wufei said as he pointed to a spot on the map. “I saw it when I was looking through the windows with the binoculars. It’s pretty high so you should be able to get under it no problem.”
Heero nodded and then pointed to a room only a few feet away from the point that Wufei had pointed to. “This is where the main security room is located. You need to overtake it before any one in there can notice you. Try to keep your entrance to a minimal noise level but do whatever you need to in order to overpower the man in there. If he alerts anyone you will be found out but there’s a possibility in such a huge house that no one would hear the scuffle even if it happens.”
Wufei passed Trowa a backpack. “Phone us as soon as that’s done so that you can guide us through the house.”
“What if the generator takes less time to boot up?” Trowa asked hesitantly.
“Then we’re going to just hope that you can get to the security room before they alert anyone,” Heero replied honestly and then put his hand on Trowa’s shoulder comfortingly. “Don’t worry about that though. We doubt that the power would immediately go to the cameras anyway. We think that they’ll power up the more important things such as the lights and the computer systems first and then move to the cameras.”
“In fact,” Wufei added, “it may take more than what we’ve predicted for the cameras to be a problem for you.”
Trowa took a deep breath and then nodded. “All right then, how about we get into position then.”
“Deal.”
Looking at the other two, Trowa cleared his throat. “I want you two to wait until I tell you to go before you cut the power.”
“Of course,” Wufei assured Trowa. “You’ll do fine.”
“I’d like to share your confidence.”
“Just remember that we’re doing this for Quatre.”
“How can I forget?” Trowa asked.
How indeed? Trowa mentally brought up a picture of Quatre and smiled at the memory of him. Quatre needed him to be strong and get him out of this situation and there was no way that Trowa was going to let Quatre down in this. Quatre did not deserve to get beaten over his sexual preference, especially when it was the kiss that they shard that had gotten him into his mess.
Gritting his teeth, Trowa grabbed his cell phone and head set and stuffed them into his pack. Hurriedly Trowa put on his equipment and thought of the other ‘tools’ that Trowa had packed. It made him almost sick to think that he would ever have to use them but there was nothing he could do about it if it came down to that. He knew, however, that it was better to be ready for the extreme that they had prepared for because it would not help anyone for them to be caught off guard.
Quickly heading to the edge of the Winner Estate, Trowa jumped up and pulled himself on top of the fence. He knew the guards were being alerted right now to the presence of a possible intruder and hastily pulled out his phone to make the phone call.
“Cut the power now.”
Almost instantly the lights of the Winner Estate flickered off. Trowa did not hesitate and he jumped off the fence and was running towards the window before he had time to allow the full force of his fall to hit the ground. He silently thanked whatever dumb ass had left the window open and gracefully launched himself up.
The lights flickered as they struggled to come back on and Trowa’s heart pumped loudly in his ears. Without even taking the time to breathe, Trowa slid through the window and dove underneath the table. The lights flashed again but this time they stayed on and Trowa pressed himself against the wall as best as he could in the confined space.
Trowa held his breathe as he waited to hear any sign that he had been found out. None came and Trowa slowly let his breath out. So far so good. Now he just had to make it to the control room without getting stopped.
Trowa leaned up against the wall and took a deep breath. Then he ran as hard as he could to the security room door and turned the knob.
His world crashed; the door was locked.
They should have thought of that, Trowa thought to himself in a panic. Of course the door would be locked. Why would they not have the door locked? This was the control room for the entire estate and the guards would have a responsibility to keep it locked. Now what were they going to do? Now what could they do? What was there left to do?
"Carl? Is that you?" A voice asked from inside the security room. Did you forget your key again dumb ass?" Trowa heard a shuffling of chairs on the floor and then the sound of footsteps approaching the door and it slowly opened.
Instinctively Trowa pushed the door forward, hard, and felt it push back against another person before knocking them backwards with the force. Trowa was inside of the door in a heartbeat and upon this potential threat. A quick hit to the back of the guy's neck had him blacked out and Trowa quickly closed the door, grabbing one of the handcuffs he had brought with him and secured the man to an iron bar in the back of the room.
Grabbing a ball gag, compliments of his siter, Trowa stuffed the contraption into his prisoner's mouth and smiled. "Who would have thought that my sister's kinks would come in handy in a situation like this?"
Suddenly there was a knock on the door and Trowa froze. Shit! Carl's here, he thought to himself and quickly looked around for a hiding spot.
"Doofus! Open up! I forgot my key again," Carl yelled through the door and then banged on it again as if that would magically get it to open.
Trowa cautiously crept to the door and opened it, keeping himself to the side and out of sight. Carl walked in and put his coffee down. Then he moved to si down without even glancing at Trowa. Trowa closed the door quietly.
"So what was up with that power blink?" Carl asked offhandedly as he moved to grab his headset. "Has anyone called it in?"
"Well, I'm not sure about the second part but the power blink was because I was trying to break in," Trowa replied and took Carl out in the same fashion he had done to his partner. Trowa quickly tied Carl up next to his friend and tugged on the handcuffs of both men to make sure that they would continue to hold before going to sit down in front of the cameras. Slowly checking over each of the cameras, Trowa reached down and pulled his phone out and turned off the hold feature. "I'm in. How long was I?"
"Seven minutes," Heero replied instantly and Trowa could hear the relief in his voice. "Are you okay?"
"Got in with no major problems," Trowa answered and pressed a button on the control panal which switched the camera angle on one of the cameras so he could see the front door. "This system is pretty simplistic. I'm surprised that there weren't twelve year olds in here doing this job."
"Don't get cocky," Heero said but Trowa could tell that he was grinning too. "So can you talk us in?"
"Definitely," Trowa replied and plugged his headset into the phone so that he could talk with his hands free to work the cameras. "There aren't any cameras in the basement so I can't tell you Quatre's condition or anything. However I can lead you all the way there." Trowa paused to switch half of the cameras to the outside ones. "Which window are you guys going to try for?"
"The window on the back. The one that faces towards your house. It's the closest to the stairway to the basement as far as we can see."
"Just let me check it out," Trowa replied and looked at the conveniently placed camera guide that was hung up on the door, obviously for replacements and newbies that no one ever got around to taking down. He glanced at the camera that was surveilling the room that they were planning to go into. "Shit!"
"What?"
"There are people in there," Trowa said. "Two bodyguards and two old guys are sitting around a table talking. You're going to have to detour quite a bit so that we don't get near them and alert them to our status in the house."
"That'll take longer," Wufei grumbled. "I don't want to take any longer than we have to. The longer we're in there, the more likely we are to get caught."
"I agree," Heero said and then shuffled around some papers, or at least that was what it sounded like to Trowa. "On the right side of the house, at the back corner, there's a small room. We can go from there to the staircase but it's going to be at least a minute longer since we're going to have to stay quiet in that hallway so no one can hear us."
"There's no one in that hallway and there appears to be a fairly clear pathway all the way to the staircase," Trowa replied after a quick glance. "But you're going to have to move fast in case someone moves around."
"Understood. Radio silence from now on unless its needed."
"Don't you mean phone silence?" Wufei asked on the other phone. Trowa could barely repress a snicker as he imagined the dark look that Heero was giving Wufei.
"Understood," Trowa repeated in order to distract Heero. "Good luck. I'll be watching and I'll tell you if anything happens."
"Thanks."
With that the three boys went into 'phone' silence and the second part of the plan began.

Wufei nodded to Heero as they adjusted their headsets one last time and took a good look at he window that they were going to try to jump through.
"On three?" Wufei asked.
"Affirmative," Heero replied with a sharp nod.
"One," Wufei started.
"Two," Heero continued.
"Three," they said in unison and both of them broke into motion, jumping the fence and racing for the window. Heero got there first and climbed a good couple of feet up the way with momentum alone before pulling himself up the rest of the way and reacing down to help Wufei climb up as well.
They fell silently to the floor and glanced around, noting that the door to the hallway was closed which meant they were going to have to risk opening it without being able to check the hallway first.
"Trowa," Heero hissed into the headset, as he pushed the button to turn off the mute function.
"What?"
"We have to open a door. Do you have a visual? Can you see anyone who might be able to hear us?"
"No one is around but try to keep it as quiet as possible."
'Understood," Heero said and motioned to Wufei to creep up to the door. Wufei slowly turned the knob and then inched the door open, not wanting to make any sudden noises. Then Heero slid out of the room, checking both sides, hoping that he would hear anyone who might have heard them.
"Anything?" Wufei asked, keeping his voice as low as possible, wondering if Heero could even hear his question.
"Clear," Heero replied and then Wufei slid out of the door as well.
Recalling the blueprints of the house, Heero pointed to the left and Wufei nodded in comprehension. They both slowly startred to head in that direction, pressed up against the wall and treading as softly as they absolutely could.
"Guards heading towards you," Trowa's voice warned them as they got maybe ten feet down the hallway.
Heero and Wufei froze in place and then hurriedly scanned the area around them, looking for an escape route. Wufei spotted a door and motioned to Heero to head over there. Heero nodded and slowly turned the doorknob and opened the door. It was a small closet, barely big enough for the both of them to fit in but in this situation they couldn't afford to be picky about where they hid. Heero moved into the closet, and Wufei followed him, pressing up against Heero in the close quarters before reaching out to carefully close the door behind them.
Both boys held their breath as they heard footsteps head passed them, letting it out only when the footsteps had finally disappeared a few minutes later.
"Are we in the clear?" Wufei finally dared asking in the silence.
"Yeah," Trowa replied into their ears. Wufei jumped slightly, not aware that Heero had turned on his headset in preparation to ask the very same question.
"Anything else we should know about before we head out again?" Heero asked, apparently unaware of the effect Trowa's voice had inflicted upon Wufei.
"Nope, you're good to head out of the closet," Trowa replied.
"Good," Heero muttered, "I think Wufei's hair is trying to strangle me."
Wufei blushed, glad that Heero couldn't see him in the dark and pulled his ponytail to the other side of his head before reaching out to open the closet door, releasing both of them from the closet.
They began heading towards the staircase again but quicker this time, not wanting to get caught like that again. However, their steps were no less quiet and Wufei wouldn't have even known that Heero was walking with him if he couldn't see him.
"All right, there's a turn about three feet in front of you that will lead you to the basement. I can't see anything beyond that though so you're pretty much going to be on your own from there on," Trowa told them.
"Understood," Heero said once again and turned down the corridor.
"Does this seem too easy to you?" Wufei whispered as they headed down the short hallway to the door.
"A little," Heero agreed.
A long string of cursing suddenly erupted in their ears and Wufei closed his eyes, knowing that this was coming.
"The two old guys and their friends are moving," Trowa finally told them when he ran out of curse words, "and they look like they're heading straight for you guys."
"Hopefully there's somewhere to hide in the basement," Heero mumbled and reached for the door to the staircase, only to discover that it was locked.
Suddenly the sound of footsteps became apparently again and Wufei knew that they had no where to go. They couldn't leave this hallway without being seen by them anyway. At least in this hallway they could make a stand and be reasonably sure that backup wasn't going appear behind them.
"The door's locked," Heero told Trowa, "we're going to have to take a chance and fight."
"Can't you pick the lock?" Trowa asked, sounding very worried.
"No time," Wufei replied.
Slowly the sound of voices became apparent. They sounded far away but Wufei knew that they weren't. They were too close for comfort and it was only going to get worse.
The bodyguards came around the corner first and when they saw Wufei and Heero in their fighting stances, they were on them in seconds.
Wufei's martial arts training came in handy and he stepped out of the path of the first attack bring his leg behind the guard to kick him into the wall. He went down with a loud crash but merely shook it off and was right back up again. Wufei just managed to sidestep him the second time. He didn't the momentum ready to follow up his sidestep with another attack and found himself having to move out of the way again before he had the chance to think about what he was going to do.
Another dodge but this time Wufei was too slow to move out of the way when the guy brought up his left fist. The taste of blood was predominant in Wufei's mind even over the searing pain in his jaw. Wufei blocked the next jab and threw a punch of his own but was well aware that in a contest of physical strength, there was no way that Wufei was going to win. The only hope he had was to avoid getting hit again and hope that he could tire out his opponent and then take him down.
Suddenly a hand came out of no where and hit Wufei's foe in the stomach.
"Go unlock the door," Heero commanded as he stepped in front of Wufei, ready to take on the bodyguard himself. "No matter what happens out here I want you to get in that room and help Quatre!"
Wufei nodded and watched Heero advance on the gurad and then turned, heading for the door. He took off his backpack and opened it, pulling out the lockpicking equipment that they had found and quickly started putting it to use.
Within seconds he had the door unlocked and he slipped inside, closing the door behind him and heading down the stairs to where Quatre was being held. Wufei griminaced to think of how Heero was doing with the two bodyguards but he had to push that thought behind. He could only think of Quatre now. Quatre was the one who needed rescueing right now and therefore only he mattered at the moment.
Creaking at the effort, the door of the basement swung open. Wufei stepped inside and paused as he looked around. Even in the dim light, Wufei's gut tightened involuntarily when he saw Quatre.
Quatre's hand were tied behind his back to the chair while his feet were firmly shackled to the floor where two predominant rings stuck out of the ground. His eyes were shut tightly agaisnt the light and, Wufei suspected, from fear of whomever usually opened this door to allow the light to sine down on him. Blood covered Quatre's face and his left eye looked swollen. Wufei noted that Quatre's shirt was torn and had a horrible feeling that the condition of Quatre's face was nothing compared to the rest of his body.
A small whimper of anguish managed to escape from Wufei's normally stoic exterior and Quatre shied away from the noise instinctively and then opened his eyes in a hopeful curiousity.
"Wufei?" he asked and Wufei felt his heart break again. The sound that came from Quatre's lips were so dry, cracked and ... broken. It sounded like a plea that someone knew would not be answered. Yet, it did not sound like defeat.
Wufei forced himself to smile. It was incredibly hard to see your friend look like this and still smile but Wufei forced himself to do so to give Quatre more hope. All Wufei wanted to do was hurt whoever did this to Quatre.
Boy it was a good thing that Trowa couldn't see Quatre from the security room.
"Hey Quatre," Wufei said, trying to keep his voice calm and pleasant. His years of meditation were barely enough to hold back his rage right now however and it took every ounce of self control he had. "We came to get you out of here."
"Is Trowa here?" Quatre voice shook as he asked the questions and it cracked three times before he managed to speak those there words to Wufei.
"Yeah, he's here."
Quatre's eyes began to water and tears slowly dripped down his cheek. "No, he can't be here! You have to get him out of here Wufei. I've been so strong for so long but if he sees him here, I won't be able to stop him. Get Trowa out of here Wufei!"
"We need to get you out of here first. Don't worry, Trowa's safe and he'll leave with you when we go," Wufei said slowly. He carefully pulled out his pocket knige and crept towards Quatre.
Seeing the knife, Quatre began to struggle violently. "No Wuefi! Please don't hurt me!"
Wufei tried not to think of what they did to make Quatre react to a knife like that and he stopped moving. "Quatre, I need to cut the ropes so we can get you out of here. I can't do that if you keep moving. Can you please hold still for me?
Quatre didn't seem to hear him and continued to struggle, tears flowing down his face.
"Please Quatre, stop moving," Wufei tried again.
No response.
"Quatre, you have to stop!"No recognition of Wufei's words sparked in Quatre's eyes as he rocked back and forth.
"Trowa?" Wufei asked as he turned on the phone.
"What? Is something wrong? Is everyone okay?"
"I don't know how Heero is. He's busy trying to take care of the bodyguards that attacked us. I hope he's all right but that's not why I broke phone silence," Wufei took a deep breath, "Quatre is in bad shape and I can't get him to settle down so I can cut his ropes."
"Let me talk to him," Trowa said quickly. Wufei sighed in relief and held the phone up to Quatre's ear as best as he could.
Quatre continued to struggled against his bonds but as Trowa spoke gently in his ear, Quatre's struggling slowly died off. Wufei didn't dare move though, just in case he sent Quatre into a fit again.
"Cut the ropes," Quatre said finally and Wufei closed his eyes in thanks. He slowly removed the phone from Quatre's ears and said a quickly thank you to Trowa before slipping it away again.
Slowly still, Wufei bega to cut the ropes, making sure taht he didn't accidently cut Quatre in the process as well as trying to keep his motions steady so that Quatre wasn't sent into a fit again. After Quatre's hands were freed, Wufei fished for the lcok picking equipment again and got rid of the 'cuffs on Quatre's ankles. Wufei slowly helped Quatre stand up and Quatre winces, clinging to Wufei for support.
"It's okay Quatre," Wufei coaxed Quatre into moving towards the door. "We'll go help Heero now and then we'll all get out of here."
"I don't hink so," a rough, raspy voice said from behind Wufei. "You are not going any where."
Wufei froze and Quatre clutched to him even tighter, chanting no over and over again in a whispered voice.
"Turn around slowly," the voice told them.
Holding Quatre to him in comfort, Wufei turned around and tried not to show his dismay at the sight before him. Quatre's fathe and his uncle stood before him with the bodyguards slightly behind. One of the bodyguards had Heero over his shoulder; Heero was obviously unconscious and Wufei cursed his decision to leave Heero alone to fight, thinking that maybe if he had stayed out there with Heero, this wouldn't be happening right now. They could have defeated the two bodyguards together and then they could have rescued Quatre and taken him, unopposed, to safety instead of rescueing him only to get captured again.
Quatre's father made a weird motion with his hand and only then did Wufei notice the gun in his hand. Shit! This was not going very well for them at all.
"Put that one down in the corner," Quatre's father said to his bodyguards and Wufei watched as Heero was dumped awkwardly in the corner. "Now, lets tie this one up but leave my faggot son alone for now."
Quatre grabbed for Wufei's shirt but his grip was easily broken by the bodyguard who forcibly pulled Wufei to the corner and tied him up with what was left of the rope.
"Did you somehow manage to call your friends, Quatre? Did you think that they would save you, Quatre? Did you?" Quatre's father moved forward and, before Wufei even knew what was happening, he smacked him across the face. "Did you really think that they would save you from me? Answer me!"
Quatre said nothing. He was weak. He could barely stand up. However, he stood there and defiantly stared down his father. Wufei was sure that Quatre would not back down even if it cost him his life. Knowing that it was honorable stand did not stop Wufei from wishing that Quatre would stop so that he would be at least spared more pain.
"Do you really think that standing up to me proves you're not weak? Standing up for yourself so that you can do something as demeaning as being a fag isn't honourable! All it means is that you have weak morals," Quatre's father said, sneering at his son. "Everything about you is weak and pathetic."
"I am not weak!" Quatre said, his voice barely audible.
"What was that?" Quatre's father demanded to know. "You dare continue to defy me even now?"Quatre didn't say anything but then again, he didn't have to. His gaze spoke for him.
Quatre's father held up his gun and pointed it at Quatre's head. "I could kiss you and your friends right now. By the time the ten o'clock news airs, seven different organizations will be claiming that they did this to me. I will act like a grief stricken father and the police will never expect the story is a little different than that. It will be a perfect cover up and, more importantly, I will be rid of my faggot son."
Still Quatre did not back down.
"I don't want to do this Quatre but I will if I have to," warned Quatre's father as he undid the safety mechanism on his gun. "Just give up now and we'll forget this whole thing ever happened.
"No!""No?"Quatre's eyes flashed and he moved forward a little bit. "I will never forget that you did this to me. I will never forget how much you can hate me, your only son."
"How dare you speak like that to me!"
"How dare you do this to me!" Quatre grabbed for his father's gun and they began to struggle.
Wufei watched in horror as the gun was wrestled back and forth beween the two of them. Wufei knew Quatre could not win. He was too weak. He had been down here too long. And there was nothing that Wufei could do to help him since he was tied up.
Suddenly Quatre was thrown against the wall by his father and his father followed mercilessly. Aiming his gun down at Quatre's head, Quatre's father smiled.
"Goodbye Quatre," he said. "I don't need a son like you."
Wufei looked away and as soon as he did a shot rung out in the room.