Disclaimer: I don't own them or make any money off of them. They're just these guys, ya know?
Warnings: Sex between guys, maybe. Violence. Language. Angst. Graphic. Heero torture galore. Guns. Bombs. Gundams. Comedy (Just kidding! You know me better than that by now! :)
Duo: Faux Pas was lousy! What happened?
Kracken: Well, I was sick and, when I realized I was writing like a fourth grader, I stopped until I felt better. Sorry about that.
Duo: What was wrong?
Kracken: I, uh, had a bacterial infection in my va-
Heero: Stop right there! Women problems. Saddle up, Duo, and let's get out of here!
Kracken: (Pouting) but it's all better.
Duo: Says you! We don't want to hear anything about stuff like that. We're yaoi characters after all!
Kracken: (scowling) But it's not anything that gross. I just had a bad fever and-
Heero: Enough! Move it, Duo! We'll have to have at least six sessions of lemons just to erase that much from our minds!
Duo: Yaaaa!
Kracken: (Grumble)
An explosion.
Heero counted to sixty and another explosion ripped through the mansion. Bombs set to a timer. Duo's work. Duo had a plan of escape after all. Even in his instability, he was still a professional.
Cries echoed all around Heero, men alarmed and ready to be attacked. At any moment, he expected to turn a corner and run head long into trouble. He held his gun tightly in his hand and mentally inventoried his bullets. He couldn't afford to waste amo. There was a lot of enemy between him, Duo, and freedom. Every shot had to be used effectively.
Dead men. One garroted and another with a broken neck further down the hall. It was the only clue that Heero had that he was going in the right direction. After that, smoke billowed and the smell of a fire hit Heero's senses sharply. He pulled his shirt up over his nose and wet it with his spit.
Hunkering low to the floor, and hurrying his steps, Heero almost missed it; a broken window, the security mesh probably blown out by a small micro detonator. The hole was small and blood coated the edges along with a scrap of black material from Duo's clothes. It looked as if Duo had just managed to squeeze his slim frame through. Heero knew that he couldn't do the same. Holstering his gun, he put a calloused hand to each side of the opening and flexed his enhanced muscles. He was only flesh and blood, but his will was stronger than metal mesh. It gave reluctantly, but give it did, and Heero was soon squeezing his muscled body through.
Once outside and on the ground, Heero's gun came out again. Daring, he pulled out his flashlight and quickly looked for a clue as to where Duo had fled. Nothing. Paving stretched out for twenty feet and then rounded into gravel and plant beds. Duo hadn't even left a spot of blood.
"Kuso, Duo!" Heero swore softly. "What is going on in that head of yours?"
Dogs! Heero heard the scrabble of their claws and their growls. Without bothering to turn and look, he sprinted for the security wall, reluctant to shoot the animals and draw attention to himself. Effortlessly, Heero outdistanced the beasts, used a low stump as a springboard, and flung himself over the top of the wall as graceful as a pole vaulter. Landing on the other side, he was less graceful. He crashed into low bushes and went sprawling first onto the dirt of the plant bed and then onto the asphalt of an access road. Skin tore and his wounded arm shrieked protest. The laptop, in its insulated bag inside of his backpack, clattered ominously, hopefully not damaged beyond repair.
One mission accomplished, Heero thought with satisfaction as he rolled to his feet and began running. Grimly, though, he considered his other, more personal mission. He would have to search for Duo again and this time, he was sure, Duo would be more careful.
Manifest lists streamed over Heero's cracked laptop screen. He squinted to make sense of them. He switched to shipping; land, air, and sea transport containers going out of the area he was now in. Next, he scanned weigh station records and then rented vehicles of a certain size. He tried every possibility. He even searched diligently through container weights, trying to catch one that weighed as much as Deathscythe and a slim pilot. Nothing registered in his computer like mind as anything close to a clue, yet he refused to give up, considering the possibility that Duo might have decided to lay low before moving. Still, as the days dragged by, the fear that he had missed something was growing.
Eyes bloodshot and body growing lanky from missed meals, Heero took a break from his search and threw himself down onto the bed of the five star hotel he had hacked a room from. It was soft. He didn't admit that he liked that or that he often chose such hotels because everything in them was always immaculate and well appointed. Instead, he convinced himself that it was for the internet connections in each room and easy access to the hotels more powerful computers.
Heero let himself drift off into sleep, mind still alert and listening to his surroundings for danger. He knew that if anything happened, he would wake instantly and deal with it. He didn't like the weakness of sleep. He felt that it robbed him of time and efficiency. He often wished that Dr. J had found a way to let him do without it. The body cried for it though, and Heero had to concede defeat to maintain top performance. His body rewarded him with a dream.
Duo. Wicked Duo. Duo his manic love. So dangerous. Heero loved Duo just because he was so very dangerous. A tiger. A rattlesnake. Shinigami. Death. Heero's death if he wasn't careful. Gently. Gently. Patience. The dance of the Black Widow's mate. Success was mating. Failure was poison and death. Heero's adrenalin surged. He was more than up for the task, he had danced with death enough times to be an expert.
Dream Duo chuckled low and deep, ran hands along Heero's body, and pulled him close to kiss; drinking deep of mouth, of nipples, of a swollen and needy cock. Heero writhed on the bed. Careful. Careful. Patience. Wait. Dance the dance.
Heero reached out with infinite slowness, won the acceptance in Duo's amethyst eyes, and lightly traced cheek and lips of incomparable softness. Encouraged by Duo's stillness, Heero's other hand sought Duo's dripping erection. It was hot and silky, pulsing and twitching in Heero's grasp.
Dream Duo sighed and seemed to relax. Heero wasn't fooled. He rolled aside and avoided the knife that plunged into the bed where he had been lying. Duo laughed, eyes alight with fire, marveling at the quickness of his lover. They began again, the knife forgotten. Heero had moved too quickly. He reined himself in and concentrated.
At last the moment came, sweet surrender. Heero offered. Duo took and plundered; fierce and wild. Heero kissed the pillow and Duo arched over him, connecting flesh to flesh and moving in a hot, rapid rhythm that was painful, but wonderful at the same time.
Heero loved to be possessed, loved control taken, loved to rest in the oblivion of love and sex and a thrusting body sending shots of fire through his nerves. In the end though, his nature ended submission. He rolled and presented his needy cock.
Another dark chuckle from dream Duo, a whispered assent, and a tight entrance pushing down; down, and down until Heero was engulfed in silken heat. The rhythm began again and Heero's hand took the erection bobbing enticingly before him into a calloused hand. They matched rhythms. Animals in heat. Humans in love.
Heero came in a copious amount into his pants. He cried out, thrusting himself up on the bed and looking wildly around him, disoriented. No Duo. No loving body on top of his. Just a young man's needy dream.
Groaning and rubbing at his sweating scalp, Heero staggered from the bed and headed for the shower. His mind had told him that it was a dream early on. Duo had never been that free, that easy to love. It made Heero ache, partly at his own foolish weakness and partly at the thought that things may have moved to a point where that dream might never become a reality.
The dead look he had seen in Duo's eyes when he had confronted him at the mansion came back to him. He knew that look, knew what it meant. He saw it every day when he looked at himself in the mirror. It was the expression of someone who had cut their emotions off completely, who wanted very hard not to think, not to remember, not to know that something very bad had happened. Heero's life had been full of bad things, bad things even now he never wanted to think about. Duo had been the one to change that. Duo had made memory precious again. Heero wasn't certain that he could do the same for Duo.
Find him, Heero told himself, before nothing can reach him. Don't fail in the most important mission of your life!
"Hey, Heero!" Howard crowed. "At last, man! I've been trying to get a hold of you!"
Heero stared at the vid screen at the sun glass wearing Gundam mechanic. He didn't allow himself to hope just yet. "Why?"
"Still a man of few words, eh?" Howard scratched at his balding head. "I called the other guys and they said you were looking for Duo. I tried every link I knew and then had to sneak into Duo's laptop and grab the code from there. You should change that code man. If I can find it, anyone can." He peered over the rim of his sunglasses at Heero and chuckled nervously as Heero continued to stare silently. "Okay, man! Getting to the point; I've got Duo here with me."
"You do?" Heero felt a rush of adrenalin. He immediately added extra security shunts and then asked. "Give me your coordinates."
"Okay, man, but I gotta tell you, Duo ain't quiet right in the head right now."
"I know," Heero replied.
"You do?" Howard raised eyebrows. "What happened to him? It's like he thinks he just landed on Earth for the first time and we just met. When I asked about you guys, he didn't know what I was talking about. He remembered you though, but it was all mixed up. He said that he shot you and that you tried to blow up your Gundams. That's what happened when you first met, right? He said that he saved you from Oz, but then he was confused."
Heero nodded. He would be. Heero had gone with him to Howard's ship to repair their Gundams then. Heero wasn't there. If Duo had lost his memories of everything but that time, then showing up would complete the memory for him. Heero wasn't certain whether that was the right thing to do or not. Was it right to validate his madness?
"Is he violent?" Heero asked.
"No!" Howard scratched his balding head again. "He's pretty happy go lucky right now, as if he didn't have any worries. He spends his days tinkering with Deathscythe. Dr. G called him a few times, but he hasn't gone on any missions. I don't think Dr. G trusts him enough right now."
"No, he wouldn't," Heero agreed. "The man isn't a fool. He must realize that Duo isn't fit."
Not fit. Heero felt his insides tighten into a knot. If Duo was stripped of his Gundam and not allowed to fight, Heero knew that Duo would react the same way he himself would. He would fight on, alone, armed only with a gun if he had to. To Heero, the war was something he had been trained to fight his entire life. It was all that he knew, but to Duo, it was revenge and a need to protect innocent civilians. He couldn't NOT do it. It was his life's blood. The only way to stop him would be by execution and Heero didn't have any doubt that the cold blooded Dr. G would order it.
"Coordinates," Heero demanded again.
"Sure thing!"
Heero didn't write them down after Howard transmitted them. That was too dangerous. Instead, he committed them to memory, and then began the long journey back to the other pilots and his Wing Gundam. He would need it to reach the transport quickly.
Duo needed him. His euphoric state wouldn't last forever and there wasn't any telling what side of Duo would emerge afterwards. Heero decided that he had to be there to either bring him back to memory and sanity or to put an end to his dangerous lover and his Gundam Deathscythe. Heero wasn't going to allow innocent civilians to be endangered no matter how much Duo meant to him.
Landing on the carrier was difficult. There was a brisk wind and the flat top of the barge rocked with the huge swells of the ocean. Engines revved, metal stressed, but Wing's computers calculated and compensated and managed to land in one piece. Immediately, a crane snaked out and stored the Gundam below decks, afraid of Oz satellite snoopers or fly overs by planes.
Heero met Howard on the heaving deck. The man was in shorts, deck shoes, and a flowered shirt. His hands were tucked into his pants pockets, his only concession to the cold of the wind. Heero, in his flight suit, hunched against the wind and motioned Howard to the leeward side of some equipment. When the wind stopped rushing in his ears he asked, "Status?"
Howard grimaced. "Still the same," he replied. "Man, you gotta do something. It's creeping me out the way he doesn't remember anything. He has this, I don't know, kind of a tension to him. Even though he grins from ear to ear, you just know he's gonna explode!"
Heero nodded, disliking his fears to be confirmed. "Where is he?"
"Store room 10," Howard replied. "He refused to sleep with the crew, so I had to clean him out a space."
Heero recalled the first time Duo had been forced to bunk with the other pilots when accommodations were sparse. The boy had curled up near the door defensively and held his gun all night without sleeping. It had taken several nights, and several tranquilizers hidden in Duo's food, to gain his trust and to help break down his intense defensive reflexes. Heero could imagine the young man's fear now, having reverted mentally to another time and having placed himself among strange men.
Heero left Howard without a word. Going below deck, he unbuttoned and unzipped the tight closures on his suit, giving himself not only more room to breathe, but also more freedom of movement. He wasn't certain what his reception was going to be.
Store room 10. Heero stood before the door for a long moment, preparing himself mentally, and then he reached for the knob. It opened before he could touch it and he came face to face with Duo.
Duo started and stared. Something flickered in his amethyst eyes, but it was gone too quickly for Heero to understand. Duo grinned maniacally and said in a very cheerful tone, "Hey, Hee-man! Did you get that Gundam of yours working yet?"
Heero considered responses and settled on one, not sure whether it was the right one or not. "No."
"Told ya!" Duo chuckled. "You can't fix a Gundam with paper clips and boat caulk. You're just going to have to accept that, man!"
"Hn," Heero replied.
Duo laughed outright as he edged past Heero. "You have to work on those sentences, man! There's other words besides 'hn' and
'no'."
"Baka," Heero sighed and Duo blinked at him cheerfully.
"What's that mean, Hee-man? Japanese, right?"
Heero didn't reply. It was too surreal. He felt like the clock had turned back. He remembered the exact conversation taking place when they had first met. Heero had been determined to go on a mission, but his Gundam had needed repairs. In the end, he had stolen parts from Deathscythe to repair Wing.
"How's your arm and leg?" Duo wondered as Heero followed him down the hall. Heero blinked, confused. "The bullet holes and the broken leg?" Duo prompted with a long suffering tone to his voice. "What are you made of, anyway? You're walking around like nothing's wrong with you."
Heero put a hand to his arm where Duo had shot him just recently. He had long ago shut off the pain. Wrapped and clean, it wasn't a consideration any longer. "Healing," he replied. "My performance is not impaired."
"Glad to hear it," Duo replied mockingly and then in some exasperation, "Come on! Relax, man. There isn't any Ozzies out here to worry about! Drop the soldier hat and put on your , 'I'm a teenager and looking for fun', hat!"
Duo pulled his black cap out of his pocket and purposefully put it on, centering it with exaggerated care. "Here's mine. I'm off to play with the best toy a young guy could want; my Gundam. Wanna come along?"
"Yes," Heero replied.
Duo bounced energetically ahead of him, braid swinging as he laughed, "No, Hee-man! You have to say, 'Yaaa! Let's go play with out Gundams!' You have to get in the right mood!"
"No."
Duo looked back at Heero and rolled his eyes. "Suit yourself, but you better learn to have some fun, man, or you're going to die of old age before you hit twenty!"
Duo's mask was up full force. Heero remembered it, that facade of humor and happiness that hid the pain knotted deep in Duo's gut. Since they had become lover's, Duo had lost the habit of raising it in Heero's presence. It was strange to see it again. Duo wore it so well. Heero could almost believe that he was happy and carefree.
Going into the hold, Heero marveled at Deathscythe. It was a perfect, solid representation of Duo; dark, deadly, and beautiful. Whistling a happy tune, Duo waved cheerily to Heero and took the lift upwards to where the hatch was open and tools were laid out. The slim and deceptively delicate appearing pilot of Deathscythe set to work.
Heero went to Wing. It was dripping with condensation from the weather and still steaming slightly with heat. Heero touched a warm, metal leg, not sure what to do now. Habit took over in his confusion. Wing needed to be checked out and, like Duo, Heero always received a strange satisfied feeling forever tweaking the efficiency of his Gundam up a notch. Since it was impossible to confront Duo immediately and solve the complicated situation at once, Heero opted for patience and rode the lift up to Wing's hatch.
Heero worked diligently, yet, even as his mind calculated, as well as any computer, the intricacies of engine performance, he reserved a part of his mind in an attempt to formulate some plan to win Duo back to sanity.
It grew hot in the hold and, combined with Wing's heat, Heero found himself stripping his flight suit down to his waist, letting it hang about his hips as he flexed and twisted to reach certain components. It wasn't long before he felt eyes on him. covertly, Heero looked out of the corner of his eye and spotted Duo, frozen and staring at Heero's bare upper torso with a mixture of apprehension and... lust.
The old game, Heero sighed, but it held a bit of hope too. Duo might be forcing his mind to forget, but his body was another thing entirely. It still wanted the pilot of Wing.
Heero played the game, ignoring Duo, concentrating on his work and formulating a plan, though now the latter was easier. Judging from Duo's reaction to him, seduction might be a strong weapon. Heero had to gain his trust again, feed the jury in Duo's head with proof of his gentleness and love until he won his freedom from the charge of rape.
"Hey, Heero!"
Heero looked over at Duo.
"Want some lunch?!"
Heero noted his low level of energy. He needed food and rest. He needed to get out of the heavy flight suit. His body ached in protest when he pulled the padded material up and zipped it.
"Come on!" Duo shouted, mistaking his silence for reticence. "A guy's gotta eat! Howard's crew makes good grub!"
"All right!" Heero called back and took the lift down.
Duo took his lift down too, but he didn't wait for it to finish the descent. He dropped impatiently with a chuckle, but then gasped and stumbled on his bad leg. He rubbed at it, looking embarrassed.
"Shit! I must have landed wrong! That hurt!"
"Be careful!" Heero told him anxiously. "The tolerance of your leg was greatly diminished when you fractured it."
Duo raised eyebrows. "What are you talking about, man? I didn't hurt my leg! That's you, remember? You're the one that broke yours." He recovered and straightened. "You need some food, Hee-man! You're starting to hallucinate!"
Duo clapped Heero on the shoulder and walked past him out of the hold, that brief touch enough to make him nervous, but something he could accomplish when he was feeling particularly safe with a person. It was a strange contradiction and Heero puzzled over it as he followed Duo. Duo trusted him, but was that just because he didn't remember not to? How deep did his denial of memory go?
They ate in the cramped mess hall with a few other men. Duo chose a spot away from them and perched in his chair, not really sitting, not really standing, but a nervous twitch between the two, as he began to shovel a plate of some nondescript food into his mouth. Heero ate more slowly, absently using his fork to separate and form his food into bite sizes as he watched Duo quietly. The boy more than made up for the silence, peppering Heero with questions about his Gundam, mostly, and the colony he had come from. Heero replied in monosyllables, but Duo didn't become discouraged. He seemed determined to draw Heero out of himself and make him a friend.
Duo went back for seconds and then shoveled the food into his mouth as quickly as the first helping. When he stood to go for thirds, Heero automatically, and in an authoritative tone, said, "No, you've had enough, Duo."
Duo frowned darkly for only a moment and then he considered the state of his stomach, which he almost never did. "Huh! Guess you're right, Heero."
A man walking by snorted, "Good! Someone else to stop that glutton! I'm tired of cleaning vomit off the floor!"
Duo flushed scarlet and glanced at Heero, embarrassed. "Well, uh, I'm not used to having as much as I want. L2 was a hard place to be a street rat in and Dr. G didn't know much about young men's stomachs needing regular meals and all."
Duo waited tensely for some sort of snide remark from Heero. Heero said calmly, soothingly. "I understand."
Duo blinked and then smiled again, regaining his former exuberance as if it were a switch turning on and off. "K, uh, well, I'm going back to finish up with my buddy Deathscythe. You going to stay and finish eating?"
"Yes," Heero replied. "I'll join you shortly."
"Great! Later Hee-man!"
Heero watched Duo walk out of the mess hall, his braid swinging merrily behind him. He wasn't surprised when Howard settled into Duo's vacant chair. "See what I mean?" Howard asked.
Heero nodded.
"So, what are you going to do?" Howard wondered eagerly.
Heero replied as he stood up, leaving his unfinished meal. "Put another bunk into Duo's room. I will be sleeping there."
Howard held up two hands in alarm, sunglasses sliding down to the end of his nose. "Wait a minute, man! Don't do that unless you have a death wish for Shinigami himself! Duo's a hair trigger. If he doesn't kill you while he's awake, then he'll do it in his sleep!"
Heero's jaw set determinedly. "I know how to handle Duo. Do as I say."
"Okay, okay! You're funeral!" Howard sighed. "Good luck, man. You'll need it."
Heero looked down at Howard and asked without preamble. "Did Dr. G give you any orders concerning Duo?"
"Like an order to dispose of his favorite protege and reclaim Deathscythe?" Howard asked sourly. "Don't think I haven't been waiting for it, but so far he's only given orders not to allow Deathscythe to leave the hold."
"How are you accomplishing that?" Heero wondered. When Howard pulled a detonator from his breast pocket, Heero nodded grimly. He didn't protest. He knew the necessity of it. A Gundam was unstoppable, a weapon that couldn't be allowed to rest in the hands of a disturbed young man.
"So far, he hasn't tried to leave the ship," Howard said. "He's antsy, but not eager to do anything without orders from Dr. G."
Heero understood that reluctance. He had it in spades where Dr. J was concerned. His own training in obedience had involved sadistic forms of correction. Though Duo had never spoken of his own training, Heero had heard him say things in his sleep that had confirmed to Heero that he hadn't been the only one to suffer under the Dr.'s cold, clinical, brutality. If any of them had harbored any childhood before meeting the doctors, those zealots to their cause had stomped it out underfoot as a distraction to the pilot's training. In light of that, it was a wonder that Duo had maintained even a semblance of good humor, but the young man had always thrived on hardship and had found a joke in even the worst situations. Heero had secretly admired him for that strength and had never imagined a time when Duo couldn't cope, couldn't face up to yet one more hardship with his patented smile and a flipped bird in the face of adversity.
He's still fighting, Heero thought, wanting to believe it. Somewhere inside, Duo was fighting to overcome his fear, gathering the bravery to remember and to face whatever the truth was. He needed time for that and patience. Heero wished he could give him both, but the war waited for them. The barge was a floating oasis, but the outside world still moved on. Oz still killed and conquered. Gundam pilots were still needed to fight them and defeat them. They had to go back. This situation had to be settled one way or another.
"Wait a minute, pallie!" Duo argued as Heero dropped his pack on the second bed in the sparse room. Duo had come in behind him and he was immediately upset. "I sleep alone! You'll have to find a bed somewhere else."
"No," Heero replied and sat on the bed as he began to take off his boots.
"No?" Duo was wide eyed with consternation.
"We're both Gundam pilots and we have to move in utmost secrecy," Heero explained as he peeled off his sweaty socks. "I can't work in front of the crew."
"Then find another closet!" Duo exclaimed.
"No," Heero replied again. He unzipped his flight suit, stood up, and began stripping it off.
Duo was still standing in the open doorway. That made him feel safe enough not to run, but Heero saw his hand inch for his hidden gun. His voice was dangerous. "What do you think you're doing?"
"Preparing to take a shower," Heero approached the door slowly. Hand on his hidden gun, Duo inched out of his way. When their positions were reversed, Heero said, "Don't lock the door after I am gone. The lock is simple. It won't keep me out."
"I have things that WILL keep you out," Duo threatened.
"I know you do," Heero replied and left to find the crew shower room.
When Heero was clean and ready for another confrontation, he returned to find the door to Duo's room wide open and the pilot missing.
Dressing in jeans, a long sleeved shirt, and a windbreaker, Heero climbed above deck and began a search for the pilot of Deathscythe in a methodical and logical manner. He would have searched the ship from top to bottom, but Duo forestalled him. He found the pilot perched on an upper deck under the stars, laptop glowing before him, and beautiful face turned up towards space. The wind had died down and the sea had calmed. Everything was very quiet and peaceful.
"You can have the room," Duo replied without looking at Heero.
"And you'll sleep out here?" Heero wondered.
"No," Duo replied. "I have a mission. I'm waiting for the download to finish."
Heero narrowed his eyes at the screen and saw the time meter ticking down as it loaded information. He also saw the crack in the screen. It wasn't Duo's laptop, but his own. Duo had hacked it and accepted a mission from Dr. J. pretending to be Heero.
Heero went cold. He had expected to have days to work with Duo, at least a little time to convince him. "I can't let you go."
Still not looking at Heero, Duo pulled his gun and leveled it at him. He stood up with the laptop in his free hand. "I do as I please," he said. "I thought we could be 'buddies', being Gundam pilots, and all, but... well, you don't know me. I'm pretty screwed up, Hee-man." He looked at Heero at last and a half smile was on his lips. "I have to stay a loner."
"You're wrong," Heero told him. "I know what you're afraid of. I know what you think you might do. I know what you think I might do." Heero gave Duo a very intense look. "I won't ever touch you unless you want me to, Duo."
Duo went very pale and he trembled visibly. "I- I-," Heero could see him struggle to clamp down hard on memory. "How do you know?" he breathed at last.
"Deep down inside of you, Duo, you know the answer to that already, "Heero replied softly. "You can't hide from memory forever."
Duo shook his head sharply, braid swinging with the motion. "I don't know what you're talking about. You aren't making any sense." The laptop clicked completion and Duo gripped it tighter to him with its precious information.
"Don't go. You aren't well," Heero said, trying to reason with Duo as traitor reflexes zeroed in on a hundred objects he could grab to kill Duo then and there. "You might harm innocent people by mistake."
Duo was furious all at once. "I may be a fucked up individual, Heero, but I know my Gundam and I know the difference between an Oz mobile suite and a unarmed citizen! If accusing me of being incompetent is what this whole weird conversation is all about, then I have to tell you that I was a complete case study in insanity when Dr. G first laid eyes on me. He taught me to control myself and to be a competent soldier for the colonies no matter what my mental state happened to be at the time. I can't even begin to tell you the sadistic methods he cooked up to teach my mind to behave when I'm in a Gundam or on a mission, but let's just say I still have nightmares about them."
So many things he still didn't know about his lover... Heero was suddenly uncertain about what to do. If Duo was telling the truth, and Heero didn't have any reason to doubt him, then he was fit to pilot his Gundam and Heero's need to make him remember, make him become his lover again, was secondary to the fact that Duo could continue to fight in the war, insane or not.
Heero abruptly switched mental gears. He knew where his priorities lay. "I will come with you."
Duo shook his head. "I work alone, man! Deathscythe needs a lot of room. I don't want to have a rookie get in the way of the laser. It can slice through even gundanium."
"I have experience," Heero replied and then chillingly. "I am going. If you refuse I have only one option open to me."
Duo glared, but he would have had more luck staring down a brick wall. Heero was unmovable in his decision. Duo scratched under his black cap, puzzled. "I don't understand any of this! You come out of nowhere, try and kill some stupid girl, get yourself shot and captured, and now you're questioning my competence and trying to make my business your own. What's up with you, man?"
"You know, Duo," Heero insisted. "I don't have to tell you."
"I think you're crazier than I am, Hee-man!" Duo chuckled. "Maybe I should be taking the keys to your Gundam!"
"You wouldn't be successful and Wing does not have keys," Heero replied.
Duo holstered his gun and held up a hand placatingly. "Just a joke! I wonder if there are any more Gundam pilots out there and if they are as screwed up as the both of us?"
"There are three."
Duo blinked in shock, really not having expected a reply. "Three more? Where are they?"
"In a safe house," Heero replied. "We've been fighting the war together, coordinating our attacks for utmost efficiency."
Duo looked thoughtful, clutching the laptop against his chest. "Working together. .." He shook his head again. "No, I'm a loner and you'd know why if you tried to spend any time with me. I don't play well with others, Heero."
"We don't play. We kill," Heero replied.
Duo took in a breath and then said shakily, "Yeah, so do I," and then he was striding off of the upper deck. "Come on then and I'll show you the info that was just sent to me. I'll work with you this time, just to get you off my back and to show you my ace fighting style, but then, I want you to get lost, k?"
"Understood," Heero replied as he followed.
Duo muttered as he went down the stairs, "Seems you understand a lot of things, Hee-man."
Heero touched the detonator to Deathscythe nestled in his flight suit next to his own. He had taken it from Howard. The man hadn't argued. Heero's cold eyes had told him that he would do what was necessary if Duo got out of hand. Heero was relived that, so far, he had found the detonator unnecessary.
Duo fought with his usual exuberance and fierceness. Heero gave him a wide berth, directing his attention to destroying the Oz base while Duo concentrated on slicing apart every mobile suit that approached him and his lethal laser scythe. Heero monitored him on the vid screen, watching out of the corner of his eye, Duo's intense face and his almost glowing amethyst eyes.
Revenge was sweet for the pilot of Deathscythe and he seemed to be drinking in that sweetness with every slice into the enemy. Heero knew his past, knew of the Oz soldiers that had frequently used him when he had been a prostitute, knew of the massacre of the only family Duo had ever known in an orphanage. Duo couldn't get enough of serving up payback to the enemy, but he never went out of bounds. He never stooped to evil himself. If a suit backed up and fled, he didn't pursue it. If a suit went down and didn't get up, he didn't annihilate it. He was in perfect control, his mission statement one of destruction and disablement rather than as a death dealer. Shinigami only delivered death to those who dared to come against him.
At first, Duo avoided Heero's help, almost pretending that Heero wasn't there, but as the fight progressed, Heero was there to divide the forces against them and to take the heat from Duo more than once. When it was over, and the smoking remains of the base was stretched out at the feet of their Gundams, Duo was euphoric.
"That was great man!" Duo crowed over the com link. "Maybe this working together thing isn't so bad after all. Shinigami's tough, but I think I would have been swamped a few time back there without your help. I'm big enough of a man to admit it!"
"That's why we work together," Heero replied over the link. "Separate, we will be destroyed, overwhelmed by the enemy. Together, we can watch each other's backs and divide their forces." He paused for emphasis, hoping against hope, as he concluded, "Deathscythe is strong and you are an excellent pilot, Duo. I want you to join us. Together, we can win this war."
Duo thought it over, his com link silent as Heero spread his Gundam's wings and revved his jets. Taking hold of Duo's Deathscythe, he waited, detonator in hand.
At last, just when Heero began to move his thumb over the button, Duo said, "Why, are you going to blow yourself up too?"
Duo knew what Heero was about to do, knew what he had planned all along. Heero felt his gut tighten. "You know the answer to that," Heero replied.
Duo thought that over, face reflecting inner turmoil. He grimaced and rubbed at his forehead. "I don't have the answers to a lot of things concerning you," he replied finally. "Maybe I'll tag along until I have them, K?"
"Acceptable," Heero replied.
Duo adjusted his stabilizers and shut down his Gundam to allow Wing to carry him. While he did that, he fumbled distractedly to sever the com link. Unaware that the line was still live, he said under his breath, but still loud enough for Heero to hear. "I could really fall for that Heero, if I'm not careful."
Heero severed the link himself as he adjusted the engines to carry the extra weight. He felt a warm flush of hope and he smiled.
TBC
Yeah, I hate that too and I swore I would never do it, but here it is for the second time. Sorry, but I'm tired and I want the next part to be really, really, really good! It'll be worth it, you'll see! Stick with me, K?
Review me, please! I'm so needy! :)