Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Deadly Beautiful ❯ His Issues Have Issues ( Chapter 37 )

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Deadly Beautiful - Chapter 37

 

by danse

 

- - -

 

Duo sighed loudly as he stared at the contents of the duffel bag on his bed. He snapped his fingers suddenly and grabbed a pair of socks to add to the overnight bag, and then tossed in his toothbrush before zipping it shut.

 

Even with a week's notice, it hadn't exactly been easy to arrange for travel to Saudi Arabia and back. Luckily, he would be leaving on a Friday, so he didn't have to be back to report to work the next morning. Hopefully.

 

After telling Hilde on the way to the office that he was leaving early that day to go sign some contracts on the business' behalf, and that he would be back the next day sometime, he hung around to discuss some op-tech with one of Ivanov's people, and feeling his presence was justified, he left for the airport.

 

He hopped onto a connecting flight that had started from Dallas and would end in Hofuf and, noting the movie was some bland, two-star family romp, settled back into his seat for a nap.

 

- - -

 

Duo found Quatre waiting for him in a jeep outside the airport when he walked out into the Arabic sunshine. It was morning there. He shaded his eyes with one hand, held his bag in the other, and nodded in greeting. Quatre smiled back and opened the passenger door for him, tossing the duffel in the back. Duo sat in the front passenger seat, shut the door, and looked up at his escort, who was still looking at the airport entrance expectantly. He frowned. “Are we leaving, or...?”

 

Quatre grinned, his eyes still fixed on the sliding doors. “Soon. Gotta wait for Heero.”

 

“Pardon?” Duo hoped he didn't sound too agitated.

 

“You guys had arrival times within minutes of each other. Two birds with one stone,” he said. “Oh look, there he is now.”

 

Duo whipped his head around so fast he thought he heard his neck crick. Sure enough, Heero Yuy was visible inside the airport lobby, advancing upon the sliding doors with a backpack slung over one shoulder. He was wearing a tank top, shorts, and sunglasses. Duo watched and waited apprehensively as his rival walked through the doors, adjusted his sunglasses, nodded at Quatre... and then saw him. It was almost comical, the way he could just see Heero's eyebrows rise above the dark lenses of his sunglasses.

 

Without a word, Heero grabbed hold of the edge of the jeep and leaped lightly into the back, setting down his backpack as he settled himself. “Hello,” was all they could say to each other as Quatre climbed in and started the engine.

 

It was going to be a long and awkward drive.

 

- - -

 

About two hours later, they had arrived at the secret Maganac base in the middle of the desert, and, led by Quatre, found their way to the small conference room where Trowa and Wufei were waiting for them, engrossed in conversation. The talk halted as they entered the room, and Heero and Duo took the two remaining chairs at the table, side by side, without saying a word. Nods of greeting went around, and the boys got straight to business.

 

“So,” Wufei started. “We're going where, again?”

 

“Argentina,” Quatre answered.

 

“Details?” Heero asked.

 

Quatre passed around printouts of the information about the Argentina installation. The three newcomers immediately began to read the papers, while Trowa glanced at his and then shared a look with Quatre as they waited.

 

After a few moments, Duo cleared his throat for the first time. “A `Leo' base? What is this? Are they training lions or what?”

 

Heero glanced at him. “This thing is called Operation Zodiac. Think about it.”

 

Duo glared back. “Thanks, genius. I was being facetious. Yes, I can use big words too. What I actually meant is, what is this a code for? Do we know?”

 

Quatre piped up, hoping to head off the brewing argument. “All we know for sure is that there's a Leo installation on every populated continent, and two in Asia. They'll be big facilities, so they probably have tanks. I'm guessing a lot of ground troops. Cannon fodder, basically.”

 

The others nodded thoughtfully.

 

“So-o-o-o, the five of us are going into this big bad military compound and make the whole thing go kablooie?”

 

“Pretty much, Duo,” Trowa said with a grin.

 

Wufei sputtered quietly, and everyone else's attention was drawn to him. He coloured a little, but spoke his mind. “We're just going to every place we can find and destroy it? How many are there? There's only five of us, can we even accomplish this?”

 

Trowa and Quatre were forced to explain all of their decisions of the previous week, displaying the full list of OZ's works and showing how they'd whittled down the list, in consideration of their resources.

 

“Speaking of resources,” Heero said quietly, “we need equipment to do this job, and all the others. How are we going to get ahold of our own?”

 

The room was silent for a couple of seconds, and then Duo spoke up quietly again. “I can get it,” he said.

 

Everyone else stared in surprise.

 

He looked around defensively. “What? I know a guy.” He shrugged. “Give me a list and the funds, and I can hook us up with what we need for a decent price.”

 

Heero gave him a funny look, which was returned with raised eyebrows, but since no one else seemed concerned by Duo's response, they all settled into plotting out their attack.

 

“We will avoid the horrific planning botch of last time with some coordinated teamwork and communication,” Wufei said, grabbing a pen and flipping over his info sheet to write on the back.

 

“Quatre, do we have any maps of the place to go by?” Heero asked.

 

Quatre obediently opened his laptop and accessed the OZ files, finding a blueprint of the Argentinean facility and printing it out. Trowa got up and grabbed an atlas from a small table in the corner, flipping it open to a contour map of Argentina and committing himself to finding the base's exact coordinates on the map.

 

After a few minutes of quiet contemplation, he swore.

 

“What?” the others said simultaneously.

 

“Quatre, are you sure these are the right coordinates?” Trowa asked.

 

“Quite,” he answered. “Why?”

 

Trowa sighed, his finger on the map. “I've checked three times. The base has to be in a mountainside. This one.”

 

Wufei silently pulled the blank piece of paper toward him and wrote, `ropes'.

 

- - -

 

Duo stayed at the Maganac base to get some sleep before flying back to the US again. He was walking to the mess hall to find something to drink before bed when he saw Heero ahead of him, apparently heading the same way. Remembering the cheeky note Heero had left when he'd stolen the Mustang, Duo growled softly and quickened his pace.

 

“Heero!” he called loudly, closing the distance between them. Heero didn't slow down. “Heero! Hey, I'm talking to you!” He leaped forward to catch the other boy by the arm, intending to spin him around to face him. Instead, a hand immediately landed on his and the next thing he knew, he was pinned against the wall by one wiry arm, looking into a glare that could kill. “The fuck?” he choked out. “Way to greet someone, you prick.”

 

“You were going to try to lay me out. It was pretty obvious.” The hand gripping Duo's t-shirt slammed him against the wall again, and he fought to push it away.

 

“I still owe you a favour for dropping my car off at the airport,” Duo snapped. “It was ever so nice of you. You owe me twenty bucks and an apology, at the very least!”

 

Heero released him suddenly, backing off a step. Their part of the hallway was otherwise deserted, it being an odd hour for a meal shift. “Are you kidding me?” he asked, snorting softly with amusement. “I'm not going to apologize to you for shit.”

 

“You had no reason to take my car! It was just juvenile!” Deep inside his head, a niggling voice whispered that it was ironic that Duo should say things like this, but he ignored it. “Do you lack the social skills to even realize that?”

 

Heero's gaze narrowed again, and one of his hands balled into a fist at his side. “Alright, Maxwell, it's apparent that we need to set some things straight between us. First of all, I don't like you at all. Just because we're working together now doesn't make me your buddy or force me to be remotely kind to you. Secondly, you fucking deserved to have your chain yanked a little, and more. I wanted to kill you earlier, but now I don't think you're worth the effort.”

 

“What the hell did I ever do to you?” Duo said loudly, getting in Heero's face, which was a bad idea on his part.

 

Heero lashed out again, grabbing Duo's face around the chin and slamming him back against the wall so hard that Duo saw stars. He blinked hard, trying to focus on the angry young man before him.

 

“You know!” he said. “You fucked up my op! I... there are consequences for fucking up my ops!”

 

“What op? What are you talking about?” he shouted. “For the love of God!”

“Darlian's house! You shot me, and you attracted the attention of the security guards! It was on the goddamned news!”

 

Duo stared in bewilderment for a second, his hands wrapped around Heero's arm, which was still holding him by the chin. Suddenly he remembered the operation that Heero was talking about. “Wait,” he said, “we've already fought about this one.... Consequences?”

 

Heero released him again. “Piss off,” he said, walking away quickly.

 

Duo hit the floor and dusted himself off, staring after his retreating assailant. “Hold a grudge, much? His issues have issues....”

 

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