Kracken
Disclaimer: I don't own them and I don't make any money off of this.
Warning: Male/male sex. Violence, graphic, rough sex, language, attempted NCS,
abuse. While my stories always end happily, the getting there is dark and turbulent.
Heero has issues. Not a deathfic. ^_^
1x2, 3x4, 5x Sally.
Burning Candles
Meetings
"Morning. What's up?"
Heero didn't look aside from his computer as Duo Maxwell slid into a chair by his desk. His partner was slouching, hand rubbing his forehead as if it hurt him, long braid snaking down and swinging as he sighed and stretched out his long legs.
"Double murder, East side," Heero told him."Ambassador from
L3 implicated."
"Witnesses?"
"One, a housekeeper."
"Reliable?."
"Unknown."
A woman walked by and deposited two steaming cups into Duo's hands. He gave the tea to Heero and kept the coffee himself.
"You're an angel," he told her, sighed, and sipped gingerly.
"Suggestions?" Heero asked, ignoring the interruption..
"I'll take the questioning. You take the forensics," Duo told Heero and then stood up again. "Info." He held out a hand and Heero deposited a chip onto his palm. Duo grunted, pocketed it, and walked off.
"Jeez," an agent said at another desk, "Did you see that shiner on Maxwell? What's he do, cage matches for a second job?"
Unconcerned, there were many chances in their line of work for bruises and wounds, Heero worked on his part of the case during the morning and then returned to his desk at noon. He found his lunch waiting there for him in Styrofoam containers; rice with pork and tea without any sugar. Duo was there as well, sprawled in a chair and eating a sub sandwich and a soda, his report chip waiting next to Heero's computer. They ate in silence, Heero going over Duo's interview with the housekeeper.
"Any new leads?" Heero asked.
"Boyfriend of the female victim," Duo replied after a long drink of soda."Possible prostitute of the male victim."
"Timetable?"
"Unknown."
"Check in at six."
"Will do. Later."
Duo chucked empty wrappers into the trash and walked away.
"I told you," an agent said. "Looks like a right cross to me. His knuckles are wrapped up too."
"So what?" another agent asked irritably.
"Who's dumb enough to take on a Gundam pilot?" the first agent wondered. "And who managed to land an actual punch? Somebody better check out the morgue..."
"Hey, Yuy!" Heero didn't look over at the agent as he ran bios of
Duo's new leads. "You know anything about what happened to Maxwell?"
"No," Heero replied shortly.
"But you work with him," the man persisted, surprised..
"Work being the operative word," Heero growled back.
The man didn't pursue it further and Heero finished his research in peace.
At five thirty, Duo appeared wearing his coat and carrying Heero's coat slung over one arm. He tossed it, Heero caught it deftly, and then put it on. Together, they left Preventer headquarters, grunted a goodbye at the front door, and left in separate directions.
It was a day, just like every other day, in their year long partnership, Heero would now stop at his gym, work out for approximately one hour, return to his apartment, eat dinner, and then go to bed He had thrived in that comforting routine; never questioning it and never considered anything outside of it. Today, however, for the first time, he thought about bruises and taped knuckles and realized that he knew more about the leads in their case than he did about Duo Maxwell. It wasn't entirely his fault, he realized. Duo had cultivated that distance as much as he had, that separation between work and home life. Why? Perhaps they had both needed to escape, in numbing routine, the knowledge that they hadn't been able to live in the new peace that they had sacrificed so much to bring to Earth and Space.
Maybe it was time to change that? Heero considered it, considered the implications, and then realized that he hadn't taken any steps to leave the front of Preventer headquarters. He frowned and shook his head, suddenly determined to forget the errant idea.
"Hey!"
Heero started and reached for his gun as a small package bounced lightly off of his chest and hit the pavement. Heero ignored it to level his gun at whoever had thrown it, but then stood down when he realized that they had disappeared into the heavy traffic whizzing by him. Cautiously, he turned his attention to the package. It had fallen open, it's contents spilled on the sidewalk. A Preventer badge and a note on a card was revealed. Heero bent and picked them up.
Duo Maxwell was inscribed on the Preventer badge. Heero closed one fist on it, his gut clenching with trepidation, as he read the note.
Duo Maxwell won't be coming in to work tomorrow. You were warned Une.
Heero ran back into Preventer headquarters, shoving two agents out of his way as he took the stairs to Une's office. He found her hunkered over stacks of paperwork, chin on fist and glasses sliding down her nose. She blinked at Heero's abrupt entrance, waved off the secretary that had made a faint hearted attempt to stop him, and pushed her glasses up as she straightened.
"The last time you barged into my office like this," She said irritably, "you had just discovered that I had made Duo Maxwell your partner. I wonder what's just as earth shatteringly wrong this time, Agent Yuy?"
Heero tossed badge and note on top of her stack of work. She blinked at them, frowned, and then she cursed as she realized what she was seeing. "Duo's gone?"
"I would assume so," Heero replied, trying to catch his breath. "Do you know who this is from?"
Her eyes left the note and looked up at Heero with a hard expression. "Classified," she replied. "I'll have agents take care of this. You will have to work solo for awhile, but I'm certain you're capable of completing your case load alone." She sighed and said, almost to herself, "Maxwell was a good agent and a war hero. I'll have to prepare a statement for the press."
The implication was that Duo Maxwell was now deceased. Une had clearly dismissed Heero. She wasn't expecting any emotional outbursts from him. They were both soldiers. They had both seen thousand of people die. Une had personally ordered the deaths of an untold number of civilians and soldiers. She had read Maxwell's epitaph just then and expected that to be the end of it.
Heero didn't accept his dismissal. He continued to stand and stare at Duo's badge and the note that had announced, if Une was correct, his death. He felt strangely empty, his mind blank. Heero wasn't sure...
"Yuy?" Une asked, breaking into his thoughts, "Is there anything you would like to add, some observation? If you're waiting for more information, I can't give it."
Heero nodded, once, and then... He wasn't sure how he ended up at his desk, sitting down, and staring at his dark computer screen. Thoughts refused to come and it was a moment before he realized that it had been a voice that had shaken him from his trance.
"Sir?" A young man was waiting expectantly, a report in his hands. "I didn't realize that you were working late, sir. Agent Maxwell wanted me to run these checks and leave them in your in box. Would you like them now?"
Heero nodded, ran a hand over his face, and then took them. "Thank you," he grated automatically.
"I'll be in at six tomorrow, if Agent Maxwell wants any more info," the man told Heero nervously.
Heero felt a chill as he replied, "Agent Maxwell is dead. I'll call you if I need anything further."
"D-dead, sir?" The young man was fair faced and red haired. He went even paler, looking like a ghost as he tried to ask how that could have happened so suddenly, but Heero hunched away from him.
"It's classified," Heero said, cutting him off. He stood, jammed the report into his desk, and had a very strong desire to get out of that place and get away where he could try to understand what he was feeling, why he was finding it hard to process this sudden...
"Are you all right, sir?" the man asked solicitously. "He was your partner... A good man and a top agent... This must be... very hard for you."
Hard for him? "We weren't..." Friends? Close? Anything but passing acquaintances since the war, even though they worked at the same job every day? Heero couldn't find the words to respond and the young man didn't seem to expect any.
"My condolences," The young man told him. "I'm sure there will be a lot of agents at the funeral."
Funeral... Duo was a colonist. Colonists cremated their dead. They didn't indulge in graveyards. There would be a service, Heero was sure, with the body not in attendance. Duo was a war hero after all.
There was another blank period. Preventer headquarters and the young man disappeared. Heero's apartment took their place. He surfaced from his confusion, sitting on his black leather couch with his head in his hands. He had a faint memory of walking, of a night time kaleidoscope of people and places passing him by, but nothing else.
Classified. Duo Maxwell had walked away, following the routine that had defined their lives, and stepped out of that routine into violence and death. Une had made it plain, that finding out who murdered him, and the reason for that killing, were two things Heero might never find out.
Heero took a deep breath. He let it out slowly. He was a loner again. In the morning, he would solve cases by himself without the constant, solid presence of his partner..
There was a knock on Heero's door. He started and stood up. Frowning, he put a hand on the gun at his side and checked the monitor for the cam mounted outside of his front door. The hallway was empty, but a small package was visible on the carpet by his door. Heero eased the door open, then, mindful of ambushes, and used the door as a shield as he retrieved the package.
Simple paper folded over, just like the last package. He knew the reason behind it, so that he wouldn't think that it was a bomb or a chemical agent. The package was already half teased open. Heero closed and locked his door and then went to sit at his dining room table. Gingerly, he upended the contents. A note, and three inches of fiery, brown hair, spilled out onto the table. The hair was still in three knots of a braid and it looked as if it had been dipped in dark blood.
Heero turned the note card over and read;
It's you we really want.
________________________________
"This is familiar," Duo muttered as he opened eyes on a steel cell, feeling as if his body had been beaten very badly. He remembered the ice cold needle sliding under his ribs, the strong arms grabbing him from behind, and then... the rest was a jumble. He did know that the drugs had taken him under before he could fight, so any damage to his body after that had been purely malicious. He could think of dozens of people who would have wanted the pleasure, on both sides of the law. It was useless to speculate about it, especially when he needed all of his energy to escape.
Duo stifling a groan. He tried to sit up, but was brought up short. Lying on his stomach, he squinted at metal bands locking his arms together and a two link chain that was keeping them attached to the floor. Someone wasn't taking any chances. He also had on a metal collar and certain telltale pricks against his skin warned him it was an electrified device. He tried to make himself more comfortable, but another chain brought him up short. His neck collar was attached almost to the floor on the wall.
Strung out like road kill, Duo thought sourly, and then felt his hair slide around his shoulder before it plopped down by his face. It was half out of it's braid.. Duo shivered and cursed explosively when he saw that some of it was missing. It did tell him one thing. They could have easily taken all of it off for spite, and hadn't. This wasn't someone wanting to get revenge on him. They could have killed him, and hadn't. Someone needed him alive, for a hostage, for leverage, for...
"I have to pee, you bastards!" Duo shouted.
The steel door opened and a man walked in, in his element and at ease. Gray suit, Duo noted, expensive, someone in charge. Two thugs stood behind him, the welcoming committee, he guessed. They were all smiling, pleased with themselves.
The man in charge nodded to a thug. Duo's neck chain was loosened by a control in his hand. Another touch of the control, and Duo was given slack in his arm restraints. A metal bowl was the only toilet and he was forced to use it while they watched and laughed. When he was done, his clothes back in place, the thug retracted the chains and Duo was stretched out again, neck locked to the wall and arms locked to the floor.
"So," Duo said, swallowing in a dry throat. "What's the plan?"
"You're bait," The man in charge told him.
"Ah," Duo didn't ask any more questions and the man raised an eyebrow.
"No curiosity beyond that?" The man wondered.
"Just your name," Duo asked flippantly, "So I can direct my 'fuck you' properly."
The man smirked. "Revenant." He nodded to the thugs. "Bleed him."
The men advanced. Duo steeled himself, not bothering to try and get away. He was ready for kicks and punches. He wasn't ready for them to pull out razors and start cutting through his Preventer uniform to the skin beneath. He bled all right and Revenant pulled out a digital recorder and took a small clip of him after it was done.
"This will get his attention, I think," Revanant chuckled and tossed the camera to one of the thugs. "Drop it into his email."
Revenant crouched by Duo, reached out and wiped bangs from Duo's glaring eyes, and blew him a kiss, before he straightened and walked with his thugs towards the door.
"Revenant!" Duo called hoarsely.
Revenant paused.
"Fuck you," Duo grated.
Revenant laughed and continued on his way, closing the door with a loud, metallic, bang behind him.
"Jeezus!" Duo hissed as he tried to ease his stinging cuts. "I hope it's not Heero they're trying to get to rescue me or I won't be bait, I'll be dead meat."
TBC
On to Chapter two