Double Duos

CH6: Double Duos?

*CH6: Double Duos?

*flashback*

“Mom, why do I have to do this again?”
“Daimon, I’ve told you 5 times today.”
“Tell me again. Please.”

Lady Une took a breath and helped the young lad to dismantle the gun.
“Okay. You are a very important person. I want you to understand that no matter what happens on this mission, I will always love you and you will always be my son okay? You are a genetic clone of a boy named Duo Maxwell. He pilots the Gundam Deathscythe. You remember the pictures I showed you?”
The braided boy nodded.
“Do I HAVE to do this?” he pleaded.
“Yes. Now do you remember what you need to do on this mission?”
“Dismantle the trust between the Gundam pilots at all costs. But do not kill them until the time is right.
Lady Une helped the violet-eyed boy carry his bag and laptop onto the shuttle.
“Good luck. I’m sorry for having to make you do this, and with only 2 weeks training, but I want you to contact me if you have any questions okay?”

*end flashback*


* * * *

Trowa, Heero and Quatre made their way down the stairs they found behind the staff entrance door. Heero led the way, with Quatre then Trowa following. Trowa looked at Quatre’s blonde hair. He just wanted to hold Quatre and tell him things were going to be okay and everything was for the best. But he knew it wouldn’t be okay. Not unless they both decided on acceptable living arrangements after the war.

Trowa felt so guilty about letting Quatre go. Deep down he didn’t want to, but at the present time it as the best decision for both of them.

*flashback: just before the mission*

“Quatre, we need to talk,” Trowa said as he sat next to Quatre on the bed.
Quatre sat quietly on the bed and nodded. Trowa looked into Quatre’s eyes. He knew what he had to say was going to hurt Quatre badly. But he figured Duo was right, and that he had to be cruel to be kind.

“We shouldn’t see each other anymore. I know the other night I said we should take a little break, but now I think we need to stop seeing each other anymore.”
Quatre’s eyes filled with tears. It broke Trowa’s heart to see his lover cry. All he wanted to do was hold him and wipe away those tears.
“T..Trowa? You don’t mean it do you? We’ll work something out,” Quatre pleaded. He put his hand on Trowa’s, but Trowa pulled away and stood up.
“No Quatre. We both know that this is probably for the best. And you know we wont work anything out.” Trowa began to make his way to the door. He had to leave before he cried too. He didn’t want Quatre to see him cry.
“Then tell me you don’t love me and I wont bother you ever again. I know you love me Trowa. If you love me as much as you used to tell me then you know we should work things out. Trowa PLEASE! Tell me you love me!” Quatre pleaded. His tears burned his eyes. Quatre couldn’t believe what was happening.

Trowa continued to face the door. A tear began to roll down his cheek and hit the floor. All Trowa could hear was Duo’s voice over and over again. ‘Break it off. And do it now. Sometimes you’ve got to be cruel to be kind.’

Trowa headed for the door and put his hand on the handle. As much as he didn’t want to say it, he felt that maybe Duo was right.

“I don’t love you Quatre.” Trowa’s voice pierced Quatre like a knife through the heart. Quatre watched as Trowa left the room. That was it. Quatre curled up into a ball and cried to himself.

Trowa leaned against the door he just exited from. He slouched on the ground and shed a few more tears. ‘Why did this have to be so hard?’

*end flashback*

* * * *

Wufei sat in his cold chair, sniper rifle on his lap. He was pissed off about sitting in the cold. He watched as the off duty Oz soldiers entered and exited the bar. He watched for familiar Oz figurers, namely Treize or Zechs.
“Hey Wu!” Duo called out from behind Wufei. Wufei didn’t move from his seat, but continued to watch the Oz troops.
“Aren’t you meant to be inside following the others?” Wufei asked.
“Well the thing is, they didn’t wait for me so I didn’t see where the entry is! I’ve been busting my ass serving drinks and I missed out on the fun!!” Duo complained. Wufei huffed to himself. Duo still stood slightly behind Wufei and smiled.
“But the real reason why I’m here is Lady Une is on her way. Take her out.” Duo instructed.
Wufei got off the chair and readied his e, we, waiting for Une to come out of the club.
“Why didn’t you just tell me that over the earpiece Maxwell?” Wufei asked, finally happy to be in some action.
Duo smiled. “Well I sort of took it out of my ear when Une told me to come outside and stall.” Duo grinned as he pulled a lead pipe from the back of his pants. Before Wufei had a chance to react to what Duo said, Duo knocked him on the back of the neck with the pipe until he was unconscious. He took the rifle off the unconscious boy and began to tie him up. “Don’t worry Wufei, I wont kill you. For you, staying alive is more of a disgrace isn’t it? Ahah well I’ll let you live so you can live with the shame of missing a noble death.”
Duo took the earpiece out of Wufei’s ear and smashed it on the ground.
“You wont be calling for help anytime soon.” Duo said as he ran back down to the club.

‘Can’t wait to kill you all.’

* * * *
Heero, Quatre and Trowa stayed close to each other as they ran into numerous OZ soldiers. After passing numerous labs, they finally found a computer room.
“In here!” Trowa called. The three pilots entered the room and each sat at a computer. They began typing as if their lives depended on it.

“There’s one lab here that’s got the highest security. I bet the prisoner’s in there,” Quatre commented. Trowa stopped what he was doing. He didn’t look at Quatre. He didn’t want to.
“In a lab? What are they doing to the prisoner?” Trowa asked. He went back to typing. Heero got up and pulled the gun from the back of his pants. He puled out the clip to check there were enough bullets and put the clip back in.
“We’ll see when we get there. Let’s go.”

The three boys finally reached the lab and stopped. Heero knocked out the two armed guards outside the door. Trowa began to reach for the door knob when Heero stopped him.
“This seems too easy. I thought Quatre said this was supposed to be heavily guarded?” Heero whispered. Quatre scratched his head.
“Well that’s what the computer said.” Quatre whispered back. Heero let go of Trowa’s wrist. Trowa continued to open the door. The lights were all off but they three pilots could see very clearly the large clear cylinder lit up in the center of the room.

“Duo?” Heero said aloud. Quatre walked upto the cylindrical chamber.
“How is this possible? Duo’s upstairs isn’t he? How could he get caught and put here before we could get here? Who would do something like this?” Quatre nearly cried.

Trowa walked to a nearby desk and began looking through the paper work. He turned on a small lamp to see what he was doing. He began flicking through files on the desk. Trowa handed Heero a manilla folder. Heero opened it and read the first paragraph.

“We were instructed to keep the original subject in the cryo container, possibly indefinitely. He began rejecting the high doses of sedatives a week into the experiment. I fear that the amount of sedatives we are forced to give him may cause permanent brain damage if continued longer than a month. Lady Une has instructed that the subject be moved in two weeks to a new prison facility if the cryo chamber cannot keep him sedated. The first clone created from the subject displayed uncontrollable violent outbursts and was forced to be put down. The second created appeared ‘normal’ in every way possible. It even displayed similar personality characteristics to the original subject. The subject was named Daimon. Daimon’s intergration with the Gundam pilots is expected to prove successful...”

“What do they mean? Was that Duo we were with the last few days been a fake?” Quatre asked. Trowa looked at the Duo in the chamber. “They look exactly alike. It’s freaky.”

There were sounds coming from the back of the room.
“Someone’s here,” Heero said.

Quatre walked back to the door of the lab and turned on the lights. Soon as the fluorescent globes all flickered on, Heero dropped the file, and grabbed his gun before the sound of the file dropping filled the room. Trowa looked up from the scattered file and saw two figures in the corner of the room.

“DUO!” Quatre cried. Lady Une stood in the corner of the room, with a gun to Duo’s head. Duo looked as if he’d been drugged, or knocked on the head pretty bad. It was the Duo who was working behind the bar.

“Put your guns down or the boy dies!” Une commanded. Heero didn’t move. Une had one arm wrapped around Duo’s chest, holding him up against her as he looked like he couldn’t stand properly. Une cocked the gun and put it back to Duo’s head.
“I will not repeat myself again and I will not hesitate to kill him.” Une said more sternly. Trowa put his hand on Heero’s shoulder.
“Heero, we don’t know which is the real Duo yet. Don’t risk killing the real one,” Trowa ushered.

“Hn.” Heero turned his aim to his right and shot the glass cylinder. Within the second, the cylinder shattered open and the Duo in the cylinder fell out. Heero returned his aim towards Une and the other Duo, while Quatre knelt on the ground and tried to help the wet and unconscious Duo to sit up. Quatre wiped the wet bangs out of Duo’s face.

“Duo, wake up. Duo? Can you hear me?” Quatre pleaded. Duo’s eyes opened ever so slightly. His eyes seemed to find Heero’s instantly.
“Heero.. I’m sorry,” Duo whispered before falling unconscious again.

Heero watched as Duo fell unconscious again. Heero felt anger in his heart and Une saw it in his eyes. Heero shot a single bullet in Une’s direction. The bullet zinged through Duo’s shoulder and through Une’s chest. Une fell to the floor and her gun skidded across the floor.

“Grab them both and lets go!” Heero commanded. Heero ran towards the injured Duo. Quatre helped put the soggy Duo onto Trowa’s back into a piggy-back position. Heero took off his turtleneck top and ripped a sleeve off to tie it around Duo’s shoulder. Duo seemed to wake up as Heero threw the remainder of the turtleneck in Trowa and Quatre’s direction.
“Put that on the other Duo!” Heero instructed. Quatre nodded. Quatre and Trowa both then put the torn turtleneck onto the soggy Duo who was sporting only a pair of black shorts and that long braid. Heero picked up the injured Duo in his arms. He looked at his lover. He was unsure which was the real Duo. They both looked exactly alike, with the exception of the bullet wound. The injured Duo started to stir in Heero’s arms.
“Duo?? Duo? It’s Heero. Can you hear me?” Heero asked. He placed the injured Duo on the floor, next to the soggy Duo. “Duo?” Heero pleaded. Injured Duo opened his eyes. He looked like he had a hard time keeping them open.
“Never thought I’d miss that stupid green singlet,” Duo mumbled. Heero couldn’t help but smile (much to the shock of Quatre and Trowa).
“Duo, are you alright? Sorry I shot you. Don’t worry we’ll get you out of here,” Heero reassured. Duo Smiled sleepily. “When we get back.. you.. me.. pizza..” Duo fell unconscious again. Heero’s smile disappeared.
“Duo? Duo! Wake up!” Heero shook the injured Duo.

“Heero, let’s get them out of here. Trowa’s going to carry one Duo. Help me put the other Duo on my back. It would be better if you took the lead on the way out of here.” Quatre explained. Heero nodded and put the injured Duo on Quatre’s back. “Goddam. I think Duo’s been eatioo moo many burgers,” Quatre complained. Trowa laughed.
“I feel your pain. Let’s go,” Trowa smiled at Quatre. Quatre smiled back. ‘If the Duo on the Peace Million was a fake, then maybe he was wrong about Trowa. Maybe Trowa really does still like me..’ Quatre thought to himself.

Heero and the rest of the pilots made their way back through the corridors. “Heero, there’s a back door somewhere here on the left. I found it on the blueprints,” Quatre said. The injured Duo he was carrying was getting heavier and blood was soaking into the back of his shirt. Heero found the back door and held it open for Quatre and Trowa. Heero put his hand to his ear.
“Wufei, change of plans. We’ve headed out the back..Wufei?.. .. Wufei respond!” Heero closed the door and headed outside with the other pilots. “Guys, meet me at the jeep in five. I’m going to go find Wufei,” Heero explained.

* * * *

Back in the lab, Lady Une sat up. She winced in pain as she unbuttoned her jacket and shirt to reveal a bullet-proof vest. The bullet hit the vest in the center of her chest.
‘Good thing Daimon told me to wear this vest.’ She thought to herself as she made her way out of the lab. The bullet had definitely cracked a rib and there’d be a bruise there soon. ‘I knew they’d take both Duo’s. I just hope Daimon follows through with the plan.’

Lady Une took off the bullet-proof vest and made her way back upstairs to the bar. Upon entering the bar, Une saw that the bouncers had already begun to take control of the bar again. Rei was back behind the bar, doing as best she could to serve drinks alone, but the off-duty soldiers seemed to be getting rowdy again. Une walked upto the closest bouncer.
“What happened here after the bar was stormed?” she asked the bouncer. He saluted her and resumed his position with his arms crossed.
“Ma’am, we had to kick out about ten people. The girl who is usually behind the bar was seen coming out of the ladies bathroom when it happened. She didn’t and still doesn’t look well at all. I told her to get back behind the bar and it’s all starting to get back to normal. I don’t know what happened to that guy who was behind the bar with her though.” The bouncer described. Une nodded.
“Good work. Don’t worry about the guy, I’ve dealt with his actions. I’ll deal with the girl,” Une explained. She left the bouncer’s side and walked towards the bar. Rei was wiping down the bar, as the number of officers wanting drinks had died down for the time being.

“Rei.”
“Lady Une!” Rei was surprised that Lady Une was talking to her. She was also scared because of what had happened behind the bar. “W..Would you like a drink??” Rei asked. Lady Une leaned on the bar and removed her glasses to clean them.
“Rei,” Lady Une started. “After tonight, you’re fired.”
“Ma’am?” Rrozeroze. She needed this job to get inside information for her dad, J.
“You allowed the bar to be over-run and You brought someone who is not an employee to work behind the bar,” Une’s voice was unemotional. “You will be paid cash at the end of tonight for your shift and you will not be allowed back in here is that understood Rei?”
“Yes Ma’am.”

* * *

Heero reached the Rooftop where Wufei wae foe found Wufei tied up and conscious again. Heero ran to Wufei’s side and removed the rope around Wufei’s wrists and feet.
“Are you alright? Who did this?” Heero asked. Wufei rubbed his wrists and remained silent. He was ashamed at how Duo could take him down so easily. Heero knew they had to get out of there as soon as possible, so his patience was wearing thin.
“Wufei get over it. We don’t have time for this. Who was it?” Heero grabbed Wufei’s collar. Wufei looked at Heero with the look of broken pride on his face.
“Duo.”