Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing, or the pilots... sad face
These chapters seem to be getting shorter :/ Let me know if I'm lacking in description, I'll try to flesh them out more. I just like dialog better.
Wufei rushed around the corner, fearing for the worst. Last he heard, Duo was captured by the enemy and was being interrogated. Heero said he was going to join, but Wufei made him stay and keep him updated on developments. He wanted everything recorded, so they could use it later.
But for now, helping Duo was his first priority. Heero went silent, and while that could be a good sign, Wufei was still worried. He rounded the corner, his gun ready to take out any resistance and free Duo at any cost.
The sight before him left him stunned.
Instead of finding seven men surrounding and beating on Duo, he found Duo, his hands held up in fists with seven men surrounding him, all unconscious on the ground.
Wufei just lowered his weapon.
And judging by the confused look on Duo, he wouldn't be able to shed light on the situation either. "What just happened?"
Wufei tensed. "I was about to ask you that."
Duo looked lost, and then confused. He looked around at the bodies on the floor, fear growing in his eyes, his fists still balled. "Are they dead?"
Wufei walked over and knelt by one of the bodies, feeling for a pulse, then stood. "No, just knocked out."
"Oh." He sounded relieved, then looked up at Wufei with the purest of innocence and confusion he had ever seen. "Did I do this?"
"I'm not sure." Wufei didn't know how to react. Duo was acting strange, and the whole situation was above his pay grade. Last he remembered, Duo couldn't fight. And judging by the look on the braided pilot's face, Duo had no idea what happened either. The Asian gingerly walked over the unconscious bodies and up to Duo, gently grabbing his fists and pushing them down. "Are you okay?"
Duo was more freaked out than he would have been, if he actually knew what just happened. He wasn't used to blacking out. Then again, who was? "I don't know…"
"What do you remember?"
Duo gulped, trying to think. "They were interrogating me…" Then he was suddenly in some strange cockpit, maneuvering it to safety… "Then this."
Wufei could tell there was something missing from that statement; he paused too long. But he probably wasn't going to get anything out of him here. "Why don't we head back to the van to recuperate." He didn't know why he was being so delicate with him. Probably because he had never seen Duo this freaked out before. He would have to ask him about it when he was more himself.
"Oh, there are more guys." Duo said, looking around.
"I took care of a few, the others have the rest. We just need to get out of here."
Duo nodded, looking like he was coming back to reality. "Yeah, that would probably be great."
They stepped over the bodies and walked out.
.xxx.
"Mihn? Mihn?"
Mihn groaned from a splitting migraine and an annoying voice above her, her eyes focusing on the source. "Elle?" She sat up, wincing in pain.
"Slow down, you might have a concussion." Said the braided martial artist, worry evident in her voice. She helped Mihn sit up, holding her with a solid grip.
"Are you okay?"
Elle sighed. "I'm fine. You should be worried about yourself."
Mihn scoffed, pushing herself up. "What happened?"
She could hear the hesitation in Elle's voice. "I was hoping you could tell me."
Mihn gave her a curious look, then looked around. Her eyes widened when she saw they were docked. "How'd we get an access code?"
"I don't know…" Elle looked frantic. "One minute we're being attacked, then the next thing I know we're docked here." She bit her lip.
Mihn gave her a look. "What?"
Elle looked innocent. "What?"
"You're biting your lip. That means there's something else on your mind."
Elle hesitated, then caved. "I don't know what happened, but I blacked out. I found myself surrounded by these guys, which I made quick work of, and then I was back. It's like I was someone else…" She bit her lip again, and Mihn eyed her. "I think whoever I was switched with me, and docked the ship."
"That's impossible." Mihn stood, turning away from Elle to keep her from seeing the fear in her eyes. "There's got to be another explanation."
Elle stood, following after her. "But I can't think of any!"
Mihn ignored her and tried to open the hatch of the door, but it was stuck.
"I couldn't get it open. And we don't know if there's air outside."
Mihn looked around, spotting their helmets hanging near the door. She grabbed hers, then handed Elle's hers. She grabbed the handle above the door, then held her feet up and gave a swift forceful kick.
The door flew off and crashed into the side of the dock, denting it.
Elle whistled. "You never cease to amaze me."
"Let's go, I want to get my head checked out."
"Are we leaving the shuttle?"
"We'll come back for it later." Elle nodded and followed after Mihn, floating to the docking bridge.
.xxx.
"What the hell was that?"
Duo looked completely flabbergasted when Heero appeared out of the van, heading towards them looking shocked and angry. "What the hell was what?"
"What you did back there." Heero stated, walking up and towering over him menacingly.
Wufei was also wondering why Heero was so angry. Whatever happened, at least he was safe.
"Look, Heero, I honestly don't know what you're talking about."
"Where did you learn those moves?"
"What moves?"
"I'll show you." He headed back to the van, followed by the curious Duo and Wufei. Heero pulled his laptop out and set it on the seat facing them, then pulled up the surveillance on Duo and rewound. When he played it, the two stared in shock as they watched Duo use moves they had never seen on the group of men, knocking out all seven White Fang members.
Duo took a step back when Heero paused it at the end, both him and Wufei looking at him expectantly. "I don't remember any of that."
"You can't expect me to believe you." Said Heero.
"I'm telling you I have no memory of that!" Duo insisted.
"I've fought Duo, there's no way he can fake not knowing how to fight like that." Wufei was being honest. In all his years of fighting, the moves Duo used were from someone extensive training and knowledge of pressure points. That wasn't something one could hide when practice fighting, especially against a trained martial artist.
Heero didn't look convinced. "You don't seriously believe him?"
"I believe something strange is going on, and Duo honestly doesn't remember."
Heero sighed. Of course, he trusted Wufei's judgment, but not Duo's. Duo felt irritated. "Okay, we'll figure it out later. Let's go get the hostages."
"You go back and meet with the others, me and Duo need to talk." Heero nodded and headed off. Duo looked at Wufei nervously.
Wufei didn't know how to approach this sensitive subject. He believed Duo, but something was going on, and he was going to find out. Yet he had to be delicate, something he was not used to, because he knew the second Duo started to feel threatened, he would close himself off and possibly disappear.
And holding him for interrogation wouldn't work either.
So he had to approach this like a friend. Or, at least how Sally usually approached Wufei when something was wrong. "Duo, is everything alright?"
He studied Duo intently, and the braided pilot could feel the intensity of his gaze. He flinched, and knew Wufei had caught it. He could tell him, but that would be opening up. But he couldn't avoid it, could he? "I don't know, I've just been having trouble sleeping."
"I don't think sleeping can lead to you miraculously learning tai chi and acupuncture."
"Is that what happened?"
"Duo, don't change the subject."
Duo sighed. "I don't know, honestly."
"Duo, I can't help you unless you tell me what's going on."
Duo looked at him, then away. He could be honest with him, but what would that accomplish? He paused, an idea coming to him. "I've been having weird dreams lately."
Wufei narrowed his eyes. "Weird as in how?" And what did this have to do with recent developments?
"It's like I'm someone else. I'm not in control, I'm just watching, but I'm watching through their eyes and actions. It's really weird. It's the same thing every night."
Wufei humored him. "What happens in these dreams?"
Duo shrugged. "I don't know, mundane stuff." He paused, thinking. "I'm in this space craft, with this other girl. She looks Asian. We go to Earth, I walk around, go to different towns, steal food and pawn off random stuff we find in the ship. It's like a story but without a plot. Or, like I'm living someone else's life."
"You think this has a connection to what happened back there?" He asked, trying to bring the conversation back around.
Duo looked at him, the connections in his head showing the worry he was starting to feel. "Well, I wasn't completely honest. I… I remember getting jumped, then they started questioning me, then they started beating me, then…"
"Then?"
"Then I was on the ship again… only, I could control everything."
"You think you fell back into the dream?"
"No, it was more intense. I could feel everything, hear everything, even smell the air. And I took control of the ship, then docked it. I could control the body I was in this time."
It sounded a little too unusual, but Wufei had seen some pretty messed up shit. Body snatchers? Maybe not, but that didn't mean there wasn't an explanation. "Let's talk to Sally about this, maybe we can figure out what's going on."
"That's not all."
"What else is there?"
"Sometimes I'll be walking down the street, or just hanging out at my apartment, and I start to hear things."
Okay, now this was sounding crazy. "Like what things?"
"Like normal things; people talking, cars passing by; like I'm outside but I'm not."
Wufei suddenly remembered the time Duo thought the walls were thin in the locker room. That meant this had been going on for a while.
"I'll even feel the air rush by me, and I'm sitting at home." Duo paused, seeing the strange look in Wufei's eyes. "You think I'm crazy."
"I don't think anything. I'm just worried."
"I wouldn't blame you, I sound crazy…" Duo looked freaked out as it was, and Wufei felt compelled to reassure him.
He placed a hand on his shoulder. He lightly patted it. Was this how reassuring friends worked? "It'll be okay. We'll talk to Sally, figure things out, and it'll all be okay." He quoted what Sally used to tell him when he had his hard times with PTSD. He hoped it worked.
"Thanks." The braided pilot looked down, forlorn. "Please don't tell Heero. I wouldn't hear the end of it."
Wufei figured it had to do something with their past relationship. "I won't."
"Thanks 'Fei, it really means a lot."
Wufei nodded. He could tell this was tough on Duo. If he could help him figure out what was going on, maybe they could help each other.
.xxx.
"Well, you don't have a concussion."
"Oh thank God." Elle sighed a breath of relief as the doctor nodded to the two, Mihn lying in the hospital bed and the braided one sitting on the edge next to her.
"I do have to ask, standard procedure, how did you get that bump?" The doctor asked, looking at the two curiously.
They exchanged a look. "I tripped down the stairs." Said Mihn. "Thank you."
The doctor didn't look convinced, but ignored it. "I'll sign the release forms right away." He nodded to them and left.
"You don't think he noticed?" Asked Elle.
"What, that I'm not Terran? No."
Elle looked worried, walking over to the window to look into the hall. "I hope so." She stopped, seeing the doctor talk to some officers, then point at their room. "Mihn, I think they know."
"What?"
Elle hurried to help Mihn up. "We gotta go, they're sending officers."
"You've got to be kidding." Mihn didn't look fazed. Probably because nothing could surprise her at this point. "I got this, you don't have to worry about me." Elle nodded and they headed for the door.
When they opened it, the officers were right outside. "Stop!" Elle rounded on them and knocked them both to the ground while Mihn snuck out. They both took off down the hall, pushing anyone who got in their way.
Once they were out of the hospital, and well enough down the street, they stopped to catch their breath.
"How did they know?" Asked Elle, breathing heavily.
"I have no clue." Said Mihn, sliding down the wall she leaned against to sit on the ground. "We're wearing their ugly clothes." She looked down at her attire with scrutiny. Tank top, baggy pants, combat boots; apparently not enough.
"It must be something on us, or about us. Is it our skin? Our hair?"
"We look just like everyone else." Said Mihn. "And we really can't go around asking."
"I'm tempted to just to get a straight answer." Mihn snorted. "Let's go, we don't want them catching up." Mihn nodded, taking a few more moments to catch her breath, then stood. They disappeared into the alley.
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