Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Wilderness ❯ Hostage ( Chapter 20 )

 

Wilderness

By Dentelle_Noir

 

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing, duh. Don't you find this as redundant as I? I hope so.

 

Warning: Eventual yaoi. Man bashing.

 

Chapter 20: Hostage

 

Treize slumped against a big oak. His locked knees were the only thing that kept him upright, but he stumbled again and found himself kissing bark. It was getting harder and harder to continue, but he knew he wasn't far from the meeting spot. The water sounds were just out of his reach and when he made it to water he could follow the river to the canoes.

 

When they all scattered to loose Nichol and his men, Treize went directly for the meeting spot. He knew with his wound that he wouldn't be able to move like the others and would only slow their departure if he wound his way around. None of the Terrified Trio followed him, thankfully, and he made haste towards his goal. Unfortunately, his haste was just past the crawl of an exhausted two year old, and in the almost hour he'd been moving he was just now coming upon the water's edge.

 

There was a snap of twigs behind him, and all his senses sharpened (to that of a butter-knife, he added mentally). He could hear muttered curses and vicious swipes at trees. It was probably one of the three idiots. But whoever it was didn't sound happy, and calling them whatever names he chose still didn't make them any less dangerous.

 

There was no where to hide, and even if there was, he could barely move to get there. He hugged the tree and stilled, hoping he would be looked over.

 

“You let them slip through our fingers, again!” Nichol shouted. Alex shot the branch he had been breaking away and waited for the satisfying crack. But none came. Feeling gypped and angry he walked over, determined to find his stick and break it in eight for not snapping right the first damn time! But his stick had found a more interesting target than the tree, it seemed.

 

“Well, hello there.” He smirked and aimed his gun at the sweat-soaked forehead of a very weak prey.

 

Nichol was still berating Muller and Alex was more than happy to interrupt, “I found us a hostage.”

 

Nichol looked up from verbally beating Muller to see Alex cocking his gun towards a stray one of the rangers, who was leaning heavily against a tree. The ranger looked injured, shot in the shoulder by one of them it seemed. And the tall tree-hugger seemed to be loosing a lot of blood, he didn't even have the energy to run when Alex had taken his eyes off him to point him out.

 

With a devilish smirk, Nichol grabbed Treize's wounded arm and pulled him off the tree. “Alex take one side, Muller take the other. Let's get him to our boats.”

 

“The others won't stop because of me. Our mission is more important than one person. They WILL leave without me.” Treize rasped out, the pain in his shoulder reaching torturous proportions as Muller's bulk propped him up on his injured side and Alex grabbed him from under his other arm, neither having an ounce of compassion for a wounded man, obviously. He was already on the cusp of unconsciousness and even a little jostle would pull him over, he was sure. But he was able to keep coherent by a thread, able to here Nichol.

 

“Funny thing: They never left Blondie, now did they?”

 

Treize had no retort.

 

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Trowa hauled the newly packed gear into the newly repossessed canoes. In true earth-loving recycling fashion, they had rummaged through the Tragic Trio's stuff and discarded the redundant sub-standard equipment. (And Duo decided to dangle the group's underwear off the cliff with a precariously balanced branch, but that was only after they had time to burn). Neither Treize, nor Quatre and Wufei had shown up yet; Trowa, Heero and Duo were starting to worry. The three at the meeting spot had had time to repack, re-organize, patch up Duo as best Trowa could, and even fix some of the ruined equipment. They were all set to launch the second everyone arrived. They had been set for almost half and hour now and the burning time was starting to make them antsy.

 

A twig snapped and the labored drag and shuffle of feet echoed from the bush for minutes. Both Heero and Trowa had cocked the handguns they had found in the other group's canoes at the spot in the trees where the sound was coming from, but with that amount of noise there was no way whomever it was shuffling towards them was even trying to conceal their position, and therefore had to have been an ally. A wet, heaving cough flashed a warning light-- but of an injured comrade, not danger.

 

Trowa and Heero lowered their weapons. Heero took the sound as a cue to set Duo into the canoe while they still had the time, and Trowa moved towards the brush to lend a hand.

 

None of them expected the vicious click of a cocking gun pointed right between Trowa's eyes.

 

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Nichol ordered Alex and Muller to haul Treize to where they knew the other's had their boats. Treize was nothing but a stumbling, bleeding, rag doll under their arms and was trying his hardest to slow Nichol and his group by refusing to support his own weight even a little. But the two brutes were as strong as their saucer sized arms portrayed and neither hardly faltered in their step. Treize had to make due with dragging his feet across the brush as noisily as he could to give his friends any sort of warning.

 

But the astonishment in Trowa's eyes as he saw the gun barrel pointed at him proved his last ditch attempt was in vain. At least he had been able to rest for a few minutes while being dragged to their camp.

 

Trowa dashed backwards, his innate grace the only thing that prevented him from falling on his ass right away when he hit a tree limb. He stumbled back onto the beach, catching himself on his knees and found Heero's gun pointing towards him, then the forest as Heero realized something was not right.

 

Nichol grinned in triumph, holding his gun to the temple of the paramedic ranger as he moved onto the beach, expecting to see the rest of the group forlorn and stranded amongst their broken boats and scattered gear. He was sorely disappointed to see they were fully packed and ready to set off...with THEIR CANOES! He hadn't thought of that. But Nichol would never let that past his arrogant appearance. Once the psycho-Jap and the goody-goody ranger boy saw who held all the cards they began to loose that control of theirs. As if they had any to begin with.

 

“Better put that gun down, Psycho-Jap.” Alex brayed, jiggling the unresponsive form of their friend until he hissed in pain and regained consciousness. Heero lowered his gun, but didn't drop it.

 

“Smart, taking our canoes. Smart. But not smart enough.” Nichol boasted. Trowa would've laughed in his face over the cliché if he wasn't sure Treize would pay for it.

 

“Give us the bat and we'll give you your friend back.” Nichol bargained with a god-like smile.

 

“Bullshit.” Duo spat. He was stuck inside the middle of the canoe, gear packed in around him and unable to even lift himself out with his one arm out of commission. He was a sitting duck, but he refused to be a wallflower.

 

Trowa stood and the second gun Alex held followed him dangerously and took that time to formulate a plan. Trowa looked at him over the barrel and saw Alex's eyes glimmer with manic excitement. Trowa had nothing. His quick thinking was floundering. Heero's silence and look of sheer astonishment spoke of his similar problem. They had foreseen this circumstance only in theory, and they couldn't just do as they had all said and leave Treize and go, for one. And they had guns aimed at them too! Trowa had no clue how even to begin to work this situation.

 

Then he saw movement behind Alex.

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Quatre and Wufei heard hard rustling movement on the beach before them and froze in their progression. Quatre had lead Wufei along the edge of the river, on the edge of the cliff (After jumping from one, it didn't bother him in the crippling sort of way heights had before). Quatre still clutched Wufei's arm enough to leave a permanent purple bruise alright, but he kept on track. They had seen the take-out point quickly, figuring only Duo would hang underwear off a cliff as a signal flag. They didn't know who owned said briefs, but they were glad it was neither of theirs.

 

They were reaching the brush when they heard someone fall, and then Nichol's voice. Quatre and Wufei froze, waiting to see what would happen. Wufei maneuvered them around back, `to cut off the three's retreat' Quatre was sure, despite Wufei's claim it was `to see better'.

 

The two crept up and snatched views from behind. But they couldn't see anything... until one step to the left and everything was clear.

 

Wufei dashed out like a madman, running out of the bush and knocking Alex, whose gun was at his lover's head, to the ground with a flying tackle. Treize had slumped down to the side like a dead man, setting Muller off balance and bringing him to the ground with him.

 

The three were heaped upon the gravelly sand, Muller and Alex cursing and Wufei hitting and kicking whatever part of them he could reach.

 

Nichol, caught completely off guard and spooked, swung around and let off a shot into the sand, missing the melee completely. Fortunately, Nichols movement put him within Trowa's range and facing another direction. Trowa swung; a right hook aimed straight for Nichol's face. But Nichol had already begun to spin around franticly. Trowa's assault only cuffed Nichol's shoulder. Nichol, showing some startling degree of actual ability, reflexively plunged his unoccupied fist into Trowa's gut. Trowa flew to the ground spectacularly, caught completely off guard and winded.

 

It took Nichol a shocked millisecond to realize he had a gun, and aimed at the sucker-punched ranger. Nichol was going to kill the bastard now, rules or no rules. Theses damn rangers had defied him and made him look like an unprepared child since the outset, and Nichol decided there and then not to let the boys live. Trowa was gasping for air right in front of him, and he took aim.

 

Nichol's eyes went dull and rolled into the back of his head before he slumped to his knees and kissed the dirt.

 

Behind where Nichol's bulk had been, stood a sobbing, wide-eyed Quatre, a rock white-knuckle-clutched in a trembling, bloodied hand. Quatre dropped the rock as if bitten and flung himself beside Trowa on the ground, urging him up by the shoulders with terrified words.

 

Trowa sputtered and coughed, and grabbed onto Quatre's bicep to steady himself. His head spun and the ground was flowing before his eyes with sea-sick waves of nausea. Quatre's trembling hands trying to shake him out of it weren't helping, but his terrified sobbing voice was. He grabbed onto his arm that, while not completely stable, was at least stationary, and took a hold of himself. He could hear a scuffle still going on and he needed to help-

 

“Freeze.” Heero's deadly cold voice ordered and all of them obeyed, whoever they were.

 

Alex and Muller, both trying to pin the slippery Wufei, looked straight forward. Starring at about knee level from their prone positions the two lifted their eyes up legs, past waist and saw Heero's snarl. Heero drew his foot back and let loose a boot to Muller's face as hard a field-goal kick and sent him flying off his friend.

 

Alex was subjected to a bone breaking punch to the jaw from Wufei, who was on his back beneath him, followed by a knee to a certain place of Alex's anatomy, just to be sure he rolled off of Wufei.

 

“Move!” Heero bellowed and shoved Wufei towards the canoes and then grabbed one of Treize's arms and hauled him off the ground, leaving blood soaked sand in his place.

 

Trowa used Quatre to get himself standing and then pulled Quatre to his feet. Within a second Trowa was under Treize's other arm and hauling him to their canoe, and Wufei was lifting Treize's legs in. Wufei hauled himself up and over into the canoe and seated himself at the back, calling for his lover's head and cradling him in his lap. Heero, once relieved of the burden of Treize, flew to his boyfriend and crawled in behind, puling oars out.

 

Trowa grabbed the front of the boat Wufei and Treize occupied and stopped short of hauling the boat out. Quatre stood shakily just a foot away, dazed and in shock on the verge of a panic attack, it seemed. They did not have time for that shit! “Grab Heero's boat, haul it out of the shallow and jump in. He needs an oarer in front. Now.” Trowa hollered and jumped into his canoe.

 

Quatre snapped from his daze, and in a flash he was back, eyes hard and grabbing the stern with all his might. Digging his feet into the shifting sands he pushed and sloshed until the boat glided without resistance. He gripped both sides and pushed himself up, getting his ass inside and then with a steadying pull from Duo's good hand, the rest of his body followed. Before Quatre even realized, he was digging into the water and pushing the boat forwards, Heero's sturdy thrusts from the end of the boat pistoned them forward to the wide open river and within moments they were soaring over water like a figure skater on ice.

 

“We're in Nichol, Alex, and Muller's boats, right?” Duo asked breaking the quiet after a while.

 

“Yes, Duo. They slashed ours to strand us.” Heero replied as if educating a two year old. Trowa nodded as well from the front seat in the other boat, which glided almost neck and neck with Heero and Quatre's.

 

“Now THEY are stranded.” Duo said, “They can't come after us. We have the bat and can head straight for camp now. We're, what, A Day's hard paddling away? We don't have to trek through the forest anymore. We can take the first shoot back to the main river and off we'll be. The three can't follow because they can't swim it.”

 

Wufei caught on to Duo's line of thought, “We're home free.” Wufei stroked Treize's hair, and wrapped himself around his sleeping lover gently. Heero smirked and grabbed Duo's braid, pulling him back to Heero's mouth and grinding their lips together in celebration.

 

Trowa smiled, and, taking a big breath, let loose a feral howl.

 

Quatre giggled, stopping his paddling to let the current take the boat for a bit. He felt a large hand tousle his hair from the side and found Trowa reaching across the river from his boat, almost crashing against Quatre's. A second later Trowa pushed off again with a warm smile. “Did anyone ELSE see Nichol go down?” Trowa baited the group. “Quatre nailed him! It was just WHAM and down he went. I was just about to be shot and then Nichol...” Trowa recited the tale, to everyone's amusement.

 

“You got the balls, all you need is the follow through, Blondie.” Duo said from behind him, “I saw you and if you woulda' meant it, ol Nichol wouldn't be getting back up. You need to learn to knock one without holding back. I'll have `ta... Heero! I can't use my arm, You teach him how to punch!” Duo ordered.

 

Quatre went pale, picturing Heero teaching, Heero's fist, Heero's fist flying towards him, “Uh... No thanks.”

 

The laughter sent birds up all around them this time.