11-Jan-2001
Title: Time and Time Again
A Gundam Wing Fanfiction
Author: BarBieBoy
Dedicated to Kav
Feedback: YES PLEASE! :o) (Don't be shy!) Comments, criticisms, ideas etc please mail me at barbieboy000@hotmail.com. Flames and abuse please mail me at techsupport@microsoft.com.
Disclaimer: Mobile Suit Gundam Wing is the property of whomever. I don't own it and I am using these characters without permission (but not for profit). The original portion of this work is mine however so please don't steal it :o)
Category/Warnings/Rating: 1+2/2+1, 3+4, angst, language, R(?)
Final note: I am in Australia. I speak and write English. I know how to spell colour and grey and behaviour. :o)
Death was far from what Heero had imagined it to be. It was empty and cold, but incredibly vast. An endless field of twilight, stretching into the distance for as far as he could see in every direction. The ground was soft, but he found no comfort in it. He was not hungry or tired, but he felt more empty than he could understand.
There was not a feature he could recognize. If he ran in one direction for a hundred miles, there would be no evidence that he had moved. His surroundings were uniform and featureless.
Heero sat. Not because his legs were tired, but because there seemed like nothing else to do. He was unable to determine how much time had passed, if indeed any time had passed at all.
It was then that he heard a voice. If indeed it could be classed as hearing. Words and images appeared in his mind, or perhaps they were all around him. They spoke to him, and he could understand.
"Why do you kill?" someone asked.
"Because I have to," Heero answered.
"That's not true." The figure began to take form as these last words were spoken.
"Duo?" Heero asked with surprise.
"Why do you cause others to suffer?" Duo asked.
"I don't . . . I mean I don't want to . . . but I . . . have no choice . . . ."
The boy shook his head. "There is always a choice, Yuy."
The boy suddenly became pale. His eyes widened, seeming lifeless, and all of a sudden he was lying wet and unconscious at Heero's feet. Dead. Heero felt the familiar pain this scene had caused him. It brought back a flood of memories of the night he had lost Duo. He began to resuscitate the boy, who did not move. The tears had begun to form in his eyes when another voice spoke.
"This is the pain you bring to others," it said, and slowly began to take form. It was Quatre.
"Why do you bring this feeling to other people?"
"I don't . . . I have to . . . it's war . . . there is no other way . . . ."
"There is always another way, Heero," Wufei said.
Heero spun around to face the Chinese pilot, who was now behind him. When he darted his eyes back to Quatre, the boy was lifeless on the ground, his white shirt blackened with soot. Heero gasped and jumped away from him.
"Why are you doing this to me?" Heero shouted, his voice echoing in the void.
"You bring it upon yourself, Yuy," Wufei answered. His expression suddenly darkened as a large piece of wood spontaneously protruded from his chest. He gasped a little and fell to the ground.
"Why do you bring yourself here, Heero?" Trowa asked.
"I didn't. I don't want to see this. Why are you telling me this? I didn't know I was causing pain. I didn't understand!"
Trowa smiled a little. For a moment it seemed comforting, but then he suddenly burst into flames. His flesh began to blacken and melt off his skin. Heero fell back in shock. He picked himself up and began to run away.
"You can't run from yourself, Heero. Not anymore. You have opened Pandora's box. Now you must learn to accept what you find inside . . . ."
Heero did not look back to see who had spoken the last words. He simply continued to run as fast as he could. The images of his friends dead and dying clouded his mind. He clenched his fists and pressed hard on his temples, desperately trying to escape them. He tried to think of anything: music, missions, orders, anything. But the pain became unbearable. Soon he began to scream. It was unprofessional, but it was the only recourse left. He let loose his lungs and screamed for all he was worth.
Duo had been awakened shortly after 4.30 am by loud shouting in his room. The boy had groggily gotten to his feet and walked over to his partner's bed where Heero was sleeping. He seemed to be having a nightmare. He was mumbling and occasionally shouting nonsense. Duo loathed to disturb the boy, especially after the trouble between them over the last two weeks. Instead, he sat on the bed and tried to comfort the boy.
Suddenly the room was filled with a ghastly scream as Heero thrashed about violently in his sleep. That was enough for Duo. He pulled back the covers and began to shake the boy, calling his name out loud.
For a moment it had no effect, and then as suddenly as it had started, the screaming stopped. Heero took a deep and ragged breath and grabbed onto the arms that were holding him. His eyes were wide with shock and confusion.
"It's okay, Heero. You had a nightmare, that's all. Calm down." Duo tried his best to sound maternal, but frankly he was uncomfortable with the strength of the grip which held him.
"Duo," Heero said in confusion, pain and pleasure. "I'm alive."
"Yeah . . . of course you are alive!" the braided boy smiled.
"I had a dream. There was a bomb. I had died. Everyone had died, I . . ." Heero began to trail off as the rational parts of his mind reasserted themselves.
"What's the time?"
"Nearly 5 o'clock in the fucking morning, actually," Duo said, adding a little yawn for emphasis.
"What day is it?" Heero asked, trying not to hope too much.
"Saturday, of course."
The calm and clarity left the boy again. He slumped back into the bed, covered his eyes with his hands and swore in frustration. Something was still not right. The bomb should have stopped looping. It was supposed to stop the temporal feedback the minute it hit . . . its target.
"Ano . . . Heero . . . Are you okay?"
"Yes," he snapped.
He tried to clear his mind. He had to think. Heero wasn't the target. If the bomb stops when it hits its target, then it would have stopped last night. Assuming, of course, that the bomb was not malfunctioning there too. Perhaps its targeting system was screwy as well. If that were the case, then the bomb could continue to explode in an increasing rate until it destroyed the entire universe. But that seemed unlikely. The doctor had been adamant that the bomb would stop if it succeeded in its task. But who else could the target be? Every one of the pilots had now died at least once.
Heero jumped out of bed and began to get dressed. He had to recover the bomb before the plumber and take it to Dr. Nishikubo. There was more to the puzzle than they had thought. As Heero began to get dressed, his mood improved immeasurably. He was alive! Although the situation was still dire, he was alive and so were his friends.
"Heero?" Duo asked in confusion as he watched the boy go about his business, completely unaware of his presence.
"I'll be back in a second, Duo. I need to get something."
Heero watched as a man in filthy clothes began to approach him in the alleyway. It had been absurdly obvious the first time he had tried to attack him. Now it was plain laughable.
Heero drew his gun when he was within several meters of the man and shouted at him to get lost. The man, terrified, held his arms high and began to babble pleas of innocence. Heero ignored him and went over to the dumpster. Feeling around, he grabbed onto a handle and pulled out a tattered old purse.
Frowning, he threw the bag back into the dumpster and began to feel around again. Eventually he got up onto a nearby box and leaned over into the bin, pushing the contents around frantically. But there was no bag.
He looked at his watch. It was 5.25am. The plumber should not have gotten here yet. He walked over to the thief, who had remained fixed on the spot, and demanded answers.
"Who stole the bag from that dumpster?" he threatened, waving his gun about.
The man blabbered more cries of innocence. "I didn't take nothing!"
"Who did, then?"
"Nobody has been down here in at least an hour, I swear!"
Heero began to walk away in confusion. There was no bomb. Maybe it had been all a dream. All of the events from the last few days, although vivid, seemed so distant all of a sudden. But Heero refused to believe that they didn't happen. No, there had to be another explanation.
He decided to return to his room and check on his laptop and Duo. The memories of Duo drowning were certainly not false. He could remember them more vividly than he cared to.
Duo.
Had drowned.
He didn't die in the explosion.
Not in any of the previous days had he died in any of the explosions. Heero cursed out loud at his own stupidity. Duo had led the assault on the OZ weapons facility. Heero had been in charge of infiltrating the base, deactivating the security and stealing the database, but the main attack had been led by Duo. Anyone who wanted vengeance from that incident would direct it at him. Duo was the target of the bomb. It was the only thing that made sense.
Heero began to feel a chill spread throughout his body. His own self-destruction was one thing, but Duo's? No. Never again. There had to be another way. He could not let the boy die. Not like this. He would far prefer to die than to have to live without Duo.
With a heavy heart, Heero made his way back to campus.
It was some time after 7 am when Heero arrived at Dr. Nishikubo's house. He made his way through the unkempt yard, down the overgrown path and up onto the dilapidated porch. He then knocked on the door loudly. He wondered how difficult the coming conversation would be.
Last time at least he had had the bomb to corroborate his story; this time all he had was his word.
Heero wished he could have spoken to Duo first. But when he had returned to the room, the braided boy was gone. Heero was both disappointed and relieved at not being able to tell Duo the truth. He had avoided telling the other pilots the truth on all except one disastrous occasion. However, this time Duo would very much need to be aware of the situation. It might well be that Duo would need to. . . .
Heero could not bear to think about it. But the bomb was now capable of leveling half a city. There simply might not be time to explore alternatives. The last vestiges of control Heero possessed insisted that he hold the idea of Duo's sacrifice as at least a back up plan. After all, if the explosion continued to get larger, they would all die.
After knocking and waiting for a second time, it became obvious to Heero that Dr. Nishikubo was not home. He was about to settle on the porch and wait when he heard a muffled sound from inside.
It sounded like something breaking.
His interest pricked, the Japanese boy decided to go around the back and break into the house. Again. Entry was as simple today as it had been two days ago, and within minutes Heero was in the back kitchen looking around. There was nothing out of the ordinary. Plates and dishes, as there had been last time.
He walked into the lounge room and looked over the shelves and books. The computer was off and everything seemed in its place. He then walked into the bedroom. The bed was unmade and looked as if it had been slept in recently.
Satisfied that nothing was wrong, Heero was about to leave the house again, when he heard another sound. Beneath him. He looked about the house. There was a door in the lounge room that he had thought was a closet. When opened it revealed a staircase leading down to a cellar. Heero's soldier's instincts told him something was wrong. He drew his gun and quietly made his way down the staircase.
There was a light further down. Heero slowly began to descend the stairs one by one. It took him several moments to reach the bottom. The cellar was small and dank. There was no ventilation; it was entirely sealed. In the middle of the room was an old chair with a high support facing away from him. As Heero stepped further into the room, he saw a hand lying on the armrest.
"Um . . . Hello?" he ventured.
The hand began waving about frantically, shaking the chair as the room was filled with a muffled voice. Heero realized that the person was restrained; he approached the chair, intent on releasing them.
Then he saw the face and eyes. Eyes he knew and loved more than any. But they were different. They were bloodshot and frightened
"Duo?" he asked.
The room was suddenly filled with a deafening blast. Heero suddenly felt a sharp pain in his leg, and was thrown against the far wall with the force of the impact. He cried out a little in agony and clutched at his bloodied leg. Soldier's training kicking in, he tried to raise his gun to shoot.
The room was again filled with a deafening blast. Heero dropped the weapon as his shoulder was pounded into the wall. He fell to his knees and clutched his wounds in pain and agony. He was dimly aware of Duo's muffled screams as he tried to readjust his vision.
Before he could see his attacker, there was a sharp kick to his ribs that sent him flying into the chair at Duo's bound feet. The attacker leaned over to retrieve Heero's handgun and turned to appraise his prey.
"How many more times must I encounter you . . ." The voice was soft, but that did not hide the frightening hatred it held.
Heero groggily managed to push himself into a sitting position, still clutching onto his shoulder and leg, which oozed thick blood over the ground and his pants. When he finally managed to regain his senses, he was faced with a hunched and balding man. Dr. Nishikubo.
"You know . . ." he began, but then trailed off. "No, I suppose you wouldn't, seeing as how you are nothing but a stupid child. But let me tell you anyway. Time and its possibilities are like infinite strands of a web. The number of possible outcomes in any situation is limitless."
The older man's voice began to rise as he continued, stepping forward menacingly and waving his gun in their direction.
"YET! For some ABSURD reason, which I cannot explain, I am cursed again and again to look at you, Heero." Dr Nishikubo spat.
"At first I thought it was just luck. But I had to sit through it six times! Six times, through luck, chance and sometimes through plain stupidity, you always seem to manage to ruin everything. I never wanted to kill you, Heero. Until recently, I didn't even know you existed. It's him I want!" he shouted, indicating Duo with his gun.
"And yet you managed to save him so many times it is just disrespectful to the laws of probability. You moved him away, you watched over him, my god you even drowned him once! But every time you stopped me from killing him. You even managed to kill yourself on that last occasion. I rang the stupid boy and told him what you were planning. He was supposed to die with you, but you somehow managed to get away from him. Seeing as how you are so desperate to die, you can just sit right here and join him. Maybe it will satisfy your stupid honor or something. You are both ignorant soldiers. You think you can go around and kill innocent people just because their research might threaten you?" The man was in a rage. Sweat poured down his wrinkled forehead as he continued.
"Those men were scientists. They were geniuses, they were gifted. They were forced to work for OZ. You don't care, and I don't expect you to understand, but science is not wrong. People are wrong. You don't kill scientists just because you don't understand their work."
As Heero began to regain his senses and understanding of the situation, his eyes managed to focus on a menacing sphere sitting on a desk in the corner of the room.
Dr. Nishikubo followed the boy's gaze, "Ah . . . the Feedback Bomb. Invented by the OZ idiots, not by my friends. It's fitting that you both shall die by its hand. A sort of divine vengeance, no?"
"How do you know all about . . ." Heero trailed off as the pain became to great for him.
"Because, young Heero, I, like yourself, am not affected by the feedback loops. You see, child, the weapon would be useless unless the operator was able to learn from the mistakes in each loop. Unfortunately, I was not as well-versed in the operation of the weapon as I had hoped. When I entered the target, which must have been you, I must have somehow instructed the device to give you operator status. Your bio-readings were recorded by the scans in the OZ lab, you see. When I realized that the target I wanted was not you, I tried to re-arm the device, but somehow you seemed to have retained the ability to remain free of the loop. Don't worry, I'm sure as long as both of you die in the explosion, the bomb will successfully terminate."
The man gave an evil sneer and turned to his watch. "And now I have a plane to catch. Got to get quite a distance from the place. I still don't understand why these stupid explosions get bigger but . . . it doesn't matter."
The older man walked over to the staircase, but paused before he climbed them.
"Goodbye," he said wickedly. He then aimed his gun again and fired a third time at the Japanese boy. The room was again filled with a deafening sound, followed by a muffled cry. Heero now clutched his stomach, which was oozing dark liquid. Heero looked at his own blood with shock for a moment before falling to the ground, unconscious.
The older man climbed the staircase, and could be heard locking the door at the top.
Duo was shouting frantically at his partner to wake up. With the gag in his mouth, it sounded more like muffled sob. He could not see the Japanese boy, not since the last shot. He could feel him lying somewhere near his feet. But he could not move them enough to see. He was restrained by the neck, as well as the wrists and waist and ankles.
Duo continued to try and get the other boy's attention. He detested to make him move around, since it would only stimulate blood loss. However, he needed medical attention, and fast, or he would die anyway. With as much of his foot as he could move, he began to kick at Heero.
He was rewarded with a soft moan. He watched as the bloodied form got slowly and painfully to his knees. Any normal person would not be able to survive the pain and loss of blood, but Heero was biologically enhanced to survive extremes. Duo watched as the boy managed to look at him with an almost vacant expression.
Duo tried to indicate his right hand, which was firmly tied in place. He shouted through the gag, trying desperately to explain, that Heero had to free him. The other boy nodded slowly, closing his eyes in pain. He then slowly managed to drag himself over to Duo. There was a large pool of blood on the cold, dark concrete, and Duo was becoming increasingly concerned.
Heero finally managed to rest a bloodied elbow on the other boy's lap as he tugged groggily at the knots holding him down. Duo was becoming frustrated as the Japanese boy tried and failed several times to untie him. His actions were slow and often counter-productive. It was obvious that Heero was only barely holding on to consciousness.
Finally, the wrist was free and Duo reached up to remove his gag.
"Heero? Man, are you okay? Stay there, don't move . . ." he said as he began to untie the rest of his bonds.
"Duo . . ." the other boy said as if he was talking to a ghost. "You must stop the bomb."
"Heero, who was that guy? What's this stupid temporary feeding bomb, or whatever?"
Heero was becoming frustrated. "Just listen!" he had tried to shout, but it sounded more like a choke. He began to cough up blood.
Duo was mortified by the scene before him. Heero was in a coughing fit, and the pool of blood about him was becoming worse. He finally managed to untie the last of his bonds and stood up. His head swam for a moment, still clouded by the sedatives he had been given earlier. He managed to walk over to Heero and take hold of him to calm the coughing.
Duo ran his hands over the other boy's body to assess the wounds. The leg wound would be fine; it had scraped the thigh causing a nasty flesh wound but little else. The shoulder wound was only slightly worse. It had entered and left the body clearly. The abdomen wound worried him the most. It was higher than he at first thought, missing the lower organs but probably nicking a lung. It was bleeding badly. Duo ripped up Heero's shirt and tried desperately to cover the wounds to stop the bleeding. Heero was trying to say something, but Duo couldn't make it out.
"Shhhh. Heero, don't try to speak. Leave it to me. Now wait here a moment," Duo said, rising to his feet. He dashed over to the staircase and ran up them as fast as he could. The door was locked, but it didn't deter him. He kicked at it violently until flung apart. He then went to the telephone.
Duo wouldn't normally call the local ambulance service, but Heero's injuries would not wait until his own people could see them. Duo would have to hope that no one would figure out who the Japanese boy was. As soon as the immediate wounds were attended to, Duo could break into the hospital and get Heero out.
After calling the ambulance and giving the address, Duo also called the other pilots, telling them to come to the house at once. He then ran back down to the cellar and held the dying boy close to him.
"Everything's going to be fine," he repeated softly.
"Duo . . .?"
Heero coughed violently, trying desperately to say something. Duo tried to hush him but the boy was insistent. He took a deep ragged breath and managed to croak.
"Genesis."
Officer James Hartton sat idly in the collapsible chair, sipping his cheap coffee from a white Styrofoam cup. He was a large man, which was why he had first entered the police force. He had envisioned a job where he would be able to muscle over 'bad guys' and get paid for doing so. Instead he was on watch duty, perhaps the most boring of all of the menial tasks his job entailed. He sat on the dilapidated porch, surveying the unkempt yard and the decaying fence, which was wrapped in police tape to prevent entry.
James was surprised to see a boy approach the fence and wave at him. He could not have been older than sixteen. He was dressed casually, and had soft blond hair. Deciding that this boy was hardly a threat, the police officer got up from his chair and approached the fence.
"This area is restricted, young man," he boomed. "Police investigation."
"I'm sorry, sir, it's just that there is a man next door who seems to be robbing that house." The boy pointed down the street, which was hidden by several trees.
James opened the gate and began to head in that direction. Busting a thief was more his style, not watch duty. But he had hardly stepped past the boy when he suddenly felt dizzy. He collapsed in a heap and began to snore.
"Wow, that's strong stuff. Where'd you get it Duo?"
"The scientist jerk used it on me this morning." The braided boy answered, hiding the dart gun inside his jacket. "Don't worry, he'll be fine; just help me drag him into the house. Oi! Trowa! Come help!"
Fortunately, the suburb was a very quiet place, and nobody saw the three boys drag a man equal to their combined mass inside the old house.
"Well . . . if it's a bomb, why are we all sitting here looking at it? Let's get away!" Quatre was a little confused over the story that the other boy had explained to him and Trowa.
"Apparently it's going to be a big bang. We should probably try to defuse it. Heero and the old dude said something about it getting bigger and bigger."
"How does a bomb get bigger?" Trowa asked, staring closely at the sphere, positive that it was as large now as it had been when they first saw it.
"The explosion gets bigger!"
"How many times does a bomb go off?"
"Look. I don't know. All I can tell you is what I heard. The psycho dude said he had already tried and failed six times to kill me."
"Shouldn't we leave it to a bomb disposal squad? I think they'd know better what to do," Quatre asked hopefully.
"You can't be serious!" Duo said, folding his arms with determination. "The police already looked over the house, and they didn't even know it was a bomb!"
"Then how are we supposed to do anything about it?!" Quatre asked, aggravated.
"We know what we are looking for. There has got to be something in this house that deals with the device's operation. Look around!"
The three boys searched the house over the next half an hour in search of anything that resembled the thing downstairs. Eventually Trowa found the hidden trove of data disks. Duo rummaged through them looking for any which seemed relevant. He noticed that one of the disks had not been returned to its case, and so he assumed that it had been used recently.
Sitting down to the computer, Duo entered the disk and waited for the machine to respond. There was only one file on the disk, marked 'Temporal Feedback Device.' Duo remembered hearing the old man mention this name before, and hurried to open it. The file was encrypted and required a password.
"Trowa . . . come here and give this a go!" he said.
The other boy sat down and tried to hack into the file. After a few minutes it was clear that the task was beyond him.
"Not even Heero could break into this file," Trowa said, dismayed.
There was a brief pause for a moment as the three of them began to think. Then something occurred to Duo. Perhaps Heero could break into this file.
"Trowa, try 'Genesis.'"
The other boy frowned in confusion, but tried the code anyway. The file was immediately presented before them. It was a long and complex document.
"Lucky guess," Duo winked. "Okay, let's get out of here before anyone finds us!"
Duo ran downstairs and collected the bomb, placing it inside a large old bag he had found next to it. Trowa took the disk and shut down the computer. The three pilots left shortly after, Trowa and Quatre heading back to campus to study the file while Duo went to the hospital determined to check up on Heero.
Heero drifted in and out of consciousness most of the day. Although he was determined to get Duo to safety, the extent of his injuries were simply too great to move. He had woken up this time at 4.30 in the afternoon with only a dull throb in his chest and limbs. He had a tube down his throat, making it impossible to speak.
Heero remembered that doctor had spoken to him at one stage and explained his injuries. They would have been fatal to a normal person, but were still extremely serious for him. It was unlikely he would be able to get out of bed for several weeks. He also remembered seeing Duo at one stage, although he couldn't recall if he had said anything.
The boy flexed his muscles slowly, testing to see if he had the strength to get himself up. He was too weak even to move around. With a frustrated sigh, he relaxed back into the bed.
He cursed as loud as he could in his current predicament at his own stupidity. He had been extremely unprofessional about this entire mission. He had been so excited when Dr. Nishikubo believed his story that he hadn't even stopped to question the man's integrity. It hadn't once occurred to him that a man with knowledge of temporal science, who just happened to live nearby, was the operator. The man had been terrified of him on both occasions when they had spoken, and it still hadn't occurred to Heero that he was the foe. Not even when he had tried to get Heero to stay close to the bomb after pretending to defuse it.
How stupid could he be?! He had even swallowed all that rubbish about his death already happening and being unavoidable. It was pathetic. HE was pathetic.
Moments later, a nurse entered pushing a small trolley over to his bed. He pulled the curtain around the bed for privacy and took off his mask. Heero managed a small croak of pleasure when he saw those familiar eyes.
"Hey, Heero man, you don't look so good," the boy quipped.
Heero struggled to speak but only managed a few strange noises. Duo's smile disappeared as he tried to calm his friend. "Shh! Don't try to move, man; you are lucky to be alive!"
Duo went over to the medical record at the bottom of the bed and re-read the records to see if there had been any changes since last time he was here. He shook his head as he read in dismay. Heero would be out of action for weeks.
Heero began to grunt again, causing the American to jump to attention. "What's up?" he asked, trying not to make light of the situation.
Heero was trying to make pictures with his hands. Duo frowned in confusion as he tried even harder to understand. Eventually he gave up and handed Heero a pen and paper. The boy was so weak he could barely write. He managed the word 'bomb?'
"No problem, Heero. I came to tell you that Trowa read through the file and managed to work out how to defuse it. He's taken out this little cylinder which was the trigger and now . . . " Duo trailed off as Heero began to make sounds.
The Japanese boy was shaking his head and grunting loudly. He began to write again and after a struggle managed: 'tried it, didn't work.'
Duo frowned. "Well, I guess I'll have to take a look at it then. Perhaps there's something Trowa missed?"
Heero became frantic, he was shaking his head as much as he could. Duo, of all people, had to get away--and quickly. The loop would end if he died, and then most of the city would be joining them.
"It's okay, Heero--I'll just take a look at it when I get back. Then I'll send it off to the lab."
Heero was still frantically trying to get his attention when he heard a doctor enter the room and begin to check through the other patients. Duo was suddenly ready to run.
"Heero, I'll try to get you out in a couple of days. It's probably best if you pretend to stay unconscious. I've given them false names and stuff, but it's better to be safe than sorry. What ever you do, tell them nothing!" Duo couldn't help but giggle a bit at his last statement.
"Woops. Sorry, Heero."
Heero was still trying to get the boy's attention when he pulled the curtain back and quickly left the room. The Japanese boy was frantic. He had to get Duo away from that bomb. And quick!
Duo wearily looked over to the clock on his bed. 11.02 pm. The boy yawned loudly before speaking.
"Trowa, how goes it?" he asked.
Trowa was sitting at the desk with parts all around him and on the floor. The three pilots had assumed it was best to dismantle the entire bomb, just to be safe. They had taken it in turns to read through the long and complex data file and remove various parts from the machine.
Quatre was curled up on Heero's bed, snoring softly. All of the pilots had been up too early to work this late. Eventually, Trowa was getting too tired to see properly and decided to rest.
"Your turn, Duo," he said before sitting on the bed with Quatre.
Duo groggily got to his feet and sat down at the device. He read up to the part where Trowa had stopped, and began to work. Temporal superimposition matrix. It sounded boring enough to put anyone to sleep. Duo began to dismantle the matrix as instructed.
It was slow going and it took ten minutes to even get it out from inside the case. Duo read the sections on this part of the device. The super-imposer matrix was designed to bring different times in contact with each other. Duo began to remove the panels on the side of the part and take it apart.
11.22 pm
Duo finally managed to remove the inner core. It hummed slightly with energy. The next part was to cut the wires that supplied the matrix. Duo put the piece down and began to read through the file again.
11.24 pm
The red wire had to be cut and a small black chip had to be removed. Duo leaned over and cut the wire, but for a moment couldn't find the black chip.
11.25 pm
"Ah, there you are!" he said out loud, as he removed the chip and the part stopped humming. He placed it to the side with the other parts and continued to read the data file.
He yawned loudly and checked the time again. Time goes slow when you're bored.
End Part 7
(:./barbieboy/time7)
