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"Lost "Written By: Artemis Disclaimer: Gundam Wing and its characters are
copyright to Sunrise, Bandai, Sotsu Agency, and associated parties.
I make no money with this fic. Rating: NC 17 Warnings: implied yaoi, angst, violence, language Pairings: 6x2, mention of 4+3 Summary: Sequel to Interfacing: Found. Quatre
has some shocking information for Duo about his new lover; there's
trouble in Cairo... "Lost" 3) [This place is a mess,] he thought happily, and decided to pick up a bit before Duo returned and they messed it up all the more with breakfast. Meals more frequently than not tended to lead to sex-play... and more. He began picking up articles of clothing, heading toward Duo's duffel bag to put the cleaner ones away. Once there, he folded up a couple of things, then bent over to put them in the bag. A glint of silver caught his eye. [What's this?] he wondered and pushed something aside to see what it was. To his surprise... it was a gun. Abruptly he straightened. [Well, I have one in my bag, too... I suppose it's natural to carry protection, especially in a strange city. Hmm, I don't know that I can picture him with a gun, but I suppose so...] Curious, he took it out and examined it. The handgun was close to military-issue, but not quite, perhaps something one might pick up in the colonies where such things were often hybrids, crafted from parts of several guns. His professional assessment was that the piece was efficient and well-used. Zechs felt a little shiver all of a sudden. [Hmmm... this gun has seen use, and recently. Did he borrow it from his friend, I wonder? Did he practice with it on a range before venturing out with it?] Hastily he replaced it in the bag, stuffing the folded clothing on top of it, then backed away slowly. Duo Maxwell with a gun. The concept felt... surreal. [Zechs, stop imagining things,] he scolded himself, shaking his head as he continued to pick up around the room. [He'll be back soon for breakfast...] Abdul was waiting for them at the top of the stairs. "I'm certain he's still in there," the Maguanac reported in a stage whisper. "Sayed is on the roof," Rashid murmured. "He says Merquise has been moving around the room but seems to be on the other side right now. Our man across the alley has spied him near the window." "Then we're in position," Quatre decided grimly. He, Abdul, and Rashid would break in, and Duo would follow up. More Maguanac were on the stairs and another positioned at the back entrance. The plan was to subdue the OZ Colonel and hustle him out the back to the car waiting in the alley. "Let's do it," Duo muttered, ice in his voice. Quatre nodded, ignoring the chill he felt. "Right," he agreed, and nodded to Rashid who would go in first. Guns were raised at the ready. Within the inn room, Zechs had picked up a hair tie of Duo's that he'd found on the floor. He smiled, remembering the first time Duo had let him unbraid his hair. [That damn braid... that's what did me in...] Suddenly there was a loud crash and his head whipped around. He gasped as a very tall and large Arab burst into the room followed by a blond boy and another dark-haired Arab, all wielding guns. "What is the meaning of this?!" he exclaimed, shocked. Immediately he started toward his bag at the end of the bed, but it was too far; Duo's bag, too, was too far away. He was trapped without a defense! "Put your hands in the air!" the boy exclaimed sternly, though when he came forward, the large Arab flashed him a look of alarm. "We won't hurt you if you cooperate, Colonel Merquise!" [Oh, God,] Zechs thought, his mouth going dry. [Mercernaries on the rampage against OZ, no doubt.] He put his hands slowly up, heart pounding. [Oh, SHIT, Duo's out there - I must warn him!] Duo had stayed behind, just a few seconds, letting the others corral the Colonel before he entered. He heard the man's surprise... that voice... and a painful spike of betrayal shot through him, urging him to act now. With a deep breath and anger to the fore, he waited just a moment longer, until Quatre replied to the man, before striding into the room. Keeping his eyes down Duo went straight for his duffel bag, rummaging through it and quickly finding his weapon just where he had left it. He pulled the gun from the bag. His full attention on the blond boy, Zechs did not see Duo enter at first. Once the new movement registered, he caught sight of the braid. "Duo!" Alarm flooded through him at the danger his lover was placing himself into. Cobalt blue eyes met pale blue eyes as the young man stood. Then Duo's eyes narrowed and locked on his abuser's as he aimed his weapon at his enemy. "Duo... R..." But the word died in his throat - "run" - as Zechs blanched, realizing for the first time that this was not what it appeared to be. He gaped at the gun in his beloved's hands, shaking his head in incomprehension. "What... what is..." "Tell him to shut up," Duo said in a harsh tone. He glanced only for a brief second at Quatre and then turned fierce eyes back to their captive. Zechs opened his mouth then shut it again, registering with cold, blank shock that there was something oddly familiar here, though this was a Duo Maxwell he had never, ever seen before and though every fiber in his being was protesting the wrongness in what he was starting to hope was a very bad dream. "Better do what he says," Quatre muttered. It made him nervous and edgy that Duo was facing the OZ rapist with a gun in his hand. Despite his promise, Duo was as primed for violence as that gun was. "Kneel down, Colonel, and put your hands behind your head." Zechs complied quickly, wondering mightily who these boys really were and what their intent was. Again he had that prickling of intuition. Something about these boys... something... Then he saw it. Those fierce, determined eyes with the hint of wild desperation... the height... the slender, finely-muscled bodies... their youth. And abruptly Zechs Merquise knew exactly what he was dealing with. That boy. The boy who self-detonated in Siberia. They were just like him! That meant... Zechs almost fainted, understanding immediately that he was in the most mortal danger of his life. These were Gundam pilots!! [SHIT!] Then the cold entered his heart. Duo Maxwell... a Gundam pilot... had become his lover. And he'd just been about to tell Duo all about OZ... [Clever little shit,] he thought before he realized he was thinking of his sweet Dancer... [No... he couldn't have baited me like that... I can't believe it...] Quatre was already talking further about arrangements. "If you come with us quietly, Merquise, we won't need to hurt you." Zechs's mind was racing. [I have nothing against Gundam pilots! I've already left OZ... but they must not understand that... Duo didn't tell them I was leaving my organization. He thinks... oh, God, I don't know what he's thinking... I don't know him, not anymore...] Abruptly he blurted out, "What do you want with me?" The Deathscythe pilot's anger flared. "I said shut up!" he snarled, exposing clenched teeth. He was in motion then, pushing aside his friend and charging toward the kneeling Colonel. Tightly he swung his arm back and struck the man across the face with the back of his hand. The older pilot gasped and reeled with the bright burst of pain as he rocked back on his heels from the blow. [I never touched you with anything but infinite care,] he thought, and felt the ice penetrate his heart. [Little slut, you took your pleasure with me before you set me up. Damn... damn...] He wasn't as yet able to think "damn you". "You fucking bastard," Duo glared heavily, feeling a brief twinge of satisfaction from that strike. "You arrogant piece of shit... you thought you could fool a Gundam pilot," His voice was laden with defense and accusation and growing triumph. "Well, the joke's on you now, Colonel." There... it was said. "You're a Gundam pilot?" Zechs uttered, flashing again on the suicidal boy, the fierce young man he'd been battling with. It was incomprehensible to put the boy he'd thought of as his "sweet, little fox" in the same category as that extremist. He'd been had by an expert, that was brutally clear. Something snapped inside Duo when he heard that voice again... and the prisoner daring to ask a question. He instantly raised his gun, pointing it squarely between his enemy's eyes, just an inch from his head. "I told you to shut up! I'm going to fuckin' kill you!" Duo shouted, his emotions boiling over. He cocked the gun and his finger moved to the trigger... Time stopped. Adrenaline shot through the body of the former OZ soldier at lightning speed while his brain registered that he was about to die at the hands of the man he was - had been - in love with. A blur barely impinged upon his frozen consciousness. There was the sound of a gun being shot... then clarity crashed back in, the blond boy having grabbed Duo's arm to deflect the shot. Awareness hit Zechs suddenly - he hadn't been shot! "Damn," Quatre snapped, gesturing toward Rashid after taking the gun from his infuriated friend. "We've got to get him out of here now! People will have heard the shot." Two Maguanacs moved in... Abdul grabbing the Colonel's arms and pulling them behind his back as he handcuffed him, and Rashid taking out a small syringe. Seeing that the man was now sufficiently restrained, Rashid injected a strong sedative into the prisoner's neck. Within seconds the OZ pilot collapsed on the floor. "He's ready to move, Master Quatre," the large Arabian announced and then nodded for Abdul and another soldier to carry him out. Duo watched the scene play out... suddenly immobile, emotionless. As the long, unconscious body was lifted and taken away by the soldiers, he felt another wave of nausea. His hand came up to his mouth and an arm curled around his stomach. He darted into the bathroom and slid onto his knees before the toilet basin just in time as he heaved. Quatre watched as the Maguanacs carried Merquise out, then frowned as he looked toward the bathroom. "Go, we'll take the other car and meet you there," he instructed Rashid firmly as the large Arab peeked back in to see why he hadn't come back out yet. "I'm waiting for Duo." Rashid nodded and pointed to his wrist, silently indicating that time was now critical. He surveyed the room a last time, but his men had been thorough of removing all of Duo and Merquise's personal effects. Only a handgun had been discovered in the Colonel's bag, but that wasn't so unusual. What was unusual was that no communication devices or transmitters had been discovered, only a small device in the bag whose function wasn't readily apparent, though it was clearly harmless. Rashid hadn't had a chance to inform Master Quatre of this fact yet. "Are you okay, Duo?" Quatre asked softly, waiting by the door, which was partially shut. "No..." Duo moaned in answer to his friend. "I'm not fucking okay," he added as he sat back on his heels, brushing his bangs out of his eyes. He stood and moved over to the sink to splash water on his face, but when he looked at his face in the mirror he shuddered. "Fuck," he said with a wince as his hand went to his throat and the memory came back to him. "That fucker marked me!" "We've got to go, Duo," Quatre said hastily, pulling on his arm. "Tell me about it in the car. Let's go!" Muttering to himself, Duo followed his friend out, still rubbing on his neck. In Quatre's limo, the blond Arabian pilot glanced over at his friend a couple times, trying to sort out his own feelings. The OZ Colonel hadn't really acted the way Quatre had envisioned, and he certainly hadn't expected Zechs Merquise to be so young and so... well, handsome. He could see why Duo had fallen for him, which he patently had done, judging from the severity of his reaction. The man had acted and spoken only from self-defense, and had so far shown no negative reaction to their being Gundam pilots. [Something is wrong here, still, I know it,] he thought, clenching his hands into fists at his side. [My feelings tell me this - but surely Merquise was trying to get information out of Duo... wasn't he? Isn't this just what it looks like? How did he treat Duo, really?] Then he thought he knew the answer, and it puzzled him all the more. [I think they really were lovers... and if Merquise had any sinister intentions, he hadn't yet had a chance to put any of it into action...] There was plenty of time to think now... not that Duo wanted to. He would've enjoyed the distraction of Quatre's chatter... even to hear him drone on about his boyfriend. But instead there was great silence between them, a silence that spoke of many unanswered questions. [I feel so... violated,] Duo realized as he wrapped his arms tightly around his chest. He could still feel... everything. The intimacy of that man's touch was still on him... in him. His scent, now vile, still lingered in his nostrils bringing the nausea again. But he wouldn't let that OZ bastard win. [No way,] he thought and then his mind turned to the search for answers. [How could this have happened? I was so careful... anonymous... He must have been able to discover my identity somehow.] Ten minutes later, the limo pulled up to Quatre's low slung house just outside Cairo. Both boys were relieved to realize the Maguanacs had already taken Merquise to a secured holding room in the guardhouse. They wouldn't have to deal with the man... yet. Side by side, Duo and Quatre walked into the house where Duo would be shown to guest quarters.
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