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"The Road to Hell is Paved With Second Chances "Written By: Jewel of Hell Disclaimer: Don't own nothin' but these words Rating: NC 17 Warnings: Yaoi, lemon, angst (sort of), abuse, torture, memory loss, mental instability, character death, violence, dark Pairings: 1x2 Summary: The war ended, and Duo disappeared. Heero
never stopped searching. When he found his love, locked in a research
facility with devestated memories, he swore he would destroy the one
responsible. "The Road to Hell is Paved With Second Chances "
Chapter Two "Shit!" The curse burst free with nearly as much violence as the fist that followed. It accomplished nothing, but it actually made Heero feel a little better as he surveyed the wrecked table. The wood splintered beyond repair, but what did he care? It was a thing. Replacable and expendable. Unlike Duo. Just thinking his love's name brought a fresh wave of mind-melting fury. He felt like tearing the whole building down with his bare hands. And then strangling every single person inside it to death. Slowly. Choking the life out of them until their eyes bled. What the fuck kind of institution was this? It had more security than any OZ facility he had ever broken into. The guards were highly trained soldiers not unlike himself, and the staff had eyes like hawks. It had been easy hacking into the computer to give himself a fake identity as a new member of staff. He purposely chose something that would get him to Duo right away. But upon entering the building, his hopes and confidence took an immediate nose-dive. This place was a fucking bunker. Damn, that was Duo's voice in my head, he thought with a small smirk. I never curse. The worst part was the security camera system. Heero had hacked into it the moment he arrived, fully intent on breaking Duo out at once. But the system was controlled by a master computer with one hell of a program. It was a self-repairing program that routinely checked for errors, glitches, or things out of the ordinary. It had detected Heero's hack and kicked him off the network in about ten seconds. It was going to take time to break the code. Time and equipment he didn't have. But not couldn't get. It would mean involving people he hadn't wanted to involve. Quatre. Raking fingers through his hair, he threw himself against the wall. The impact stung, but the pain was fine. It grounded him for the moment. He was furious with no outlet. I could kill all these people. Two problems with that solution. One, there were a lot of them. Two, they were highly trained. He could probably take down half of them before the other half were alerted to an intruder. And if they captured him, which was fairly likely, he would never get back in to rescue Duo. He'd also considered explosives as a diversion. That plan was shot to hell before implemented. This fucking facility had a disaster plan for everything, including bombs. One boom and the whole place would be locked down tighter than Relena's mansion after a terrorist threat. Apparently, Doctor Kraben Isenger was a brilliant man on several levels. Including a genius tactician. A wave of white-hot fury swept over Heero. Isenger. That man was reserved a special fate. Heero wanted him to suffer. The only person he hated more fervently was Relena, and Heero intended to make her pay over and over again. Isenger would never target Duo specifically. Relena had. Calm. Calm. He would accomplish nothing if he did not remain calm. I can do this. I just need a little time, a plan, and Quatre. Sighing, he pushed away from the wall. He was due to check out in twenty minutes. The nearest town was only an hour away. He could get a room there for the time being and call Quatre. Here, all calls were monitored. His eyes closed as he dropped into the chair. Duo. His love looked thin, pale, and utterly broken. Those huge, wide eyes staring up at him in stark terror did not belong on that face. No recognition. No love. Nothing. For a moment, pain warred with anger. Heero may be willing to tackle love, but not grief. He allowed his anger to take over. Turning into a basket case would be less help to Duo than a murdering madman. As part of his initiation, he'd watched some of Isenger's experiments. Duo was his only 'subject.' There were 'patients' here, all of whom received at least semi-decent treatment. They all had varying degrees of amnesia, and memory-loss was Isenger's specialty. He'd told Heero he was experimenting with memory loss and how it affected behavior and reactions to different stimuli. Negative stimuli. Everything Isenger did in his lab was recorded. Heero had seen about seven hours-worth of experiments. Never in all his life had Heero ever felt someone was so full of shit. Isenger wasn't conducting research, he was torturing Duo. It seemed to him the doctor was just doing everything in his power to turn Duo into a frightened wreck. No, amend that to already had turned him into a frightened wreck. Maybe it would solve all my problems to kill the son of a bitch. I could make it look like an accident. Of course, the bastard had a disaster plan for that, too. Rising from his chair, he headed for the exit. Quatre first. Plan next. Execution next. Lastly, inflicting suffering. Much, much suffering. Quatre started out of a sort-of doze when his laptop bleeped an incoming message. He blinked in surprise. Three days ago, Heero had disappeared. Now, he was requesting a video conversation. Well, he should have known the Perfect Soldier was fine. He accepted and Heero's familiar face popped onto the screen. That expression, however, was unfamiliar. Similar in some respects to Heero's countenance before battle. Still and calm. Icy cold. But there was something beneath the chill veneer, something that had never been there before. Something that burned fiery hot, a barely-detectable rage simmering just out of sight. Heero wasn't ready to fight. He was ready to kill, and he planned to enjoy every second of it. He pitied the recipient of that anger terribly. "Heero," he began carefully. "Where are you? Relena's beside herself." Not quite concealing the annoyance. "As if I care what that bitch is doing," Heero retorted. Voice glacial. So she was the recipient. For a moment, Quatre froze. Conflicting emotions warred for dominance. Relena was needed, and Heero wanted to kill her. "Aren't you her bodyguard?" he asked cautiously. Not wishing to incite Heero's wrath. "I found Duo," Heero said, not answering the question. Although it was stated as though an answer. Blink. Momentarily forgetting Relena, Quatre sat up straight. "Where? Is he all right? Is he with you?" "Outside a town called Ranhauer," Heero replied, "not really, and no." Duo wasn't really all right? Quatre's chest tightened. And if he wasn't with Heero already, that meant Heero needed help getting him. "What do you need?" He could tell by that slight quirk of Heero's lips the Perfect Soldier appreciated that he didn't ask for details. "I'm sending you a list, as well as where to send it. I could use Trowa's help out here, too." "I'll send everything with him," Quatre said at once. Then, "I . . . I'd like to know, Heero." Like Quatre, Heero filled in the blanks himself. He looked away from the screen for a moment. "He's in a so-called research facility," he said at length. "His memories are . . . gone. They're torturing him. And . . ." The anger was building again. "Relena sent him here." It was a peculiar sensation, the bottom dropping out of one's stomach. For several moments Quatre was torn between being unable to breathe and feeling like he would vomit. He managed to calm both, and he realized he had a white-knuckled grip on his chair. It made him absurdly grateful he didn't have Heero's strength. It had been his father's chair . . . "Do you know why?" he asked, though he wasn't altogether sure he cared. It could be possible she didn't know what was happening to Duo. "Jealousy," Heero said shortly. It was written all over his face and his posture that Heero's control was being strained to its absolute limits. Quatre knew in that moment that no matter what he said, no matter what the world needed, nothing would save Relena from him. And he was no longer certain she deserved to be saved. "Jealousy," he repeated. Tone so dark he barely recognized his own voice. He met Heero's burning, cobalt eyes. Letting Heero see what was in them, giving him permission and promising he wouldn't stop him. And Heero saw it. He bowed his head once in acknowledgement. "I'm sending the list now," he said. Quatre's computer dinged receipt. "Have it out here as soon as you can." "I will," Quatre promised, and Heero was gone. Leaning back in his chair, Quatre took several deep, calming breaths. He'd always been able to sense a slight undertone of jealousy around Relena, but she was good at controlling it. He never would have imagined it would spur her to something like this. Duo didn't deserve her animosity. More than just about anyone he deserved a chance at happiness. Which Heero had finally, finally begun to provide. I'm fairly certain I will enjoy watching you die, Princess. Ironically, the fact that she provoked such animosity from him only made him hate her all the more. He started when he heard footsteps coming down the hall. He hadn't started naturally thinking of himself as Duo, but he had been reminding himself regularly that was his name. He wanted a name. He wanted an identity. Since the doctor tried so hard to dehumanize him. He didn't want to be 'subject 02.' He didn't want to be here, but he was beginning to accept that wouldn't change. For all he knew, he'd been here all his life. He didn't recognize the two men with the doctor. That no longer surprised him, but it still alarmed him. He pressed back against the wall as far as he could. He'd been hoping it would be Heero. The first person here he'd ever met whose touch did not cause pain or distress. Someone who would monitor his physical condition surely wouldn't cause him undue harm. He hated the look on the doctor's face. "Bring him to the lab," he said in that hated voice. The lab. He couldn't always remember what they did to him in that place, but the hatred and fear of it remained firmly intact. The mere words were enough to send him skittering away from the looming assistants. They patiently followed him until there was nowhere left to run. His heart was pounding fit to burst by the time they got him there and strapped him to the frigid metal table. The restraints bit into his naked skin, and he hated the flimsy bodysuit he wore. The leg only came down to mid-thigh or so, and it had no sleeves. It was also tight enough to be a second skin, so it offered no warmth. The doctor stuck two electrodes to Duo's temples, and
he felt a strange pulse. Like someone opening a drain his consciousness
spiraled away.
tbc |
