Archive: http://www.fanworkrecs.com
Disclaimers: I don't own the characters from Gundam Wing, I just play with them for non-profit fun until they run screaming back to their creators.
Warnings: AU - AAAAAAAAAAAU. Some yaoi, lemon, violence, language. You should be a legal adult to read this. Open-mindedness helps, too.
Pairings: all over the map; Duo-centric. yaoi and het.
Author's Notes: A huge helping of "suspension of disbelief" would be appropriate before you read this. I'm sure J or G could explain the science behind it, but they're kinda dead right now...
Part 4 ~ Confusion (cont'd)
Well, if he didn't know what to do about the mess with the secret weapon, at least he knew what to do about the mess with Wufei. The only way to get his friend off his tail was to prove he didn't have Zero Syndrome. Preferably without an autopsy. He snorted softly to himself and entered a search for qualified neurologists.
He had just hit the Enter key when he heard one of the sets of footsteps in the hallway slowing down outside the door. He was out of his chair and flicking off the screen as they came to a halt. He leapt lightly on top of the desk and grabbed the edge of the hole he had made in the ceiling as the key was being inserted into the lock. He pulled himself up into the narrow space between the ceiling of the room and the floor above as the key turned and the lock released. He silently eased the panel he had removed back into place as the door opened and someone took two quick steps inside, immediately closing the door again.
He froze facedown, suspended on palms and toes, weight spread around on the support beams, not the more flimsy panels. He listened intently, but could hear only very slight noises. He shifted his weight, preparing to move to a safer location.
He was just lifting a foot to move it to the next brace over when he heard a familiar monotone speaking Japanese softly below him. "You deliberately revealed yourself to those Preventers at the gate. You only do that when you want to rub their noses in your superior skills, or you are intending to return and want the search focused elsewhere. I ran a watchdog program on all users requesting information about Zero Syndrome. Storm and Tundra are off on assignment, and the chair and the computer are still warm. I know you're here."
Duo didn't try to stop the grin from splitting his face, or the rush of pleased warmth that spread over his body with the knowledge that his partner had found him so easily. Still, he cautiously lifted one end of the panel before him to check that Heero was alone.
Once assured of their privacy, he levered the panel out of the way and, grabbing onto the support beam with both hands, rolled his body forward through the opening to land on the desk with barely a sound. He smirked as he jumped lightly to the floor. Even Trowa couldn't have done that move any quieter.
Heero glared at him. "If you do have Zero Syndrome, I'll kill you myself."
"You say the sweetest things!!" Duo cooed in a falsetto voice, batting his eyelashes for extra effect. Then he grinned and said more normally, "But I don't, so you won't have to."
"Then what is happening?" His partner folded his arms across his chest, looking as if he were prepared to wait for as long as it took to drag all the details out of him.
He listened impassively as Duo explained what he had reasoned out so far, ending with, "It's as if I keep going through different versions of my life..."
"Hn. Trying to get it right, no doubt."
"This one seems pretty good," he said softly, eying his new-found lover. Then he remembered, and stammered, "Except... except for Quatre - Heero, what happened? Why did Wufei kill him?"
Heero stared at him narrow-eyed for a long moment.
"Please, Heero... My friend is dead, and I don't know why."
"He was one of the first victims of Zero Syndrome. At first no one realized what was wrong. He said that various people were conspiring to harm him. He was believed, at first. Trowa in particular was very worried."
"I know how persuasive Quatre can be. It's that sweet innocent look - he can make me do just about anything when he uses it," Duo put in.
"Trowa finally realized there was nothing behind the conspiracy theory. He insisted on consulting a neurologist. Quatre was hospitalized when the lesions were discovered, but there was still no effective way to treat them. He became much worse - screaming about evil and attacking anyone who entered his room. He was eventually restrained continuously. When it looked like he would die without treatment, Quatre's sisters finally agreed to the use of Carazine."
Heero took a breath and let it out slowly. Duo recognized his partner's mannerism as 'trying to keep strong feelings at bay'. This was not going to be pretty.
"The drug halted the growth of the lesions, and for a time we all thought Quatre would be completely cured. He had stopped screaming, and was able to talk coherently and intelligently. Trowa was still worried, said he wasn't his old self, but the doctors were pleased with his progress and he was moved to a less secure area."
Duo winced. "He escaped."
Heero nodded. "The next night. He left a trail of eleven bodies behind him. He killed anyone who tried to stop him, and made a particular effort to find any of the hospital staff who had helped treat him. He eviscerated them, explaining that they had evil inside them and he had to let it out so they wouldn't contaminate anyone else. Witnesses said he seemed calm and rational the entire time."
Duo felt sick. "So that's when Wufei was called in?"
"Hai. Trowa contacted him just before he caught a shuttle back to Earth, said he was tracking Quatre and could use some help. When Wufei arrived, he found Quatre had walked into a school and taken hostages. Trowa had gone in to try to talk him out. Wufei followed, and discovered Quatre-"
Heero stopped abruptly, a muscle in his cheek jumping. When he continued Duo could hear a thread of horror buried under the calmly recited facts. "Quatre had killed Trowa, and was drawing designs on the wall with his blood. He had also killed four of the children. He was explaining that their lives should be ended before their innocence could be tainted with the evil surrounding them. He grabbed another kid, holding her in front of him. The only line of attack 'Fei could be sure of making was a head shot. He took it, and the little girl lived."
Duo felt like throwing up. Sweet Quatre turned into a ravening monster was a nightmare come true. No wonder Wufei had been so spooked.
And despite the fact that they were lovers, despite Heero's instant defense when Wufei drew his weapon, despite Duo's personal conviction, there was still a faint chance that he did have Zero Syndrome. No wonder Heero had threatened to kill him.
Duo felt lost, unsure of what had happened in this version of the past, uncertain of what would happen in the future - if he had a future. No wonder he wanted to go home.
Duo lay still and tried to think peaceful thoughts. The metal slab beneath him was cold and hard, and the band holding his head motionless was too tight - it was making his forehead itch.
The tube surrounding his head and shoulders suddenly lit up, and several probes extended until they hit his skin. He could feel the tiny prick of needles in his scalp, and concentrated on keeping still.
Heero had said they could trust this Dr. Kreuze to do the scan properly, so he really shouldn't be thinking about the variety of drugs that those needles could be injecting into his helpless body. He shouldn't be worried that maybe Dr. Kreuze had been contacted by the Preventers before he and Heero had broken into his home and 'persuaded' him to come down to his clinic and perform a brain scan. He shouldn't be stressed about being forced to choose between taking Carazine and having his brain melt, or not taking Carazine and turning into a raving psychotic baby-killer.
The brain scan would be over soon. Heero had said it would take about five minutes, and it had already been about five years since the tube slid down over his head, so... It should be over soon. Any minute now...
He had been nervous, letting this machine surround him, cutting off sight and sound. He felt vulnerable and exposed. What if Wufei burst into the clinic? What if Dr. Kreuze started performing experiments on him? What if alien body-snatchers from Xargon beamed everyone off the planet and left him stuck inside this Hotdog from Hell forever?
He was working himself into a fine fretful frenzy when he felt his friend's fingers slide over his fist. He unclenched his own fingers long enough to twine them with his lover's, grateful for the support.
He tried to think of more relaxing thoughts. Like... the description Heero had given of the confrontation with Wufei as Duo escaped. "He shot at you; I shot the gun out of his hand. Then Sally stood in the doorway and refused to let either of us out until we promised not to kill you or each other." Heero's lips had twitched. "Wufei was... annoyed."
Duo grinned inside the metal tube. The Defender of Justice defeated without a fight by a hugely pregnant onna. Annoyed? Infuriated would be more like it. Going ballistic, bursting a blood vessel, dancing with rage - oooh, good image: Dances With Rage, an old west movie starring Chang Wufei. He snickered, good humour restored.
He squeezed Heero's hand slightly and got an answering squeeze and a thumb rubbing lightly across his palm in return. His partner had been nothing but supportive through this whole mess.
Heero had been officially reprimanded by Une for shooting at a fellow Preventer. He didn't seem to care, but it bothered Duo. And Wufei was on Heero's case too. The Chinese Preventer had grabbed him by the lapels and flung him against the wall after Une had finished with him, saying that if Heero ever shot at him again, he'd better be sure to kill him.
Duo smirked to himself. Apparently Wufei had been reprimanded too, and it had made him cranky.
Wasn't the scan done yet? Surely it had been five minutes by now...
He had been surprised at first to find out that Heero knew of a qualified neurologist who could perform a brain scan at a moment's notice. Apparently the two of them had had the procedure performed privately when they first found out about the causes of Zero Syndrome almost a year ago. Heero had judged this machine less of a problem to get to than the one located in the Preventer hospital, and Dr. Kreuze more amenable to 'persuasion' than his Preventer counterpart.
So all Dr. Kreuze had to do was compare this scan to the one he'd done before, and that should squash the Zero Syndrome suspicions. Then they just had to get the information to Une, so she could call off Wufei...
With a whirr of tiny motors, the needles retracted and the torturous headband loosened. Vastly relieved, Duo slipped his free hand up under the metal casing and scratched his itchy scalp. Then the tube slid back, and he could see again.
The first thing he saw was Heero, frowning. He was looking at a hand- held security display, which was receiving signals from the tiny sensors they had deposited at intervals around the clinic.
"Four cars in the last 90 seconds, two in front, one behind, one on the western approach."
Four vehicles at 4:30 a.m.? No chance it was coincidence - somehow, Wufei had found them.
"Stay and wait for the results of the scan, or leave before anyone else shows up?" Duo let go of Heero's hand, rolling off the table and scooping up his stash bag as he spoke.
"Leave. We can't be sure they won't shoot on sight." Duo nodded and led the way to the eastern side of the building.
Thirty seconds later they were crouched by a hedge on the far side of the library next to the clinic. A Preventer jeep was rolling past them, taking up position by the window they had just used as an exit.
In the still morning air, Wufei's voice carried clearly from the handset in the jeep. "All agents, targets have left the building are moving east, repeat, moving east."
Duo shot a surprised glance at his partner, and then they were off, running at full speed behind the sheltering hedge. They ran across the next street and cut through an alley. Behind them they could hear the squeal of tires and the thump-squeak of vehicles hitting potholes too quickly.
"How?" Duo asked as they turned north, hoping to get outside the net being closed around them.
Heero shook his head, frowning. Then he pointed to a subway entrance, and they raced to it, aware of at least two jeeps screeching to a halt behind them.
Incoherent shouted instructions echoed in the stairwell as they descended headlong, but there were no shots. Not yet, anyway.
How the hell had Wufei found them? And how did he know the moment they left the clinic?
Realization broke over Duo and he swore as he leaped down the subway stairs. That sneaky bastard. That sneaky clever bastard. Of course he would have realized that Heero would be the best person to find his partner...
When they reached the platform, Duo pulled Heero around a corner and up against a pillar. With a quick motion, he flipped over his partner's collar, right where Wufei would have grabbed him to throw him against the wall. There, nestled like a little burr, was a locator transponder.
Heero managed to look thunderously angry without visibly changing his facial expression when he realized how he had been used. Duo couldn't help smirking a little, but bit his tongue to stop the playful comments that wanted to come out. There was such a thing as pushing your luck too far...
He figured they probably had a moment or two before the Preventers caught up - they wouldn't charge into a potential hostage situation like TV cops. Time to muddy the trail a bit. It wouldn't confuse Wufei for long - he was too used to their methods - but every little bit helped.
He carefully prised the bug off his partner's collar and stuck it to the side of the early morning north-bound train waiting at the platform. Then he reached into his stash bag and withdrew one of his black baseball caps, throwing it under the seat below the rooftop emergency exit in the south-bound train.
The north-bound train pulled out and the pair of them slipped down onto the track in its wake, stepping quickly into the darkened tunnel. Stopping the trains would be one of Wufei's first priorities, so it should be safe enough.
Duo kept his eyes open for a square door in the tunnel's side. Ah, there it was - a service entrance for the ventilation system that kept the stale air from building up. He pulled his lockpicks out of his hair as he approached. The lock was easy; Heero barely had to break stride before he had it open.
Soon they were in a small room under a grate in the sidewalk, warm air blowing up past them. "Here," Duo said, pulling a black T-shirt out of his stash bag and tossing it to his partner. He doffed his own uniform and changed into his spare black pants and jacket, tucking his braid inside down the back. There was nothing to be done about Heero's pants. Hopefully they wouldn't be too noticeable.
When they had changed, Heero pushed the grate up and swarmed under it, then leaned down to clasp wrists with Duo and haul him up. Thirty seconds, and no visible witnesses. They walked casually away, shoulder to shoulder, turning south at the corner.
Dawn was just tinting the sky, a few birds were singing, and the local police were helping barricade the subway entrance a block behind them. Duo grinned and took a deep breath of the fresh, cool air. It was shaping up to be a good day.
They walked. Walking was slow, but left no records of their passing.
Duo passed the time by telling Heero in more detail what had happened to him. He was chagrined to discover that he couldn't talk about them kissing without blushing. It seemed to amuse Heero, though.
After three hours they felt safe enough to hole up in a cheap motel. After scarfing down some rubbery substances masquerading as food at a local fast food place, they took turns sleeping and keeping watch, as they often had during the war.
They waited until the height of the afternoon rush hour before switching on Heero's pager, so that when Wufei tracked the signal they could use the traffic to both slow him down and cover their own getaway.
"K'so," Heero muttered, reading the first message.
"What!? What's wrong?" Duo asked, a spurt of alarm coursing through him. Did he have Zero Syndrome after all? He clutched his braid hard.
"Our informant at the research lab left a message this morning. She says the machine is being packed up today, for shipment tonight. She doesn't know where it's going."
"That's bad." He bit his lip. "Anything from Dr. Kreuze? Or Wufei?"
Heero shook his head minutely.
Duo dropped his gaze to the floor, worried by the silence. Surely it wouldn't take this long to compare the two scans? But what if Dr. Kreuze had been interrupted? What if the data were lost? What if he simply didn't remember to transmit the results to Une? What if...
"Duo. Duo!" Heero grabbed his arms and shook him slightly, pulling him out of his musings. "We have to leave. Wufei will already be headed here."
"Y-yeah. Let's go." He scooped his bag off the floor and slipped out after his partner.
They walked silently for several moments before Duo brought up another problem. "We have to tell Une about the generator being moved. She could send a team to intercept it. We can't let it get away - we might not find it again until they start using it. And if we don't know where they're taking it, we don't know what their target will be - the colonies, the freight lanes, some nuclear facility - it could be just about anything."
"Hn. From what you've said, that generator is far more dangerous than just another weapon of mass destruction. It seems capable of transferring the spirits, or souls, of people from version of reality to another. If people can be inhabited by their counterparts from another universe, then no one is accountable for their actions - each would simply use the excuse that unacceptable behaviour was committed by an alter-ego. There would be no responsibility, no continuity, no trust. It could conceivably bring down our civilization."
Duo glanced over at his partner. He'd only heard Heero make a speech like that once or twice in all their years together. He must really be upset...
Heero continued steadily, "But the Preventers don't know all the details of what you've told me, so they don't know what to watch out for. And they are still operating on the assumption that you have Zero Syndrome, so even if you told them they would likely disbelieve you. Any team sent by Une will have orders to confirm the weapon first, then arrest the scientists, and only then confiscate the weapon, along with any research data. They'll attempt to disable it if it looks like someone might escape with it, but that won't be their primary objective."
Duo chewed his lip. "Those are exactly the orders we had, going in. If we don't intervene, it'll just happen all over again, only to different agents." He met Heero's sober gaze. "We have to get there first."
End Page 4
(:./wingnut/alter4)
