Disclaimer: I don't own them and I don't make any money off of them.
Warnings: Male/Male sex, graphic, language, violence,past NCS.
Kracken
Disclaimer:I don't own them and I don't make any money off of this.
Warning:Male/male sex, graphic, violence,language, NCS flashbacks.
Shinigami's Lover III
Sequel to Obstacles
Firefight
"What's going on?" Kit asked in alarm as Duo ducked into their office and began pulling out equipment from a tall locker.
"Mission," Duo said shortly, his mind already slipping into 'soldier mode'.
"Where are we going?" Kit wondered. "What's with the military lingo? We're Preventer agents. We don't go on 'missions'."
Duo paused, Soda dancing nervously at his feet. "This is a special assignment, Kit. Po gave me orders to go because of my special talents. This won't be a policing or investigative action."
Kit frowned and crossed her arms over her chest. "Guess this is the 'stay home and clean your gun', speech, right?"
"Yeah, sorry, Kit," Duo replied uncomfortably.
"I trained for heavy action," Kit grumbled as she sat in her chair, sullen.
Duo was eager to go, but he paused long enough to say, "You're the best, Kit, you know that. You were at the top of our class. This is different, though."
"How different?" Kit wondered. When Duo shrugged evasively she exclaimed, "You don't even know what the 'mission' is? How do you know I couldn't do it?"
Duo bent and strapped on Soda's jacket. "Kit, I do know what the mission is," he said quietly. "You have to understand, that when Po is concerned enough about an operation to call in Wu Fei, me, AND Heero, it's not going to be a walk in the park. She knows what kind of fire power she's asking for."
"Heero?" Kit was stunned. "How the hell could she want him to go? She knows he's not recovered! How can you let her do that?"
Duo froze and then finished tightening a buckle before he straightened. He knew better than to discuss mission details with anyone not in on the assignment. Duo felt bad about that. Kit was his partner and he knew that he could trust her, but training went deeper than trust. He said, hoping that she would understand and drop any more arguments, "I don't own Heero. I can't tell him what to do. It's up to him. Sally says this is important. Heero says he's going. All I can do is go along and make sure he doesn't get hurt while making sure we kick the bad guy's ass."
Kit shook her head sharply. "He was only supposed to file papers and talk to people, Duo! This isn't right!"
"Sally needs us," Duo told her, not able to help an impatient sharpness to his tone. "The people need us. We've always been there, sacrificing our lives, to answer that call. It's not going to be any different now, even though Heero is hurt and still healing. That's just who we are. It's what made us Gundam pilots to begin with."
Kit swallowed hard and Duo saw her give up the fight and replace it with sympathy and respect. "A lot of people are glad that you are that dedicated, Duo. Life would be a lot different if Oz and the rebels had been allowed to carry out their plans."
"I have to go," Duo said, but turned at the door to look at her. "Do you understand, Kit? You're the best at what you do, and I wouldn't want anyone else as a partner, but-"
"Liar!" Kit snorted and smiled ruefully. "You'd replace me with Heero or Wu Fei in a heart beat and you know it." Her smile faltered and she looked pensive. "Guess you already have."
"Kit, that's not true!" Duo retorted. "This is one mission!"
"Stop with the guilt trip!" Kit told him. "I can find someone else, Duo, so don't hold yourself back worrying about me. Maybe I'm not good at high level military operations, but I'm one hell of a Preventer agent. I won't be hurting."
Duo made an exasperated sound. "We'll talk when I get back, Kit. I am NOT getting rid of you as my partner. Besides, we are in the middle of an assignment. I expect you to be working on it while I'm gone and to have some solid information for me by the time I get back."
"Will do," Kit replied. She waved at him as she turned to a stack of work on her desk. "Get out of here before they take off without you." She flicked eyes at him and told him sternly, "Stay safe, you here?"
Duo smiled. "I will. Later, partner."
Duo ducked out of the office at a trot with Soda pacing easily beside him. He wasn't sure why Kit was thinking such things, why she was so sure that this mission was going to take him out of regular Preventer channels for good. It's not really what he wanted. He was done with wars and living on the edge. Being an agent gave him the chance to use his talents in a more nonviolent fashion. Actual confrontations were few and far between and on a small scale. No one expected him to lay waste to entire areas and kill hundreds of people and he wanted to keep it that way. Then why was he running towards that very thing and feeling a very familiar adrenaline rush at the prospect of seeing action?
"Shut up!" Duo snarled at his inner thoughts and a man passing him
by gave him a startled look. "Psychoanalyze yourself later," Duo muttered.
"Heero needs you now with your head screwed on straight."
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Sitting on the transport, strapped into jump seats and Soda secured at his feet,
Duo watched Heero, exchanged looks with Wu Fei, and made a silent pact with
the man. They were both going to make sure that Heero didn't see any action.
Heero was oblivious. He had a computer screen next to his seat and he was going over aspects of the mission, his mind probably working on many scenarios. The troops in the belly of the transport were lucky to have that kind of expertise, Duo thought, and he didn't begrudge it to them. He wasn't going to endanger them either, though, or Heero, by allowing the man to do what he wasn't capable of.
"Damn, that's well hidden," one of the pilot's swore. "The touch down point is almost impossible to see. Can you give me coordinates so that I know how much of an area I have to land in, Yuy?"
Duo knew that Heero had a special coded file that he used to store information. He watched Heero frown, falter, and try to remember the password. Duo could see his acute pain and his rising frustration. Heero suddenly glanced at Duo, they met eyes, and then Heero smiled and put in the code, 'braid' and a string of complex numbers. When he gave the pilot the coordinates, Duo tried not to sigh in relief, even though he knew it couldn't be heard over the loud transport. He could see, though, that the brief lapse had rattled Heero. The man was moving slower now, picking his way through computer screens as if rechecking his work.
Duo pulled out his gun and checked the clip, saying loudly, "When Wu Fei reaches the weapons bay, alert me immediately. I'm going to gas the room and knock out as many people as I can. I'll need to know when to reverse ventilation so that he can enter with his men."
Heero twitched. Duo had changed the plan, but from his vantage Duo had spotted on Heero's screen, a schematic for a fire suppression system that relied on suffocating the fire. If the auto and manual overrides were shut off, then whoever was in the affected area would be trapped in an airless room. Duo's part of the plan was to reach operations and disable systems. It wouldn't be difficult to patch into emergency systems from there.
Heero struggled to make Duo's new plan dovetail with the old one. It took him almost too long to finally nod. "Acknowledged," he said simply and his voice was tight with nerves.
"Heero!" Duo called and Heero looked at him as the transport settled on the ground with a shudder. Duo grinned at him, the grin of a soldier ready to kill, die, and triumph any way he could. "Love you!"
Wu Fei made an exasperated sound as he unstrapped from his seat and grabbed his gear. Heero looked serious and started to say, "I don't know if I can do-"
"I trust you," Duo retorted, cutting him off. He unstrapped himself and Soda, shouldered a short barreled pulse rifle, and then said intensely. "I don't trust anyone else to coordinate the operation, Heero. Got that? If I hear someone else giving me orders, I'm going to wing it. Nobody knows more about this than you, okay? Just stay here and make sure that Wu Fei, me, and the rest of the guys get out of this with our skins intact."
Duo grabbed Heero by the shoulder and pulled him in for a quick, burning, kiss. He pushed Heero back into his seat a moment later and then jerked his chin at Wu Fei to indicate that he should open the transport doors. "Time to dance," he said through a vicious grin.
Wu Fei nodded, face grim, but eyes sparkling with an adrenalin rush of excitement as he punched a panel and the doors opened with a whoosh of freezing air. Duo snagged his com unit attached to his collar.
"Testing, testing," he said quickly and heard Wu Fei do the same.
"Online," Heero reported and then checked a panel. "Troops disembarking."
Duo clapped Wu Fei on the shoulder and then they both trotted down the ramp, with Soda, into a forest clearing wet with freezing morning dew. Their feet touched on old asphalt, broken up with growth and they could see the top of the underground installation before them, shrouded in mist and trees, pumping steam from air units, and camouflaged expertly. If Heero hadn't told them it was there, they would never have spotted the place.
"Somebody's home," Duo said unnecessarily. If the air units were working then someone was inside making use of the facility.
"Unit B!" Wu Fei barked aloud and on his com unit. "Form up and move out!" He slogged through the wet growth to reach where they were gathering.
The transport belched hot, exhaust, as it idled and Duo wrinkled his nose at the smell of fuel fumes as he called into his own com, "Unit A, form up! Captain Geiger! Move 'em out!"
"Yes, sir!" The reply came and Duo watched as the men followed their commander. When they were away, he checked his weapons once more and then headed off to implement his part of the operation. Wu Fei still carried out military maneuvers on a regular basis, but Duo had never been one to work in a group or to command anyone. He knew where his expertise lay and his strength was working alone.
"Love you," Heero said over the link in a secure mode.
Duo laughed and headed for the installation. at a run.
Soda was invaluable. His ears and nose picked up guards quickly. Duo avoided them, but, when it came to entering the installation itself, he knew direct confrontation was the only way. Two ways in, a weapons bay and the main doors. Duo wasn't surprised to find his own way guarded. Soda made a silent, crouching motion and Duo crouched as well when he heard an irritated voice.
"I'm telling you! I heard a plane!"
"Yeah, yeah, but who cares?" Another voiced groused. "They can't spot us from the air, so quit your worrying."
"I dunno," the first voice retorted suspiciously. "That didn't
sound like it was just going over. I'm going to radio the boss."
"Jeez!" The second man snarled. "You keep bothering him with
this crap and he'll have you cleaning toilets in no time! They have radar! They
would know if a gnat came too close."
Unless they had radar suppression technology, Duo chuckled evilly to himself. You should have listened to Mr. Nervous.
Duo keyed a knock out bomb with his thumb, waited a few moments, and then lobbed it unerringly towards the two voices. He heard it bounce off of something metallic and skitter. Wincing, he waited as outraged voices exclaimed, and then sighed in relief when he heard the pop of the device and the voices abruptly stopping.
Cautiously, making sure the enemy wasn't pretending, Duo slipped out of hiding and approached the thick doors to the installation. He saw two men sprawled around the remains of the knock out bomb. It worked by a strong, short range pulse of energy guaranteed to stun any living thing within its radius. Duo wasn't sure about long term effects of the thing, but he supposed it was better than being shot. He caressed his gun, glad that he hadn't had to use it, but knowing that the rest of the mission probably wasn't going to be so bloodless.
Soda shifted nervously against his thigh, ears cocked alertly as Duo found some pass keys on the guards. He used one to open the doors and he and Soda slipped inside.
There wasn't anything that Duo could do about the surveillance cameras. All he could hope for was that the people in the installation had probably been there awhile and had grown complacent enough not to be watching their monitors.
Alarms didn't sound. Men didn't come to kill him. Duo didn't relax for an instant. There were enough intersections and blind corners up ahead for troops of men to lie in ambush. This was where he relied heavily on Soda. He watched the dog now, as much as he watched the way ahead of them.
"I used to do this all by my lonesome," Duo said to Soda in his softest whisper and then his lips quirked in an affectionate smile. "It's nicer to have company."
"I wish I was that company," Heero's voice said very low over the comlink.
"Chatter," Duo admonished, only half irritated that Heero was making unnecessary comments, and then said, "You are with me, baby."
He heard a soft snort of humor, but Duo could sense Heero's frustration behind it.
Duo knew that Heero wanted back into the thick of things. He could see Heero withering and blowing away if he were to continue to be stuck behind the scenes, behind a desk doing nothing but coordinating. Heero had always been a man of action. When Duo thought of his days with Kit; stake outs, questioning witnesses and suspects, filling out paperwork, and doing endless research, and comparing it the full throttle rush he was getting now, Duo didn't find himself wishing to be back at the office. Somehow Kit had already seen that in him, seen the eagerness in his eyes when he had been poised to take on the mission.
Hadn't he had enough of fighting and almost dying? Duo considered that at the back of his mind as he eased through an intersection without finding any men ready to attack him. Before the mission, Duo had thought so, had been convinced that retiring to a quiet Preventer position was for the best. After having a good dose of that kind of life, of only using a fourth of his potential, and now using his abilities to their fullest and maybe facing death to save the day again for humanity, Duo was suddenly doubting that he had really done what he had wanted when he had become an agent.
There was the sound of lone footsteps. Duo pressed himself against a wall and waited, signaling Soda to be silent. When the person passed them, going into another corridor, Duo grabbed out and slapped a hand over the person's mouth, even as he shoved him to the ground and pinned him there.
Duo was thinking, 'hostage', and 'guide', but, when he turned the person over and saw who it was, those thoughts fled in the wave of complete consternation. The person in his arms was Shy.