Kracken
Disclaimer:I don't own them and I don't make any money off of this.
Warning:Male/male sex, graphic, language, violence, attempted NCS, torture
Burning Candles
Wolves
Heero sat shivering under a blanket, wet hair in his face, as Trowa steered the boat to a safe distance. "He didn't follow," Heero ground out. "He didn't have any intention of leaving."
"Hopefully, he was able to keep his cover," Trowa said as he glared at the radar and satellite sensors for any signs of pursuit.
"Cover," Heero said derisively, shivered even more. "They've been torturing him, Trowa. If this is an operations of Une's, then the stakes must be very high for Duo to allow himself to suffer that much. They were going to cut off his foot, Trowa, just to make a point! I think they did already and... micro sewed it back on."
"If you compromised his situation there, he may already be dead," Trowa told him, brutally honest.
Heero raked a hand through his wet hair and looked anguished. "This was the problem all along. Somehow, Une knew that I wouldn't be able to keep my mission detachment where Duo was concerned."
Trowa replied accusingly, "We are in this position now, because of that failure."
Heero eyed him, remembering the flight with Duo, remembering how Duo had taken charge and said... "Duo knew you were here. How is that possible?"
Trowa frowned sharply. His hands worked on the controls for a full minute and then he replied, "Because we spoke together before he was kidnaped."
"About what?" Heero wondered sharply.
Trowa licked nervous lips and then sighed in defeat. "Une always knew that you would go after Duo eventually. She knew that Revenant was trying to contact you and that it was possible that he would succeed. You also had Quatre's help and his contacts are extensive. It was my job to keep you occupied, to allow you to do low level infiltration and observation while the real mission was going on around us."
Heero was suddenly colder inside than he was outside. "I am the best agent she has, Trowa," he protested. "How did I earn this kind of treatment?"
Trowa grimaced and then admitted, "It was my decision, not hers. After talking to Duo, it was clear that you had something that was closer than a working relationship. You were two cogs in a wheel for a year and everyone was betting it would turn into something more, eventually."
Heero felt heat scald his face. "I don't understand. We barely worked together. How could anyone think that we-"
Trowa made an exasperated sound. "Heero! The man brought you breakfast and lunch every day. You trusted each other implicitly. If he was one second calling in late, you were on your cell phone and asking for his status. When he had the flu, you asked the head medic at headquarters to see him personally at home. You stood around waiting for him to show up, every day, so that you could say goodbye to him before you left for the day. I have many more examples. When I was asked by Une to evaluate your competence for the infiltration, I had the same concerns about Duo's ability to remain detached."
Heero was furious. "So, you and Une are restricting us to small cases?"
"Isn't that what you wanted?" Trowa reminded him.
Heero seethed, "This is different. This is a mission that requires people with our skills."
"My skills," Trowa told him. "It was supposed to be my mission. I was the one who was supposed to be kidnaped, not Duo. You both compromised this mission, Duo by dropping his guard and being kidnaped and you by trying to save him."
And he had tried to, Heero thought, even against Duo's silent warnings.
Heero sat back against the steel wall behind him and made the back of his head beat against it several times before he asked, "So, Duo went in blind?"
Trowa, surprisingly shook his head. "No. We did speak about it. He did know that I was in this area and using the ship that we've been monitoring to spy on the platform. I'm sure he was bright enough to put two and two together and I'm sure that he is trying to accomplish my mission. He signaled us a few days ago with al fuel slick and we've been getting low power surges from the platform's bay.
Trowa skewered Heero with stern eyes. "Now that you know," he said, "we can stop playing this game. You managed to fail at the only thing that I required your skill to accomplish, to set the monitoring devices under the platform. You saw that Duo was in danger and you did exactly what we all suspected that you would."
Heero closed his eyes, seeing the truth of that accusation with sudden, brutal clarity. "I didn't know how I felt about Duo," he admitted. "We were in a partnership that was comfortable. We... I was enjoying it, enjoying the routine. The day that he was kidnaped, I was going to go after him. I was going to ask him... I suddenly wanted more from him. I hadn't really sorted out what that was though."
His confession was met by a heavy sigh from Trowa. "Now that you understand," Trowa said, "you must also understand that I can't allow you to participate in this mission any longer?"
Heero nodded, feeling stunned, but inside he was having a stronger urge to tell Trowa and Une to go to hell, to grab the nearest boat and rescue Duo. Where had the soldier gone, the man who could turn his back on anyone and finish his mission? Where was the man who was willing to sacrifice everything? That young man had been left behind at the end of the war, he realized, and the man he was now had found his heart.
"Go below decks and talk to Quatre," Trowa told him. "I don't have to tell you that all of this is classified?"
Heero shook his head and stood on legs that felt very weak He did as he was
told, but he didn't call Quatre. He felt too sick, too betrayed, and too worried
about Duo. He couldn't face anyone just then with his failings.
_____________________________
Revenant gathered up Duo's braid and rubbed his thumb along the soft hair. "You don't seem to be making any progress."
Duo was stretched out over his console, men standing around him and looking as angry as Revenant. "Can't help that you gave me mental midgets for students," Duo grumbled. He sat up with an effort, but Revenant didn't let go of his braid."Whatever it is that lets Gundam pilots operate a zero system type device, you guys don't have it."
"My associate's men are nearly in place," Revenant told him. "With or without these men operating the devices, we will move against the government using them. The difference will be whether you live to see it or die in pieces."
The doctor moved up by Duo's elbow and Duo shuddered. Not his braid! he thought, fear gripping him, but he had suspected that Revenant had been saving it, wanting the emotional impact to count.
Instead of cutting it though, Revenant dragged him out of his chair by it. Duo stumbled and fell, but Revenant continued to drag him along the floor. "Chain him to this," he ordered his men, pointing to a docking ring. A long cable ran through it and along the bay floor, attaching each machine together to a power source. If the ring was disengaged, the cable would snake back into a recess and take Duo with it. Duo eyed the opening. There wasn't an inch of room to spare around the cable. He would die a very messy death.
"Now," Revenant told Duo after he was chained. "I'm going to give you one last chance to cooperate. These machines are fueled and ready for operation. If my men can't mentally control them, I will give the command to send these machines to my associate and you will not survive it."
Duo managed to look as sick at the prospect as he felt. Revenant jerked on
his hair and watched Duo's face.
"I know this means something to you," Revenant told him, "but
I'm saving it instead of cutting it off. If you fail, I intend to dip it in
your blood and send it to Une. " He said that with a sneer.
Revenant crouched by Duo and continued to hold his braid. He looked into Duo's eyes and Duo stared steadily back. "After everything, you still rebel. Amazing. What do you hope to gain? Everyone you are fighting for has left you to me, has left you to torture and death." He touched Duo's feet with his free hand, caressed the swollen flesh there, the obvious signs of violence. Then his fingers caressed up to Duo's ankles, touching one after the other. Duo held perfectly still as if he didn't care, but inwardly he was cringing. "You bait me and you mock me," Revenant continued, "You refuse to save yourself. I don't think you want to die. I think you want to goad me into making a mistake. I have yet to figure out what that mistake is. Even my associate hasn't been able to divine it."
"Guess it hasn't occurred to you that I might just be a masochist," Duo grinned at him fiercely.
Again, Revenant appraised him for a long moment and then he straightened, letting Duo's braid slide out of his hand. It fell at Duo's feet. "Bring the child here."
There was movement and men threw someone at Duo's feet. It was Jake, a large bruise purpling one cheek and his right eye almost swollen closed. He was wearing the same jumper as Duo and he was barefoot. Shivering, he came up on his knees and glared through his long, blonde hair at everyone. When his good eye fell on Duo, it raked over him, and then he sneered.
"Fucking idiot!" Jake said to Revenant contemptuously. "You think Mr. M is going to cave because you threaten to kill me? He thinks I'm a fucking cockroach. He'd like me dead so he could get my gang away from me. He wants to turn them all into goody goody orphans."
Revenant quirked an eyebrow and then he ordered, "Chain him to Agent Maxwell."
"Shit," Duo said under his breath, shaky and sick.
Revenant smiled then. "Willing to suffer anything, aren't we, Agent Maxwell?
But will you let one of your 'children' suffer your fate as well? This boy was
in many of your photos and always standing next to you. You may delude yourself
into thinking that I'm lying about killing the others, but... here he is...
and here he will die if you do not cooperate."
"You must be desperate," Duo shot back. "To go to this much trouble."
Revenant looked superior. "Not so much trouble. He made it easy by following one of my men. He made it as far as the coast. Very admirable."
Duo was astonished. "How the hell-?"
"I was coming for some payback!" Jake shouted furiously as jerked against his chains. "I wasn't coming after this loser!"
"Be that as it may," Revenant told him in distaste, "Your fate is the same. Agent Maxwell will train my men, now, or you and he will suffer the same punishment. You will be forced into that small opening over there when the docking cable retracts. I wonder how much of you will actually fit?"
Jake stared at the opening and went pale, even though he refused to look anything but fierce. "Fuck you!" was his only response.
Duo sighed. "So, we're giving up on that piece of crap test model and working with the real thing?" Revenant nodded. "And they're going to be tied down to this cable while we work?"
"Correct," Revenant confirmed. "You will never be trusted with the free operation of these machines."
"Okay..." Duo allowed himself to slump as he looked with bleak eyes at Revenant. "Bring them over here. I'll try one more time."
"Good," Revenant said and his relief was obvious despite his effort not to show it. Duo wondered if he were facing his own death penalty.
Revenant turned to order his men into position. Duo looked at Jake and Jake gave him only a hint of anguish before his eyes turned to steel again. Don't worry, Duo thought. Revenant just made the mistake I've been waiting for.
____________________________
Heero's hacked into the communications array of the Celestial Covenant while he was crouched in the narrow bathroom with his laptop on his lap. Trowa was still above, talking to the ship. Heero wasn't allowed to participate, or to know anything about what they were doing, and that ignorance went against the grain of everything that he had been taught. He had to know what they were doing, he had to know if his mistakes had caused Duo's death.
"-low level signals are still coming from the platform, but they could
be on automatic," Trowa was saying. The words sped across the screen, unscrambled
expertly by Heero's program.
"We need to move in," a Captain Renald replied. "Une's trust
in Maxwell's ability to figure out his mission on the fly disturbs me greatly,
I'm sure you know, that I'm in favor of a full scotched Earth strike. We'll
sort out the bodies after we take out their ability to attack."
Trowa's scorn was clear even in typed words. "There are high level officials involved in this. We know two of them. The third one, the leader, may have gone to the platform with the last batch of workers. We have to give Duo an ample chance to identify him and to, hopefully, find out their plans. He should be able to give a signal, unless he's dead, for us to move in. I intend to give him every opportunity to do just that. From what Yuy's told me, he's suffered torture and is aware of his mission there. This is not guesswork any longer. Duo is a Gundam Pilot. If it can be done, he will do it."
Renald still seemed skeptical. "Gundam pilots are not invincible, Barton. Put yourself in his place. What are the chances that you would have accomplished the mission?'
"I don't know ," Trowa replied, "but I'm not Duo. He's always been the strongest when it came to hardship and imprisonment. I never worried, during the war, that he would find his way free somehow."
"What about Yuy?" Captain Renald asked.
"He's a good soldier. He does what he's ordered to," Trowa replied, but then he paused and added thoughtfully, "Which is why it amazed me that he decided to search for Duo. Une had told him to stay out of the case." Another pause. "I think I should check on him. I'll call again in an hour."
"Roger and out," The Captain said and logged off.
Heero was already out of the bathroom, logged off his laptop, and lying on his bunk before Trowa appeared in the doorway. He had kept the laptop at his side and he simply stared at the ceiling. Trowa leaned against the doorway, arms crossed over his chest.
"A laptop is cold company." Trowa said. When Heero frowned, not looking at him, he sighed. "You love him."
Heero did look at him then, sharply.
Trowa quirked an eyebrow. "You were always worrying about that idiot during the war. Now you're breaking all the rules, and your training, to chase after him. You're about to go and rescue him again, aren't you?"
"No," Heero replied.
Trowa snorted. "You are a terrible liar, even when the lie is only one
word. Your eyes have always given you away."
"Are you going to confine me?" Heero wondered, not bothering to try
to lie again.
"Do you think that I can?" Trowa wondered. Heero's glare was his answer. Trowa chuckled, but it was a dark sound. "You are going to be the death of me, I think, but I, above anyone else, should know about love and what lengths I would go to to save Quatre."
"What do you intend to do?" Heero asked as he sat up.
"Go with you, of course," Trowa replied as he left the doorway and began going through a weapons locker. "I have to make sure you don't screw up this mission." He pointed a rifle barrel at Heero's head and glared. "You'll save Duo on my terms, Yuy. People aren't going to die because of your love, understand?"
"Yes," Heero replied, nodding stiffly once.
Trowa tilted the barrel up and shook his head. "After this, you might as well say goodbye to ever being anything above a detective. Your career in ops ends here."
Heero thought about that for a long moment and then he replied truthfully, "I think that's what I want, Trowa. I think it's what Duo wanted as well. We're tired of fighting."
Trowa looked sympathetic, but he said, "It's all I've known. I can't imagine living any other way."
"Then please be the one to be kidnaped next time," Heero told him angrily as he stood and began putting on his gear.
Trowa snorted in grim humor, but Heero was thinking about Trowa's words. Love. A permanent, low level job. No more missions. No more worrying about the end of the world. Just nine to five and.... Duo at the end of the day. The warmth he felt at the thought of that shocked him. Duo, not leaving and going his separate way, but Duo coming with him, going home with him; taking their comfortable routine into their personal life. Heero suddenly wanted that more than anything else.
"Yuy!" Trowa snapped. Heero looked at him, startled, and Trowa said angrily, "Focus!"
Heero nodded, took a deep breath, and tried to find his 'mission mode', tried to find that place within him that wasn't filled with his panic for Duo, the place within him that would follow Trowa's orders and not get them all killed.
TBC
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