Ok, well, heres to another fic, hopefully a fairly decent one, though im not gonna pretend to be some amazing writer, cos im not! If you can cut me a little slack for wierd phrases, or things that arent quite as good as they could be, id be grateful. I did originally have this fic part way up on this site, which some of you may remember, but hit a huge snag, and ended up removing it cos i was at a complete loss as to what to write next. however, i found it in a folder in my bedroom yesterday, and finally found the inspiration for the rest of it i had been waiting for for over ayear now. its all planned, ive written all but the last 2 chapters, and hopefully by the time we get to the last chapters, ill have written those too.
Constructive criticism is welcome, as is any comments about how wonderfully brilliant this fic is! (though i wont be expecting many of those XD). I think this chaptr iqs quite short in the grand scheme of things, since im not too good at long chapters. hopefully theyll get a little longer as we progress through the story, heres hoping. And now, to the story itself...
Title: The Power of Evil
Author: whateverimcurrentlycalled
Pairings: suggested 3x4, eventual 1x2
Rating: T (i think...please, please let me know if i have rated it wrong. i dont wanna get this fic removed just cos i made a mistake...)
Disclaimer: i dont own any of Gundam Wing at all...sadly...=(
Chapter 1 – The machine
"Maxwell, hurry up!" Heero shouted, but the sounds of gunshots round the corner he had just come from drowned him out. They were on a mission in an OZ base, but the guards had found them during their escape. Much to Heero's annoyance, Duo had gone Shinigami on him, and seemed to be having so much fun shooting everyone and everything, that he wasn't bothered about running away.
Abruptly, the shooting stopped.
"Finally…" Heero muttered under his breath. He didn't show it, but Duo's shinigami tendencies annoyed him. He stood, waiting, for the braided bakas head to appear round the corner, grinning manically, but it never did.
Heero slowly headed back to the corner, looking cautiously round as he reached it. Duo was held by the arms between two OZ guards, and judging by the way his limp body hung, he was in a bad shape.
Heero began to follow them silently down the corridor, studying their every move, waiting for Duo to be left alone so that he, Heero, could rescue him. Again. Duo was always getting caught, but he never got down about it. That was what really annoyed Heero. Sighing inwardly, he continued to follow the guards and Duo down the corridor in perfect silence.
Duo was vaguely aware of being carried down countless corridors, and eventually being dumped in a soft chair. A soft chair? What was going on? Were the OZ being nice? Almost as soon as these thought began to take root, he was strapped down into the chair. Ah. Not so nice after all. He heard voices nearby, so he strained to listen to what they were saying.
"So you got one of the Gundam pilots." The voice was low and guttural, but very commanding. Whoever it belonged to was clearly in charge here.
"Yes. We brought him straight here to the machine. We thought you would enjoy doing the honours as soon as you could." This voice was higher, but still a mans voice. One of the young guards he had previously been fighting, he assumed.
"Hmm, yes. I shall rather enjoy it. Let's start him off with 50…"
The voices trailed off. They were too far away for Duo to hear now. A machine they had said. He opened his eyes and looked around. He could see some kind of machinery suspended above him. He didn't know what it was, or what it would do, but he knew that in the possession of OZ, it wouldn't do him any good. And he knew that whatever it was, in his current state, he wouldn't be able to fight it. As this thought crossed his mind, his eyes closed once more, and he was dead to the world.
Heero watched as they strapped Duo to the chair. He didn't know what they would do, but the heavy machinery above the chair Duo was strapped to didn't look like it was built for the pleasure of whoever was sat in that chair.
A guard and a man who seemed to be in charge here were coming down the corridor. They were talking, but he was too far away to hear them. He moved closer.
"I shall rather enjoy it. Let's start him off with fifty percent and see where that takes him. Such a young boy shouldn't need much more than that to permanently alter the 'good' side of his brain" Both men laughed as they continued down the corridor.
Heero winced inwardly as the gravity of those words set in. Alter part of Duo's brain? He knew he had to free Duo, but even the perfect soldier couldn't force open the thick doors that were the only entrance and exit to the room Duo was in.
He watched, helpless, as the heavy machinery was lowered over Duo's head. Obviously there was an external control room elsewhere. Heero tore his eyes from Duo's limp and helpless form, and left in search of the control room, hoping he could stop the machine before too much of Duo's brain was altered irreversibly.
He ducked behind a pile of boxes as the guard and the man he had seen earlier came past, heading back to the room Duo was in. When he was sure they were gone, Heero continued in his search for the control room.
It wasn't long before he found it. It was a small room, with simple controls. To his dismay, he could see that whatever damage had been intended for Duo's brain had already been done. He searched the panel for something that would reverse the effects.
It didn't take him long to find the control that determined the percentage of damage done, and he was grateful to see it could go down to minus numbers. If he could just set it to minus fifty percent…
A movement caught his eye. The guard had unstrapped Duo, and was lifting his small form easily out of the chair. Heero could do nothing to help Duo right now, but he filed the information he needed in his brain so that, if the chance were to profess itself, he could return and do what needed to be done to undo the damage.
Quietly, he left the control room and made his way back down the corridor to the entrance of the machine room. Looking down the corridor, he could see the guard, with Duo on his shoulder, and he followed silently.
Duo felt…different. He didn't know what that machine had done, but he felt stronger, more powerful. Looking around, he could see he was in and OZ containment cell.
Why was it always him that got captured, not Heero? It wasn't fair…
'Duo…' he heard someone whisper.
He looked up. Heero was stood outside the bars, pulling them apart as easily as if they were made of paper. He walked into the cell and tried to pull Duo up from where he was seated on the floor.
"Hey!" said Duo indignantly. "What do you think you're doing?"
"Trying to rescue you baka" Heero replied, his face showing no emotion as usual. That was so annoying. Couldn't he at least smile once in a while? Why did he always have to look so solemn and resigned?
"What if I don't wanna be rescued?!" Duo said, folding his arms stubbornly and glaring at Heero.
"You're being rescued whether you like it or not. I'm not having Quatre fussing all day because you didn't come back." Heero told him, and with that he picked Duo up, and carried him out of the cell.
Heero could tell something was not right. Duo put up a stronger resistance to him than every before, and why did he say he didn't want to be rescued? The baka was normally only too happy to be taken out of an OZ containment cell, and had never before offered resistance to Heero.
Soon after they had left the cell, Duo had stopped struggling against him and had gone limp. Heero had ignored this, carrying him stealthily back to their Gundams. He had taken Duo into Wing's cockpit with him, and set off, carrying Duo's Gundam, Deathscythe, in Wing's hand.
Duo stirred soon after they had set off.
"What happened…" he asked, bleary eyed.
"I just rescued you. We're heading back to the safe house." Heero replied
"Wha--? I don't remember…" Duo looked genuinely confused as he sat up.
Heero stared down at him. This was not like Duo. Duo was never confused. Something was very wrong with him, and Heero was willing to bet it had something to do with that machine…