02-Jun-2003
edited: 01-Sep-2005
Title: The X Faction 4/?
Author: Kitty Chou
Archive: GW Addiction
Category: AU, Shounen-ai, Angst, OOC-ness (depending on how you think of the
guys thinking)
Pairing: 3+4, 1+2
Disclaimer: *clears throat* I do not in any way, shape, or form own Gundam
Wing or its wonderful characters! I just pull them out to play and then
clean them up and put them back when I'm done! I'm making no money and if
you sue me you will receive no money because *shock* I have none. Oh, and I
don't own anything by Douglas Adams! ...strangely enough, Douglas Adams does...
Rating: R
Warnings: Language, shounen-ai, angst, violence
Spoilers: Well, if you don't know who won on the show, then yes. Oh, and if
you haven't read 'Three Seconds' yet, then this has spoilers for that.
Author's Notes: Revisiting this story is so wonderful for me... I forgot how much
I enjoyed it! I'm going to enjoy finally being able to finish it!
Feedback: Please send feedback! ARNIE HUNGRY!!!
"Duo Maxwell, you are hereby under arrest for the development of illegal weaponry and conspiracy against the Earth Sphere Alliance and L4 Colony cluster," Heero began, his gun trained on his former lover. "You have the right to remain silent-"
"What the fuck are you talking about, Heero?" Duo interrupted him, hands on his hips and eyes a mixture of surprise and anger.
Heero ignored him and began moving forward, cuffs in hand. "Anything you say or do can and will be used against you in a court of law-"
"Damn it, Heero! I'm not the bad guy!"
"The large metal man in your hangar says differently," Heero stated sternly, giving him a hard look. Duo's eyes widened slightly before narrowing again and Heero moved until he was standing directly in front of the long haired man. Reaching out a hand, he put it straight through Duo's head, moving it back and forth. He stepped back, gun lowered and a scowl on his face. "A hologram."
Duo grinned impishly at him. "Yep," he quipped, looking at Wufei over Heero's shoulder. "Not the original."
"What?" Wufei exclaimed, startled. He too walked forward and reached through Duo's head in disbelief, causing the hologram to roll his eyes at him. "You're not a clone."
"Is that what you meant?" Duo laughed. "Of course I'm not a clone. Whatever gave you that crazy idea?"
Wufei glared back at Trowa, fighting the urge to flush in embarrassment. Trowa shrugged indifferently. "It was a perfectly valid theory."
"Duo," Heero broke in softly. "Where are you?"
"Are you so eager to arrest me, Heero?" Duo wondered, sighing. "This way." He turned and 'walked' back down the hallway, his holographic feet making no noise as he moved. Watching him, Wufei became suddenly curious.
"How is it we can hear you?" he questioned, studying the hologram for some kind of substance. It was unusual to hear a hologram so clearly outside of a holographic chamber specifically designed to mimic actual sound.
"There are speakers in the walls," Duo explained, motioning around them. "If you were still wearing my transmitters, you'd hear me through those as well. But that doesn't mean everyone can hear me right now. I control who hears what, that's why you couldn't hear me giving directions on where you find you, 'Fei."
"Are there projectors in the walls, then?" Trowa spoke up, looking around and studying the walls.
Duo nodded. "Lots of them. Cameras, too. They're all miniscule though, so you can't see them unless you know where to look."
"Did you design all of this?" Wufei sounded grudgingly impressed, still annoyed and embarrassed at his false assumption that Duo was a clone.
"No," Duo admitted, smiling sheepishly. "I came up with some of the ideas behind it, but-" He broke off suddenly and his image flickered. His eyes seemed distant, as if he were listening to something far away. Blinking, he smiled radiantly, his image quite literally brightening. "Change of plans, boys! We need to get over to the docking bay!" And with that, the hologram sprinted down the corridor, leaving the others to race after his flickering form.
The bad thing about holograms is that they don't have to breathe. They can therefore run from one side of say, a satellite, to the other without breaking a sweat or needing to catch their breath. Heero, Trowa and Wufei were top agents and therefore in excellent shape, but they were still flushed and panting when they arrived at the docking bay.
The ship they flew in on had since departed, but their MRCs, apparently having been discovered when they were, could be seen in a neat row on one side of the docking bay, already dismantled to reveal whatever secrets they might hold. Where the transport ship had been, there was now a breathtaking shuttle. Unlike most shuttles, it was completely black and quite sleek, being only a few yards high. It was obviously designed for stealth and almost certainly cost a pretty penny for the technology it would take to keep it that compact.
Duo was grinning broadly at the ship, apparently overjoyed to see its return, and he motioned the others forward, pointing to a man holding three earpieces. "That's my baby," he told them proudly when they put on their transmitters, gesturing at the shuttle. "She's state of the art and damn near invisible in space. Completely undetectable by radar, of course."
"What do you call her?" Wufei asked him, his eyes roving over the ship in admiration of the craft.
"Shi," he replied, walking forward when the hatch lowered. At the top of the ramp several Maganacs appeared, followed shortly by their squad leader, Rasid. They marched down the ramp to stand on either side of it, flanking the incline protectively. A soft whirring noise filled the respectively silent bay and Duo, grinning madly, rushed forward to meet a man in a wheelchair at the top of the ramp.
Though they couldn't see the man through Duo's projection, but the three Preventer agents could guess as to his identity. Anticipation and nervous tension were almost a tangible presence as Duo spoke to the man, gesturing at them every now and then. He straightened after an anxious eternity and moved to the side, giving them an unobstructed view of the man.
Quatre had grown out his flaxen hair and it was neatly tied now in a short tail at the nape of his neck. There was a small, healed scar on his left cheek from where the first bullet had grazed his face, giving his still boyish face a roguish tint to match his longer hair. His arms and chest had become noticeably more muscular, though his body was still as slight and firm as it was four years ago. He wore the same uniform as the rest of the Faction, but he bore a black wristband, like Duo, and fingerless leather gloves to protect his hands as he wheeled down the ramp towards them, his eyes bright and glistening.
"I... You... " he laughed, swiping a hand across his eyes in embarrassment. "It's been a while."
Surprisingly, Wufei was the first to move and he fell to his knees before the wheelchair, grabbing his friend in a tight embrace. "Fool," he scolded, his eyes suspiciously wet.
"I know." Quatre clasped his friend back eagerly, openly crying now. "I should have told you all. I'm sorry."
Wufei nodded, pulling back with as dignified of a sniff as he could manage. "Don't do it again, or I'll shoot you myself." Quatre laughed, nodding and wiping his eyes again. The next to respond was Heero, and he did it slowly, his face dawning a look of hopeful astonishment.
"You... You died," he said slowly, watching Quatre carefully, as though he expected him to vanish as another hologram when he came to this realization.
"Yes, I did."
"But... you're not dead now?"
"No," the blonde smiled, looking up at Heero through wet lashes. "I'm not."
Heero reached forward and lightly touched his fingers to the scar on Quatre's cheek. A look of grief washed over him and he blinked quickly as though he too were fighting tears. "I'm sorry," he breathed.
Quatre rolled his eyes, scoffing and shaking his head at the desolate man. "You're just as bad as Rasid, thinking you could have somehow been more than human in your reactions. There wasn't anything you could have done Heero. I made my choice and I survived, so let it go. The past is over and done with, let it stay that way."
Schooling his expression back into one of quiet neutrality, Heero nodded once. His expression slipped into a smirk momentarily though and he ruffled Quatre's shaggy hair, eliciting a sound suspiciously like a giggle before the blonde covered it by clearing his throat and glancing at the last of them.
Trowa hadn't moved since the wheelchair appeared at the top of the ramp. He was frozen, staring wonderingly at Quatre, his heart so suddenly revived that he was sure he had died during the process. Then Quatre met his eyes, and his world dissolved away from them. A single tear tracked slowly down his face, the ice he had held in his gaze melting away. He felt alive and warm, like the world was being brought back into focus by the life brimming Quatre's eyes.
"Hello, Trowa," the fair-haired man said softly, a sadness coloring the joy in his voice.
"Hello, Quatre," he whispered hoarsely.
"I hate to interrupt, but can we move this mushy love scene someplace a bit more private?" Duo's voice came over their transmitters, sounding tinny and marred by static.
Quatre looked at him sharply. "Duo! How long have you been online?"
Duo looked startled, his image flickering horribly. "Uh... "
"Log off immediately!" he demanded, wheeling his chair towards the wall on the far left of the docking bay. Duo's image flickered again before disappearing completely. "Idiot! Is he trying to get himself killed?"
Quatre sped to the wall, nearly slamming against it and overturning his chair in his haste. Reaching forward, he pressed his hand flat against the panel. There was a beep and a click and the panel slid away to reveal a long, lighted hallway.
"Come on," he ordered, motioning the startled and confused agents forward with one gloved hand. "The Control Room is this way."
They reached the Control Room after traveling through a labyrinth of interlocking tunnels and several locked doors, varying in design from voice identification to simple key codes. It was an impressive system that could keep out even the most talented of hackers. Hackers like...Heero.
The Control Room was circular and lined with immense screens, some of which the three agents quickly noticed were set to display the security system of Preventers Headquarters. Beneath the screens were a complex set of consoles with enough buttons and switches among the keypads that even the most reserved person might be tempted to push them at random. Technicians were frantically gathered on the other side of the circular room and seemed to be trying to open a peculiar hatch there. When they entered, one of them turned with a quick salute and began shouting.
"Instuctor Q!" the technician exclaimed, clutching a clipboard to her chest with an alarmed expression. "Professor D changed the pass codes on the HPS and GODEL won't let us in!"
"Is he still conscious?" Quatre asked, wheeling over to the hatch. The technicians all stepped aside to make room for him.
"I don't believe so," she said worriedly, moving to stand behind him anxiously.
Heero, Trowa, and Wufei joined them, looking curiously at the locking device. Heero started in shock, for on the small vid screen, Heero-bear glared up at him over a keypad. The words 'Give GODEL the key code or I'll kill you' appeared in a little bubble off the side of the bear's head, which might have brought forth snickers if not for the seriousness of the situation.
Quatre began typing on the small keypad, trying code after code with no results. Growing increasingly frustrated, he slammed his hand down the on the keypad and turned to the technician beside him.
"Did he write it down on a post-it note or anything?" he asked lamely, afraid for his friend.
"N-no, Instructor Q!" she said shakily. "Not that I know of!"
"Well, check his damn desk then!" he demanded, running shaky fingers through his hair. "We need to get him out of there, now!"
Heero checked his watch suddenly, taking note of the date in this cluster. He then reached forward over Quatre and typed in two numbers on the keypad.
42
GODEL glared for another second before 'Access Granted' flashed next to his head and the door unlatched with a soft hiss. The room fell silent and everyone looked at the hatch in shock. Then Quatre began shouting orders to the technicians, sending the room into an organized frenzy as they opened the door fully and unhooked Duo from the HPS, laying him out on the floor. As they checked his physical status, Quatre looked at Heero probingly.
"How did you know?"
Heero shrugged. "An even numbered Saturday in March, the pass code changes to the answer to life, the universe, and everything in honor of when he discovered classic novels from Earth. He hasn't changed," he said with a fond and knowing smirk, glancing at the unconscious Duo. "He'll change it to '1509186' next Tuesday."
"What does that stand for?" Quatre asked curiously, but went unnoticed as all eyes turned toward Duo, who was waking up. Quatre waited a good thirty seconds before beginning his tirade. "Duo, you idiot! I've told you time and time again not to stay in the HPS for over eight hours! You could have fallen into a coma! You could have DIED! You-"
"Hey Q?" Duo breathed weakly, holding a hand to his head as he struggled to sit up. "Could we do this later? When everything isn't so blindingly loud?"
Quatre deflated immediately, unable to stay angry when his friend was in pain. "Are you alright?" he asked quietly, leaning over in his chair.
Duo groaned, managing to sit up and accept a cup of water from a nearby technician. "No, but I'll live." He managed a ghost of a smirk, sipping from his cup slowly. "So... am I getting arrested now?"
"Duo Maxwell," Heero took his cue began for the second time that morning, his expression pained. "You are hereby under arrest for the development of-"
"WHAT?" Quatre exclaimed, rounding on Heero. "You're placing him under ARREST?"
"Yes," he stated calmly, though his body betrayed his apprehension. "And... you as well."
"What?" This time it was both Trowa and Wufei.
"No way, Yuy."
"You can't be serious!"
"Look!" Heero burst out, rounding on them all. "I don't care about what's in the past between us all! We came here to take apart a terrorist organization! And I don't care if the terrorist is Quatre, or some nameless villain, or...Relena! We take down the bad guys, so if Duo and Quatre are the bad guys, then I'm arresting them!"
They might have responded, except that Duo chose that moment to start laughing dryly. "You know," he began, giving Heero a wry look. "Funny you should mention Relena... "
End Part 4
Next Chapter: The conspiracy FULLY revealed! ...partially.
(:./kitty/faction4)
