Disclaimer:Don't own them, don't make any money off of this.
Warnings: Male/Male sex, graphic, language, violence, attempted NCS
Soldier Boys:
Sequel to:Cover
Games
"Quatre!" Duo snarled. "I think I've been pretty damn patient. I let you call the shots. I aced every mission you gave me. I thought you were just cleaning Oz house before we used the Gundams on a big target, but I see you're planning more little raids. What gives? We're not doing anything but annoying the bad guys."
"It's strategy," Quatre replied uncomfortably as he stood up from the kitchen table and picked up his laptop. "All the missions that I've given you have an effect on how Oz supplies it's soldiers and maintains its equipment. We are degrading their ability to respond to attacks."
"Don't talk down to me," Duo snapped back as he followed Quatre into the living room. "Maybe I didn't go to the best schools or have the best life growing up, but I know a thing or two about surviving, about what it takes to cut the legs out from under someone who's after you. Doing it slow and careful, only gives the bad guy time to get you first. We have the firepower. I thought we were getting together to use it and completely wipe out Oz."
Quatre paused at the bottom of the stairs that led to their bedrooms and turned to face Duo. "Duo, I want to save the colonies with the least loss of life. My goal is to cause Oz to give up." His expression was determined as if he were seeing a vision of a perfect outcome hovering somewhere between them. "My goal has never been to carry out a slaughter."
"Mine either," Duo replied. "If I had wanted that, then I could have just gone along with the colonists and used my Gundam to level Earth."
Quatre looked perplexed, tucking his laptop under one arm and raking impatient fingers through his gold curls. "What are you saying then? If we attacked together, then wouldn't that be a slaughter?"
Duo glared. "If we were attacking civilians, yeah, but not if we are attacking Oz installations and troops. There's a difference."
Quatre glared back, nostrils flaring a bit. "A life is a life, whether the person wears a uniform or not."
"That's where you're wrong," Duo replied. "When they put on a uniform and decided to attack, kill, and control innocent people, they stopped being like everyone else. They painted targets on their backs and said, 'Come and try and stop me!' "
Quatre looked pained. "Duo, doesn't it make you just like them if you attack and kill them?"
"No, it doesn't Quatre," Duo shot back, "because I'm not the one who started it. I'm helping protect people who can't protect themselves . If I have to kill to do it, then I just consider that justice."
"Justice?" Quatre looked bitter. "You sound like Wu Fei. I'm afraid that I can't be that... cold blooded."
"Cold blooded?" Duo let out an exasperated breath. "Quatre? What's with you? I thought that we understood each other?"
Quatre shook his head. "No, not when it comes to this. I... I've been reading some of the Sank kingdom's doctrine on pacifism." He ignored Duo's confused expression and explained, "I think that I was angry when this war started and I thought that Oz was evil and deserved to be destroyed. More and more, though, I think I've come to understand that winning this war by the usual means isn't the answer. I think, if we are to have a lasting peace, that we have to convince minds, not create enmity that will eventually grow into yet another war. If we fight conservatively and disable our enemy until they can't operate, then they won't have any choice but to listen to our demands."
"Quatre...," Duo paused as if gathering strength, and then he said softly, "Have you seen Oz operate? Have you seen what their soldiers have done? Do you know what lengths they have gone to make sure that they stay in power?"
Quatre's face darkened with memories. "Yes, I have. I'm not unaware of their atrocities."
"And you can still say that it doesn't matter, that they are still like everyone else?" Duo asked in astonishment.
"Yes," Quatre replied firmly. "Because they ALL weren't a part of those atrocities, Duo. They don't all deserve to die in your quest for revenge."
Duo flinched, but he didn't back down, and he said viciously, "Who you align yourself with dictates whether you go to heaven or hell, Quatre. They all chose the road to hell. I'm going to be the one to take them there. If you won't take command and start giving us some missions that do more than tickle Oz's underbelly, then you can pack your bags and move to the Sank Kingdom."
"Do you speak for everyone?" Trowa wanted to know as he came to stand by Quatre's elbow, arms crossed over his chest and green eye flashing a warning. "Quatre is right, good strategy keeps friend and foe alike from dying unnecessarily. We need to defeat Oz, not kill them to the last soldier."
"Keeping them from eating a salad with their dinner, isn't going to make them surrender, guys!" Duo retorted hotly.
"That's an over simplification of a proven military tactic!" Quatre shouted back, unable to keep his temper any longer. "Both troops and machinery need a constant stream of supplies to operate. Cutting that off will severely cripple them."
Duo shook his head in disgust, replying, "So will a beam cannon and in less time." He confronted both Trowa and Quatre and admitted, "Look, Dr. G has given me some marching orders and I intend to follow them. He has a lot of sources that we don't have and he knows better than you do what targets to hit. I was hoping that we would get our missions and all of us work on completing them, but you seem to want to plan the war all by yourself, Quatre, and Trowa seems to be auditioning for your right hand man. I don't see that I fit into that. Maybe you can win through your 'Sank kingdom approved plan' but I trust the sneaky, underhanded, cold blooded bastard who trained me to know how to take out an enemy right."
"There may be a way to accomplish both objectives," Heero said quietly from behind Duo.
Duo spun, hand going briefly to a gun under his priest coat. He lowered his hand when he saw that it was Heero, but he swore. "Damn, Heero! Don't do that or you might end up drilled full of holes!"
Heero gave him a brief look that managed to convey to Duo that Heero had been well prepared for any such reflex action from him, but then his blue eyes were on Quatre and he was saying, "I agree with both of you. I think that ending this war quickly by making large, concentrated attacks is a sound strategy, but I also don't want a large loss of life." There was the flicker of pain in his blue eyes, but his voice was firm and steady as he continued, "I only want to kill when necessary. I think that both goals can be achieved by first attacking with explosives to drive as many soldiers out of the target area as possible, and only then attacking with the Gundams."
"Soldiers win wars, too, " Trowa pointed out skeptically. "What will stop them from attacking?"
"Attacking a Gundam when their suits and big guns have been blown up?" Duo scoffed. "Not freakin' likely, man! I think Heero's got the plan!" He clapped Heero on one shoulder. "What do you think, Quatre?"
Quatre blinked at Heero, expecting the usually sullen young man to react negatively to Duo's friendly act, but, when he saw Heero unfazed by the gesture, he frowned and thought about the proposal. "I think it has merit, but it will take careful coordination. I would rather we didn't have that kind of confrontation-"
"But we're going to, Quatre," Duo said seriously. "Heero's with me on that, so, compromise, k?"
Quatre sighed unhappily. When Trowa said, "It does seem like a reasonable plan," he knew that he was outnumbered. "All right," Quatre agreed reluctantly. "Tell us about this mission that Dr. G gave you and we'll make a plan of attack."
"There's time!" Duo objected. "We'll get together tonight and figure it all out. Right now, I have to make a supply list and finish that stupid glitch on Deathscythe's secondary computer system. Lights a bitch out there after dark, so I need to check systems before the sun goes down." He leaned forward suddenly and chucked a finger under Quatre's chin. "Come on, man, don't sulk! War's not nice and it never will be. You can't make it all clean and tidy. If you do, why would people ever want it to end?"
"Duo..." Quatre began and then let his shoulders slump.
Duo looked sympathetic. "War wasn't meant for nice guys like you, Quatre."
Duo turned and draped an arm over Heero's shoulders. "Want to come with, Heero? You look like you enjoy blowing things up. We could trade kaboom stories and figure out how much juice we need to take out a whole Oz complex."
Heero went stiff and stared at Duo for a long moment.
"Earth to Heero?" Duo asked, gazing into his eyes. "What about it?"
Heero nodded. It was almost hesitant. Duo grinned and let go of him as he took the lead, braid swinging jauntily as he walked. Heero stared after him as if mesmerized by the pendulum motion and then he seemed to come back to himself and followed.
"I don't understand him," Quatre said after they had left the room. "He seems so pleasant, amusing... I like him, Trowa.... but there is a dark side to him that is disturbing to me. That side of him wants revenge, wants Oz blood. I can't listen when he talks with the voice of retribution."
"I've seen that side too," Trowa replied, "He is willing to kill and die for his cause."
Quatre agreed, but he looked thoughtful too. "Perhaps that darker side, that willingness to do anything for his cause, is what draws Heero to him." When Trowa looked startled and then speculative, Quatre smiled and said softly, "We're all kindred spirits, Trowa, in our purposes, but those two more than any of us, I think."
"So," Duo said as he lead the way out of the house and to a storage shed. He rummaged through several boxes and then sighed. "I should have known that a handy man didn't live in this dump before we took over. There's not even enough odds and ends to make a detonator, let alone an explosive. Know where we can get some explosive material, Heero?"
Heero followed Duo from the shed and down the rocky, almost hidden, trail, to their makeshift hanger. Duo glanced back with lifted eyebrows. "Are you thinking, or didn't you hear me?" he asked.
"Considering options," Heero replied.
"Oh," Duo said, "I think out loud so that I can get help from other people."
"Are you being critical?" Heero wanted to know. "You asked me a question. I assumed that you didn't have any information to offer."
Duo's hand reached up and scratched at his head, as if perplexed. "Yeah, but I might know something and just not remember that I do. If we talk about it, I might be able to help you solve the problem." He was silent for a moment and the he asked tentatively, "Have you always worked alone, Heero?"
"No," Heero replied shortly, "Not until I began training with Dr. J"
"Really?" Duo was surprised. "You seem so... uhm... in to your self. It didn't seem like you were used to... being with other people. You're real quiet."
Duo glanced back at Heero. Heero walked like a soldier, eyes and ears alert for trouble, hand on his gun. He seemed untroubled by Duo's words. "I was taught to be observant and to remain silent so that I could learn as much and as quickly as possible. I don't see any purpose in indulging in speculation before I've determined that I don't have the answer to your question."
"Do you?" Duo asked, amused.
"Do I...?" Heero faltered, confused.
"Have any answers?" Duo prompted.
"Yes," Heero replied confidently. "We can make sizable bombs by bleeding off some Gundam fuel, using on hand wiring and radios, and buying fertilizer and material to create the blast radius required in town."
"Tricky," Duo replied. "They keep tabs on fertilizer purchases. If we buy things like nails, or any other hard pellet material, someone might put two and two together." Duo considered the problem and then said, "We could cannibalize the house for material and steal the fertilizer," Duo chuckled darkly, "or, if you want to be real bad ass, we could sneak on base and wire their machinery to blow up."
Heero looked skeptical. "That would require a knowledge of the base that we don't have at this time. The chances of finding machinery positioned strategically, having the tools and equipment on hand to cause it to explode, and having the correct calculations to determine the radius of damage, are too great."
"Haven't you ever heard of 'fly by the seat of your pants'?" Duo wondered with a snort. "You can't always have a plan, Heero. Sometimes, you just gotta sneak around and see what you can do. If we don't find anything that can blow that place sky high, then we leave and think of something else. "
"That would be taking unnecessary chances," Heero replied in complete disapproval.
"Unless we can't think of anything else," Duo pointed out. "We have to complete the mission how ever we can, even if it does mean taking chances." He sighed, "Course, I would just like to wade in with old Deathscythe and take 'em out, but Quatre... " He shrugged and his braid twitched with the motion. "He's smart enough to be the leader, but that heart of his is going to get us all killed if he doesn't stop being so damned careful of spilling some blood."
Heero was quiet. Duo glanced back as he stopped in front of the camo webbing that hid their Gundams. The bleak look on Heero's face concerned Duo. Heero wasn't looking at him, but at some thought or memory. Duo put the pieces together and thought that he understood. "Sometimes, the wrong people die, Heero. We all have the blood of innocents on our hands. We can't let the fear of that happening again stop us from doing what we have to do."
Heero raked a hand through his dark hair and that hand trembled imperceptibly as Heero took a deep breath and said, almost too low to be heard. "I want it to end, Duo."
Duo blinked, not sure what to make of the sudden crack in Heero's hard exterior. "Me too, man, but... It ain't up to us... We didn't pick this fight."
Heero suddenly strode past him, his shoulder pushing Duo out of his way. Duo stumbled, scowling, but then he realized that Heero hadn't wanted him to see that vulnerable side of him, was sorry for it now and wanted to cover it up. Duo watched him stride across the dirt floor of the makeshift hanger towards his Gundam. "See?" Duo said to the empty air between them, "Talking is good for something, Heero. I think I know you a whole hell of a lot better now."