14-Jul-2000
Title: Mission Arcadia
bonnejean & vonceia *present*Category: yaoi, AU
RavynFyre & Kateri Marie
in The B&V Guest Authors Series!
Duo - words, thoughts, actions - RavynFyre
Heero - words, thoughts actions - Kateri Marie
Rip & Jack, Their World and General Production - bonnejeanne & vonceia
Duan stood face to face with the boy, eyes narrowed. The other boy was the same age, but a few inches taller and had a somewhat larger frame. "We don't got time for this," Duan said, low in his throat.
"Then, I'm not goin," the other boy countered. "I think you're lying."
"Don't care Jake. Stay here and get blown up," Duan said. Once again, Duan attempted to go around the boy to take the hands of the two little wide-eyed girls behind him.
"Get out of his way, Jake," another little boy said, stepping forward. Adjusting his glasses back on his nose, he looked up at the bigger boy. "You are incorrect. Duan never lies."
Four pairs of eyes turned towards the new little boy. All of the kids and most of the adults knew that Wufan hardly ever came to the defense of anyone. In fact, he only spoke to adults. Even fewer knew that he could take out Jake without a thought. He'd done it before.
Jake opened his mouth to protest, but nothing came out.
"Come, Wufan said and extended his hand to the shocked little girls. In a matter of seconds, they each held one of his hands as they marched out of the door with Wufan.
"I'm goin," Jake said, reluctantly.
"So we both riding up top this time?" Duo asked, slipping his customary grin back into place.
"Hn." Heero grunted an affirmative as he started moving into the lift.
Duo knelt down in the lift again and cupped his hands to toss Heero back topside.
"You need anything from our bag of tricks, Kenny?" he asked over his shoulder.
Kenny looked up and shook his head, but they saw him tuck the field knife down inside his shirt and pants. "I'm gonna head right, for the area by lift 1," he said. "If I can get to Lev, she won't shoot me, anyways."
Heero nodded once, in approval and in acknowledgement.
Duo suddenly delved into one of the two bags they were carrying and came out with one of the small mikes that Grace had brought them.
"Here. This way, even if we can't see ya, we still know what's going on. If things start going bad, just yell the word Banana, and we'll be there guns blazin, okay?" Duo handed the tiny clip-mic down and pulled out the little stagemanager's earphones, sticking one in his ear and giving one to Heero.
Heero stifled a snort at his lover's choice of words but didn't disagree with the plan.
Kenny took the little device and nodded. "Banana," he said.
"Yup. Banana. Unless you think that's something someone else would say in everyday conversation down there," Duo answered with a grin.
Kenny shook his head. "Nope." He looked down, then up again. "What's banana?"
Duo chuckled. "See. It's a great safeword, Hee-chan. A banana is a type of fruit. I'll see if maybe we can't figure out a way to get one to ya someday, k?"
Kenny nodded. Then his expression got serious.
Duo reached up and grabbed Heero's outstretched hand and hauled himself up on top of the lift.
"Be careful."
"Just a distraction." Heero commands. "Nothing else."
Kenny looked up. "I promise. Watch out for the General."
Then he looked up again. "There's a really big tree about... um five minutes west of where we met Duan. It was split by lightning when the Storm came. That's where Duan's going to take the others." He didn't say, 'in case' but it hung there anyway.
"Yeah. And we'll all see it together. When this is finished," Duo answered, blatantly ignoring that unspoken specter of a phrase.
"Ryoukai." Heero confirmed, hoisting the panel back so it covered half the opening.
Heero nodded down to Kenny, "Go." And then covered the opening completely.
Kenny reached up and pushed the button for level 2.
The lift moved, rising back to the surface. It stopped just short of where they had been before.
The lift stopped and the door opened. Kenny strolled out as casually as an extremely tense boy could stroll. He looked around quickly, and no one stopped or pointed or yelled.
There was a reason why. The General was in the area and everyone was keeping very very busy.
Kenny spotted the General walking between the rows of mobile suits. He ducked around the row and said softly, "General's here, left out of the lift." The he darted off to the right, trying to count, under his breath, every time he saw a soldier or worker. "One, two, three..." he kept it up, counting off fifteen people before he stopped suddenly.
There was an audible sigh somewhere above Kenny's head as a hand clamped down on his shoulder. "And what do we have here?" the female soldier said.
Kenny swallowed and looked up. He saw the talk woman with the glasses, and braided hair pinned around her head in a crown. "Lev," he said distinctly.
Lev looked around quickly, then dropped to one knee in front of the little boy. "Kenny!" she whispered. "My god, Kenny. Where have you been? Are you all right?" she said, covering his little body behind hers protectively.
Kenny was somewhat taken aback at this gesture. He squirmed a bit. "I don't look alright?" he said in a surly voice. "Well too bad cause I am. Even though Ma... ain't." He looked the woman in the eye. "Almost ready to go on the big of-offensive?"
Lev brushed the hair back from his face, which did not good, because it fell right back. She pushed her glasses up. "Easy, kid," she said, noting something urgent in his eyes. "I knew your Mother, so sue me if I worry about you, hmmm?"
Kenny scowled. He looked up intently and took her hand and squeezed it hard for a moment. Then he pushed her away and yelled, "No! You didn't care if they shot Ma! None of you did! The General had them to shoot Ma! I'm gonna make him sorry!" he yelled and took out the field knife, keeping it in the sheath. It was so unlike his quiet manner, but guaranteed to get attention from everyone who heard the high-pitched young voice.
Lev's mouth opened and she looked up at Kenny as though he'd grown a second head. Then, she looked down. "Look, kid! You should be in bed right now!" she said.
"NO!" Kenny yelled as loud as he could. He ducked under her outstretched arms, looking back almost as if imploring her to give chase. Then he darted straight for the place where the technicians were working on the control system for the suits. The General's pride and joy.
"Come back here, right now, you little brat!" Lev called, dashing after Kenny. "Don't you dare run from me!"
With that, Lev gave chase, a scowl darkening her features. She had no idea what Kenny was up to, but all of her senses screamed at her to keep alert.
Duo glanced over at Heero in the darkness of the roof of the lift and grinned, nodding.
"Remember." Heero grated out in an almost inaudible voice. "15 confirmed."
Then he was moving to follow his partner.
Duo popped the panel out of the ceiling and peeked down.
Duo saw a few people, all looking the other way and starting to run in that direction, to the right.
With the characteristic phantom stealthiness that helped earn him his nickname, he dropped silently to the floor of the lift and crept out, watching to the left, and trusting Heero to watch out towards the right.
Heero dropped down almost on his partner's heels, his gun in hand before his feet even touched the floor of the lift.
He followed Duo with the gun half raised, ready to be drawn in any direction at any moment. The commotion over to the right was working exactly as planned.
Peering out of the lift, they saw row upon row of mobile suits. These were also much like their Aries suits. At a quick glance it looked as if the huge area was filled with them. Only a few appeared to be open for work on them, many looked as if they were ready to be activated. There was one row not far from the lift that stood with cockpits open, and had not yet been altered for remote control.
Through the room, which took up half the entire level, people were scattered, some in fatigues, some in white technicians coats. There were mobile racks of equipment that could be moved from place to place to speed the conversion process. Aside from the suits and the racks, and the people, there was not much else that could be seen in the room.
Peering to the right, Heero spotted the control panel that Kenny had spoken about and he touched Duo lightly on the arm to get his attention.
Duo glanced back at his partner, saw the control module, and nodded. Then he nodded towards the empty and unfitted mecha.
Heero took a sweeping glance of the area and gave a slight grunt of affirmation. Then he was right behind Duo once more, tense and ready for a fight.
Duo dashed across the level, sticking close to the shadows and anything to obstruct him from anyone's view as he headed for the empty mobile suits.
Heero kept his gun up, ready to shoot the first person that even looked askance at his lover. His arm was braced against itself and he kept his thoughts tightly controlled, with death waiting at the slightest slip.
Kenny darted around the table with the control module and ducked under the wires, getting down to slither between a couple of the technicians' legs, tripping them. He made it to the module itself and unsheathed the knife, holding it threateningly over the delicate device. "Get away and tell the General to come!" he yelled.
"Simms, Talbot, get back! " Lev ordered. "Smith, please ask the General to come..."
"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE!" a gravelly voice yelled.
Duo and Heero saw a man walk by almost in front of them. He was dressed in a general's uniform with lots of gold braid - maybe a little too much actually. He had thin gray hair and a bulbous nose. He looked familiar.
"General Suberhoff, Sir!" Lev answered crisply, with a salute. "It seems the boy has something he wishes to speak to you about," she said, moistening her crimson colored lips. Looking back at Kenny, she said, "All right, Kenny. The General is here. He will listen. If he does, then you must promise me you will calm down, ok?"
"What?" the General yelled. "I don't promise anything! What is that brat doing here? He's... he's... THREATENING MY BEAUTIFUL CONTROL SYSTEM! You damn menace...."
The General lunged towards Kenny.
Kenny yelled, "You shot my MOTHER!" and plunged the field knife into the delicate device.
A lot of things started to happen. Mobile suits began blinking into active mode...
The General howled and grabbed Kenny by the arm, lifting him by force and shaking him like a terrier with a rat.
"YOU LITTLE IDIOT!"
Lev looked around the room at the mobile suits. "Mobile suits operational!" she called into the confusion.
Heero saw the General grab Kenny and switched his aim immediately. Sighting carefully down the barrel more out of habit than anything else, he remembered Gun's instructions to think the shot and forced all his ironclad concentration into the thought, wanting to keep Kenny safe.
Before Heero had even finished aiming, Duo had scurried into one of the empty suits and was busy examining the controls.
Heero felt the strange gun warm in his grip very briefly and a small, precise hole appeared in the back of the General's skull, showing a perfectly round tunnel about the diameter of a finger, like a lasershot that went completely through and came out the other side. The General stiffened, shook Kenny one more time, then his hand opened and the boy dropped, landing on all fours. The General turned, his eyes almost seeming to look for his attacker as they glazed over. He fell on his face with a loud thud.
Everyone around who had been staring at him suddenly started staring around with very frightened looks.
Duo quickly tried the passcodes that Duan had given him, trying to get the suit up and running before Heero could get shot by one of the frightened soldiers.
Heero backed towards the suit Duo occupied, sliding behind the leg of another suit for cover. But he kept the gun up and aimed, making sure that Kenny would have cover to escape.
Kenny scrambled away from the fallen body of the General, his face showing a reaction to the site of the man's mutilated head. He spotted Lev and grabbed her hand. "Get out," he said quietly, completely unlike his performance. "Go to the lightning-struck tree. Hurry."
Lev nodded, wanting to do more, but following Kenny's direction.
Kenny then turned and ran for the place where he guessed Heero to be.
As he ran, something very big moved, cutting him off.
About half the mobile suits in the bay were moving... some randomly, some almost seeming to be following some limited program. One of the remote-controlled suits stepped in front of Kenny and he jumped back, looking up. He took a deep breath and then dived and rolled between its legs, looking wildly for somewhere to go.
As soon as the suit had started moving towards the boy, Heero had sprung into action, speeding towards him and thinking short blasts from the gun to clear the way in front of him.
A series of explosions took place. Large chunks of the mobile suits disappeared as neatly as had the small portion of the General's head. It was as if any substance was the same to the strange gun.
Meanwhile in the mobile suit, the control system accepted the passcode Duo tried and the suit came up ready for use.
The mobile suit sprang to life, dodging away from where Heero and Kenny were converging. If he could draw the other suits fire towards him, they could find someplace to hide. And then... Then the fun would begin.
Duo's plan worked a little too well. As screams from some of the people in the room showed, some of the suits were acting on a simple program to target movement of any kind. Soon he had about five suits mindlessly battering at him.
Heero growled, spotting the threat to his lover just as he reached Kenny. Raising the gun once more, pulling the boy behind him with his other hand, he sighted the suits that were most dangerous to his lover, the ones out of the suit's immediate reach. He shifted his perspective a bit, lining up several in a row, and thought.
The gun warmed in his grip, a comforting feeling now, and a small smile breached his face as the suits exploded, their leftover pieces falling down in a neat little row.
Satisfied that his lover could handle the rest, Heero turned back to the boy and motioned to some cover.
Kenny followed Heero's direction and tucked himself under cover, watching everything with wide eyes.
Meanwhile, Duo was slamming through the suits nearest him, his maniacal cackle clearly audible as he carved his way through the mobile suits with the lasers.
"Hell, these things aren't even as good as the Dolls!"
Staggering as one suit managed to get a lucky shot in, Duo spun and picked it up. With a mighty heave, he threw the offending doll into the pile of twisted cables and computer equipment that had formerly been the doll's control module.
With a frightening comfort and ease, Heero picked off the suits closer to him, each shot getting more and more precise and he modified his thoughts for the gun.
While his lover played with the overgrown dolls, Heero slid the bag of tricks off his shoulder and dug out several of the explosives. Eyeing the area where the fireworks were emanating from, he motioned to Kenny to stay put and took off at a run the other way.
With a confidence born of long practice, he placed explosives all over - on support beams, the sides of the control panel that was still spitting sparks, weak points in the wall. All of them he decorated with a small bundle, the blinking red lights winking at him as he went.
Finished setting the explosives, Heero made his way back to Kenny and motioned the boy to him. Speaking into the kid's mike, he said gruffly, "Duo. Time. Let's go."
"Heh. Guess that's my cue," Duo said, grinning as he pushed the suit he was riding to its limits.
With a final burst from his laser, he withdrew a little from the melee and popped the hatch. Not even bothering to power down his ride, he hopped out of the suit and hit the floor running.
"Peace. We out," he said, racing to meet up with Heero and Kenny.
Heero held the remote detonator in one hand and the gun in the other. "Kenny, what's the fastest way out of here?"
Kenny looked around and pointed to a lift that was close by and then to a closed door next to it. "Lift or ladder up."
Duo caught up with them and nodded. Grabbing Kenny as he passed, he dashed to the door to the ladder and pushed the boy ahead of him.
"Let's go."
In step with Duo as soon as he arrived, Heero slid the gun into his jeans impossibly, and joined them on the ladder.
Kenny scrambled up the ladder ahead of the other two, running up very quickly, his heart pounding.
"10 minutes." Heero called up the ladder as he took the rungs with his usual determined pace.
"Heh. Plenty of time," Duo said, keeping pace with Kenny.
Kenny made it to the hatchway to the first level and pulled it open with a little difficulty, as the door was heavy and not well kept. He ducked through and then leaned out, peering back down, not gesturing, but his expression showed his understanding of the urgency.
Once Duo was in and Heero, Kenny took off at a run. He was not heading for the room they had come in through but belting full out for the main entrance. They could hear and feel small explosions below that were from the mobile suits still attempting to destroy each other.
"K'so." Heero swore as the boy took off. He hated not knowing exactly where he was going. But he took off after the boy with equal speed, drawing the gun back out of his jeans just in case.
Duo palmed his own gun and one of the carefully prepared smoke "grenades" as he followed in their wake. No time to be caught flatfooted now.
Suddenly they heard yelling and running and a little body came flying past from another part of the level, with a bunch of soldier-types giving chase. Duo had time to see a braid flying by.
Instinct took over as the gun swung into line and bucked in his hand twice in rapid succession.
Heero's gun warmed and shot off, even as Duo's first shot impacted, taking down the other two with a speed unmatched.
"Nice of you to join us," Duo called.
"Ha! Ha! Ha!," Duan laughed. "So, what else ya gotta do?"
"Leave." Heero said flatly.
Kenny whirled around, grabbing Duan by the braid. "YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BE GONE!" he yelled and then took off running again, with the braid still in his fist.
"Ow!" Duan yelled, then sped up to keep pace with Kenny and his hair.
Heero eyed Duo's braid significantly, his eyes promising the same treatment if Duo didn't get moving. "Four minutes."
"Don't even think about it, soldier boy. I'm going," Duo muttered taking off at a sprint.
The small boys led the older boys to the main gate. There were a couple of guards there who looked distinctly upset at the messages from their radio, and they took one look at the four advancing and simply abandoned their post, beating the four out of the large exit.
Duo sprinted ahead of the boys and broke out of the main gate first, eyes darting around quickly in case of any surprises.
"Let's go. Let's go."
Outside, they discovered it was dark, with bright stars overhead - very bright. The moon hung low and full giving plenty of light to show them a wide-open expanse of uncovered ground.
Heero brought up the rear of the little party, and without glancing back, punched the small button on the remote.
Kenny waved to the right. They covered the ground and were just inside a line of trees when the ground began to shake.
It started with a series of small tremors, and the muffled sound of their explosions far underground. Then something else happened... maybe it was a gas supply or a reactor... something - big - went BOOM.
They were all knocked to their feet by the force of the ground tremor, and the sound, though partially muffled, was still loud enough to hurt their ears. Behind them, an orange and red ball of flame shot into the heavens.
"Heh... Anyone got any marshmallows?" Duo quipped as he turned a little and watched the fireball leap into the sky.
Heero watched the blaze with satisfaction in his eyes though not a single feature changed its expression.
Not far away, they saw a huge, ancient looking tree, whose trunk had been split in two by some massive lightning strike, or so it seemed. The odd thing was, the tree wasn't dead. Each half supported green, healthy-looking, thick foliage.
On the far side of the tree, a group huddled - twelve women including Sallah and Lev, and a group of children numbering fifteen, most Kenny and Duan's age, one or two younger.
Several of the children huddled together. Some of them quietly sobbed and others said nothing as they looked around somewhat bewildered.
From a tree overhead, a tall figure dropped. "Don't cry, kiddies," the redhead said. "Uncle Rip is going to take you to a happy place!"
He looked over at Heero and Duo and winked.
One of the children stepped forward and looked up at Ripper. "Who are you, sir?" he asked, bowing deeply. He had Asian features and a pair of glasses perched on his nose.
"I'm your uncle Ripper, little gentleman," Rip said to the solemn boy. Then he looked up and over Heero's shoulder. Heero heard a sudden sound behind him but before even his amazing reflexes could react, something went past him with a slightly singing sound. Heero completed the move to turn, gun out, to see one of the guards from the gate standing behind him with a rifle trained... and a knife sticking out of his chest, looking unhappily surprised.
The guard fell over.
"Show off," Duo muttered with a small smirk.
Heero grunted, partly in surprise and partly in self-disgust. He hadn't been aware he was that out of practice.
He wasn't. Heero may have been immune to the idea but Duo could tell that the redhead was just slightly on this side of uncanny.
The little Asian boy turned his head in the direction of the fallen soldier, then back to Ripper. He bowed deeply. "Honorable Uncle," he said quietly.
Kenny actually smiled slightly. "Hi Wufan," he said.
Sallah shook her head, but beamed quietly.
Wufan looked up, then smiled himself. He walked over to Kenny and bowed. Then, he grabbed Kenny and hugged him. "I'm glad you are not dead, Kenny," he said.
"Ha!," Duan chimed in. "It'll take more than some lousy soldiers and stuff to kill Kenny."
"Now why does that sound familiar?" Duo muttered. Before Heero could respond, Duo grabbed the end of his own braid and clutched it protectively to his chest.
"Don't even...."
Heero glared slightly but it didn't reach behind his eyes.
Rip turned and noticed the woman in the soldier's uniform who was with the children. Actually he noticed several women and looked each of them over. Then he slid up to the one whose light brown hair was braided and the braids pinned around her head - the woman called Lev.
"Hallo, dear," he said, smiling.
Lev's eyebrows raised and she smiled. "Hello... um... Uncle Ripper?" she said, then glanced over at Kenny. "You want to tell me who your new friends are?" she asked.
A somewhat shorter blond walked out of the shadows under the trees. "Let's save introductions for another time," he said in a low British drawl. Then Jack went over to Heero and Duo. "Nice explosion. Ready to take a rest?"
"We aim to please."
Heero looked over at Duo with an eyebrow cocked.
"Heh. Remember, you're the hero here. I'm just the comic relief," Duo chuckled.
Heero rolled his eyes, "That still requires you to be funny, baka."
Duo stuck his tongue out at Heero childishly.
"Heh. And yer still no fun at all."
"Hn." Heero grunted, his hand snaking rapidly out to grab firm hold of Duo's braid. But for once, he didn't tug. At least not hard. Just enough to pull the braided boy over to him. "Baka." He repeated.
Duo grinned up at Jack and said, "What did you have in mind?"
Meanwhile, Kenny went over to Duan. He looked at his friend and said solemnly, "The General's dead. Ma and Helen can sleep quiet."
Duan nodded. "Yeah," he replied. He glanced over at Duo and Heero, then back to Kenny. "There like a big us," he said.
Kenny nodded, glancing over with very visible hero-worship in his eyes. "They're true." he said quietly. "Ma said.... I'd know who was true. You are. They are." Then he got tired and sat down on the ground, feeling exhaustion from far before that day, begin to overtake him.
Duan sat next to him. "So, you goin' with 'em?" he asked quietly.
Kenny blinked, trying to hide the longing those words evoked. "Don't think it's... doable," he said softly. He nodded at Jack and Ripper. "They gotta decent place, we're all supposed to go there. The people are... weird... but mostly nice. Lotta kids though. And the adults treat em," he wrinkled his nose, "I dunno, special or something."
Duan frowned. "Hn," he remarked. "Lotta kids, huh? That sounds ok. But look, if you get a chance to get a real house and stuff... do it, ok?"
Kenny grabbed Duan's braid tiredly. "Shut up. Not going anywhere without you. You came back for me... didn't you?"
"Yeah, so what," Duan said.
Kenny shook his head, fisting his eyes. "Nothing what. Just... thanks."
"Welcome," Duan said, looking down. He leaned over and put his arm around his friend.
Duo's eyes met Heero's as the two smaller boys talked. There was a strange, wistful look there that Heero hadn't seen for a while.
Heero looked at the boys again and felt an answering wistfulness in his chest. He lifted a shoulder and dropped it in an almost shrug as his answer.
"Do they have tea, Kenny?" Wufan asked.
"Of course," Jack said, sounding mildly affronted.
"Then we will go with you, sir," Wufan said, bowing to Jack, before sitting down beside Kenny as well.
Rip watched Duo and Heero with a slight, shrewd smile.
"Come on," he said. "All you children get so cranky when you haven't had your naps. Now everyone must close their eyes and click their heels together three times and say, there's no place like... Arcadia..."
"Heh. And you were there. and you... Everyone was there!" Duo quoted.
Rip grinned and reached for the air at his back.
End of Part 8
bonnejeanne & vonceia present
RavynFyre and Kateri Marie
Please feel free to direct feedback to any or all of the authors!
ravynfyre@hotmail.com,
HematiteSalaris@aol.com,
vonceia@yahoo.com,
bonnejeanne@yahoo.com.