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'Til Death us do part	By : ClareSelley Category: Gundam Wing/AC > Crossovers Views: 896 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing or Highlander, and I make no money off this.

Chapter List
- 5
- 6
- 7
The next few days went by in a blur of training, preparation, research, that kept even Duo distracted, with only one incident requiring Heero to visit the office to track down what he'd done to the computer system, although that had taken the rest of the day to resolve, much to the Deathscythe pilot's amusement and Une's irritation.

They'd agreed, eventually, and with permission from the Commander, for Duo to go in alone with Duncan on the radio, which, the Scot had to admit was a bit of a relief after getting a taste from the other pilots of their initial missions and especially after finally getting the final pieces of information for the mission from the central control office a few hours ago.

He'd immediately gone to see Ice to co-ordinate the bit of the mission that the dark haired computer security expert would be involved in, and he thought the ex-pilot had been more than a little amused when he'd asked for reassurance that his partner could cope with what they were about to throw at him.

Seeing Duo finally step away from the computer set up on a suitable rock in his black stealth suit, his hair in a narrow tight braid down his back, Duncan gestured him over to do a final run down of the plan, "You do know what you're doing, don't you?"

"Yep, the room's here, the security's not been touched since OZ left it according to the computer records, so shouldn't be hard to get in, and then just walk out, easy." he pointed to the map with a black gloved hand and shrugged. "You don't believe I can do it do you? Bet you ten bucks I can do it in under ten minutes."

"I think you're being far too relaxed about this all," the older man muttered, "I usually only bet on horses, but, alright, ten dollars say you won't get back within ten minutes."

The pilot smirked, spitting on his palm before shaking the outstretched hand, "Nice to know my partner has every confidence in my success." He'd studied the maps and security information in his hotel room for a good chunk of the night and was certain he'd had it roughly planned out, very roughly, as roughly as he ever did anyway, improvisation made you unpredictable, and unpredictable was uncatchable. He'd not managed to get Duncan to reveal the bloody ‘twist’, as Trowa had called it, though he suspected it would involve Heero if the Scot's abrupt visit to the IT support suite earlier today was anything to go by. But, hey, if it happened, it happened, though he'd forced himself not to anticipate anything, whatever he thought of or prepared for, knowing Une she'd have thought of something entirely different, devious woman that she was.

They had been dropped off next to the base, the helicopter lifting off into the night sky, amongst the rolling hills of old Engerland. Around them, the world was quiet, the only noises the occasional car along the road nearby and their slight scuffles as they moved around equipment that was set up in the small grove. Checking his equipment, knives, yep, handgun, yep, belt and other gear, yep. Duo nodded with satisfaction. "I've just hacked into the system and given myself access to the area, so I shouldn't take too long."

"Une said you weren't meant to be trying to get access before you got there," Duncan replied, frowning at his partner..

"We're here now, right?" He was answered with a resigned sigh. "I know, I know, it'll go in the mission reports. I'm really starting to hate the fricking things already."

"I'm just as eager to write your performance review," Duncan muttered, glancing at his watch, "Given the mission technically started as soon as you said you'd already got through the security, maybe you should get going if you want to win your ten bucks?"

"What?" Duo almost yelped even as his eyes turned into dark pools and he took off towards the base.

Pausing at the edge of the moving floodlights, he took a few breaths, relaxing into himself even as he loosened his tight control on Shinigami, enough to sharpen his senses and ready himself for battle. Moments later he was scaling the wall, grateful his light build enabled him to almost leap up it. As the light passed the spot he'd chosen, he swung over the top, avoiding the glass and wire at the top with care, and threw himself to the ground, rolling to break his fall and ending in the shadows by the building wall on all fours.

The repetitive exercises that the Scot had put him through the last two nights, preparation for performing the kata he'd explained, were making his arms and legs ache, scratch that, his whole body. The man was a slave driver with no compassion, and he was now finding muscles he'd no idea he even owned which he was distinctly debating disowning. Mac had complimented him on his technique and natural talent, but that didn't stop his bloody body rebelling and he'd had to take advantage of the hot tub in the hotel to soothe his aches every night. It was a very nice hot tub, he had to admit, better than the old tub they used on L2 where you weren't sure if you had enough hot water until the bath was fully run. And it hadn't been that bad having Mac run his hands over him to adjust his posture, not that he'd mispositioned himself on purpose once he'd realised that the Scot preferred the physical method of adjustment. Anyway, hot tub and hot guy later, Duo, he reminded himself, searching the darkness for the entrance to the building.

It was seconds later he slipped into the building, door codes easily bypassed and alarm disabled. Bringing up his mental map, he carefully made his way to the room where the target discs were kept, keeping to the shadows. Wouldn't do not to keep in the habit of creeping around, even if there weren't any people on the base, well, other than any Preventers Une had roped in for the bloody test.

Suddenly a mechanical whirring noise caught his attention and he frowned, glancing up at the camera suspiciously before a voice rang out along the corridor. "Intruder alert. All personnel exit Q2S6. Security system now live. Repeat. Security system now live. All personnel exit Q2S6."

Dammit. That would be the fricking twist wouldn't it? The base was equipped with a security system that would have been activated in empty sectors, and he was pretty damn positive Heero had just turned it on remotely. It should be quite fun, actually, assuming that he could remember all the ways that OZ liked to kill intruders.

He started moving again, quickly and silently, towards the door he needed, preparing himself to jump as soon as he swung it open. Taking a deep breath, he dived into the room, rolling to the side with gun drawn and shooting at the camera in the new room before the laser attached to it could take proper aim. Rolling again, he positioned himself under the table, staying as still as possible.

"Four minutes, Night," the Scottish voice crackled in his ear as he scanned the room warily.

"Roger, Cloud. I'm in the room next to the target."

"Copy that, Night. Got your complication yet?" The accent seemed amused and Duo guessed that he knew that the security had been reactivated.

"Tell Ice I said thanks so much. Night out."

Turning his attention to the room again, he didn't see any more of the wonderful security features OZ had kindly installed in the abandoned base for his delight. That didn't, however, mean there weren't any. Carefully he moved to behind the desk and flipped the computer on. The system was the familiar OZ one and he started to switch the security off. It wasn't as easy as he hoped it would be, probably Heero had added a few extra tweaks into it, and he could just picture the Japanese pilot's maniacal smile as he manipulated the system from a distance

However, he was familiar with the dark haired pilot's methods, and it took only a minute to crack the encoding even without his laptop and disable the security around the few rooms he was in. Then it was over to the door to the secure office and a quick lock pick got him in within moments. Identifying the storeroom with a glance he moved to it and pulled out a few tools to help with cracking the more secure lock. There, that wasn't that hard, he thought with a feral grin, Yuy couldn't have done better. Grabbing the discs from the shelves he threw them into a lightweight backpack he unpack from a pocket and made his way to the exit.

"Night to Cloud, target acquired. Exiting now."

"Acknowledged, Night. Three minutes remaining."

The communications link crackled shut and Duo crept forward. He was at a crossroads, and he consulted his mental map, cross-referencing it with the security details with a frown before shrugging, tossing his braid back over his shoulder and deciding to head out the way he'd come especially as he'd already disabled the bloody lasers.

He'd reached the edge of the sector when the security voice rang out again, echoing through the empty corridors and bouncing off the dull walls around him. "Intruder alert. All personnel exit Q2S6. Security system now live. Repeat. Security system now live. All personnel exit Q2S6."

Duo cursed, hearing the whine of a laser starting to focus beneath the ringing of the alarm. Dammit, Yuy had obviously restarted the security. Before he could dive away, a beam struck his leg, burning across the back of his thigh and he couldn't help the yelp that emerged from his throat. Swearing as he shot the camera out, he tried to recall all he'd read about the bloody security system. Laser guns and security beams were the main defense, and then gas would be released into the rooms, knocking out anyone alive before poison gas would be released to kill the trapped intruders if required. He estimated he had about five minutes before the sleep gas started to take effect, and only three to win his ten bucks, which there was no fucking way he'd lose.

Ignoring the pain in his leg, he made his way along the corridor, ducking under a few beams that glowed softly in the dark and crawling over another that lay just too high to jump over safely. Glowing as they did, they had to be painful to touch or they'd be invisible and these were shining like his old thermal scythe.

The next puzzle was a net of lasers blocking the corridor. Glancing up, he sighed and removed the air conditioning duct before pausing. Obviously OZ had found some intelligence from somewhere and put grills in place, blocking them off. Crap. They just had to go and ruin a perfectly good escape route didn't they?

Sighing, he moved back to the criss-cross of lasers across the corridor. Knotting his hair up - wouldn't do to have his braid cut off by accident, he frowned in concentration. He carefully started to manoeuvre his body through the network of light, grateful they'd at least made it obvious where the lights were, even if it was only because they would slice him in two like a melon if he wasn't careful. Being slim did have its advantages.

He winced as a couple of lasers scored across his arms and legs and he hissed as they burned. Fuck, now what the hell was he meant to do? Arms and legs at angles, burns on all limbs, and only about one minute to go before Duncan won that damn bet. Cursing, he manipulated himself into a slightly better position, Trowa was going to laugh his bang off when he heard about Duo's little attempt at gymnastics, well if he survived anyway, given he was out of practise at acrobatics, let alone the elegant twirls and flips the Heavyarms pilot pulled off with ease.

Trowa had warned him, he supposed, dangerous and possibly deadly missions to test the Gundam pilots' capabilities, but fricking hell, this was Trowa's speciality, not his - stealth and infiltration was what he did best, not bloody aerobatic stunts. But, hey, he didn't have much of a choice did he, especially if he wanted to win the stupid bet with Duncan. He should've said fifteen minutes. Idiot.

Taking a deep breath, he launched himself, his mind plotting his path faster than he could think. Barely noticing the scrape of the laser across his flesh, he ignored the pain and finished the fluid motions, ending with a flip that wrenched his ankle sharply and finally ripped a cry of pain from his throat.

He was going to kill Une for this bloody test. OK, so he'd known missions could be deadly, he'd known that since before he even stepped into 'Scythe, but somehow having his own side testing him like this was just unfair.

He knelt there in the corridor, cursing softly for a few moments before he released Shinigami fully. He'd not make it out without either failing the mission utterly and Mac riding to the rescue, or letting the cool madness sweep over him and the God of Death take over.

The calmness soothed the pain of his injuries as they were swallowed by the darkness, the blood seeping from the cuts fading to a minor annoyance as the shadowed side of his psyche slipped over his mind and everything became crystal clear and sharp.

He darted off again, a cold smile lurking on his lips as he loped towards the exit, half hoping that someone would try and stop him. Nothing else blocked his way though, other than the security doors and he typed the security codes quickly, his fingers slipping in his own blood on the keys. The hissing of the gas leaking through the ducts followed him he ran out of the complex.

Waiting for the search lights to sweep around, enough of his mind was in control to wait until the route was dark before launching himself on his good ankle over the wall, the shards of metal and glass ripping through his hands as he catapulted over. He barely noticed his skin ripping as he landed on his wrenched ankle, twisting it further. his eyes blazing with purple fire as he rolled to a stop just by Duncan's hiding place. "Mission, complete." He managed to get out before he passed out just as Duncan reached him.

"You're out of practice." Heero's voice was its usual cool tone as he approached the bed on the hospital floor where Duo lay swathed in bandages, a drip in his arm and his violet eyes tired. "What did you do this time? You ripped yourself to shreds, Maxwell."

"You're the one who activated the system Heero, you know damn well there was a laser net in the escape corridor, pal. What were you expecting? Me to act like Trowa bloody Barton, acrobatic extraordinaire? What are you doing down here anyway?"

"I was expecting you to take the west passageway. Didn't you study the schematics before your mission? And I'm not allowed to see a friend?" the Japanese pilot asked dryly, leaning back against one of the glass screens that separated each bed..

"I'm sure you can read the mission reports as well as anyone, Yuy, I don't want to talk about it," Duo growled, the painkillers denting the edge of the pain, but not completely masking it. "You can tell me what I did to myself and how long it'll take to repair though."

Grabbing the tablet on the end of the bed, Heero scanned it, "Multiple lacerations to both arms, both legs and chest. Hands and feet lacerated, and left ankle severely sprained. Estimated recovery time five days."

"Got to say something for fast healing, huh?" Duo grinned, "Some of us might be able to put their ankles back in place on their own, but I'm going to enjoy this nice comfy bed and let the medical professionals get on with it."

"Hn."

"Just as talkative as always, Yuy. Did you really come by to see how I was doing, or did you just want the opportunity to gloat that I ended up here and you walked out of yours with no injuries, scott free."

"One broken arm, a broken foot, two torn tendons, multiple burns and singed hair." Heero rattled off in that irritatingly monotone. At Duo's raised eyebrow he continued, "That was Trowa's list."

"And yours, oh master of bomb diffusion?" He couldn't help the sarcastic tone.

"A broken leg."

"Which you, of course, put back in place on your own," the other pilot interrupted with a grin, "Anything else?"

Heero frowned, "There needed to be anything else?"

"Typical, just bloody typical. Mr Heero fricking Yuy sails through the test with no problems and a broken leg while I sit here with all my limbs in bandages and a bloody sprained ankle." He suddenly reached round to grab his hair, checking the end carefully for any damage before settling back against the pillows in relief, resisting the urge to whimper as pain shot down his arms. "I bet Tro looked silly with his hair gone."

"Actually he came in with it down for a few days. I believe he had to show his pass everytime he went anywhere as no one recognised him with hair around his shoulders."

"Wish I'd been there to see that," he snickered, "Got any pictures of it?" he added as an afterthought, "I mean, you must have security tapes or something?"

"Hn. I'll see what I can find." Heero said, moving towards the door. "If you need anything, there's a buzzer there, by the bed."

"And you need to tell me all about Dree next time, Heero. She looks just like Q," the violet eyed pilot called after him, earning the door slamming behind his friend, only for it to open almost immediately as Duncan walked in.

"You're awake, and annoying Heero already I see." Duncan smiled brightly, "Not like you to stay in bed all day, is it?"

"I normally don't have bandages all over me," Duo muttered, raising one arm limply, "While I don't set my own bloody bones like Heero, I'm not used to the luxury of actual treatment in a comfortable bed with cute nurses." He smiled wryly, looking down at where his ankle lay strapped under the covers and winced as his chest twinged with the movement "So, I assume you're here to officially tell me I failed the mission then? Although normally I find out 'cause someone's yelling at me, or I'm lying on the ground in agony, so I suppose this counts as the latter."

Duncan shook his head, "You didn't fail, you passed. Une was impressed with your abilities, although she felt that you were somewhat unorthodox in your exit approach and is looking forward to your report to understand whatever logic you were using. You do, however, owe me ten bucks."

"Aw, hell. How late was I?"

"About 20 seconds," the Scot admitted with a shrug, "I suspect you'd have made it if you're taken the western passage."

"Yeah, so everyone keeps telling me," Duo growled, lying back in the bed, even as relief flooded him, he hadn't failed. "Hey, I was still faster than you thought I could do, right?"

He was rewarded by a slight nod, "I'd better get back and start writing my report up, though I suspect Ice will have more than me to say - for someone so talkative, you sure shut up on missions."

"They're called stealth missions, you're kind of meant to be quiet?" the pilot reminded him with a smirk,.

Duncan closed his eyes as the sarcasm reminded him of his oldest friend. Damn it, I've not seen him in years, and now I get a partner with the same dry sense of humour. Just great. "I'll bring a computer in so you can write up yours. The doctor said you should be able to type well enough as long as you mind your palms, and unless you've broken all your fingers the Commander expects it within a few days. Even then she'd would probably wonder why you hadn't typed it with your toes."

"Thanks, Mac. Appreciated." The sarcasm was evident as the pilot settled down to enjoy his last remaining minutes of rest. .

It wasn't long until one of the nursing staff, a bubbly redheaded female, much to his disappointment, wheeled a trolley over to his bed, plugging in power and network cables of the neat set up into sockets next to him.

Well wasn't this just fucking great. The first mission and he'd screwed up. So, yeah, he'd succeeded in the objective, and Trowa hadn't done much better from what the Wing pilot said, but even so, he didn't particularly count as being stuck in a bloody bed for a week as a success. Being out of action for any length of time was not an acceptable situation. Great, now he even sounded like Yuy, next thing he knew, he'd be begging Une to send him out on a suicide mission before he was discharged.

He adjusted himself to a comfortable position ignoring the pain in his limbs and chest he logged onto the system. That was assuming they didn't toss him out of here first. Opening a file to start writing his report, he grinned brightly as an idea hit. Switching over to a console window he suddenly felt a a lot better as he began to code a little psudo-virus for Mac's delight.

After setting his little script running, he settled back to start writing his mission report, wondering exactly how short he could get away with, although he suspected Une wouldn't be happy with the two or three sentences that G had been satisfied with. Toying for a moment with the idea of writing the report in full florid prose, he resigned himself to at least trying to write the mission report first time - at least then he'd get some clue as to how he could be more creative the next time without getting yelled at.

"Heero tells me you were pretending to be me."

And didn't that just put the icing on the cake.

"I wasn't trying to be you, Trowa. It seemed like the best way out at the time. When you're stuck in a net of lasers, you don't really have that many bloody options. And don't you dare mention anything about the fricking western passageway." He looked up to see the tall lanky teen's eye gazing at him above a slight smile and crossed arms from where he was leaning against the glass panel.

He could feel that green eye raking over his body, coolly analysing the damage, before the older pilot swept into a low self-mocking bow. "You did better than me."

"Yeah, but from what I heard, you had the worse mission, with the mobile doll and everything. I should've been able to complete a simple in and out with security without any problems and I screwed up. I screwed up big time, Tro."

The Heavyarms pilot walked forward gracefully, collapsing bonelessly onto a chair by the bed with a wry look in the emerald eye visible under the long bang, "One thing Heero didn't tell you was that at least you completed the mission. I barely escaped alive and the disc was destroyed in the explosion. Une apologised to me afterwards - the explosions weren't meant to have occurred and were from left over from when the base was active. I failed the mission."

"Aw, shit, Tro. You're still here, right?" he scanned the older man, checking for any lingering signs of the damage he'd sustained.

"And so are you." The other pilot gave a graceful shrug, summing up and dismissing the entire conversation up in the simple movement. "We're survivors, we always have been."

Duo sighed, "Yeah, I know. Doesn't mean it doesn't hurt like hell at the moment though. Heero says I'll be up in a couple of days and I'm sure Une'll come up with something just as fun for next time soon enough."

"Heero won't be involved against you. Next time he'll be working with you." The calm voice replied as Trowa lent the chair back against the wall, staring up at the ceiling. "And Heero is one of the best people you can have with you."

Shifting uncomfortably, the younger man pulled his braid over his shoulder, searching for a change of subject. "You never told me why you joined the Preventers - things not work out with Cathy?"

Trowa rolled his shoulders again, still studying the smooth white ceiling tiles above them. "She's more like a sister to me. We tried - a movie, a meal, but we ended up talking about who we were interested in, and neither of us mentioned the other. Even the kiss at the end of the date felt like I was kissing my sister."

"So... Who are you interested in then?" Duo asked, feeling his curiosity unfurl and his eyes brightening as he looked at Trowa with interest, "Thought you'd settle down with Cathy, the circus and those wild beasts you love so much."

The Heavyarms pilot continued to stare up at the roof, his pale skin faintly turning rosy as he smiled to himself. "I'm not prepared to say at this time."

"Tro, you're blushing, pal. You know I'll get it out of you eventually, right? It's a girl? Your partner? Who is your partner anyway?"

His friend turned a cool jade eye towards him, "My partner was a thirty year old man called Wyth who is happily married with a young daughter."

"Oh, yeah, you get to fly solo now, right?" Duo muttered, "Enjoying the new job? And don't you try and change the subject. Who's the lucky woman?"

"Who said it was a woman?"

OK, now that I wasn't expecting, the braided pilot thought, blinking as he fell back against the pillows in surprise. Oh, Trowa had always been androgynously beautiful, and he'd tried to subtly flirt with him once or twice, but he hadn't ever seemed to show any interest, or in any other either male or female for that matter. He wondered if the older man was talking about him, after all, he knew damn well that he wasn't exactly ugly and was probably one of the few people who could truly understand what they'd been through in the war together, shared life experience and all that. Trowa wore masks over his face and heart that had always intrigued him, and he'd love to get under them and see the real guy beneath.

As if the seated pilot could read his mind, or maybe just his expression, he shook his head, the bang falling over his eyes as looked down at the floor and smiled, "You're beautiful, Duo, but it's not you I'm interested in. Sorry."

"Aw," For a moment Duo felt disappointment before shrugging, Tro would be a nightmare to be with anyway, almost as monosyllabic as Heero, just as difficult to read, and probably as boring to live with, he didn't seem to have a sense of fun anyway. "You're not interested in little ol' me? How 'bout Heero? Quat?" He dangled the words in front of his friend.

"I'd better be going."

Trowa stood up without looking over and he was suddenly worried he'd annoyed the taller man. "Hey, sorry if I annoyed you, Tro. It's none of my business who you're interested in, but you know I can't resist gossip."

"You're an intelligent guy, Duo, I'm sure you can figure it out." With a small wave, and smaller smile, the brown haired pilot left the room, leaving the violet eyed agent running through all the men he know who Trowa could possibly have any interest in.
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'Til Death us do part