Maniac

Chapter six:Fourth of July

by Kracken

1x2

Kracken

Disclaimer:I don't own them and I don't make any money off of this.
Warning:Male/male sex, graphic, violent, language, Prison!Duo, Mentally unstable!Duo.

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He stayed docile until they reduced the drugs, and did everything that he was told, but the psychologist's visit followed the doctor's checkup closely and they conferred notes.Their diagnosis of schizophrenia, induced by sensory deprivation, made it certain that nothing that Duo said after that would be taken seriously. He had a record of talking to people that weren't there, inverted psychosis, and imaging that 'rescue' by his rebel friends, or the other Gundam pilots, was inevitable. While Heero could be excused for believing in Duo's fantasy, he was still being investigated for the kidnapping. Quatre Winner may have forgiven him, but the authorities were concerned that a former terrorist might be going rogue. They had decided to keep Heero incarcerated pending a psychological evaluation of his own.

Duo was left no choice but to rescue himself and to find the rebels alone. While that may have seemed a simple thing, three years ago, it was a monumental task now. He spent several days playing the perfect patient, but managed to get time with the institute's computer in their library. While attendants had looked on curiously, Duo had hacked into his old rebel comrades lives, and discovered a likely hide out.

"Perfectly sane," Duo muttered to himself,as he slipped through darkened halls, because the psychologist had been very good at making him doubt that in his short stay there. "I know I'm right. I know this is not a dream. I need to do this... for Heero, for everyone..."

He wore a wrist band that would trigger alarms at doors and windows. Cutting it off was as simple as sneaking into the infirmary and supplying himself with scalpels and a pair of scissors. He also supplied himself with as many doses of a sedative, and a sensory inhibitor, that he could find. The place wasn't deserted, but a cocky, confident grin, and clothing stolen from the laundry, kept the tired night staff from questioning him.

Popping a pill, and swallowing it dry, Duo tried to keep his mind focused, ignoring the sounds and lights that were normal for a place like that, but were enlarged and distorted in his injured mind.The pill, when it took effect, helped calm him, but it did nothing for the part of his brain that doubted what he saw, that supplied him with fears from his past and made them as real as the people and things all around him.

The emergency door was watched by an overworked, weary nurse, who was far too busy with her pile of charts, at her desk, to look up at, what she thought, was a doctor passing by her.She grumbled something and reached to push the button to 'buzz' the doctor through the locked doors. She never looked up to see the doctor cringing in response to the buzzer, or his momentary hesitation while he tried to pull himself back together enough to open the doors.

Duo had purposefully waited until the early morning hours. Traffic was almost nonexistent, and so were the overwhelming noises of the city. As the pill, that he had taken, went into full effect, things softened, the cushioning effect of the drug allowing him to think clearly as he hot wired a car, and drove it out of town. Once on the open highway, a part of Duo looked around and wondered what was going on, the part that had been all too willing to do whatever the guards had ordered.

Duo smiled grimly, hands working on the wheel of the car as he picked out road signs and made the turn towards the dockyards.Armed with knives, a stolen car under him, and a mission to accomplish, it seemed like old times. Duo suddenly felt alive again, free and able to choose.

"Things are going to be different, this time," he told the night and the approaching line of old warehouses. "I'm going to fight for the right reasons."

It was just like the war, when he had been the hero. It was frightening how much his anger had twisted that, had made the very things that he had fought for, expendable in the pursuit of his revenge. While war crimes had been overlooked to sign peace treaties, the people were still innocent, still deserving of the peace that treaty had brought. His hand might find the worst of the murders, someday, to give their victims justice, but he wasn't willing to tear down everything that had been built, to accomplish it, any longer.

Duo pulled into an empty field, overlooking a stretch of water, and left the car there, ducking down to avoid a chill, stiff breeze that was making whitecaps on the water, and causing the tin buildings lining it, to ripple and make metallic music. Trash blew about as well, catching on the tufts of grass forcing it's way through pavement that rarely saw traffic.

Duo closed his eyes and leaned into the side of a building, hating the wind on his skin. His hair, whipping about him, was the enemy. He caught at the braid, and tried to tame it, to keep the feeling of it from breaking through the drugs and overwhelming his sensitive nerves.

They would stay hidden, Duo knew, only moving vehicles in and out rarely, so as not to attract the attention of satellites.Months, years; they had been preparing for this for a long while, only waiting for their ex gundam pilot leader to return and head their attack.Duo was lost in memory for a moment, but then he clawed his way back. Focus. Stop them. It wasn't any different from the missions that he had accomplished during the war. Infiltrate and destroy.

Lights didn't betray them. Neither did sound. He had taught them too well for that. Duo was forced to search each empty, rusted bay, that he passed, as dawn slowly brightened the sky and made his nerves feel like they were on fire. It became too much, eventually; wind, cold, sun, and the effort of functioning despite the drugs. Duo huddled in a shadow, just inside of a bay door, and closed his eyes.

Logic told him that they wouldn't need an overlarge building, but it would have to be one that would allow large vehicles to pass inside. Cranes, storage,access to power, and probably a dock overlooking the water, to slip boats in and out, were necessities as well. He caught at that, smiling a little as he recalled telling one of the men that using a boat would be better than an obvious truck that had to use populated roads. It told him where to search next, narrowing it down into something more manageable.

More than anything, Duo wished that Heero were with him. The man's rock solid presence had been all that had been holding him together, lately, all that had made him want to hold together.When it was all over, when he was better, they would have to revisit their feelings for each other, but it was Heero's expertise that he could have used the most just then.The world and the peace shouldn't depend on a man who couldn't stand the brightness of the sun.

Duo popped yet another pill. His heart was laboring. He doubted that it was safe to take that many, and he was certain there would be a price for it later, but that wasn't important.Getting his ass off the floor and forcing himself out of the shadows was.

Duo slipped between buildings. There would be vids, he knew, and alarms, to alert them to anyone approaching. He had to disable and avoid them. The water side of the buildings would probably be less watched, though, he suspected. It was much more likely that any traffic would be from the roadside. The spray of water, the wind, and the glaring light of dawn, flooding the side of the building, would blind most visual feeds. If he managed to avoid the rotting , broken boards of the wharf and being overwhelmed, there was still the matter of getting into the building unseen and having an effective plan after that.

There. Duo found an alarm and carefully disabled it, jumping the system, so that it wouldn't show a malfunction on any monitor. It told him that he was on the right track.The system wasn't new, but it wasn't as old as the building it was attached too either. When he found another, the wiring told him more. He recognized the roughshod job, and the sequence of color caps. One of the rebels liked to make them in the pattern of the banner for L4, red,yellow, white, and yellow again.

The wharf seemed to sway under Duo's feet and he knew it wasn't only from the warped boards. From the rate of his heart beat, and the way his vision pulsed and faded, in and out, he doubted that he had much time left. The hide out wouldn't be close to the alarms, though. The rebels would want a good amount of time for escape, or to mount a defense.

There was a point where the wharf tipped up, just enough to allow a boat to slip underneath. A low skiff, carrying supplies, could make it easily. Duo edged along the rough, rusted side of a tin building, every nerve shrieking, as he eyed two vid pickups. The glare of the sun glinted off of them and salt spray repeatedly doused them both. If they saw anything at all, he doubted anyone would be able to make it out.That meant that, if they were smart, they would post a man to watch at this very vulnerable spot.

The click of a gun, being cocked, made Duo tense. A cold barrel pressed against the side of his head.

"Duo?" a familiar voice said in surprise.

Duo held out his hands, slowly and tried on a wicked grin. "I got away, Jack. You better have things ready, or I'll kick your ass. Maxwell's ready for action."

There was a long silence and then Jack said, "They said you'd gone crazy in prison."

Duo chuckled, but it was strained. "Who wouldn't? Come on, let me talk to the others."

Another pause and then he felt the barrel of the gun at the small of his back. "I have to be careful," the man apologized. "Especially now."

"Is Ranmuel going ahead with the plan?" Duo asked.

"Yeah," the man told him. "He said we couldn't count on you anymore."

"I'm not going to miss out," Duo told him. "I've waited too long."

The gun pushed into his back. "To your right and down the stairs."

The stairs were slick with rain and the rusted door at the bottom creaked as Duo opened it. He shuddered and hoped that the man would think that it was the cold of the rain causing it.The dimmer light and the enclosed space of a large storage unit were soothing to raw nerves, but the wide open door, that led to a dock, let in gusts and showed him dark choppy water rocking a low skiff. Duo put the crates and piles of stored equipment between him and the door and faced the men who had stopped dead in their preparations to stare at him.

The older man, who had confronted him at the cabin, approached, fingering a gun in his belt. "Duo?" He was on high alert, every nerve obviously strung tight. "How did you get here?"

The other men looked pleased, glad to have Duo among them, but Ranmuel was smarter than that. He was the one Duo had to convince.

"I know you," Duo replied, arms tightly clasped about his middle. "It wasn't hard to figure out." He bulled forward, knowing better than to let the man make up his own mind. "Look, I know I have some troubles, but I can function. Even if I can only watch... I just have to see them get what's coming to them. Don't cheat me on this, Ranmuel."

They all understood revenge. They all felt as if they had been betrayed, that they had given their all and been forgotten, or worse, spit on by the very people they had tried to protect. They could understand Duo and feel sympathy for his desire. Ranmuel certainly could. The man had lost everything in the war, including a leg, and they had rewarded him with a year in prison and a denial of his soldier benefits. He had paid for the artificial leg himself.

"You know I have to be careful," Ranmuel replied. "I can't just let you show up like this, right when we're about to move out.... and I saw you at the cabin... You're not right in the head, Maxwell.I don't have anyone I can spare to watch you." He almost drew his gun out, but there were mutters among his men. He tucked it back into his belt and turned to them, angrily. "What do you think I should do?" he snarled at them. It made Duo flinch and clench his teeth, but the drugs kept him from falling apart completely.

"He deserves better," one of the men complained.

"He does," Ranmuel agreed, "But not now! We need to leave, just in case anyone followed him here, and we can't afford any screw ups."

"Keep him in the truck," another man suggested.

Ranmuel considered that, and more. He needed his men. He did not need a small rebellion, just then.Though he would have liked to dispose of Duo, he knew there was too much sympathy for him. Keeping him in the control truck seemed the lesser of evils. "All right, but I need him tied down. I don't want any problems."

The men were happy again, coming forward and telling Duo how much they missed him as they led him to the control truck. Duo tried to smile, tried to be the old Maxwell they remembered, but their military style clothing, their guns, and their voices, which echoed in that space, made him cringe and flinch away. He saw pity all around and hated it, hated what he had become.

The truck had a fish logo along the side, some abandoned panel truck that had been rebuilt for it's date with mass destruction. Three men climbed inside and Duo saw that it was full of electronics.When they helped him inside, they hustled him to the very back.

"Shit, Maxwell!" one of the men exclaimed as Duo stumbled into him and half sprawled on the control panel. That man hauled him up and pushed him down into a chair, bolted to the floor. He dangled handcuffs and grinned. "Knew these would come in handy some day," he said. A one time Preventer agent, he had been the last to defect to the group.His knowledge of Preventer protocol had been invaluable.

He handcuffed one of Duo's wrists to a handhold and Duo sat docilely, trying to keep control of himself as the men sat down and the truck began to pull out of the building. One of them put on a headpiece and then growled angrily as he tapped it.

"Damn thing's not working," he complained.

"I can fix it, quick," Duo told him and held out his free hand. "Just give me a micro screwdriver."

His hand shook. The man looked at it and at Duo dubiously, and then shrugged as he tossed it to him. "What's to lose?'" he said."It doesn't work, so you can't mess it up any more than it is."

Another man handed Duo the screwdriver. Duo huddled over the headpiece, popped it open, and then made some quick adjustments. Popping it closed again, he handed it back. "Good as new."

The man frowned, not believing him, as he put it on. He adjusted it and then tested it. When it worked, he gave Duo a grin and a thumbs up as he settled back in his chair and began calling their operatives.

"Worth while bringing you already," the ex Preventer agent said approvingly."It would be a shame for you to miss all this, anyway, since you're the one who made the plan in the first place."

"Hey!" the man with the head set grumbled, "You're supposed to be making history here, not having tea and crumpets with Maxwell!"

The ex Preventer agent looked apologetic, but then turned to his set of instruments and began working.

The man with the headset touched a screen and said, "Come back, Danny! In position?" He nodded to whatever response he was given and made notes on a clipboard."You've got the hardest job. If anyone notices you... okay, okay! I'm just saying!A janitor can only pretend to clean that bastard's floor so many times before someone wonders what's up.Quatre Winner's not going to miss his date with justice-"

Duo started in shock. "Winner? That wasn't part of the plan..."

"Yeah, I know," the ex Preventer agent grunted, "but he gave up his Gundam and signed the peace treaty. We couldn't find them all, but we've got Chang's dojo wired as well as that freak clown, Barton,at his circus."

"Any other plan changes?" Duo asked. "Maybe you should tell me the entire thing, so that I know what's going on?"

The man was proud. He told Duo the entire plan as he worked, even though his fellow terrorists didn't look as if they approved.Duo tried to keep the horror off of his face. His plan had been specifically targeted. Their new plan called for massive casualties. It was blood chilling.

"They'll beg us to stop," the man finished with glee, "and then we'll tell them to go screw themselves, because every one we're taking out deserves it."

Even the innocent bystanders? Duo didn't say it out loud. He tried to remember if he had possessed that same kind of zeal, that same rabid need for revenge. It made his stomach tighten with sickness.Maybe people had gone unpunished and, maybe, the peace treaty had been a betrayal, but violence on that scale wasn't the answer.

"That's a complicated plan," Duo said at last. "What's your time table?"

The man rattled it off, going down his list.He was told to shut up, by his fellow terrorists,after that, and he sullenly complied. They could have stopped him early on, but Duo supposed that they were as proud of the plan as he was, and they really didn't see him as any kind of threat.That was going to be to his advantage shortly,when everything went to hell for them.

The feel of the truck and the sound of the engine was beginning to slip through the drugs. Duo gritted his teeth. His nerves were losing their cushion. He had to keep it together for awhile longer, though. He had to pretend that he wasn't ready to crawl into a corner, stick his fingers into his ears, and cry.

"We should've busted you out of that prison... before they messed you up," the third man said as he looked over his work at Duo."We couldn't tip our hand, though. You understand, right?"

"They put me in solitary for three years," Duo replied angrily. "They hit me with stun rods whenever I didn't do what they said... what was on the schedule... " He throttled down his emotions, but it cost him some of his control. He was visibly pale and shaking now.

The man looked as sick as Duo felt. He said to his comrades, "Maxwell needs to get them bastards back. Let him push the detonators."

Duo could see the ex Preventer agent was in agreement, but the second man was more cautious. He adjusted his head piece and replied, "We'll need Ranmuel's okay."

"But he's in the field," the Preventer agent argued. "He's the only one with enough combat experience to take out Chang and he won't be in communication again until he's killed him."

"It's just a few buttons," the third man argued. "How can he mess that up?"

"Since I designed the system," Duo said, with a growl of irritation in his voice, "I think I can manage it."

Even now they were all in awe of him. It was a little frightening how even the second man responded to even a hint of displeasure from him. "Sorry, sir, I didn't mean any insult," he said."Of course you can set off the bombs."

"Thank you," Duo replied. "I appreciate your trust."

They were all pleased with themselves after that, glad that they were going to be working with the war hero, Duo Maxwell, again, and that all of their aspirations for revenge were going to be delivered by his famous hand.It was all Duo could do not to throw up with disgust, nerves, and reaction to the drugs leaving his system.He had been one of these men. He had gone to prison for three years, determined to stay one of them.Three years was less than he deserved.

Traffic was heavy. Duo felt better, the longer they took to reach their target. He had palmed the screwdriver and they hadn't remembered that he had it. Watching the men, he tried to get a feel for their possible reaction time. He wasn't as strong as he used to be, but he still had his training. The ex Preventer agent, he suspected, was going to be his biggest challenge.

"Coming up on base," one of the men announced. "Everyone's still green to go."

"Look at 'em out there," The other man smirked. "They don't know what's coming."

"Revenge, that's what,"the ex Preventer chuckled darkly. "They're just getting what's coming to them, right Duo?"

He turned and unlocked Duo's handcuffs.

"Ready for payback?" he asked, with the light of the fanatic in his eyes.

"Yes, definitely," Duo replied, hating how shaky he felt and how every shift and noise made him cringe and twitch as he moved to the console and looked it over. Monitors showed him installations, and innocent civilians going about their business. He was going to keep them safe, what ever it took.

"For everything we've suffered," one of the men growled. "Let 'em have it, Duo."

Duo spotted Heero ducking through a crowd. When he noticed a few other, familiar, faces, he felt complete relief, even while he began to count the last seconds of his life in breaths. Even if he did stop the explosions, the people out there were going to have to be sure, by taking them completely out.

Love you, Heero, Duo thought as he pretended to check systems. Sorry, I couldn't tell you that. He thought of the wasted years and the marvel of Heero coming to his rescue. He didn't deserve it, he knew. He had turned his back on the man and made other things more important than a life with him. He hoped that Heero stayed clear, that Heero stayed safe, and that Heero remembered him, after, with kindness, and not anger or even hatred, for what he had put the man through.

It was time to stop being the rebel and to be the hero again.

Without warning, Duo spun and jammed his screwdriver into the throat of the ex-Preventer agent. While that man spewed blood and gurgled his last, Duo slammed an elbow into the nose of one of the sitting men. It broke with a sickening sound of cartilage and flesh. The third man was just realizing that something was wrong, and raising his revolver, when Duo retrieved his screw driver from his first victim, and threw it into the last man's eye. The man shot wildly as he died, and the bullets flew all around Duo, as he ducked with a sense of futility. One bullet slammed into his shoulder, while another nicked his ribs. He ignored the shock and pain while he grabbed the headpiece, that he had doctored to send to Preventer headquarters, as well as receive, and shouted into it, "This is Duo Maxwell! Everyone's disabled. I've secured the control vehicle!"

The door flew open after a loud, shattering blow, and Heero dived into the truck. He grabbed Duo, eyes wide with fear, and pulled him out into an empty street. Duo felt skin leave his knees, along with patches of his pants, as he was dragged, and then nearly carried, as fast as Heero could manage.

The truck exploded behind them with a deafening roar. Hot metal flew all around them and Duo felt the flame at their backs as Heero took them both to the ground. At least he would die with the man he loved, Duo thought, and then passed out.

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"Do you have everything you need?" Heero wondered as he sat in a beach chair beside Duo.

In his own chair, Duo smiled at him, tipping his dark sunglasses down to look at him as he replied, "Now that you're here, yeah, everything I need."

On one of Quatre Winners' private islands, surrounded by white sand beaches, waving palm fronds, and gently rolling ocean waves, it was peaceful and just what Duo needed to heal his nerves and body. His arm, still in a cast, was resting against his sun browned skin, but, otherwise, he looked healthy and happy.

"So," Duo asked. "What did the guy in the boat want?"

They had lived on the island, all by themselves, for several weeks already, so the lone boat, drifting into the dock, under the hand of one lone pilot, had made them nervous.

"A courier," Heero replied as he closed his eyes and enjoyed the sunshine. "News from the mainland. Your rebel cell have all been prosecuted and jailed, except the leader that Wu Fei took care of. The man was insane to attack someone of Fei's caliber. "

"Quatre didn't do so bad himself, and he managed to leave them alive," Duo pointed out.

Heero looked over at him. "Are you feeling sorry for those men?"

"I was one of them," Duo replied thoughtfully as he hid behind his glasses again. "I can't help remembering that... but, they got what they deserved. They turned into something different after I left them."

They were quiet, then, only the sound of the seagulls, the ocean breeze, and the crashing waves breaking the silence, and then Duo reached out a hand to Heero, nervously.

"About what you said, when we were at Preventers..." Duo began. "Did you really mean that?"

"That I loved you?" Heero said with a smile. He took Duo's hand firmly. "Yes, I did. Why did it take weeks for you to ask me that?"

"Because, I didn't want you to say, no, and ruin everything," Duo admitted.

"Duo, I knew they were about to fire on that truck," Heero told him. "I risked my life. I was ready to die with you, to try and save you. That should have told you how I felt."

"Did I thank you?" Duo wondered wistfully.

"No, I don't think that you did," Heero replied hopefully.

Duo stood and pulled Heero up with him. Slowly, he began to lead Heero towards a small bungalow, his smile turning seductive. "Then, let me thank you, now... properly."

It was love, lust, and emotions denied for far too long, when they came together. The awkwardness of wounds, the discovery of each other's bodies, and the quick rise of excitement, when Heero slid into Duo's tight heat, made their first time hotter than flames, but briefer than the crash of a wave on the beach. They laughed at that, panting and kissing, until bodies need rose again and they found their rhythm, their joy in each other, and a longer climb to a powerful climax, that had them both falling into sleep, after, tangled together, and knowing that it was only the beginning.

Hooked to the headboard above their heads, glinting in the sunlight through the wooden slats of the window, was the medal that had come with the courier. Duo Maxwell was engraved in bronze, a hero when he had thought to end his life a rebel. It meant more than brave deeds done, though. It was the mark of his new life; forgiveness granted, old enmity buried, and love found. Heero had realized that as well, when he had put it there. It was the perfect symbol of their joining, their beginning, and it would stay above every bed that they owned after that.

 

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