Kracken
Disclaimer:I don't own them and I don't make any money off of this
Warning: Male/male sex, past NCS (not described),language, violence.
Lock-Up
Patterns
Heero was tied securely to a chair. He came to hanging in ropes, the wires around his wrists sharp and a warning against struggling. If he did, they would slash his wrists, he was certain. Duo was sitting in a chair in front of him, the chair reversed and Duo straddling it with his chin resting on the crossed arms over its back. His expression was self assured and lazy, like a cat who had all day to kill a mouse.
Heero blinked at the pain in his head. He felt fuzzy and wondered if Duo had given him a concussion. He still couldn't believe that Duo had been able to take him down. Where had his reflexes been, his hard wired training? Duo wasn't in the best of shape and he was thinking in a vicious, almost uncontrolled manner. He wasn't a match for him in any way, Heero thought, so why had he gone down that easily?
Duo narrowed eyes at him. "You will talk."
Heero grunted. "Why? You're going to kill me."
Duo smiled and it was edgy and appreciative of Heero's bravery. "Yes, I am," he easily admitted. "The only good enemy is a dead one."
"Then I don't gain anything by talking to you," Heero told him and then added, "but I'm not your enemy. I don't want you harmed in any way."
"Is that why I'm here?" Duo wondered sarcastically. "To keep me safe? You want something like everyone else. Why don't you tell me what it is?"
"Before I die?" Heero said lightly, "Maybe that would be a
good way to get my revenge? By leaving you ignorant?"
Duo scoffed. "Someone is going to come and try to kill me sooner or later.
You're not in this alone."
Heero was having trouble thinking of correct responses that would conceal his purpose. He found himself, instead, saying what he was thinking. "If you don't cooperate, yes." He frowned sharply and clamped his teeth tightly together. Why had he said that? That was the last thing that he wanted Duo to know.
Duo was on that at once. "Cooperate? Not 'Get better'? Not 'Calm Down'? Not 'Stop trying to kill everyone'? Everyone wants something, Heero, and once they have it, they kill you. I learned that." There was a mad light in Duo's eyes as he said the last, memories of his imprisonment clear on his face.
"This isn't the prison," Heero told him. "Why don't you see that?"
"Isn't it?" Duo retorted. "I don't think much has changed except the scenery."
"That isn't true," Heero insisted.
"What do they want?" Duo asked, ignoring him. "What do you want?"
"You, in your right mind," Heero replied and struggled not to say anything else.
"There are different ways of getting fucked over," Duo snarled. "I do what you want and I get to live a little longer. Isn't that what it's all about? Sit up, roll over, bend over, and then be dead."
"Duo..." Heero bowed his head. There was a ringing in his ears.
"I'm still there," Duo insisted and he stood up. "It's still happening. I still have to fight." His hands were pulling at his clothes, pulling them down around him in a gesture that looked unconscious, as if he couldn't get them to cover enough of him."You won't win. You're the one that's going to do tricks, not me."
Duo drew his long blade and approached Heero. Heero tested his bonds and felt the bite at his wrists. He could chance it and hope that he could bind his wounds in time to save his own life, but that was a last resort.
Duo put the blade against his throat. His purple eyes were fierce and glittering. "Tell me how to get out of here and I'll let you live a little longer."
Heero said nothing. The blade made a line of blood over his skin. He refused to wince.
"Do you remember me?" Heero asked.
The blade paused. "Yes."
"What am I like?" Heero persisted.
"Like?" Duo was puzzled. He replied after a moment, "Suicidal. Hardheaded. Crazy. Steady. Strong. A good fighter. I..." He paused and looked confused. "I wanted to make you a friend," he continued, "but you were right that it makes a dangerous liability. You can't trust anyone... not anyone."
"I was wrong," Heero said. He wished that he could rub his eyes, they
ached. "There are times when it is necessary to not only trust, but to
work with people for the greater good."
"I did that," Duo said and he paced. His one hand gripped his knife hard and his free hand continued to pull down at his clothes in a repetitive motion. "I did that, was the good soldier, was the one to stick my hand in the fire for everyone else." He laughed, short and sharp. "I even gave them my food when the dispensers had a few bad days." His eyes grew dark. "They couldn't be decent and let me die for them, though. They had to...." Duo shuddered all over and then he was smiling and turning to Heero, tossing the bad off of his back as if it meant nothing, just like Heero remembered him doing during the war. "I took care of myself, stitched myself, set my broken bones, and stole meds from the big dogs when I found..." He shook his head sharply and his smile took on a manic bent. "I survived and I learned. Alone is better. Kill them before they kill you." His knife angled towards Heero, "Unless they have something you need."
"I can't leave," Heero replied. "I don't have the right key for the perimeter."
Duo frowned and advanced on him. "Too bad for you then, because I think you're telling the truth."
The knife rested against Heero's jugular. His wrists tensed against the wire. He was going to have to do it and hope that the wire didn't cut through to the bone. Heero waited for the tendons in Duo's wrist to tense, waited for the slash that he was determined to evade, but Duo stayed frozen, staring very fixedly at his face.
"There had to be some good men there," Heero dared. "A few? The man who protected you?"
"The good ones died," Duo replied, his expression tinged with something... a bastard mix of disgust and sadness."He died too, remember? If you didn't have something they could use, they slaughtered you. Using up resources, they said. The good ones didn't seem to have a lot of skills, most of them were officers or bureaucrats. They wanted me to fix things, be their little monkey, but..."
"Why didn't you?" Heero asked. "It could have made things easier for you."
Duo's face twisted in rage. "Because of what they did! Do you think I would make those bastards my bosses? Murdering, raping... they wanted to pick and chose who lived and lord it over the chosen. They decided that they were there to stay, so they were going to be on top. Nobody stayed on top for long, though, that was the problem, there were always rats to pull them down and take their place. It was like watching garbage recycle. Everyone gets ground up and spit out and then they scatter, join other gangs, and then come back to tear down whoever took their place. They promised safety, but they couldn't keep themselves safe."
"Half your number were killed," Heero said. "We counted them on the monitors. Twelve people walked out of there, including you. I don't think anyone was leading by then, just surviving."
Duo nodded and grimaced. He looked down at the floor, shoulders slumping and knife falling away from Heero.
Heero felt dizzy. That was wrong, a part of his mind blearily concluded. Everything was wrong and there had to be a reason for it. He was not that sloppy. He was not prone to speaking his thoughts. He did not feel like falling asleep when someone was threatening to kill him.
"Duo," Heero said. "There's something wrong. Are you having trouble thinking, moving around?"
Duo narrowed eyes at him. "Another trick?"
"No," Heero replied and then tried to think of something that would convince him. He knew only on thing. "You know my abilities. You know how I was trained. Calculate the likelihood that you could knock me unconscious with a simple blow. Something here is making me... perhaps us, ill."
Duo looked thoughtful and his nostrils flared. "Gases maybe?" He looked at the stove and then approached it. He opened the door and peered inside. "What makes this work?"
"Gas lines," Heero said and then nodded. "There must be a leak somewhere. This is a very old place, old technology. Gas leaks are deadly. We need..."
"Gas leak? From this?" Duo fiddled with some connections and then grunted as he tightened a coupler. "Rusted. Is there a shut off valve?"
Heero nodded and his nod turned into a near faint. "Outside. Need... need to get out of here..."
Duo suddenly sat on the floor, grease on his fingers and knife clattering away from him. He blinked blearily. Heero saw his head turn towards the back door. Of course he would save himself, Heero reasoned. There was nothing in Duo's actions to date that indicated that he would take any other course.
"Stupid!" Duo slurred. "Why'd you buy a dump like this?"
He crawled on hands and knees, grabbed Heero by his feet, and over turned the chair. He retrieved his knife and cut Heero loose. It was an automatic action. Duo couldn't have been thinking very well. He did what he had always done during the war; sacrificed. Heero tried to crawl towards the door. He felt Duo hook an arm around him and drag him towards it. When it was open, Heero forced his legs under him and threw them both free and clear of the building. He collapsed then, with Duo panting in fresh air beside him.
Duo grunted and looked at Heero from his position on his side. He was frowning and looking confused. "I guess...," he said, "I wasn't thinking too good." His eyes looked around them at the miles of brown grass as if really seeing it for the first time.
Heero rested on his stomach, head pillowed on his arms. The fresh air was clearing his head, but he doubted that it was making Duo think clearly. The gas was taking the edge off of his paranoia. Once the clean air began to negate those effects, Heero was afraid that Duo would return to being psychotic. He had a decision to make and he had to make it quickly.
"Freeze!"
Heero started and found himself looking at a group of armed agents in riot gear. They were all holding weapons on Duo. The decision was being taken out of his hands.
"No!" Heero shouted hoarsly. "Gas leak. In the house! He saved my life!"
"I should have killed you!" Do spat and was scrambling drunkenly away, willing to die rather than chance that any number of terrible things could happen again. Two rifles tracked him reflexively, but Heero was grabbing the barrels and forcing them down, risking himself in the process. He sank to his knees again, trying to keep his head clear enough to speak.
"Let him go. He can't go anywhere," Heero said and then sat down completely as a medic pushed him down with one hand. He crouched in front of Heero and checked him with an instrument. Trowa Barton stood behind him, frowning as he cradled his rifle, and watched the medic injected Heero with an anti-toxin.
"We reacted to your life signal," Trowa told him. "We assumed it was failing because Duo was killing you." He motioned to a man. "Turn the gas off to the house." When the man had gone, Trowa asked Heero irritably, "Why you didn't you upgrade to power cells?"
Heero replied sourly, "When did I have time to live here, Barton, and change anything? Une made sure that I didn't stay inactive for long."
"I hear blame in your voice," Trowa said as his eyes tracked something across the grass. He looked appreciative. "He's good at hiding."
"He had to be," Heero replied and then added, "Une didn't hold a gun to my head, she simply showed me how many people were going to die if I didn't use my skill to help her root out insurgents."
"The same argument she gave to all of us," Trowa agreed. "Keep fighting or they win. You can only refuse if you don't have a conscience. We all have one... except for Duo. What will you say to him to get him to fight too?"
Heero glared. "You're wrong. He saved me. He didn't have to."
"He needed you... to get out of here," Trowa retorted. "Don't let your emotions blind you to what he's become. I watched him when he was in the psych ward, you didn't. I saw a killing animal, who's only concern was his own skin. You haven't changed that in a few days."
It was an explanation and Heero didn't like it. Had Duo saved him because he might be of some use? Duo's brief visit to reality made him doubt that. Duo was there, under all his hurt and anger.
"Get out," Heero ordered. "This is my operation, my call."
"And your skin," Trowa grunted, but he dug into a pack and tossed round power cells at Heero. "We can get more for our camp. You'll need them."
Heero nodded as he caught them. Trowa gathered up his men and they exited through a perimeter gate, all weapons held ready in case Duo used that opportunity to escape. When the force field closed again, Heero felt a sharp sense of isolation.
His head was clearing. He sat quietly, eyes constantly checking his surroundings, knowing that Duo might take advantage of his vulnerability. He could have held Trowa back, but he felt that the more time that Trowa and his men remained, the greater the threat that Duo would bury himself in violent instinct to survive.
"What do you want!" Duo suddenly barked out.
Heero whipped around, ready for a fight, but Duo was crouched tensely a few yards away, eyes glaring.
"They come. They go. I'm still alive!" Duo said. "Why? That was Trowa... he's not stupid! He's a killer!"
Heero thought carefully about his reply, and then decided to drop subterfuge. Duo understood the playing field already, but he was trying to fit it into his world, the prison world, and failing. He wasn't dead. He should have been. In his world, that had to be because he was needed; useful. Duo didn't understand what that use might be, though.
"He doesn't think that you can be useful," Heero shouted back. "He thinks I'm wasting my time."
"You are!" Duo affirmed.
Heero tried to see him clearly, squinting against the sun. Duo was pale and
his expression betrayed that he hadn't yet recovered either. Heero wished that
the medic had treated him. If Duo became seriously ill, there wouldn't be any
way for Heero to get close enough to help him..
"Do you remember Une and the Preventers?" Heero asked. He was greeted by silence. Heero continued. "There have been groups eager to tear down the government and create their own. They are willing to kill and destroy to accomplish that. Our talents, our skills, are needed to stop them. We need you. If you hadn't been kidnaped, Une would have approached you, as she did us, and asked you to join us. I'm here to help you understand that you aren't in prison any longer, that everyone isn't trying to kill you, and that freedom is yours when you do understand these things."
Duo sneered. He moved closer, and then closer still, until he was crouched within touching distance of Heero. His body twitched as if he was fighting the urge to run. He said tightly, "Isn't that needing me, using me?" He spat aside. "I'm not free, and I won't be set free, unless I do as I'm told. Don't try and sell me on sweetness and light. There isn't any." He cocked his head sideways. "Maybe I can use you too? Maybe I'll get what I want?"
"What do you want?" Heero asked. Duo was deadly, his mind was telling him, and it was hard to resist the urge to put space between them. He surmised, though, that this was a test, that Duo was daring him to attack, to prove to him that the same laws were still in effect. Trowa's failure to kill him had confused Duo, Heero decided.
Duo's nostrils flared. "I don't make deals, but I will play along."
Which said nothing and promised little. "Why tell me that?" Heero wondered.
"You remind me of the weak ones," Duo said, with just a hint of contempt. "You want to save me and make things civilized and safe. They'll kill you, just like those people were killed... I'll probably be the one to do it too."
Heero tried to follow his meaning and then wondered if there was any. "Who are 'they'?"
"Trowa, Une, everyone on top," Duo told him with a snort, as if he were being stupid. "As long as you're useful, you live. When you stop being useful, you die."
"Duo..." Heero frowned.
"Naive," Duo snickered. "I don't remember you being idealistic. I would have thought that you'd learned that they always double cross soldiers in the end, that they always slit their throats with treaties and alliances. A soldier without a use is a danger, is an anachronism. Wu Fei saw that. I got it. That's why I..."
Duo frowned and looked confused.
"Why what?" Heero prompted.
"Why I ran away at the end, why I decided to hide and never let them find me," Duo finished quietly and looked disturbed. "But they did. They couldn't kill me quick, though, they had to dump me into that prison with other undesirables."
"Duo, Une and the government didn't have anything to do with sending you there," Heero protested.
Duo grinned and it was ugly. "Yeah, you are damned naive. If they were handing out awards, you'd win hands down. So, where's Wu Fei? Hiding?"
Heero blinked and felt a chill. "Duo, you're being paranoid."
"Why would Oz dump us and then never come back?" Duo wondered, "Unless someone paid them to deliver us? I've had a long time to think about it, Heero. Who survived? The meanest bastards, that's who, just the type of people Une and her government needs, I bet. They probably thought we'd be damned grateful too and willing to do whatever they wanted. Guess they didn't count on the others being too crazy to use, or me too smart."
Duo's logic made sense and that was going to be hard to refute. Heero gave it a few, long moments of thought and then replied, "Duo, we do need you, but the rest... I can only show you whatever records you need to convince you that Une and the government didn't have anything to do with your kidnaping. I can hook up to the ether, give you access to classified documents-"
"They'll let me see what they want me to see," Duo growled back impatiently. "Like I said, I'll play along to get what I want."
"I need to know what that is," Heero persisted.
"A better hiding place," Duo replied.
Heero's head hurt trying to understand. "Hiding place?"
"My first one sucked," Duo told him. "I want a head start, a chance to find one that Une and her fucks can't find. You promise me that, and I'll kill who ever you want."
Heero shook his head. "It's not like that, Duo, not one mission. Une wants you to join Preventers as a permanent agent."
"No," Duo replied and then held out his arms. "Might as well call Trowa back and have him kill me. That's the deal, right, or are you still being naive? I agree to join and you let me out of here. I refuse and you kill me."
Heero rubbed at his aching forehead. "No..."
"Then I can just walk free?" Duo wondered mockingly. "Hey, Heero, I'm in my right mind again, see you later." He eyed Heero. "So?" he laughed when Heero frowned. "See? Stop lying. I'm like a dog on a chain and you know it. They just want to give me enough slack to bite once in awhile. The rest of the time, I'll be chained to the Preventer kennel.. Yeah, just like the prison."
Heero let out a long breath, completely confused now. "You're not making sense. You could pretend to go along, pretend to work for Preventers, and then escape at the first opportunity. You've just outlined every reason why that might be true and that we shouldn't trust you. You want me to fail. You want Trowa to elliminate you."
Duo snorted. "I'm suicidal? Would that be why I was one of the few people to survive the prison? Try again."
Heero felt like swearing. Duo wasn't stupid. He put the pieces together again and made a slightly different pattern. Duo's level look confirmed it and Heero was suddenly throwing himself backwards. Duo's blade slashed out and cut the air where his throat had been. Duo had been waiting for his confusion to cause him to drop his guard.
Duo cursed and ran, knowing that his own weakness made him no match for Heero. He knows, Heero guessed. The key to the perimeter was in his own DNA. He could pass through it because it was keyed into the passcode. Duo had been watching Trowa and his men carefully to figure that out. Now he knew that all he had to do was murder Heero and use his body as a shield to get through the perimeter.
Heero pulled out his com, making a decision. "Trowa, unkey my DNA from the perimeter. Duo knows."
"Your funeral," Trowa replied shortly and the com went dead.
TBC
"
On to Chapter four
Back to Chapter Two