Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Reprieve ❯ Chapter 3

Title: Reprieve

Author: Lethanon

Archive: www.geocities.com/lethanon

Warnings: AU, OOC, Shouen-ai, weirdness...

Chapter Three

Howard stood on shaking knees, nervously folding his arms over his chest to keep them from twisting the bottom of his Hawaii shirt. He had waited all damn day, and now that the time had come he didn't really want to know. The Doc looked weary, shaky and strained. That couldn't be good. Howard hadn't seen him look like that since G had brought the Kid back from his first training session. Not happy memories.

Howard was suddenly unable to stand the silence, the wait, the drawn out breaths and sighs.

"Is he…?"

"He's alive. I don't know how, but he's alive."

Howard nodded solemnly, patting the man on the shoulder and letting him go wash up. He didn't ask for permission to go in, didn't need it. This was his ship and he did as he pleased. It pleased him to see his Kid.

"We already moved him to recovery," the Doc said softly over his shoulder and Howard found his feet bypassing the surgery rooms to those he and his men had set up after that first agonizing wait. The Kid had lived, and the Sweepers had made damn sure he recovered in comfort, not on one of those stinking hospital beds thinking he was going to die.

The recovery room wasn't large. It was a black hole in the ship with nothing but a bed inside. A large, double bed you could sprawl across no matter what your injuries. The walls were embedded with every medical contraption injury could result in the use of, and most of it had at some point been used. Currently, ropes of tubing were spewing from those walls like a giant spider web, into the pale form nestled on the blankets on the edge of the bed.

"Duo…"

Howard sat gently, not wanting to shift the weight and upset the unconscious form. His eyes ran immediately to the left where he knew morphine was kept and he saw the Kid was drugged. He would hate them for it when he woke up, but it was better this way.

The room was quiet, not silent. The easy intake and outtake of breathe rattled through the respirator above the bed head and the heart monitor beat out a slow rhythm. Several other machines were on, pumping life into the small body, the easy hum of mechanics a soothing lullaby for a man who grew up on a ship.

A soft, almost inaudible dripping permeated everything as the drip worked its wonders along with a bag of blood, staining the tubing, infecting the web. It forced Howard to look at the figure on the bed and to accept what he saw.

He looked so small, so frail, so completely beat. His skin was ashen where it wasn't black from bruises or blistered red from burns, and that was just the parts he could see.

His eyes focused on the right arm, resting furthest from him on a black cushion. There were five silver pins protruding from the flesh, still bleeding sluggishly. They made his stomach turn.

The crisp white bandages were too familiar to those he had seen on Wufei, too stark and final. They beckoned to Howard and he found himself pulling a marker from his shirt pocket.

`Get Well Soon, H.' It was enough to let him know that if he woke alone he was nothing of the sort, though Howard did not intend to leave him alone for anything other than an emergency. The problem was that emergencies seemed to happen a lot among the Sweeper ships…Flouting every known law and aiding terrorists tended to do that to an organization.

The bandages now looked worn, survivable, not so final. Howard let a small, affectionate smile bloom as he ran his fingers through the chestnut locks strewn over the back of the pillows. Even like this, fighting for life with his namesake, the Kid was stunning. Small, frail, pale and broken, but completely stunning.

"You're strong Kid," he whispered low into his ear. "You're the strongest damn person I know, and I know a lot of people. You're going to be fine. Take as much time as you need, just come back to us." He hesitated, looking down at the sill face, the open mouth choking on the fat respirator tube and a sob escaped him. "Come back."

`Howard?' The voice came over the ship's intercom at the doors. The voice was soft, gentle and understanding, yet a little strained. Something was up. Sighing, running a parting hand over soft bangs, Howard stood and left recovery. He emerged on the bridge less than two minutes later, trying his hardest not to be annoyed at the distraction and knowing he was failing.

"Report."

"OZ is twenty minutes away…"

"How long until the Alliance have everything aboard?"

"Ten at most."

Howard nodded. It would be close, but their stealth abilities should keep them off OZ screens long enough to get away.

"Howard...There are two Gundam's under five minutes away."

Howard's blood ran cold, fury washing through him faster than death. How dare they.

"Do we have communications?"

"We're using the systems from Deathscythe to hack in now…"

Howard stood beside his chair, not trusting himself to move, eyes focused on the screen as the warning light flashed three times and an image came up. A face, stern and unforgiving. Howard studies it, waiting, but those lips did not move; the pilot refused to speak. One eye watched them all from beneath a single thick golden bang as if reprimanding them. Howard wanted to stay mad, but something unnerved him and left him strangely cold and empty.

A second screen suddenly blinked to life, pushing the hacked signal with the silent pilot aside to reveal another, much more accessible face. Blonde hair crowned pale turquoise eyes, the face bright and open. Howard waited.

"This signal is coming from the Gundam Deathscythe's system," the small blonde said softly, caution evident in the way his body rested in the pilot's seat. "Who are you?"

Howard waited for any sign of life from the silent pilot, but it seemed he would go with whatever the blonde ordered so Howard transferred all his attentions there. Something about the small blonde made him curious; a sense of understanding that seemed to flood from the mere sight of him. It filled the emptiness left by the other stoic pilot.

"The Reaper is down." Howard wondered if they had any idea what he was talking about. The slight flick of those turquoise eyes made him think not, but the word `down' certainly gave him the basic gist.

"05?"

"Down."

There was a flash of panic, quickly quenched, then the silent one came to life, body moving in perfect sync with his Gundam as his gaze shifted to the external screens, eye locking onto something only he could see.

"OZ."

"Get out of here. We'll finish this."

Howard wanted to protest, to show they didn't need any help, but he wasn't willing to risk it. His ship held too much precious cargo to allow his pride any leeway and he nodded in agreement, his men taking his silent command and booting up the ship's systems for launch. He could see from their own external sensors the Alliance team grabbing the last of their things and scrambling aboard, Sally Po at their head bellowing orders. He almost grinned at the image, deciding he truly did like the woman. She had…flair.

"Are they alive?"

Howard's gaze swept back to the anxious blonde, who had half his mind focused on the OZ troops approaching and half still on the hacked connection. He wanted to say no, to keep them away and ensure they would never come back. He wanted to keep his Kid home, with the Sweepers, where he belonged, and the Chang kid right along with him, with Sally Po as well if she wanted. But this was war, and war didn't allow for lies.

I may run, I may hide, but I never tell a lie…Howard grimaced.

"Yes." And he shut down the hack, the screens turning to a dark grey with the fine white lettering reading `System Sleep'. Howard nodded to the screen. Deathscythe had more than earned its right to sleep. It was his ship's turn to do the hard yards.

"Stealth on! Get this ship out of here! Head for home."

Home. Howard suddenly longed for the endless expanse of blue that was the Pacific. Longed for the lull that almost makes you believe there is nothing wrong in the world. As if were asleep, or just holding its breath…

*

All was quiet before the proximity alarms went wild. Howard sat ramrod straight in his chair, flexed tired muscle, then ran for the bridge. The screens were alive with a firefight; a grounded battle moving south, thankfully away from the coast. His men were drawing data from the scene, pulling information from hacked OZ lines. It was filling a screen on the far wall and Howard forced his gaze to watch the main screen and let his men do their work without his interference.

"Sir, there's a Gundam down there!" The call finally came and Howard felt the rage in his blood but refused to acknowledge it. This was no time to go racing after 01 and demand an explanation. This was the time to get out of there. As in yesterday!

"Get us away from here, right now!"

"Sir, beam cannon activation confirmed!"

Shit. Howard watched as the Wing Gundam appeared onscreen, looking slightly shaken but not in serious danger. Howard doubted that Gundam had ever been in serious danger. Just put others in danger. He didn't even notice the low growl emanating from his throat.

"Fuck, Howard!" Howard looked up just in time to see the GUndam turn and fire at a Leo that had unknowingly strayed directly into their path. Then it hit.

The ship shook and the damage flashed onscreen in large red letters. Nothing serious, but too many hits like that and they would be screwed. The Stealth equipment was undamaged, but Howard knew those fighting had to be wondering why the beam shot had simply stopped mid stream.

"Out of here. NOW!" He confirmed his last order and felt the ship shuddering to life. That was when he heard it. Voices. Coming toward his bridge. Loud voices. One of them…female.

Howard turned calmly as the doors open, a smirk already in place, a quip ready on his lips. It all died when the two figures stumbled onto his bridge.

"GET YOUR SCRAWNY, SELF-LOATHING ARSE BACK IN BED!"

Chang Wufei looked like the walking dead, as if some Egyptian mummy had just wandered onto his bridge, but his eyes were all too familiar to Howard. This boy wasn't going anywhere until he got exactly what he wanted and if he was as much like the Kid as he seemed then Howard knew exactly what that was.

"02. NOW."

Howard sighed. He had thought that was it. What was it about these kid's that made them think about one another's safety before their own? Exempting 01 of course, he thought wryly.

"He's alive."

They glared at one another and Howard realized there was more to this young pilot than one would think. He was slender but firm, and his onyx eyes promised only one thing; justice. Righteousness.

"I want to see him." And he had a way with stating anything as a simple fact, it seemed. Talk about stating the obvious.

Sally was watching them both, somewhat amused by the whole affair if her face was to be believed. Her hands, Howard noted, were constantly slipping forward, as if ready to catch the youth at any given moment. Howard thought she should love her hands, because they were what finally made him relent.

"Alright. I will take you to him as soon as I know the ship is secure."

"What did we hit?" Sally suddenly asked, slipping from doctor to major in the blink of an eye.

"We didn't hit anything," Howard bristled. "01's beam cannon his us."

From the corner of his eye Howard saw Chang's eyes narrow and wondered what the pilot of 01 had done to offend this pilot. Seemed one Heero Yuy needed lessons in how to make friends. Or maybe he had read the wrong book; how to lose friends and infuriate people…maybe not.

"Sir, if we move around to the west we can dock with Harmony Central in three hours and avoid the battle."

Howard studied the images on the screen, saw a pink limousine fleeing under the protection of Wing and decided he just didn't want to know. A half hour out of their way to avoid that was worth it.

"Move out."

They were almost over the horizon when the ship shook once again. The communications advisor looked apologetically at Howard and shrugged.

"Stray shot from a beam cannon Howard…"

"I'll kill him!" Howard raged as he stalked off the bridge and back to the recovery room, Chang and Po on his heels. He was beginning to wonder if maybe the Kid wasn't cursed after all.

*

"Trowa?"

"I'm fine."

"Thank Allah…how many did they send!"

"Too many. They knew a Gundam was down here."

Quatre skimmed his coms but there was no sign of a hack. He figured someone must have got a message out from within the base and put it out of his mind.

"Do you think they're okay?"

Silence for a time, and Quatre smiled. Trowa always thought about his words so carefully. It was one of the things he liked about him…maybe even loved…

"That ship was very advanced."

Quatre grinned, knowing they would be fine. And he agreed, he had never seen anything quite like that ship before.

"Did you see the guy on the bridge? What was with that shirt?"

Trowa actually laughed. Quatre felt like his heart would explode.

"I'm concerned about 01."

Quatre was a little surprised about he change in topic, but as he connected to the network, he understood. That mission should have finished smooth and calm hours ago, but a battle had broken out and was still raging.

"Should we go help out?" Quatre asked, thinking he already knew the answer.

"I'm good to go."

Quatre spluttered in his cockpit. He had expected Trowa to tell him to leave it alone. He managed to check his systems, allowed for fuel and time and nodded to himself.

"Let's go."

"I've hacked into the OZ-Com system. Reports on the battle have something to do with Relena Dorlian."

Quatre nodded. It made sense.

"Heero's mission was to stop an assassination attempt on her," he confirmed, though he had no idea why she was important enough to warrant such an attempt.

"Increasing speed."

"Roger. Matching."

Quatre couldn't help wondering why Trowa was suddenly so interested.

*

"Heero!"

Heero winced. Why wouldn't the girl just shut up and let him do his job? He had not expected the mission to be this hard. The moment he had turned up the thick headed flimsy moron had blown his cover by flying at him and bellowing his name for all of OZ to hear. They had, of course, come running and it had all gone downhill from there. Now he could swear something was watching the battle, he had received a message from 04 that they were coming with backup-BACKUP for Christ's sake, how embarrassing- and he realized something had gone wrong on the other mission. They were so stupid they had actually needed a third Gundam. A Gundam a small voice in the back of his head kept telling him they would have had if he had confirmed he was NOT taking the mission after all.

"Heero! Save me!"

Today was not a good day.