Tin Soldiers

Chapter 21:Bombs Away

by Kracken

It was good to be back where we belonged, lying out in the sun, and having Heero just hang out with me. If we hadn't both felt the danger, we would have had a damned good time. It was almost as if we were playing hooky from work, grinning and laughing while we swam together, sat talking about the old days with a drink and a bar stool to keep us out of the sand, and lastly watched the sun go down while a light breeze tangled in our hair.

"We should do this more often," Heero said softly as he clasped my hand in his and didn't give a damn who saw us.

"I do it all the time," I told him and couldn't help a bit of accusation in my voice. Nine out of ten times, my ass was on the beach, and Heero was still on the job. That was the man I loved, though, and I hadn't really thought about changing that. You didn't go into any relationship wanting to change someone. If you didn't like who you were with, then it was time to call it quits.

"I know I get wrapped up in my work," Heero apologized as we walked along, ignoring the looks the other beachgoers were giving us. Screw them, anyway, I thought, as I leaned into Heero, this wasn't the stone age.

"I didn't ask for different," I replied.

"Maybe I want different?" Heero chuckled.

There was nothing wrong with a man wanting to change himself.

"We'll explore the new Heero Yuy later," I told him with a leer, "and I'll let you know if he's as sexy as the old one."

"I'd like that," he leered back.

He never let his guard down, despite his humor. I could see the tense shoulders, the eyes continuously looking around us as he talked. The man was a marvel at multitasking. He'd protect us both, hopefully bring down a bad guy, and worry about my feelings all at the same time. Why would I want someone different?

It was a damned good disguise. I wouldn't have known him in broad daylight, and you get to know a man pretty damn well when he's had a chance to top you, if you know what I mean? He seemed just one more of the beachgoers passing us by; sandals, dreads, a wild print bathing suit, and a towel draped over one shoulder, a towel that was hiding a six inch spike of metal.

He planned to shove the thing up through my side, and into my heart, but some motion of his warned me. I was still a soldier, still an agent, still Captain Maxwell, and still on edge and looking for an enemy. A quick arm motion triggered reflexes as ingrained as breathing. Sure, it was tempered by, 'Don't accidentally kill civilians.' but I was still out of range in a flash and then spinning to grab his wrist when I saw the setting sun glint along the length of metal.

Heero was in just as quickly, foot coming around to slam into Filmore's jaw. The man didn't go down, though. He snapped his wrist out of my grip and rolled with the kick. He came up on his feet again and slashed at me with the spike.

In the movies, they talk, tell you their plans, and tell you why they want you dead. In real life, they just kill you and gloat after, especially when the killer knows he's just as likely to die facing two men like Heero and myself. We didn't get the sob story, the reason for the complete hate in his eyes, as he tried his best to take me down.

He couldn't win, of course, not against two men like us, but there was a real possibility that he might gut one of us before we won the fight. We were too close for a gun, to needy of both hands to fend off Filmore's lighting attacks.He was the one who gave us our advantage, though, in his insistence on trying to kill me, and not Heero. When I gave Heero the nod, saw that he understood, and then stepped wide, leaving myself open, I felt a moment of uncertainty as the spike came stabbing at me.

It's damned hard to gamble your life on someone else's abilities, even if that person is your lover. Time slowed down as that spike stabbed forward and Heero attempted to get his gun out as I backed up. Heero has incredible reflexes. He shot Filmore in the hand and then shot him in the foot to immobilize him.

"Son of a bitch!" Filmore snarled as I put a knee in his back and shoved him into the sand face first. While I cranked his arms up behind his back, Heero flipped open his cell phone to call for backup.

"Just relax," I told Filmore and put pressure on my knee to convince him to follow my order. He gasped in pain, ending whatever tirade he had been about to launch into. I didn't need his laundry list of insults, or his reasons. Attempted murder didn't have an excuse.

I grinned at Heero as we heard sirens at the top of the dunes. "Nice day at the beach and some exercise at the end of it."

Heero was still riding high on adrenaline, and concerned for me. He gave me a tight smile in return and then waved the agents over to us when he saw them. They had a medic with them and the man kneeled with his case to start working on Filmore's hand. In the last light of sunset, the man looked at me, blinked and then asked, "Looks like he nicked you good on the forehead. I'll bandage that up before I go."

I scowled at the reminder of the pimple and shouted to the other agents, "Handcuffs, somebody!"

They did the honors and began taking Filmore away.His head was hanging and his expression was dark. I suppose that he was worrying about a good defense lawyer, now, and thinking about a life in prison. He did offer a token struggle, at last, digging in heels briefly and twisting to look back at me. The parting shot, I thought, and braced myself for some crude words. It was the bulge under his flowery shirt that alerted me.

"Bomb!" I shouted."Run!"

I had to believe that everyone there knew what to do, because I had only time to help one man, the one closest to me. I grabbed the medic by the coat, and dragged him after me, as I ran. I was terrified for Heero, until I saw that he had the medic by the other arm and was keeping pace with me. I knew damned well that he could run faster, but he refused to without me.

The blast of the bomb fried our backs and knocked us down in a shower of sand and small shells... and blood and body parts. Filmore wasn't Filmore any longer. I rolled and was on my feet, even my teeth aching as I checked to make sure that I had all of my body parts.

"Heero, status?!" I shouted shakily.

"Unhurt... mostly...," Heero replied, and made his feet as well.

The medic scrambled on hands and knees, through the sand and muck, to his first unconscious patient. We helped, as much as we could, until real help arrived. The bomb hadn't been a large one, but it had been big enough to cause some injuries.

Wu Fei arrived with them, dark sunglasses making his eternally pissed off look, appear even more so as he trudged across the sand and gave us a loud speech about insubordination, regulations, and psyche evaluations. I think, though, that he was actually glad that we were alive, but you had to look close to catch it.

"You need to go to the hospital," he told us. "Once you're checked out there, I need a full report."

"Home," I replied firmly. He blinked at me and I repeated. "Home, Fei, that's where we're going. We'll fill out paperwork tomorrow."

"That's unwise," he told me. "You have minor burns, but there may be more that- "

"Home," Heero said as he hooked an arm around my waist. His insubordination must have been better than mine. Wu Fei scowled and ceased to argue, his attention going to people who did want to be helped to the nearest hospital.

We limped back to our home, checked it inch by inch for booby traps, and was relieved to find nothing. It was some time before I could believe in that safety, though, and some hours, sitting stiffly in a chair, before I could manage to stretch out on the bed. Once I had made up my mind, though, Heero joined me.

"Rain check," I told him as my eyes slowly closed, letting the events of the day just go away.

"I wasn't even thinking that," Heero grumbled, but I could feel his lie against my leg. Danger will do that too you, adrenaline super charging hormones... or maybe, it was just plain lust.

"I want to, but I don't think-" I began, but he cut me off.

"Sleep, love," he told me. "We have our entire life for that."

I grinned, and murmured, "Yeah.", as I succumbed to sleep.

We had put down the bad guy again, as a team, as lovers. A little lost sex was nothing compared to that rush. Besides, along with my coffee, the next morning, I woke with Heero's head between my legs. Crude?Too much information?To me, it just showed how perfect we were together, and how we understood one another. I was the joker, the rule breaker, the one who found his answers stretched out on the beach. Heero was all business suit, daily meetings, and intense research. We met in the middle, somehow, and made it freakin' perfect.

 

End


 

 

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