Chapter Three – A test? I hate tests…
Sally P.O.V.
I arrived at the Pilots' safe house at exactly one o'clock, with my handy leather doctor's bag in hand. Quatre greeted me at the door and led me through the halls to the living room. "They're just finishing lunch, were you hungry?"
"No, I already ate." I said. He gave me a smile. "So what exactly are we doing here today?"
"Well you know about the collar and the Triggers. Duo came up with an idea to remove the collar this morning." He said. I frowned.
"You didn't contact me?"
"It was a spur of the moment thing." A voice said from behind me. I turned around to see Duo standing in the doorway, Heero next to him. The teen looked weak to my eyes, and I frowned at him as he hobbled to the couch.
"I'm disappointed in you. Heero's still injured! You shouldn't be fooling around with something like that on your own." My gaze softened when Heero winced. "But done is done." I said before Duo or Quatre could speak.
"We didn't think it would work." Another voice said. I looked up to see Wu Fei and Trowa stepping into the room.
"All right. Moving on then." I said. "What did you want to do here today?"
"We wanted you to look him over to make sure he wasn't hurt from it." Quatre said. "And we want to make sure his triggers work."
"Okay." I frowned. "But we'll only test the triggers if I say he's ready to." Quatre nodded. I turned to Heero. "Shirt off then, let me make sure you didn't aggravate your burns."
Heero complied and, with Duo's help, pulled off his shirt to reveal several burns that looks like belt marks. I poked and prodded at them, and was satisfied to find that none had been rubbed or pulled. None were bleeding, and none were aggravated.
The lacerations where his wings had been forced through were almost healed.
I took the time to poke around his ribs and shoulders, then his face and throat. "Nothing looks out of line." I ran my hands down his legs and checked where the bones had been broken. The thick bandages were still in place.
"My head hurts." Heero said softly once I pulled away.
"Result of too much tampering." I said with a frown. "If it's bad I say you shouldn't test anything today." Heero shook his head.
"It's dull. And the changes never affect my head." I stepped back and Heero put his shirt back on.
"Then I don't see why you can't try it." I admitted. "But do it slowly. One at a time. Don't rush." Heero nodded. "And don't try any transforming." I warned. He gave me an 'are-you-dumb' look and I grinned at him.
"Get yourself comfortable then Heero." Quatre said unhappily. Heero shifted a bit but stayed where he was.
"Do you want to start at the top?" Trowa asked. "And then go down from there?"
"It would be easiest." Heero said. "And if it works just do it that way when you need to." The pilots all nodded and I stood back out of the way. Quatre stepped up first.
"How do I do this?" He asked.
"It's best to say it as part of a sentence, so no one can decipher the words." Heero said. Quatre nodded. He took a deep breath.
"We're at war Heero, it's time to fight." I watched in awe – although I had seen his triggers before – as Heero shot up from the slouched position to sit ram-rod straight. His eyes flashed to a darker blue and his face hardened.
He looked around discreetly, eyes pausing on me before moving on. It almost looked as if he were re-acquainting himself with everything and everyone. Which he might have been.
"Heero?" Duo asked. Heero turned to face him. "You feeling okay?"
"I am uninjured." Duo grinned.
"That's our soldier-boy!" Heero frowned. "So it worked!" Duo said.
"What worked?" Heero asked. "Why was I triggered?" He stood up. "Is there a mission?" I inched behind a pillar as Heero frowned. "Did Doctor J give us a mission?" The pilots looked at each other in confusion.
"Don't you remember?" Quatre asked.
"If something happened while I was in civilian mode I don't always remember." Heero answered promptly. Then he tilted his head and slowly brought his hand up to his neck. "You took it off?" He asked when his hand met thin air.
"Yes."
"Doctor J will be mad."
"We no longer answer to them." Wu Fei spoke up. Heero's head tilted. "Doctor J and the others are no longer our commanders."
"Why?" Heero asked.
"Because we disagree with them." Quatre said. "With what they did to you."
"To me?"
"And to the rest of us." If possible, Heero looked even more confused.
"Genetic engineering." Trowa finally spoke up. "Manipulation. Torture."
"He did not torture me." Heero said.
"Maybe you think of it as training." Quatre said. "And it wasn't only him. You were captured remember? Because of what he did to you." Heero looked down at his body, suddenly noticing the bandages.
"I'm remembering." His eyes hardened. "Are the abductors alive?"
"No. We killed them all." Trowa said.
"And destroyed their data." Wu Fei added. Heero's fist clenched.
"There might still be more. Take me to where I was held."
"No." Quatre said. "You need to recover. They…"
"I need to make sure they have nothing on me." Heero moved towards the door leading to the back yard and growled when Trowa blocked his path.
"They used a drug on you." Trowa said quietly. "It slows your healing abilities. You're still badly injured and cannot go to a decimated base to retrieve anything. We took care of it for you."
"But…."
"Stand down Heero." Trowa said. Heero's shoulders slumped a bit and some of the fire left his eyes.
"You're sure you got it all?" He asked again, in a softer voice. Trowa nodded. Heero turned around and re-claimed his seat on the sofa. He still sat ram-rod straight, but he was more relaxed. A soft spoken "at ease' from Wu Fei resulted in Heero slumping back into the couch.
"How do you feel?" I asked, stepping foreword. Heero looked up as I began to poke and prod. "Does anything hurt?"
"My head, but no worse than before." I nodded and, after a brief rummage through my bag, pulled out a bottle of pills.
"Ultra strength pain relief. Take one pill, with food, when you start feeling pain that you can't handle. Make sure you wait six hours between each pill and never take two at once." Heero nodded and accepted the full bottle. He tucked it away in a pocket.
"Thanks you for coming over." Quatre said as I closed my bag and stood to leave.
"It was no problem for me. If you ever need my help again don't hesitate." I said, subtly reminding him that I WAS their physician. Quatre grinned sheepishly.
"I know. Thank you again." He walked me to the door. I waved as I made my way out to my car, and watched the door close.
"Those boys have a lot in store for them." I muttered before driving off.
TBC