World on Fire: Chapter 7, The Calamity
“It’s getting annoying you know.” Trowa sat up from the couch he had been lying on for the past hour, turning to regard Heero. He still had his back turned, not bothering to turn to Trowa to speak, even if he was the only other person in the room.
“What’s annoying?” Trowa queried, leaning his elbows on the edge of the couch.
“You and Duo. I’ve had two weeks of having to ignore you two having sloppy, awkward sex. Actually, I’m surprised Duo was still in the mood to let you do... that... to him after you managed to elbow him in the face.”
Trowa managed his best imitation of a goldfish yet, his bugging out of his head as his mouth opened and closed in a vain attempt to release syllables that were firmly trapped in his throat. “Uh...” He managed, hoping he didn’t look as stupid as he felt while recovering from shock.
“I’m surprised you think no one’s noticed. Though I guess Quatre hasn’t, otherwise he wouldn’t be sleeping in that bed.” Having finished what he wanted to say, Heero silently walked to the door and left the room. It was beginning to become somewhat of a routine for him.
Trowa fell back to the couch and covered his hands with his eyes. He didn’t think they were being that obvious, though maybe Heero was more observant than most. Observant enough to be spying in the hanger where said elbowing incident had occurred... well, that was weird and really damn creepy. Hopefully Heero would just keep it to himself. Trowa didn’t really want to be open about his relationship with Duo, because it barely even counted as a relationship. They had sex whenever they were feeling horny... which for two teenage boys was ninety percent of the time, and Duo had been a good friend to have around. He’d even managed to start getting Trowa to open up a bit. Whatever innate qualities a relationship had, Trowa did not know them. But he knew that they weren’t there between him and Duo.
As for sloppy and awkward? Well, Heero could have a point there, they were both inexperienced virgins. But it felt good regardless, and it was definitely a comfort to have Duo in the middle of this firestorm.
*
“What’s going on?” Trowa had been taking part in another rousing game of staring at the ceiling while lying on the couch when he had been summoned to the hanger housing their mobile suits.
“We found a distress signal.” Quatre was the first to meet him in the hanger, jogging up to his side as he entered. He could see both Heero and Duo climbing into what appeared to be a VTOL transport plane. “It was from Relena Darlian, daughter of the Vice Foreign Minister. We’re going to try to rescue her.”
“All four of us?” Trowa queried as they reached the ramp.
“Needs a crew of four, and we're both expendable and qualified. She was in a shuttle crash, there may be more we need to pick up.”
Trowa snickered lightly at Quatre's disinterested shrug, boarding the plane ahead of the Arabian boy. The plane appeared to be a military transport at one time. Each of the ten seats lining the sides had weapon racks behind them: all of which, Trowa was relieved to note, contained assault rifles.
Grabbing one of the rifles out of its stand, he gave it a cursory glance. Apparently the Maguanacs were a well funded operation, they weren't using old gunpowder rifles - they were using fairly modern electromagnetic railguns. Trowa had never used one before, they were too hard to maintain for mercenary companies and they required a lot of power to charge once the batteries were drained. For those two facts alone they had been relegated to the domain of militaries, despite the technology being many centuries old. Checking the side, he could see this particular one was fully charged and loaded - they could hold many more rounds than a traditional machine gun could - they were taking good care of their weapons too, it seemed.
Placing the gun back on the rack, Trowa turned his head to see that Quatre had been watching him with a pleased grin as he inspected the weapon. He gave the other boy a polite nod, as if to say he was impressed with the equipment provided.
“They've been fighting against the Alliance for a while.” Quatre explained, picking up a rifle himself. “My family are pacifists, but I've been finding ways to channel the money they need.”
“Your family?” Trowa turned to regard Quatre, his mind clicking on to the subtext. Quatre must have come from a wealthy family - but wealthy enough to not notice the millions of credits this equipment must have cost?
“We have a family business, the Winner Company. Most of the construction in L4 colonies goes through the company.”
“So you've been sending the Maguanacs building materials for this base?” Trowa reasoned, his curiosity satisfied when Quatre finally nodded. “Shouldn't this be a secret? If your family finds out?”
Quatre just shrugged, shoving the rifle he had been holding back in the stand. “All things considered, my father finding out about the money doesn't seem important anymore. If I survive his aneurysm over the mobile suit, the world war... he'll probably forget about the money.”
The loud whirring of jet turbines winding up signalled the end of their conversation, prompting the two teenagers to secure themselves in the surrounding seats. The transport they were in was a fairly standard troop carrier, one that even Trowa’s mercenary company had been able to afford.
The routine was bringing back a feeling of familiarity - right shoulder strap over, attach to waist strap, left shoulder strap over - it was just missing the clicking of eight other harness buckles underneath the roar of the turbines. Shaking his head of old memories, Trowa gripped the handles of the seat as the cabin shook with the takeoff, lurching from side to side before it could find a stable position.
“Sorry! Totally my bad!” Duo’s cheerful voice yelled from the cockpit as the rocking subsided.
The plane managed to get into the air in short order, with only a few more yelled apologies from Duo. Thankfully the flight was not nearly as rocky as the takeoff, so once in the air both Quatre and Trowa were able to journey into the cockpit, a cramped two seated affair with rather dated controls.
“Sorry about that.” Duo waved cheerily from the pilot’s seat. “I’ve never flown one of these before.”
“And you let him fly?” Trowa turned his gaze to Heero, who seemed to have eaten something especially sour.
“He failed to mention that.”
“Well, we’re in the air aren’t we?” Duo swivelled his seat back to the windshield, setting the necessary options to bring the plane into autopilot. “So, what are we expecting?”
“Picking up as many civilians as we can.” All eyes turned to Quatre for the expected briefing. It was hard not to notice the excited glow that spread over the boys features as the others looked to him for leadership, Trowa was busy musing that he was like a little puppy dog starved for attention. At least the details were trivial enough to not warrant his full attention. Distress call, few details because the rescuers had something to hide, it was very similar to the missions the mercenary group had been hired out for. Go in, a bit of fighting, get double-crossed, steal the money, leave.
“Double-crossed?” Trowa was shaken out of his thoughts by the question, looking up to find the other boys staring at him. Had he said that out loud?
“Oh, just thinking, sorry.” Trowa shrugged, shoving his hands back into his jeans in a useless show of nonchalance. “No one ever wanted to pay the bill for rescue missions.”
I've got to get out of here. Turning before his indifferent façade could crack, he left the cockpit, daring to hope that his brief explanation would be enough to stay the curiosities of the others. He wasn't surprised though, when holding on to one of the roof handles, he heard the soft snapping of wary footsteps behind him.
“Hello, Duo.” He greeted without turning. Really, who else was it going to be.
“Hey.” Duo offered a short, clipped, uncertain word in reply. When Trowa didn't bother to respond, he continued, “Want to talk?”
“No.” Trowa still didn't turn, only offering a small jump of surprise when he felt Duo's arms slide around his waist, pulling him tightly against his warm body. “I don't want to do that either.”
Duo chuckled softly, resting his chin on the taller boy's shoulder, planting a few kisses on the exposed neck. “You don't have to tell me if you don't want to.” A few more kisses, a playful bite to the shoulder. “You don't have to do anything you don't want to.”
Trowa turned finally, a few tears wetting his eyes as he wrapped his arms around the other boy. From this vantage point he could see that Duo had wisely closed the cockpit door behind them. “Thank you.” He murmured, leaning in to plant a grateful kiss on Duo's lips. Maybe we really are in a relationship, Trowa mused thoughtfully, He knows I won't tell him about it. He doesn't think I'm something I'm not.
“Have you checked out these guns?” Duo’s hands slipped from Trowa’s waist, picking up one of the rifles from the stand as their bodies parted. “I’ve never seen a railgun before. How do they work?”
“The two rails down the barrel are charged, creating a magnetic field around each. When the projectile connects the rails...”
“No, I mean... how do you use it?” Duo snickered, patting the flustered Trowa on his shoulder.
“Oh, that’s easy.” Trowa took the rifle from Duo, flipping it around to show the grip. “To charge the rails, you flick this switch on here.” He demonstrated, the switch lighting from red to green after a few seconds of ominous humming. “Then you just point the rifle and pull the trigger.”
“You’ve used these before?” Duo asked.
Trowa shook his head. “No, just drooled over them in Guns & Ammo.”
“You dork.” Duo smirked, poking at Trowa’s ribs. “I can see you doing that, playing with your fantasy rifles when everyone was off having fun.”
“Like your magazines were any better.”
“Oh? And what do you know about my magazines?” Duo grinned, sliding his hips back against Trowa’s.
“Uh... guys?” The voice of Quatre interrupted them suddenly, causing both boys to recoil.
“Yeah?” Duo asked with averted eyes, stepping behind Trowa’s taller body to hide his burning cheeks.
“We’re coming up to... uh... past the Black Sea... that is... when you’re ready... see in the cockpit.” Quatre turned and left curtly through the door, leaving the two boys to work out a sentence amongst the mortified stammering.
“So.” Duo started, staring blankly at Quatre’s retreating back before his brain caught up. “I guess we should follow?”
“Yeah.” Trowa agreed, adjusting the front of his jeans slightly.
*
The trip through Eastern Europe was as eye opening as their journey through the Middle East. It was hard to imagine the scope of the devastation in a region famous for vast deserts, but the vast seas of blackened, broken European forests left nothing to the imagination. Bare and charred trees, the ground covered with a thick layer of soft white ash; from the air it looked like they were passing through a winter wonderland. The occasional village, town or even city left as barren lifeless husks told a different story: the fire sweeping through the dry forests of a Polish summer had devastated the country absolutely.
“Is there any part of Europe that’s not fucked?” Duo asked, staring over Heero’s shoulder out the window.
“Spain? The United Kingdom?” Quatre mused. “They’re far enough away.”
“You’re still just guessing.” Trowa added from beside Duo. “It could be the whole world, for all we know.”
“It’s... a possibility I’ve thought of.”
“Yeah?” Duo asked, pressing his side against Trowa. “What would we do then?”
“We would either have to find some way of rebuilding a space port.” Quatre turned the co-pilots chair around to face the two boys, blushing furiously when he noticed how close the two were. “Or it is possible the ecosystem will recover. Then we can have a rebuilding plan.”
“You seem to have a lot of plans we don’t hear about.” Heero muttered under his breath.
“Please don’t start this again.” Quatre said with a downright sulk, staring out the window to avoid looking at the Japanese boy. “I’ve explained it to you already.”
Trowa and Duo shared a glance and a shrug, silently establishing they knew nothing of this argument.
“This mission,” Trowa interrupted, slipping his arm around Duo with the sudden acceptance their relationship was no longer a secret. “Why now? Is this girl important?”
Quatre turned back to face them, seemingly glad for the change in subject. Heero just glowered from behind his bangs. “No, she’s not important.” Quatre explained, “But... to be honest, she’s the first contact we’ve had over the radio. We’re planning to rescue as many people as we can find.”
“Would’ve been nice to-” Heero began before he was quickly cut off by Trowa.
“I think we can agree.” Trowa said sharply, his gaze fixed on Heero. “That we are best served by helping rescue survivors.”
“It’s the best fit for our skills.” Duo agreed. “Heero’s right, though. We need to be told what’s going on.”
“Don’t push it.” Quatre ran his hand through his bangs, groaning at the conversation. “The Maguanacs don’t trust outsiders. I’m surprised they let me give you any intel at all.”
“Doesn’t mean you can’t fill us in. I thought you were their leader.”
“Rashid is their real leader, Heero. I... stepped in, once. But I’m still not one of them yet.”
Trowa tightened his grip on Duo's waist, his eyes flicking between the two squabbling boys. They'd only known each other for a few weeks now, but he knew they couldn't fall apart now. Heero was brilliant, impossible to talk to but extremely competent. Quatre practically saved them all when he led them to the base. Ther best hope of survival lay with him and the Maguanacs, no matter how little they shared. Duo was, well... apart from being his boyfriend by default now, Duo was a damn good pilot and exceptional at gathering information. Add to that their common background of the Gundams and surviving the fall to Earth, Trowa couldn't afford to lose any one of them to the petty bickering.
“We're fucked if we don't work together.” Trowa ground out in his still, gravelly monotone that demanded the attention of everyone in the small cockpit. “I feel like I should give everyone a speech on teamwork and surviving, but I'm not good at that. So...” One of the things Trowa had not revealed to the other boys was his speed and dexterity. Reaching out with both arms, he gave both Heero and Quatre a hard smack around the head before either could blink, his arms returning to Duo's waist as both boys simultaneously grabbed their skulls and made curses of pain. “Quatre, you are going to get us a meeting with Rashid when we get back and we'll talk about access. Heero, you're going to shut up and get on with the mission. We’re nearly there.”
Trowa pointed out the window to the approaching landmass at the end of the Baltic Sea. The entire journey had taken less than a day - not bad for a small twin engined plane. Heero nodded silently in his usual way, taking control of the plane to guarantee a low, undetectable entry into Sanc.
“Any radar tracking us?” Duo queried.
“I doubt it.” Quatre brought up a screen on the heads up display, one of the cameras had zoomed in to take photos of the surrounding countryside. Blackened and charred, such a common sight now but yet still so hard to get used to.
“I guess it was too much to hope for.” Duo grimaced. “If it was untouched she wouldn’t need our help.”
“I’m getting a location on the distress signal.” Quatre announced, bringing up a map to add the waypoint to. The unspoken irony was not lost on any of the boys. The map was still showing the land as a bright, pleasant green.
“We’ll be there in five minutes. Get ready.” Heero ordered and started strapping himself in, noticing with disdain that the harness was another of the testicle destroying kind. The others quickly followed suit, Quatre likewise fastening the harness on his seat, Duo and Trowa leaving the cockpit to seat themselves in the back.
*
Trowa grimaced, grabbing the seats handles as tightly as he could as his stomach lurched, every other part of his body lurching shortly behind it. He would’ve preferred Duo’s flying to this, Heero seemed to have very limited control of the hover functionality of the plane, the craft swinging around their target like it was being batted about by a giant invisible cat.
“That fucker!” Duo yelled over the deafening roar of air rushing around them. Heero had somehow managed to open the rear hatch during their descent. “That fucker does not get to criticise my flying again! Fucker!”
Mercifully the plane managed to land itself without breaking in a small clearing of broken forest, the crumbling trees and ash cushioning their less than elegant descent. Trowa caught a few deep breaths as they stopped moving, fumbling with his harness as quickly as possible. He managed to get his off just before Duo, leaping to hit the close button and shut the door before more ash could be blown into the plane from the spinning engines.
“Son of a bitch.” Duo swore again, ripping one of the rifles out of the stand and slinging it over his back. “If there was still radiation here, he would’ve just killed us.”
“Duo.” Trowa cautioned as he reached for his own rifle.
“What?”
“Don’t kill him, please.”
“What’s annoying?” Trowa queried, leaning his elbows on the edge of the couch.
“You and Duo. I’ve had two weeks of having to ignore you two having sloppy, awkward sex. Actually, I’m surprised Duo was still in the mood to let you do... that... to him after you managed to elbow him in the face.”
Trowa managed his best imitation of a goldfish yet, his bugging out of his head as his mouth opened and closed in a vain attempt to release syllables that were firmly trapped in his throat. “Uh...” He managed, hoping he didn’t look as stupid as he felt while recovering from shock.
“I’m surprised you think no one’s noticed. Though I guess Quatre hasn’t, otherwise he wouldn’t be sleeping in that bed.” Having finished what he wanted to say, Heero silently walked to the door and left the room. It was beginning to become somewhat of a routine for him.
Trowa fell back to the couch and covered his hands with his eyes. He didn’t think they were being that obvious, though maybe Heero was more observant than most. Observant enough to be spying in the hanger where said elbowing incident had occurred... well, that was weird and really damn creepy. Hopefully Heero would just keep it to himself. Trowa didn’t really want to be open about his relationship with Duo, because it barely even counted as a relationship. They had sex whenever they were feeling horny... which for two teenage boys was ninety percent of the time, and Duo had been a good friend to have around. He’d even managed to start getting Trowa to open up a bit. Whatever innate qualities a relationship had, Trowa did not know them. But he knew that they weren’t there between him and Duo.
As for sloppy and awkward? Well, Heero could have a point there, they were both inexperienced virgins. But it felt good regardless, and it was definitely a comfort to have Duo in the middle of this firestorm.
*
“What’s going on?” Trowa had been taking part in another rousing game of staring at the ceiling while lying on the couch when he had been summoned to the hanger housing their mobile suits.
“We found a distress signal.” Quatre was the first to meet him in the hanger, jogging up to his side as he entered. He could see both Heero and Duo climbing into what appeared to be a VTOL transport plane. “It was from Relena Darlian, daughter of the Vice Foreign Minister. We’re going to try to rescue her.”
“All four of us?” Trowa queried as they reached the ramp.
“Needs a crew of four, and we're both expendable and qualified. She was in a shuttle crash, there may be more we need to pick up.”
Trowa snickered lightly at Quatre's disinterested shrug, boarding the plane ahead of the Arabian boy. The plane appeared to be a military transport at one time. Each of the ten seats lining the sides had weapon racks behind them: all of which, Trowa was relieved to note, contained assault rifles.
Grabbing one of the rifles out of its stand, he gave it a cursory glance. Apparently the Maguanacs were a well funded operation, they weren't using old gunpowder rifles - they were using fairly modern electromagnetic railguns. Trowa had never used one before, they were too hard to maintain for mercenary companies and they required a lot of power to charge once the batteries were drained. For those two facts alone they had been relegated to the domain of militaries, despite the technology being many centuries old. Checking the side, he could see this particular one was fully charged and loaded - they could hold many more rounds than a traditional machine gun could - they were taking good care of their weapons too, it seemed.
Placing the gun back on the rack, Trowa turned his head to see that Quatre had been watching him with a pleased grin as he inspected the weapon. He gave the other boy a polite nod, as if to say he was impressed with the equipment provided.
“They've been fighting against the Alliance for a while.” Quatre explained, picking up a rifle himself. “My family are pacifists, but I've been finding ways to channel the money they need.”
“Your family?” Trowa turned to regard Quatre, his mind clicking on to the subtext. Quatre must have come from a wealthy family - but wealthy enough to not notice the millions of credits this equipment must have cost?
“We have a family business, the Winner Company. Most of the construction in L4 colonies goes through the company.”
“So you've been sending the Maguanacs building materials for this base?” Trowa reasoned, his curiosity satisfied when Quatre finally nodded. “Shouldn't this be a secret? If your family finds out?”
Quatre just shrugged, shoving the rifle he had been holding back in the stand. “All things considered, my father finding out about the money doesn't seem important anymore. If I survive his aneurysm over the mobile suit, the world war... he'll probably forget about the money.”
The loud whirring of jet turbines winding up signalled the end of their conversation, prompting the two teenagers to secure themselves in the surrounding seats. The transport they were in was a fairly standard troop carrier, one that even Trowa’s mercenary company had been able to afford.
The routine was bringing back a feeling of familiarity - right shoulder strap over, attach to waist strap, left shoulder strap over - it was just missing the clicking of eight other harness buckles underneath the roar of the turbines. Shaking his head of old memories, Trowa gripped the handles of the seat as the cabin shook with the takeoff, lurching from side to side before it could find a stable position.
“Sorry! Totally my bad!” Duo’s cheerful voice yelled from the cockpit as the rocking subsided.
The plane managed to get into the air in short order, with only a few more yelled apologies from Duo. Thankfully the flight was not nearly as rocky as the takeoff, so once in the air both Quatre and Trowa were able to journey into the cockpit, a cramped two seated affair with rather dated controls.
“Sorry about that.” Duo waved cheerily from the pilot’s seat. “I’ve never flown one of these before.”
“And you let him fly?” Trowa turned his gaze to Heero, who seemed to have eaten something especially sour.
“He failed to mention that.”
“Well, we’re in the air aren’t we?” Duo swivelled his seat back to the windshield, setting the necessary options to bring the plane into autopilot. “So, what are we expecting?”
“Picking up as many civilians as we can.” All eyes turned to Quatre for the expected briefing. It was hard not to notice the excited glow that spread over the boys features as the others looked to him for leadership, Trowa was busy musing that he was like a little puppy dog starved for attention. At least the details were trivial enough to not warrant his full attention. Distress call, few details because the rescuers had something to hide, it was very similar to the missions the mercenary group had been hired out for. Go in, a bit of fighting, get double-crossed, steal the money, leave.
“Double-crossed?” Trowa was shaken out of his thoughts by the question, looking up to find the other boys staring at him. Had he said that out loud?
“Oh, just thinking, sorry.” Trowa shrugged, shoving his hands back into his jeans in a useless show of nonchalance. “No one ever wanted to pay the bill for rescue missions.”
I've got to get out of here. Turning before his indifferent façade could crack, he left the cockpit, daring to hope that his brief explanation would be enough to stay the curiosities of the others. He wasn't surprised though, when holding on to one of the roof handles, he heard the soft snapping of wary footsteps behind him.
“Hello, Duo.” He greeted without turning. Really, who else was it going to be.
“Hey.” Duo offered a short, clipped, uncertain word in reply. When Trowa didn't bother to respond, he continued, “Want to talk?”
“No.” Trowa still didn't turn, only offering a small jump of surprise when he felt Duo's arms slide around his waist, pulling him tightly against his warm body. “I don't want to do that either.”
Duo chuckled softly, resting his chin on the taller boy's shoulder, planting a few kisses on the exposed neck. “You don't have to tell me if you don't want to.” A few more kisses, a playful bite to the shoulder. “You don't have to do anything you don't want to.”
Trowa turned finally, a few tears wetting his eyes as he wrapped his arms around the other boy. From this vantage point he could see that Duo had wisely closed the cockpit door behind them. “Thank you.” He murmured, leaning in to plant a grateful kiss on Duo's lips. Maybe we really are in a relationship, Trowa mused thoughtfully, He knows I won't tell him about it. He doesn't think I'm something I'm not.
“Have you checked out these guns?” Duo’s hands slipped from Trowa’s waist, picking up one of the rifles from the stand as their bodies parted. “I’ve never seen a railgun before. How do they work?”
“The two rails down the barrel are charged, creating a magnetic field around each. When the projectile connects the rails...”
“No, I mean... how do you use it?” Duo snickered, patting the flustered Trowa on his shoulder.
“Oh, that’s easy.” Trowa took the rifle from Duo, flipping it around to show the grip. “To charge the rails, you flick this switch on here.” He demonstrated, the switch lighting from red to green after a few seconds of ominous humming. “Then you just point the rifle and pull the trigger.”
“You’ve used these before?” Duo asked.
Trowa shook his head. “No, just drooled over them in Guns & Ammo.”
“You dork.” Duo smirked, poking at Trowa’s ribs. “I can see you doing that, playing with your fantasy rifles when everyone was off having fun.”
“Like your magazines were any better.”
“Oh? And what do you know about my magazines?” Duo grinned, sliding his hips back against Trowa’s.
“Uh... guys?” The voice of Quatre interrupted them suddenly, causing both boys to recoil.
“Yeah?” Duo asked with averted eyes, stepping behind Trowa’s taller body to hide his burning cheeks.
“We’re coming up to... uh... past the Black Sea... that is... when you’re ready... see in the cockpit.” Quatre turned and left curtly through the door, leaving the two boys to work out a sentence amongst the mortified stammering.
“So.” Duo started, staring blankly at Quatre’s retreating back before his brain caught up. “I guess we should follow?”
“Yeah.” Trowa agreed, adjusting the front of his jeans slightly.
*
The trip through Eastern Europe was as eye opening as their journey through the Middle East. It was hard to imagine the scope of the devastation in a region famous for vast deserts, but the vast seas of blackened, broken European forests left nothing to the imagination. Bare and charred trees, the ground covered with a thick layer of soft white ash; from the air it looked like they were passing through a winter wonderland. The occasional village, town or even city left as barren lifeless husks told a different story: the fire sweeping through the dry forests of a Polish summer had devastated the country absolutely.
“Is there any part of Europe that’s not fucked?” Duo asked, staring over Heero’s shoulder out the window.
“Spain? The United Kingdom?” Quatre mused. “They’re far enough away.”
“You’re still just guessing.” Trowa added from beside Duo. “It could be the whole world, for all we know.”
“It’s... a possibility I’ve thought of.”
“Yeah?” Duo asked, pressing his side against Trowa. “What would we do then?”
“We would either have to find some way of rebuilding a space port.” Quatre turned the co-pilots chair around to face the two boys, blushing furiously when he noticed how close the two were. “Or it is possible the ecosystem will recover. Then we can have a rebuilding plan.”
“You seem to have a lot of plans we don’t hear about.” Heero muttered under his breath.
“Please don’t start this again.” Quatre said with a downright sulk, staring out the window to avoid looking at the Japanese boy. “I’ve explained it to you already.”
Trowa and Duo shared a glance and a shrug, silently establishing they knew nothing of this argument.
“This mission,” Trowa interrupted, slipping his arm around Duo with the sudden acceptance their relationship was no longer a secret. “Why now? Is this girl important?”
Quatre turned back to face them, seemingly glad for the change in subject. Heero just glowered from behind his bangs. “No, she’s not important.” Quatre explained, “But... to be honest, she’s the first contact we’ve had over the radio. We’re planning to rescue as many people as we can find.”
“Would’ve been nice to-” Heero began before he was quickly cut off by Trowa.
“I think we can agree.” Trowa said sharply, his gaze fixed on Heero. “That we are best served by helping rescue survivors.”
“It’s the best fit for our skills.” Duo agreed. “Heero’s right, though. We need to be told what’s going on.”
“Don’t push it.” Quatre ran his hand through his bangs, groaning at the conversation. “The Maguanacs don’t trust outsiders. I’m surprised they let me give you any intel at all.”
“Doesn’t mean you can’t fill us in. I thought you were their leader.”
“Rashid is their real leader, Heero. I... stepped in, once. But I’m still not one of them yet.”
Trowa tightened his grip on Duo's waist, his eyes flicking between the two squabbling boys. They'd only known each other for a few weeks now, but he knew they couldn't fall apart now. Heero was brilliant, impossible to talk to but extremely competent. Quatre practically saved them all when he led them to the base. Ther best hope of survival lay with him and the Maguanacs, no matter how little they shared. Duo was, well... apart from being his boyfriend by default now, Duo was a damn good pilot and exceptional at gathering information. Add to that their common background of the Gundams and surviving the fall to Earth, Trowa couldn't afford to lose any one of them to the petty bickering.
“We're fucked if we don't work together.” Trowa ground out in his still, gravelly monotone that demanded the attention of everyone in the small cockpit. “I feel like I should give everyone a speech on teamwork and surviving, but I'm not good at that. So...” One of the things Trowa had not revealed to the other boys was his speed and dexterity. Reaching out with both arms, he gave both Heero and Quatre a hard smack around the head before either could blink, his arms returning to Duo's waist as both boys simultaneously grabbed their skulls and made curses of pain. “Quatre, you are going to get us a meeting with Rashid when we get back and we'll talk about access. Heero, you're going to shut up and get on with the mission. We’re nearly there.”
Trowa pointed out the window to the approaching landmass at the end of the Baltic Sea. The entire journey had taken less than a day - not bad for a small twin engined plane. Heero nodded silently in his usual way, taking control of the plane to guarantee a low, undetectable entry into Sanc.
“Any radar tracking us?” Duo queried.
“I doubt it.” Quatre brought up a screen on the heads up display, one of the cameras had zoomed in to take photos of the surrounding countryside. Blackened and charred, such a common sight now but yet still so hard to get used to.
“I guess it was too much to hope for.” Duo grimaced. “If it was untouched she wouldn’t need our help.”
“I’m getting a location on the distress signal.” Quatre announced, bringing up a map to add the waypoint to. The unspoken irony was not lost on any of the boys. The map was still showing the land as a bright, pleasant green.
“We’ll be there in five minutes. Get ready.” Heero ordered and started strapping himself in, noticing with disdain that the harness was another of the testicle destroying kind. The others quickly followed suit, Quatre likewise fastening the harness on his seat, Duo and Trowa leaving the cockpit to seat themselves in the back.
*
Trowa grimaced, grabbing the seats handles as tightly as he could as his stomach lurched, every other part of his body lurching shortly behind it. He would’ve preferred Duo’s flying to this, Heero seemed to have very limited control of the hover functionality of the plane, the craft swinging around their target like it was being batted about by a giant invisible cat.
“That fucker!” Duo yelled over the deafening roar of air rushing around them. Heero had somehow managed to open the rear hatch during their descent. “That fucker does not get to criticise my flying again! Fucker!”
Mercifully the plane managed to land itself without breaking in a small clearing of broken forest, the crumbling trees and ash cushioning their less than elegant descent. Trowa caught a few deep breaths as they stopped moving, fumbling with his harness as quickly as possible. He managed to get his off just before Duo, leaping to hit the close button and shut the door before more ash could be blown into the plane from the spinning engines.
“Son of a bitch.” Duo swore again, ripping one of the rifles out of the stand and slinging it over his back. “If there was still radiation here, he would’ve just killed us.”
“Duo.” Trowa cautioned as he reached for his own rifle.
“What?”
“Don’t kill him, please.”