Kracken
Disclaimer:I don't own them and I don't make any money off of them.
Warning:Male /male sex, graphic, language, slight mpreg, cloning, violence
1x2
Reflections of You
Determination
"Heero?" Duo croaked, but then he felt a firm hand over his mouth and a strong arm holding him painfully tight, though it was a much smaller pain than the one that was threatening to make him scream. That pain ripped through him, radiating from his side like fire through his veins. He tried not to sob, tried not to gasp against that calloused hand smelling of Heero and sweat, knowing that if Heero wanted him silent, then there was a good reason for it.
Rough cement grated where Duo's shirt had rode up and exposed bare skin. Heero was shifting them, moving them into some tight space. Heero settled as Duo opened his eyes and tried to make sense out of what he was seeing. It was dark, but stripes of light were picking out one of Heero's worried eyes and part of his tight mouth. The rest.... Duo squinted and then looked up, grimacing. They were underground, squeezed into a small drainage pipe. Light was coming through a grate so small that Duo wondered how they had managed to get through it. Raw places on his body attested to the fact that he hadn't managed it unscathed.
Heero signed against Duo's shaking hand. Discovered. Quiet. Search.
Duo's hope that they would stay secure had been a slim one. With satellite trackers, DNA sniffers, and vids at every point, going unnoticed was nearly impossible. Someone had simply punched in likely scenarios and some computerized brain had decided that one of Duo's missions had offered a perfect hiding place.
Duo rested his cheek against Heero's chest. He was sitting in Heero's lap and there was a pool of water underneath them. Heero was in it and shivering a little from the sensation and the tension. The sounds of vehicles crunching stone and asphalt came to them as if they were in an echo chamber, and then footsteps, muffled talking, and, once or twice, feet passing over the grate. Their pursuers dismissed it as too small, though, and they remained undiscovered as time passed and the bars of light shifted with the sinking sun. Finally, the sounds went away all together, yet Heero continued to sit.
"How far does this go?" Duo wondered.
Heero eyed the narrow tube of cement and the darkness beyond their patch of light. "It crisscrosses under the drainage pipes and then travels to a flow channel. That would be..." he calculated mentally, "Two miles."
"Can't make that," Duo told him despondently, knowing his own limits.
"No," Heero agreed.
"They'll have equipment set up to watch this area now," Duo decided. "That means that we have to get out under darkness and avoid them."
Heero nodded, his eyes raised to the grate. "We have five hours. Use that time to make arrangements."
Duo felt more than his physical pain then as he said, "Heero, the game's over. We should-"
"Is this a game for you?" Heero snapped, looking down at him angrily.
Duo swallowed in a parched throat and felt the sizzle of a fever. Infection was setting in. "No... not... not this. I meant, just cat and mouse with them guys. They can just wait us out and keep us boxed until we give up or I die."
Heero's jaw worked. Both of his arms went around Duo and held him against his chest. "Whatever happens, Duo, I want you to know that I... Thank you."
Duo smiled, but it was stretched lips over gritted teeth. He bumped Heero's collar bone with his forehead. "That's what pals are for... you know?"
Heero was quiet and then he said, "Duo.. would..." He struggled for the right words, but Heero was too blunt for dancing around things emotionally. "Would my... interest... be unwelcome to you?"
Duo snickered, but his heart was clenching in shock even while his mind was telling him that he had heard wrong. "Uhm, I must be getting..."
"Duo," Heero interrupted firmly. "I want you to understand, fully, why I'm doing this, why I'm sacrificing so much to help you. I've had... an interest in you... since the war, but I wanted to mature, to learn about life, about my life, before I pursued any type of ... When I imagined a life... a home... children... you were there with me. I'll understand if this is unwelcome to you. We've never spoken about such things. Perhaps you are heterosexual and the thought of another man-"
"I'm gay," Duo assured him, but it was more of a gulp. He frowned and had two conflicting emotions. The first was excitement about Heero's interest in him, but the second was irritation at the distraction when he needed to be focused on his goal entirely.
""I want you to trust me, to trust my dedication to seeing you safe," Heero finished. "I want you to understand how strong my motivation is, whether you welcome the reason or not."
"Heero..." Duo struggled to make sense as he tried to ride through the pain to a point where he could think. "Interest is good," he managed, "But... we gotta do this now... so, let's get on with it?"
It was hard to track Heero's expression in so little light. It was too much like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle with most of the pieces missing. Whatever he felt about Duo's very short reaction, his momentary pause from focus on their circumstances was over.
"We need cover," Heero announced.
"We need a sensor shield," Duo agreed. He tried to think. He couldn't stop his panting, the trickle of sweat down his brow, or his shaking. He wondered if he felt hot to Heero, pressed against him, and if Heero realized that he was on the fast track now to dying.
After his declaration, Duo didn't think that Heero would appreciate his main thoughts just then. It had little to do with escape and more to do with either being put out of his misery or giving up and having the invaders in his body ripped out. It was hard to summon the proper maternal feelings when his 'children' were attempting to kill him in a very painful manner. Heero's declaration couldn't have come at a better time and Duo wondered if that hadn't been part of Heero's intention. Knowing that the man, who he had secretly desired, felt the same way, and had dreamed of a life with him, did more than anything else to firm his resolve and give him the strength to endure his torment a little longer.
"We need the surgeon," Duo panted. "Everything is shit without him, whether we save the kids or not. We need the womb. We need a safe place to operate it. We need supplies. We need to do all of this in a way no one will suspect."
Duo's mind found it's epiphany. He grinned and fumbled for his cell phone. He put in the numbers by memory and, when a voice answered, he said simply, "Duo. I'm coming in hot in twelve hours." He hung it up and then told Heero. "Okay, baby. Get us the hell out of this hole."
Heero blinked at the new endearment, his grip tightened, and then he began to get them both back up to the grate.
"I can't take him hostage, Duo. I won't go that far," Heero warned
as they sat in a stolen car outside of the doctor's home.
"Nice place," Duo said as he looked it over, gauged the security fence, and the likely places for alarms. "Don't worry, Heero. He'll come along. He owes me."
Heero put on his coat to hide a rip in his shirt and the scrape marks from their narrow escape from the drain. It had taken all of their skill to avoid detection, but stealing the car early on had been unavoidable. It had been very apparent that Duo couldn't walk any longer.
"You have the list," Duo breathed as he closed his eyes and sank down against the passenger side door. He felt as if he were burning up, his infection setting in with teeth, and things blurred and spun when he tried to focus on them. It was all that he could do to keep his mind on his plan. "Tell him my status, he'll know what else to bring."
Heero's jaw worked and then he asked, "I've never had to convince someone to commit a crime before. What should I say to him?"
Duo grinned, but it looked sickly in his flushed face. "Tell him I was the one who kept his home from being greased by Oz during the war. He'll remember it, just like I did when I saw the address."
Heero nodded, but he didn't look convinced that the doctor would be sympathetic. They both knew how thin loyalties could be and how obligations could be forgotten.
"This other person that we're going to...," Heero began, but Duo shook his head.
"Don't worry about him. People I trust, you trust," Duo told him firmly. "He's family... sort of. I kept him alive on the streets when we were younger. He's not on the grid, so we don't have to worry about some brain figuring out our next move."
"You're troubled," Heero pointed out.
Duo used a trembling hand to wipe the sweat from his brow. "Yeah, I don't like calling on him. He's done good for himself. Nobody likes to be reminded of bad days and ours were pretty bad. Still... he's all I got left from them. Everyone else..." He trailed off and there was a tight set to his lips that spoke of more than physical pain. "They didn't do so well..."
There was a moment when the world blacked out and Duo had to climb back into consciousness. Heero was still there, checking his gun and zipping up his coat, only he seemed to be sitting in a red haze that throbbed with every beat of pain.
"I... must be bleeding good," Duo mumbled, closing his eyes.
"We used the last shot," Heero replied. "I'll get you more, whatever this man decides."
"Good." Duo breathed. "Hurry." He opened his eyes long enough to check his watch and then he closed them again. "We've got four hours."
"Duo," Heero said with something in his voice... fear, Duo realized. "Don't die... please."
It was said in such a 'mission tone' that it would have been hard for anyone, but Duo to hear the real emotion behind it. He did, though, and he reached out and squeezed Heero's arm. "If the Devil wants me, he's going to have to drag me kicking and screaming to hell."
Heero took that for a promise, nodded, and then left the vehicle.
The wait was long. Duo heard footsteps close by several times, and hoped that Heero was returning, but they passed by. A few birds landed on the hood and one eyed Duo as if hoping for scraps.
"Get outta here," Duo hissed. "Not dead yet."
The bird hopped and then flew away as if startled, though Duo knew that he hadn't spoken loud enough for anyone but himself to hear. He tried to keep his mind on the plan, on variables, and on failure, but it was much easier to think about Heero and Heero's confession, that the man was helping him because of his feelings for Duo. Duo wanted to laugh at himself, but knew that it would hurt too much. He'd never really been afraid of Heero, always knowing, somehow, that the man would never hurt him, but he had still kept his mouth shut and kept the ignorance between them stoked to it's fullest. Considering Heero's reasoning, he supposed that he had felt some of that as well, that they had been too young, had too much baggage, and had needed to find their feet. The full truth, though, was that Duo hadn't been afraid of physical retaliation, he had been afraid of Heero's verbal rejection. It had seemed much safer to have the promise of a 'someday' than to end it with a 'here and now'. 'Here and now' had come, though, when they had the least ability to deal with it.
There was the sound of a large car pulling up. Duo pulled his gun until he saw it was Heero and the doctor. As he opened the car door, the doctor explained, "We're taking my car."
"T-Tracking devices," Duo warned unnecessarily to Heero.
"Disabled," the doctor told him. "Old habit from the war."
And then Heero was opening his door and scooping him up far too fast and rough as he all but stuffed Duo into the back seat of an SUV. The doctor climbed in right after him and slammed the door closed as Duo curled up and stuffed his shirt tail into his mouth to muffle his screams.
"Goddam!" The doctor exclaimed as he began dragging equipment out of medical bag. "I feel like a field medic again."
Heero climbed into the driver's seat with another bag of equipment and then drove the SUV away from the house. He glanced back at Duo and then barked, "Stay down."
The doctor sat low and leaned on Duo to keep him still as he hooked him to several monitoring devices. "Tough shit, aren't you?" the doctor muttered in what as probably his 'field side manner'. "Don't worry, son, I'm the best. I'll get you through this. You just hold still and let me do my magic."
Duo felt his heart labor in his chest with each shot that was administered as his body was rallied and called on to fight a little longer.
"That's it, that's it..." the man muttered to himself. "Come on back, son... Stabilize, dammit."
Fingers gently checked the injection area.
"Next time you do this," the man said, "Aim more to the center. The gut is a hell of a lot more tolerant of parasites."
"Y-You're talking about my kids," Duo chuckled weakly.
"Yep, one tough shit," the doctor laughed back. "Now for some sleepy time, son. Don't worry, this won't hurt your cargo."
Duo could have kissed the man, or donated a kidney, or... he fell into blissful oblivion, hoping that Heero was on guard for him... and then knowing that he would be and not worrying at all.
TBC
see Kracken's original, published yaoi fiction, The Angel Within, at amazon.com
under Kracken
Website:http://kracken.bonpublishing.com
Latest updates at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/KrackenficsML/
and for general fanfiction talk: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/krackenml/
On to Chapter Three
back to chapter one