Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Broken Reflections ❯ Liberation ( Chapter 3 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Broken Reflections by Angel Barton

• Chapter Three: Liberation •

"Howard. Hey, Howard!" yelled Duo. "I could use some help over here!" At his call, a middle-aged man with gray hair, sunglasses, and a rather loud Hawaiian shirt suck his head out of a door farther down the steel corridor.
"Hey Duo. Whatdaya got there?" questioned the engineer.
"Some guy I got in a bit of a tussle with. Don't ask, it's a long story. The short of it is this guy's got a shot wound on his head that needs to be looked at, along with an arm injury," said Duo, looking expectantly at Howard.
"Hey, you know just as much as I do, probably more. But bring him in here. I'll see what I can do," said Howard, motioning to the door across the hall from the room he had appeared from.
Once inside, Duo was more than happy to deposit his load on a vacant cot. He stepped back as the older man began checking the boy's wounds. Leaning against the wall, Duo rubbed his shoulder absently as he wondered about the whereabouts of the other stranger. Alliance personnel must have picked him up by now. They've probably got him held in Alliance's medical building. I might just have to pay him a visit.
"Duo, you said this was a shot wound?" Howard questioned. The braided boy pushed himself off the wall to look at the small, bloody furrow on the left side of the boy's head. "Yeah. What's wrong?"
"Nothing, it's a minor wound. But…" the older man paused, looking thoughtful. "Where were you standing?"
"Me?" asked Duo. "I didn't shoot him. Well, if you don't count the hole in his arm," he said, grinning slightly.
"Okay, then where was the shooter standing?"
Duo wracked his brain. "Above and slightly behind and to the right of me, about 75 or 100 feet from this guy, who was moving at the time."
Howard let out a long, low whistle. "It would have taken a hell of a marksman to hit this guy just enough to knock him out without causing any major damage. Unless he meant to kill him and missed. Still, even from such a close range…" Howard shook his head in disbelief. "Well, I'll go get some bandages and antiseptic. Stay here in case he wakes up."
Duo watched as Howard walked out the door. He's just exaggerating, he thought. But as he replayed the events over in his head, he realized just how hard it must have been to make that shot, especially with a moving target. Unless Howard's right about him missing. He shook his head as he remembered the boy's gun being shot out of his hand. I don't think we're dealing with a guy who misses, though. Crossing his arms over his chest, he stared at the wall in front of him. Just who is that guy? he thought.
• • •
"Yeah, that'll do. Also, both of the pull carts are broken, so I'd like you to have my lunch ready in the back of the wheat field. Thanks, I'll help you thresh the wheat later."
Hanging up the phone, Duo turned to look up at the towering building before him. "Now, I should go visit that patient."
In a bright, sterile white room on the 50th floor of the Alliance Military's Number Three Medical Building, the very person Duo spoke of lay strapped to a medical examination table, unconscious, or so it seemed to Sally Po and her assistant monitoring their patient. Looking over the data on the screen in front of her, Sally sighed. "Over 200 bruises and broken bones shot wound to the left arm, and a possible concussion. The kid's lucky."
"Yeah," her companion replied absently. He stiffened as he caught a glimpse of motion in the room below the observation window. "Huh?"
"What is it?" Sally asked, following his gaze to the still figure on the table.
"Nothing. I thought I saw something move. Guess it was just my imagination." He turned back to the monitors. There was no telltale blip in the vitals that would signal the patient's return to consciousness. Sally turned in response to the hailing beep of the video monitor.
So intent was she in her conversation and her assistant in his medical report, neither noticed as their patient's eyes opened alertly and bound arms strained against their restraints.
As the captive figure struggled to get free, a video monitor turned on near the head of the table. The stranger watched as Duo's face appeared on the screen with a finger to his lips. The figure complied to the command as the braided boy's lips began to move silently.
Duo stood with his hands splayed on either side of the monitor in the control room next door. The technician who had previously occupied the room lay sprawled in an undignified heap against the wall. Duo looked at the stranger on the screen before him.
Wow, he thought. He looks pretty beat up. Still clad in the jumpsuit, the person's head was swathed in white bandages, allowing Duo to see only the guys right eye, nose, and mouth. Any hair that he had lay underneath the wrappings. His left arm was also bandaged just above the elbow. Hmm, must be where I hit him.
"I'm sure a talented guy like you would be able to read my lips," said Duo, smirking. "Well can you?" The shrouded face turned away from him. "You're acting is just amazing," said Duo with genuine awe in his voice. "You've managed to regain consciousness without increasing your pulse or your brain waves." Now, more than ever, he wanted to know just who was under those bandages. "I've got a few questions I'd like to ask you. If you're feeling up to it, I thought I'd help you break outta here."
A moment later, an explosion rocked the building. Duo stepped through the resulting opening. Gotta love those instant doors, he thought cheerfully. Moving quickly, he reached the edge of the examination table. Looking the ties restraining the person, Duo muttered, "Man, how do you get these things off." Whipping out his knife, Duo easily sliced through the bonds. He shoved the extra pack he was carrying at the person, who nodded and slipped into the parachute. Together they ran through the gaping hole in the plaster wall, past the motionless technician, and out into the adjoining hallway.
Duo smiled crazily as he spotted just the thing they needed. Ahead of them was an expansive, open room whose entire outer wall was composed of large picture windows. Reaching into the pack on his back, he pulled out a small explosive and hurled it at a window, throwing himself to the ground in the process. His companion followed suit.
The window exploded in a shower of glass and concrete. The two jumped to their feet, the ringing of the blast still in their ears. They ran headlong for the open portal and leaped out into nothingness. Duo flipped himself over in midair and activated the helicopter-like blade of green energy built into the end of the metal shaft he had attached to his forearm. He held his breath as the plummeting figure below him tugged on the cute release cord. Nothing happened.
"Damn!" he said. Shouting as loud as he could, he yelled, "Pull the reserve!" To himself he muttered, "Oh man, I'm gonna have nightmares about this one!" He could only watch in horror as his companion struggled to reach the release handle. As the smaller chute finally deployed, his heart sank. It's too late, he thought grimly.
His fears were confirmed as the figure slammed into the side of the steep cliff below. Luckily the guy had enough sense to release the straps on his chute in time to avoid becoming entangled in the fabric and ropes. After long tumble down the rocky grade, the stranger finally rolled to a stop on the sandy beach at the base of the cliff.
Duo landed lightly switched off his propeller, and walked over to the guy. He watched in amazement as the guy stood slowly, apparently uninjured despite his rough spill. However, as he got nearer, it became clear to Duo that his rescuee was favoring his right leg. Stepping close, he reached for the stranger's arm and draped it over his shoulder. The injured person turned his head away, showing his reluctance to accepting his rescuer's help.
"Look, I'm not asking you to trust me or anything," said Duo, "but right now, I'm the only friend you've got." His companion remained silent as the pair began walking towards the road.
• • •
Duo looked on as he, with the help of a rather large crane, pulled the red, blue, and white Gundam. The suit's pilot, the brooding, dark-haired boy he had brought back earlier stood alongside him, watching the salvaging operation intently. Duo had already retrieved his own Gundam from the ocean floor where the two suits had come to rest after that crazy guy had sunk them.
"I still don't know what you think you were doing, launching those torpedoes at Mobile Suits that didn't even belong to you," said Duo, turning to look over his shoulder at the stranger he had rescued. "Huh? What's he doing?" he wondered out loud. At this, the other boy turned to look.
The stranger was lying on his back, bandages and all, hands gripping his right leg above the knee. Grunting in pain, the guy rolled back and forth until Duo heard a sickening crack. Guess I don't have to worry about his broken leg anymore. "Geeze, you could have at least waited till we got you some anesthesia or something," he quipped. "That just totally grossed me out." He and the other boy watched as the stranger bandaged a wrench to his leg for a brace. Then, for the first time, Duo noticed an rather large bulge underneath the bandages on the back of the guy's head. Huh, must be an ice pack or something.
The boy began to slowly unwrap the bandages covering his head. Looking on, Duo was anxious to finally see the face of this mysterious guy.
The boy tilted his head down slightly as he removed the dressings from his face. Duo gasped in surprise as the bandages slipped off the boy's head, releasing a cascade of brown hair. As the guy looked up at Duo and his companion, an expression of shock flooded the boys' features, more so Duo's than his stoic friend.
Sky blue eyes, set in a soft face with an elegant nose and full lips framed by gracefully curving bangs, looked steadily at Duo and Heero.
"Not quite what you were expecting, huh?" she said.