misanagi

Anne, I thought you would like this fic, after all, Quatre is wearing handcuffs.

*hugs* *loves you*

More than Words

Rating: PG13
Pairing: 5+4
Summary: After a Preventers' mission, Quatre and Wufei get captured.
Warnings: Violence, language.

Notes: Gift fic written for Anne. Merry Christmas!

Thanks to Anne for the beta (Yes, I'm evil, I made Anne beta her own present. ^^;;)

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Quatre hit the floor hard, managing to turn his body just in time to land on his side and spare his face any injuries. The heavy metal door was closed before he had time to stand up, and shadows covered the room.

"I thought the idea of you escaping was to get help and get me out, not to get caught later."

Managing to rise to his knees, which was a very difficult task to accomplish when one had his hands handcuffed behind his back, Quatre turned his head to where he had heard the voice; he could see a figure resting on the far wall. "I managed to let Duo know we were in trouble," Quatre said, standing up and walking towards the person. "Help will be here soon."

Wufei snorted. "I thought you were supposed to be the help."

"There were complications," Quatre replied, sitting next to Wufei. "Are you okay?"

"What sort of complications?" Wufei asked, ignoring the question. "I thought I stayed behind to allow the rest of you to escape, /without/ any complications."

Quatre could now see Wufei, even despite how dark the cell was. He was injured, some blood could be seen through his Preventer shirt, and a couple of bruises were already forming on his face. "What happened?" Quatre asked, looking at the blood on Wufei's shoulder.

"Nothing." The word wasn't delivered in a harsh tone but Quatre could tell that Wufei didn't want to discuss the subject anymore.

"Is it deep? Do you need help with that?"

Wufei made a dismissive sound. "It's just a scratch. Some terrorist got nervous and thought I was going to escape."

With a shrug, Quatre decided to drop the issue. They all had been through worse; there was no need to worry about a simple scratch.

"What complications?" asked Wufei again, his tone showing that he was willing to beat the answers out of Quatre if he had to.

"Trowa got shot in the leg, and that slowed down our escape. Heero was carrying him which left Duo and me as our only defense. The terrorists were catching up so I ordered Duo to get the data to Headquarters and come back for us as soon as possible."

"You are injured," Wufei pointed out.

Quatre looked down at his uniform. Some blood stains could be seen, and the fabric was ripped on one knee and one shoulder. "Most of the blood isn't mine."

"So, some is," said Wufei, looking at Quatre's eyes.

"Some." Quatre shrugged again. "They weren't happy about the others getting away."

Wufei nodded and the issue was dropped. They remained in silence for a while, just waiting. The cell was made of concrete and there were no windows. Quatre had lost his lockpins when they had caught him, and he figured that if Wufei still had his hands cuffed it was because a similar thing had happened to him. The perimeter was surrounded with more than fifty armed men, who were now very tense because a group of five Preventers no older than twenty had just attacked their base and stolen some vital information. Quatre didn't think that it was the best time to attempt an escape, so he waited.

"They are going to try to use us to keep this pathetic operation going."

Wufei's words startled Quatre a bit. They had been quiet for a long time and Quatre hadn't expected any more conversation, at least for a while. "I know," said Quatre. "It's the only reason we are still alive."

There was silence for a few minutes before Wufei spoke again. "I didn't want you to be in this position."

Something in Wufei's voice made Quatre hesitate for a moment before replying. "I've been in worse."

Wufei didn't say anything, and after waiting for a few minutes, Quatre understood that the conversation was finished. He closed his eyes, deciding to rest while he could.

The footsteps outside the cell woke him. Quatre stood up, noticing that Wufei had walked to the other end of the room, to put some distance between them. It wasn't a wise move to stay close in a situation like that. If they had some distance between themselves it would force the guards either to split up or turn their back to the other, which would make it easier to intervene in case it was necessary.

The door opened with a loud noise and the light from outside entered the cell, illuminating it somewhat.

Five men walked into the room. One, who appeared to be the boss, stood tall in the middle, with two armed men on each side. The leader stopped and looked at Quatre and Wufei. "I hate Preventers," he spat. "Most of you were soldiers during the wars. You should understand us, our reasons to keep fighting, but yet, you turn against your own kind in the name of peace." He snorted. "Peace, it's just an illusion and it would shatter, if not by our hands, by someone else's, and there's nothing you can do to prevent it."

Quatre and Wufei remained silent. They were captives, enemies, and nothing they would say could change the terrorist's mind.

"You will die for what you did," the man continued, "but not before you help us."

"Your operation will be dismantled by morning and there's nothing you can do about it," Quatre said, in an indifferent tone. "There is no way you can move base before that, and a large group of Preventers will be here by then. You might as well just surrender and save some lives in the process."

The man took a gun out of his hostler and pointed to Quatre. "I'll kill you before I'll let that happened."

Quatre didn't flinch. "Right now my life is in your hands, but my death won't change a thing."

For a moment, Quatre thought that the man was going to attack him, but he didn't. "Tomorrow you'll be our human shield." The man turned to leave but the guards stayed. "Gentlemen, make sure our guests are presentable to meet their friends in the morning." And with that he left, closing the door behind him.

* * *

"This wasn't part of the plan," said Quatre, shifting his weight from the right to the left foot for the tenth time. He was getting really tired. He had been on his feet and tied to this bloody wall for the last five hours.

"Neither was for you to get caught and get the shit beat out of you," replied Wufei, from were he was tied beside Quatre. "I swear I'll kill them for that, even if I have to come back from the dead to do it.

Quatre thought that given the situation, coming back from the dead was probably the only way Wufei would get his revenge. The beating hadn't been so bad, the terrorist were only trying to teach a lesson to Preventers, and receiving the reinforcements with two bloodied and bruised Preventers' agents tied to the terrorist stronghold seemed to be a good idea. They were also bait. Two snipers had Wufei and Quatre in their sights and they were just waiting for someone to try to free them to shoot them down. Needless to say, Quatre didn't like the situation very much.

"Do I need to remind you that you got the shit beaten out of you too, Chang?" Quatre was cranky and definitely not in the mood to hear Wufei's patronizing tone.

"That doesn't matter," said Wufei, in an almost angry voice. "I stayed behind; I was waiting for something like this. But you, Winner, you were a damn fool. You didn't need to follow in my footsteps."

Quatre snorted. A mocking snort meant to hurt. He normally didn't let Wufei's attitude get to him, but after a long mission, and considering their current predicament, Quatre had lost all his patience. He was angry, angrier at Wufei than he ever remembered being before. "You give yourself too much credit. What? Do you think I can't take this? Do you think a couple of bruises are going to break me? I have faced death before, and you are no better than me, Chang!"

"No!" Wufei shouted, and after he took a deep breath, his next words came in a whisper. "The fact, Quatre, is that you are better than me, and you don't deserve this."

Those words hit Quatre like a punch. To say that he hadn't expected Wufei to say something like that would be the understatement of the century. And it wasn't just the words or the tone they were delivered, but also the fact that Quatre felt something coming from Wufei as he spoke, something Wufei had managed to hide from him, and hiding stuff from Quatre Winner wasn't an easy task to accomplish.

"Wufei, I didn't know, I... do you l—"

The rest of Quatre's words were muffled by the sound of gunfire. The cavalry had arrived.

All of Quatre's instincts yelled at him to take cover, but chained as he was to the wall, with his hands above his head and his feet clasped in shackles it was impossible. "I don't like this human shield thing at all," yelled Quatre, over the gunfire.

"I'm not enjoying it much myself," replied Wufei, and there was a hint of humor in his voice. Quatre shook his head; the guy found the worst circumstances amusing.

A shot landed so close to Quatre's head that he felt the burn of the bullet on the tip of his ear. "Fuck," he said more to himself than to anyone else. "We're not going to make it."

"Like hell you aren't!" Maybe it was the smoke or the fact that Duo was great at sneaking in, but Quatre didn't see him until he spoke.

"Heero's covering us," Duo said as he worked on the locks on Quatre's wrists. "And don't worry, Sally's helping Wufei, and Lu's covering them."

Those words were they only things Quatre needed to feel confident again. They were in good hands and they were going to make it, he was going to make sure of that, especially since he had a couple of questions to ask Wufei.

As soon as one of his hands was free, Quatre reached into Duo's hostler and grabbed the spare gun. Somebody had already taken out the snipers that were targeting Quatre and Wufei, so Quatre concentrated on eliminating any other threats that might hurt Duo while he was busy with the locks. From the corner of his eye, Quatre could see Wufei doing the same thing for Sally.

Soon, Quatre was free from the wall, and without any need for words he ran and took cover behind an abandoned jeep.

The mission ended very quickly. As Quatre had predicted, there was nothing the terrorist group could do against the Preventers' larger force, and in the end, they surrendered.

No amount of words could convince Sally that Quatre and Wufei weren't hurt badly, so they were put in the first transport to the Preventers' Medical Bay. Sally had to stay to take care of some injured men who needed attention at the spot, so Duo offered to drive them.

For a while, Duo did all the talking. He explained the mission plan, how they had organized the team and the changes they'd had to make when they noticed that Quatre and Wufei were tied to the wall like sacrificial lambs.

Quatre listened, but half of his mind was somewhere else. What had happened between him and Wufei had been important, and Quatre could just tell that something in their relationship had changed at that moment. Wufei cared for him, Quatre knew that, but he had never noticed that it wasn't only as a friend. He thought about saying something, but this wasn't the right moment. Quatre needed time to get his thoughts organized, and then, maybe then, it would be time to talk. Some moments in life were more than words could handle.


- The End -