The Power
1x2 get together fic
"You have to have something that means a lot to you," the old veteran said
as he checked his pulse rifle sight.
Wu Fei nodded in agreement. "An honorable reason to fight."
The man snickered. "No, I mean a tangible flesh and blood reason. Ideals are fine, but when it comes to hand to hand, and bashing each other over the heads with rocks, ideals just don't cut the mustard."
"Cut the mustard?" Wu Fei repeated in distaste. "I find that ideals... an honorable reason... is enough for me."
"Well, she does it for me," the veteran said and pulled a laminated picture out of the breast pocket of his flack jacket. He held it out as if it were precious. "No ogling, now. Be polite to the Missus."
A matronly looking woman, with her hair in a severe bun and wearing horn rimmed glasses, was flashed to all around before the man tucked it safely back into his pocket again. He patted it lovingly. "I'll fight through the ninth level of hell for that woman."
Duo was grinning. "Sexy," he chuckled.
The man glared and then laughed as well. "If I didn't know you were gay, that would be worth a punch in the mouth, sir."
Duo shrugged and then struggled with several heavy packs trying to get them into position for the jump. Heero took the straps and easily lifted them, setting them into place without comment.
"Thanks, buddy," Duo said appreciatively.
The veteran was watching Duo curiously."Do you have a reason, Captain? I see you pulling something out of your jacket when things get tough."
"My pekinese, Poofy," Duo replied. "She's all I need."
Heero smirked, but then glared as the veteran turned his attention to Heero. "Captain Yuy?"
"His handgun collection, of course," Duo replied for him. "Heero would die rather than see it fall into enemy hands. Right, buddy?"
Heero grunted and turned away. He walked forward to check the transmitter on their drop equipment and Wu Fei followed him.
"I know what you have in your pocket, Yuy," Wu Fei said. The engines of the jump ship were so loud that he didn't have to lower his voice much to keep their conversation private.
Heero tensed and then replied tightly, his hands not ceasing from adjusting a control, "That is something very personal, Chang. It wouldn't be wise to tell anyone else about it."
"Not Duo, especially," Wu Fei guessed sourly. "I don't understand your shame. You are both excellent soldiers. Two men who well respect each other shouldn't fear a deeper commitment."
Heero narrowed eyes at him, his expression dangerous. "I have my reasons. You will respect them, understood?"
"Of course," Wu Fei sighed, "but lying is dishonorable, Yuy."
"I haven't lied," Heero shot back and then lowered his voice and made a cutting motion with one hand. "Enough. You don't know anything. This conversation never happened."
"Must be some Pekinese," the veteran was chuckling as Heero and Wu Fei both returned to where Duo and the veteran were putting on their chutes.
"Kalinski," Duo said warningly, "I don't say anything about your love of elderly school teachers and you don't say anything about my pekinese love, okay?"
"Okay, Captain," the veteran snickered. "Fair enough."
"Twenty seconds," Heero said shortly as he checked his belted weapons one more time and then hooked himself to a jump line. He reached to check Duo's clip and Duo scowled at him.
"I'm not stupid," Duo complained as he took his position on the line. "Watch your own ass, Yuy."
"Never hurts to double check, youngsters," the veteran said as he took up last in line position. "Er, sirs."
"Yeah, but Heero only checked mine," Duo complained.
The jump siren went off and anything else that might have been said was drowned out as they made their jump into the jungle.
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"That's my buddy you're trying to hole!" Duo snarled as he stood up behind a terrorist and took him out with his handgun. The man had been patiently lining up the sight of a rifle with Heero's head.
Like a ghost, Duo slipped back into the jungle, splotchy green camo uniform making him almost invisible. He would have a thing or two to say to Heero, when he reached him again, Duo thought angrily. The man was supposed to be drawing fire, not making himself a clear target.
Heero's gun began firing, almost lazily, but the man wasn't wasting bullets. The terrorists fired back and Duo quickly took stock of positions. Not all of them, he supposed, but enough to allow the other agents, led by Wu Fei, to infiltrate and take their command site. They wouldn't be war lording it over the neighboring villages any longer, pretending that law didn't exist.
Crouching in a stand of thick leaves, Duo peered out at a gun nest, the men manning it irritably waiting for orders, and a chance to obliterate Heero completely. It was on a slight rise, looking down into the jungle, a defensible point that was ridiculously indefensible. That told Duo that, whoever was leading those men, knew theory, but didn't have any practical experience with real fighting.
Duo rubbed a hand against his breast pocket, and the picture inside of it, as if it were a talisman. Heero wouldn't let them get a fix on his position. He was constantly moving, keeping the terrorists afraid that they might fire on their own men. He had to trust in Heero's skill to focus on his job. He couldn't let fear make him careless.
Duo set his charges and then was away again, into the jungle. He thumbed the detonator as soon as he was out of range. The explosion rocked the ground, the sound blast shaking the jungle violently as debris pelted everything. Men were screaming, not all of them dead.
It wasn't the war. Once the area was locked down and taken, those still alive would be evaced to a medical facility. More than they deserved, Duo thought viciously, knowing the atrocities those men had perpetrated on the villagers.
Duo avoided a trip wire hidden under jungle growth and stepped up behind another terrorist. This man was gripping a rifle hard and looking terrified. In Duo's experience, terrified soldiers could do the worst damage. His belief was confirmed when the man jerked a micro grenade from his shoulder belt and armed it with a shaking hand. It was enough explosive to take out a twenty yard radius.
"Where'd you get that beauty?" Duo wanted to know.
The man jerked, eyes wide, and, suddenly, the man was holding the grenade towards Duo.
"I'm too close," Duo warned him. "We'll both blow if you let that button go. Maybe you stole that baby out of munitions without knowing what it was. That's not candy, baby, that will take out this entire area, got that?"
The man's eyes were on the explosive, then, realizing that he had armed it and that he couldn't hope to throw it far enough to save his own life.
"Why?" he asked in a small, trembling voice.
"We call them suicide poppers," Duo explained. "Last strike. The guy who trips that detonator isn't expected to survive it. You're in a bad situation."
The man held the bomb towards Duo again. "You could be lying."
Duo flipped out his gun and aimed it at the man's head, faster than the eye could follow. "I could have killed you that quick." He holstered the gun again, before the man could get over his shock.
Realization set in. The man swallowed hard and said, in a whimpering voice, "I'm dead."
"Maybe not," Duo told him, trying, mentally, to calculate just how far away Heero was and whether he was safe from the blast. He couldn't be sure and, because there wasn't a hundred percent certainty, he wasn't going to take the risk. "Come with me... carefully... and I might be able to find a way to get rid of it and save both our lives."
The man was distrustful."You don't want to save me!"
"I don't, you're right," Duo agreed, "but saving you means saving me."
"W-What do I do?" The man asked plaintively.
"Follow me," Duo told him.
"You better not be lying!" the man snarled.
"I don't lie," Duo replied firmly.
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"Don't trip, or anything," Duo growled as the man stumbled in the dirt and vines of the jungle floor. "Keep a tight hold on that button."
"You don't have to keep telling me that!" the man complained, and then more plaintively, "Why don't you just tell me where we're going? For all I know, you're going to throw me off of a cliff."
"Don't tempt me," Duo warned, but then, when the man paled, "Nothing like that. It'll be tricky, but simple. You gotta work with me, that's all. Don't panic, don't be stupid."
"You're going to leave me out here, aren't you?" the man guessed, beginning to panic, despite Duo's warning. His voice firmed and he told Duo viciously. "If I'm going to die, I will take you with me!"
"You've got the balls for that?" Duo wondered, surprising the man with an amused chuckle. When the man didn't reply, Duo said , "Thought not. Look, boy, my plan is to get you far away from everyone I hold dear, before I try to save both our asses, okay? If we go up, it'll be just us two."
"You're... committing suicide?" the man choked out in shock.
Duo glared at him, "I'm trying to avoid that, but I am a self sacrificing bastard, so I will if I have to."
"Tell me what your plan is!" the man demanded again and stopped in his tracks. "I won't go anywhere until you do."
There were shots fired in the distance. Duo winced and then snarled, "Look! My buddy is out there and he needs me. Stop complaining and let's get this done."
The man looked guilty. "I'm supposed to be killing you... for the cause." he touched his rifle as if confirming that it was still there.
Duo sighed impatiently. "Why don't you look at it this way? I killed you back there. Dead men don't have to fight any more."
The man grasped at that. "That's right. I guess..."
"You guess nothing," Duo told him firmly. "I saw you back there. You didn't really want to kill anyone. You didn't really want to be in that fight at all."
The man swallowed hard. "My brother..."
"Talked you into this? That happens," Duo argued, "but you can decide for yourself, now."
"I don't know..." the man was confused. Confused men could be very dangerous.
Duo dropped his sympathy card and snarled, "I'm ready to kill us both, right here and now, to protect my own." he touched the picture in his pocket. "Either you start walking or I make that decision."
The man looked frightened and started walking.
"Good," Duo grunted, but he didn't trust the man. He kept his hand on his gun. "Just a little further," he promised the man. "Then I'll try to save both our asses."
There was a large explosion. Duo grabbed for the soldier's hands and clasped them on the bomb as the ground jumped beneath them. They both huddled together and then slowly looked around.
"What the hell?" Duo demanded, "Did another of you losers have a bomb like that?"
"I-I don't know." the man stuttered.
Duo brought his attention back to the man. "Get a grip. Don't freak out on me, now."
The man looked at him with wide eyes. "Aren't you afraid of anything... of dying?"
"Yeah," Duo admitted as he slowly let the man's hands go, "but protecting the guy that I care about trumps that. Start walking."
The man made a guess and his face twisted with disgust.
"Don't judge me," Duo growled. "I'm the guy that's going to save your life, hopefully. I don't think who I take to bed matters... not that I've taken him to bed... not that I don't want to, but, the man... he's dense, and strong... very strong... he could turn me into sushi... so... haven't really talked about any of this to him..." Duo cleared his throat. "Start walking."
The man stared at Duo as if he doubted Duo's sanity, but then, he resigned himself to his fate, and began walking again.
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"This is your camp," the soldier said nervously.
"For what it is, yeah," Duo grumbled and began searching through their hidden backpacks, tucked under bushes. He came up with a roll of medical tape and a grin. "Here we go."
When Duo approached the soldier, the man was wide eyed. "I don't like this!" he exclaimed.
Duo shrugged as he pulled some tape away from the roll. "You don't have any other choice. The button needs to stay down. We have some chance getting this tape on to do that."
"Some chance," the man repeated in alarm. "Not a hundred percent."
"What's your name, soldier?" Duo asked.
The man blinked at him. "Terry."
"My name's Duo," Duo told him firmly. "There, see? If we die, together, we'll know each other's name in heaven. We can put in a good word for each other, so they might not send us to hell."
"You're crazy, aren't you?" the soldier said fearfully.
Duo grinned, "People have said so. Come on," he said more gently. "This is all we've got."
"Duo?" Heero's voice made both of them spin around to face Heero as he cautiously left the jungle to stand near them.
"Should have known," Duo chuckled, "That you'd take care of all of them by yourself."
"You weren't in position," Heero complained irritably. "Who's he?"
"This is Terry," Duo introduced with a flourish. "Terry, this is Heero. Terry tried to blow me up, only he wasn't wise to the fact that he would get blown up, too. Now, we're kind of trying to figure things out, so that nobody gets blown up."
Heero's eyes widened. He looked down at the tape in Duo's hand. "That's your plan?"
"Pretty much,"Duo replied and then made a shooing motion. "No reason for you to get blown up, too. I'll give you twenty minutes to clear the blast zone." Duo patted the picture in his vest pocket. "Tell Poofy I love her."
Heero frowned."I'm not going to do that."
Duo frowned as well, "Why not?"
"You don't have a dog," Heero replied.
Duo blushed,"How do you know that?"
"Wu Fei told me." Heero explained. He gestured for the tape."You have someone. Someone you love enough to keep in your pocket. They'll want you alive. I-I don't have anyone."
"There's nothing in your pocket?" Duo demanded. "Who's lying now, Yuy?"
Heero's jaw tightened and he closed his hand over Duo's, both of them holding the tape. We both have someone," he confessed, "but the person that I love... They have someone else."
"That sucks,"Duo replied softly,"but I'm in the same boat. He doesn't know. He has someone else, too."
"He?" Heero breathed.
"Yeah, I'm gay," Duo told him, nervously.
"Me, too," Heero admitted.
They stared at each other, both of them changing their view of one another.
"Shit! Is this the guy you were talking about?" Terry shouted in disgust. "The guy you love and wanted to get back too?"
"Shut up, Terry!" Duo shouted back in desperation.
"Or what?" Terry retorted. "I don't want to stand here waiting for two fags to confess to one another while I'm about to blow up!"
"Heero, I need you to go," Duo growled. "Don't listen to this dumb shit soldier."
Heero was looking shocked, but then his expression firmed. "I'm going to find out what he means, Duo, later. Right now," he jerked the tape out of Duo's hand, "I'm going to be the one to tape the detonator."
"Why?!" Duo demanded in anguish, following him to Terry.
Heero smiled, "Because I don't want to have to change the picture in my pocket. I have steadier hands than you, Duo, love."
"Heero?" Duo choked on the name.
"Later," Heero insisted and then to Terry. "Don't let go until I say."
"I'm not stupid!" Terry shouted fearfully in Heero's face. "Just... just get it done right."
Heero hunched over the explosive, pulling Terry's hand in very close to his stomach.
"It won't matter, Heero," Duo said softly. "A flack jacket isn't going to stop that bomb."
Heero froze for a moment and then shrugged with a sad smile. "I can't help wanting to protect you."
"Do it!" Terry urged, sweat running down his face and his complexion pasty with his building anxiety.
Heero worked slowly and then, cautiously, said, "Now, move your hand."
Terry licked dry lips and frowned.
"Move it!" Heero snapped.
"Okay!" Terry retorted and then, as if he needed to concentrate hard on the task, slowly opened his fingers.
Everyone waited, breathless, as Heero was next to open his fingers, showing them the taped button. "We need to mark this area and then have the bomb squad return to take care of it."
"Will do," Duo replied with relief and then drew his gun and put it to Terry's head. The soldier was too weak from nerves to defend himself. "You are under arrest."
"O-Okay," Terry stammered.
The mission wasn't over and the moping up process turned messy, but, when they were on a transport home, once again sitting with their team and relaxing, Heero was there, bracing himself on an overhead strap and leaning down into the space where Duo was sitting.
"Show me," Heero asked, sounding unsure of himself.
"You show me, first," Duo replied, eyes desperate and begging Heero for reassurance.
Heero unbuttoned his breast pocket and pulled out a very worn photo of Duo. It looked as if he had handled it repeatedly. It was dog eared and faded in places.
Duo stared at it, as if he could hardly believe it, and then, embarrassed, he slowly pulled out the photo from his own breast pocket.
Heero stared at it in disbelief. Wu Fei, from his seat, leaned in to look as well, and then sat back with an irritated snort.
"It's a pekinese," Heero said in confusion.
Duo grinned nervously. "Well, it is, and it isn't. This is you... or what I use to think of you."
"I remind you of a pekinese?" Heero wondered.
"No!" Duo exploded in exasperation and then calmed and said, softer, "I didn't want you to ever see... or anyone else... I just didn't think that I had a chance with you. I thought, if you ever found out..."
"Me, too," Heero admitted.
"Progress at last!" Wu Fei exclaimed sarcastically.
Heero and Duo glared at him and then grinned at each other.
"After we debrief-" Heero began.
"We'll go to my place and... talk," Duo finished eagerly. "Boy! Will we talk!"
Heero laughed, but then sobered. He ignored everyone to reach out a hand and lightly caress Duo's cheek. "We have a lot of lost time to make up for."
"Okay, Poofy," Duo chuckled.
Heero glared, "Do not call me Poofy!"
"If you'd comb your hair once in awhile..." Duo snickered.
Wu Fei rolled his eyes and sunk down into his seat in disgust as they began to argue. "Ancestors grant me peace... someday."
END