Operation: Lost Boys Part 14

Heero blinked his eyes open. He recognized where he was... he was in Duo's room. He saw the logic... since Duo was allergic to Heero's bedding. That left a question. 'What happened? The last thing I remember... oh!' He frowned slightly. The sound of his friends arguing drew his attention.

"No! He's just lost his mother! To ask him to go on a mission now is..."

Harmony's voice was cut off by Wufei. "Unfair? We cannot accomplish this alone. The brutal truth is we need him!"

Heero opened the door and peered out at five people who turned to him. "Ninmu?" He noticed that Harmony was dressed in what looked like a flight suit. The main difference was the color was a warm gold and the top fell just below her chest. She had a jacket slung over her shoulder that matched the suit, so he guessed that she intended to wear it.

Duo let out an unhappy breath. "Yeah... for all of us." He nodded to Harmony, indicating that she was to join as well. "I was hoping for no more missions this year. Looks like I'm out of luck here."

Harmony frowned. "I don't like this at all... something about this just feels wrong." She rubbed her arms as if to ward off a chill. Then shook her head. "Question is... are you up to it?"

Heero frowned a little. Shouldn't he be feeling grief? Something should be hurting. Oddly enough, he felt numb... not the numbness he felt when he was denying his feelings. It was a strange purgatory inside him. "Hai. Daijobu."

Duo growled and grabbed Heero's shoulders. "Heero... don't shut down on me, PLEASE, koi. Answer me... are you up to this mission?" Duo shook his head when Heero opened his mouth. "I'm not asking the soldier. The soldier is ALWAYS ready for a mission. Dammit, Heero! Don't leave me!"

There... a twinge of pain. "I... I didn't have enough time." His voice caught as the sensation of loss washed over him. "My mother's dead, isn't she?" The soldier was trying to regain control in this moment of emotional turmoil, but he lost when the boy was embraced.

Duo held the silently sobbing Heero and rubbed his back. "I know, Hee-chan... I know it hurts. It's all right to feel pain, love. If there were no pain, there would be no joy." He rested his head against Heero's shoulder. "I'm here, Heero... we're all here for you. We all understand what you feel. Each one of us has felt it at one time. Life sucks big time, I know." He kissed the top of Heero's head as he calmed down. "Now... are you up to this?"

Heero nodded. "Yeah... I'm up to it. I told J that I wouldn't let my emotions interfere with the missions... but it's hard!"

Harmony placed a hand on Heero's shoulder. "Yes... it is hard sometimes. It's part of being human, Kamui." She smiled at Heero as she used his real name. It was a small smile meant to encourage.

Heero smiled back in gratitude. "Ninmu Ryoukai. When do we leave?"

Harmony nodded. "Five minutes. Let's move, soldier boy." She donned the final piece of her suit and headed for the hangar.

Heero blinked. "Soldier boy?"

Duo nodded. "Harmony came up with the nicknames while you were asleep." He shrugged. "It's better than some of the names you guys came up for me. Of course, my sister had this long name for me." He grinned. "The Beloved Braided Baka Bishounen of a Brother Who is Too Damn Sexy for His Own Good." He laughed gently. "Harmie shortened it to Braid Boy. Triton is Bang Boy. Wufei is China Boy." He shook his head. "Harmony even sang a little bit of a song, and Wufei agreed to it." He shrugged. "Quatre settled for Blondie and Harmony has dubbed herself Braid Girl."

Heero's lips quirked into a grin. "Bang Boy? Do I even want to know?"

Duo's eyebrows shot up. "Oooooo... nasty thoughts! Nasty thoughts! We'd better hurry, or Harmie's gonna slap us." He ran. "That's only when we're not on the actual mission. She suggested using our Gundams' names while we're actually on the mission."

Heero nodded. "Makes sense. It's a lot better than saying '01, 02, 03, 04, 05 and 06' isn't it?"

Duo chuckled. "Harmony is 'E' for Earth. She said that Zechs was '06' because of the whole number thing." He entered the hangar and gazed up at his sister as Harmony buckled herself in.

Harmony met Duo's eyes and flashed a 'peace' sign before she closed the hatch.

Heero started up and ran through diagnostics. He turned on his radio. "Everyone report in."

"Braid Boy here... sexy as ever! Still thinking that sending us on a mission just before New years sucks, but can't complain 'cause it's for the colonies." Duo frowned. "Visual seems to be funky, though. Damn! I guess I don't get to see those gorgeous eyes of yours, eh... Soldier Boy?"

Wufei spoke out of turn. "Baka Boy... we should have called you Baka Boy!"

"Order in the court!" Harmony's voice sounded particularly pleased.

"Oh! I'd like some shrimp egg rolls!" Quatre giggled.

Triton's voice sounded amused. "You just made a joke! We'll see about those eggrolls when we get back."

Heero groaned. "Can we get SOME sort of organization going?"

Harmony laughed. "Nah! Then we'd be too much like Oz! Us? Organized?"

Duo and Harmony chorused together. "NEVER!"

Wufei sighed. "We will be long in our suffering." Then a smile tugged his mouth. "Still... we wouldn't want to change them for anything."

Heero's face softened. "No... we wouldn't. Let's move."

Quatre spoke up, all levity gone. "It should take us approximately 30 minutes to reach our destination."

*****

Five minutes into the flight, the most terrifying sound erupted over the link. Two words from Duo, and everyone else cringed.

"I'm BORRRRRRRRED! This is the worst part of the mission... getting there. When you're heading back, you're still running on adrenaline, so you don't notice how long it takes. Hey, sis, are you as bored as I am?"

Harmony's voice sounded different. "No... I'm not bored." Then she sounded like the girl they had befriended. "Hey... do you all know the Bohemian Rhapsody? I think we'd all sound cool together."

Wufei groaned. "KNOW it? Baka Boy sings it any chance he gets. PLEASE don't get him started."

It was too late. Duo had already started singing a-capella.

Everyone except Heero started singing, but Harmony wasn't about to let him slip out of it. "TAKE IT, Soldier Boy!"

'TRAPPED!' Heero sighed and decided to bare the humiliation.

"So you think you can stone me and spit in my eye...
So you think you can love me and leave me to die...
Oh baby... Can't do this to me baby...
Just gotta get out... just gotta get right outta here..."

Harmony smiled throughout the rest of the song. "Now... don't you all agree that that song was a great stress reliever? AND... we sound really great ogether."

Quatre smiled. "I won't argue there. Although why some of us held back..."

Duo cleared his throat. "Let's sing another one! HERE WE ARE! BORN TO BE KINGS, WE'RE THE PRINCES OF THE UNIVERSE!!!!"

Harmony broke in. "Ex-SQUEEZE me? I find that song extremely sexist. So... I shall sing my own version of that song." There was a pause. "HERE I AM! BORN TO BE QUEEN, I'M THE PRINCESS OF THE UNIVERSE!!!"

Duo laughed. "Sis... that'd fit Princess Relena better!"

Heero grinned. "Be nice, Braid Boy!

There was a long debate for most of the trip, but it was cut off when Quatre spoke up. "We'll be within their radio frequency in 2 minutes. Maintain radio silence. Allah go with you."

"Ryoukai!"

"Gotcha!"

"You be careful, too, love."

"Remember... I'm only here for backup if it comes to an actual MS Battle."

"We understand, Nataku."

Quatre nodded. "Begin radio silence now." Truth be told, he thought the sudden silence was eerie, as always. He had to agree with Harmony, though... something seemed off.

*****

Halfway through the mission, alarms started going off.

Harmony ran at top speed, wondering who had botched something. She let out a yelp and fell backwards as something caught her braid. She glanced behind her to come face-to-face with an OZ soldier.

"Well well... and here I thought you were the pilot of 02! But you're a girl!" The nameless individual gazed at her appreciatively. "Not only that... you're a pretty little thing, aren't you?"

Harmony merely grinned at him and swiped her leg under his feet. He fell with a startled yelp and released the hold he had on her braid. "Catch ya later!" She was up and running in a flash, only to fall again when the soldier tackled her from behind. With a growl, she threw him off, wincing as her shirt ripped. 'I'm gonna get an earful!' She took off again.

'That bitch!' The soldier took aim and fired at the retreating figure.

*****

Heero scowled as he leapt into the cockpit of Zero. "Okay... status report, everyone." He held his breath. "Deathscythe?"

Duo's cheeky voice was a song to his ears. "Don't fear the reaper, Zero! I'm a little dirty, a little sweaty... a little HORNY, but you can take care of all that later, right?"

Heero blushed and shook his head. "Roger that! Heavyarms?"

Triton's voice was in it's normal monotone, though he sounded out of breath. "All green, Zero. Just a little winded, that's all."

Satisfied that he would say if he was hurt, Heero went on. "Sandrock?"

Quatre's smile was evident. "I'm mostly okay, but I tripped on my way here and will probably have a big bruise on my arm later."

Triton's voice replied. "I'll take care of that when we get back to the safehouse."

Heero was starting to feel relieved. "Altron?"

Wufei sounded irritated. "I feel like I am about to have a massive coronary! What HAPPENED?"

Heero frowned at that. "Unknown. We might have a leak in the system. If that happens to be the case, we'll have to discover where the leak is and plug it." He took a deep breath. "Siren?" His frown deepened when twenty seconds went by without a reply. "Siren!" Another twenty seconds with no answer, and he felt a twinge of worry. "Siren... REPORT!"

His only answer was an ominous silence.

TBC...

 

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