The teenage boy found himself scurrying to school, gripping the books he held tightly against his chest. His finger nails dug into the assortment of school texts making his fingers tingle with pain. The boy did not register his throbbing hand; he was more focused on the slightly older boys that had been following at a steady pace. Normally this wouldn't have bothered the youth, but when he slowed to let the group pass him they slowed too and when he quickened his pace theirs quickened as well. His nerves we're on end and his eyes keep darting around him. He only had a few more blocks before he could enter the safety of his school and stop worrying about the snickering people behind him. Unfortunately he never made it to the school.

When he saw his school came into view his focus on the boys behind him lessened and he did not hear them as they quickened their pace to catch up with him. As soon as the four young men stood around him they all seemed to attack at once. One grabbed the young man's books and tossed them too the ground while another took his now free hands and pulled them behind his back. The frightened youth struggled and tried to call out, but a third person came from behind him and stuffed a rag in his mouth. One slightly bigger than the rest motioned for them to follow him and two of the boys hefted his shoulder and his feet up and carried him to a nearby alleyway. The biggest man seemed to be the group's leader and smiled at the victim his two friends had lifted up into a standing position. The boy's violet eyes were wide with fear which only made the large teenager lick his lips with anticipation. The youth finally recognized his assaulters as seniors on their school's football team. Several of them were in his classes and he recognized the leader as being Damien, a guy from math class who always seemed to get kicked out. He had heard around school that the group often harassed the younger class girls, but there never was enough evidence to prove the rumors true.

The leader chuckled and laid his rough hands on the boys face. "So what have we here? A lanky sophomore who's a little too smart for his own good." Damien started to trace his finger over the youth's jaw. His hands ghosted over his long chestnut hair and the youth flinched at the contact earning him an uppercut. Damien laughed and continued stroking the boy's silky hair, seeming mesmerized by it. "You know, in the four years I've been going to this school you are the only one with hair to their waste. Girls don't even have hair that long. But man do they want to. My girlfriend even talks about your hair. You know it kinda kills the mood when your girl suddenly starts talking about her infatuation with another guy, you know 'Duo this and Duo that', and the funny thing is she doesn't even think of you as hot or anything. It was like she was appreciating another girl's beauty. So that gave me an idea." Damien's eyes glinted with something malevolent and his grin spread showing pearly white teeth. The boy squirmed in his captures grip, but their hold was steadfast and he finally fell limp and listened to Damien. "I was looking at you in class the other day and you do look like a girl. A lot like a girl. So much even that I found myself wondering what it would be like..." His words trailed off as one of his hands disappeared of the youth's shirt. It seemed to scrape against the boy's torso and he gave a silent cry into the rag that gagged him. The young men holding onto him laughed and the one standing behind Damien smiled, apparently waiting his turn.

Damien's hands suddenly stopped their assault and Duo opened the eyes that he didn't notice he had shut. Looking down Duo saw his assaulter fumbling with the button to his jeans and then he noticed the huge bulge that protruded from Damien's crotch. 'Oh no, Heero's gonna be so mad. What should I do? I have to get away. I can do this. I can be strong like Heero told me. But I don't know what to do.' A whimper of frustration came from the youth's mouth and he started to struggle, more forcefully this time. He could feel bruises forming on his wrists from the tight hold his captures had on him. But his struggling only made things worse as his captures started to beat his arms to make him hold still. Their punches landed hard on Duo's soft skin and caused instant bruising. His struggling didn't cease though until Damien lifted his fist and punched his stomach, digging his thick knuckles into Duo's abs. The youth double over in pain and his captures loosened their grip and let him drop. His legs and knees landed in broken glass and he closed his eyes trying hard not to think about the pain. 'Don't give up. Come on Duo, what would Heero think if you gave up?' His body hurt and he couldn't feel his legs as the blood pooled around his body. The football players laughed harder and it was only then that Duo looked up to find himself directly in front of Damien's crotch. Damien's fly was unzipped and his erection could clearly be seen sticking out of the hole in his green boxers. Duo suddenly realized what was about to happen and screamed into the gag. 'Help me! Please! Heero, please. Help me.' Duo made a silent plea to his friend for help. Duo hoped beyond hope that his best friend would find a way here before the Damien did anything to him.

As Damien made to pull out his victim's gag he heard a thump behind him and turned to see his comrade on the floor. "What the fuck?" Damien looked around to see a boy about his height standing in front of his unconscious teammate. Damien growled in anger and stepped toward the boy, "Oh, you're gonna pay motherfucker, you can count on that." The man ignored Damien, looking around him at Duo. Duo's eyes were shut tight and the blood from his legs had flowed like water along the ally floor. The bruises on Duo's arms were slowly turning a deep purple and pain was etched on Duo's face. The man in the ally stood frozen staring at Duo. His dark blue eyes were suddenly full of anger and electricity could be seen jumping from one eye to the other. His fists clenched and his eyes narrowed, suddenly turning his focus back to Damien who had prepared to lunge at him. As Damien jumped out toward the man who hurt his comrade he felt his body tremble and shutter with pain. He looked down at himself and saw his skin shiver and ripple over his body. He looked at the man in front of him and saw deep blue waves of power surging from his body. The surges flowed through the alley way and Damien heard his friends behind him scream in agony. A wave of the deep blue electricity suddenly shot up his body and he found himself screaming in pain as he lost himself to darkness.

Duo felt his captures release him, but he couldn't do anything about, his legs were numb from pain0. He wanted to run, run as far away as possible, run to safety, but mostly he wanted to run to Heero. Heero always seemed to know how to make him feel better. He was often picked on in school, but his best friend was always there. They had known each other since they were kids and their parents, it seemed, had always been friends. Last year, however, their parents had gone out together, to dinner and the movies. They left Heero to look after Duo while they were gone. On their drive home Heero and Duo's parents were hit by a speeding car. Their car was flattened between the speeder and a large tree crushing the teenager's parents. They were dead and nothing could bring them back. Heero comforted Duo that night while he cried for hours, longing for what he had lost. Heero took it upon himself to take care of his younger friend. As a junior he had already found a steady job and had enough money to rent a small apartment with the help from their parent's inheritance. The government had no problem giving Heero custody of Duo since he was 17 and had enough money to support them both. Duo was a scared freshman and Heero had saved him. Duo sighed thinking about his friend and looked up to see the subject of his thoughts leaning over him.

"Heero! When did you get here?" It was then that Duo noticed the slumped forms around him and knew that Heero had once again saved him from the big bad world. Duo smiled and as heero kneeled down next to him he wrapped his arms around the older boy and gave him a hug. Heero let a small smile spread over his lips until Duo dropped his arms wincing in pain. Silent anger passed through Heero but he controled it and lefted Duo into his arms and walked swiftly to his car.

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"Professor we have a major surge of power coming from somewhere in Maryland." The woman who spoke began typing on the computer in front of her and stared at the screen waiting for information to load. Her white hair flowed around her shoulders and her eyes bore into the screen waiting while the man behind her spoke.

"Yes, I feel him Storm. He's young, still in school." The Professor put his hand to his temple and closed his eyes, focusing. "He's in Baltimore, his name is Heero Yuy." The Professor opened his eyes to see Storm typing in the information into the computer.

Storm smiled as Heero Yuy's address and personal information popped up on her screen. She quickly printed it out. "I've got everything; we better go find Jean and Scott."

The Professor nodded and whirled his wheelchair around leading the way out of the large computer room. The two adults entered the main house and maneuvered around the hyper children that were running through the halls. They entered a large kitchen to find Jean and Scott sitting across from each other at the dinning room table. They each had an empty plate in front of them and we're deep in conversation as the Professor and Storm entered. The Professor cleared his throat, "We have confirmation of a mutant in Baltimore, and we need to you go to him. He's probably experiencing some panic and confusion, because his powers seem to have just come to him. Bring him here so that we can help him learn about his gift." The Professor left the three alone and they proceeded to exit the house and enter the garage. Baltimore was only a few hours away so they took the minivan usually used for small trips with the childern. Reading the directions Storm had printed out; Scott drove them to meet Heero Yuy.

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Heero gently placed Duo in the passenger seat of his car. He made sure Duo was secure and had on his seatbelt before entering on the driver's side. Duo slumped over to rest his head on the window. Heero sighed shaking his head. He hadn't expected to use his power against the goons that attacked Duo. He could have just as easily beaten them without it, but to see what they did to Duo flared a rage in Heero. A rage so deep he couldn't control himself. Duo had always made him smile and laugh and for that he wanted, no needed, to protect Duo. He had no other friends and when he realized years ago he had a power, a power to shoot electricity from his body, he didn't tell a soul. Somehow though, Duo knew. Duo could tell that Heero was different, but instead of shying away in fear like he expected him too Duo accepted him with open arms. He even helped him control it. After years of training he could stand in a crowd send out waves upon waves of electricity and hit only what he wanted to hit. He never dared to let anyone know and only used it when people were attacking Duo. It had seemed over the past years that Duo had a knack for trouble. His long hair and feminine features made him a target for ridicule and for molestation. Heero gripped the wheel tighter at the thought of anyone laying a finger on Duo. His knuckles turned white and he growled low in his throat. He wondered silently why Duo hadn't called them earlier. The two of them had somehow found a way to talk to each other telepathically. Duo often talked to him telepathically while in class, this sometime annoyed Heero, but he never complained. It became more and more troublesome to Heero as they drove home. Heero couldn't understand why Duo hadn't called for him before the guys in the alley had beaten Duo up.

Contrastive criticism welcome! Please review (especially if your gonna say nice stuff ) I'll make it worth your while! Quatre, Trowa and Wufei will be introduced in the next few chapters, Patience! I'll write the next chapter as soon as possible.