Author: Merula
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Yaoi, Assassins
Pairing: 2x1, 4x3
This is set in the One Night universe, a wee bit past Opening Moves.
One Night Sidefic 7
A Little History
Duo pulls on his gloves and winks at me. "Ready for this?" He asks and I just shake my head at him.
"Of course I am," I tell him and tap the console next to me. "Mine is the easy part. It's you I'm worried about."
He grins, and I can see the excitement underneath the surface. Duo loves jobs like these, ones that give him a challenge with every step, and since we've been working for Quatre, we've had quite a few of them. Only one of the reasons I'm glad we made the choice we did.
"I'll be very careful," he says, more to placate me than anything else, and leans over to kiss me bruisingly. "Just follow along and be ready for me when I finish." The last half of the sentence is uttered in a tone that tells me what to be ready for- if I didn't know already.
"I'll be waiting," I tell him and get another kiss before he waltzes out of the van.
I turn to the console and start. I need to be into the system before Duo reaches the entry point. It's not difficult, I've hacked this system before- I know its secrets... as long as no one has decided to add any new ones.
My screens flare to life as I access the security cameras. I will have to loop each camera before Duo reaches it, have to make sure no one knows he's in the building.
No need to cause a panic after all...
My fingers fly over the boards, making sure that each area is secure before he reaches it. Duo approaches the back door, guarded only by the security system; it's the easiest entry point. I open the door for him.
"Clear?" His voice whispers to me over the mike.
"Hallway clear. Elevator on the way."
The doors to the elevator open as he enters the hallway. A moment more and he's in the car, reaching for the ceiling hatch.
"Above?"
"Clear." He pops the hatch and swings up to the top of the car. The office he needs to reach has it's own elevator- harder to reach- but this shaft reaches the top floor even though this elevator no longer stops there.
A useful thing that we'd learned when we still worked in this building.
"I never thought I'd be back in here," Duo says, the amusement in his voice plain.
"Well, let's not let the Org know that you are," I tell him and he laughs.
It's easy enough to override the controls of the elevator to get it as close to the top floor as I can. Duo will have to climb a bit to get to the vent we need.
"Nearly there," he whispers in the mike. "Hallway?"
"Three guards, armed," I tell him and hear his soft grunt in reply. He'll have to be very quiet as he moves along the vent- but Duo is an old pro at this.
"Vent," I hear him say and then all I can do is wait. There are no cameras in the vent, no way to track his progress, all I can do is wait for him to speak and watch those guards...
"Office," he says and I release the breath I was holding. I lower my voice, even though I know the receiver is in his ear and turned low.
"He's there- it's nearly time."
"Visual confirmed," Duo murmurs back and I know he sees what I do- Trowa sitting at his desk, on the phone, frowning. He doesn't look happy, not like the last time I saw him.
We wait as Trowa finishes his call and gets to his feet. We watch him walk out of the office; his pace slow, rubbing the back of his neck. I watch him in the hallway, gesturing to the guards to follow him. They enter the elevator.
"Clear?" Duo asks me after a few minutes and I confirm.
"All clear. No one outside."
I hear the soft sound of the vent opening even as I loop the cameras. I know Duo is pulling the small brown box out of his vest pocket, attaching it to the fishing line.
"Lowering," he says and I watch the box start its descent. It's nearly to the desk when one of my alarms chimes.
"The elevator is returning!" I hiss. What is going on? Trowa always leaves the office for lunch for an hour. We've watched him do it for a week now!
"Crap," I watch as the string jerks, freeing the package, which falls the last few inches with a soft thump. For a moment I think it's going to fall off the desk, but it doesn't. I sigh in relief as the string quickly retreats back up into the shaft and the cover is replaced.
The elevator doors chime open and I remember to take the cameras off the loop.
"Back out!" I tell Duo.
"Not yet!"
What? "Duo!"
"Shh!"
What the hell is he doing?
So we both watch as Trowa walks back into the office, leaving the guards outside and throws himself into the chair, one hand covering his eyes. What happened that sent him back inside?
He mutters softly to himself, something I can't catch, and I wonder if Duo can hear him.
Trowa moves and his arm bumps the small package. A thought strikes me and I hit the record button.
We watch as he blinks at the package, watch as he picks it up and reads the short message that Quatre wrote on the top. Not that he left his name on it- but Trowa should know the handwriting. I'd read the top of the package in the van- it was a quote that I didn't recognize, but I understood why Quatre used it: What the heart has once owned and had, it shall never lose. *
Trowa smiles, the depression that wrapped around him vanishes, and I am suddenly glad that we agreed to this mission for Quatre.
Not that we would've refused him. We knew what day it was, knew that for them, spending this anniversary apart- though necessary- was hard on both of them.
We watch as he carefully opens the package, watch as he opens the box inside and lifts the contents up to the light.
His expression changes and I am glad that I am recording this for our boss. It should help him, at least a little.
A moment later and Trowa is frowning, looking down at the package, and then around at the office and I know he's wondering how we managed to get it in there. His eyes lift briefly to the vent and then away as his smile returns.
He slides the ring on his finger and gets to his feet. We watch as he leaves the office, whistling softly to himself. I recognize the tune- it's one of Quatre's favorites. I stop the recording and make a mental note to have the tape ready to give to Quatre when we report in.
"Clear," I murmur to Duo a few minutes later.
"Roger that," he says and I send the elevator up to the right point as he wiggles out of the vent.
He makes it back down to the elevator, back inside, and then slips out of the building on my mark. I wait by the console until the door to the van opens and he slides inside.
I'm half-expecting some kind of cocky remark, so it surprises me when Duo simply sits down on my lap and kisses me gently.
"Ready to go report in?" I ask when he lets me.
He nods. "I don't suppose you saved that...?"
"Recorded."
He smiles and kisses me again. "Well, that should improve Boss's temper a little."
"I hope so."
"I'm glad we don't have to...." His voice trails off as he gets up from my lap and he gives me a sheepish smile. "I don't think I could... I know I'm... better than I was, but..."
I get to my feet and catch him for a kiss of my own. "I couldn't either. Nothing can take me away from you."
Relief floods his face for a moment and then he smiles. It's the heart-stopping smile that won my heart all those years ago. "Let's go report in- and then lock ourselves in our room for a bit."
I smile back at him. "Mission accepted."
OWARI
*quote: Henry Ward Beecher
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