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"Defying Gravity"A Romance in Three PartsWritten By: Kaeru Shisho Disclaimer: I don't own any part of Gundam Wing
or its characters, nor do I make any monetary profit off this story. Rating: NC 17 Warnings: AU, yaoi, some language Summary: A multi part story of romance starting
with a turning point vacation, developing throughout a dangerous UC
mission, and moving ahead through the unexpected challenges of a summer
vacation. "Part Two: It's Back to Work"
Chapter 22
Heero's POV The buyer twisted his mouth into a lewd smirk then remarked, "Team Wind ... so spectacular. You get first place. I will purchase the team in its entirety, if there are no competing offers." "He is our key target," Zechs whispered. "We found him. His name is—" "Salvo!" barked a rival buyer nearby the principal buyer's chair. "You may have the final word on the sale, but there are other's with more than money at stake here. I for one wish to bid on the boys independently of one another." Duo shifted from foot to foot, deciding his next move. "Data collection," he whispered. I had a moment to register what Duo had said before he stepped away from my side, strode to stage edge, and peered over. Zechs reached out to stop Duo. I blocked Zechs' arm, warning, "He's not an idiot. Watch." Of course, I trusted Duo not to prove me wrong. There was a murmuring of confusion among the others on stage and no less from the buyers. Then Duo hopped down from the stage. Winner frowned slightly as Duo became pure Scythe before his eyes, hips undulating in a wicked sashay and fingers combing through his thick hair seductively. Winner's face smoothed, he traced a finger lightly over Barton's' sleeve, and smiled. Barton understood and followed Scythe only with his eyes, betraying nothing. Chang, lost in thoughts of his own, appeared oblivious. Dierk weighed in on the opposite end of the scale. The pale rose of his lips took on a golden glaze from the overhead lights, as he set his face into a marble mask. After waiting a few moments while he stared down Scythe, he leaned forward as if willing him to return to his place on the stage. I watched, fascinated, as he threw Scythe a basilisk glance. Like that legendary reptile whose look was supposed to be fatal, that was all the warning we would get. Winner jumped; he must have felt the warning jolt to my brain, or Dierk's. "Dierk knows," he whispered. I nodded in affirmation. "Repercussions expected." Winner modified our plans instantly. "Shen and Wing, take down imminent danger. Tamer with me to acquire shuttle destinations. Exit with Rashid in three." As Winner passed on the information, Barton lowered his arms tensing as he mapped out their retreat route in his head and Chang stiffened, his eyes sliding to watch the alpha male. To Zechs, I clarified our observations. "Dierk figured it out and is about to attack." "It?" His raised his eyebrows, questioning my observations. "Yes!"I hissed impatiently. "That Scythe messed with his room." I lowered my voice and pressed my lips to Zechs ear angrily, but making it appear like an intimate caress. "Scythe is collecting evidence, close ups of the buyers. See how he moves in on each man?" Duo was drawing every eye his way. In a loud voice he was thanking the chief buyer, Salvo, for his generous praise, sliding past, nudging the next man, settling a moment on a rigid lap, shocking one man after another. "—And what's your name? Fastis? Ooh, I like that," Duo hummed and winked and danced to the next buyer. "I like your tie, Italian? Mine, too. You from there? Really? I just got back." "He shouldn't be down there. It's against the rules!" a seller in back voiced aloud. "Hey, I'm working this to my seller's advantage!" Scythe shouted back. "That's my rules." A rumble of appreciative laugher moved through the room like a storm, staving off any move, as yet, to stop Scythe. I could tell the buyers were alarmed at the break in tradition, but enjoying the attention from the overtly sexual, engaging young man—who, I tried not to remind myself, was my closest friend and lover. My eyes trained over the faces in the room. Rashid wore a bemused expression. His lips moved sending commands to his men through a microphone hidden in his beard, I guessed. "Buy him time," Zechs concluded. The rest of us were ahead of him on that one. Barton withdrew a pair of cylindrical rocks from his pocket, enfolding it in his hand, and passed one to Winner. Those fists could deliver repeated knockout punches. Chang measured the distance to his objective, calculating the necessary moves to level a perfect martial blow to maim, but not kill. I felt as much as watched Dierk's steely, honed gaze shave Scythe one last time—then, Dierk's venomous anger vented. The Furies (female personifications of vengeance in both Greek and Roman mythologies,) Nemesis, (a vengeful fate personified as a remorseless goddess of divine retribution against those who succumb to hubris,) and her attendant, Poena, (the Roman goddess of punishment,) could not have unleashed anything into that room more violent than Dierk. He roared like a possessed demon—which, if he was in stage one throes of withdrawal from his drug addiction, he probably was—throwing off the hands of his owner and charging for the edge of the stage. Chang stopped Dierk's first lunge with a roundhouse kick to the midriff. I met his next with an upper cut to his lowered chin, leaving Chang to take him to the floor on his recovery move, a chop to the throat. Winner and Barton prevented the rest of Team Sieger from coming to his defense. Surprisingly, few of them bothered to raise a fist to help their fanatical, trade-boy mate, and those that did hadn't time to react to the sharp blows Team Wind rained upon them. All the while, Scythe lifted wallets, note pads, cigars with DNA evidence embedded in the pressed leaves, even a few discs, mini-recording devices, and a Blackberry. Before security could stop him and reunite him with his 'handler', Rashid's corps circled him, providing him a means to slip them the evidence and exit to safety. The feed from Scythe's collar alone could identify twenty men and send them to their prison fates. Winner tugged at Barton's arm, pulling him toward the back of the stage, behind cover of the other boys, and exited the room. Their objective was to board the shuttles aimed at carrying the boys to the training camps and download the destinations to Preventers' receivers. Scythe was gone, heading out of the building with one of Winner's loyal corpsmen; the Maguanacs providing our extraction security and vehicle. "Wind, call for extraction. We'll meet at the Maguanacs shuttle," I reminded Zechs before chasing after Chang's back. The mission parameters set down by commander Une were complete. With the pull out given a go ahead, all we had to do was execute a swift and safe departure. Preventer's agents would storm the buildings, make arrests, and remove the trade boys. Chang and I turned into the vast shuttle bay. Running by, he pointed at one of the craft's windows. Slumped over the controls was the body of one of the shuttle pilots, but only for a moment. It was pulled out of sight. Barton exited the shuttle executing a beautiful flying leap, which I envied. "You have Scythe?" he asked. My stomach lurched. "No! He left the room before us. He was with the Maguanacs." "Not here, yet." Chang ran ahead, pausing to speak to Zechs. Winner appeared to be in a heated discussion with his corps at the private shuttle already in countdown mode. He turned, shaking his head. "He passed off all the evidence, but Amir and Ubaid ever made it back. He must still be with them!" Winner shouted. "Go on, get on board. I'll go back for him," Barton said. "No, get my laptop. We can pinpoint his position through his collar—then we go back," I said. I climbed aboard our craft, yearning to see Duo in the pilot's seat, running through the takeoff checklist. He just had to have gotten here first! Instead, only of the Maguanacs personnel occupied the cockpit. What could have happened to Duo? I shut off that useless train of thought. I dared not lose track of what I was doing. No. There had to be a mistake. I yanked out the laptop and powered it up. I'd just check the data emissions and locate him. Barton sat beside Zechs in the shuttle where I was attempting to locate Duo's collar signal. Winner raced down the stairs from the co-pilot's seat speaking rapidly into a microphone. "So he was hit and carried off, but by whom? I see. Yes. Okay, if you have to secure the doors, then do it. We don't need a shoot out on this end." "Well?" Zechs was seriously upset. "Two Maguanacs were shot, Amir and Ubaid! Amir is conscious and he reports that Duo was struck, not shot, and carried away by an unknown assailant. Sahir has linked into the surveillance system around the conference room and is reviewing the—" "Du...Scythe is moving fast," I broke in. "Is there another launch area?" "I'll ask!" Winner ran off, catching Rashid by the arm, and hauling him to where I worked. The lights dimmed. The final stages of the countdown began and Duo was unaccounted for. The data from the tracking device placed him moving at 120 mph on a straight course. I overlaid the area map and found an unmarked patch lying directly in the path of the blinking marker which was Duo. "What's this?" "A private airfield, but not a shuttle launch. We did a survey of the area." "How long ago was that? More than six months, a year?" I asked. Rashid stared at the blinking light, his anguished expression telling me the bad news. "I overlooked this possibility." "We can't leave without Duo!" Winner cried out. I shook my head. "It's too late. If he's taken aboard a plane, Preventer's will follow and intercept it after it lands. If a concealed shuttle launch port is there instead, then we are best equipped to follow. In any case, chasing him now is pointless. Plane orshuttle, we could never reach him in time." "Can you see where he is from his collar's data capture?" Zechs asked. "This is what I get. Blank screen. I'm guessing his is either lying on the camera or it is covered up. There is no sound either. I can't explain that. Diagnostics could tell us if it is damaged." One of the corps members bowed to Rashid and interrupted. "We must complete launch procedures while the inner launch chamber's doors are still locked." Rashid looked to Winner for instructions. "You are being pursued. Do not doubt that." "Duo's not here anyway. Let's go," Winner said. Barton gestured for us to buckle in for take off then asked me, "How about when he was caught? Back up and look at what's there, maybe get a look at the kidnaper?" "I can't," I growled. "There's no data storage on this, but Une's people have it." Before I could get too excited, the laptop's network shut off for the unfortunately-timed launch blackout period. "Damn!" Zechs turned his head toward Winner. "How are the injured Maguanacs?" "Stabilized in the lower compartment. Ubaid is in serious condition with a bullet to the abdominal area. Thank you for asking." When we reached orbital status, I immediately resumed my work, signaling the data processor at Preventer's headquarters for the information required. "Got in. Here are some of the faces of buyers. Good close up, Duo. Okay, looks like he's leaving—" "Stop bouncing around," Chang muttered to the non-existent Duo as the images flashed about. "Stop!" Winner cried out. "That's...that's...!" "That's Raul," Barton growled. "How did he get past us?" "How did he get in?!" Winner asked. He was practically sobbing, but marshaled himself a moment later. "We'll have to check all of our recordings and see if one of us caught him entering the room. Maybe he was in disguise?" Winner offered by way of explanation. Rashid asked for instructions so the pilot could monitor the trace signal, and I left the laptop in Chang's hands. The next few hours were consumed by anxiety as we continued to follow the signal from Duo's collar through space. "Could his camera be damaged?" Zechs asked. "It still shows nothing." "No, the diagnostics show no malfunction, although the sound signal is not transmitting due to a broken-line malfunction of the equipment." I sat back and rubbed my stiffening neck. "My guess is that the strike that took him down damaged the collar." "It must have been quite a blow," Chang muttered. He knew how tough the standards were for the collars. Winner moved between the cockpit area and us, reporting on our progress. He looked like he was heading for a nervous breakdown. Trowa must have thought so too, because he finally pushed Winner into a seat and sat on him to keep him still. Quatre closed his eyes and breathed deeply a few times before giving us the latest update. "Although we launched first," Quatre said. "their shuttle locked into a faster orbit and has a considerable lead on us. It looks like they are heading for Earth, but until they enter orbit we can't guess from their current trajectory where they intend to land." With work to keep my mind engaged, my imagination was kept at bay. In my weaker moments I could see Duo's face, eyes closed, possibly injured. I cursed myself for not being at his side the moment Dierk was contained. Why hadn't I? I had trusted the Maguanacs to guard his safety. As much as I wanted to place the blame, with two men down in the act of protecting Duo, I couldn't ask for more from them. Raul. I vowed to kill him with my bare hands. Then we lost the feed entirely. The collar had been compromised and dropped the connection. I stifled my anguish, falling back on my war-trained ability to partition off and block my emotional state, enabling my reasoning centers to operate at full capability. Around me I could hear the gasps, the shock, the cries, and despair. "We have an incoming message," I intoned, carefully keeping my tone flat. "Ah. Expecting report on decoded data and data collected from Royal art files." Again, the uproar of "what good will that do for us now?" and "who cares?" threatened to crack my barriers, but did not. I continued the search for Duo Maxwell in complete control of my faculties. "Based on the last trajectory," Rashid told me when asked, "These are the highest probability landing locations." "Zechs, inform Preventers agents to begin there." "But Heero!" Winner cried out, outraged. "We should do that!" "Rashid," I said, ignoring Winner as best I could. "Load the lowest probability locations. We will begin with those. Chang—" Chang's eyes moved imperceptivity. "Continue to monitor this. Should the collar reactivate, this will blink." He took the laptop without a word. In the meantime, Zechs unpacked his computer and Maxwell's laptop. Barton and Winner worked with Rashid's data communications man to establish an elaborate search and tracking system linked to the flight plan. Zechs also contacted Commander Une and remained in hushed conversation for several minutes. "Agents are on the scene at several of those landing sites already," Zechs reported. "All shuttle landings are being monitored. If Duo is on a shuttle and it lands, we will know about it." "That and several hundred more," Barton put in. "Yes, that's true. There are agencies all over the planet. Resources are being diverted to every bay site. Agents are giving this top priority." "We'll find him then, and soon," Winner declared. (o) Soon it was not. Hours turned into days, and days added up to a week. We were living at the Preventer's headquarters 24/7. I would not return to our house, not without Duo. I think the others just wanted to be sure I was not alone and stayed in the dormitories too. They needn't have bothered. I hardly noticed. We had determined that Duo must have been transferred from the shuttle to another airship while in orbit. He was not on board any shuttle landing at anytime anywhere. Preventer's agents were assigned to examining orbital tracking scans for clues. Winner reminded me every hour that he felt Duo was "alive." This, I knew, was not blather to ease my feelings. Coming from him it was fact. Chang had taken Barton's place at my desk to monitor the current processes I was running. He called Doctor Po twelve times a day. Had I not been so wrapped up in my own universe of heartache, I might have paid attention to his emotional metaphorphosis. Sally visited the office once or twice, maybe hourly, but I was mute and a bore, easily ignored. She tried to get more out of me than "Hn," but I was transfixed by the loss of Duo. Every day, every hour of his absence was bad. No one could say otherwise because it was true. It was midnight, or after. Everyone else had slipped off to the dormitory to sleep. I was stiff and considering taking my partner's advice and get some rest. "Go on," he urged me again. As I stood, Chang lurched from his chair. "Fuck! YUY! We are getting feed from Duo's collar!" "Where is he?" "Not the tracer. Data stream. Files. Lots." I cut into the transmission as it was being stored to numerous external drives. "Formulas." "What are you doing now?" Chang asked as I typed furiously. "Getting a lock on where the data is streaming from." He picked up his phone and started punching numbers. "Barton get Winner and come up here. Duo's sending us data." Zechs must have been standing right outside the dormitories, because he was in attendance as well when the other two thundered into the office. While Chang explained what had happened, Zechs and Barton scanned the downloaded information. "Those look like the formulas Une sent Chang in that message," Barton pointed out. "Not exactly, but I recognize this structure that looks like a circus ring." Zechs started shouting into his cell phone to some poor underpaid rookie. "Then get on it now! Don't just ignore data from the collars because we're not wearing ours! Idiots!" he bellowed. "New Germany," I said. "I'll narrow the location down in a minute." "I'll bet it's Gunter's pharmaceutical company. Duo could be held up there!" Winner said. He was on his cell phone instantly, contacting his devoted crew of men as he stepped out the door to converse. When he returned, he told us, "The Winner private jet is being refueled. It will be ready when we get to the hanger, guaranteed. Our ride awaits us momentarily." He added a small smile to apologize for the silly-sounding speech. He was tired but buoyed with hope. There was no time to pack. We took the clothes on our back and emptied the weapons cache available to us at the agency. Zechs accompanied us, mostly as a go-between to Une, saving us the distraction. I could admire the man and, generally, approve of how he had conducted the mission and himself. When we found Duo, I might even consider calling him by his new name. Duo first. The final outcome was the determining factor for what I'd call the ex-OZ man in the future. Winner and his loyal corps. I would be indebted to them for life after this. I brooded throughout the flight to New Germany; well, until the lack of sleep caught up on me. When I awoke, groggy, but rested, it was another day. Barton's face was leaning close to mine. "Get over here. You'll want to hear this." "We have audio!" Chang shouted excitedly. He cranked up the volume so we could all listen. "The collar's transmitting this!" "....as 'the love that dare not speak its name.' Why is that do you think? We are strong, virile men, why should we be afraid to declare our intentions, show our affection freely and openly? Why do we hide?" "I don't hide any longer." "Of course you do. You're hiding now, aren't you?" "But not from my sexuality. Give me the keys and I'll come out." "That's Duo!" "He sounds strange." "Who is he talking to?" "Gunter," Barton said. "I'd know that voice anywhere. Duo sounds like he did when he was drugged that time." "Shhhh..." "I don't know you. I don't know anything except you like to party, and you seem to love this. "What is it?" "Don't stop, please." "I can hardly hear what's being said. Turn it up." "I don't want to hear this." "Shhh!" "What is it?" "Nothing... I just..." "Go on. Tell me." "I love...I love the feel of you. It's so good. I don't want it to stop." My stomached churned. Duo had to know I'd be listening. Why this? It sounded like Gunter was kissing him, and more. I tried not to imagine what else he was touching or their state of undress. "Scythe, just a minute. I have to take a phone call, understand? I will be right back." "What?" "Don't move. I won't be long." No one would look me in the eye, which I was grateful for. I didn't know what they'd see there. We waited through about twenty minutes of silence. "Come on, Duo. Talk to us," Winner said. "Aren't you alone? Say something." But he didn't. "Scythe? Are you still awake?" "Yes." "Hello." "You're late." "Sorry. It took longer than expected. Didn't know it mattered to you." "Of course it does. I love you, 'Ro." "'RO? That's you, Heero! He said that thinking of you. Duo must be trying to communicate." Winner smiled. "Row? That's the third time you've called me that. It's a strange nickname. I guess I like it. Anyway, Scythe, about what you said, that's okay for you. I understand, but I don't love you. Just as long as you understand that, we can keep doing this. Do you want to get naked? Want to fuck? Or, do you want dinner first?" "Dinner." "Whatever you want. Listen, I've got to shower." "Then do." "We'll go out." "Okay." "What's this doing here?" The feed was interrupted by crackling and scratching sounds of the transmitter scraping against material. "I'll dispose of this for you. No reason for you to be reminded of the past. The past is no more." We could hear the sound of footsteps on linoleum, a loud slam, and then silence. "That's it for the collar," Barton said with a heavy sigh. "The location of the device has been pinpointed to this stand of buildings." I glanced over at Winner and smiled. "As you surmised, it's the pharmaceutical manufacturing complex." Zechs fell into the front passenger seat beside Rashid, cell phone in hand. "We don't know which building. The transmission stopped. It doesn't matter. They are moving, going out, but we don't know where. Yes, I've got the local commander on the other line; just make it clear that they are to stay out of sight until we... Yes, we give the orders to move or not." I wasn't paying attention after that. As long as we had backup and that backup took orders from us, I was satisfied. "The building is occupied, which means we must move with care and not risk hurting civilians." It was Zechs job to tell us, but totally unnecessary. "Gunter implied that they were going out," Chang said. "Notify the local constabulary to inform us of any stolen or speeding vehicles fanning out from the building." "There are agents watching the streets," Zechs reported. "They'd be better off watching the alleys," Barton put in. "If Maxwell escapes, he'll go for shelter there." Zechs cell buzzed. "Yes, I know who that is. Where? How was he identified? His passport? How about fingerprints? Get on it then! Have you interviewed the pilots? I see. Keep us informed, thank you." He sighed first. "They found Raul. Dead and packed in carton shoved into a tool storage compartment on a shuttle in New Italy. More to come." "Who wants to bet he tried to double cross Gunter?" Trowa asked. "Good riddance to bad rubbish. Ah... that's a quote from Lewis Carroll," Winner said. "He's okay, Heero. He is," he added with assurance. "Where are you Maxwell?" Chang asked wistfully. "If I were Duo, and could get away, where would I go?" Zechs mused. Winner suggested, "Duo might seek shelter in a church." "Scythe would show up at a club," I said. "And he's Scythe now." "Um, this may or may not be related, but," Barton cleared his throat, "that data Quatre and Duo collected from Royal was analyzed and the results sent to us. I looked over some of it, and funny now that this body's been recovered, ah, but that dude you saw at Royal, Quatre, wasn't Raul Frolich. They found the fingerprints of Raphael Medici on a CD, one Duo had found in the art-mart and marked as the one he'd seen taken from Gunter's office." "But that's the same man," Quatre said. "Apparently not." "But I found his change of name documents!" he insisted. "Faking ID's hides identities," Trowa said. "How many of us were born with the names we're now using?" "Just Winner and me," Chang said. "But why travel with two names?" Quatre asked, perplexed. "Maybe so he can appear to be in two places at once," Trowa said. "Like magic."
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