Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Some Way Back ❯ An Eye for an Eye ( Chapter 21 )

Weeeeeelllll here you go… chapter 21. Oooo, its getting down to the nitty gritty now. Um, more angst as per usual, a slightly more insane than usual Duo, a lovely gruesome murder scene so if you don't like people getting cut up and killed, you should probably skip the first 5 or 6 pages of this chapter. That's the only warning I can think that I should need to give at this point in time.

Oh a thank you again, to all of my reviewers and Enna, Lianna and oops of course, my goldfish!!!

Oh ya btw I still don't own them, but trust me, they really wish I did /snicker

Anyway hope you enjoy, if you wish to archive this story or be on the mailing list to find out when I update then please email me arithkenshin@yahoo.co.uk and reviews are always welcome, pleaded neeeedded!!!

#*# = scene change

~ words in direct thought to oneself

~#~ Flashback

~~**~~ end of chapter

Some Way Back: An Eye for an Eye

Duo blinked his eyes open as the alarm went off. It was darker than it should normally be around the time that the alarm was set. Listening carefully he realized that it was raining. A grin spread over his face. "Perfect, just perfect!" Jumping out of bed he quickly got dressed and headed downstairs, braiding his hair as he went.

Quatre looked up as his friend entered the kitchen and raised an eyebrow. "You think that's wise Duo?"

Nodding as he poured coffee from the machine, Duo smiled at his friend. "Oh yes Cat, it's raining, henna and water will be a nice combination. Like I said, I want him to know who caused everything he ever worked for to fall apart."

Shrugging the shorter man took another mouthful, finishing it before he asked his next question. "So, you sure you can get everything done there that you need to; you don't need me to go with you?"

Shaking his head, Duo spoke with a mouthful of food. "Yeah, I'll be fine. Need you here to correlate everything that I throw to our mainframes. The virus that will hit their systems isn't going to be a pretty one. It'll take me about an hour to get everything set up; hence I am going into `work' earlier. Once everything is set up, I will send it and lets just say, there isn't going to be a channel on earth or the colonies that won't be playing this information." A decidedly evil grin spread over Duo's face.

Quatre couldn't help but smile. All the work and all of the shit that Duo had gone through, would finally come to an end, and hopefully, just hopefully, then give his friend a little time to find himself.

Duo polished off a very quick breakfast and grabbed the small pile of mini disk's he would transmit once he got to the offices. For the first time in months he pulled his weapons on. His two throwing knives clipped around his wrists, and his two guns were hooked in through the back belt slots for them, as he was wearing the appropriate belt. A mock salute to Quatre signaled goodbye. "Here's to the end Cat, here's to the end."

The still red head watched his friend go, hoping to hope that when they saw each other at Preventer Headquarters at the end of the day, that his friend would still be alive to make his report.

#*#

Duo sped along in the car they had been using as part of their disguise for the past six months, not caring that he had gotten his hair wet on the way to the car, and not caring that he was going to get it wet on the way into the GHD building. The rain hitting his hair was causing it to run. With the way the rain was coming down in torrents outside, at least some of his hair would be stripped of dye. A cold calculating grin covered his face as he parked his car in that same spot, and gathered the explosives he had in a bag in the trunk together with the lethal little disks he then put in his pocket, and headed into the building, whistling.

By the time he reached shelter, dye had started running from his hair, streaking his pale jeans and face and giving him an eerie look. Specks of chestnut were fighting to peek through the black shroud engulfing them, and some of them succeeded. Still whistling, Duo didn't even bother to don his persona of Jaysha. He didn't need it anymore. All he needed was to reach his office and he could begin.

But first, he needed to take a trip around the offices and plant the explosives he had brought with him. This was the big fish, this was what he had been working towards for the past 18 months. Traveling all of the floors of the building, he set the explosives, and their timers. They would go off in synchronization with the virus he would unleash to annihilate the life work of the man that had taken everything away from him. A barely sane smile crossed his face as that thought crossed his mind.

As early as it was, apart from the security detail whom he just glared at, there was no one else there. Smiling as he entered his office, Duo soon lost himself to the world he was about to destroy. Sending all the files he had so painstakingly prepared for the last few months to Quatre didn't take too long. What took a little bit more time was sending the details to all the major broadcasters. The details he had picked out, outlining the links between the supposed peaceful organization GHD and all of its subsidiaries. The reports also outlined who the companies were that those subsidiaries were getting all of their weapons and rest of the arsenal from. In no way shape or form did he spare GHD and especially Habito any detail, no matter how minute. He included everything he could find, anything that made the man and the organization look even that little bit worse. The broadcasters would lap it up, he had done his work too flawlessly for them not to. It was seamless, and it would destroy the man he wanted to destroy. There were TV's on every floor of the building, and in every main office as well as the main floor part where the cubicled workers sat. Duo set every single one of them to a major news channel; he wanted everyone to see, everyone to know.

Once everything was sent and set, he glanced at his watch…and waited. He heard a car pull up and instinctively knew it was Habito. Idly he wondered what Quatre was doing now that he had probably sorted through all of the information that Duo had sent him, but those thoughts were interrupted.

It had actually taken less time than he had anticipated. Every television set flickered to life, with an "we interrupt this program to bring you a special bulletin" and Duo laughed. Sitting in his own office he was watching the Planet and Colony News channel. For some reason he couldn't seem to stop himself from laughing, however he was probably the only person in the entire building that was doing so. Glancing out of the glass front of his office all he could see were shocked faces, which in turn made him laugh harder. It wasn't a nice laugh. It was the laugh of someone about to fall over the edge of the abyss they had decided to stop on for a while. Still watching the people outside his office, Duo noticed as a lot of them started to back away in horror, as they realized who they were really working for, and then run for the door, leaving the building behind them. He was proud of those people, they had realized in time what they had done, and the bombs wouldn't kill them. Looking at his watch he realized it was time to get up and give his warnings.

Hefting his favorite gun in his right hand he exited his office, oblivious to the looks cast in his direction, and made his way to the front desk, where he knew he could access a loud speaker system. Making his way up to the desk he smiled at the girl who was sitting behind it looking rather shell shocked. She simply motioned to the microphone when he asked her about the speaker system.

Before turning it on, he bent close to her ear. "I'd leave round about now if I were you, this is only going to get worse." Her eyes widened as she looked at him, but she didn't need to be told twice. As he watched the girl scurry out of the building he smirked to himself and turned on the speaker system.

"Listen up, oh all ye traitorous bastards. It would be in your best interests to leave these premises right about now. If you have some extremely perverse reason for wanting to say, let me tell you now, that there are bombs planted all through this building and will take you with it when they go off unless you leave now. Have a nice day, and try to discern better company with your next employer. Thank you for taking the Shinigami hell ride."

Putting down the microphone, Duo grinned to himself. "And now for the grand finale!"

Just like he had known, Habito was playing Captain…was going down with his sinking ship. His face spread into a scornful grin as he leant himself on the doorway of the man's office and played idly with the gun in his hands.

The movement at his doorway caused the older man to look up. He was stunned by the news, caught completely off guard; hadn't they just paid a fortune to get new security systems devised? And standing in the doorway was the object of his fury, at least he thought it was him, there was definitely something different about the man that day. Habito however was a little too livid to bother looking closer, at least for the meanwhile.

"You…" The anger grated out of the ex-general's mouth.

Duo looked up, and the man in the chair across the room couldn't seem to focus on his eyes. "Am I?" The half violet eyed youth asked.

"What?"

"Am I me?"

"Of course you are Jaysha, stop fart arsing around!"

Duo laughed and continued to play with his gun.

Habito became even more exasperated and slammed his hands on the table. "Damn it man! We paid you for an excellent security system and look what has happened."

Duo's voice dropped an octave, becoming dangerously low. "Are you accusing me of not having the capabilities to create such a system."

The older man had had it by then and just didn't care anymore; everything was ruined. "Damn it, yes I am!"

Again, that half sane laughter issued forth from Duo's mouth. "Ahhh, but that is where you are wrong old man."

"Oh I see, wrong am I! Then how the fuck do you explain that shit." His hands were pointing angrily at the TV's."

By this time Duo had moved closer to the man's table, and gazed at the screen curiously. "That the news channels all seem to have all the dirt on this pathetic excuse for an organization?" His voice was sarcasm personified.

"Of course I mean that you idiot!"

Shaking his head at Habito's choice of words, Duo continued to play with his gun while he spoke. "Ahhh but that is where you are very wrong. They have the information, because I gave it to them."

"Why the fuck did you do that, you complete and utter moron!" Habito was that taken aback he forgot to sound angry.

Suddenly Duo grabbed the front of the man's shirt and hauled him up over the top of the table, staring into those ugly brown eyes. "Insulting my intelligence is a sure fire way to piss me off old man. You don't want to piss me off more than I already am."

Habito was finding it hard to breath, and the eyes boring into him and not letting go of their hold on him were odd to say the least. Like purple eyes with black leaking through them.

Duo's voice was low, seductively dangerous. "Recognize me yet Habito?"

The ex-general knew he should know who it was, the eyes… the eyes were a give away, he should know it. As he was shoved back into his leather chair he let his eyes quickly wander over the rest of the man in front of him and as realization dawned on him, he froze. Fuck, how blind could he have been, how fucking stupid.

As the expression on his prey's face changed, Duo's grin became predatory. "Ahhh recognition dawning, you fat bastard?"

The braid, the length of the hair; just because it was a different color didn't matter. Besides, if he looked closely he could see the chestnut starting to peek back through whatever dye had been in the mass of hair. Habito had been blinded by the site that the two hackers had let his eyes feast on, and he had overlooked the obvious signs of who Jaysha had in fact been. Absently he wondered who the other had been but his attention was recaptured when Duo moved. He needed to be careful. One on one with a Gundam pilot were not good odds.

"How did you manage to…It was you all along wasn't it."

Duo laughed again. "If by me all along you mean the person responsible for blowing up every subsidiary we could find, then yes. But asking me how I managed it is an insult."

Retorting without thinking, Habito realized too late what he had actually said. "But we got rid of the main technology expert in the Preventers. No one else was supposed to be as good." He didn't even see the backhand coming as Duo came very close to losing it, and send Habito flying into the wall.

"You got rid of Heero Yuy! You got rid of the person who originally was Dee. You're a bunch of fucking idiots. You should have gotten rid of me from the start; I have always been Jaysha. But you weren't to know that were you, since Heero was too fucking proud and did everything by himself, that he wasn't the actual technology expert, he just liked to think that he was!" Duo's breath was coming fast, he was almost hyperventilating and started deep breaths to calm down. There was still too much for him to do to lose it now.

Thoughts ran through Habito's head like wildfire. Duo Maxwell, that was this pilot. The pilot of Deathscythe; the self-proclaimed god of death. Shit, the life partner of one Heero Yuy. How fucking stupid had the operatives been, and why hadn't he himself thought of it. Too secure in their own little worlds, believing that once one threat was gone, no one else would stand in their way. How he hated Gundam pilots, hated them more than ever.

Instead of being clever, Habito sneered. "No one in the war could touch him. He became soft in peace time, some perfect soldier."

A kick in the gut was all the answer Habito got, before Duo hauled the man to his feet. "Did you ever find out what happened to Trandish?" The look on Duo's face wasn't pleasant.

As realization his Habito, all he could do was shake his head.

"Ahhh, well, I gave him a proper third eye." A slightly hysterical giggle escaped Duo's throat.

Habito was getting nervous, not that he had felt safe in the presence of the man in his room, but now he was feeling decidedly threatened. "Is that what you are going to do to me?"

Duo's face brightened. "Oh hell no!"

Habito felt a wave of relief run through him until he felt the gun connect with his cheekbone again and send him flying once more into the wall.

"Oh no Habito old fat chap that you are! I would never, ever, make it that easy on you. You have no idea the hell you have made my life for the past 18 months."

Habito blanched, and not only from the pain.

Advancing on his prey, Duo ignored the man's discomfort. "You know, an eye for an eye and all that jazz. The only thing is, that the only god I believe in is the god of death. So really, a life for a life seems to be a pretty damn good deal to me." Ignoring the paleness of his victim Duo simply continued. "Because whether you meant to or not, whether you realize it or not, you are responsible for taking my life away from me. I am nothing, and I have nothing without that which you took away from me old man…and therefore, you will also become nothing."

Habito let scorn cover his face. "You are weak, how could you ever have piloted a Gundam."

Not phasing Duo one bit, the half chestnut haired man just smiled. "Ahhh but you see, I am insane, and we all needed an iota of that to survive the war now didn't we?"

There was just no decent comeback for Habito to use, how the fuck did you manage to rebut a statement like that? Instead he grasped for another straw, forming words only through pain, sure that his cheekbone was shattered. "You can't kill me. It's murder, you can't get away with that anymore."

If it was possible, the grin on Duo's face just widened. "Oh but I can, especially if you pull a gun… a gun I am certain you have in one of those draws old man." Holding his gun in one hand, Duo flipped out one of his knives and started playing with it in his left hand. "Besides, once you're dead, the buildings gonna blow up anyways, and no one will give a shit about you either way. So" and he shot once just skimming Habito's ear. "Draw." Another shot, just skimming the other ear. "Your." Yet another shot skimmed the man's shoulder. "Fucking." And another shot skimmed the other shoulder. "Gun." The man leant forward and pulled a gun out of the draw, mind not thinking clearly, in the vain hope that he might be able to get off a shot before Duo killed him.

As he aimed the gun at Duo, a shot rang out and the gun flew out of his hands, clattering on the floor when it came down. Crying out Habito looked at his right hand, only to see it pinned to the wall by a very sharp knife.

"Now, Habby old chappy, pain is something I have felt for the past 18 months, and something I think you should learn to appreciate before you die." Whipping the other knife out he stabbed it into the other hand, before pulling it out again, causing his victim to whimper in pain as the blood gushed out of the open wound. "Don't be such a baby Habito, wouldn't have thought you would cry at a little scratch like that."

Tears had begun to snake their way down the man's cheeks, and Duo snorted, disgusted. Shinigami was urging him on, telling him to claim the man, to end it, but Duo wanted him to suffer. Aiming at the ex general's head, he kicked him, sending his head smashing back into the wall. Dazed eyes looked up at him in fear. Duo receded inside himself, pulling that blanket of no feelings around him, detaching himself from what he was about to do. Falling to his knees in front of the man, Duo raised his knife.

"Do you know what they did to him? No, I didn't think so…they took his heart out. Ripped a gigantic hole in his chest. They took my heart. If you had one old man, I would take yours, but since you don't I will settle for causing you pain."

One hand still pinned to the wall by a knife, and a head with the beginnings of a concussion, Habito could do nothing but watch in horror as the almost boy in front of him raised the other knife in his left hand, and brought it down to connect with his flesh.

Duo watched the blood gather and stream from the deep gash he had made in Habito's chest. Blocking out the screams from the man beneath his ministrations he raised the knife again and cut slowly and deliberately to cross the other gash he had made. Watching in fascination, he didn't pay attention as the blood sprayed and soaked into his own jeans and hair, he simply continued carving the mans chest until he had made what looked like a bloody asterix on the man's chest.

Once he was finished he shook his head and looked slowly up at the almost fully glazed eyes that were clouded with pain and blood loss. Raising his gun to be level with Habito's right eye, Duo murmered. "An eye for an eye." And released the shot. The body beneath him shuddered and stopped breathing, the twitching of the corpse lending the situation finality.

How long he sat there he didn't know. But when he regained his senses fully he gazed down at the corpse dispassionately, trying to convince himself he hadn't actually done that. But he knew he had, and he knew it would give him nightmares. Cleaning off the knife in his hand, as well as the one he pulled out of Habito's hand and the wall, he strapped them back on and glanced at his watch.

"Holy fuck!"

Running for the door, he had only 90 seconds to make the exit 3 floors below. Dashing through the corridors he took the emergency stairs, almost jumping down half a flight at a time, but still being a little careful, if he wasn't he might sprain something, and that was not going to help. Reaching the foyer level he hit a dead run, barreling out of the front doors just as the building started to explode. The force of the explosion sent him barreling through the air, to land in a roll on the pavement. He sat in the rain, looking up at the burning building, feeling for some reason like he had just been in an action movie. The blood that was running from the few cuts and abrasions he had managed to get from flying debris. Recalling one of his favorite lines from one of his favorite old movies he grinned, as he stood up, gun still dangling from his right hand.

"Yippeekayay motherfuckers!"

Turning his back on the scene he began the long trek back to Preventer headquarters, as he realized that a piece of debris from the explosion had put the nice little Ferrari out of commission. It was ok though. He wanted to be alone with his thoughts for a little while.

He walked through the rain, although it had lessened in its intensity from that morning, it was still persistent. For the life of him, he couldn't think of anything else to do. This had been his focus for the past 18 months. It was all that he had lived for, it had been the air that he breathed. What the hell was he actually going to do, now that he had completed the mission and now that he didn't have Heero in his life anymore. And that was just the problem.

Heero had been his life. He had been the only person in the world that Duo had been comfortable around. Yes, that Duo had been comfortable around, that Duo had been able to be himself around. Not the himself that everyone else saw, but the himself that he needed to be sometimes. Not the joker, not the clown, but the sometimes insecure, depressed, very self-conscious Duo, who needed to be told that he was special, who needed someone to love him. What the fuck was he going to do now? Everything, everywhere he looked reminded him of Heero. He could feel his hair coming out of his braid, but he didn't care, looking down at his jeans he realized that they were streaked with blood and black henna dye, but he didn't care. There was no one now, who he cared about to see what he looked like.

Sighing, Duo thought hard. Did he still want to die? To be honest he didn't know anymore, he really didn't know. Over the last six months he had formed a bond with his best friend that he knew Quatre would be devastated if Duo killed himself. So for the time being at any rate, that was a non-viable idea.

For a little while Duo struggled with thoughts of what he would do. He really felt like Sally and Une deserved to die, for what they had done, but couldn't seem to bring himself to meet out the same treatment to Zechs, even though Zechs had had a part in it too. But he had come to have a soft spot for the ex-tallgeese pilot. Although he had explained to the man that they could never have anything seriously intimate…the man had remained his friend and tried to be there for him. Through all the crap he had put him through, Duo respected that much in his friend.

Looking up, Duo realized that he had already arrived at his destination, and that he had in fact been walking for hours. "Wow, there is something to be said for thinking after all." He was just lucky no one was there to here him muttering to himself.

Approaching the steps to the building, the security detail stepped out and halted him.

"Sorry sir, only authorized personnel permitted."

Pushing his bangs out of his eyes, Duo simply glared at the guard, who took a few steps back in shock.

"Mr…Mr Maxwell?"

" None other."

"Oh, sorry sir, its just, well, you look different."

"It's called undercover. Good work though." And he walked past the guards with as much dignity as he could muster.

Staggering through the halls of the Preventer headquarters, because the tiredness was beginning to overwhelm him, he decided against changing clothes. He simply wanted to get his report over with and go and take some blessed sleep.

As he walked into Une's office he saw his three friends already gathered to one side, perusing some documents. It appeared that Une, Sally and Zechs were doing the same on the other side of the room. Much of his hair had escaped his braid and was hanging down his back in partial black strands. The chestnut was making a valiant effort to show back through and in many places it was succeeding.

He thought that his eyes probably looked as dull and lifeless as he felt at that point in time and his gaze swept the room once more, taking in the people in it. He noticed the way Trowa and Wufei held onto their Quatre, now they had him back, and felt a pang of loneliness hit him. Quatre had very obviously scrubbed at his hair, since it now only had a faint strawberry tinge to it.

Duo felt tired. Looking down at his hands, the right still gripping his gun, he knew he was tired. Tired of killing, tired of researching, tired of taking the law into his much too bloodstained hands; utterly sick of exacting revenge. He began somehow to twist the ring on his left hand, as if trying to draw strength from it. He couldn't believe it, it was over. Now maybe he could leave the two conniving bitches to their own devices. And maybe, just maybe he would one day be ok. He thought that Zechs understood, the man knew that he wasn't capable of anything more than friendship; that anything more intimate would bring back bad memories and episodes. Duo's soul was shattered, all feelings were agony; he couldn't be allowed to feel anymore unless it devour him.

Duo raised his eyes to see six sets of eyes focused on him, registering shock at his appearance.

Attempting his joker mask again Duo smiled, but it came out a little crooked. "Hey guys, come on, I've looked worse than this!"

"Yes Maxwell, you have, but I also had to hold towels to your arms to contain your blood that time too!"

Trust good old Wufei to know just the fucking greatest thing to say.

"Aww come on `Fei, it's nice to see you again too!"

At least Wufei had the grace to blush a little. Trowa just nodded at Duo, and Quatre smiled at his friend.

His energy was fading fast, and he approached Une's desk, gun still dangling from his hand as he twisted the white gold band on his finger for dear life, as if it were a security blanket he needed right then.

Placing his hands on the desk, he leaned into it a little and let a sigh involuntarily escape his lips. His eyes had closed, he knew he had to get this over and done with as soon as possible. Forcing his eyes to open again he looked up at Une, who had to suppress a shiver as the dead gaze in those eyes shot right through her. It was as if Duo had given up a part of himself.

A frown crossed his face as he looked at her, and his gaze wandered to Sally as well before he spoke. The tone of his voice made every person in the room shiver. "It's done."

Quatre almost started forward to help his friend by giving him some physical support, but Trowa held him back, clamping a hand over his lover's mouth and pointing to something in the back of the room.

If it was possible Quatre's eyes got even bigger and his jaw dropped open that much that it almost hit the floor.

Duo, being completely oblivious to the goings on around him, continued, his voice gaining a healthy sarcastic tinge to it.

"Mission accomplished. GHD has been annihilated, debilitated, humiliated and sufficiently blown to smithereens." A smirk crossed his face before he continued. "Habito will no longer bother us, silly man pulled a gun on me. And it's ok ladies, really it is. I don't have the energy to take care of you two like I said I would, at least, not at the moment. So instead, I am on leave…wait! Make that paid leave, you owe me."

A voice spoke from behind him, and Duo froze as he heard it, not quite knowing how to react.

"I think I owe you more than anyone else does."

~~**~~

To be Continued!!!

Mwuah hah hah hah. Mean mean I am actually being mean for once. Ahhhh life is so sweet!!! Well, how do you like it? Can ya guess, can ya huh huh can ya? Oh yes and the Yipeekayay line is borrowed from Die Hard cause it just seemed to be the sort of thing I thought Duo would say in those circumstances.

Reviews please please please!!!

~Arith