Author: KatiKat
Warning: Violence
Rating: PG
Pairings: 1+2
Archives: KatiKat and Friends
Disclaimer: All standard disclaimers apply here - means: I only borrowed them from their respective owners and play with them only for fun. No money made here.
The Sniper
"Agent Yuy, report!" barked Lady Une as she got out of the car that had stopped with screeching tires behind the Preventers' "Do Not Cross" line.
Heero grabbed the red and white tape and raised it high so that his commanding officer could pass and then followed her to the black van where the temporary headquarters was situated.
"One man, ten hostages, thirteenth floor. The windows are blinded and the infrared sensors are of no use here. This is the First Royal Bank of Sanq - the glass in the windows is shaded and it's industrial glass so our lasers won't break it. There are three ways to enter the floor - two from the stairways - obviously they are blocked from inside - and one through the elevator shaft - which is guarded by lasers that can't be shut off without cutting the power to the whole building and he knows it. He already killed one of the hostages when the police tried to get in."
Lady Une stepped into the van through the open back door and seated herself in a chair that one of the agents had vacated for her. She watched the monitors that confirmed Heero's exact report. Then she turned to him. "What does he want?"
"His name is Richard Garb. He had been an employee of this bank for three years but they fired him yesterday for incompetence. Today he came back to take revenge on the chief of his department," Heero answered without a hint of emotion, leaning against one of the doors.
Une nodded and looked back at the monitors. "And what do you suggest?"
"I want Duo on this one," Heero said in a quiet but determined voice.
Une's head snapped around in his direction and she looked at him for a long moment. She didn't ask if he was sure or if he thought it was a good idea. She knew that all these thoughts already occurred to the young agent and if he still thought about including his husband, then the situation really couldn't be solved without the ex-agent's help. She knew how protective Heero was of his lover and that those feelings even intensified after what had happened the previous year.
"Okay, go."
Heero nodded to her and rushed off. She just hoped she didn't make a big mistake here.
~*~
Heero knew exactly where to look for his husband. He entered the small garden they bought together with the house. Duo's favourite spot was in the back by the stone fence. He lay on the blanket dressed in shorts and t-shirt reading a book and hiding in the shade of the big oak tree from the burning noon sun.
Duo looked up, having heard Heero's steps on the sand covered trail. The smile he gave his husband reached his eyes. Heero's heart swelled at the sight he missed so much these past months. And he felt like the biggest jerk, for he knew that he was about to destroy the new spark that lit up his lover's eyes. If there would have been another way...
Duo's smile vanished as he saw Heero's Preventer uniform and the headset still dangling around his neck. Heero didn't need to say a word for Duo to understand. He closed his eyes tightly and letting his head fall forwards he took a deep breath. He didn't say no, he didn't refuse him for he knew that if Heero came for him it was really bad. When he finally raised his head again and opened his eyes, there was no trace of any emotion in his eyes and Heero felt himself shudder. He hated it. He hated to see Duo so professional, so cold...
Duo closed his book and stood up. He folded the blanket up and headed back to the house. "Five minutes," he said to Heero as he passed him.
Heero nodded but he didn't move from the spot for a long while. He just destroyed all the progress Duo had made in the last months. He was a jerk...
~*~
When they arrived back at the First Royal Bank of Sanq, the masses of people gawking around the 'Do Not Cross' line had doubled and it took Heero a couple of loud honks to force them to move aside. He parked the black jeep near the black surveillance van. Lady Une stepped out of it and watched them get out of the car.
Duo closed the laptop where he was reading the case details Une had sent them through the van's computers. They both got out of the car and closed the door. He nodded to Une and without a word he went to the back of the car and opened the trunk, pulling a duffel bag and a silver metal suitcase out of it.
"Heero?" Une called him quietly. "How is he?" she asked. There was concern in her voice, which was highly unusual for the Preventer leader.
Heero stepped to his commander's side and watched Duo with a sigh. His husband was dressed all in black once again - Heero learned to hate the colour during the seven years Duo had worked for the Preventers. Black jeans, black long sleeved shirt and black boots, the long hair in a tight braid. He watched him close the trunk and look around.
"I don't know." It hurt to admit it. "He was awfully quiet. Hasn't said a word actually."
Une nodded. "Do you think he will manage?"
"If I didn't think he would I wouldn't ask him no matter what," Heero answered in a cold voice.
Duo walked over to them carrying his luggage. "I will take the shot from this building." He pointed at the Imperial Hotel standing just opposite the bank. "The roof will give me the right angle."
Une nodded. She didn't ask how long it would take. She didn't tell him to hurry up. Duo was the expert here.
Duo turned around and headed for the hotel.
"Go with him, Heero," Une whispered to the agent. "When it is done, take him home and take care of him. Take as long as necessary."
Heero nodded and hurried up to catch up with his husband.
~*~
The roof was awfully hot and Heero could feel himself sweat. The droplets were running down his face and the bright sun hurt his eyes, even though they were covered with black sunglasses.
But it seemed as if Duo didn't feel any of it. He opened his duffel bag and covered the spot at the edge of the roof with a heavy blanket. It was necessary since the roof was covered with gravel. He then sat down on the blanket and pulled out a small black box out of the bag. He laid it down on the edge of the roof. He opened it and powered up the small computer in it. Then he opened the silver metal suitcase revealing a dismantled high power laser rifle and proceeded to put it together.
Heero could only stand aside and watch it all with worry. He hated to see his lover with this damned weapon again. He had had to use it one time too many in the six years he worked for the Preventers as their best sniper. And this last time almost cost him his husband. He promised himself back then that he would never allow Duo to touch it again... And here they were. And not only was Duo using the rifle again, but Heero had asked him to do it too.
With a last click, the gun was put together. Duo put on the black glasses that were connected to the small computer he pulled out earlier. His fingers flew over the small keyboard before he pushed enter. He then looked over at the building that was only fifty meters away and corrected something on the computer. When he was satisfied with the results, he laid down on his stomach and propped himself on his elbows. He took the rifle in his arms and aimed it at his target looking through the rifle scope. He inhaled deeply and exhaled. And then he grew completely still.
Heero crouched a few feet away from him, to keep out of his way. It always fascinated him to watch this change as his energetic lover stilled. It was as if someone had stopped time. He looked over at the bank too. The thirteenth floor was directly in front of them. The blinds in the window frame were partially open, not leaving a lot of room for a clear shot. From time to time he could see the kidnapper move back and forth a few feet from the window. But that was all. He knew he was right in bringing Duo in on this one. No one else would have been able to take the shot. But still...
When he and Duo joined the Preventers seven years ago, the trainers at the academy found Duo's hidden talent in shooting. Ten shots out of ten ended up in the black of the target. So they trained him to become a sniper. Heero remembered how relieved he had been. Back then, he only saw that Duo would not be directly in the field. He wouldn't be in any direct danger. He didn't realize until after six years that the danger didn't come only from the outside. Duo's mind could also be a very dangerous place.
Duo was the best sniper Preventers ever had for exactly 6 years, 2 months and 3 days and he had killed 437 people. Heero knew it exactly because he counted it. He had the time for it while sitting at Duo's hospital bed, holding his lover's hand.
He remembered the day exactly. He returned home from a mission pretty tired. At the headquarters he heard that Duo took down another man this day. He hurried home because he knew that Duo took every killing pretty badly. But nothing could have prepared him for the moment he stepped into their house and found Duo laying on the ground in their living room unresponsive, catatonic. He would never forget the next couple of days. Never in his life. He was holding Duo in his arms, trying to rouse him out of the part of his mind he fled to. Sally Po wanted to transport him to a hospital and Heero agreed reluctantly. But he never left his husband's side. The golden bands on their fingers were the only thing he drew comfort from. When Duo finally came out of his catatonic state, he got a very high fever. Sally said it was the shock. It was then that Duo almost died in his arms when the fever reached the point where it threatened to throw him into convulsions. He held Duo's hand running a cold and wet cloth up and down his chest and hot cheeks. Words like brain damage were still floating through his brain until now. After five days of the worst horror Heero had ever lived through, the fever had finally broken. The first thing Heero did when his lover finally opened his eyes on the morning of the seventh day was to kiss him and cry. Now it was his time to have a breakdown. After that Duo quit working for the Preventers. He found a good psychiatrist who specialized in his type of case and got himself together. It was a slow process, but Heero had been there every step of it.
And now... now he forced his husband back into his living nightmare...
The shot took him by surprise. He could see the gun jerk back in Duo's hands and using his binoculars, he looked over at the bank. There, just centimeters from the metal frame of the window was a small hole only a high power laser rifle could burn through the industrial glass. And the kidnapper was dead. He confirmed it to Une through his headset before disconnecting. The case was not important anymore. His lover was.
Duo sat up slowly, before his whole body slumped forward. His arms were laying in his lap, the weapon forgotten on the edge of the roof. He just sat there staring at the blanket, unmoving. Heero dropped to his knees in front of him, laying his sun glasses aside. He then took Duo's glasses away and dropped them on the blanket. He caught Duo's hands in his, but the braided man still didn't look up at him. Oh God, please not again, Heero thought to himself as he gently caught Duo's face in his hand and caressed his cheek carefully.
"Duo? Love?" he called to him quietly.
There. Duo raised his eyes to him. The emptiness in them was suddenly replaced by a myriad of emotions Heero couldn't decipher. Finally silent tears flooded them and Duo's shoulders started to shake.
Heero moved closer and enclosed his crying lover in his arms. "Shh, it will be okay... Shh, I'm here..."
The sobs that broke out of Duo's throat were harsh, the reality of yet another dead body flooding his vulnerable mind. "Never... never again... please, Hee... Heero... please... never again... I can't... please..."
Heero's heart was breaking when he realized what he had done. This shot might have rescued ten people but it might have been the last drop to break his lover beyond repair. He still realized that this had been the only way to save the people but it didn't help at all when he was holding his sobbing husband in his arms.
"Never again, love. I swear," he whispered in Duo's ear and he realized that he really meant it. Never again - for neither one of them. This life of killing and death was over for both of them. He would never put Duo in such danger again. Never again...
"I swear. Never ever again. You will never have to take a gun in your hand, love. I swear. I swear it to you..." Heero repeated over and over again and he didn't mind the hot sun burning his back through his uniform. The only important thing was to give comfort to his hurting lover and nothing more...
~*~
On the 25th of June 205 AC agent Heero Yuy resigned from the Preventers. He and his husband sold their house and moved to L4, where their best friend Quatre Raberba Winner offered for them to live with him and his lover Trowa Barton. Heero started to work as the security chief of Winner Enterprises and Duo went back to school. Five years later he got his diploma and became a psychologist.
Neither one had to kill ever again...
OWARI
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