Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Wherever You Will Go ❯ Rookies ( Chapter 10 )

AUTHORS NOTE: Okay everyone. Read and Review to let me know what you all think. Oh, and seeing as I'm not really sure, can you guys tell me whether Duo, or even Heero, Quatre or Trowa are out of character at all, and if there's anything I need to fix? (Sorry guys, no Wufei yet). Thanks!

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Duo walked down the empty doorless corridor, uneasy despite his cheery appearance. Now wearing the typical OZ uniform, and with his braid tucked in a form of disguise under his concealing hat, the braided boy was barely recognisable from his previous appearance. Gone was the dark mood and the dark frown, replaced instead by a laughing grin, brought on by the adrenaline and the excitement the mission had brought so far, not to mention the mission's success.

Still twirling the tiny rose in his fingertips, Duo smiled as he stuffed a shaky hand into his sealed pocket. Too easy, he thought as he fingered the detonator in his fingertips. The cool casing protecting the deciding button was unusually cool against his warm hands, and despite himself, he felt his easygoing smile broadening.

"Guess I might make it out of this one alright, after all."

He didn't think that he'd been discovered so far. No one had disturbed him when he'd been planting the bomb, except for this one guy - a rookie Duo had determined from a first look, who had walked in out of curiosity - a little too curious for his own good. I sure finished him off, Duo thought, shaking his head. Poor guy. He'd hidden the man's body reasonably well, he considered, despite the time he'd had to get in and out of that centre room. No one should find him for a while, looks like my luck's gonna hold here after all.

He made it another half a minute before the alarms went off and all hell broke loose.

"Stop!"

The cold and authoritative voice echoed down the long corridor. Damn it, and I was almost out of here too. Ah well, may as well milk it for all I'm worth.

"Yeah. What?" He plastered his trademark grin on his face and turned around to face the squad of officers that were no doubt behind him. Acting the innocent as he sized them up and frowned, partly from how many people outnumbered him, and partly out of anger from being caught so easily. There was one head officer - clearly a Lieutenant, and eight other, clearly lower ranked soldiers. More rookies…how come I didn't even hear them coming, I'm not even that distracted…

"Put your arms up in the air where we can see them. Make no sudden movements, 02. We will shoot." The officer in charge snarled upon the emphasis of the word, 'we', and he jerked his head toward the eight other men behind him, who all jumped at the mentioning of the word 'shoot'. Well looky, and they even know my name too, Duo thought sarcastically.

"Oh come on, man," he tried emphatically. "I work here, see?" Grinning even more widely than before, he rumpled through his shouldered bag, and pulled out his ID card which concealed a tiny but definitely very handy grenade. He almost fell to the floor laughing as the nervous young officers freaked when he began moving despite his orders.

The man, clearly frustrated with yelling over the alarms, walked over to the nearby wall and turned it off by a switch.

"I ain't 02, I just started working here, okay? Don't shoot."

Contrary to his words, the head officer snorted and rolled his small eyes, a grin plastering his stubby cheeks. The junior officers in the squad clearly shook in their pants as they kept their eyes and their drawn guns on Duo, watching in nervous anticipation as to what he had pulled from his bag. They relaxed upon seeing the ID card, but what they didn't see was the small impact-ready grenade he held behind it. Duo's concealing smile didn't fall as he waved the hand-span card in the air.

"See?" he intoned. "I'm one of you guys." …I'm a soldier, just on the wrong side.

"We'll see. Now put the card and the bag down, and do not make a move. If you do, I'll shoot." The head officer, stocky in build set his shoulders and made ready to move forward.

"That's nice," Duo muttered of the man's earlier words. But let's see how well you can shoot a gun when you're blown against the corridor. A simple ascent of his head signalled them to come closer. Come on, just a little closer and I've got ya. Sorry guys, but I just can't let you see me and live, it'll ruin my rep…

The men skittled toward him in a curious but determined manner, some clearly scared of the unspoken abilities of a gundam pilot. The officer simply walked forward cockily with a self-righteous swagger, his gun drawn, a weary but amused look in his glinting eyes.

"Now stay there," he cautioned. "Do not move." The words were casual and almost commonly said, and regardless of his unwieldy situation Duo found himself mentally laughing at the man's words, and the casualness of how he'd spoken them. If you knew what I'm holding in my hands, you'd be a hell of a lot more curious, man. The officer continued to scuttle forward, and Duo simply transferred his weight to his left foot in a nonchalant and ignoring gesture - not moving. Not even putting his bag on the floor.

"02, put the bag and the ID down." Duo simply smiled in response and expressively shook his head. He spoke upon the raised eyebrows of the soldier before him. The soldier needed to get a little bit closer so the grenade would reach him - he was stalling.

"I can't do that, sir." His tone was imitating the very manner of the man, and clearly the officer recognised it; his eyes turning stone cold in an instant. The man, usually slightly slouched, straightened his middle-aged back. Even his toupee (Duo could tell that it was one because it was so damn rumpled,) began to resemble hair, instead of looking somewhat like a dead cat sleeping on his head.

"And just why not, pilot?"

"Heh, because I might just have to kill you if you see what's in that bag…sir."

In a swift, barely discernable movement, Duo dropped the ID card and threw the ready grenade to the floor. Bolting for the other end of the corridor as the shit hit the fan, he clearly felt the explosion rock the floor. Men's yells could barely be made out, and stray gunfire bit the air in the confusion.

Duo found himself ducking in the now-dark hallway as a bullet whizzed past his head and emergency lighting quickly replaced the power that had shorted out in the previous explosion. Jumping, another bullet clearly grazed the ground next to him. He vaguely heard the tiles shatter under foot. Lucky, he thought as he flew toward the door at the end of the corridor. The explosion, voices and gunshots quickly died down as the upper part of the corridor collapsed from the force of the explosion.

Running, he skidded to a halt when footsteps clinked loudly on the too-still hallway, not ten feet away. A voice alerted him to a survivor.

"Stop, you…you gundam pilot."

Duo visibly winced, annoyed at the factor of someone surviving his explosion. Careless, he thought. Turning, he met the eyes of one of the younger soldiers. The man, clearly no older than twenty, was shaking. Dust crusted his tattered and strewn uniform. His eyes were wild, and obviously scared, though his job and his duty pushed him on. Duo vaguely noticed that his own hat had been blasted off in the explosion, causing his waist-long braid to fall from its bindings.

"Shit, man. You make it sound like an insult to be me," Duo grinned.

"Enough." The man's no-nonsense disposition belied his fear. "Put your arms up where I can see them." Duo didn't comply, but steadily reached for his gun in his shoulder holster. He doubted the guy would really shoot him - he was too much of a chicken, and definitely too new in this large game of cat and mouse. But still, he decided he'd better move more quickly…just in case. These self-righteous rookies were a little too trigger-happy, and always keen to move themselves up in the ranks, he decided. Let alone imagine what dishing up a nice little gundam pilot strung up with an apple in his mouth would do to one's rank. He grinned at the insane thought.

"Aww come on," he whined. "That's no fun! Why can't I jus-"

"Stop moving. I-I…I will shoot!"

Duo laughed again. "Really?" he questioned, a cocky eyebrow raised. In one fluid movement, he had his gun drawn and ready. The other man made no move, only stared in belated shock at the American pilot.

"Now we're even," he grinned. "You should know better than to aim a gun at a man's back like that. Anyone'd think you didn't like me."

"Shut up."

Duo giggled, and clutched his stomach in mock humour, all the while keeping the gun trained on the other man. The dull emergency lighting in the now powerless hall cast an eerie and freakish glow on the braided boy's features. "Yeah, I get that a lot," he smirked.

"What? N-no, j-just shut up and listen. Put the gun on the floor and y-you'll be taken in peace." The young officer's forehead was now clearly beaded in sweat, a drip forming a river down his dust-crusted brow onto his bushy eyebrow. His arms were shaking more visibly now, and it seemed he was having trouble keeping his gun trained clearly on Duo. Good, Duo noted.

"Taken in peace, ya say? There's nothing peaceful about this." Duo's tone immediately sobered, and he frowned at the other man's previous words. The young officer's eyes widened at the quick change of emotion to that of conviction, and if possible his shaking increased.

"Now," Duo continued in cold mockery. "You do realise you're going to have to die." Pausing he noticed the horrified expression, and continued, "No one sees The God of Death and lives, after all." In emphasis, he waved his gun at the shaky soldier.

"You are the only one going down here, 02."

"Really?" Again, the repetitive and unnerving word verbally disarmed the man and left them in a silence Duo would have felt himself quite comfortable with, if only he had more time to escape.

Seeing no other choice, Duo dived for the floor and rolled away from the soldier, bringing his gun up in a deadly arc, before firing a shot at the other, much slower-to-react man. Two shots were all that was needed - one in the arm making him drop his gun, and one in the chest, dropping him to the cold stone floor as effectively as flicking off a light switch.

"Enough said."

He turned to walk away and just about made it around the corner, when a gunshot registered, and a sudden sharp pain flared up his right shoulder, which abruptly went limp at his side, making him drop his gun. What the… Another gunshot rung through the air, but thankfully, hit nothing. Spinning, Duo lunged for his weapon on the floor - skidding on the slimy surface. Aiming up, he was surprised to see a feral grin on the same young officer's face.

The man, clearly in pain from the simple act of holding up the gun, released a hacking cough, and fired yet again. It missed its target and flew over the American's head as he ducked and whistled, noting the damage to the light above him. From where he stood, Duo could see blood pooling on the floor underneath the soldier's chest. It obviously wasn't just the dust that was making the man's face white, loss of blood was clearly taking its toll.

"G-g-got ya," he almost coughed out. Duo frowned at the man's determination, and then smiled darkly, shaking his head.

"No," he said. "You're just another statistic of the Shinigami corporation. I've got you." And he pulled the trigger. The man went limp with no chance for further words; a sluggishly bleeding bullet hole apparent on his dusty brow. Duo simply bowed; a mock imitation of one of Wufei's, when all of a sudden a somehow more urgent alarm than the one before began to blare. More voices were heard, and people began rounding the corner at the far end of the hall.

A voice spoke over a nearby loudspeaker and he looked up.

"Attention, all OZ personal. Gundam Pilot 02 is in this base. Seek and subdue for capture. I repeat seek an-"

"Oh shut up!" Duo growled, and fired a random bullet at the pestering speaker. Sparks flew from the box and the back of his neck as he began to run.

"Damn it!" he winced as he bolted for the close corner, resettling his offending bag on his back. His shoulder was stinging fiercely, and in frustration he holstered his gun, placing a firm hand against the wound in order to stop it from bleeding.

As he turned the corner, an electronic door jumped out at him, and quickly he fished in his shouldered bag for his lock-scrambler - hopefully none of the officers would have the clearance to enter this room once he had locked them out. Maybe then I can figure out just how to get out of here.

Finding the scrambling device a little too slowly he fidgeted, held his shoulder, and tapped his foot in impatience as the gadget worked its magic on the door.

"Come on…" Duo's prayers were answered and his pleading voice was stopped as a loud click echoed in the hall, indicating the door had been unlocked and was ready for access. Listening only briefly at the door and greeted by silence he threw himself into the lightly lit room, and closed the door behind him - making sure it was locked on the outside. He leaned with a heavy sigh against the cool metal of the door, wincing as his shoulder throbbed for attention.

Looking up, he scanned the room and found no form of exit other than the door he came in. The room was simply storage: shelves with random bits and pieces of useless junk. Nothing good. No exits, and nowhere to go. He brushed a stray lock of hair from his eyes and frowned in disapproval.

"No fire exit and no damn vents; though that may be a good thing," he rambled. Duo sighed as his eyes scavenged in a futile attempt to seek refuge. "Duo, you dealt yourself a really tough hand here. Maybe Heero was right. Perhaps I am the one that stuffs up the missions…"

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AUTHORS NOTE: Okay, a slightly longer chapter here than usual, but still by no means long. I hope you all enjoyed it, and if so or even if not, let me know what you think of it, okay? The next chapter will be up soon, just like the other…I'm really into writing this at the moment….