Life Goes On Part 27
The long hours that had been put into their efforts were finally wearing too greatly on the search party. Reluctantly, they decided rest for the remainder of the early evening. With the sun just beginning to set, Heero, his friends and family piled into the Japanese teenager's apartment with somber faces. Dark was going to be settling soon, and so they would need to wait until the morning before heading out to search once again.
Every hour that passes was another hour that Duo might not have. And it was that knowledge that was the most upsetting for all of them to have to stop.
Noin, Sally and Danielle worked together in making a ham dinner with all of the fixings to fill their lot as Trowa, Quatre and Wufei went about moving the kitchen table beside the one in the living room. Once the tables were ready, Dorothy and Relena went about setting the plates, napkins and silverware.
By the time dinner was being placed on the tables, Trent had still not returned from his excursion and Danielle was silently chomping at the bit, anxiously waiting to learn how things had gone for him.
'Better than it had gone for the rest of us, I hope,' she thought to herself. Taking a seat at the large table in the kitchen along with Noin, Zechs, Sally and Treize, the red-haired young woman smiled over her shoulder to her son seated behind her.
Lightly patting his shoulder, she urged him gently, "You need something more to eat than just the few spoonfuls of cereal and half of a sandwich that you had today. It'll cause Duo no good if you make yourself ill by not getting some kind of nourishment."
A small, embarrassed smile tugged Heero's lips and he snorted, "Yes, Mom." To appease her, despite his lack of appetite, he took up one of the trays of sliced ham and took a couple thick pieces for himself. Danielle sighed softly in relief when he also reached for the stuffing and went to filling her own plate.
"What does everyone think to going out and sledding later," Quatre suggested as she poured some gravy over her mashed potatoes. "There was a large park not far from here that would be a perfect spot for just trying to take some of the edge off."
Inwardly, Heero winced. That park was the one that he and Duo had spent several nights at with their friends from school. Even though it would be painful to revisit the place without his lover, he knew that he couldn't avoid such things because of their ties to the neko. As close to losing his mind as he was, he had to admit that he needed something to relax him.
Looking up, the unruly-haired teenager noticed that his friends were all watching him. Apparently, they were making him the one to decide whether the idea was a good one or not. The fact that they didn't want to push him into anything that he might not want to with all that was going on only made him appreciate them all the more for their understanding.
With a deep breath, Heero gave a small smile and nodded, "I don't see why not. It'll probably be pretty empty since most of the others that go there will either be studying for their finals or they're already home for the winter break, so the snow will be fresh." The slight tension that had been in the air faded instantly and his friends went back to their meals.
There was a knock at the door and Noin rose from her seat to answer. Opening the door, her eyes widened at the sight of the panting young man on the other side. "Trent," she blinked in worry as she moved aside to allow him inside.
As he entered, the brunette lawyer tried to catch his breath as everyone in the living room rose from their seats with wide eyes. "We had a breakthrough, " Trent announced with a wide smile when he finally was about to get enough air.
It was all that Heero needed to hear and he quickly closed the distance between himself and his step-father with his mother close behind. "What did you find?" he asked in a rush, his heart pounding. "What breakthrough?"
"Seems someone made a payoff to the tune of half a million to one of the most influential news reporters in the area," Trent answered to the curious faces watching him. To his son's taken aback look, he explained, "Your mother and I notices the lack of coverage on the abduction and had our suspicious, but we didn't want to let you in on that and get your hopes up until we knew that we were right."
Rubbing her hands together, Danielle met her husband's gaze and thought aloud, "So someone was working to see that they had time to be with Duo before a large-scale search was launched when word got out."
With a firm nod, Trent replied, "My sentiment exactly." A smirk tugged the corner of his lip as he said, "I don't believe that we'll have to worry about the media hounding us for some time. And the incident will remain quiet until we have Duo back safely."
His hand on his chin in thought, Wufei commented, "And now we know for certain that Solo isn't the one calling the shots, unless he made a pretty lavish inheritance."
Zechs growled deeply and glared at the mention of the Solo's name. "Not that he's any less responsible. " Shaking his head, he sighed deeply, "I just don't understand how no one seems to know where that boy came from. His home residence turned out to be nonexistent and no one can track down his parents. It just doesn't add up."
"And we will find him," Danielle reassured him with a calming glance. "No one can stay hidden forever. For now, we just have to work with what we do know until everything else works itself out."
The door suddenly opened and Howard entered the room in a flourish. "And what we do know," he grinned from ear-to-ear while reaching into his coat pocket. "Is that once we do find Duo, we have the means to cure him." At that, he raised the small vile that he had collected from Liz that morning.
Quickly turning to Heero before the teenager could even take in his words, the old scientist took up one of his hands and placed the vile in its palm. Slowly closing the trembling fingers over them, Howard smiled warmly, "I give you the serum needed to save Duo. That's half the battle right there, my boy."
Everyone fell in silence as they leaned in as close as they could to get an eyeful of the glass container in Heero's hand when he opened it to them. "You did it," Sally breathed with tears of relief in her eyes. Facing her grey-haired friend, she giggled, "You really did it."
Raising a hand, Howard admitted, "I cannot take the full credit. One very intelligent young woman that I placed my trust in pulled it off. Now, all we have to focus on is finding Duo to administer it."
His hopes restored in holding the cure for his lover's condition, Heero looked up to him with shimmering eyes and nodded, "We'll find him." Gently closing his hand around the serum, he stated, "We'll get to him before it's too late." Their own confidences renewed, the others around him nodded their agreement.
Trent raised his hand high and stated, "Sooner than you realize." When all eyes fell back on him, he smirked, "The envelope that was used to deliver the payoff had a return address label that was removed by laser before it was delivered. It took a pretty keen-eyed detective to spot the manipulation. They could have the label restored, and the blood test results back as soon as tomorrow."
A round of gasps and cheers broke out in the group as several elated hugs went around. "Tomorrow?" Heero breathed in disbelief. When Trent grinned and nodded to him, it was all that the boy could do to keep from breaking down.
Danielle wrapped her arms around her son's shoulders and kissed his head. "As soon as we have the results and know who is responsible, I can have a search warrant drawn up in minutes." Lightly cupping the sides of his face, she brought their cobalt eyes to lock as she smiled, "We're going to get him back, Heero." His own mouth tugging upward, the Japanese teenager returned the embrace fiercely.
Only one more day. One more day and the whole nightmare would finally be over.
* * * * * *
"He said that the chips never existed, Carson" Solo hissed with narrowed eyes that centered on the grey-furred neko. Cassie, Andrew, Jena and Danny were all looking to their friend as they sat close to the unconscious neko to keep an eye on him.
Carson, instead, was leaning against the wall with his arms folded as he focused his own glare on Duo. "And how are we supposed to believe him?" he snapped, turning to face the blonde teenager with his face reddening. "This could all be a ploy of his to get us hurt, or killed, for his being captured. He probably figures to bring us all down along with him."
Rising to his feet, Solo stalked up to his brother and gritted slowly, "Duo. Does. Not. Lie." Shaking his head, he pointed back to sleeping boy and shouted, "And he is not the kind of person who would willingly allow another person to suffer, even if they did hurt him. That's just not his way."
Jena bit her lip and added quietly, "I don't think that he's capable of that, either. Not after being so quick to accept us when he first met us." Nervously playing with a few strands of her short, blonde hair, she raised her clear blue eyes from where they had been staring at the floor and stated, "I believe that he was telling us the truth."
With his brown eyes widening, Carson threw his arms up in the air and exclaimed, "I don't believe you people!" He started pacing back and forth and yelled, "This is too much to be risking in one person that we don't even know."
Pausing in his footsteps, the brunette's fierce gaze settled back on the white-furred neko and warned, "That goes for you, too, Solo. You might have had time with him, but you don't actually know enough about him to risk your life on his word like this. Not after your direct involvement in capturing him. People can turn their ways on a dime if they want to."
Before Solo could protest, Carson quickly raised his hand when the blonde's mouth opened and continued, "Even if you could, you all saw how bad off he was when he was brought in here. How do we know that he heard those guards correctly? He very well could have imagined the whole thing."
"I don't think so," Cassie broke in. Her green eyes scanned the faces watching her as she told them, "How could he have even known about the chips unless he heard about them from the guards? We never mentioned anything about them to him."
Smiling at that, Solo nodded excitedly, "That's right! And he never heard about them from me. So, he had to have heard them correctly."
Deep in thought, Andrew ran a hand through his brown hair with a deep sigh. His grey eyes narrowing and his black ears pulling back in anger, he snorted, "And it would be just like J to pull such a thing. How many of our sessions are based on terrorizing us more than causing actual physical pain? He enjoys witnessing the fear that he can cause more than anything. It would only make sense that he would use the same tactic to keep us in our place."
All but collapsing to the floor in defeat, Carson frowned deeply to the oldest teenager of their group. "Of anyone here, Andrew," he groaned, "I had hoped that you would see to logic that we simply can't chance that in trying to escape."
In frustration, the grey-furred neko held a hand out to Duo and suggested, "His friends are surely looking for him." His bitter tone returned as he chuckled deeply, "And as loved by everyone in the world as he is, he's sure to be found in a day or so. All we have to do is sit and wait it out until then."
Lightly resting a few fingers on Duo's neck, Cassie pushed back her long brown hair over her shoulders with her free hand and frowned deeply, "He doesn't have days, Carson. His pulse is weak and though it's getting stronger, he's only going to be pulled into another visit to the lab." Her spotted ears and tail drooped at the thought. "He won't be able to hold out much longer at the rate he's been treated."
Shaking his head, Solo yelled, "Just what in the hell is your problem with wanting to get out of here, anyway, Carson? We're talking about finally getting the chance to get out of this place and you're arguing with us that we shouldn't bother!"
"I'm scared, all right!" Carson finally bellowed. Panting heavily, he cried, "I'm scared of dying, but I'm even more scared of what waits outside of this building for us! Even if we were able to get away, what are we going to do then?! There is nothing for us out there!"
Trembling, he gripped his grey tail and tears filled his brown eyes as he struggled to calm his breathing. With a small whimper, he sobbed, "We'd be all alone. How could we possibly fend for ourselves when we don't know the first thing that we're walking into?"
His friends all sat stunned for a moment before Solo finally crawled over and rested a hand on Carson's shoulder. "We're all scared," he whispered. "But we won't be alone when we get out of here. We have each other. Somehow, we'll make it through."
Danny raised his little head of red hair with drooped, tan ears. Sniffling, the boy softly, "J scares me more than the outside." He bit back a sob of his own and moaned, "I want to get out of here and away from him." Cassie wrapped her arms around the child and held him close. Kissing the top of his head, she slowly rocked him as he buried his face in her shoulder.
As he looked away from the scene, Andrew cleared his throat and announced with a firm nod, "That's more than enough for me. The next time those guards come for Duo, I'll be doing whatever I can to get past them. There has to be someone out there that would help us and I intend to find them."
Looking over his shoulder to the black-eared neko, Solo smirked, "I'm with you." Jenna and Cassie both quickly gave in their affirmatives that there were along with the plan. Turning back to the still trembling teenager before him, the blonde spoke gently, "It would be a lot easier if we all stick together. Just like we always have and always will, regardless of what the future holds for us."
Their brown eyes stayed locked for a long time before Carson took a deep, shaky breath. Wiping at his eyes, he straightened himself and found his resolve. Nodding firmly, he replied, "All right. I'm in, too."
Solo pulled him in for a one-armed hug for support with a whispered word of appreciation. When they pulled back, Carson sighed deeply with a small smirk, "Well, someone has to look out for the rest of you to make sure you don't get into any trouble." Chuckling deeply, Solo lightly rubbed the top of his head.
Andrew moved to the small sink and with a few rough tugs on the loose bolt at the base, he freed the long, metal pipe that was attached. Resting it on his shoulder, he grinned, "And now for a plan on how the hell we're going to pull this off."
The nekos huddled close and started making suggestions while relaying the layout of the basement and their options for a successful escape. As scared as they were of the unknown, they knew there was no future in not trying to reach for it.
Now, they were stretching with everything they had.
TBC...
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