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"Caught in the Crossfire "Written By: Miss Murdered Disclaimer: I don't own the GW characters –
am just borrowing to torment for my amusement Rating: NC 17 Warnings: Swearing, yaoi, violence, hints of long
past NCS Pairings: Primarily 3x2, past/presentish 1x2,
past 3x4 and 1x3 Summary: When Trowa's nephew is threatened by
the ruthless father who abandoned him, Trowa needs help in order to
fight back and protect both Catherine and the little boy. Things get
complicated when both Shinigami and the Perfect Soldier come to his
aid as the three men must discover where they stand with each other
while they work out a way to protect Trowa's family. "Caught in the Crossfire "
Chapter Four No More Old Times The shuttle port bar was a clean bright chain where tourists drank their first beers and businessmen spent the few minutes of respite drinking scotch. Duo didn't like chain places - he hated those restaurants that were the same whether you were on L5 or Honolulu and he hated bars like this. He liked dive bars with old fashioned juke boxes, he liked places with pool tables and thick dust and dirt and grimy beer glasses. He liked a world that was lived in, dirty as they were the sort of places he belonged. The bright lighting, the cheerful laminated cocktail menus and the presence of young bartenders in white polo shirts all felt wrong and fake. He fucking hated places like this. There were two beers in front of him, the red and white label on his own had been peeled off as he waited feeling anxious. There were certain things he relied on in his chaotic and violent life. One of them was Heero Yuy's amazing dedication to punctuality and appearing when he needed him. That was Heero all over - steady, reassuringly unmovable, predictable. Maybe not this time. Duo drank a little more beer and tried to stop himself from peeling the back label on the bottle. He'd heard it was a sign of sexual frustration, one of those urban myth things and then his mind turned back to Heero which usually happened when the thought of sex popped into his brain. It had been a while. He knew he should have just screwed Cypher instead of sleeping on his lumpy and uncomfortable couch. His neck was hurting from the awkward angle that he'd had to sleep. He'd grown taller in his late teens and his frame was not suited for sleeping on couches. But he hadn't being that he always felt Heero saw right through him - he'd judge him with cold blue eyes and an expression made of stone. He'd stayed at Cypher's place last night - crashed in the warehouse with the metallic doors and the computer screens that covered one wall and given him the finger of a dead man to package up and send to earth. His life was surreal. The journey between L1 and L2 had been short due to the relative closeness between the two colony clusters but had been spent in a cargo hold. He'd made so many contacts in the criminal community over the years that he always had someone to pay off and hide him. Those times he didn't he used any number of fake ID documents and passed through shuttle ports undetected. He hadn't been just Duo Maxwell since he walked out of the apartment that he and Heero shared in Sanc after realising Heero wasn't coming back. Cypher was good enough to make him into anybody he wanted and was as near as he got to having a friend in his new life. Cypher was a computer otaku, his large black framed geek glasses and hair with heavy bangs made him cute in a non-threatening way. Duo wasn't into submissive men. He seemed to always fall and fall hard for men who could be best described as aggressive. The worst they could be described as would be assholes. He had a thing for toxic and damaged men. He supposed that was the mark that Heero Yuy had left on his life. Duo had got his own new fake ID docs, got Cypher to research Nabokov thoroughly and then Cypher had been working with his dirt-side contacts to get Trowa and "family" some reasonable quality ID's. "They won't be as good as mine but, you know, they'll have to do." "Guess so," Duo replied and went to shower as Cypher worked. He got bored watching people on computers. He was a very competent hacker but Cypher was plugged in. He'd rarely seen the guy away from his wall of his computers and was constantly wired. Duo wondered if Cypher slept. He'd showered, using Cypher's place like it was his own. He'd spent enough nights on the man's couch to know how the shower worked. Where he could find something to eat. He found energy bars - Cypher didn't do real food and plopped himself down on the couch. "I can get someone to Prague to hand over ID docs and shuttle tickets," Cypher said. "Someone good?" "Not as good as I'd like but..." "Can we trust them?" Duo asked, not looking up. He was fiddling with the end of his braid. He was feeling hollow after the kill and weird about packing up his life to go help Trowa Barton. And also the inevitable thing he needed to do. Contacting Heero. They'd agreed on the contact, the girl who called herself Lily which seemed a little too cutesy for Duo's liking and then he'd contacted Trowa. He was calmer this time. Duo had not thought he was the sort to get panicked but in their last brief phone call Trowa hadn't sounded like the man he used to know... he sounded scared. Anxious. Tired. Frustrated. Duo had never had a family to care about. The nearest he'd ever got to someone that he could consider as family was Heero. And that was a strange and messed up thought. "You need to get to Prague, Tro'. We got a contact - she's gonna get you ID docs, some cash and plane tickets." Duo explained the exact details of the rendezvous with the girl and the red flower she was going to wear in her black hair. They went through the next phases of the plan, the flight they were going to take and times, the rental car that would be waiting on the other side, the location where they would be safe and meet up with him. Trowa hadn't said anything but yeses and fines and okays during the conversation. The emotionless voice monotone. "Look after yourself, Tro'. I'll be dirt-side soon." Duo shook his head as he got no response and turned off his cell phone and borrowed one of Cypher's laptops to contact Heero. Now he was waiting. He had finished his own beer and glanced to the one he'd bought for Heero. It could've been that he didn't get the message. Duo used his old 02 comm channel and encryption when he contacted Heero and he didn't know how Heero accessed his own comm channel. Usually, he heard from the former Wing pilot almost instantly after a message. A phone call on his cell. An email. A text message. Something. This time he'd got nothing but somehow he always expected Heero to just turn up. "Mr Motherfucking Reliable," he swore under his breath as he decided to reach for the other beer. No point in wasting it. He had no luggage with him for the flight. He didn't even carry a duffle bag like he had during the war. Just an olive green backpack that fitted in a few clothes, his newest fake ID from Cypher and the tablet computer that held all the information he had found about Trowa's situation and Alexei Nabokov. The only other thing apart from the wallet in his back pocket, the cell phone in the front one, was the key for the apartment in Sanc that he hadn't stepped foot in for seven years. Their apartment. Least if Heero didn't turn up then he wouldn't have to talk to him about holding onto their one time home. It was one of his rare moments of deceit. It wasn't a lie as such as he'd not said anything to Heero. All he'd done was wired the money that would've equated to half the sale value and kept the place. He sometimes wasn't sure why he had. He had to pay the buildings maintenance fee and a cleaner who went in monthly. It seemed stupid. It was the only home he'd ever had. He raised the bottle to his lips and nearly spluttered when a deep voice spoke softly behind him. "Come here often?" Duo turned to meet dark blue eyes and a handsome face, a slight smirk on the lips of his ex as he saw Duo nearly choke. He coughed. "Yeah, just my sort of place." "This seat taken?" "No, make yourself comfortable, Heero." He hopped onto the bar stool beside him and Duo noticed the duffle bag. His eyes scanned down Heero, taking in any differences since their last meeting. It was less than a year ago so there was no dramatic change in appearance. Still unbelievably attractive. Still deep blue eyes. Still worked out - muscles visible underneath the simple v neck knitted sweater. Duo decided to look away rather than check him out as he was never having sex with Heero again. He'd promised himself that. "I bought you a beer," Duo said as he swirled the liquid around in the bottle, "but I thought you weren't gonna show so I'm drinking it." "Still alcohol dependent?" "Still a judgemental jerk?" The kneejerk insults were easy for Duo. He'd spent a long time perfecting them and since Heero always intended to rile him, he had a long habit of sending back as many verbal barbs as he got. He shook his head and then took another sip. "Let's not do this." "This?" "Our shit. We're done. Over. No more of this crap." Heero nodded and the bartender came over. He ordered an orange juice and as it was a crappy chain bar he didn't get mocked by the shiny eyed kid who served him. Duo was tempted to make fun of him as he'd done during their relationship for his inability to let loose and just enjoy the freedom of inebriation but then Heero didn't want to lose control. There had been a few occasions - a legendary incident with a bottle of Wild Turkey but Heero didn't do relaxing. Didn't do letting his hair down. But he wasn't going to tease him as Duo had just said he didn't want to do this again. They were twenty six now - they really should stop acting like the hormonal and thick-headed teenage boys they'd been. "I assume you have a reason for asking me here." Duo nodded and fished in the front compartment of his backpack and slid over the shuttle ticket. Blue eyes studied it as Duo downed the rest of his second beer. "Sanc?" "Yup, Sanc." "Elaborate." He sighed at the stiff and mission sounding voice as he retrieved his tablet. He flicked it on quickly and brought up the relevant page and then passed it to Heero knowing he was a smart guy. He'd figure it out himself. The first screen showed a passport picture. "Eli Bloom." "Did you know Trowa had a nephew?" Duo asked. "I haven't spoken to Trowa for nearly eight years." "Not since you fucked him, right?" Heero shot a powerful glare at the comment. They'd never discussed what had happened immediately after their break up and Rio but Duo had been worried at the time. Heero was so... cold, closed, off the deep end and when he walked out one night after a meaningless and cold fuck, he'd worried that he was going to self-destruct. Heero didn't cover his footsteps like he did now - didn't spend his time electronically making himself a ghost and Duo had only needed to do some brief research to discover where Heero had gone - Germany. Then it had not taken much to find out that Trowa's circus was in that particular country and he'd put two and two together. Duo wasn't as blind and stupid as Heero thought. He'd known that they'd had their fling during the war after Heero's self-destruction and he never made a big deal out of it. He could have gone there with Quatre. He just didn't because blondie was too pure for his blood-stained hands. Or so he'd perceived at the time. It had taken him longer to realise Quatre wasn't the innocent little boy who wanted friendship. Duo sometimes wondered how they'd all managed to fight a war with the amount of fucking each other they'd done - it all seemed far too complicated. Only Wufei had been above it all. Still was as he'd expressed that he didn't really want to see any of them anymore. They didn't speak as Heero read the first screen. It was the official information. Eli Bloom. Born in Marseilles, France in the year AC 201 to Catherine Bloom. The box that said father was blank. Next of kin was Trowa Barton. Duo started fiddling with the label on the other beer bottle as Heero flicked to the next screen. It featured many, many pictures from surveillance feeds of Eli Bloom with both his mother and his uncle. Trowa didn't look all that different - he was taller yet his body had filled out so that he was less lanky than during the wars. He seemed a little more casual, his clothes all seemed to have a faded, vintage quality but the ever-present bang of hair still covered the one eye. Eli was very much Catherine's son in appearance but even if the surveillance feeds there was a certain shyness about the boy that could be perceived. He hung back. He held onto hands of either Trowa and Catherine tightly. A little quiet boy - a boy like neither of them had been allowed to be. Heero flicked again and Duo glanced at the page as blue eyes absorbed the information. "Alexei Nabokov - I assume the father?" Heero asked. Duo nodded. "One father who just sent four mercs to kidnap Eli and kill Catherine. Makes you kinda grateful for the lack of family, don't it?" Heero grunted. Duo rolled his eyes. 'Always such an amazing conversationalist,' he thought. The first page gave a very brief outline of who Nabokov was and a picture of the man in a black suit, his longish black hair slicked back off his face and finishing at the nape of his neck. Nabokov was thirty two and fabulously wealthy. The first bits of information were public record. He was an oligarch - a rich and influential new wave of Russian businessmen and had made his money in property. He was a self-made man having been raised in a one room apartment in St. Petersburg with three siblings and much was made of the "life-affirming" side to his story. He now owned an exclusive brand of vodka, an English soccer team and a stake in a basketball team in the NBA. He was a well-known philanthropist in his own country, giving generously to children's charities and helping young families. So far, so perfect. It mentioned that he dated Hollywood starlets and supermodels but had never married and had no children. When Duo had first read the information when Trowa had contacted him six months, he didn't understand how the hell Catherine Bloom had met Alexei Nabokov, never mind had sex with him. It all seemed a little far-fetched. But the story went that the circus performed privately for one of Nabokov's niece's birthday parties and Catherine had been asked to meet the Russian businessman after the show. From there, Duo knew very little and had to ask Trowa whether it was a long term affair or a one night stand. He really didn't want to say something out of turn in front of Catherine Bloom. She had knives. The further information was where it got interesting. Duo could see Heero had swiped through all the boring intel and had got to the juicy and illegal stuff that Cypher had dug up. Alexei was an arms dealer. He had links with the Russian mafia. He was a notorious womaniser. He had killed at least a handful of people. Put bluntly, he was a badass. And that had made Duo call Heero. He hadn't intended to call Heero - to head down to earth and help Trowa out himself. He didn't know what or how he was going to help but he was going to just land dirt-side and work it out. He'd been known for his often chaotic and impulsive nature in the wars and he was good at improvising. But when he'd read this stuff... Duo knew that four mercs were just the beginning. Heero had finished reading the documents and he downed the orange juice making Duo snort under his breath. "Ready to go save the day and help Tro' out?" Duo asked. "Please tell me I am not sitting next to you on the shuttle." "Naw, you're in an exit seat and I'm half way down the back of the shuttle. I know how much I irritate you in confined spaces." "There were moments in confined spaces when you were less... irritating." Duo noticed the feral spark in blue eyes even though it was brief. A feeling made its way through his skin, an electricity that ended in his stomach. He guessed he was referring to Peacemillion and the encounter in Deathscythe's cockpit. Hell, there were other confined spaces - Preventer interrogation rooms, shuttle bathrooms, a weapons supply closet... but defiling the memory of his buddy was the most memorable. He always wondered why they'd never fucked in Wing Zero and it was his Gundam that he had to clean cum off the control panels. It had always been at Heero's convenience their sexual history. A shiver went through his body and there was a moment that he thought he could just go "fuck it" and reach for Heero again. Do that again. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. But no. Instead of responding, Duo grabbed his bag and put away the tablet. They could go there. They'd gone there plenty of times since they'd officially broken up but it was rough, harsh, and the last time Duo had felt the hands around his throat that were too tight... he'd got the distinct impression that Heero might kill him. He'd screamed him out of the motel room that time and was determined not to have meaningless and mechanical sex with Heero again. Though his body was betraying him at least for a second. There was too much history between them. Over a decade of it. And Heero was, though he hated the sappiness of the statement, Duo's first love. They'd never been very good at the couple thing but they always had a twisted and toxic version of love between them. It never quite went away. Duo had come to conclusion it never would. In his own little way, he'd always love Heero Yuy and it showed how emotionally damaged he was. "We should go to the shuttle gate." "Lead the way, 'Ro." As he grabbed his backpack, he smiled to himself. Yeah, it was a very good reason that they were not sitting anywhere near each other on the shuttle. They either spent their time fucking or fighting and right now there was no time for either when they had to help Trowa out. Duo left a small tip and followed Heero out of the ugly chain bar to the shuttle gate. 'Time to go dirt-side.'
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