[Master of Puppets I'm pulling your strings
twisting your mind and smashing your dreams
Blinded by me, you can't see a thing
Just call my name, 'cause I'll hear you scream]
      --- Lyrics to 'Master of the Puppets' performed by Metallica

A Silver Lining Part 40

Heero groaned deeply as consciousness finally returned. "You okay, man?" his partner's voice asked quietly, dripping with concern. It took blinking his eyes a few times, adjusting to the darkness once more, before he focused on the heart-shaped face just above his own.

With a relieved smile tugging his lips, Duo very tentatively ran a hand through his friend's unruly hair to keep the other pilot conscious enough that he could check his pupils. "You scared the shit out of me," he sighed. "You've been out ever since they brought you back. I've been trying to wake you up for at least an hour now."

Still dazed after his last 'meeting' with their captors, Heero leaned into his partner's touch when his rand ran down the side of his face. His heavy-lidded cobalt eyes began to drift closed again as he muttered, "They changed tactics. Can't tell what they used on me." His hands reached up to dry wash his face as he tried to regain his wits about him.

Duo sat back up, hugging his legs to his chest as he watched the ex-Wing pilot in concern. "Well whatever it was, it must have been just short of an elephant tranquilizer to knock you out like that." A shudder wracked his body as he shook his head, "I was starting to panic thinking that I wouldn't be able to wake you up."

At the plain fear in his friend's voice, Heero turned from staring at the ceiling to watch his friend. "Don't worry," he reassured the American with a small smirk. "I don't plan on going anywhere any time soon."

Taking a deep breath, Duo nodded but looked away, his eyes shimmering in the dim light that peered from under the cell door. "I just... I can't lose you. Not like all of the others," he whispered brokenly.

Blinking in surprise, the ex-Wing pilot remained still as he watched his partner wipe at his eyes. Thinking of Solo, Father Maxwell, Sister Helen and all of those who Duo had cared before a died, he felt terrible for trying to make light of their current situation. It was pretty obvious, now, that the braided pilot was scared to death he lost someone else.

Slowly sitting up, Heero fought the wave of nausea his movement caused. Just as Duo turned to face him with wide eyes, the Japanese Preventer wrapped his arms tightly around his friend. At the initial contact, the other pilot stiffened from surprise, but soon relaxed and returned the tight embrace, his body trembling.

For a long moment, the two agents just held onto each other. Up until that moment, Heero never admitted to himself that even he needed some sort of comfort after their long ordeal in captivity. It had been one of the more trying times that he experienced. And it was clear that the ordeal had taken its toll on his friend. "It's all right," he finally whispered as Duo buried his head in his shoulder.

When he finally calmed his shaking form, Duo pulled back from their embrace to meet his partner's concerned gaze. The many days that they had spent in their small cell had finally worn on him enough to show plainly in his violet eyes. His voice stern and the seriousness etched on his face, he stated, "I need you to promise me that you won't die on me. I would never be able to handle losing you."

Heero's cobalt eyes widened as he watched his partner. Throughout the wars, he always considered Duo to be a rock of fortitude even in the most bleak of situations. Now, knowing the young man's past, he could not think of anything capable of breaking the braided pilot down. It was the first time- staring into those frightened violet eyes- that he could see that his friend was on the cusp of doing just that.

The thin threat that Duo was gasping onto to keep from falling into madness was close to snapping.

And yet, in despite of all of that, Heero was beside himself in having someone worry about him so much. Up until then, even he never cared about himself. How many times had he thrown caution to the wind all for the sake of accomplishing a mission? The mission always came before him. And now, to have someone actually tell him to swear that he would not die on them, to say that they would not be able to handle his loss... it left him reeling.

Everything changed that moment. Suddenly, Heero found that he wanted to live... wanted to be the person worthy of having someone care about him that much.

With determination in his eyes, the ex-Wing pilot nodded firmly, "I promise." The edge of madness at the edges of Duo's gaze faded into sheer relief. Swallowing hard, the braided pilot nodded back. Reaching out, Heero placed a hand on the back of his friend's neck and pulled his head against his own shoulder for another tight embrace that was quickly returned.

A new mission was set. As he held onto his friend, the Japanese Preventer knew that they had to get out of the base at all costs, if for no other reason than for Duo's sake. The next time their captors came into the cell, they would be taking the braided pilot. Fearing what treatment they would use on him during that meeting, Heero's wheels turned all the faster in the need find a way out before that happened.

Waiting for help to finally find them had taken far too long. Despite the risks involved in attempting to get themselves out, it was the only option now.

Silently, Heero contemplated their options. In the times that he had been taken from the small cell, he was able to take note of the number of guards that were normally on duty and down which halls. It was just a matter of getting a hold of a few weapons.

When they pulled back and met each other's gazes once more, Heero smirked, "I think that I've about had enough of this place. What do you say we work out a way to get the hell out of here and get in touch with our backup?"

A small smile of relief tugged at Duo's lips as he nodded, "I'm up for that. How soon are we looking to make a move?"

"Tonight, just before the guards switch their shifts," the ex-Wing pilot answered flatly, the makings of his plan already starting to come together. Timing was everything in this, and so every detail had to be considered.

Looking to the door, Duo nodded, already knowing fully well the sounds and sights of shifting light from the hall that announced that time of evening. For as long as they had been held captive, it was easy for an ex-terrorist to be alert to such things.

"There won't be a large window of time before the halls will be fully staffed," the braided pilot thought aloud. "Even if we were able to get a hold of a couple weapons, if we take too long to get distance between them and us, game's over for us."

As he leaned back, Heero smirked knowingly, "Do you think you'll be up for it?"

Duo returned the smirk, no further response needed. The God of Death shown through that mischievous grin. Whatever the outcome of their attempted escape, death or freedom, their hellish stay would be over.

Wincing, Heero reached up to rub a sore spot at the base of his neck. With a deep frown of concern, Duo asked, "Are you all right?"

The slight discomfort subsided and eventually faded away entirely. Lowering his hand, Heero nodded, "Yea. Just a strained muscle. It's fine now." Quickly focusing on the matter at hand, he began, "Now, we need to have a good enough reason to get a couple guards in here without alarming them enough to call for backup."

"Oh, I have just the thing for that," the American grinned.

At the changing of the guards at the large base later that evening, two armed men that were about to be relieved as they began to walk away from the cell door. "Help!" screamed one of the pilots within the doors. Their eyes wide, the two soldiers turned to each other before removing the riffles and quickly opening the door.

Weapons raised, the first of the guards gazed to the braided pilot on the floor, shaking violently as he gasped for air and moaned in pain. The Japanese Preventer looked up at them with wide, frightened eyes as he cried, "He's having a seizure! Don't just stand there!"

Blinking his wide eyes, the first of the guards carefully stepped further into the room to get closer to the seizing prisoner. Aiming his weapon at the worried pilot, he ordered, "Stay back, in the corner." Heero quickly obeyed, moving to the furthest corner as he watched his friend with wide, fear-filled eyes.

Just as the guard reached and bent over the shaking form of the American, the young pilot suddenly grabbed his weapon, spinning it in his hands and firing. The second guard had two seconds too few to react in time to defend himself.

Moments later, outside of the base, the stillness of the night was shattered when the loud sirens of the base wailed their long cries to announce that the prisoners had escaped.

*   *   *   *   *   *

"Are you insane!" Angie growled deeply, stalking towards Isis. Forgotten for the moment, Heero watched the scene in the living room from the hallway. As close as his two captors were, he knew better than to attempt to make any move at that point. Now knowing the identity of the last leak that he and his friends were searching for, he silently wished a painful end to him.

"By now, the others know that I've been a dirty agent all along!" the fallen Preventer shouted. "Why would you have me go back to the Earth to take out someone that does not know anything that would jeopardize the organization?"

With a satisfied smirk, Isis brushed back her orange bangs and answered, "Those pilots have the chip that had been planted in that girl, Angie. You seem to have forgotten that detail in all of this. Should they start to tie the links that are encoded, they'll eventually find their way to us. Our pictures will be distributed throughout the Earth and colonies and there will be nowhere that we can hide."

To that, Angie could only swallow hard. Taking a deep breath, Isis continued, "Now, I have had a few eyes from my own scouts watching the progress of the missions at both the orphanage and the safe house. Both the girl and Tim were taken into the Preventers' headquarters and have yet to leave. So, we need to remove the chance that they will get anything from that chip. We need to move in and soon, if we are to assure ourselves of not being discovered."

Angie's eyes narrowed further as she shook her head, "Can't you just send someone else to take care of him?"

Placing a hand on her agent's shoulder, Isis replied, "You're the only person that I can rely on to get the job done. First and foremost, you're the only person who knows that facility inside and out. I need to have someone that will make sure the job is done right.

"Now, when I said to take care of Tim, I did not necessarily mean to kill him. He could be an asset in assisting you to recover that chip. Use him however you need." With a nonchalant shrug, the orange-haired young woman mocked sadness as she said, "If he should have to be sacrificed or have an unfortunate accident in the process, so be it." She raised a thin finger before the pilot's face to emphasize, "But first and foremost, that chip has to be destroyed, whatever the cost. While getting in and out of there will be a challenge, you have pulled off the impossible before. You were the only person capable of bringing Yuy in."

As she spat the ex-Wing pilot's name, the tall young woman's green eyes looked up to glare heatedly at the young man down the hall. He met her glare with his own. "I know that you will be able to pull this off."

When Angie still did not look to be satisfied with just that, the orange-haired woman tilted her head frowning deeply, "I'm meeting with him today." With no need to mention who 'he' was, she watched as the fallen Preventer paled. "Do you really want me to tell him that you were insubordinate to a direct order. Now I did not want it to have to come to this, but if you leave me no choice-"

"No!" the dark-haired pilot quickly cried, her eyes wide with terror. Lowering her head and rubbing her arms nervously, she said quietly, "No, I-I'll take care of it."

Her smug grin returning, Isis ran a hand over her agent's hair and whispered, "That's a good girl." She cupped the ashen young woman's face in her hands so that their hazes met and reassured her, "I have the utmost faith in you that you'll get this done and that is why I am sending you. When this is all over, you can name your price for your services. By then, you would not be able to name a figure too high."

With a gesture to the young man in the hall, Isis stated coolly, "Now, go put him away so that you can get ready to leave. I want you out of here within the hour." As she appraised the small chip that she held in the lamp light, she grinned, "I have to prepare for my presentation."

Angie took a deep, slow breath before nodding, "Yes, Commander." With that, she turned and headed back down the hall. "Let's go," she hissed to her captive as she roughly tugged him along with her. "We have a special place set up just for you."

When they turned the corner, Heero peered out the corner of his eye and smirked darkly, "She's setting you up. You realize that, don't you?"

Tightening her grip on his arm, Angie growled deeply, "You don't know what the hell you're talking about. Isis said that she can't rely on anyone to carry out the task. She knows what she's doing by counting on me."

Heero shrugged, his smirk only growing as he commented, "Of course. Isis is very trustworthy when it comes to her looking after her own." He chuckled deeply, "Too bad that didn't quite work out for Kent."

"Shut up," Angie hissed sharply, glaring at the pilot fiercely. Pausing before the last metal door at the end of the darkened hall, she opened it and stated, "Isis did what she had to in order to advance. There would be no reason for her to try to get rid of me. You're just trying to cause me to doubt her intentions." With a rough shove, she sent Heero into the dark cell.

Just before she could slam the door after him, the ex-Wing pilot's narrowed eyes turned to the young woman he once thought of as someone he could trust. "Think, Angie," Heero warned. "You're being sent into the headquarters of the Preventers. Even with Tim's help, do you really think that you're going to get very far?"

The corner of his mouth tugged up as he said quietly, "I would just make sure to watch my back. Were I in her place, I would not miss out on this opportunity to remove more than just the threat of whatever is on that chip. The Preventers' headquarters has been a prim target for terrorists for years. To be the one responsible for leveling it, I'm sure Isis would go through whatever lengths to pull it off."

There was a look of hesitance in the young woman's eyes as she stiffened in the doorway, her hand still on the door. As much as she wanted to scream at him for making such accusations, Angie could not help but admit to herself that she feared the same even before he happened to mention it.

Shaking her head, she cleared her head and banished those dark thoughts. "No," she finally spoke, her voice little more than a whisper. Her eyes narrowing, she repeated louder and more sure of herself, "No. Isis would not sacrifice me for such a thing. She has what she wanted and that was to sit second-in-command of the operations we are carrying out to our main objective. There is no motive for her to have me sacrificed."

Heero raised an eyebrow and asked, "Not even to ensure that she stays second-in-command? There would have to be others further down the line that would be just waiting for the chance to set her up the way the two of you set Kent up. Had he done a better job of proving his worth, he would still be ordering Isis around."

With a sharp laugh, he went on, "And you're forgetting the most important piece of evidence here." At that, Angie quickly looked up to meet his gaze with wide eyes. "Do you really think that she's willing to share the credit of destroying that chip with you?" Heero inquired with a smug grin.

"That's enough!" Angie shouted, pistol suddenly in hand and aimed at the ex-Gundam pilot. Her shrill voice echoed eerily off the metal walls. "Another word and I'll kill you where you stand now!"

In seeing the way that the gun shook in the unsteady young woman's fierce grip, Heero was satisfied with his efforts. The seed had been planted and already, it was starting to grow its weeds into the young woman's firm resolve. He merely smirked at the fallen Preventer and nodded firmly. With that, Angie grunted loudly as she slammed the door.

In the dark, Heero sighed deeply and leaned his back against the far wall to sink to the floor. Gazing down to his shackled wrists, he weighed his options. Waiting was not one of them. Knowing that Angie would soon be leaving to destroy the data chip his friends had recovered, he couldn't risk their losing that chance to get to him in time. Somehow, he would just have to find a way to get himself out of his precarious situation.

Being trapped in that dark cell only served to bring back bittersweet memories of the weeks that he had spent with Duo prior to their separation. Had it not been for that time, the once deemed Perfect Soldier would never have opened up the way he had. His chest began to hurt over how much he missed his braided lover. Sighing deeply, Heero looked up to the ceiling and frowned deeply, "I wish that I had you around to talk to, koi."

*   *   *   *   *   *

Duo glared through the observation glass to the young man in the other room. Standing at either side of the room, Wufei and Zechs loomed over their charge seated at the table in the center. Seated at that table, Tim stared back as if able to see through the mirror on his end to meet the gaze watching him, his own gray eyes narrowed heatedly in a silent challenge.

"I still don't see the point in keeping him alive," the braided pilot growled deeply. "He's served as bait and has no other use to us now. If anyone working for White Out saw us bringing him in, they'll be sending someone in to look for him. He doesn't have to be in one piece when they get here."

Lady Une frowned deeply and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. "I know your frustration, Duo," she replied sincerely as she turned to face him. "But we can't take his word that he does not know anything.

"Trowa and Anna are walking Noin and Quatre through on how they can help them decrypt the data card that was implanted in Rachel. There has to be something on there that would jog his memory." She smirked, "And if that can't Zechs and Wufei are just waiting for word to use other means."

Running a hand through his long bangs, Duo sighed deeply in frustration, "Yea, yea, I know. It's just not doing us or Heero a shit load of good just sitting and waiting, though, is it?" Lady Une lowered her hand and her head a bit, biting her lip in knowing that she couldn't disagree with the young pilot.

Unable to look at Tim any longer, the braided pilot turned towards the door and announced "I need to get some air." The commander just watched him quietly in concern as he slammed the door after him.

Stalking down the long hall of the basement floor, Duo made his way to the stairwell. With the building closed and locked off from the world, the empty shaft picked up every footstep as they echoed off the walls.

His body moving on its own accord, he walked up the flights until he reached his destination. Turning the corner, he quickly reached the door that he sought out and punched the access code. As the door to the office that he and Heero shared open, he turned the light on.

It had been months since the last time Duo had set foot into the large office. One of the first things that he noticed was that despite the fact that they had been gone so long, there was not a trace of dust to be found. The sight of it made him whimper as small tears filled his eyes. Recalling how painstakingly Heero had cared for his things while he was held, the braided pilot instantly regretted his decision to visit the room.

With a quick wipe at his eyes, Duo forced himself to regain his composure. As the braided pilot moved to the windows to look down on the city a voice from the doorway announced, "There you are." Looking up, Duo found Rachel smiling brightly at him. In her right arm, she carried her faithful teddy bear.

There was something about the child that always seemed to make Duo smile. Her own grin was quite infectious. "Hey, there, munchkin," he greeted as she entered the room. "What are you up to?"

"Looking for you," Rachel laughed as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Trowa and Anna are busy working and they sent me to look for you. That pretty Lady Une said that I would find you here."

Kneeling so that they were eye-to-eye, Duo frowned in confusion, "Why would they send you to look for me?"

Quickly spreading her arms wide, the child beamed, "To give you this." She launched herself at him, tightly wrapping her arms around his neck and kissed his cheek three times. "You looked sad all night and they said that you could use a good hug. The kisses are from all of us."

That sweet gesture undid the resolve that Duo was desperately trying to keep in tack. Wrapping his arms around the small girl, he lifted her up as he rose to his feet, biting back a sharp sob as tears began to run down his face. "Thank you, Rachel," was all that he could manage in a broken whisper.

Pulling back, the little girl frowned deeply and wiped some of the tears away. "Don't cry, Duo," she said quietly. Her smiling returning, she reassured him, "Mister Hero is going to be all right. We'll get him back."

Something about the endearing, unbreakable faith managed to shed some light on the bleakness that threatened to swallow Duo whole. He chuckled deeply at her mispronunciation of his lover's name. With a watery smile of his own, he nodded, "Yea. Thanks, kiddo. I really needed that." Her smile growing, Rachel threw her arms around his neck again.

As he returned the embrace, Duo looked up to see Lady Une peeking into the doorway. The tall woman's eyes widened at being caught. Resigning herself to being spotted, she gave a sheepish smile. Suddenly, it was clear who had taken the time to see that his and Heero's things were looked after. With a sincere smile, the braided pilot mouthed, 'Thank you.'

Her cheeks turning pink at being caught once again, Lady Une mouthed back, 'You're welcome.' With that, she winked before disappearing once more.

Carefully shifting Rachel in his arms so that he could hold her more comfortably, Duo moved towards the window and smiled to her, "I bet you've never seen a city from up this high, have you?"

Her brown eyes widening in awe, Rachel peered down to the millions of city lights far below. "Wow," she breathed. "It's so pretty." Humming his agreement, Duo kissed the top of her head and enjoyed his own view of the slowly waking city below. Off in the distance, the sky began to lighten as the sun began its slow creep over the horizon.

*   *   *   *   *   *

Technology was a wonderful thing. It certainly never ceased to amaze Isis. Appraising the small tracing detonator that took on the color of the tip of her finger to vanish before her eyes, she smiled to herself. Only if one was really looking would anyone know that something was there. As the sound of footsteps neared, she quickly rose from her seat at her desk.

With a clack backpack strapped over her shoulder, Angie nodded to her commander, "I'm off."

Isis gave a wide smile and patted the center of her agent's back, latching the small detonator onto the black, long-sleeved shirt. "Be certain to contact me as soon as you've finished to let me know how the mission went," she ordered.

With a firm nod, Angie replied, "Of course." Gesturing to the chip on the center of the orange-haired woman's desk, she said, "Good luck with your meeting."

Once the young woman left the hide out, Isis watched through the window over her desk as Angie's car pulled away. "Oh, I'm not the one who is going to need any luck this day, my dear," she chuckled deeply.

TBC...

 

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