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Disclaimer: Gundam Wing is not mine. Duh.
Sector H, when Heero and I entered, had already seen its share of destruction. It was easy to see which direction Wufei and
the others took. Some soldiers were trying to help their comrades. Some attempted to shoot us, but some ran. One, I remembered,
looked at me defiantly. I smirked and tilted my head up, but I didn't shoot him. His gun was in its holster. He wasn't a threat.
Disturbingly, I saw that Wufei and Trowa and Quatre could still be efficient. I felt bad, again, for bringing them into this.
It took us about ten minutes to catch up to them, to see them fighting off another horde of baddies. Where the hell did Harlow
and all them manage to find these people? Heero and I quickly took cover, Heero with Wufei, me alone by a busted building.
The sign, laying in pieces on the ground, seemed to be advertising a firm. I almost laughed.
Then I tossed a grenade.
As usual, screams accompanied the explosion. I was down to only three more. I had to be careful now. Had to plan them out.
I turned and studied everyone while I could. Wufei still seemed fine, but Trowa must have also taken a hit, because he was
favoring his right leg slightly. And because Quatre was casting concerned glances to Trowa every ten seconds.
Heero zipped over to Quatre and Trowa, and I left it to him to take care of them. Wufei was clipping in a new magazine. He
caught my eye and quirked an eyebrow. I grinned unrepentantly. He just shook his head.
“Duo, we're ready to move out.” Heero came up to me. “It seems we've cleared this level. We're going to
Section 3 now.”
I nodded. “All right.” Only three more sections to go, then we would finally be in a position to meet up with
Harlow.
But four of us were already injured.
I cast a worried glance toward Quatre and Trowa. They weren't even supposed to have gotten involved, and now, after seeing
me for the first time in three years, they enter into this shit. My fault. Mine.
“It was merely a glancing blow, pretty slight. He'll be fine.”
I turned to Heero, then looked away. “Have I said yet that I'm sorry I got you all involved in this?”
Heero seemed stunned. He rocked back on his heels, silent. I wasn't brave enough to look at his face to see for sure.
“I'm actually quite happy we got involved.”
I looked at him in shocked disbelief. “What?” A stupid question; it was obvious that I'd heard him.
“If we hadn't, I may have never seen you again.”
His eyes flickered with some pain, even as he smiled in obvious happiness. I couldn't understand it, because my heart was
too busy misunderstanding it. I finally turned away, uncomfortable with the hope. It was getting in the way of the
mission.
Wufei headed forward then, breaking up our little conversation. Trowa and Quatre went then. Heero and I fell in behind them.
We knew we entered the next sector only because the place hadn't been utterly decimated yet. So far things were silent.
Smarter. These enemies were smarter.
“Shit,” I murmured, quiet as a shadow.
Heero just flashed a small, quick little smile in response.
It shouldn't have made my heart trip.
What the hell, I wondered, was with him? He wanted me around, but then he would say such things as, “are you mocking
us?” Bastard! What was with him? Sometimes I felt like we were, if not getting closer, then at least learning about
one another. Did he really think me capable of such a thing? And after I'd immediately dismissed the idea of he and Wufei
trying to manipulate me...
Dammit! I was pissed again.
I was the first to react when another group of enemies showed up, but it might have been because I'd been looking around for
something to focus on instead of maintaining my anger. It gave me a quick release.
Then another group came, and another. Quatre almost took a hit, but Trowa and I shot the wannabe hitman. Trowa glowered at
me as we moved out.
Then we were at the entrance to H-4. Moving right fucking up.
Before entering, we took a well-deserved rest in an abandoned building to the right of the entrance.
Trowa and Heero sat down, letting their injured legs stretch before them. I sat, as well, clutching my side. My shirt was
wet. Dammit.
Heero caught sight of my injury and grimaced. I pointedly turned away.
Wufei, the only one unharmed, was checking Quatre's injured arm, gently dabbing at it and all-in-all trying to care for it
the best he could. Trowa, I saw, watched, but with no apprehension.
I sat in a corner, trying my best to blend in as much as possible. My arm and side were railing at me. I just leaned my head
back and let them whine. They would be put back to work again pretty soon.
“We should continue,” Wufei said finally, patting Quatre's arm softly. Quatre nodded, even as he stood and moved
beside Trowa. He silently slid down the wall. I watched with envy burning in my gut as I watched. They did that silent-communication
thing, Trowa's brows down in a slight V. Worried. Quatre smiled at him.
Are you all right?
I'm fine, love. Don't worry.
I turned away. Okay – that hurt. I rubbed my chest absently, just barely seeing Heero looking at me. I let my hand drop.
“I agree,” Heero said, turning to Wufei. “If we turn back to resupply, we may have to cut through more enemies.
We want to keep them running.”
“More,” I pointed out, “the sooner this shit is over, the sooner we're done.” And the sooner some
of us could get medical attention. I kept my eyes carefully away from Quatre.
Wufei nodded. “Exactly.” He, too, took the chance to sit, but in eyesight of outside the building. It would be
just like one of Harlow's troops to show up and try to take us down while we rested. “We'll want to continue on soon.”
“Hn.”
Three guesses as to who said that, and two didn't count.
I smiled slightly at the sound. It was... familiar. Not even knowing what I was doing, I spoke.
“Geez, Heero, such a blabbermouth. Give someone else the chance to speak.”
There was a silence then, immediate and, to me, tense.
Then Quatre burst out laughing.
“Oh, Duo,” he said when he could breathe again, wiping his eye, “I've missed you.”
I turned to him, ignoring Trowa's dirty look. This was Quatre I was speaking to, not Trowa. Quatre, my one friend during the
war, the one who knew me inside and out. The one I hadn't been able to hide from. “And I you.”
Quatre beamed at me. Here was someone who knew exactly why I had exiled myself. Here was the one person who understood...
me.
This time it was Trowa who stood. “Let's get moving,” he said tersely.
Quatre looked at his lover with a frown. Without a word, he stood as well, sending a glance to me. I just shrugged for his
benefit and stood. Heero was already up and moving beside Wufei to speak privately. Wufei's eyes shot to me. I sighed in resignation.
Finally we got moving again, encountering no one before crossing into H-4. There was no squadron waiting for us. There wasn't
even a sign of people nearby.
Ambush? Or...
Heero and Wufei shared a look, then turned to us. Two right, three left. Don't bother guessing the groups.
I nodded, then silently unclipped a grenade and held it out. Wufei frowned, but Heero understood. Wordlessly he accepted it.
Good. They had power, then.
Then, to my utter horror, I heard the familiar sound of whirring gears and ground-shaking thumps.
A mobile suit.
No wonder the place was deserted.
“Shit,” I hissed.
“Split up!” Wufei shouted. I dodged to the right, vaguely following my comrades movements – Heero went left,
Wufei left and up, Trowa and Quatre to the upper right.
And then hell broke loose.
I dove for cover as the suit opened fire. I covered my head as dust flew. I saw the enemy turn to me and felt my heart pick
up to race, beating painfully against my breast. I ran from my cover just as it was blown to bits. The shooting continued
without pause, following me, practically shooting off my toes-
I saw Heero racing out from his position, even as Wufei tried to stop him.
Heero was putting himself in danger again.
I instantly let Shinigami take over, let him take the reins and do whatever it took. Just like always.
Two grenades. Two legs. I raced toward the mobile suit, zig-zagging to try to decrease the chance of being hit. Heero saw
my change and altered his movement of well – he would take down the arm.
I leapt through the legs even as the suit tried to turn. I wouldn't let it stop me.
I snatched a grenade and bit out the pin, throwing it unerringly for the target. Before it even had the chance to hit, the
second was in my hand and de-pinned, as well. I threw that just as the first exploded.
I covered my eyes and ran forward, watching the suit fall. Heero ran to the side and launched his own grenade at the firing
arm of the suit. A Leo, I realized now, allowing myself to accept unnecessary images. A Leo mobile suit.
Then I was charging forward, leaping on top of the Leo and jumping down to the cockpit. I didn't bother trying any fucking
password, but shot the hell out of the console. It didn't open – the man was trapped inside. I shot a couple rounds
before giving up – the metal was just a bit too thick. He would have to wait.
We had to escape, just in case there were more.
Wufei had come to that same conclusion. “Move out!” he shouted, waving me to come join them. I jumped away from
the cockpit and hurried past him, letting him take the rear. “Good job, Maxwell,” he huffed.
“Of course,” I retorted. Vaguely I realized that my side was screaming in agony. Let alone my arm. Complain
later, I thought coldly. We still had a ways to go.
“A mobile suit,” Wufei muttered.
“And we still have to get through this section, then another one.”
“How many do you suppose he has?”
“Dunno. I'd known he had the parts, but I didn't know he had an actual product.”
Wufei hissed. “So he could have either one or one thousand.”
I thought about it for a minute. “No – I think he could have up to three.”
Wufei hissed. “That's two too many.”
I hummed an affirmative and informed the rest of the group. “Hey, guys – based on the amount of metal I'd caught
Harlow sneaking in these past few years, he could have two more suits.”
Heero cursed.
“All right,” Quatre said calmly. “We don't want to enter another battle with them, especially since we have
no more grenades. We should split up and meet at the gate to Section 5. Shoot if you're in danger.”
We nodded, then turned to leave in one-man teams.
And I was on my own.
The worry came to the surface as soon as I could no longer see the others. I couldn't help it; I'd just now seen them again
for the first time in three years, and here they were, in danger because of me. I could never allow myself to forget that
I had gotten those important to me in danger. My fault. Mine.
Of course, one of them hated me, another two meant the best and managed the worst. But still, it didn't change the fact that
I cared for them all. Yes, I'd distanced myself from them, but... I'd seriously thought that they would never want to be near
me. Only Quatre... and, though I'd hurt Quatre – Quatre and Hilde – Quatre had understood. I needed space.
I needed time. I needed me, whoever I may be.
But still... to leave them all for so long... that was bad enough. Unforgivable enough, that I'd turned away from them just
as they'd turned from me, and in doing so had hurt them just as I'd been hurt. That... that alone was bad enough.
But now... after three years of enforced separation, I meet them again. And how do we meet? Not in a restaurant, or a coffeeshop,
or even a bookstore. I had often feared going to such places, wondering if I would have the mischance of meeting with any
of my old comrades. No, it hadn't been in any random place – Taco Bell, for instance, or even on a bust. No.
It was now, while chasing my greatest challenge and most dangerous foe. I had led my old comrades, whom I have not even spoken
to in years, into hell. And why? Because I'd been too weak to stop Harlow on my own. Now Quatre and Heero and Trowa were hurt
when they needn't be. Quatre, in particular, should never have seen such danger again.
My fault.
It was with more resignation than surprise that I heard crushing footsteps coming my way. The cover in this section was sparse
and crude, already destroyed. Buildings, dilapidated at best, with no car that wasn't crushed. The men in the suits had gotten
bored.
Still, there was a wall of brick left over from their roughhousing, and I used it as cover. The mobile suit had most likely
seen me. Vaguely I thought about sending up a shot, but I quickly rejected the idea. Heero had a tendency to throw himself
into situations whenever he thought me in danger. I wondered idly how he would react if I were Wufei.
Then I grimaced.
Okay. I had to fight alone, because that's how I fucking wanted it. I couldn't think of shooting off rounds and... and having
them come and save me. So it had to be quick.
How the fuck could I be quick when I was armed with two automatics and up against a goddamn Leo? It wasn't possible. It was
hardly possible to win.
I debated with myself for a long time, wondering just what the fuck I should do. Die? I wasn't particular to that ending,
though it would solve a number of problems. Fight alone? Yeah, most likely the best option. After all, five people with automatics
was little better than one. It would just mean that the enemy would just be trying to stomp on five ants instead of one. Very
little help.
So. Go it alone? And most likely die.
I grinned.
As the enemy came up to my hiding spot, I slipped around the side. Yup, it was a Leo all right, and it was looking at the
wall like it was bubble wrap – you just couldn't help but step on the shit. Yeah. I was hip-deep.
I leapt out as the foot descended to crush the wall, racing behind the machine. The same tactic, only different weapons. And
because I had nothing but my automatic, I was screwed.
I jumped on the foot of the Leo and hung like a fool while the suit turned to try to find me. Good – he hadn't seen
my destination. That made this a bit easier. I climbed up the leg while he searched futilely to find me. I was to his waist
when he apparently decided that, if he couldn't find me, I must have hidden. He pulled his assault rifle out and began shooting
the hell out of any remaining cover.
Shit. That would definitely attract attention.
I quickly raced up the suit and grabbed at the joint at the waist. The sound of the gun firing was almost deafening. Worse,
my arm and side were absolutely splitting. I levered myself over, around him, until I faced the front. Behold the cockpit.
Now was where things got sticky. Last time I hadn't been able to shoot through the cockpit's hatch, which had been okay because
Heero had disabled the weapon. Here, the weapon was still very much in use. This guy could still kill me, even if he was trapped
in the machine. That would be extemely counter-productive.
No, here I had to be cruel. I had to hack into the cockpit's system, lock the man inside, and then... turn off the support
system. Hacking it open wasn't possible – machines didn't allow anyone to break in if someone with the correct password
was inside. And turning off the support system was only possible if you were a number one hacker. I was. This guy would die
slowly from suffocation.
I apologized to the air as I began hacking.
Of course the man knew immediately that something was wrong, but it took him a blessed minute to realize I was the reason.
Then he hilariously tried to turn the gun around and shoot me before he realized that, one, that was impossible, and two,
that would also mean his death.
Then, hilariously, he began opening the hatch.
I stopped my hacking and turned to the side, pulling out my pistol. The hatch opened, and the man blindly fired. Once, twice.
A pause.
I twisted in and shot the man full in the face.
Without a sound, he fell back into the cockpit.
I bent inside to drag the body out, trying not to think too hard about the number of people I'd killed today. I had a hand
around his shoulder when I heard someone shout my name.
“Duo!”
It was Heero. Of course it was. I recognized the voice immediately – and the blind panic in it. I turned to see what
he wanted.
And came face to nozzle with the third Leo's assault rifle.
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