Kracken
Disclaimer:I don't own them and I don't make any money off of this.
Warning:Male/male sex, dark, psychological, violence, graphic, dark Duo, language.
Soldier Boys:
Sequel to Breakaway
I Stab at Thee
A gun leveled at Heero's head. He glared at the guard and said nothing. Sitting on the edge of Duo's bed, Duo seated stiffly beside him, he waited for the warden of that place and their fate.
Duo bit out, "If we'd wanted to escape, we would have. We could right now, as a matter of fact. You think you're good enough to beat two Gundam pilots? Keep pointing that damned gun and you'll find out."
The guard looked nervous, checking to make sure his fellow guards were close to him and prepared for trouble. "Shut up, you!" he retorted boldly. "You're in a hell of a lot of trouble. Fritz is-"
"Perfectly all right," Heero told him. "Aside from a headache, he shouldn't have any ill effects."
"That's Heero speak for, 'He ain't dead.' And neither are you, by the way," Duo said acidly.
"You always talk big, but I have the gun," the guard snarled, "and it will be my pleasure to ship you off to do hard time. This stunt won't give the warden any other choice." The man looked gleeful.
Duo rolled his eyes and put his chin on one fist. "See what I've had to put up with?" he said to Heero.
"Your patience and restraint have been admirable," Heero replied tightly.
"Shut up!" the guard yelled.
"That's enough. Hollings, " the warden said smoothly as she entered the cell. "Stand down."
"But, ma'am!" the guard exclaimed, startled. "They're dangerous. They tried to escape!"
"Maxwell is right, you know," she said, giving him an irritated look. "He could have killed you easily and escaped if that had been their plan. He's only been staying here of his own free will. I'm surprised that you haven't understood that."
The guard looked pale and stepped back.
Commander Havar regarded Duo and Heero intently. "May I ask what is going on?"
Duo grinned at her. "Well, Heero thought I was in trouble and came to the rescue. I just got done telling him everything was fine and that I was going to serve out my term like a good boy."
Havar arched an eyebrow. "I see, and you think this behavior will constitute cooperation and not a violation of your terms of incarceration? Do you imagine that I will say, 'of course, just a mistake, it happens.' and let Mr. Yuy go free?"
"No, actually," Duo replied, grin fading. "But a guy can hope."
"I'm willing to face punishment, " Heero broke in, "As long as I can serve time here, where Duo is."
"This is not a 'boy meet', " The woman snapped angrily. "You will face charges, Mr. Yuy, but it isn't up to me to decide where the sentence will be carried out."
"That means she's going to take you out of here and throw you in another detention cell under heavy guard," Duo told Heero. "Are you okay with that?"
"As long as I remain here," Heero told him as he stood up. "I won't leave here without you."
Duo replied. "I don't want you to, but, I have to do this. You do understand, right? Havar's a bitch on wheels, but she hasn't really hurt me or anything. I think she'll play straight with you too."
Heero nodded. His heart was in his eyes as he took a last look at Duo and then he was being hustled out by frightened guards.
Havar glared at Duo after Heero had gone. Duo stared back with an almost innocent air. "Why do I think that you're the one who put this whole episode in motion?" Havar wondered.
Duo simply shrugged.
Havar sneered. "You've always believed that you are above consequences, that because you are a 'war hero' and Relena Peacecraft is your sponsor, that you will avoid just punishment."
"Just?" Duo repeated suspiciously and then he gave Havar a hard look. "Geez! You're on a vendetta, aren't you?" He shook his head. "Here I thought you were so damned professional, despite everything, and you were just waiting to get your chance to ship me off to hard time. Attempted escape. A guard down. No video or sound of the event. You can tell the story any why you want, right?"
The woman had a gleam in her eye. "I am a professional," she replied icily.
"Professional OZ," Duo retorted.
"Professional," she repeated, "and, as a professional, I order that you be put in maximum isolation, rendered incapacitated, and kept in lock down until I can report your infraction. I've no doubt that this violent last straw will make it impossible for even Relena Peacecraft to save you." She gave him a look and tisked. "You have only yourself to blame, Duo Maxwell. You have proverbially hung yourself." She nodded to the guards. "Drug him and put him in the special cell. If he makes one move to escape, you have my permission to use deadly force."
Duo stood up as the guards closed in. "What about Heero?"
"Two birds with one stone," she said with a satisfied smile.
"You want to see us dead, don't you?" Duo accused in disgust. "I guess killing two guys isn't much after killing thousands on the streets of L2 with a plague, am I right?"
Havar looked surprised and then narrowed eyes at Duo. She stepped closer and her smile turned vicious. "When they ordered that virus released on the back streets of L2, I was against it, at first, but now I see that I should have carried out my orders with more zeal. If I had, you wouldn't have survived to kill so many of my fellow soldiers. They were right when they said, 'If you don't kill the rat, it will come back to bite you.' I'm going to rectify my mistake and make sure that you get exterminated, little, Gundam pilot, rat. I'll make sure that you get hard time, that you're put in with the most vicious killers, and I'll make sure that the orders for your execution are signed myself."
Duo grinned and it was almost manic with glee. "I tried to escape before. Why wait until now? You could have just shot me and made it all nice and legal way before this."
"I spent a life time building my career," Havar told him. "I wasn't about to ruin that by making my move without clear evidence that force was necessary and that you were clearly a danger to society. Making foolish 'attempts' at escape, but never actually escaping, hardly gave me the proof that I needed. This, though, a guard down and another Gundam pilot in on the plot, is a dream come true. It's hard to believe that I will be the one to cause the deaths of TWO Gundam pilots where all of Oz failed to accomplish the task."
Duo frowned, but his grin didn't drop. "You're so sure we'll get the death penalty? This is a new age of peace. We might just get hard time, you know?"
Havar sneered. "You've used up all of your 'free passes' Duo Maxwell. You must know that the deal that we made with the Peacecraft government allows use to execute repeated and dangerous offenders?" She raised an eyebrow. "I do have a very thick file with your name on it, Maxwell, listing all of your offenses."
"I doubt that I have anything in there that's worse than what you've done, baby murderer," Duo retorted. "Maybe you should turn yourself in?".
"Rat exterminator, actually," Havar corrected him, "and now
it's time to exterminate two more rats. If you will excuse me, I will need to
contact the government and give them my 'evidence' against you."
She began to turn to leave. Duo said, "Yeah? Maybe you should add this evidence too?" She looked back at him and then started, wide eyed, as he opened his palm and showed her a small recording device. "I did spend a couple of years waiting to get it, just like you spent time getting yours. It's only fair, don't you think?"
Havar pulled her gun and aimed it at Duo's head, hand trembling and face going red and furious. "You little bastard!"
"Careful!" Duo exclaimed with a laugh. "Wouldn't want a murder on tape too, would you? It's a video feed straight to police force headquarters. Your nice confession was heard by a lot of people. I think you'd better be thinking about something other than compiling evidence against me. I do believe that mass murder of civilians does carry a death penalty."
"Then one more won't matter much, will it?" Havar snarled and her finger began to squeeze on the trigger.
"Shit!" one of the guards exclaimed, making her flinch and look at him angrily. "We're all on tape! We're all screwed!"
Duo grinned. "Oh, yeah, definitely screwed. You're all going down and I get the last of my revenge. Finally, after all of these years, Shinigami can finally rest."
"I'm out of here!" one of the guards shouted and he made a run for it while his fellow guard stood looking after him in shock.
"Coward!" Havar shouted and then glared at the remaining guard. "Be a man. Be an Oz soldier and follow my orders!"
The man went pale and then he shook his head sharply. "The wars over. You promised us we wouldn't get caught, that we could get some payback. You didn't say anything about dying for it. I'm getting out of here too. You're on your own!"
The man ran. Havar turned and shot him square in the back. His body twitched and he didn't utter a cry as he fell dead to the floor.
Havar's gun moved back to Duo, but Duo was already in motion. He made a lunge
for her. She fired her gun and he ended up falling flat to the floor, letting
the bullet pass over him. It ricocheted off of a metal wall and the wild bullet
caught
Havar in the arm. She howled in pain, but was a soldier through and through.
She aimed her gun at Duo again in the next heartbeat, despite the pain, and
didn't give him time to attack again.
"Die you bastard!" Havar snarled.
Duo flinched, hands going over his head. When he heard a thud, he looked up anxiously and saw Havar sprawled unconscious on the floor. Heero was standing in her place, with her gun in his hand, looking fierce. His dark blue eyes were snapping with worry and fury.
"So, what tipped you off?" Duo managed to say as he sat up.
Heero looked from Havar to the dead guard. "My guards gloated about how Havar was going to make sure that we were given death penalties. I thought that I should come back to your cell and re-evaluate the situation with you."
Duo's smile was gone. He slowly stood up. Looking down at Havar, he said, "I'm sorry I used you, Heero. I had to, though. I tried so hard to get her to act, trying to figure out a way to get her to confess that she was the one who carried out the plague orders on L2. She knew I was from there. She knew I was one of those street rats she wanted to get rid of back then."
"How did you know it was her?" Heero wondered.
"When they first brought me here, I knew her face right away. I saw her back then, on L2," Duo replied, eyes haunted as he remembered past horrors. "She walked around to check her handiwork after the plague ran its course. I heard her talking to her men, telling them to round up anyone who turned out to be immune. It was hard hiding my gang from them, but I did it. We were one of the few who managed to escape. See, it wasn't just the Maxwell church massacre I was getting revenge for, Heero."
"Did Relena know?" Heero asked.
Duo showed him the recording device. "I explained everything to her and she agreed to prosecute Havar if I could get proof of her crimes." He gave Havar a nudge with his foot. "I didn't expect it to take almost all of my sentence here." He looked at Heero, pain in his eyes. "Now it's over. I don't know what to do now... I never planned for what came after this... I always thought that you hated me, that I'd ruined any chance of us getting together. You forgave me before, but now... You know I was just using you to get to her... I knew that she wouldn't be able to resist two Gundam pilots in her hands.... You probably hate me now, don't you?"
"When we talked, before we were discovered," Heero asked softly. "Were you acting then? Did you fake how you felt about me? Were the things you said nothing but lies to get me to stay long enough for her to discover us?"
"No, they weren't lies... but I did need you to stay," Duo replied.
Heero nodded at Havar. "Is this ended, now, this part of your life? Is the war over for you at last?"
"I have my revenge on her," Duo replied. "I sacrificed everything for it, even you, because it wasn't about me, about us. It was about justice and making sure that murderers didn't escape their punishment, that the killing of all those innocents didn't get a pass, didn't just turn into a sad, unresolved, footnote in history."
Alarms began going off.
Duo blinked and said, "Guess Havar's confession put things in motion. That must be the police coming to clean house." He stepped very close to Heero and hesitantly reached out to touch his arm. "I want to be done killing. I want revenge satisfied. What comes after that, though, I don't know. Maybe nothing does. Maybe that's my only purpose and I should be gotten rid of, just like all the other weapons of war?"
Heero put a hand over Duo's, but his face was very serious. "I don't know... I wondered the same thing about myself. I thought that I didn't have a place. People used me and, when they were done, they put me in an artificial life that meant nothing to me. I might as well have been in this cell for all that my 'freedom' mattered. I think..." He paused, trying to put his feelings, his confusion into words, and then he said, "When this has played out and we know how things stand, then we'll talk, Duo." He squeezed the hand under his. "I DO want to talk. I do want to understand, but... I think we both need to know who we are, what we've become... "
"We're a long way from war time crushes, aren't we?" Duo sighed dejectedly. "And I've screwed things up so bad."
Heero looked deeply into Duo's eyes, wanting him to see his heart there, wanting Duo to see what he was unable to put into words. Duo turned away, arms crossing his chest. "Shit! How can you even look at me like that, after everything I did? You must be stupid or desperate."
Heero felt a coldness in his gut. "You were lying then, when you said those things to me? Now that you don't need me, I'm to go away now, correct?"
"I don't lie!" Duo snapped, but then, quieter, "Don't you want to go? "Like I said, you're stupid if you want anything to do with a guy who treats you like I did; who uses you and doesn't care enough about you to-"
"Not now!" Heero suddenly snapped in anguish and frustration. He turned away to check the door. "Not now, Duo. Let's get passed this. Let's talk about this when it's all over."
"It is over, you and me," Duo whispered, "and you know it. I ruined it and you can't trust someone like me. I gave it all up. I gave you up, to get my revenge. How do you know I won't do it again, that I won't go running after some other old score? You don't. You won't ever believe it or trust me. The war's over for you. It never will be for me, because I might just find another Havar in my life."
Heero saw police forces swarming through the lock down doors and coming their way. He knew that he had only moments to stop Duo from disappearing on him again, from running away and maybe never being seen again. Duo truly thought that it was over and that Heero should despise him. Heero needed to say something, he thought, something that would make Duo believe that they still had a chance together. Heero did still want that chance, despite everything. His mind felt betrayed, but his heart knew where it belonged.
Heero said quickly, "Show me that you mean to give this up and stay with me. I love you. I want to be with you, and only you. Life means nothing to me without you."
As the police came into the room, guns nosing for targets and Heero surrendered his weapon, Duo said sadly, "How can I do that when I don't believe it myself?"
"End your search for revenge," Heero told him as he was handcuffed. "You can't kill everyone who had a hand in every crime during the war. Relena knew this, too, and tried to explain it to me. There are too many who have killed and all the blood spilled can't ever be erased by vendettas. We have a government now that promises justice. It isn't perfect justice, but nothing is. Let them take over now, Duo. Stop fighting the war, please..."
"I..." Duo looked lost and very sad, "I want to, but-."
"Then do it!" Heero shouted back at him as a guard ordered him to be quiet and they began taking him from the room and handcuffing Duo. "Prove to me that you can do it!"
If Duo replied, Heero wasn't able to hear it.