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Disclaimer: Gundam Wing is not mine. Go blow yourselves.
Duo just barely managed to hit the arm away from him, then dodged the second bullet and continued rolling beyond what was
necessary. He felt a tiny shake in the earth from when Fake Trowa hit where he would have stopped.
Okay. He was getting the hang of this. He pulled himself to his hands and feet and prepared to grab the enemy that would be
advancing on him at this instant – and felt his right arm momentarily give out beneath him.
Fake Quatre landed his knee squarely in Duo's face.
The American flew backgrounds and slammed headfirst into a sapling. He moved blindly, blanking the pain from his conscious,
prepared for an attack on where he'd landed – Baldy kicked him back, and Fake Duo grabbed his arms and pulled him up.
Duo managed to wriggle out of his clone's arms and twisted around.
The three men swarmed around him, leaving Diana alone, deciding to take him on instead. The blond watched in fear, but it
was better than lying dead.
Shit. He had to end this somehow.
He guessed that there were about three bullets left in the gun he held, and the others had all managed to reload theirs. He
was outnumbered and outmatched. And Diana was counting on him.
Duo gritted his teeth. Somehow, somehow, he had to do this.
The three in front of him moved as a unit, separating. One went left, another right. The one in the middle, the one that was
a remake of Quatre – the brunette – came charging straight at him.
He saw Fake Trowa do a dancing leap to fly on top of him and moved swiftly to the right, evading the blow. In an instant,
Fake Quatre was there to meet him. Duo threw his hands out to block the attack and skidded back from the force of the blow.
Only luck kept him on his feet.
The Fake Quatre hit him again, this time a side kick, and he just barely managed to block with his bad arm before he was sailing
over to his own DNA copy. His bad arm burned as he moved it again, dropping to the ground and using both arms as a launchpad.
He evaded his copy's blow-
And got hit in the back by Baldy, which threw him right back into his copy and Fake Quatre.
Both of them grabbed an arm and turned him around to face Baldy. He struggled in their grasp, but both held him securely.
Fake Trowa walked up to him and roughly grabbed his chin.
“You were a worthy opponent,” the bald one told him softly. For an instant, the voice matched the real Trowa's.
Duo's heart skipped a painful beat.
Then Baldy's arm chopped toward his neck.
<::>
Wufei found it difficult to alter his fighting style in the middle of a battle and sported bruises for his mistakes. His enemy
was fast, strong, and skilled. And anti-social.
Wufei grinned. This plan was insane. It could definitely work.
“Hey, you,” Wufei spoke up suddenly, and the man paused. Wufei thought back to the annoying conversation he'd
once had to endure from Duo. “Why are vampires afraid of garlic?”
The man stopped dead. His brows furrowed. Finally, just as it had with his counterpart, the first emotion ever witnessed crossed
the boy's face. And that emotion was confusion.
“Why garlic?” Wufei continued, a smirk on his lips. Duo had begun the conversation when Wufei and Heero had been
accompanying him on a search-and-destroy mission. Apparently, Duo had gotten sick of their stoic attitudes and had momentarily
snapped. “Why not beats, or onions, or potatoes?”
The brows furrowed a bit more. The lips parted. “What the hell are you-”
Wufei's kick connected squarely with his enemy's jaw.
<::>
Point three, form one. Heero dodged to the left and again dodged another sword strike. He hopped to the left when he would
have turned right. A graceful twist from him and a halting step from his enemy gave Heero and opening shot. He took it without
faltering.
The enemy didn't even grunt, but used the force of the bullet to twist himself around. Heero, taken by surprise, merely saw
the sword swinging back towards him.
<::>
Duo snapped his head down on the hand so fast he felt his brain rattle. He smirked at the bald Fake Trowa, a Shinigami smile.
It vanished when Baldy pulled out his gun.
<::>
BAM!!!
The shot seemed to echo in Heero's mind, and a foreboding settled inside of him. He had managed to dodge his enemy's attack
with only his short the worse for wear, then had managed to catch his leg. A tug of war had begun and then-
His heart didn't seem to be beating too well.
“Come! We've gotten what we came for!” Heero heard someone call. Diana's screams accompanied the proclamation.
Suddenly Heero understood. The gunshot. Duo.
His enemy slashed his sword at him, and he was forced to let go to escape the attack. In an instant his enemy had leapt away.
Heero fired a shot more to keep him away than anything else. He heard Wufei shoot, as well, and then a silence that pervaded
his soul.
“Status?” he called out.
“Safe. One captured; not in danger,” Wufei immediately reported. Nothing came from Duo.
“Duo?” he called out.
“Your ally is dead, just as you will be!” Heero turned to the voice, seeing the man from the earlier attack raise
his gun at him. Like lightning, Heero raised his own.
Bam!
The triggers were pulled as one. The bullets hit each other in midair and spun uselessly off into the distance.
Wufei shot his own gun, and the man dodged. His leg bled where Wufei had shot him earlier, but he stood on it with no problem.
Heero recognized it as part of his own training.
The man was outnumbered with the two of them there, especially injured and with the new knowledge they had. Heero knew they
would be able to take him. He launched himself forward.
“Oh-two has been eliminated. My mission is complete.”
Heero halted, recognizing the words. Oh-two – 02 – Duo. Mission complete – his survival wasn't necessary
anymore.
“Do you want to die here?” he demanded, stopping his own attack.
The man made no movement. Heero knew what he was thinking.
“It doesn't matter that your mission is over. Do you want to die?”
“I want to kill you first,” the man growled.
Wufei snorted. “That will never happen.”
“We have already eliminated one of you.”
“No!” Heero snapped. “Duo is not dead!”
“Then how did we retrieve the woman?” the man challenged.
Heero breath stopped in his lungs. Duo would never have let the enemy take Diana. He would have protected her, just as he
always did. He always protected...
“NO!!!” Heero shook his head adamantly. It couldn't be true!
The man before him grunted. “You fall prey to your emotions,” he said, and in response Wufei simply pressed his
gun against the man's other leg. The man couldn't dodge in time, but he took the assault without a murmur.
Heero hardly noticed the newest gun blast. “Damn you, emotions are the only things we have!” And he turned and
ran towards where he'd heard Diana's screams.
The forest looked abused. Gunshots had ripped the clearing to shreds. Bushes were ripped apart, trees scratched and bare.
The ground was torn up, as if someone dug around and then dumped the grass and dirt haphazardly back onto the ground.
Someone wasn't going to be happy when they returned to their “summer home.”
If a cavalry had rampaged though hear, the place couldn't be any more messed up. There were even a couple bodies lying on
the ground.
And off to his right lay one dormant body in particular that coated the dirt with his blood. The braid coiled around him like
a serpent.
“Duo...” Heero breathed. He ran up to Duo's torn body. He checked for spinal injuries, then carefully turned Duo
over.
He was a mess. There was a large scrape on the right side of his head that gushed blood. His wounded arm was also bleeding,
as were numerous cuts and scrapes. Bruises were starting to form around the rest of his body.
The bullet that had obviously been aimed for his head had only taken a glancing blow. He seemed to be breathing. “Duo?”
Heero shook him lightly, always careful of his injuries. “Duo, wake up. Duo! Duo, you have to wake up. You have to get
up! Duo!”
A tiny groan took Heero's rising panic and metamorphosed it into weak-kneed thankfulness. “Duo, come on, wake up now.”
“Heero...”
“That's right,” Heero sighed, “it's me.”
Duo's eyes fluttered open, squinting in pain. The braided boy grimaced. “I couldn't... stop them... NO!” He snapped
up. “Diana!”
Heero gently pushed him back down. “Duo, you have to stay down. You're injured.”
Duo winced and touched the side of his head, where the blood still oozed from the wound. He grimaced. “I should be dead...”
Then his eyes widened. “Diana. She came... she shoved away the gun.” Duo's eyes held a pain beyond Heero's knowledge.
“She saved my life.”
Heero merely squatted there, his heart hammering. He had almost lost Duo and he hadn't even known it. Good Lord.
“Heero?”
Heero shivered and focused back on Duo. “We have to get you to a hospital.”
“No,” Duo said, then sat up. Heero hovered beside him and opened his mouth to argue. “No!” Duo held
his head carefully, but his words were strong. “We have to save Diana. She's in danger. Apparently, a guy named Jocker
is going to rape her and leave her for the birds.”
Heero homed in on the information. “Jocker?”
Duo nodded his head, then winced. “I think that's what he said.” Duo looked back up to Heero. “We are way
over our heads, Heero. And I think we should share our information, for once.”
Heero began to reply, but Wufei's irritated voice stopped him.
“Back-up!”
Without thought, both Heero and Duo responded to the distress call, racing back to Wufei's position. Heero heard Duo stumble
slightly, but he forced himself to push on.
When they arrived, Heero met with only Wufei's form. The Chinese Preventor looked both pissed and humiliated at the same time.
“He escaped?” Heero escaped.
“Towards two o'clock and damned fast.”
Heero cursed. “We need to find out where they're located.”
Duo spoke up then, though it was hard to hear him, his voice was so soft. “I think I can help with that.”
Wufei cocked an eyebrow. “You?” Heero sensed Wufei's tension bleed out despite his words, however, once
he saw Duo standing and talking.
“Oh, witty,” was Duo's comeback. He began traipsing back the way he had come. Heero and Wufei had no choice but
to follow.
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