Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Deadly Beautiful ❯ Terrorist Convention ( Chapter 28 )

Disclaimer: My cat, who is lying across my arms and impairing my ability to type, has told me to tell you that I don't own Gundam Wing. And also that I'm not making any money from this idiotic venture. ;)

Deadly Beautiful - Chapter 28

By danse

Quatre and two Maganacs lay flat on the ground, with their heads raised up just far enough to see over the little hill without being spotted. A perimeter guard lay unconscious a few feet behind them, bound and gagged.

"What is the plan now, Quatre?" the taller of the Maganacs whispered.

Quatre frowned, peering through the darkness at the OZ compound. The cloud cover over the moon made it very hard to see. Two guards stood near the door, their assault rifles slung over their shoulders as they talked casually. "I'm going to have to get in by the roof," he said. "That's the only way not to get shot immediately."

The shorter Maganac, who had been listening to both of his comrades, turned his head sharply to stare at Quatre. "What do you mean, 'I'm going to have to'? What about us?"

Quatre reached around to the slide holster on his back and drew out a handgun. "You're staying out here, wherever you can hide," he said, checking to make sure the gun was loaded. "You're not getting hurt for my cause, if I can help it."

"Then why are we here?"

"Someone has to drive the getaway car," he grinned. Taking a deep breath to steady himself, he exploded suddenly to his feet and took off for a hedge that was ten feet away. When he reached it without being shot, he dropped to his knees with the hedge between him and the building, trying to catch his breath and calm himself down some more for the next step.

Across from him and a little to his left, there was a ladder that led to the roof. A guard stood next to it, wiping at his nose. Possibly he'd sneezed while Quatre had been busy diving into the bushes. The teenager silently thanked his lucky stars, and quickly plotted out his next move. Digging into the knee pocket of his khaki pants, he pulled out a short, metal cylinder and screwed it onto the end of his gun. With the silencer thus equipped, he raised himself just high enough to see over the hedge, and peered with one eye down the barrel of his gun, aiming at the guard as his finger slowly depressed the trigger. A high-pitched burst game from the gun, and the guard convulsed and grabbed at his neck as he fell.

Quatre waited for a second to make sure no one else was nearby, and then made his way stealthily towards the ladder. He stopped when he got there to inspect his handiwork on the dead man, lifting the lifeless, bloody hand away from the wound. A centimetre from the jugular, he thought. That's why you don't snipe with a handgun. Oh well; dead is dead. He dropped the hand, wiped his own hand on his pant leg, and climbed the ladder.

Trowa had just evaded two guards by slinking through the shadows, and had probably been on the roof for a full thirty seconds, looking for a way inside, when he heard the quiet, but unmistakable sound of silenced gunfire. He froze, swivelling around to watch the side where the noise had come from, and soon was rewarded by the slight clink of metal against metal as a dark shape hauled itself from the ladder to the roof. He immediately drew his gun, having nowhere to hide, and aimed it at the dark head with one hand while the other hand reached for a hunting knife at his belt.

The other person tensed for a moment, knowing there were two of them up there, and then a break opened up in the clouds, providing enough moonlight for Trowa to see its reflection in the other person's eyes as they locked on him. As the world went dark again, they suddenly both had their guns drawn, almost shaking with tension.

Suddenly, the other person slackened his guard, lowering the gun a little. "Trowa?" a familiar voice whispered. Trowa stared, trying to place it. Who did he know who would also be on the roof of an OZ base in the dead of night?

"Qua-Quatre?" he whispered back incredulously. His arm slackened, the gun dropping until it hung from his grip at his side, and he stepped forward just as Quatre did the same. Soon, the two young men were peering at each other in the dark.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Trowa murmured.

"Blowing up an OZ base," Quatre said. There was laughter in his voice.

Trowa grinned. "Want some help?"

"Always."

They searched the roof as a team, until they found a large vent cover to pry up. "After you," Trowa said, holding up the metal plate.

Wufei liked to stick to what worked for him, so he had opted to get in the normal way: by the door. He took full advantage of the cloud cover to pounce on a pair of chatting door guards, and took only seconds to knock both of them out with his bare hands. They never even had a chance to draw their guns.

They need to hire better help, he thought as he took one of their weapons and opened the door. How are they going to take over the world if they can't even protect their own bases? He looked carefully around him as he stepped inside, gun at the ready. Last time, he'd had less than twenty minutes to find what he was looking for in the sprawling compound before that Amazon had found him. If I hadn't figured out where I was going by then, I would have been done for. One corridor went to his left, and the other to his right. Eeny meeny miny mo, he thought, and took the right.

Thirty metres down the hall, he saw a black shape propped up against the wall. Guard's sleeping on the job, he thought, getting closer before he would fire. When he got there, though, he saw that something was horribly wrong. The man was slumped at an unnatural angle for sleep, his gun on the floor at his side instead of clutched to his chest, as they usually were. All at once, Wufei saw the pool of blood spreading around him and the blank, glassy look in the man's open eyes. He took a wary step back, his heart starting to pound. This man's already dead!

Heero jogged easily down the hallway, taking turns whenever the spirit moved him. He had two more shots left in his gun before he'd have to reload it. I hope I'm getting close, he thought. Why the hell couldn't anybody find a floorplan for this place? He ran past a fire extinguisher, did a double take, and back-pedalled. There were an alarm, an extinguisher, and an emergency escape chart on the wall. Excellent, he thought. Blueprints. Tracing with his finger from the dot that said, 'You are here', he found not only the generator room in the centre of the base, but a direct path to it, and a convenient exit from it after he was done. Smirking, he turned left and started running again.

Duo careened around a corner at top speed and nearly ran past the door he was looking for. Screeching to a stop, he glanced at the label on the door ('High Voltage-Do Not Enter') and pushed through it, holding his gun up as he went. What he saw in there stopped him cold.

"You!" Duo gasped, putting pressure on the trigger of his gun.

The boy kneeling on the floor had whipped around as soon as the door had opened. If looks could kill, the one on his face just then would have dropped a charging elephant. He had a gun in one hand, trained on Duo, and a wire in the other. "What the fuck are you doing here?" the boy he knew as Hikaru growled.

"What are you doing here?" Duo retorted. "Get the hell out of my way. You're interfering with my work."

Hikaru opened his mouth, but whatever he was going to say was cut off by the squeal of a vent cover swinging open. Neither boy relaxed their grip on their guns as they both turned their heads to see where the noise was coming from, but when a blond-haired boy in khakis dropped through the hole and landed lightly on the floor, they both automatically swung their weapons to aim at him instead. The boy looked up at them, and his eyes went wide. In one fluid motion, he had rolled behind a desk in the corner and pulled his own gun on them, watching apprehensively.

To further the unexpected surprises for the two who'd been in the generator room first, the blond was followed by another, much taller boy dropping from the hole in the ceiling. Two guns swung from the boy behind the desk to the newcomer, who stared at them both and backed up, raising his gun. All four of the young men in the room had now pulled guns on each other, and they all looked horribly confused. What the hell is going on? Duo thought.

When a Chinese teenager with an assault rifle burst through the door and nearly crashed into him, Duo decided he'd had all he could take. "Jesus Christ!" he yelled. "Is there some kind of convention going on that I don't know about? Who the hell are all of you?"

The boy behind the desk rose slowly to his feet, keeping his gun trained on Duo. He spoke to the boy with the wire in his hand. "Are you doing what I think you're doing?" he asked.

"That depends on what you think I'm doing," the boy responded in icier tones than Duo had ever heard.

Trying a different tack, the blond said, "Are we all here to destroy this base?"

Duo looked around the room, studying everyone's faces. The tall guy was leaning against the wall now, but his gun hadn't moved from its ready state. The blond was gaining confidence every second. Hikaru had raised an eyebrow at the question. The Chinese guy behind Duo was biting his lower lip. He looked like he was trying not to laugh. Dear god, we're all idiots, Duo thought, and lowered his gun.

Everybody looked at him as he did it, and he gave them all a cocky grin. "So, whose bomb are we going to use?" he asked.

As the guy who had yelled--the one with the braid--lowered his gun, one thought ran through Quatre's mind.

I've found my army.

He looked at the other four people. Trowa, of course, he could trust as a friend. The one who was kneeling (his bomb was already half-wired, so they would most likely use it) looked dangerous. But I bet, once you earn his trust, you'll never lose it, Quatre thought. The one with the braid looked prone to speaking his mind; he was a lively one. The guy standing closest to the door though, the one who'd come in last, gave Quatre an uneasy feeling. He's a lone wolf. I can read it all over his face. He's got his own agenda....

Quatre stepped forward, putting away his gun and raising his hands in a gesture of peace. He could see Trowa holstering his own gun out of the corner of his eye. "I'm Quatre," he told the group, "and we all seem to have the same agenda, so can we do this in peace?" He looked pointedly at the guy who was kneeling, who still had his gun out and was looking at his unwanted, braided comrade in a very murderous way. The boy caught Quatre's drift, though, and put his weapon away as he gave Quatre an icy blue stare. Muttering something unintelligible, he turned back to the bomb he was wiring.

Rolling his eyes and giving that guy the finger behind his back, the braided one extended his other hand. "Duo Maxwell," he said. "It's nice to meet you, and I'm glad I didn't kill you when you dropped in. Work like this just isn't good for meeting people, you know?" He grinned, and Quatre returned it.

Trowa stepped away from the wall and joined them. "Trowa," he said with a nod of greeting.

The Chinese guy sighed. "My name's Wufei," he grumbled, knowing he was stuck with revealing himself. He didn't shake Duo's extended hand. Duo raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything. Instead, he walked over to the still-unidentified guy, who was almost done with his bomb. "And you are...?" he asked, bending over him to watch him work.

"...Still going to kill you," the boy growled. He didn't look up.

Duo winced. "Don't be so coy; tell me what you really think." He backed away, all the same.

Quatre watched the exchange with interest. Obviously they'd met before. He gave Duo a questioning look. Duo smirked and pointed at the boy's eye. "See that?" he asked, pointing at the yellowish remains of a black eye. "I gave him that. The rest is probably faded by now. Did you have a nice nap that day, buddy?" he cooed. The boy ignored him, dusting off his hands and standing up.

"It's done. We have five minutes to get very far away," he said in his cold voice. "I'm surprised no one's come after us, with all the noise you've been making."

"I bet between the five of us, we've already killed every guard in the place," Duo said.

"Guys?" Trowa said suddenly. "Wufei's gone."

They all looked around and saw that he was right. Taking that as a cue, they left. Duo took the door, and the other three left via a ladder to the roof, the same route that Wufei had taken. As Quatre and Trowa followed the other boy to the closest ladder, Quatre called after him. "Hey, you!"

Reluctantly, the boy stopped and half-turned. "What?" he growled.

"You never told us your name!"

Quatre thought he wasn't going to answer, but just before he disappeared down the ladder, his voice drifted over to them. "Heero."

"He's a weird one," Trowa said as they clambered down the ladder, jumping off a few rungs from the ground and running. There was no sign of Heero; he'd vanished.

"How long do you think we have left?"

"About two minutes. Run faster."

They ran as fast as they could until the explosion consumed the compound. A shock wave made Trowa stumble, and Quatre was pushed forward. He landed on all fours on the ground as heat seared their backs. Luckily, they were far enough away to not be hurt.

Quatre turned over and flopped on his back, panting, and Trowa sat next to him as they watched the fireball dissipate in the sky. "Trowa..." he said finally.

"Yeah?"

"How can I keep in contact with you?"

Trowa blinked and frowned, but then he understood. "You want help with this kind of thing?" he asked.

Quatre watched the ash floating across the overcast sky, light against the clouds. "I have a list of several OZ instalments, worldwide. There's something going on here, and I can't fix it alone."

Trowa nodded thoughtfully. "There's a post office box in Kirkini, Greece, that I use sometimes," he said. "Box 3724. You can send messages there; it's private. I can check it about once a week."

"That works for me," Quatre said. He got to his feet. "See you, Trowa," he said, and walked away. The Maganacs would be waiting about a mile away with their Jeep. Behind him, the base was already starting to burn itself out.