Chapter 5 One of the many uses for Duct Tape

Disclaimer: No, I do not own Gundam Wing. As much as I use duct tape I don’t own it either.

"Alright. Move out. Check in with me in two hours. Understood?" The three of them nodded before scattering in different directions once outside the door.

"Heero!" He turned in the direction of the shout, inwardly groaning as a very unhappy Millardo approached him.

"How could you let this happen?!"

"My job is to protect her from assassins, mail bombs, and terrorists. It was never in my job description to baby-sit her." Heero calmly replied.

"How can you protect her when she out there, alone?!"

"Do you think we’ve been sitting around twiddling our thumbs the whole time? We are already doing all we can right now. I advise you either help or shut up and go back home." He replied his voice filling with just a tint of the anger building up inside of him. Does he really think I’m that dense? That I don’t realize what could happen to her out there? I’ve failed. But I’m getting her back. Alive.

Relena popped out the tape replacing it with another before she inserted it into the player. Heero’s voice rolled out of the compact speakers.

"Relena, Hilde, Dorothy, and Catherine have disappeared. Are you going to talk about it all day or do something about it?" She did a quick calculation as a huge smile filled her face before she switched the transmitter off. "Twenty-one! Twenty-one!" She did a little hop of happiness before grabbing Hilde’s hands and spinning her around the small living room.

"Twenty-one! He said twenty-one words! In two sentences!!"

"W…what?" Hilde managed to spit out overcoming her surprise of being whirled around by the Vice Foreign Minister.

"Heero! He said Twenty-one words!" Relena answered her face turning into one huge smile. Hilde couldn’t stop the laughter that bubbled out of her.

"I guess for Heero that would be an accomplishment. If Heero said that much, then maybe there’s hope that Duo might shut up long enough for me to get my two cents in." She replied to Relena’s questioning look in-between her laughter. The laughter of the two girls spilled out of the open window and onto the ears of the unnoticed visitors standing outside. When they finally regained control of themselves Hilde managed to slip the oven mitts off before rummaging through the cabinets. Minutes later, she triumphantly held up the roll of duct tape.

(I did this part alittle different. The above section was a combined

Relena/Hilde and this is Duo/Heero… I know it’s confusing but live with it…)

"Ready?" Duo asked his companion as he turned toward the door.

"Hn…"

"I’ll take that as a yes." He replied before inserting the key into the door.

"Where’d you get that?" Heero asked eyeing the key curiously. At least, Duo assumed it was curiosity. It was hard to tell anything with Heero.

"The nice landlady ‘gave’ it to me." He answered before silently slipping inside. Heero shut the door behind him before ringing the doorbell. Hilde glanced over at Relena as the doorbell sounded throughout the house.

"Remember, it could be Heero or Duo. Check before you even open the door." She warned giving the concoction on the stove one last stir before dumping it into two separate plates. Relena nodded before disappearing into the hallway. Duo did a quick survey of the kitchen, his mouth turning upwards in a grin as he spotted two oven mitts and a roll of duct tape on the counter. He waited until she placed the plates on the table and was about to sit down before he lunged forward grasping her wrist.

"RELENA!!! RU…" Relena instinctively followed the instructions of the cut off scream from Hilde and ran. Right out the front door which she flung open in her haste, not even realizing it was already unlocked, forward two paces and directly into something hard, unyielding, and… warm? She jerked her head up surprised.

"Heero? Heero, thank goodness… Hilde… she’s been attacked!" She managed to gasp out.

"I know." Those two words said in his monotone voice cut through the shock-induced haze that surrounded her mind.

"You… Duo?" She asked backing up. He didn’t reply confirming her suspicions.

"Why are you here?" She spat out glaring viciously at him.

"It’s my job. To keep you safe." He almost winced as the words left his mouth. Bad move, Yuy. He mentally scolded himself. Her face almost glowed with anger as she raced inside the house. He ran after her wondering just how deep her ideals of pacifism ran.

Duo glanced up startled as a gunshot rang throughout the house, giving Hilde one last opportunity to get away. She threw her weight back onto her right leg as she positioned it over his foot. He shifted trying to move her off of his foot as she rammed her elbow back aiming below the belt. A sharp intake of breath followed by a groan told her without a doubt that she had hit the mark right on the dot. The wave of victorious triumph dissipated when his arms tightened around her body holding her captive with bars of solid muscled arms and walls of unyielding flesh.