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"Dance with the Devil "Written By: Honor Disclaimers: Of course they’re mine. Everything
else belongs to me, why shouldn’t they? Pairings: 1x5x2x1x5…or something like that.
3x4 established. Rating: R. Definitely. Well, pretty definitely… Spoilers: Iie. Warnings: Lemon, violence, language, AU, questionable
humor…come on people, I wrote it, that’s warning enough.
A bit of a POV change after the first chapter. My betas
insist that I put a spew warning on this too. *grin* Betas: Velvet and Caitilin Archived: Gundam Wing Diaries and honordemandoren.livejournal.com
Author’s Notes: ::mental telepathy:: *emphasized*
"Dance with the Devil" Part Five: Battle Plans
Now, there was this little hitch. Quatre and I both agreed that it made more sense for me to go alone this one time. It was easier for one person to get in and out without getting spotted, for one thing. I think he was also worried about how Wufei and Heero would react if I was put into danger again. They weren’t really over that whole roof incident yet. The problem was that they wouldn’t just let me go alone. Hell would freeze over first. Of course, this was a problem easily remedied. My smile, as I looked down and watched my two partners sleeping, was full of satisfaction. No, not that kind of satisfaction. The kind of satisfaction that makes Heero say ‘Mission Accomplished’ with a smirk on his face. I had thoroughly worn out my two sex bunnies and could now leave without having to worry about slipping past them. That in mind, I carefully eased myself out from between the two of them, trying to impersonate pudding while doing it. Nice and slippery, no bones to trip me up with. Once I was free of the bed, I smirked again, wiped the lust off my face, and turned towards my pants. Yeouwch! Who the hell had the end of my braid— “Just where do you think you’re going?” Wufei grumbled sourly. Oops. Busted. I turned toward him, cultivating my most innocent ‘who, me?’ expression. “Uh…to get a drink of water?” Wufei let one eyebrow rise the tiniest degree. It’s amazing how much expression he can pack in those little facial twitches of his. This one said to me ‘I’m not that stupid, and you’re not going anywhere without a leash attached’. “Get back in bed, Maxwell.” Weren’t beautiful people supposed to be stupid? How did I luck out and wind up with a partner with both brains and beauty? Heero rolled over and propped himself up slightly with an elbow. “We didn’t wear him out enough,” he observed clinically to Wufei. Ah, damn. No wonder this didn’t work. We both had the same game plan. Okay, it was time to revert to Plan B. “Guys…I’m the sneak in the group. It makes absolutely no sense to have you two trampling along behind me.” “Backup,” Heero disagreed shortly. …okay, well, actually that was a pretty good reason. The hold that Wufei had on my braid tightened convulsively. “You’re not going alone. We would have no way of knowing if something went wrong.” …and that was another pretty good reason. Sheesh. Two beauties with brains. Giving up, I crawled back into the middle of the bed and snuggled back under the covers. “Fine, fine. We’ll do it tomorrow night. I had everything worked out for a solo, and I need to get you guys up to speed.” + Considering how many limbs were tangled up on top of me, the suspicion entered my mind that perhaps—just perhaps—my partners did not trust me. I could barely BREATHE much less move. And shifting from my current position is absolutely out of the question. If I even so much as twitched, both of them burrow in more. The whole thing could have been sweet and sappy if my bladder wasn’t currently screaming at me. “Ah…guys?” Wufei grumbled a little and tightened his arm around my waist. Which, all things considered, was a REALLY bad move. Heero, fortunately, woke up enough to look at me with something approaching intelligence. “Hn.” “I really need to get up, if you catch my drift.” “Hn.” I waited for that to fully process, hoping that he would move and let me out. Fortunately for me, he did and I scrambled out of the bed. My dragon wasn’t really awake enough yet to piece together why I was suddenly absent from the bed. I could hear grumbled complaints from the bedroom. I finished my business as quickly as possible and dove back into bed. Stone floors are *cold*! I had barely landed on the mattress before Wufei was all snuggled up against my side and was sound asleep again. Sheesh. And people think that *I* am difficult in the mornings?! + Quatre looked at me expectantly when we all filed into the breakfast room. “Well?” “Ah…I didn’t go last night.” I gave a pointed look to my boys and shrugged. “I see. They want to go with you, I take it.” “To sum it all up in a pretty package…yup.” Quatre sighed. It worried him to have three people instead of one going, but it wasn’t exactly my decision. “Fine. Duo, I’ll let you catch them up to speed.” “Right-o, boss.” He gave me a weary look. “How can you be so chipper this early in the morning?” I grinned at him. “It’s a gift.” + That night we left through a side gate and went on a little hiking expedition near the Labyrinth. It took five hours to get there, even by dragon-back. Speaking of which, riding on a dragon might sound really cool and everything, but it’s not. You know how dragons have really tough scales to protect them and everything? Yeah, well, the scales are not comfy to sit on for that very same reason. I tried not to complain about it, even in my head, ‘cause I didn’t want Wufei to get pissed off at me and dump me on my head, but something must have leaked about three hours into the flight since he started grumbling about smacking me with his tail. I’m riding with Heero on the way back, this is ridiculous. It didn’t take long to reconnaissance the area, especially from the air. From what I could see, nothing had changed about the building and they really didn’t have much in the way of outside guards. An hour of flying and some snooping on the ground gave me all the information that I needed. Then I went back to where my boys were waiting in the trees and winked. “Well, we can get in no problem. Let’s pack up and go home, boys.” They made me ride Wufei home again. Bastards. + Trowa was waiting up for me when we got home. Considering it was daylight, I knew that The Bloodsucker was probably asleep. Daylight was really draining on him, although he was powerful enough to be able to walk around in sunlight. He had a habit of being up in the mornings if he needed to talk to someone, and late afternoon, but sleeping most of the day. I mock saluted the faery as I came through the door. “Easy. A baby could crawl through the gates and no one would notice.” He nodded. “The hard part is maneuvering once you’re inside.” “Which is why a baby could crawl through, I know.” It wasn’t as much of an issue for us, because we had nifty little cheat sheets (otherwise known as blueprints) that we’d memorized. Knowing how the labyrinth was laid out had changed the task from Do-You-Have-A-Death Wish?! to Possible-But-I-Don’t-Wanna. “Now that I’ve been a good boy and eaten all my veggies, can I go to my room?” Trowa’s mouth twitched into a smile. “Sure. But bedtime is at ten, so don’t argue with me about it.” “Tro…you’re cracking jokes. Do you feel alright?” This time he rolled his eyes. “Get moving, Duo. And take your partners with you.” I saw myself out and went to my room. ‘Hey guys, my butt is numb. Doesn’t someone want to rub me down?’ It was Heero that answered. ::We’re supposed to get some rest.:: ‘But I’m awake!’ There was a mental debate between the two—I couldn’t really hear it, just hear them mumble—then something really exciting and kinky happened. Wufei said ::We can always tie you down and persuade you to see it our way.:: I started drooling. ::Well, you can try I guess.:: ::Oh we’ll do more than try,:: the dragon purred with delicious and dark promise. I gave myself a pat on the back for manipulating them into giving me some personal and up close attention, then hurried to my room. We were going in tonight, and I wanted to be thoroughly sated before we went and stormed the castle. + Getting into the labyrinth late that night was a breeze. The only hard part about it was riding on Wufei’s back—again. I swear, if my butt is in a really weird shape after riding on him so often it is totally not my fault. We dropped down, Wufei knocked out the guards with a single swish of his tail, and we were in the main courtyard. The plan was as such: Wufei, Heero and Quatre would focus on fighting their way in the obvious way to distract everyone as much as possible. Trowa and I would sneak in the er, sneaky ways and try to get through that way from opposite angles. Hopefully, if one of us was caught, then the other would make it. When I was in position—or Trowa—we would signal that we had made it, and for them to get to the main lab on the double. Just one of us wouldn’t stand a chance against the Mad Five and a thingamabob that could predict we would try and destroy it. The plan was altered almost as soon as we made it inside the front gates. The place was rigged like you would not believe! I saw tons of little traps all over the damn place, and there were probably a ton more that I couldn’t immediately detect from a distance. Quatre almost walked straight into one before I could catch him and draw him back. “Whoa, slow down blondie.” He immediately froze and looked at me sharply. “What?” “This place has so many trip wires that if you walked in you’d be like a canary trussed up for a cat’s tidbit. Forget going in the main way, you wouldn’t last five seconds.” He scowled and you could see the wheels spinning as he trashed the old plan and rethought the whole situation on the spot. “Then we all go through different directions. Trowa and Duo—go as planned. Heero, Wufei, knowing the blueprints as you do, can you think of other routes?” They nodded almost instantly. “Good. Go. We’ll just do this without the fireworks.” With a grin I blew a kiss at my two snuggle bunnies before going to a side wall, popping open a vent cover and wriggling my way inside. Crawling around in vents, by the way, is boring as hell. Naturally, I was trying to keep myself entertained in small, subtle ways as I scooted my way forward. Okay, whoever had designed this place had been thinking like an engineer…not a strategist. These vent thingies were freakin’ huge! I mean, it wasn’t even a tight squeeze for me. I had inches on either side. Note to self: if I ever felt the desire to rule the world, which I wouldn’t cause it would be a LOT of work and I wouldn’t have time for nookie which would totally suck because Heero and Wufei are so totally hot and I really like it when I can make them hard just by doing a bit of a strip tease—ahem. Yeah, what was my point again? Oh yeah. If I ever become an evil lord who was going to take over the world, and I had a fortress or something built, I wouldn’t have any vents. Vents are bad. ::Duo, will you stay focused?:: ‘I am~!’ And there was the next turn I needed to make. Damn, my elbows are going to be sore for a while because of all of this. ::Baka.:: It’s gotten to the point that ‘baka’ was more of a term of endearment for Heero than an insult. Well, at least when he said it to me. After centuries of crawling around in the vents—okay, fine, it was more like twenty minutes or something—I finally got to what was probably the right mini door. ‘Okay, stud muffins, I’m in position.’ There wasn’t even an answering hn. These guys are no fun, sometimes. Next time I have to break into a building, I’m leaving them home. There were no vents that led immediately to the work lab. The Five were smart enough to do that, I’ll grant them some cleverness. Or maybe it was paranoia…anyway, we’d have to go through hallways from here on out. I waited for everyone to catch up with me. After all, I had gone the shortest and most direct route possible. After another five minutes or so, I started getting acknowledgements from everyone. The final person was Quatre. ::Go.:: I pulled free some twine from my breast pocket and carefully tied it to the vent before I popped the vent cover off. Then I ever so gently lowered the cover to the floor. Wriggling forward, I scooted out and lowered myself just as gently, all the while keeping an eye on my surroundings. Oh you have got to be kidding me! There was support pillars every five feet or so along the hallway, big enough for a full grown man to hide behind. I know they’re for support and all that, but this was so incredibly stupid. I mean, they didn’t have to make them that large! I had cover all the way to the lab, if I needed it. Are they really this stupid, or is it arrogance? As quickly and as silently as I could I ran for the lab. There was a mental growl from Wufei, and a flare of frustration. ‘Fei?’ I mentally called. I don’t like it when things like this happen. ::Guards:: he answered shortly. ::Keep going, they’re nothing I can’t handle.:: I’m not sure if there is any human that really stands a chance against my dragon. I kept running, trusting that he could take care of it. Finally I had arrived at the right door. I could tell—it was thick enough to survive major explosions. Definitely the door to a lab. There was also a very impressive looking lock on that door. I really wish they weren’t that paranoid…with a sigh I pulled my lock picks free and set to work. Shit. Why are there so freaking many false tumblers on this lock? I’ve never had this kind of trouble before, and believe me I’ve run into my share of locks. Gah. ::Duo?:: ‘You might get in before me, Q’ I sent back in frustration. ‘I can’t get this bloody door open.’ ::We’re having the same problem here. Wufei thinks he can just kick it in, though.:: ‘Only if he’s in dragon form when he’s doing the kicking,’ I refuted. ‘This door is over a foot thick.’ An explosion rocked the building, shaking everything around me and tumbling me on my ass. What the hell?! It was at this point that Heero chimed in. ::I’m in.:: ‘Heero! Did you blow the door open?!’ ::It was the most efficient way.:: ‘Efficient-smichent, I wanna blow stuff up too!’ I could almost feel him smirk. Bastard. He never lets me play with his toys. I scrambled back to the door in renewed determination. If Heero were already in, I had to get in fast—I couldn’t leave him alone to face five demented scientists with a machine that could predict his moves. The ringing sound of metal hitting stone drifted to my ears. I didn’t need Wufei’s mental exaltation to know that a door had just been kicked in. Finally the last tumbler clicked into place and the lock snicked open. Ha! No mere lock can defeat me because I am the mighty Shinigami, ultimate Sneak of Sneaks! I dragged the door open enough for me to slide through, staying low as I entered the room. Good thing I did too. The area was huge, cluttered with tables of all shapes and sizes, which were littered with everything from blueprints to whatchamacallits. Or maybe they were doohickeys. Who knows? Anyway, when I entered there were five old men grabbing weapons of all sorts and charging two of their empty doorways. Two of them went for Heero, who was already transformed into his gargoyle state and wielding the biggest freakin’ sword you have ever seen in your life. Wufei, of course, was in dragon mode—and he really doesn’t need a weapon in that form. He pretty much is a weapon. Three of the scientists went for him. Now, needless to say everyone was pretty much distracted by each other and didn’t notice me which left me to my own devices. Oops. I started looking around for a box that could predict the future. Q had given me a pretty good rundown on what the thing could do—but no one had ever seen it, so I had no idea what to look for. Let me tell you something. It’s really hard to steal something when you don’t know what it looks like. As I passed one table, a toneless voice announced loudly, “Proximity alert. Intruder. Proximity alert.” I jumped like a scalded cat. What the hell was that?! One of the scientists spun around, and even his really strange mushroom hair didn’t hide the look of panic on his face. “The Zero!” he snapped to his colleagues in warning. Wait, did he mean that whatever had started yapping was the thingamabob? I spun right back around, waving my hands frantically around the table. <Warning, proximity alert.> There it was! It was nothing more than this small, innocuous black box. I snatched it up, cradling it to my chest, and ran for it. There were cries of alarm from behind me (and a few curses) but I ignored it all, running as fast as my legs could move. ::Duo?:: Heero sounded a little worried. ‘It’s cool, ‘Ro’ I assured him gleefully. ‘Q mentioned this thing would be hard to destroy, so I’m going to whiz it off the top wall and onto some hard stone. That should break it, right?’ ::It should.:: Wufei acknowledged. There was something like worry hovering in his ‘voice’. ::You might want to hurry. They’ve hit some kind of alarm and there are guards coming from every direction.:: Oh. That wasn’t a good thing. At this point I turned a corner, and I was able to see exactly what my two partners were worried about. About twenty guards were heading my direction. One of them lifted a crossbow at seeing me and took a shot, which I barely dodged. Haven’t we already established that I don’t like crossbows? They’re so freaking hard to duck! Okay, I couldn’t go out that way. I went right instead of left and kept running. According to my nifty-difty memory, all I had to do was stay in this hallway for a bit, go left, then go right, and I’d be on top of the walls. This plan was something in my favor—the guards were all assuming that I would want to get down to the ground in order to get outside. Me climbing up probably wouldn’t occur to them. There were faint echoes of terrified screams, then abrupt silence. It kinda made me nervous. ‘Hey guys? Everyone okay?’ ::We’re fine,:: Trowa assured me calmly. ::The bad guys aren’t.:: Yeah, well, as long as it wasn’t my friends screaming it was all kosher. I swung around the first corner, still running for all I was worth. The box in my hands wasn’t screaming about a proximity alert anymore, but it was making this strange humming sound I didn’t like. I gave it worried glances as I ran. ‘Hey Q?’ ::I’m a little busy, Duo.:: ‘Yeah, sorry. It’s just…this thing is vibrating.’ It took a few seconds—I had a feeling that Quatre was quickly cutting down his enemies before he tried to respond—then his voice came back, distinctly worried. ::Vibrating?:: ‘Yeah. That’s not a good thing, I take it.’ ::Where are you, Duo?:: ‘Pretty close to the roof. I plan on dropping it and letting it go splat against the courtyard stones.’ ::Hurry.:: I was hurrying! What, did they think I was just casually strolling— The world abruptly fell away, filled in with pitch black. I couldn’t hear, see, feel—nothing. It was like I had fallen into a void. Cautiously I extended both hands out to the side, but that was useless. There wasn’t even a sensation of hot or cold, just…nothing. <Explain.> I nearly wet my pants when that voice came out of nowhere. There was no sense of direction for it. But it was very familiar…the box’s voice had been like this. I didn’t think a box would try and talk to me, but hey if it wanted to talk I could talk. “Explain what?” <Your behavior is irrational. Explain.> It was almost like talking to Heero in mission mode—the words were direct, with an economy of sound and meaning. I responded to it just as directly. “You are dangerous. I cannot allow you to exist.” <I am a tool. Tools are not dangerous.> “In the wrong hands they are.” I cannot believe I’m arguing with a machine. What did those demented scientists do? <Tools are not dangerous,> it repeated with infuriating conviction. “Then why am I trying to destroy you?” I posed. <Behavior irrational. Explain.> Weeks ago, when this had all started, Quatre had told me that he wanted me for a variety of reasons, one of which was that Zero had a hard time predicting my movements. We had both assumed that it was because I was so impetuous—but apparently that wasn’t really the reason. It’s just that I didn’t think in straight lines, and Zero did. My whole thinking process was ‘irrational’ to it, or illogical, and as a machine of logic it just couldn’t compute. This void I was in…Zero had sensed that it was in danger, I’m sure. The void was probably a way of convincing me that I was ‘immobile’ for a while until it could be rescued. If that was the case…then this void it had put me in didn’t really exist and it couldn’t keep me in it. I visualized what I had been doing before being yanked into this mental black hole. I had been running, Zero held to my chest with both hands. Deliberately I put myself back into that physical position—and let go of the box in my hands. Abruptly I was back in a stone hallway, and there was a dinged black box on the ground in front of me. Ha! No machine can outwit me! I hoped that fried its circuitry. Scooping it up again I started running for the roof. I could not get there fast enough to suit me. ::Duo?:: ‘Yes, Wuffers.’ ::Are you alright? We lost all contact with you for a minute.:: ‘Zero is trying to screw with my head. I think I gave it a headache, though because it stopped.’ ::How do you give a machine a headache?:: he demanded. ‘Long story, I’ll explain later.’ And there was the door to the roof! YES! I hit it hard, and the door flew back to bounce against the wall. No one was around—thank the gods something was going right—and without any hesitation I went to the edge, raising Zero up high above my head and slammed it down to the cobblestones fifty feet below. It just almost seemed suspended for a while, twirling around in slow motion end over end. Then it hit the ground and scattered in tiny pieces all over the place. I smirked down at it. ‘Hey guys? Mission accomplished.’ There were four sighs of relief. I echoed them. ‘Where’s the scientists?’ ::Dead,:: Heero answered with dark satisfaction. ::And the plans to Zero are destroyed,:: Wufei added with the same dark satisfaction. ‘Does that mean we can go home now?’ ::I want to destroy this place with dragon’s fire first.:: Quatre disagreed. ::After that we can most definitely go home.:: ‘Then whatcha waiting on ‘Fei? Start spitting fire.’ He ignored me completely. ::Heero go get him off the roof.:: ::Hn.:: They really don’t trust me when I’m high up anymore. I wonder why that is? ~*~*~*~ |
