A War Worth Fighting Part 13
The morning started like every other morning.
A few minutes past sunrise, Heero returned to his office freshly showered and changed into his uniform just in time for Duo to stir and return to the world of the living. Tired, violet eyes blinked in alertness and took in the sergeant as he headed for his desk. "You clean up nicely," he smirked in greeting.
Snorting, the Japanese youth replied, "A uniform has a way of doing that for people."
With a wide stretch, Duo turned onto his side facing his friend and chuckled, "Ah, but it really works wonders on you, considering all the help you need to look decent." He laughed at receiving the middle finger from the other soldier.
Try as he might, Heero could not fight away the small smile on his face as he shook his head in amusement. Placing his cap on to finish his look, he straightened his uniform coat and announced, "I better oversee the switch over between the guards. Once I'm finished, I'll get your food together."
Climbing to his feet, the private gathered up a fresh change of clothes and waved over his shoulder as he headed for the facilities. "All right. Have fun, man," he called. That said, he closed the bathroom door behind him.
Heero shook his head with a small grin once more before forcing his emotionless mask back in place and stepped out of his office. Once he was in the hallway, he locked the door as he did whenever he left and turned to begin his usual rounds.
From that point on, nothing was 'routine'.
Not even halfway down the hallway, the officer's hair on the back of his neck stood on end when the alarm system suddenly sounded. Cobalt eyes wide, he sprung into action, heading for the main holding area. Reaching for his pistol at his hip, he ran through the twisting and turning corridors.
He never saw the trip wire in the last doorway that knocked him to the ground. As he landed roughly, the gun was knocked from his hand and a rough grunt at having the wind knocked from his lungs echoed down the hallway.
Turning onto his side, Heero's eyes widened when three of his own men walked up towards him. One fist flying down was the last thing that he remembered seeing before everything went black.
Back in the office, Duo was just finished up his morning business when he was startled by the alarms. "What the hell?' he muttered with wide eyes as he quickly turned off the sink faucet and threw the bathroom door open.
Only a foot into his cell, he realized all too late that his chained door was open and found himself staring down the barrel of a gun inches from his nose.
Standing on the other side of the pistol was a uniformed guard with a dark smile on his face. Two more soldiers stood just behind their comrade, heavily built and threatening as they stared down their target. "Surprise," the clear leader of the trio smirked in his native language.
His violet eyes narrowing, Duo calmed himself to carry out what he had to do. In less time than it took for an eye to blink, his right hand dove into the hair gathered at the back of his head to remove the switch blade hidden there. Flipping the weapon open, he drove it home into the right chest cavity of the man before him.
While that soldier fell forward with one last, sharp gasp when the blade plunged through his heart with blood pouring from his body, his friends were jumping forward. Before Duo could reach for the pistol that had been aimed at him, he was gripped and forced back into the wall by the remaining brutes.
The air from the private's lungs rushed out and his head spun from the hard collision the back of his head made against the plaster barrier behind him. Panting, one of the two pinning him back hissed, "He has more fight in him than I thought. If it is all right with you, Tamuki, I am no longer in the mood to kill him right away after what he did to Osamu. He is going to suffer first."
Gritting through his teeth, Duo struggled to fend his attackers off as Tamuki replied, "Agreed, Iwoa. The others will be able to hold Yuy off until we are finished here."
Quickly pulling back, the taller of the two- Iwoa- kept Duo back by landing punch after punch while Tamuki ran off for the wall behind the First Sergeant's desk. Hanging there was a variety of ancient weapons from swords to throwing spears.
With a thin smirk, the small soldier eyed a whip that split off into five tails at the end with sharp spikes at each tip. Reaching up, he carefully removed it from its perch on the wall.
* * * * * *
Gasping sharply, Heero snapped awake moments later. His cobalt eyes widened in finding himself in a tiny room lit by a single light overhead, tied down to a chair that he had been seated on. The right side his face stung from where the blow that rendered him unconscious had made contact. Arms bound against his torso, he moved his neck around to get an assessment of his situation.
One of the next things that the sergeant realized was that the sirens were no longer blaring throughout the prison. "Bastards," he hissed under his breath while trying to worm his way out of the ropes binding his chest and legs to the chair.
He remembered all too well those three faces staring down at him when he was knocked down by the trip wire. Yuri and Kenshin. Three of the first to ever voice their contempt at having to treat some of the prisoners cautiously when the last batch of arrivals came in.
Silently cursing himself for not keeping his eye on his men better, Heero began to cut into his skin in his attempts to free himself.
How did he let something like this happen? He had walked right into their trap.
Then, a sudden realization hit him. Instantly freezing in his struggle, his skin paled and eyes widened. "Duo," he breathed. Gritting his teeth, he growled deeply and renewed his efforts to loosen his ties with a heated desperation.
Light filled the dim, window-less room when the door opened. Yuri was the first to enter, smirking smugly at the First Sergeant. Then Kenshin-one of the smallest soldiers of the whole unit-entered slowly. Unlike his co-conspirator, the young man looked almost ill with a worried frown on his face. He could not even look up to his commander, his head hung low while he closed the door behind him.
Of the two, Kenshin truly did surprise Heero that he would be a part of such a blatant act of mutiny. Despite his frustration at the situation with the new prisoners, he never seemed someone to be capable of standing against his superiors like this.
It was clear by the look on his face and his demeanor that Kenshin was the weak link of the pair. And so he was the one that Heero knew he needed to get through to.
Yuri noted the blood dripping from his commander's exposed wrists hanging towards the floor and warned, "I would not try to break free of those ropes. As I am sure that you now know, struggling will only make them tighter."
"And I certainly hope that you and whomever you are working with believe that you are going to get away with this," Heero hissed. "Treason is paid for with a very high price. Akio's punishment will seem like a slap on the wrist compared to what will be awaiting you."
Snorting, the cocky soldier retorted, "Whatever the punishment, it will be worth it to be rid of that braided nuisance. I would gladly be disbanded from the service and serve my life in prison, or even suffer death for this! No prisoner should be treated well under our care! That, in my eyes, is the real treason!"
All but shouting the last part, Yuri panted after his winded rant and turned to his cowering counterpart. "You are supposed to be on watch in case the other soldiers do not buy our story of a false alarm," he stated in a low growl.
Kenshin swallowed roughly, "R-right." Quickly turning on his heels, he moved for the door.
Before his only chance got away, Heero called, "You surprised me, Kenshin. One as honorable as yourself, I thought that you would know better than to doubt your superior officers. I am certain that your family would be terribly proud when they learn of what you have helped happen here today."
Frozen with his hand on the doorknob, Kenshin's dark eyes widened. "Don't you dare listen to that half-breed!" Yuri cried. "That son of an American bitch has no right to order us around! You get outside and stand watch! Now!"
The mention of his mother in such a harsh choice of words caused the sergeant's blood to boil. Still, he remained calm and yelled, "You do not have to suffer the fate Yuri and his friends will be dealt when this is over, Kenshin! If you help me out of this, I will see that you are given a fair treatment before Council!"
Blind with rage and no longer caring about the consequences of any of his actions, Yuri spun to face his commander and pulled his pistol. "I have had enough of your mouth! One more word and I'll-!" The loud explosion of a gunshot filled the room, cutting off the young private's words.
Eyes falling on him, Kenshin swiftly lowered the smoking pistol he had aimed to the ceiling and leveled it on his partner with a fierce glare. "Lower your weapon," he snapped. "I agreed with killing the prisoner. I will not stand for harming the First Sergeant."
There was a long, tense silence for a moment. His own pistol still aiming at Heero, Yuri chuckled deeply. That chuckle grew to a lour roar of laughter as his head fell back. "Oh, you fool," he shook his head through his bursts. "You really expect me to believe that you would shoot me!?"
He received his answer when a bullet ripped through his right knee. Screaming out, the taller soldier collapsed to the ground in a heap. Blood pooled around him as he cried and rolled on the floor, his gun kicked away the moment he dropped it.
All but diving to his knees before the chair, Kenshin removed a long knife from his belt and began slicing away the ropes tying the sergeant's legs together. "Osamu, Tamuki and Iwoa are in your office with the American," he informed as he worked. Looking up with pleading eyes, he asked, "You will still help me when I am brought to Council?"
Without hesitating, Heero nodded firmly, "You have my word." The last of the ropes tying him were cut away and he was instantly on his feet gathering Yuri's fallen pistol. Not even looking back while his liberator closed off his friend's wound, he threw the door open and sprinted down the hallways.
On his way to his office, he passed by a couple of stunned guards and shouted over his shoulder, "Have the doctor and nurse on the facilities get to my office immediately!" Blinking in shock, the two men did not ask questions. They simply turned and hurried off to carry out the demand.
Regardless of the fact that he moved as quickly as his legs could carry him, Heero still felt like he was taking too long. His heart pounding out of his chest, he finally reached the crack-opened door to his room and pushed himself inside to the sounds of pained grunts and sharp whip cracks.
The sight of Duo standing at the center of the office with his hands tied overhead to the ceiling and his bare, bloodied back nearly took the air out of the officer's chest. Cobalt eyes narrowing at another violent turn of the whip broke through the skin to Duo's agonizing cry, Heero raised the pistol in his hand just as Tamuki turned to meet his gaze.
Sparing the Council a drawn out trial of treason and appeasing his seething rage, the sergeant fired a bullet through the guard's forehead before he could even react. Only when Tamuki's body fell did Heero even notice that Osamu lay dead on the floor as well.
Iwoa was in the middle of raising the whip once more when the gun went off. Turning on his heels, the stunned guard quickly took in his fallen friend's body and looked up in terror to the cold eyes staring at him. Peering over his shoulder with a bruised and bloodied face, Duo gasped sharply. "H-Heero," he breathed brokenly, his voice already harsh from his shouting.
All that the officer was focused on was the man bearing the red-soaked whip. Pistol aimed at his guard, Heero's hand remained steady even as Iwoa instantly broke from his initial shock and pulled the prisoner close to him. With one arm keeping Duo in place by choking him around the neck, the other drew the gun at his hip.
"You drop your weapon or I swear I will blow his head off," Iwoa growled deeply. Violet eyes widening, Duo swallowed roughly when the pistol was pressed against his temple.
Snickering darkly when Heero neither moved nor responded, the guard's brow dampened with sweat in his growing panic. "Drop your weapon!" he screamed hysterically. "That or who are you going to choose!? Him or one of your own!?"
Then, Heero finally spoke. "So now I am one of your own," he said simply... grimly. Just as he noticed his soldier's finger press back on the trigger, he stated, "I choose him." That said, he pulled back on his own trigger, making a small hole that ripped between Iwoa's eyes and out the back of his head where the bullet tore through.
Duo gave a small cry of shock at the shot, not knowing which gun fired. As the arm around his neck loosened, he turned to watch his attacker's body fall to the ground.
He hated crying, but the shimmering tears could not be held back as his violet eyes turned to the sergeant. A small sob shook his body and he lowered his braided head when the wave of emotion crashed through the damn he had built up.
Slipping the pistol safety into place and allowing the weapon to drop, Heero removed a switch blade from his pocket and hurried to his friend's side to cut the rope around his wrists. The moment he was free, Duo's weakened body collapsed only to be caught by strong arms.
Carefully, the sergeant lowered them both down to the floor, paying no mind to the blood seeping into his uniform as he clung to the private as tightly as he could without hurting him. Whispering reassurances, he frowned deeply when he turned to the head resting on his shoulder and noted that Duo had drifted off.
Several sharp gasps filled the air as the doctor and nurse froze in the doorway wearing their white coats. Kenshin was right behind, his own eyes widening at the sight that greeted him. Looking up to them, Heero urged, "Quickly. He's lost a lot of blood."
Reluctantly, the officer handed his charge over when the medics sprang into action.
* * * * * *
Later that evening, Duo lay on his stomach sound asleep on his cot in a new holding room. His shirt gone, wet paper towels draped his back to absorb what little bleeding was still seeping through dozens of the crisscross marks that were sure to scar. Face cleaned and turned towards his watch, he sported a thin band-aid over the long cut on his right cheek and a dark bruise on the other now that the swelling was down.
The barren room was lit only by the moon that poured through the windows. Sitting on his own cot beside the private, Heero stared through those windows across from them as his hand subconsciously ran over his friend's head gently.
When the bodies of the three intruders were removed, there was too much damage from all of the blood for the old office to be completely cleaned. After everything that had happened that day, the last thing that the sergeant wanted was to be back in that room... and he was not about to make Duo return there, either.
Kenshin was good enough to support Heero in explaining the situation to the Sergeant Major over the telephone. Not that he had much choice, knowing that the officer was the only person who could help him when he was to be presented at trial before the Council.
Beside himself, the Sergeant Major promised to arrive to the prison the first chance he had the following day. It was all too evident that something needed to be done to protect their braided charge until Treize was finally able to make it to Japan.
Glancing over to the damp towels covering his companion's back, Heero noted the slight red spotting that showed here-and-there. Gingerly, he removed the cloths and dampened a fresh batch of paper towels in the bucket beside him. Wringing out the excess water, he gently applied the strips over the marred backside of his charge.
Everything was creeping up on the sergeant in a rush.... The realization that he had allowed his only friend to be harmed like this. The knowing that he had nearly failed his most important assignment. The coming to terms with killing two of his 'brothers' that he had once fought beside in heavy combat before being stationed at the damned prison.
...All of the thoughts and emotions wrapped around that horrific turn of events came upon him in a rush.
Just as the first few tears filled his cobalt eyes and the last ply of cloth was draped over the last bit of exposed skin, Duo's violet eyes blinked open. With a sharp gasp when the last memories he had hit him, he tried to push himself up. Heero quickly placed a hand on the nape of his neck and said softly, "Shh. You will tear the marks if you move too much."
Instantly stilling, Duo blinked and allowed his vision to adjust to the dim lighting of the room to take in the surroundings he could see. Glancing up with only his eyes, he took in the sight of his rescuer. When he saw a wet shimmer in the cobalt orbs watching him, he almost fell completely apart all over again.
Taking Heero's hand in his own, the private gently pulled on it in a wordless request. Silently obeying, the sergeant lay himself down as Duo crawled onto his side to wrap his arm around him as best he could. Finally able to let go, the pair just stayed like that... crying together and clinging to one another in a desperate need of support.
Finally able to calm himself enough to drift off, Heero felt his eyes closing on him as he whispered, "Promise you won't tell anyone that I cried like this?"
His own eyes already closed, Duo smiled, "'Long as you promise not to tell anyone about my crying."
In his last conscious thought, the sergeant grinned and turned his face to place a soft kiss atop the braided head on his shoulder. "Deal," he muttered just before they were both taken in to a deep slumber.
Outside, the searchlights continued to comb the prison grounds.
TBC...
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