Stormfront

[Author's Note: Language warning, again. The chars are kinda pathetic in this chapter...but they'll make up for it later on...Actually, I think this chapter is on crack. You tell me. -_- ; ]

Cold...cold...cold...cold... Quatre concentrated on that one word in an attempt to shut out any other thoughts of where they were. He followed Duo down the metal corridor of the lab, his steps ranging on a stagger. He didn't want to be there, didn't want to remember. He had spent enough time trying to forget...
Duo suddenly stopped in front of a doorway. Quatre walked right into him, sending them both tumbling to the floor. "S-sorry," the blond boy stammered as he climbed to his feet.
"Don't worry about it," Duo shrugged, using the wall to stand again. He turned to the door. "I'm pretty sure this is the one..." He reached up and pulled two short wires from his hair, one straight, the other crimped. Quatre looked at him doubtfully, then shook his head in amusement. Duo knelt and stuck his tongue out in concentration as he poked the wires into the lock, carefully moving them and listening for the mechanism to click. Five minutes went by. Ten. Fifteen. Seventeen and twenty-three seconds. "Damn it!"
"Duo?"
"You got a gun on ya?"
"What?!" Quatre drew back, startled.
"Didn't think so." Duo replaced the wires in his hair then sighed. "I think I rigged it too well -- now even I can't open it." He scowled then pulled a gun out of his pocket. He released the safety. "Stand back." They both stepped away and Duo fired at the lock. Only part of it fell away. Duo pulled the trigger again but nothing happened. "What? Crap!" He futilely shook the gun then opened the chamber, blinking in disbelief. "Wow, sucks to be me if I'd had to use this in a real emergency!" Quatre fished around his pockets for a moment then held his hand out to Duo, two bullets lying on his palm. The braided boy raised an eyebrow. "Bullets, but no gun?"
"Um, left it at home..." Quatre smiled sheepishly.
"Right..." Duo reloaded the gun and turned back to the door. "This had better do it." He fired. It didn't seem to add much of a dent.
"Oops, that must have been the blank. The other should work."
"Should? If it doesn't, I'm getting Deathscythe to open it." Duo rolled his eyes and then gritted his teeth and fired once again. This time the entire handle fell off. "All right, we're in!" He shoved the door open. The three computers were still intact depite the second shot. Duo darted over to the first terminal while Quatre gazed around at the books. "C'mon, over here," Duo called. The blond boy moved to look over his shoulder as the list of files came up. "Here, these three." Duo pointed to the last few entries then pushed the keyboard over so Quatre could reach it. The other boy thought for a moment then started typing.
Duo moved to the second computer and switched it on. He stared at what came up, blinking to make sure he wasn't seeing things. "Aw, crap..."
"What are you crapping about now?" Quatre found himself muttering, still absorbed in his typing.
"Someone's been using this -- there's more stuff on here than before!"
Quatre glanced over to see him poking the screen where two folders resided. "Then there's another computer someplace sending information here."
"With no one to receive it?" Quatre shrugged in reply. Duo frowned in worry. "Guess we can't do anything about it, yet...I'm sure we'll meet the sender sooner or later..." He clicked on the folders while Quatre went back to typing. The braided boy sighed. "Can't for the life of me read it. Some of the letters are backwards, for crying out loud!"
Quatre looked over again. "It's in Russian."
"You can read it?!"
"No, but I think I can get the computer to translate it." He pushed one last key and the terminal beeped. "There. The first file opened."
Duo moved to look. "Oh, 'SW' for Shockwave. That should've been obvious..."
Quatre narrowed his eyes at the statistics for the upgraded LunaAria. "The shield was added to compensate for the short reach of the cutlass. Prototype still in the test stage...Test stage?" He traded glances with Duo. "So we were basically facing a trial run with both LunaAria and Shockwave. But why would such weaker models be sent to carry out Operation Meteor?"
Duo made an annoyed face. "But Shockwave is here just to kick your ass."
"That's besides the point. It would still have been used against OZ."
"Maybe they're still testing the effectiveness of the sonic weapons."
"Maybe..." Quatre turned back to the keyboard and attempted to open the other two files, but to no avail. "It will take more than I know to open those..." He frowned in disappointment.
"Let's try these then." Duo motioned to his terminal. They switched places and soon Quatre was back to typing. It only took him five minutes to get all the files translated. He opened the sixth folder first, seeing as they had already predicted what the four Duo had previously glimpsed held. "Info on Alexa and LunaAria. Should've known," Duo muttered.
Quatre had already known the gundam's weakest feature -- slice off the sonic canons and LunaAria would be severely limited in fighting power. The file on Alexa listed detailed information on her illness. The last thing he wanted to see was details on that, so he clicked on the remaining folder. Shockwave and Dimitri. "No sonic canons?!" Well, that was one way to eliminate a suit's weakness...
"And they think this is the better prototype?" Duo snorted. He leaned over and squinted at the screen. "And they also think it has no weaknesses? Ha! That's a laugh!"
"You fought it. What did you find weak?"
"Its pilot. He has no clue."
Quatre glanced at Dimitri's profile. "It says he was thoroughly trained in battle tactics and most types of mobile suit weaponry."
"Then I guess he just knew he was no match for me." Duo smirked and leaned against the counter with a snobbish air.
"I don't think you're the cause." Quatre gazed at the floor pensively. Duo threw a glare at him but it was good-natured.
"So now wha--" The terminal suddenly beeped without either of them touching a thing. Duo stared at the message that came up on the screen. "A new file is being downloaded right now! Can we find out where it's from?"
Quatre moved back to the first computer. There was a message there, too. "Oh, no..."
Duo jerked his head up. "I didn't like the sound of that..."
"Whoever is sending that file knows someone is here -- this one is counting down to a self-destruct! We have to get out -- now!" He raced for the door, Duo on his heels. They made it about ten steps down the corridor before the room exploded, the force of the blast sending them crashing another twenty steps. Duo rolled to a stop in the middle of the floor but Quatre needed the wall to stop him. Duo scrambled over to where the blond boy was rubbing his knee from the impact, a grimace marring his face.
"You okay?" Duo coughed, helping him up. Why do I feel like this is getting redundant..? Quatre grimaced again but nodded. They limped their way back to their gundams; the only way they could get into the base was by being in the mobile suits.
Duo was a mere ten steps from the hangar when he heard something click behind him. He made the mistake of pausing -- giving someone the chance to grab his arm and twist it behind his back. He clenched his jaw and a grim smirk traced a path over his visage as he thought back to something from right before he left the Maguenacs; Rashid taking him aside and quietly imploring him to watch over Quatre for them, and himself agreeing, seeing as they had helped him out so much. Of course, he hadn't expected to get in trouble while laying low...Oh well. Duo unclenched his jaw and shouted, "Don't look back, just run!!"
Quatre was startled but immediately broke into a sprint. He heard a gunshot behind him followed by the feeling of a familiar twinge in his heart. Another shot cracked off the wall next to his right arm. He drew away and almost careened into the opposite wall but managed to catch his balance. He started to look over his shoulder; instinct made him look forward just before he was about to impale himself on the business end of Shockwave's shield. With chest heaving, he pulled back from the deadly spike. The Russian gundam was blocking the walkway to Sandrock and Deathscythe. Clenching his fists, he whirled toward the figure advancing from the shadows of the corridor.
"Neither of you will leave here alive," a boy's voice said. The gun emerged from the darkness first to be followed by a short form wearing light denim jeans, a white long-sleeved shirt and black boots. Angry gray eyes glared out from under disheveled dark brown hair. Dimitri Reaves sneered, "Quatre is now dead. I don't know who you are, but you're obviously his accomplice, and probably just as guilty." He leveled the gun at Quatre's head.
The blond boy took a step back, mindful of the awaiting shield and of course perfectly aware he was cornered. "I -- We-we tried to stop her, in all honesty! She was a fellow gundam pilot, a-and we need to look out for our own! The gundams are the only allies we each have..."
"Shut up!" The gun clicked. Dimitri sobbed out, "You're lying! Quatre let her die! He had another way to stop her! But he was too cowardly!" The gun wavered. He brought up his other hand to brace his wrist, holding it steady but in a moment only shook more.
"But...what..." And then what hadn't occured to him then struck Quatre that moment. "S-Self-destruct the base instead of..." His eyes widened as he wondered...Could he have done it, though..?
"I see you're as much a genius as him. But it was too late!" The gun lowered as Dimitri bowed his head, trying to hide that he was weeping. "Two seconds too late...We had the cure...We had the cure, bastard!!" He raised the gun. The trigger clicked. Quatre closed his eyes and braced for the coming pain. There was the sound of metal clattering against metal. But no gunshot. Quatre looked to see Dimitri landing flat on his face and Duo lowering his leg from the kick that had sent the other boy sprawling.
"Sorry, pal, you got the wrong guy -- Shinigami is the last to die." He scowled and ground his fist into his open palm.
Quatre was weak with relief. "Duo, you're all right..." He shakily moved to retrieve Dimitri's gun from the side of the walkway.
"Of course! Bullet-proof vest lined with gundanium -- never leave Deathscythe without it." The braided pilot winked at him then knelt beside Dimitri, who was just recovering from the kick. Duo grabbed the back of his shirt collar to 'help' him up. "So, what do we do with this little punk?"
Dimitri squirmed but Duo was holding him just enough off the ground that he couldn't steady himself to kick out. "Let me go!!" the boy half-snarled, half-sobbed. "Or just kill me, like you did to Alexa!!" His glare fell on Quatre.
The blond pilot looked down sadly at the gun in his hand. "Dimitri...Neither of us want to kill more than is necessary...And your quest for revenge isn't necessary." He held the gun behind him while he stepped toward the boy. "I fought your sister only in that I was trying to help fight her despair. I considered her to be a sister, too, because she understood something about me that no one else ever has, and probably never will. I...I told her not to give up yet...but I was just as powerless as you were."
Dimitri struggled again to free himself then settled for screeching, "You could have self-destructed, bastard! You could have...have..." He crumbled into a sob. "You...you...bastard!!" Quatre saw then the form of a boy who looked even younger than he did, alone, frightened, and consumed by anger. He let the gun fall to the floor. Dimitri looked up tearfully at the sound. Duo realized he had set the boy down at the same time. Dimitri tried to draw away as Quatre came closer. "W-what are you going to do with me now?" he stammered. He brought his hands together in front of him.
"Maybe let you go -- you can either go home to the colonies or stay and help figure out how to fight OZ." Quatre gave a weak smile. "I won't hold anything against you since no one was actually hurt."
"Yet," Duo put in, then promptly brought his joined fists down on the back of Dimitri's neck, sending him to kiss the floor again.
"W-what was that for?" Quatre scowled indignantly.
"He took my knife." The braided boy leaned over and pried the previously concealed item from Dimitri's closed hand.
"In that case, thank you," Quatre stammered awkwardly. "And I'm sorry for all the trouble this caused you..."
"Don't worry about it," Duo assured as he buried the knife in a pocket. He turned so Quatre could see the small hole the bullet had put in his shirt. "See? Nothing Shinigami can't handle -- a shirt is easy to replace."
But Quatre merely stared at the bullet hole; it resided about midway between Duo's shoulders. He could only think about his premonition from the morning. It wasn't a knife stab he had felt, it was a bullet passing through him... "A-are you sure you're all right, Duo?" he asked weakly.
"Yeah, perfectly." The braided boy looked at him oddly then turned his attention to Dimitri. "So now what should we do with him?" He none too gently nudged the boy's side with his foot.
Quatre frowned thoughtfully and cast about for an idea. He went to retrieve the gun, depositing it in his own pocket. Then he glanced at Shockwave. "Wait here a moment." He ducked under the shield and slipped into the cockpit. As soon as the door closed an image came up on the lower corner of the right-hand screen, seeming to be a photograph -- of Alexa. Quatre sighed sadly but went about moving the left arm so that the shield no longer blocked the walkway. He moved the suit back just far enough so only the very edge of the cockpit platform reached the walkway. Lastly he did some minor hacking to find the suit's databank and erase the coordinates of his desert base from the suit's memory. He climbed out and called, "We'll leave him in here."
"What?!" Duo scurried over. "Just like this? Without destroying something first?"
Quatre looked at him with a beseeching expression. "He isn't OZ, Duo. We've beaten him twice. I can't say if he has learned or not, but it wouldn't be right to kill him."
"Fine, fine." The braided pilot pushed past him. "But at least let me slow down his recovery." Quatre shook his head but didn't bother trying to stop him -- Duo was already on his way short-circuiting the shield and disabling the beam cutlass. The blond pilot went over to the row of lockers and took out a coat then headed to where Dimitri lay. He fitted the unconscious boy with the coat then dragged him over to Shockwave. Duo hopped out a moment later, promptly shaking his head in disbelief. "This is ridiculous."
"Just humor me, please." Despite his words, Duo helped him get Dimitri into Shockwave's cockpit and close the still-unconscious boy inside.
Duo scowled. "You just better hope he didn't do anything to Deathscythe, or else I'm destroying this thing right here."
Quatre grinned sheepishly although he realized Duo was right. He tried to not look worried as he headed for Sandrock; the braided pilot shamelessly sprinted right past him to check his gundam first.
After a few minutes Duo announced over the outside comm: "Dimitri, you luck out this time, pal. Be thankful you were too distracted to go near my partner."
Quatre came to a similar conclusion about Sandrock. "Let's just go, okay, Duo? Enough harm has been done for one day."
"Whatever you say." Deathscythe led the way out of the base. Quatre closed the hidden entrance after them.

Once the carrier had taken off and was on a set course for the Arabian desert, Duo turned to Quatre with an impatient look. "What'll you do if he tries to find you again?"
"I guess I'll just have to fight him again," he answered glumly, hanging his head. "It's something to do, at least..."
"Well, now you're thinking like me." Duo smirked then turned to gaze out the window.
Wish it didn't have to come to that. Quatre kept the thought to himself, too frustrated to think something constructive. With luck, Dimitri wouldn't be able to find him for a long, long time. But, of course, luck had a way of working opposite the way he needed it...

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(c) 2000-2004 Autumn Loweck. This work may not be copied, distributed, or reprinted without the author's permission. Characters of Dimitri, Alexa, and mech Shockwave are property of Autumn Loweck (aka Shiri) and may not be "borrowed" or mentioned in other works without notifying the author first. Characters of Quatre R. Winner, Duo Maxwell, the Maguenacs, and OZ belong to the creators of the GundamWing series, Sotsu Agency, Sunrise, Bandai, and whoever else in Japan involved in this most cool anime.