After the Eve Wars..., by Raberba girl

Part 7 - The Wonkan Invaders

"Man, being dead stinks," Duo complained, flopping down on a nearby cloud. "Although it's cool how we can fly."

"Hn," Heero grunted, continuing to pace in a circle around Duo.

"Although," the former pilot of Deathscythe mused, "if we die here in the past...how can we grow up and marry and have kids?"

Heero came to a sharp halt. "Kids? What 'kids?' What do you mean, 'marry?'"

Duo smacked himself on the forehead. "Nothing, nothing...just forget I said anything, Yuy Boy." To try to escape Heero's horribly intense look, Duo quickly changed the subject. "Hey! I've got an idea! How about we go down to Earth? You know, give the rest of 'em a scare? C'mon, it'll be fun!" Heero blinked, then grunted and resumed pacing.

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"Hey, Quatre, are you okay?" Catherine asked, sitting down next to him on the bed. He had looked horribly pale and dazed ever since Duo-- ever since yesterday. For a moment he was silent, twitching occasionally.

Then he suddenly burst out, "NO, I am NOT okay! One of my best friends was just murdered in front of my very eyes! AND ALL BECAUSE OF ME!"

"Now Quatre," Catherine said in alarm, remembering what had happened the last time someone close to him had died.

"They killed him! They KILLED him! SONC will pay! PAY!"

"Quatre--" Catherine started firmly, but he didn't hear her.

"SONC, you will never forget yesterday! I'll make sure you don't! For killing Duo Maxwell...I'LL GET YOU BACK! Hehehehehehehe...hahahahahahaha...AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Catherine groaned. Great, not again...

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"Who's there?" Zechs yelled, his eyes darting around the room. Silence. "Who are you?" For a moment there was no answer, and then a very faint, whispery,

'Zeeeeeeechs...'

"I'M ARMED!" Zechs shrieked, scrambling into Epyon.

'Zeeeeeechs...coooooome baaaaaaack aaaaand kiiiiiill meeeeeee...'

"No! NO!" Zechs screamed, blasting at the shadows in a desperate attempt to cover up the horribly Relena-like call. When he ran out of bullets, he sat nervously in the smoke-filled air, listening hard.

A fit of laughter that sounded vaguely familiar finally cut through the silence.

Zechs's fear turned to rage. "DUO!"

A smoky white figure appeared in front of him, long braid swinging, eyes twinkling. "Hey, Zechsey, long time no see!"

"YOU WERE HAUNTING ME!"

"Well, hey, that's what ghosts do, right?"

Zechs suddenly stopped. If Duo was dead...and so was Heero...then maybe... "Hey, Duo, old pal..."

Duo stared, confused. "Uh, yeah?"

"You...wouldn't happen to know where Heero Yuy's ghost is, would you?" Zechs mentioned oh-so-casually.

Duo shrugged. "He's talkin' to Zero. He's boring, he didn't wanna help me haunt you. Said he's 'too cool.' Well, actually he said 'Hn,' but, hey, I'm getting good at translating Heero-speak!" Zechs, however, wasn't listening. He ran to where Wing Zero lay and threw open the hatch.

The ghostly form of Heero sat in the cockpit, murmuring to the ZERO system in a low voice.

"YOU!" Zechs cried. "OMAE O KOROSU!" Heero just watched quietly as Zechs raised the gun and fired.

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A dark figure crept into the room where the sleeping Trowa lay. Moonlight reflected off aqua-green eyes, glinting at the tip of the painful-looking knife clutched in the intruder's hands.

Trowa stirred uncomfortably in his sleep, then his eyes suddenly flew open. He just barely had time to yell and scramble away before the knife made a stab at him.

Wufei came bursting into the room, yelling as well, swinging his sword at the assassin. "How DARE you try to kill Father Heavyarms? Die, villain!"

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A few minutes later, the blonde-haired person slipped out of the Chang house, chuckling evilly to himself.

THE NEXT MORNING:

Sally, the temporary replacement of Lady Une, paced back and forth in front of the remaining Preventers, which was comprised of Relena, Hilde, and Noin.

"Troops, we have some new developments. Trowa Barton is wounded from an attempted assassination by Quatre Raberba Winner. DTO (Dorothy/Treize Organization) has collected a formidable amount of supporters, and our leader has been captured. We still do not know the whereabouts of Zechs Merquise, and now Quatre appears to be missing as well. And with Heero and Duo gone," (Relena and Hilde started crying) "I'm afraid we are at a great disadvantage."

"Well, this is just GREAT," Noin said, banging her fist on the table in frustration. "Everything always seems to go so perfectly for us, eh? Well, don't worry about DTO. I might just go over there and beat up Dorothy Catalonia myself!"

"Noin, no! You mustn't!" Sally cried, but Noin had already gotten up and walked out, heading for the mobile suit hangar and her Taurus.

TWENTY SOME-ODD YEARS IN THE FUTURE:

"Okay, tell me exactly everything that happened," FutureDuo said, pulling out a pen and notepad. 'Man, these duds are cool,' he thought, fully aware of his black suit and sunglasses. 'I look like a Man in Black now!'

The farmer from somewhere in Montana shuddered as his wife buried her face in her hands. "It was awful," he said, "I'd gone to the store earlier, and just bought a box of Nerds...and then last night...last night..."

Mrs. Farmer let out a dry sob. "They were alive!" she choked, "The Nerds...they attacked us!"

"It's okay, ma'am," FutureDuo said smoothly, pretending to jot down notes.

"I tried fending them off with my garden hoe," Mr. Farmer continued, "but it didn't work."

"So what happened to the Nerds?" FutureDuo asked, frowning. The Farmers suddenly broke into evil smiles. "Um, hello?" FutureDuo said nervously, starting to back away. "Guys?!" Mr. Farmer, his eyes a strange color, raised his hand, and FutureDuo suddenly couldn't move.

"Foolish-Earthling-Preventer! No-one-can-stop-us! We-took-over-their-bodies,-you-idiot!"

"Heero! Une! Somebody! HELP ME!" FutureDuo screamed, hoping the commlink in his pocket would pick up his voice.

"Human! Prepare-to-become-our-slave!"

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!! MY EAR, MY EAR!"

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"NO! DAD!" Sandy screamed as the commlink in the Preventers' meeting room suddenly exploded with his father's screams. Everyone else started screaming also. And Jeremy decided, what the heck, and started screaming too. Which started the Mooses off, and soon so many people were screaming that the Editormon edited out the word "scream" from the rest of this paragraph.

"Duo, come in! Duo! Do you read me?" FutureLady Une scre-- yelled into the commlink. The sc-- shouts of pain and horror suddenly stopped, and there was silence.

"Dad?" Sandy whispered.

Then a voice. "Hey, I'm all right. Everything's okay, I took care of the Nerds. They'd already taken over the Farmers last night; they had me going for a while there." Sandy smiled in relief, but FutureLady Une was frozen. Then she slowly reached out and switched the comm off.

"Hey, what'd you do that for?" Sandy said in surprise.

"I-I'm sorry, Sandy. They're just acting, trying to put us off our guard. They-They got your father. He's our enemy now."

Sandy wordlessly dropped into a chair. 'Dad...'

to be continued...