Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Deadly Beautiful ❯ Heero Meets the Reaper ( Chapter 24 )

Deadly Beautiful - Chapter 24

By danse

Quatre knocked on the sand-coloured wall outside the doorway, as was the custom in the Maganac base when you wanted to announce your presence in a room. The man at the table inside turned around at the sound, twisting his wheelchair to face the door as Quatre brushed past the curtain.

"Good afternoon, Quatre. What would you like?" H asked genially.

Quatre sat down in a chair across the table from his old mentor. "I have questions," he said.

"Let's have it, then."

Quatre explained about the information that had been retrieved about the secret society known as OZ, and the evidence of military operations that had been indicated. He showed the older man a printout of the chart that possibly depicted the existence of several military installments around the globe. H listened to all of it with interest, not speaking until Quatre had finished. When he had his chance, he said, "You wish to take action?"

Quatre frowned. "That depends on what we have here. Is it what we think it is?"

H leaned back in his wheelchair, tapping his fingers on the table. "I think yes," he answered.

"Then what do you suggest we do?"

"First of all, you need an army you can trust to follow you to doomsday-- the Maganacs are good fighters, but they have their own agenda. You need outsiders, and preferably a lot of them. Then you need to attack and destroy every one of these bases." H pointed to the entry that said, 'DESTROYED'. "Perhaps you should find whoever did this. They seem to know what they're doing."

"Is that all you can tell me?" Quatre asked.

"I'm afraid so. When you find out more, or when you are ready to act, I'll help as much as I can."

Quatre stood up. "Thanks," he said. "I appreciate your opinion."

H nodded genially as the boy left the room. When he was sure that he was alone again, he sagged in his seat with a deep sigh, staring at the table. "And thus, my part of the operation begins," he said softly. "That old bastard J will be riled when he finds out I've sent that boy on a hunt for the rest, but I still maintain that co-operation is the only way to succeed." With a heave, he turned himself around and wheeled out of the room, ready for a cup of strong coffee.

Zechs Merquise sipped his coffee as he flipped through the newspaper. It was ten o'clock on Saturday morning at the base in France, and he was indulging in his usual routine: a morning workout and training manoeuvres, followed by a healthy-sized breakfast and the newspaper. He found the world news section of the French paper he was reading, and scanned the articles.

Halfway down the first page, a headline caught his eye that said, 'American Vice Foreign Minister Buried'. He scanned the article, which said that the American VFM, Edward Darlian, who had been killed in an explosion at a conference in Washington on Wednesday, had been buried yesterday in New York State. That meant very little to Zechs, but the photo that accompanied the article nearly made him spit out the last of his coffee.

It was a family picture of the late VFM, his wife, and their daughter. Except that it wasn't their daughter; it couldn't have been. She looks like.... The half-finished thought rattled around in Zechs' brain. He read the caption, which said that her name was Relena. Relena... It must be... she looks just like Katrina.... He frowned thoughtfully. He hadn't heard anything about her existence for the past six years, at least, and he'd wondered if she was dead. Perhaps, if Edward is dead, she'll go back. I must keep an eye on her. Resolutely, he closed the paper and got up to rinse out his cup in the little kitchen sink.

Duo stretched lazily, relishing the hot water beating down onto his back before shutting off the shower. It was Saturday morning, and he'd jumped into the shower first thing, while Hikaru was still sleeping. His roommate talked as little as possible, which annoyed Duo to no end. Whenever they were in the same room together, he found himself talking more to make up for Hikaru's silences, and it bothered him that he couldn't seem to control that. There's something with that kid, he thought as he grabbed a towel from the rack.

Just as he stepped out of the tub, he heard the slam of a small door closing. His locker, he must be awake, Duo thought, ready to dismiss it. Something gnawed at the back of his brain, though. Something wasn't quite like it should have been. But what...? he thought, absently rubbing at his hair with the towel as he thought. He replayed the noise in his mind a few times, knowing that that must have been it. What's the big-- He stopped abruptly, ceasing the distracted rubbing of the towel at his head. His hair stood up in a wave from the non-attention, but he ignored it. Two slams. I heard two slams. One right after the other. Almost at the same time, but not quite. Is there a locker inside his locker? He swiftly turned his head to stare at the bathroom door, as if he had x-ray vision and could see through it. He's hiding something.

This would be interesting. Duo finished drying off in a hurry and threw his clothes on, wiping steam from the mirror so that he could see to comb out and neatly braid his hair. He was leaving this evening, and his 'parents' were going to pick him up out front at seven. It was about 10:00 AM now, which meant that he had nine hours to get into the locker and satisfy his curiosity before he left. He flung open the bathroom door and grinned at Hikaru, who completely ignored him as he got up from his bed and locked himself in the steam-filled bathroom to shower.

Duo dug his laptop out of his schoolbag and sat on his own bed, listening to classic rock music as he stared at the little metal box across the room, wondering what could be in it that Hikaru would want to protect so badly. A computer? Duo had seen him use one occasionally. A gun? Not likely. He was a foreign ambassador's son, apparently. No use for weapons. Was it stacks of money or jewels? That would be good to find, Duo thought. He was going to need another transmission in the Mustang soon, and stock parts were expensive. Test answers? That would explain the disgustingly high marks the kid got without trying. Duo knew the material; he got average grades on purpose, to fit in better. No one likes a geek.

The water stopped running, and shortly the bathroom door swung open to reveal a fully-dressed Japanese immigrant. Hikaru gave Duo a dirty look for being there, and collected his schoolbag with some textbooks. "Going to the library," he muttered, shutting the hallway door behind him without a further word.

Duo left his music at volume, silently counting to fifty as he strained to hear the dying echo of footsteps outside. After a pause, he practically flew off of his bed and deposited himself on the floor in front of his roommate's locker. He took off his left shoe and carefully pried up the leather insole inside it, pulling up a flap he'd created to reveal a little set of basic lock picks. He carried them as often as he could, finding them useful in some situations. He'd been taught to pick locks at the age of seven, by a nice kid of twelve who he'd met on the streets, before entering G's service. With practice, he'd gotten very good at it, and kept up the skill over the years. As far as he knew, G had no idea that he could do it. Pulling them out and replacing his shoe, he set to work on the cheap school lock. It took only a few seconds to pop it open.

He opened the door and wasn't surprised at all to see that he'd been right; there was a small safe inside the locker. He examined the lock on it, and found that it was one of the trickiest little bastards he'd ever encountered. Well, I'll be damned, he thought. I bet you can't find this little puppy at the hardware store.... He set to it anyway, working with his tongue between his teeth and the overhead light switched on so that he could see it better. After close to five minutes of fiddling and twisting, and starting over twice, he heard a soft click, even under the bass of his music across the room, and the lock sprang open in his hand. He cackled. I am the master....

Savouring the moment, he opened the safe door as if it was a treasure chest, and looked at the contents. There was a sleek, black laptop leaning on its side, taking up most of the space. He removed it and set it on the floor, in case he had time and wanted to look at it in a minute. There was also a stack of papers, which he ignored. What really caught his attention was the two full clips of handgun ammunition that sat neatly in one corner. What the fuck does an exchange student need these for? he thought, staring at them. And this, he added, picking up a knife in a case. The blade inside was wickedly sharp. A small, black handheld device hid in a shadow. He removed it. A... bug sniffer? He peered at it. He'd used one of these himself, once, on another mission. Who is this guy, really? He's not what he seems. He can't be.

The last object in the safe was a small, brown case shaped like a hexagon, with the hardness of a steel-toed boot. He shook it, and it rattled, so he opened the flap and carefully removed one of the five objects inside. What the... oh my... fucking... holy.... A hundred different exclamations of shock swirled around his thoughts as he stared at the thing he held in his hand. His hand shook. It... no. He.... He held a six-pointed, silver star. Each point was a razor blade. He'd seen it before. There was one stuck in a block of wood, on G's desk. 'It's called a shuriken, or a throwing star, if you don't speak Japanese...There aren't many people who can use those effectively....' He rubbed at the scar on his nose. It was the same guy. The same fucking guy.

He was startled out of his reverie by a click from behind him. He turned his head slowly and found himself staring down the barrel of a gun with a silencer attached. Hikaru smirked at him.

"I forgot something; I had to come back," Hikaru explained in his rusty, icy voice. That awful smirk wouldn't leave his face.

Duo stared calmly at his enemy's face rather than the gun, feeling himself drifting away from his body like he had one day in Manhattan. He grew cold inside, and he knew that he could handle this. He was the Reaper, after all. He returned Hikaru's stare just as icily, hiding the movement of his hand as it slipped the shuriken up the sleeve of his red jacket. "How's your leg?" he asked, thinking of the day Hikaru had limped from the gym after basketball. Because Duo had shot him.

"It's fine," the other boy snarled, tightening his grip on the gun. "How's your nose?"

"Not as hurt as my pride," Duo returned. He gauged the distance between them, shuffling back a little to the space between the beds. The gun stayed trained as steadily as if it was mounted on a tripod. There was about four feet between them when Duo moved back. Enough space to react.

"Put your hands in the air," the gunman snapped. "No funny business."

"Wouldn't dream of it." Duo complied, ignoring a scrape at his skin as the shuriken slid a little down his sleeve. "So," he said conversationally, "is Hikaru your real name?"

"Is Scott yours?"

"Touché. I was wondering, though, what is your name? Since you're going to kill me anyway. Dead men tell no tales, you know." Duo winked.

Hikaru didn't answer.

"No response, eh? There's only one reason for that." Duo smiled a lazy, dangerous smile, his hands dropping infinitesimally as he gave Hikaru the malevolent look of a resting snake. "You don't really think I'm going to die right here, right now. And you know what? I'M NOT!" He yelled the last bit, dropping smoothly to the floor and sliding the weapon out of his sleeve as Hikaru startled and cocked the gun to fire. Saying a silent prayer, he flung the star from between finger and thumb at the gun, hoping to hit his enemy's hand. As it was, it missed the hand, but hit the gun with enough force and surprise to knock it from Hikaru's grip. Both weapons skittered away across the floor.

Duo wasted no time in pouncing on Hikaru, the only thought in his mind being, Hey, I like this song, in the direction of the abandoned laptop as he tackled the other to the floor and started pummelling him mercilessly. The other boy was strong, and fended Duo off easily, pushing him off to hit the floor between the beds and leave him lying there, panting, while he heaved himself into a sitting position and wiped blood away from a split lip.

Duo's mind was working furiously. His backpack was near his head. It contained, among other things, a glasses case that didn't really hold glasses. It held a syringe and a tiny bottle of the drug he was supposed to use on Relena. How do I get it out and use it without being killed? he thought. Oh, hell, just wing it. He rolled over, stumbled onto his hands and knees, and dragged himself to his backpack, fishing out the case and keeping it out of Hikaru's sight as he took out the syringe and drug. He heard shuffling behind him as his adversary dragged himself to his feet and went to pick up the gun, sounding disoriented. In a dull panic, Duo stabbed the needle into the bottle and pulled back the plunger as steadily as he could, filling it with blue liquid. He had to abandon the needle under a nightstand to face his opponent again, who was advancing on him with the gun. With a deep breath, Duo pushed himself across the hardwood floor with his hands, sliding on his back, and kicked Hikaru hard in the knee. The other teen stumbled, giving Duo a chance to get to his feet and seize the hand with the gun in it.

The boys fought for control of that hand for a tense moment, grunting softly under the heavy guitar music filling the air, cursing at each other as they pushed and pulled. Duo ducked a kick to his head and used his low stance to shove Hikaru backwards, toppling him and making him let go of the gun. Duo leaned down with the gun trained on the other boy's head and slugged him hard in the face. Two shoe-clad feet suddenly hammered him in the chest, and he stumbled backwards, backing up against the empty bed as Hikaru sprang impossibly from his back to his feet and shoved him down, the gun falling to abandonment on the floor somewhere. They engaged in a brief tussle, Duo getting his face worked over by strong fists as he fended off blows with one hand, reaching down for the syringe with the other. He grabbed it, squeezed the plunger up to squirt out the air (he thought it had been knocked around enough to push the bubbles to the top already), and pushed Hikaru's face back with his free hand, exposing enough neck to stab the needle into. He emptied the entire thing into what he hoped was a vein and gave the other boy a punch in the face for good measure.

Hikaru glared at him right before his entire body went slack on top of Duo's, pinning him down. Duo shoved him off and sprang to his feet, leaving the unconscious one sprawled on the bed. He ran into the bathroom and looked in the mirror. My face is a mess, he thought. His eye was already discolouring, and there was dried blood on his face from his nose and his lip, which was also split. Can't go out by the door.... He ran through the room, gathering his laptop, GPS, gun, syringe, and a change of casual clothes and stuffing them all in his backpack. He changed into his sneakers and opened the window, glancing outside. The drop wasn't far, and it ended in the bushes. He crashed among branches and ran for the gates of the school, panting. He would run along the road for the next three miles until he reached a gas station down the road, where he would call for a ride back to the city.

That's twice I've escaped death by the same person, he thought. I must be lucky....