Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ While You Were Gone ❯ Chapter 7
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: Maxine 
Anime/Manga: Gundam Wing Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Comedy | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 12.08.2002 | Pages: 6 | Words: 5.7K | Visits: 338 | Status: Completed
Anime/Manga: Gundam Wing Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Comedy | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 12.08.2002 | Pages: 6 | Words: 5.7K | Visits: 338 | Status: Completed
While You Were Gone - Chapter 7
*Disclaimer* I DO NOT OWN GUNDAM WING OR ANY OF ITS CHARACTERS!! I do, however (this so cool, I actually get to say I own something!), own Trio Maxwell.
*Warning* Um...none really right now. Maybe a little bit of language. I'll add more when it comes.
Dude, did I get this chapter out quickly or WHAT? ^__^ THANKS FOR THE REVIEWS! Man, I got bombarded with them! It was AWESOME! Yeah, I know I know, Trowa's so messed up right now, the poor boy... Ok, so yes, the anime briefly mentioned in the last chapter WAS Yu-yu Hakusho, so bonus points go to Gundam Girl, Kuruwa, Misastar, Princess Lightina, Pet Crazy Person, and Shahrezad1! Good job guys! Of course, the points are worth as much here as they are on Whose Line Is It Anyway, NOTHING. They're just a gag to hold the...fic...together...eh-heh, yeah... ANYway, I think there's only about one more chapter after this (ended it quickly, ne?), and then maybe an epilogue. We'll see. Thanks for reading!
The silence in the kitchen at that moment was horribly tense. Trio was doing her best NOT break eye contact with Trowa, as she stood there with her arms crossed. Trowa, who was several shades paler than he should have been, was standing slightly slumped over, a confused, defeated, and hurt look in his eyes. It made Trio cringe, but she couldn't turn away. The silence was only broken when a small barking sound broke through the air. Trio glanced down finally when she felt a slight tugging at her pants. She blinked then, and scooped up the small puppy in her hands. (A/N: Hehe, almost forgot about HER...)
"Hey Lily, I bet you're a hungry puppy, aren't you," Trio cooed, slowly turning and walking out of the room without a backwards glance at the boy standing there. Trowa only crossed his arms, his eyes following her out. He couldn't believe he'd just kissed DUO. Had it really been THAT long since the war ended, that he'd become so rusty in his skills? Honestly, thinking Duo was a girl... He just hoped that the braided boy kept his promise and somehow forgot about what had happened.
When Quatre and Wufei entered the kitchen a few minutes later, they found Trowa still standing by himself in the center of the room, arms crossed and looking angry. The Arabian and the Chinese shared a glance with each other before Quatre spoke up warily.
"Trowa?" he asked, setting his briefcase down on the table without looking away from the uni-banged pilot. "Is something wrong." Trowa didn't answer; he just continued to glare at nothing. Quatre looked at Wufei again, who in return shrugged.
"Trowa?" Wufei asked.
"I'm fine," Trowa said shortly, not moving an inch. "Nothing's wrong." The other two waited a little more for some sort of explanation or movement, but nothing happened and they again shared a worried look.
"Are you sure?" Quatre questioned slowly. Trowa finally blinked, dropping his arms from their place across his chest.
"Yeah, I'm positive." He turned on his heel and walked into the living room where Relena and Heero still were. Quatre and Wufei quickly followed, but stopped short, making sounds of disbelief when they saw the room's other two occupants...who still hadn't noticed anyone enter the room. Trowa continued walking towards them, snatching the remote control from the coffee table. "Either shove over or get a room," he said flatly, watching amusedly as Heero shot up, his entire face flushing an embarrassed red. "You're taking up the whole couch," Trowa continued, sending a glance to Relena, who was still lying on the couch, noticing how she warily crossed one arm across her chest over the light pink shirt she was wearing. With her other hand she waggled her fingers up at Trowa in greeting, smiling nervously at him. From where he was still straddling Relena, Heero coughed.
"So sorry, Trowa," he bit out, sending a full-forced Heero Yuy patented death glare at the taller pilot. Trowa smirked, causing Heero's frown to deepen.
"No problem," he replied, stepping aside and gesturing with his hands for Heero to leave. Heero growled before standing up. He offered a hand to Relena and they made their way out of the room to some other location in the house. "Be safe now, kids!" Trowa called after them sarcastically.
"Fuck you, Trowa!" he heard Heero yell back. Trowa plopped down on one end of the couch, flipping idly through the channels.
"Naw, that's what you have Relena for!"
"Trowa!" Quatre exclaimed, sounding shocked. From another room Trowa could hear enraged sounds of protest as Relena tried to calm Heero down, before a door slammed shut.
"Sorry, I'm in a bad mood," Trowa said darkly.
"Still, that doesn't give you an excuse to...I mean, you should at least apologize to her...did he have his hand up her SHIRT?" Quatre finally asked, looking slightly flustered. Trowa chuckled, reaching down with a hand and lifting up a white, lacy bra that had been tucked in between the cushions. Quatre's eyes widened as he made a slight choking sound.
"And her shorts were unbuttoned," Trowa said casually, dropping the bra back onto the couch. Quatre looked like he was about to faint, as Wufei finally walked over to stand beside the blonde.
"Maybe you shouldn't be sitting on that couch," he said slowly, eyeing the item in disgust. Trowa just snorted as Trio walked into the room, still holding Lily.
"Heero and Relena are having sex by the pool," she said bluntly, having caught the end of their conversation. Quatre hit the floor at that point while Trowa abruptly jumped of the couch, looking at it in fear. Trio raised an eyebrow, glancing at Wufei who was staring wide-eyed at her. "I was just kidding..." she muttered, chuckling a little. Trowa let out a relieved breath, as did Wufei as he kneeled down by Quatre.
"Help me get him onto the couch," he said to Trowa.
"Why? He'll just pass out again when he wakes up on it," Trowa mumbled. But he complied anyway.
* * *
A week had passed with everything pretty much returning to normal. Literally, everything. Heero was back to his usual grumpy self with Relena gone. He was constantly giving Trowa evil looks though, which was new. Trowa would just usually chuckle and quip something like, "What? Didn't get any?" At which Wufei and Trio would have to hold Heero back before he tried to strangle the taller boy. Trowa, still a little uncomfortable around Trio, had been ignoring her for the most part, but hadn't made any more suggestions that she might not be Duo.
It was that week later that Trio received a call that effectively sealed her doom with the whole "faking-to-be-Duo" thing, at least as far as she was concerned. It had come in the middle of the night, on Duo's laptop. It had taken a full minute of the shrill beeping from it to finally annoy Trio enough to answer it. She'd been hoping that whoever it was would just give up. So needless to say, when she answered the call, she wasn't in the best of moods.
"What?" Trio mumbled grouchily when a very odd looking man appeared on the screen.
"Trio, we've got a problem," a nasal voice that Trio didn't recognize said. Trio blinked, and then rubbed her eyes. The only light in the room was coming from the glow of the computer screen, and she was only just now able to make out a figure with a long pointy nose and a mushroom-shaped haircut.
"We do?" she asked tiredly, raising a hand to cover her mouth as she yawned. "Do I know you?" The person sighed.
"No, I suppose not. This is the first time you and I have spoken to each other. My name is Professor G." It took a while for that name to register, but when it finally did, Trio's eyes widened.
"Oh...oh! Professor G! Yeah, my brother's spoken of you. Is everything alright?"
"No, actually, we have a very big problem."
"And...that would be...?"
"Dr. J has found that there is a small group forming on the Earth with plans of blowing up the colonies...or some nonsense such as that." Trio blinked.
"You don't sound too worried."
"I'm not. This isn't exactly a rare occurrence. There's always one group or another that thinks they can accomplish something that deals with big explosions. Their plans never fall through though. However, this group already has a base located in one of the rain forests in South America. From what we have discovered, they have a decent amount of explosives and weapons hidden there." Trio sighed.
"So how does this concern me?"
Sounding almost annoyed, Professor G answered, "Preventors doesn't know about it yet, because J's the one that found it, so the other scientists decided to send you five to destroy the base. Usually we just wait until Preventors DOES discover it, but due to the amount of explosives this group already has, we decided it would be safest to have someone with more...stealth experience to take the job."
"Us...five? ...They don't know I'm here, do they?" Trio asked quickly in a worried tone. Professor G shook his head slowly.
"That was all part of Duo's mission. No one else was to know about it."
"But...but I have NO 'stealth' experience," Trio said nervously. Professor G nodded.
"The others will get the mission in the morning. I'll be calling Duo at that time, and hopefully he can steal a shuttle or something and get to Earth when you do. There, you two can switch places again."
"Oh...THAT'LL work." Professor G shrugged.
"I'm not into fancy plans."
"Well what am I supposed to do in the meantime? Just tag along with the others?" Trio asked.
"They usually split up into two groups. Try to let them do most of the work. Where they place their own bombs is VERY important, because if they're in the wrong spot, then they'll set off the other explosives, and all of you will probably die in the following explosion," Professor G said, quite bluntly. Trio paled.
"Thanks for that..."
"Now you know you can't screw up." Trio nodded slowly.
"Riiiight..."
"Hey, feel along the left side of the laptop. When you feel a button, push on it." Raising an eye at the sudden odd request, Trio did as she was told. Upon pressing the button, a small compartment slid out, containing what looked to be a small earpiece. Trio held it up to the screen, and Professor G nodded. "Where that tomorrow, that way I'll be able to communicate with you and let you know when Duo arrives."
"Uh...alright," Trio said, nodding.
"That's all, I'll be in contact with you tomorrow." Before Trio could reply, Professor G disappeared from the screen and the room darkened. She sat in the seat for a while, staring blankly at the computer before her. She was supposed to go on a mission? Eh-heh... Of course she'd told Duo she'd be able to handle something like this if it came up, but she didn't think it would actually happen! With fear gripping her, Trio slowly made her way back to the bed. It took her a long time to fall asleep, and she was already awake when Heero started banging on her door the next morning.
* * *
On L2, it was almost afternoon by the time Trio and the others had gotten their mission report. Duo had taken Hilde out for breakfast that day, and afterwards they had done some shopping around town. They finally entered Hilde's quaint little home around two, both laughing and carrying arms full of bags.
"Oh Duo, thanks again for taking me out today. I really wasn't in the mood for cereal, but I didn't feel like cooking either, so it was perfect," Hilde said, setting her bags by the couch in the living room before wandering into the kitchen. Duo put the bags he was carrying down by hers, before following her into the said room. He smirked as he saw Hilde bending over slightly, looking for something to drink in the fridge.
"Anything for the lady I love," he said smoothly, wrapping his arms around her petite waist and pulling her back against his chest.
"Duo, you're such a romantic sap," Hilde said softly, chuckling. Duo ignored her, burying his face into the crook of her neck and kissing the skin there.
"So what if I am? You know you love me," he whispered into her ear, his hands running down her sides and then back up again beneath her shirt. They rested on her stomach as Hilde turned her head slightly so that she could see Duo out of the corner of her eye. Accepting the silent invitation, Duo bent down and captured her mouth with his, his eyes sliding shut-
-just as the vidphone started beeping. Duo's eyes popped open as Hilde pulled away, chuckling.
"Stop pouting, Duo," Hilde said, as Duo was doing just that, standing where she had left him with his lower lip jutting out and arms crossed.
"Stupid phone," he grumbled to himself as Hilde answered it. "I say we just disconnect the damn thing." He could remember several other occasions when they'd been interrupted by it's high beeping noises.
"Duo?" Hilde called, turning around to face him. "It's Professor G," she said, somewhat worriedly. Duo's eyebrows shot up as he moved to take the call.
"Hey G, what's up?" he asked casually, propping his elbows up on the table. He grabbed an apple from a nearby basket and bit into as he waited for an answer.
"I've been trying to get a hold of you for a couple hours now, where have you been?" came the nasal, agitated reply. Duo raised an eyebrow.
"Out," he replied simply, casting a glance at Hilde, who had taken a seat at the table, before biting into the apple again. Professor G shook his head.
"Whatever. Your sister's on a mission to Earth, I thought you might want to know." Duo promptly choked on the apple, his face turning a lovely shade of red.
"Wh-what?!" he gasped out when he was able to speak again.
"Yeah, in South America," Professor G continued, oblivious to Duo's coughing. "I was going to send you the coordinates. I thought maybe you could arrange a rendezvous with her and switch back. She really isn't qualified for what they're doing." Duos eyes widened.
"Which is?" he asked.
"I'll tell you once you're on you way down. ...You ARE going to go, right?" Duo nodded his head quickly.
"Yeah, yeah...I'll contact you once I grab a shuttle. Ja," he said, terminating the call. "Hilde, babe," he started, turning to face her, but she held up a hand, smiling.
"Just go. Trio may be in danger," she said softly. "Take care though." Duo smiled at her, leaning down to kiss her soundly.
"Love ya, babe!" he called as he dashed out of the kitchen. Hilde sighed once he was gone. Sometimes she regretted ever falling in love with a Gundam pilot; it required too much worrying. At this rate, she'd have gray hair by the time she was twenty-five...
* * *
On Earth, the other five had split up into groups of two and three after landing a good distance away from the actual base. They'd had to hike for about an hour through hot, humid terrain before Quatre and Wufei went off one way, and Trowa, Trio, and Heero went another. There turned out to be a lot more guards than they'd expected, so they had to be extra cautious, but they entered the base easily enough. Trio's heart was beating so fast she was worried that the others could hear it. She was scared out of her mind, especially since she was holding a gun that she very well might have to use. Trio'd never actually killed anyone before, though she been around death itself a lot. Suddenly a voice interrupted her thoughts as the group of three snuck down the halls.
"Trio, this is Professor G, are you there?" came a voice from Trio's earpiece. Not wanting to attract attention, she slowed down a bit, taking up the rear, before she answered.
"Yeah, I'm here," she whispered, hoping neither Trowa nor Heero would hear her. "What is it?"
"I got in contact with your brother about an hour ago."
"When will he get here?"
"Probably in about another hour, maybe two."
"That long? Shit..."
"Don't worry. Just so long the others do the work-" Trio missed the rest of what he said, because Heero was calling back at her.
"Hey, gotta go. Stay with me though, k?" she whispered into the headpiece before hurrying to catch up with the other two pilots. "What?" she asked when she got there. Heero shoved three small objects into her arms.
"We're splitting up," he said gruffly, leaning against the wall as he peered around a corner. "You take the left corridor. Check the rooms and make sure there's no explosives or weapons in them, and then put those bombs along the wall. Meet back here. If anyone gets in your way, knock them out or shoot them."
"Heero, we ALL fought in the war, I think we know what to do," Trowa commented sarcastically.
"Shut up, Trowa," Heero snarled at him. He was apparently still mad at the green-eyed circus performer. Trowa smirked and shrugged.
"Guys, guys, can't we all just get along?" Trio asked cheerfully, examining one of the bombs in her hands.
"You can shut up too, Duo," Heero said, turning his glare on her. Trio let out a breath, blowing the bangs off her forehead.
"Pull the stick out of your ass, Heero. Hilde's not with ME 24/7, but you don't see me acting like a jackass," she growled at him, seriously getting annoyed with his attitude.
"Oh, but Duo, you forget," Trowa spoke up, glancing at Heero, "Heero's like this ALL the time. It has NOTHING to do with RELENA." Trio snorted.
"Right, I forgot." Heero's glare darkened.
"Omae-"
"O korosu," Trio and Trowa finished together, sharing a sarcastic look. "We know."
"...Fall out," Heero ordered, deciding to ignore them. He glanced around the corner once more before setting off.
"So...I got the left?" Trio asked again, her nervousness creeping back.
"Yeah, I got right," Trowa replied, before he turned and went in that direction. Trio stared after him, before turning and glancing around the corner. After making sure no one was coming, she dashed across to the opposite corridor.
"Oh geez, I have absolutely NO idea what I'm doing," she muttered to herself.
"Just look for any rooms and make sure no one's in them," came the nasal voice in her ear again.
"Oh, THAT helps." Coming across a door, she slowed down, peering around the side into it as she had seen Heero do. It was empty. Onto the next door!
She did this four more time, finding that the entire corridor she was in was empty of weapons AND humans.
"So...now I just set these bombs?" she asked Professor G.
"Hn, yes. Try placing them equal distances apart. How many did he give you?"
"Three."
"Put two on one wall, one on the other."
"Alright." Trio did as she was told, pressing a little button the side of them to activate them. It was entirely too quiet, she decided, as her watch beeped suddenly and seemed to echo down the hall. "Done," she said, releasing a nervous breath. "That wasn't so bad..."
"Heero has the detonator?" Professor G asked. Trio nodded before she remembered that he couldn't see her.
"Yeah, but we have to meet up with Quatre and Wufei before he sets them off," Trio replied as she made her way back to where she was supposed to meet with Heero and Trowa. "Where's Duo?"
"Entering the Earth's atmosphere as we speak. He should be arriving in a half hour."
"Great, just in time to see us blow the place up," Trio mumbled sarcastically.
"Hn." Before Trio could say anything else, a door opened from behind her, and two guards came out.
"Shit..." Trio murmured. "They must have come from upstairs."
"What? Who?" Professor G asked, but at that moment one of the guards spotted Trio.
"Hey! What're you doing here?!" Trio's eyes widened and she paled, ducking quickly into one of the rooms in the hall. Shakily, she pulled out her gun.
"There's two soldier guys out there," she whispered quickly into the earpiece. "What do I do?!"
"Where are you now?"
"I'm in one of the rooms."
"Well you trapped yourself in there, you're going to have to shoot them."
"WHAT?!"
"Back away from the door and have your gun ready. When they break the door down, start firing." Trio did as she was told, taking in quick breaths. All too soon, someone began pounding on the door.
"Hey kid! Let us in or we'll break the door down! You're not allowed to be in here!" Trio heard one of the guards yell. Apparently they thought she was some kid playing around in the base. "I'm warning you!!" the voice came again.
'God, where're Heero and Trowa when you need them?' Trio thought despairingly as she held up the gun and aimed it at the door.
"That's it, we're coming in!" Trio sucked in a breath, and as soon as the door broke down she began firing.
From the opposite side of the corridor, Trowa heard the guns firing. Immediately picking up his pace, he began to run swiftly back to where he was supposed to meet the others, cursing under his breath. He arrived at the intersection just as Heero did, and the two shared a brief glance.
"Duo," they said simultaneously, ducking behind the wall as an alarm went off.
"Great, we've been discovered," Heero muttered, cocking his gun. He shot at a random soldier that came running down the hall. "Leave it to him to get caught."
"Come on," Trowa said, once the coast was clear. They started running down the hall Trio was in, but paused when they saw her jump out of a room, over two bodies that were lying on the floor.
"Let's go!" she ordered as she ran to meet them, her eyes wide and face pale. She'd just killed two people! God... The other two didn't question her, just took off running beside her, occasionally firing at any guards that filed in behind or in front of them. A bullet grazed Heero's arm at one point, causing him to stumble for a second, but he quickly picked up the pace again as Trowa turned and threw a grenade behind them.
"Should we contact Wufei and Quatre?" Trowa yelled above the sound of gunfire. He heard Heero yell back an affirmative, so he pulled out a walkie-talkie he'd been carrying. "Wufei? You there!" he said into it. He got a response after a few seconds.
"This is Quatre, Trowa! What happened??"
"Some guards spotted Duo. Are you heading out?"
"Yeah, we're almost to the entrance, you?"
"Same."
"Trowa!" Heero's voice broke in. "Tell them I'm setting the detonator now!" Trowa nodded, but did a double take at the Japanese youth running behind him.
"NOW?! Heero we'll never get out of here in time!"
"Maybe you haven't noticed, Trowa," Heero started, grunting as a bullet whizzed past his head, "but there are a lot more soldiers here than we thought! And they're closing in on us!" He threw another grenade over his shoulder wincing slightly at the explosion it made. "I'll give us two minutes! We'll be out of here by then!"
"But we might still be too close!" Trowa yelled back.
"We'll take our chances!" Trowa released a breath, and relayed the news to Quatre. "Two-minute countdown, starting now!" Heero said, pressing down on the detonator. "LET'S GO!"
Throughout this conversation, Trio had been yelling at Professor G, assuring herself that the others would be too preoccupied to notice her.
"Where the HELL is my brother, G?!" she screamed, panting. She was getting tired quickly.
"By the time he gets there it will all be over," Professor G replied calmly.
"You're not helping!" Trio tripped, stumbling slightly and almost falling. "I'm not going to make it out of here!"
"Yes you will."
"No, Heero just started a two-minute countdown, I'm slowing them down!"
"Trio, you're almost out, just keep running!" Professor G said back to her, finally raising his voice a little. Trio ripped the earpiece out of her ear and held it up to her mouth.
"I can't do this!" she screamed into it. She was falling a little farther behind the other two.
"Yes you ca-" Trio didn't hear the rest as a bullet nicked her shoulder, causing her to drop the headpiece. And she wasn't about to go back and get it. Instead, she turned and began firing over her shoulder at the guards behind her. She was seriously about ready to give up, but as fate would have it, at that moment, she saw the door in front of them.
"Thank God," she mumbled, finding the energy somewhere in her to make the last dash.
"Forty-five seconds!" she heard Heero yell. She was going to make it.
* * *
Professor G, on the other hand, had no idea if she would or not.
"Trio? Trio!" he asked from where he was sitting in a remote colony somewhere above the Earth. The room was darkened, and he really just looked plain creepy sitting there all by himself, but no one else was around to notice this. "Damn it," he muttered. Quickly, he switched lines, trying to contact Duo. "Duo? Come in Duo!"
"Duo here," came the scratchy reply. There was a lot of static on the line.
"Duo, I've lost contact with your sister," Professor G said bluntly. "She got cut off and I can't reach her anymore." He heard Duo let out of string of curses. "You might want to pick up a medic or something on your way down.
"Did that already," Duo replied. "I contacted Sally Po right when I took off."
"Good. How far away are you?"
"I should be landing in about ten minutes. Sally's right behind me."
"Don't get caught in the explosion."
"I won't."
"Good luck." Duo chuckled darkly.
"Luck is never on my side," he said, before he terminated the line. "You'd better be okay, Trio," he muttered to himself.
* * *
"Do you see Quatre and Wufei anywhere?" Trowa asked as he, Heero, and Trio broke out of the base into the hot sunlight. They continually shot over their shoulders at anyone who followed them.
"No," Heero answered, looking around. He glanced at the detonator in his hand. "They've got twenty-three seconds."
"Damn it," Trowa mumbled.
"I doubt we'll get far enough away," Trio said, pushing herself to run faster.
"We'll make it," came Heero's reply. He took another look over his shoulder. "There they are," he said, pointing to a door south of them where Quatre and Wufei came running out.
"Hurry your asses up, Quatre!" Trowa yelled into the walkie-talkie. "You've got fourteen seconds!"
"We'll make it- shit!" Trowa heard, and then there was the sound of something hitting the ground.
"Quatre?!" There were a few deep breaths before a voice finally answered.
"Wufei tripped!" came a hurried reply.
"Five seconds!" Heero yelled. "Take cover!" He dove behind a bunch of rocks, Trio and Trowa following. All three huddled together, covering their heads.
"Get him OUT OF THERE THEN!" Trowa yelled.
"We're fi-" Quatre started to say, but he was cut off as the base behind them finally exploded. The force of it sent Trowa, Heero, and Trio themselves hurdling through the air, and they'd been a good distance farther from the building then Wufei and Quatre had. They landed with loud thumps some feet away, all three groaning. The dust settled in around them, along with the heat from the blast. Heero was the first one to move, pushing himself up on all fours, coughing and hacking from the smoke.
"I used to be able to pull of missions like this by myself," he mumbled. Trowa, who heard him, chuckled slightly from his position on his back, before his face paled.
"Quatre?" he asked, holding the walkie-talkie up to his face. "You there? Quatre?! Wufei! Come in!"
"T-trowa?" came a weary reply.
"Quatre! Are you two alright!"
"I...I think so," Quatre replied. Trowa could hear him calling for Wufei. "Yeah," he said after a few seconds. "Wufei's here too. I think he broke his ankle though, it looks pretty bad. No wait..." Quatre paused and Trowa could hear Wufei's voice in the background. "Oh...Wufei says some cement fell on his leg and he thinks his SHIN is broken, not just his ankle." Trowa winced.
"Can you get him over here?"
"Where's 'here'?" At that point, Trowa glanced over to Heero, who was now standing and looking around for the blonde boy.
"North-east from where you are. Can you see Heero?" There was a pause on the line, before he heard Quatre reply.
"Yeah, yeah ok, I see him. We'll be there in a few."
"See ya," Trowa said, before he clicked the small machine off and let his arm drop to the ground. He let out a deep breath, closing his eyes as Heero came over and plopped onto the ground beside him.
"We're getting useless in our old age," Heero said, running a hand through his hair, and then wincing because it was the same arm that had gotten shot. Trowa laughed.
"What happened to just a simple 'Mission Accomplished'?" Heero smirked, shrugging. Then he paused, glancing about quickly.
"Where's Duo?" Trowa sat up abruptly.
"Um...I have no idea."
"Duo!" Heero called out, standing up. Trowa quickly followed suit.
"DUO!!"
"O-over here," came a weak reply. Heero and Trowa looked at each other quickly before running to where they heard the voice. They found Trio lying in a curled up position on the ground not too far away.
"Duo, you ok?" Heero asked, kneeling beside the braided teen. He put a hand on Trio's shoulder. Trio was taking in gasping, painful breaths.
"N-no," she muttered. She glanced up as a shadow fell over her, glad to see Trowa standing there. He was looking at her worriedly.
"He's holding his stomach," Trowa told Heero. The Japanese teen nodded, gently turning Trio over so that she was lying on her back. His eyes narrowed as he noticed her hands wrapped around a piece of jagged shrapnel that was jutting out from the side of her stomach. Above him, he heard Trowa draw in a long breath. "Well that's gonna have to come out," he muttered. Heero nodded.
"Take a deep breath, Duo," he said, and waited until Trio did so before he pulled the piece out. Trio gasped in pain, her hands flying to the spot as blood began seeping out.
"It was imbedded almost two inches," Heero said, showing the bloodied stone to Trowa. "Come on, we've got to stop that blood flow." At that moment, Quatre emerged from the trees about ten feet away, supporting Wufei who was limping and had an arm wrapped around Quatre's shoulders. Both were covered with dirt streaks and scratches, but then again so were the other three.
"Oh no, is he ok?" Quatre asked, pausing where he was standing. Trowa wordlessly held up the shrapnel, his eyes still on Trio. "Oh..." Quatre and Wufei didn't move any closer for the time being. Heero nodded to them briefly before turning back to Trio. Lifting up the edge of her black shirt, he looked as if he was about to tear it, but Trio jerked away before he got the chance to.
"Wh-what are you doing?!" she asked, eyes going wide. Heero gave her an odd look.
"I need to get a good look at that wound, and we need to get it covered." Trio shook her head rapidly.
"Nonono, it's fine. Just cover it from the outside, you don't need to look at it."
"Duo, your shirt's all bloody. It'll get infected," Heero said, grabbing her shirt again, but she rolled away once more, gasping as she did so.
"I'm fine, honest!" she exclaimed, curling into a ball again. Heero let out an agitated sigh.
"Duo, what is your problem? I need to look at it properly, stop being a baby!" When Trio didn't move, Heero's eyes narrowed. "Trowa, would you hold him down?" he asked the taller boy. Trowa nodded, ignoring Trio's panicked look. Kneeling down, he grabbed Trio's arms and pushed her back so that she was lying on her back again. Once there, he positioned himself behind her head and held her arms down. Trio would not be beaten though, and immediately began kicking her legs around.
"Heero, STOP!" she screamed out, eyes starting to stream from her eyes as Heero promptly sat himself down on her legs.
"Look, Duo, I don't know what's wrong with you but if it helps any, I'm NOT GOING TO HURT YOU," Heero said slowly, trying to look Trio in the eye. Trio paused briefly, sniffing.
"Please don't," she whispered pathetically, worried more about her brother's secret than them finding out that she was a girl. Heero rolled his eyes.
"I have to. Look, you're bleeding even more now from all that rolling around. You're such a baka, Duo," Heero said harshly, lowering his eyes and bunching up Trio's shirt in his hands again. Without another word, he quickly ripped it up the middle.
Aaaaand THAT folks, is where I'm ending this chapter! ^______^ Man, two cliffhangers in a row! I'm getting good at this! Hehe... Ok guys, next chapter all hell breaks loose! Obviously, Trio is discovered, Duo comes back, Sally enters the picture, GREAT STUFF! Oh, and of course, it IS the last chapter. But I might have an epilogue. Sorry if it seemed a bit rushed, but I've been waiting to write this part since I STARTED the fic. And I'm not that good with battle scenes and all. Well, till next time! Ja ne!
REVIEEEEW!!!!!!! ^__~
*~Maxine~*
*Disclaimer* I DO NOT OWN GUNDAM WING OR ANY OF ITS CHARACTERS!! I do, however (this so cool, I actually get to say I own something!), own Trio Maxwell.
*Warning* Um...none really right now. Maybe a little bit of language. I'll add more when it comes.
Dude, did I get this chapter out quickly or WHAT? ^__^ THANKS FOR THE REVIEWS! Man, I got bombarded with them! It was AWESOME! Yeah, I know I know, Trowa's so messed up right now, the poor boy... Ok, so yes, the anime briefly mentioned in the last chapter WAS Yu-yu Hakusho, so bonus points go to Gundam Girl, Kuruwa, Misastar, Princess Lightina, Pet Crazy Person, and Shahrezad1! Good job guys! Of course, the points are worth as much here as they are on Whose Line Is It Anyway, NOTHING. They're just a gag to hold the...fic...together...eh-heh, yeah... ANYway, I think there's only about one more chapter after this (ended it quickly, ne?), and then maybe an epilogue. We'll see. Thanks for reading!
The silence in the kitchen at that moment was horribly tense. Trio was doing her best NOT break eye contact with Trowa, as she stood there with her arms crossed. Trowa, who was several shades paler than he should have been, was standing slightly slumped over, a confused, defeated, and hurt look in his eyes. It made Trio cringe, but she couldn't turn away. The silence was only broken when a small barking sound broke through the air. Trio glanced down finally when she felt a slight tugging at her pants. She blinked then, and scooped up the small puppy in her hands. (A/N: Hehe, almost forgot about HER...)
"Hey Lily, I bet you're a hungry puppy, aren't you," Trio cooed, slowly turning and walking out of the room without a backwards glance at the boy standing there. Trowa only crossed his arms, his eyes following her out. He couldn't believe he'd just kissed DUO. Had it really been THAT long since the war ended, that he'd become so rusty in his skills? Honestly, thinking Duo was a girl... He just hoped that the braided boy kept his promise and somehow forgot about what had happened.
When Quatre and Wufei entered the kitchen a few minutes later, they found Trowa still standing by himself in the center of the room, arms crossed and looking angry. The Arabian and the Chinese shared a glance with each other before Quatre spoke up warily.
"Trowa?" he asked, setting his briefcase down on the table without looking away from the uni-banged pilot. "Is something wrong." Trowa didn't answer; he just continued to glare at nothing. Quatre looked at Wufei again, who in return shrugged.
"Trowa?" Wufei asked.
"I'm fine," Trowa said shortly, not moving an inch. "Nothing's wrong." The other two waited a little more for some sort of explanation or movement, but nothing happened and they again shared a worried look.
"Are you sure?" Quatre questioned slowly. Trowa finally blinked, dropping his arms from their place across his chest.
"Yeah, I'm positive." He turned on his heel and walked into the living room where Relena and Heero still were. Quatre and Wufei quickly followed, but stopped short, making sounds of disbelief when they saw the room's other two occupants...who still hadn't noticed anyone enter the room. Trowa continued walking towards them, snatching the remote control from the coffee table. "Either shove over or get a room," he said flatly, watching amusedly as Heero shot up, his entire face flushing an embarrassed red. "You're taking up the whole couch," Trowa continued, sending a glance to Relena, who was still lying on the couch, noticing how she warily crossed one arm across her chest over the light pink shirt she was wearing. With her other hand she waggled her fingers up at Trowa in greeting, smiling nervously at him. From where he was still straddling Relena, Heero coughed.
"So sorry, Trowa," he bit out, sending a full-forced Heero Yuy patented death glare at the taller pilot. Trowa smirked, causing Heero's frown to deepen.
"No problem," he replied, stepping aside and gesturing with his hands for Heero to leave. Heero growled before standing up. He offered a hand to Relena and they made their way out of the room to some other location in the house. "Be safe now, kids!" Trowa called after them sarcastically.
"Fuck you, Trowa!" he heard Heero yell back. Trowa plopped down on one end of the couch, flipping idly through the channels.
"Naw, that's what you have Relena for!"
"Trowa!" Quatre exclaimed, sounding shocked. From another room Trowa could hear enraged sounds of protest as Relena tried to calm Heero down, before a door slammed shut.
"Sorry, I'm in a bad mood," Trowa said darkly.
"Still, that doesn't give you an excuse to...I mean, you should at least apologize to her...did he have his hand up her SHIRT?" Quatre finally asked, looking slightly flustered. Trowa chuckled, reaching down with a hand and lifting up a white, lacy bra that had been tucked in between the cushions. Quatre's eyes widened as he made a slight choking sound.
"And her shorts were unbuttoned," Trowa said casually, dropping the bra back onto the couch. Quatre looked like he was about to faint, as Wufei finally walked over to stand beside the blonde.
"Maybe you shouldn't be sitting on that couch," he said slowly, eyeing the item in disgust. Trowa just snorted as Trio walked into the room, still holding Lily.
"Heero and Relena are having sex by the pool," she said bluntly, having caught the end of their conversation. Quatre hit the floor at that point while Trowa abruptly jumped of the couch, looking at it in fear. Trio raised an eyebrow, glancing at Wufei who was staring wide-eyed at her. "I was just kidding..." she muttered, chuckling a little. Trowa let out a relieved breath, as did Wufei as he kneeled down by Quatre.
"Help me get him onto the couch," he said to Trowa.
"Why? He'll just pass out again when he wakes up on it," Trowa mumbled. But he complied anyway.
* * *
A week had passed with everything pretty much returning to normal. Literally, everything. Heero was back to his usual grumpy self with Relena gone. He was constantly giving Trowa evil looks though, which was new. Trowa would just usually chuckle and quip something like, "What? Didn't get any?" At which Wufei and Trio would have to hold Heero back before he tried to strangle the taller boy. Trowa, still a little uncomfortable around Trio, had been ignoring her for the most part, but hadn't made any more suggestions that she might not be Duo.
It was that week later that Trio received a call that effectively sealed her doom with the whole "faking-to-be-Duo" thing, at least as far as she was concerned. It had come in the middle of the night, on Duo's laptop. It had taken a full minute of the shrill beeping from it to finally annoy Trio enough to answer it. She'd been hoping that whoever it was would just give up. So needless to say, when she answered the call, she wasn't in the best of moods.
"What?" Trio mumbled grouchily when a very odd looking man appeared on the screen.
"Trio, we've got a problem," a nasal voice that Trio didn't recognize said. Trio blinked, and then rubbed her eyes. The only light in the room was coming from the glow of the computer screen, and she was only just now able to make out a figure with a long pointy nose and a mushroom-shaped haircut.
"We do?" she asked tiredly, raising a hand to cover her mouth as she yawned. "Do I know you?" The person sighed.
"No, I suppose not. This is the first time you and I have spoken to each other. My name is Professor G." It took a while for that name to register, but when it finally did, Trio's eyes widened.
"Oh...oh! Professor G! Yeah, my brother's spoken of you. Is everything alright?"
"No, actually, we have a very big problem."
"And...that would be...?"
"Dr. J has found that there is a small group forming on the Earth with plans of blowing up the colonies...or some nonsense such as that." Trio blinked.
"You don't sound too worried."
"I'm not. This isn't exactly a rare occurrence. There's always one group or another that thinks they can accomplish something that deals with big explosions. Their plans never fall through though. However, this group already has a base located in one of the rain forests in South America. From what we have discovered, they have a decent amount of explosives and weapons hidden there." Trio sighed.
"So how does this concern me?"
Sounding almost annoyed, Professor G answered, "Preventors doesn't know about it yet, because J's the one that found it, so the other scientists decided to send you five to destroy the base. Usually we just wait until Preventors DOES discover it, but due to the amount of explosives this group already has, we decided it would be safest to have someone with more...stealth experience to take the job."
"Us...five? ...They don't know I'm here, do they?" Trio asked quickly in a worried tone. Professor G shook his head slowly.
"That was all part of Duo's mission. No one else was to know about it."
"But...but I have NO 'stealth' experience," Trio said nervously. Professor G nodded.
"The others will get the mission in the morning. I'll be calling Duo at that time, and hopefully he can steal a shuttle or something and get to Earth when you do. There, you two can switch places again."
"Oh...THAT'LL work." Professor G shrugged.
"I'm not into fancy plans."
"Well what am I supposed to do in the meantime? Just tag along with the others?" Trio asked.
"They usually split up into two groups. Try to let them do most of the work. Where they place their own bombs is VERY important, because if they're in the wrong spot, then they'll set off the other explosives, and all of you will probably die in the following explosion," Professor G said, quite bluntly. Trio paled.
"Thanks for that..."
"Now you know you can't screw up." Trio nodded slowly.
"Riiiight..."
"Hey, feel along the left side of the laptop. When you feel a button, push on it." Raising an eye at the sudden odd request, Trio did as she was told. Upon pressing the button, a small compartment slid out, containing what looked to be a small earpiece. Trio held it up to the screen, and Professor G nodded. "Where that tomorrow, that way I'll be able to communicate with you and let you know when Duo arrives."
"Uh...alright," Trio said, nodding.
"That's all, I'll be in contact with you tomorrow." Before Trio could reply, Professor G disappeared from the screen and the room darkened. She sat in the seat for a while, staring blankly at the computer before her. She was supposed to go on a mission? Eh-heh... Of course she'd told Duo she'd be able to handle something like this if it came up, but she didn't think it would actually happen! With fear gripping her, Trio slowly made her way back to the bed. It took her a long time to fall asleep, and she was already awake when Heero started banging on her door the next morning.
* * *
On L2, it was almost afternoon by the time Trio and the others had gotten their mission report. Duo had taken Hilde out for breakfast that day, and afterwards they had done some shopping around town. They finally entered Hilde's quaint little home around two, both laughing and carrying arms full of bags.
"Oh Duo, thanks again for taking me out today. I really wasn't in the mood for cereal, but I didn't feel like cooking either, so it was perfect," Hilde said, setting her bags by the couch in the living room before wandering into the kitchen. Duo put the bags he was carrying down by hers, before following her into the said room. He smirked as he saw Hilde bending over slightly, looking for something to drink in the fridge.
"Anything for the lady I love," he said smoothly, wrapping his arms around her petite waist and pulling her back against his chest.
"Duo, you're such a romantic sap," Hilde said softly, chuckling. Duo ignored her, burying his face into the crook of her neck and kissing the skin there.
"So what if I am? You know you love me," he whispered into her ear, his hands running down her sides and then back up again beneath her shirt. They rested on her stomach as Hilde turned her head slightly so that she could see Duo out of the corner of her eye. Accepting the silent invitation, Duo bent down and captured her mouth with his, his eyes sliding shut-
-just as the vidphone started beeping. Duo's eyes popped open as Hilde pulled away, chuckling.
"Stop pouting, Duo," Hilde said, as Duo was doing just that, standing where she had left him with his lower lip jutting out and arms crossed.
"Stupid phone," he grumbled to himself as Hilde answered it. "I say we just disconnect the damn thing." He could remember several other occasions when they'd been interrupted by it's high beeping noises.
"Duo?" Hilde called, turning around to face him. "It's Professor G," she said, somewhat worriedly. Duo's eyebrows shot up as he moved to take the call.
"Hey G, what's up?" he asked casually, propping his elbows up on the table. He grabbed an apple from a nearby basket and bit into as he waited for an answer.
"I've been trying to get a hold of you for a couple hours now, where have you been?" came the nasal, agitated reply. Duo raised an eyebrow.
"Out," he replied simply, casting a glance at Hilde, who had taken a seat at the table, before biting into the apple again. Professor G shook his head.
"Whatever. Your sister's on a mission to Earth, I thought you might want to know." Duo promptly choked on the apple, his face turning a lovely shade of red.
"Wh-what?!" he gasped out when he was able to speak again.
"Yeah, in South America," Professor G continued, oblivious to Duo's coughing. "I was going to send you the coordinates. I thought maybe you could arrange a rendezvous with her and switch back. She really isn't qualified for what they're doing." Duos eyes widened.
"Which is?" he asked.
"I'll tell you once you're on you way down. ...You ARE going to go, right?" Duo nodded his head quickly.
"Yeah, yeah...I'll contact you once I grab a shuttle. Ja," he said, terminating the call. "Hilde, babe," he started, turning to face her, but she held up a hand, smiling.
"Just go. Trio may be in danger," she said softly. "Take care though." Duo smiled at her, leaning down to kiss her soundly.
"Love ya, babe!" he called as he dashed out of the kitchen. Hilde sighed once he was gone. Sometimes she regretted ever falling in love with a Gundam pilot; it required too much worrying. At this rate, she'd have gray hair by the time she was twenty-five...
* * *
On Earth, the other five had split up into groups of two and three after landing a good distance away from the actual base. They'd had to hike for about an hour through hot, humid terrain before Quatre and Wufei went off one way, and Trowa, Trio, and Heero went another. There turned out to be a lot more guards than they'd expected, so they had to be extra cautious, but they entered the base easily enough. Trio's heart was beating so fast she was worried that the others could hear it. She was scared out of her mind, especially since she was holding a gun that she very well might have to use. Trio'd never actually killed anyone before, though she been around death itself a lot. Suddenly a voice interrupted her thoughts as the group of three snuck down the halls.
"Trio, this is Professor G, are you there?" came a voice from Trio's earpiece. Not wanting to attract attention, she slowed down a bit, taking up the rear, before she answered.
"Yeah, I'm here," she whispered, hoping neither Trowa nor Heero would hear her. "What is it?"
"I got in contact with your brother about an hour ago."
"When will he get here?"
"Probably in about another hour, maybe two."
"That long? Shit..."
"Don't worry. Just so long the others do the work-" Trio missed the rest of what he said, because Heero was calling back at her.
"Hey, gotta go. Stay with me though, k?" she whispered into the headpiece before hurrying to catch up with the other two pilots. "What?" she asked when she got there. Heero shoved three small objects into her arms.
"We're splitting up," he said gruffly, leaning against the wall as he peered around a corner. "You take the left corridor. Check the rooms and make sure there's no explosives or weapons in them, and then put those bombs along the wall. Meet back here. If anyone gets in your way, knock them out or shoot them."
"Heero, we ALL fought in the war, I think we know what to do," Trowa commented sarcastically.
"Shut up, Trowa," Heero snarled at him. He was apparently still mad at the green-eyed circus performer. Trowa smirked and shrugged.
"Guys, guys, can't we all just get along?" Trio asked cheerfully, examining one of the bombs in her hands.
"You can shut up too, Duo," Heero said, turning his glare on her. Trio let out a breath, blowing the bangs off her forehead.
"Pull the stick out of your ass, Heero. Hilde's not with ME 24/7, but you don't see me acting like a jackass," she growled at him, seriously getting annoyed with his attitude.
"Oh, but Duo, you forget," Trowa spoke up, glancing at Heero, "Heero's like this ALL the time. It has NOTHING to do with RELENA." Trio snorted.
"Right, I forgot." Heero's glare darkened.
"Omae-"
"O korosu," Trio and Trowa finished together, sharing a sarcastic look. "We know."
"...Fall out," Heero ordered, deciding to ignore them. He glanced around the corner once more before setting off.
"So...I got the left?" Trio asked again, her nervousness creeping back.
"Yeah, I got right," Trowa replied, before he turned and went in that direction. Trio stared after him, before turning and glancing around the corner. After making sure no one was coming, she dashed across to the opposite corridor.
"Oh geez, I have absolutely NO idea what I'm doing," she muttered to herself.
"Just look for any rooms and make sure no one's in them," came the nasal voice in her ear again.
"Oh, THAT helps." Coming across a door, she slowed down, peering around the side into it as she had seen Heero do. It was empty. Onto the next door!
She did this four more time, finding that the entire corridor she was in was empty of weapons AND humans.
"So...now I just set these bombs?" she asked Professor G.
"Hn, yes. Try placing them equal distances apart. How many did he give you?"
"Three."
"Put two on one wall, one on the other."
"Alright." Trio did as she was told, pressing a little button the side of them to activate them. It was entirely too quiet, she decided, as her watch beeped suddenly and seemed to echo down the hall. "Done," she said, releasing a nervous breath. "That wasn't so bad..."
"Heero has the detonator?" Professor G asked. Trio nodded before she remembered that he couldn't see her.
"Yeah, but we have to meet up with Quatre and Wufei before he sets them off," Trio replied as she made her way back to where she was supposed to meet with Heero and Trowa. "Where's Duo?"
"Entering the Earth's atmosphere as we speak. He should be arriving in a half hour."
"Great, just in time to see us blow the place up," Trio mumbled sarcastically.
"Hn." Before Trio could say anything else, a door opened from behind her, and two guards came out.
"Shit..." Trio murmured. "They must have come from upstairs."
"What? Who?" Professor G asked, but at that moment one of the guards spotted Trio.
"Hey! What're you doing here?!" Trio's eyes widened and she paled, ducking quickly into one of the rooms in the hall. Shakily, she pulled out her gun.
"There's two soldier guys out there," she whispered quickly into the earpiece. "What do I do?!"
"Where are you now?"
"I'm in one of the rooms."
"Well you trapped yourself in there, you're going to have to shoot them."
"WHAT?!"
"Back away from the door and have your gun ready. When they break the door down, start firing." Trio did as she was told, taking in quick breaths. All too soon, someone began pounding on the door.
"Hey kid! Let us in or we'll break the door down! You're not allowed to be in here!" Trio heard one of the guards yell. Apparently they thought she was some kid playing around in the base. "I'm warning you!!" the voice came again.
'God, where're Heero and Trowa when you need them?' Trio thought despairingly as she held up the gun and aimed it at the door.
"That's it, we're coming in!" Trio sucked in a breath, and as soon as the door broke down she began firing.
From the opposite side of the corridor, Trowa heard the guns firing. Immediately picking up his pace, he began to run swiftly back to where he was supposed to meet the others, cursing under his breath. He arrived at the intersection just as Heero did, and the two shared a brief glance.
"Duo," they said simultaneously, ducking behind the wall as an alarm went off.
"Great, we've been discovered," Heero muttered, cocking his gun. He shot at a random soldier that came running down the hall. "Leave it to him to get caught."
"Come on," Trowa said, once the coast was clear. They started running down the hall Trio was in, but paused when they saw her jump out of a room, over two bodies that were lying on the floor.
"Let's go!" she ordered as she ran to meet them, her eyes wide and face pale. She'd just killed two people! God... The other two didn't question her, just took off running beside her, occasionally firing at any guards that filed in behind or in front of them. A bullet grazed Heero's arm at one point, causing him to stumble for a second, but he quickly picked up the pace again as Trowa turned and threw a grenade behind them.
"Should we contact Wufei and Quatre?" Trowa yelled above the sound of gunfire. He heard Heero yell back an affirmative, so he pulled out a walkie-talkie he'd been carrying. "Wufei? You there!" he said into it. He got a response after a few seconds.
"This is Quatre, Trowa! What happened??"
"Some guards spotted Duo. Are you heading out?"
"Yeah, we're almost to the entrance, you?"
"Same."
"Trowa!" Heero's voice broke in. "Tell them I'm setting the detonator now!" Trowa nodded, but did a double take at the Japanese youth running behind him.
"NOW?! Heero we'll never get out of here in time!"
"Maybe you haven't noticed, Trowa," Heero started, grunting as a bullet whizzed past his head, "but there are a lot more soldiers here than we thought! And they're closing in on us!" He threw another grenade over his shoulder wincing slightly at the explosion it made. "I'll give us two minutes! We'll be out of here by then!"
"But we might still be too close!" Trowa yelled back.
"We'll take our chances!" Trowa released a breath, and relayed the news to Quatre. "Two-minute countdown, starting now!" Heero said, pressing down on the detonator. "LET'S GO!"
Throughout this conversation, Trio had been yelling at Professor G, assuring herself that the others would be too preoccupied to notice her.
"Where the HELL is my brother, G?!" she screamed, panting. She was getting tired quickly.
"By the time he gets there it will all be over," Professor G replied calmly.
"You're not helping!" Trio tripped, stumbling slightly and almost falling. "I'm not going to make it out of here!"
"Yes you will."
"No, Heero just started a two-minute countdown, I'm slowing them down!"
"Trio, you're almost out, just keep running!" Professor G said back to her, finally raising his voice a little. Trio ripped the earpiece out of her ear and held it up to her mouth.
"I can't do this!" she screamed into it. She was falling a little farther behind the other two.
"Yes you ca-" Trio didn't hear the rest as a bullet nicked her shoulder, causing her to drop the headpiece. And she wasn't about to go back and get it. Instead, she turned and began firing over her shoulder at the guards behind her. She was seriously about ready to give up, but as fate would have it, at that moment, she saw the door in front of them.
"Thank God," she mumbled, finding the energy somewhere in her to make the last dash.
"Forty-five seconds!" she heard Heero yell. She was going to make it.
* * *
Professor G, on the other hand, had no idea if she would or not.
"Trio? Trio!" he asked from where he was sitting in a remote colony somewhere above the Earth. The room was darkened, and he really just looked plain creepy sitting there all by himself, but no one else was around to notice this. "Damn it," he muttered. Quickly, he switched lines, trying to contact Duo. "Duo? Come in Duo!"
"Duo here," came the scratchy reply. There was a lot of static on the line.
"Duo, I've lost contact with your sister," Professor G said bluntly. "She got cut off and I can't reach her anymore." He heard Duo let out of string of curses. "You might want to pick up a medic or something on your way down.
"Did that already," Duo replied. "I contacted Sally Po right when I took off."
"Good. How far away are you?"
"I should be landing in about ten minutes. Sally's right behind me."
"Don't get caught in the explosion."
"I won't."
"Good luck." Duo chuckled darkly.
"Luck is never on my side," he said, before he terminated the line. "You'd better be okay, Trio," he muttered to himself.
* * *
"Do you see Quatre and Wufei anywhere?" Trowa asked as he, Heero, and Trio broke out of the base into the hot sunlight. They continually shot over their shoulders at anyone who followed them.
"No," Heero answered, looking around. He glanced at the detonator in his hand. "They've got twenty-three seconds."
"Damn it," Trowa mumbled.
"I doubt we'll get far enough away," Trio said, pushing herself to run faster.
"We'll make it," came Heero's reply. He took another look over his shoulder. "There they are," he said, pointing to a door south of them where Quatre and Wufei came running out.
"Hurry your asses up, Quatre!" Trowa yelled into the walkie-talkie. "You've got fourteen seconds!"
"We'll make it- shit!" Trowa heard, and then there was the sound of something hitting the ground.
"Quatre?!" There were a few deep breaths before a voice finally answered.
"Wufei tripped!" came a hurried reply.
"Five seconds!" Heero yelled. "Take cover!" He dove behind a bunch of rocks, Trio and Trowa following. All three huddled together, covering their heads.
"Get him OUT OF THERE THEN!" Trowa yelled.
"We're fi-" Quatre started to say, but he was cut off as the base behind them finally exploded. The force of it sent Trowa, Heero, and Trio themselves hurdling through the air, and they'd been a good distance farther from the building then Wufei and Quatre had. They landed with loud thumps some feet away, all three groaning. The dust settled in around them, along with the heat from the blast. Heero was the first one to move, pushing himself up on all fours, coughing and hacking from the smoke.
"I used to be able to pull of missions like this by myself," he mumbled. Trowa, who heard him, chuckled slightly from his position on his back, before his face paled.
"Quatre?" he asked, holding the walkie-talkie up to his face. "You there? Quatre?! Wufei! Come in!"
"T-trowa?" came a weary reply.
"Quatre! Are you two alright!"
"I...I think so," Quatre replied. Trowa could hear him calling for Wufei. "Yeah," he said after a few seconds. "Wufei's here too. I think he broke his ankle though, it looks pretty bad. No wait..." Quatre paused and Trowa could hear Wufei's voice in the background. "Oh...Wufei says some cement fell on his leg and he thinks his SHIN is broken, not just his ankle." Trowa winced.
"Can you get him over here?"
"Where's 'here'?" At that point, Trowa glanced over to Heero, who was now standing and looking around for the blonde boy.
"North-east from where you are. Can you see Heero?" There was a pause on the line, before he heard Quatre reply.
"Yeah, yeah ok, I see him. We'll be there in a few."
"See ya," Trowa said, before he clicked the small machine off and let his arm drop to the ground. He let out a deep breath, closing his eyes as Heero came over and plopped onto the ground beside him.
"We're getting useless in our old age," Heero said, running a hand through his hair, and then wincing because it was the same arm that had gotten shot. Trowa laughed.
"What happened to just a simple 'Mission Accomplished'?" Heero smirked, shrugging. Then he paused, glancing about quickly.
"Where's Duo?" Trowa sat up abruptly.
"Um...I have no idea."
"Duo!" Heero called out, standing up. Trowa quickly followed suit.
"DUO!!"
"O-over here," came a weak reply. Heero and Trowa looked at each other quickly before running to where they heard the voice. They found Trio lying in a curled up position on the ground not too far away.
"Duo, you ok?" Heero asked, kneeling beside the braided teen. He put a hand on Trio's shoulder. Trio was taking in gasping, painful breaths.
"N-no," she muttered. She glanced up as a shadow fell over her, glad to see Trowa standing there. He was looking at her worriedly.
"He's holding his stomach," Trowa told Heero. The Japanese teen nodded, gently turning Trio over so that she was lying on her back. His eyes narrowed as he noticed her hands wrapped around a piece of jagged shrapnel that was jutting out from the side of her stomach. Above him, he heard Trowa draw in a long breath. "Well that's gonna have to come out," he muttered. Heero nodded.
"Take a deep breath, Duo," he said, and waited until Trio did so before he pulled the piece out. Trio gasped in pain, her hands flying to the spot as blood began seeping out.
"It was imbedded almost two inches," Heero said, showing the bloodied stone to Trowa. "Come on, we've got to stop that blood flow." At that moment, Quatre emerged from the trees about ten feet away, supporting Wufei who was limping and had an arm wrapped around Quatre's shoulders. Both were covered with dirt streaks and scratches, but then again so were the other three.
"Oh no, is he ok?" Quatre asked, pausing where he was standing. Trowa wordlessly held up the shrapnel, his eyes still on Trio. "Oh..." Quatre and Wufei didn't move any closer for the time being. Heero nodded to them briefly before turning back to Trio. Lifting up the edge of her black shirt, he looked as if he was about to tear it, but Trio jerked away before he got the chance to.
"Wh-what are you doing?!" she asked, eyes going wide. Heero gave her an odd look.
"I need to get a good look at that wound, and we need to get it covered." Trio shook her head rapidly.
"Nonono, it's fine. Just cover it from the outside, you don't need to look at it."
"Duo, your shirt's all bloody. It'll get infected," Heero said, grabbing her shirt again, but she rolled away once more, gasping as she did so.
"I'm fine, honest!" she exclaimed, curling into a ball again. Heero let out an agitated sigh.
"Duo, what is your problem? I need to look at it properly, stop being a baby!" When Trio didn't move, Heero's eyes narrowed. "Trowa, would you hold him down?" he asked the taller boy. Trowa nodded, ignoring Trio's panicked look. Kneeling down, he grabbed Trio's arms and pushed her back so that she was lying on her back again. Once there, he positioned himself behind her head and held her arms down. Trio would not be beaten though, and immediately began kicking her legs around.
"Heero, STOP!" she screamed out, eyes starting to stream from her eyes as Heero promptly sat himself down on her legs.
"Look, Duo, I don't know what's wrong with you but if it helps any, I'm NOT GOING TO HURT YOU," Heero said slowly, trying to look Trio in the eye. Trio paused briefly, sniffing.
"Please don't," she whispered pathetically, worried more about her brother's secret than them finding out that she was a girl. Heero rolled his eyes.
"I have to. Look, you're bleeding even more now from all that rolling around. You're such a baka, Duo," Heero said harshly, lowering his eyes and bunching up Trio's shirt in his hands again. Without another word, he quickly ripped it up the middle.
Aaaaand THAT folks, is where I'm ending this chapter! ^______^ Man, two cliffhangers in a row! I'm getting good at this! Hehe... Ok guys, next chapter all hell breaks loose! Obviously, Trio is discovered, Duo comes back, Sally enters the picture, GREAT STUFF! Oh, and of course, it IS the last chapter. But I might have an epilogue. Sorry if it seemed a bit rushed, but I've been waiting to write this part since I STARTED the fic. And I'm not that good with battle scenes and all. Well, till next time! Ja ne!
REVIEEEEW!!!!!!! ^__~
*~Maxine~*