Braids and Waves

Parings: 1x2, 2x1 (eventual!) 3x4

Warnings: More guns, more (well a little) violence, bit of swearing and slightly scary Trowa!

Notes: After the lovely cliff hanger I left you with last time this is the last chapter of the three action chapters. Does anyone die? You’ll have to read to find out ^_^!

Thanks: To my little demons (my muses!) who would not let this story
lie.

Summary: Duo is living with Quatre and Trowa. But what no-one
realises is why. And what happens when they find out the truth,
especially Heero.

Enjoy

Chapter 7 – To the Rescue

Wufei was beginning to wonder if this was the most boring mission he had ever done. Surveillance had never been his favourite job. Une had made it perfectly clear she needed one of them to do it and Wufei knew hands down that Heero was by far the best agent to have to do the protection side. He had offered himself but now he was beginning to regret it. He began doodling on a blank piece of paper while keeping half an eye on the surveillance equipment. Even Lady Une who was sitting next to him had given in and was painting her nails.

They were both dragged back into reality as Heero’s voice checking for the missing report filtered over the radio. It made Wufei feel very uneasy. Duo swearing didn’t make him feel any better,

“Oh shit! It’s always the last fucking door!”

“Language, Maxwell!” He snapped back, and then felt guilty as he heard Duo’s voice sound very sheepish. He felt the tension immediately. This was not looking good. Duo’s feedback only added to it. He covered his microphone,

“Shit, bollocks, fuck…” He proceeded to swear in as many languages as he knew. Lady Une replied to Heero’s questioning as she could clearly tell that Wufei wasn’t about to.

“Agent Yuy. Received loud and clear. Doing our best to locate here. Do what you need to do to protect the delegates.” She couldn’t keep the hint of anger out of her voice and it wasn’t because Wufei Chang was spitting obscenities. Someone or some people even, had sneaked around their defences, which did not reflect well on them and had now put everyone in danger.

They both began scanning over the camera views. They showed nothing out of the ordinary. Une slammed her fist on the desk.

“Where are they? How did they get in?” Une’s anger quickly sobered up Wufei. He looked through all of the camera views of the corridors. They heard Duo’s call for help, before they could track anyone down they heard Heero taking over. Wufei couldn’t help the sigh of relief; He couldn’t understand how such a simple mission had gone so horribly wrong. The Chinese youth growled,

“Typical, they are in a section of corridor not covered by the cameras. It was considered minimum threat.” Une growled as well.

“Damn stupid technology. That will teach us to rely on it.” She glared at the screens as if it was all their faults, “But I still don’t understand how they got in”. Wufei thought over the mission debrief he and the others had had before they had left the villa. His mind quickly supplied him with their one fatal error.

“The air shafts.” He looked at Une with trepidation. The Commander quickly realised what Wufei was implying.

“Shit, that means they could have got into the conference room.” Wufei looked back at the TV that was flicking between cameras. He typed in a command to show the camera that was in the board room. Only static could be seen.

“I think they are already there.” Wufei replied in monotone. Une nearly screamed,

“Get Yuy there now!” Nodding, Wufei quickly set to work.

“Agent Yuy. Report. Over.”

“Yuy. Over.” Heero’s voice seemed tinged with anger. Wufei ignored it.

“This is an emergency. Hostiles in board room. Potential hostage threat. Get in there. Over.” He waited for Heero’s reply then faced his Commander. Lady Une was holding her head in her hands.

“It was a set up. An old fashioned trap. And we fell for it, hook, line and sinker. When did we get so sloppy Wufei?” The agent put his arm around her shoulders.

“We’re not sloppy. They just knew what they were doing. Now that can’t just be anybody. Someone has knowledge of how the Preventers work, and that is what worries me.” Une gave a small smile.

“You’re right. Let’s help the others.” Wufei nodded with a grin.

-x-

Heero could have shouted at the radio for interrupting the embrace he was in. But when he heard the transmission, his anger became worry. Hostage situation? Quatre! He looked at Duo. Almost reading his mind the American replied,

“Go ahead. I’ll catch up.” Heero nodded then ran down the corridor, the other agents following in tow.

As soon as Heero was out of sight, Duo slumped back down to the floor. He just needed to get a hold of himself. He couldn’t fight in the state he was in. It wasn’t the shock of finding the dead agents, or even the fact that he had had to fight again, but what Heero had just done. If Heero had held a gun to his head he would have been less frightened than he was now. The former Wing pilot was getting far too close for comfort, and there was nothing that Duo could do to stop him. What frightened Duo the most however was that he did not want Heero to stop. He was finally getting what he had wanted for so long and now he couldn’t break away. The braided one knew instinctively that it would all end in tears. But he couldn’t stop it. He wouldn’t stop it. Duo took a deep breath.

-x-

Trowa walked steadily through the hallways, constantly searching for danger. He didn’t want to risk going any faster. When he heard the report come through his heart leaped into his throat. Quatre could be in danger and that was his first priority. He didn’t care about his own safety any more. The tall youth began sprinting towards the board room, with only the thought of getting to his lover on his mind.

As he approached the doors, the sounds from inside did not bode well. He carefully tried the door. When it did not open, he suspected the worst. Trowa was thankful as he saw Heero jog around the corner. They nodded at each other.

“Duo?”

“Fine. Quatre?”

“Hn.”

“Right.” Heero glared at the door as if that would help. He knelt beside it and looked through the slight gap between the doors. “They’ve just locked it. I think they want us to get in.” Heero looked up and could see the pain in Trowa’s face. The former heavy arms pilot was clearly hurting. Pressing his forehead to the door Heero could just about see a few of the figures in the room. The dark head dropped with a sigh.

“Hostage situation.”

“They will expect us to negotiate.” Pain had become anger. Heero knew Trowa was going into dangerous territory.

“Fine. We won’t.” Green eyes widened.

“But… Quatre?”

“He’ll be fine. Don’t forget, the ever angelic Mr Winner was a Gundam pilot too.” Trowa hung his head.

“I know. Ok Heero, on your head be it.” Heero simply nodded. He held up his fingers and counted down before kicking the door in.

Heero rolled in while Trowa made a flying leap, both finding shelter behind pillars. There was a moment of confusion as both men and a few of the Preventers began to take down the enemy.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you, Yuy!” Heero held his hand up in a signal to cease fire. The gun shots stopped. Heero looked around from his cover to see who had spoken.

“Simmons.” He hissed then took a deep sigh as he saw who the rebel agent was holding hostage.

“Come on Yuy. Face me like a man.” The Japanese man sighed once more knowing he had no choice. He signalled for Trowa to stay hidden. It seemed Simmons didn’t realise he was there. Heero stood and walked out in front of Simmons. From there Heero could see the resignation on Quatre’s face, no fear was there, the blonde already seemed to know he was going to die.

“Sorry Heero. I couldn’t stop him.”

“Not your fault Quatre.”

“How sentimental.” Simmons sneered as he pushed the barrel of his gun against Quatre’s temple. “Now shut the fuck up or I blow his brains out. Throw your gun away, Yuy.” Heero glared at the man as he put the gun down. “Further.” Heero kicked at the weapon, sending it spinning out of his reach. “You can do the same with the rest of your weapons too. Any funny business and the last thing blondie here will see is the inside of his head splattered across the floor.” Heero managed to stop himself from growling as he disarmed himself. He didn’t like the situation he was putting himself into but he couldn’t risk Quatre’s life.

“What do you want, Simmons?”

“How about your head on a platter, Gundam pilot.” Heero’s face remained impassive; he wasn’t going to react to that type of threat. “I want a true peace. Not one run by terrorists such as you. How can you have peace when it was won by war?”

“So you say, but this isn’t exactly pacifistic action either.”

“Perhaps not,” Simmons gave a cruel smile then looked at Quatre, “But it seems to be the only way to get through to you. At least I will have my revenge. Tonight I will bathe in the blood of Gundam pilots.”

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” Trowa’s voice was calm as always but held a coldness that was frightening. With everyone’s attention on Heero no one noticed Trowa sneaking around. Simmons turned to find a barrel of a gun pointing right between his eyes. “Let. Him. Go.” One green eye seemed to burn right through him.
“Barton. I forgot about you. I’ve got you all right where I want you. So why should I do that?”

“Because you’re a dead man. You just don’t know it yet.” Simmons laughed.

“An idle threat.”

“That’s what you think.” Simmons’ smile remained on his face even as the bullet exited his skull and he slumped to the floor. Quatre sank to his hands and knees beside him, staring at the floor, his body gone into shock. Trowa slid beside him and took the blonde in his arms as gun fire started up again. The rebels didn’t like that their leader had just been shot. The Preventers started to get into the room, slowly taking control of the situation. Heero stood in the middle of it, thankful that Trowa had been able to use his soldier skills to save Quatre. He, Heero, former Wing Zero pilot had been completely useless. He stood staring at the floor thinking of what could have happened; completely unaware of what was going on around him.

“Hey Yuy!” He slowly turned around dazedly to find a gun pointing at him. His eyes went wide as he heard a gun shot and took a deep breath.

It took a moment for Heero to realise that he hadn’t been shot. The gun wielder sank slowly to the floor looking slightly surprised, revealing a fearsome looking Duo with more than a hint of Shinigami in his eyes and a smoking Walther PPK.

“Can always rely on an old classic.” He held the gun to his lips and blew the smoke away. A large grin appeared on his face as he walked over to Heero. “Earth to Heero. You OK there buddy?” Duo quickly took in Heero’s less than responsive state. Finally he answered as he slowly returned to reality.

“Yeah… I’m fine… Duo… You… saved my life.” Duo brushed his bangs back.

“Yeah, I s’pose I did.” Heero looked at him properly.

“Thank you Duo. I owe you… a million.”

“Nah you don’t owe me anything. We’re buddies right. That’s what we do for each other.” Heero was about to reply when he was interrupted.

“Get a medic in here, get this place tided up.” Commander Une had just entered the room. “Chang, get these men questioned and locked up.” Wufei nodded then helped the Preventers escort the remaining rebels out of the building. Une approached Duo and Heero. “I want you all in for debriefing, including Mr Winner. I need to know what happened here.” Heero simply nodded. It was going to be a long debrief.

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Less of a cliffhanger? What do you think? You’ll hate me next chapter though ^_^!