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"Heero Yuy, L6, and the Second Suit Wars "Part 2Written By: ELLE Disclaimer: I don't own the characters from Gundam
Wing (unfortunately) and they were used without permission, but all
the words are my own. Rating: NC 17 Warnings: occurs post-EW, language, angst, sex,
hopefully acceptable OOC, 1st person POV (*shudder* sorry, no way
around it!), plus a ton of minor and a few major OCs (since it's 1st
person, you get to avoid dealing with them too much.) Pairings: 1x2x1 plus others TBD Summary: Jack Kaufmann has no recollection of the braided man who claims they were once more than friends, but his quest to recover his memories leads him to discover a plot much larger than himself that is a threat to the peace he'd once fought to protect... The lovely Miss-Murdered beta'd this for me and frankly this story wouldn't exist without her encouragement.
"A Former Life Reprised" 2.10 The Execution
The minimal repercussions for my total lack of self-control made me incredibly suspicious and I decided they must know who I was and were deliberately keeping me close for observation. Miguel was transferred out of Delta 2 for his protection and my pay was docked but I was expecting something along the lines of getting sent to jail for assault. Or a forced memory wipe. Something with a bit more impact, anyway, if I were just a regular employee to them. And if I wasn't a social pariah before, I certainly was now. Not that I cared, it just made my interaction with Duo difficult and while I did care about that, frankly it was probably better that way. At least Lennon stopped pretending to be my friend. With Duo at arms length and physical evidence of my instability in the form of Miguel, I finally began to shut down again. I even managed to sit through a lecture the day after the incident on the benefits of the memory procedure that helpfully informed us of why Miguel choose to have it done. I tuned it out and focused on compartmentalizing all of my emotional baggage regarding the situation. By Saturday I couldn't even feel the painful looks Duo was giving me. I knew the way those eyes looked at me that he was concerned and upset about how I was shutting down but logically I didn't see any other option. I was able to look back at my actions over the past few months and I was glad that his emotions were rendered ineffectual against my carefully placed armor. It was better this way. In this place, I was beginning to have a difficult time rationalizing why I indulged in a relationship with him at all after the war. If I hadn't broken down these walls, none of this would've happened. I was foolish to believe in Relena, Millardo, Trieze and their lofty talk of peace. True peace was impossible. I should've known that. I should've known there would never be such a thing as civilian life for me. I should've never given in to those eyes, that body, my lust. I should've never given in to the burgeoning desire within me to understand love. But in lieu of a time machine - and god only knows what ramifications would result by building one of those - I could only move forward as a solider once again. And so I found myself glancing impassively towards Duo to judge his state of readiness as we stood lined up and ready to be bused to the Alpha site to listen to Quatre give a lecture on what I'm sure would be a thrilling exposé detailing the progress of L6 and what gratitude he had for all our happy, mind-wiped co-harmony. I suppose I should be fair. I wasn't convinced Quatre knew about the mind-wiping part even if he was in league to redesign ZERO. He didn't appear to visit the colony often and I doubted that while here he spent his time talking to construction workers. It was difficult for me to see him agreeing to be part of something that violated a person's rights so completely. Then again, he was quite a remarkable strategist... But I shoved the thoughts out and noted the way Duo's eyes flicked to mine, a slight nod in my direction. I looked at the employee coming down the line towards us with a scanner. Duo and I took places near the back of our respective lines so that we could ditch as soon as the employees completed their tally of Delta 2 personnel. And as predicted, as soon as they hit the back of the line they turned to walk back up to the front. Never underestimate how easy it is to get by unnoticed in a group of two hundred and fifty people. Quickly and discretely I snuck my employee badge into the pocket of the man in front of me. I knew Duo was doing the same. The badges contained RDIF chips and while I doubted they could pinpoint our location while in the belly of this beast, I figured it was better to have all identifying information off our persons when we stowed away. And then it was just a matter of slipping away. Easier for me as no one wanted to see me doing anything after my attack on Miguel. I felt Duo's eyes on me as he watched me leave and I made my way into the empty cafeteria directly behind us, heading towards the back and into the kitchen. One employee was back there cleaning and prepping for dinner but I made short work of her and found the waste access panel in the floor underneath a row of sinks. I stared at the dripping grate with a level of irritation. It appeared the employee I'd just incapacitated had recently mopped the floors. Lovely. And the grate was probably only three feet by two feet wide. This certainly would've been a lot easier when we were fifteen. I heard Duo's distinct yet light footfalls coming from behind me as I grabbed a knife from the cutting area and began to unscrew the grate from the floor. He paused and I assumed he was assessing the potential weaponry available in the kitchen. I guessed right as I heard him pull a few knives from a butcher block and rip towels to create carriers for them. I found this a bit excessive but I knew Duo wasn't as skilled in hand-to-hand combat as I was and he felt much more comfortable armed with something. I felt his body heat and noted his braid on the ground when he knelt next to me. I spared him a glance as the last screw was undone, noting how he had two knives wrapped on either side of his upper arms, and he grunted a little laugh. "Can't help myself," he explained softly and I nodded, pulling the grate up. It groaned a bit at the unusual treatment. "Got twenty five minutes 'til the flush." I glanced down and noted that true to the plans the soaking wet corridor only dropped about three feet before bottoming into a T. Lovely. But at least we may be spared going face first as it looked like the corridor below was big enough to turn around in. "Rock, paper, scissors?" Duo asked with a smile and I pinned him with a glare. "Don't be ridiculous. You're going first." I expected my harsh tone would produce a frown considering the way he'd been treating me recently but to my surprise he smiled even wider. "Come on! Admit you just want to stare at my ass." "You have to time us when we reach the main shaft," I explained impatiently. "I don't think you'd be able to crawl over me down there." Duo winked then and lowered his legs into access hole and tucked his braid into the back of his shirt. "Gotcha. No grinding in the corridors. Whatever you say, boss." And then with one fluid motion his smile was gone and I heard a string of curses a moment later as he repositioned himself in the muck below. Once his profanity had ceased I lowered myself in as well and found myself in the same frustrating position of turning around in a wet, soapy, metal corridor. I even found myself muttering a curse or two - to Duo's extreme amusement - as I face planted into the puddle beneath me after finally getting my legs behind me, not exactly the easiest task with the limited range of motion my recently shattered knee offered me. But with some level of satisfaction I noted his face also gleamed with wetness in the dim light as he turned back to look at me. I nodded and he started the rather long crawl forward. Luckily our slipping stopped after about thirty feet when we were not directly in anything wet and our clothes had enough time to absorb everything on us. Unluckily we wandered through three more wet patches before reaching the main shaft. The industrial strength soap was starting to itch at my skin and my knee was starting to nag and I felt a bit like a drowned rat and I knew Duo had to be absolutely miserable but neither of us made the smallest complaint. Although I'll admit I was more than pleased to hear his hiss of pleasure when he reached the drop. "Getting too old for this shit," he muttered as he leaned over the edge. I could just barely make out his head in the dark. I was thankful for my altered eyes and I realized, not for the first time, that Duo had to have the most self-confidence out of all of us. I was reckless because I didn't care about my own life. Everything Duo did was born out of the sheer knowledge that he was skilled and capable of completing the task. He must've been completely blind down here, but was willing to jump off that landing into a reverse gravity well that would bottom out into an incinerator in only - "How long until the next flush?" "Nine and a half minutes." - nine and a half minutes when the system flushed. Even while playing the solider, I was forced to admit what a fucking sexy badass he was. Goddamn it to hell. Obviously the solider was never immune to him anyway. "Okay boss," he was looking back up at me although I couldn't make out his face and I knew for damn sure he couldn't make out mine. "I'm gonna fall down there. Give me a good three count and then come on down. I'll catch ya." And then he was gone. I immediately started counting out three minutes as I scooted carefully to the edge and leaned over although I couldn't make him out in the darkness. Despite my training I felt my heart squeeze - it was like he had disappeared from all existence. I couldn't see him. I couldn't hear him. And I wouldn't know if he was okay until it was too late for myself. Luckily the main shaft wasn't any bigger than the one we were in now and as long as I spread my arms out he should be able to catch me without a problem. Unless he fucked up. And then we'd be completely screwed. Instead of going down face first like Duo, I decided to reorient myself so that I was heading down feet first. I've fallen face first quite a bit in my life. Sometimes it's nice to be heading the other direction. Once my three count was done I took the plunge into the inky abyss. Falling through variable gravity is a disconcerting feeling if you haven't done it before. You get a very dreamlike sensation as the pull of gravity becomes less and you start to feel like you're floating. In total black, it can disorient you enough that you think you are actually beginning to float up instead of down. Or you can feel stuck, like you aren't moving at all, which is incredibly terrifying when - as in this situation - you actually can become stuck in a no gravity zone. It had been a long time since I dealt with variable gravity and forcing myself not to panic was difficult, even for me, even for forty seconds. But just as my heart began to pound a bit harder I felt Duo's hand on my leg and slowly it slid up my body. And I slowly slid down, my back pressing up against the cool metal of the corridor while my front slipped in line against Duo's body, his arm wrapping around the small of my back. So much for my pounding heart. "Boss said no grinding," he teased me, his whisper filling the corridor and I fought to regain control of the solider. Thankfully he was quickly guiding me to the entrance of the corridor and warning me to be careful of his knife which I realized he had jimmied into the seam where two plates of metal met so that he could use it as a handhold. "Got just under five minutes," he warned me as he joined me in the corridor and I began to make a mad dash towards the first grating I could find. Thankfully there appeared to be no cleaning or other waste in this particular corridor and we were able to move much more quickly, looking for a light instead of heading into total blackness. I knew the first junction should only be fifty feet in but I would've completely missed it had Duo not put a hand to the ceiling, feeling for a break. He hissed at me and I stopped immediately, turning to look at the vague outline of him. I immediately realized he was crouched up into the three foot area, quickly unscrewing the nuts from the bolts. I guess whatever room we were entering into was empty and therefore unlit. I suppose that was a blessing, minus having almost missed it. I recalled the blueprints and recalled that this room was adjacent to the power stations and the room servicing them. Duo pulled himself out and I followed suit, although he graciously helped me out without comment or complaint when it became clear my knee stiffening up was causing me to struggle. Duo replaced the grate as I got my bearings and I realized we were in some type of dormitory. There was enough soft ambient light from night-lights that I could make the room out fairly well. Duo, however, was still relatively blinded. I gripped his forearm and pointed in the direction of the door and we headed in toward it. Once we were at the door, Duo whipped out one of his knives and we shared a look before I turned the knob and swung the door open. I don't really know what I expected. There were a lot of power boxes down there. More than a colony of this size required. And the suspicious direct corridor to the docking bay. But none of that really prepared me for what was in that room. Correction: that hangar. In my time working for Preventer I uncovered more than one terrorist cell with a mobile suit or two hanging around, an old patched together Leo or a couple Taurus units. Not an entire fucking hangar of over a hundred new type mobile suits. They were like nothing I had ever seen. Tall, hulking structures that were thin and almost spindly. I wondered what they were made out of that would allow them to hold up to any sort of combat. Then again - what combat would there be? Mobile suit construction was outlawed in the ESUN. "Aw goddamn motherfucking son of a bitch," Duo rambled quietly next to me as we stared in awe across the open space. "How many of these fucking hangars are there?" My mind traced through my memory of the blue prints. "Twenty four." "Fuck." Yes, Duo. Fuck indeed. If there were a hundred suits in each that would be an astronomical number of suits for the undefended Earth Sphere to take on, structurally unsuited for combat or not. We had to hope these were the extent of them. And then we were both pressing our backs against the wall, shifting our attention to the left where we heard footfalls. And suddenly a man in a white lab coat was walking over. A man I recognized. The man from the check-in. A tall, vaguely familiar man with a copper colored beard... "Oh holy hell," Duo breathed out weakly and he grabbed a fistful of my shirt, leaning heavily on me. It was then the realization hit me, too.
~ * ~ tbc... |
