Author's Note: Okay boys and girls, I am nearing a state of emergency. You see, I am in need of an OC, just one little OC that I can kill off with no remorse, nothing major. I had hoped that with last chapter's Author's Note that some of you, the exceptions being Archsage Soren and ShadowMajin, would have offered some OCs up to me but no one seems to be taking it seriously. And for those of you who are taking me seriously, you're not taking me seriously enough. The only fic here that's guaranteed to be updated here is The Eternal Encore so c'mon, help me out, will ya?

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing.

Warning: language

A Return to Normalcy

Solo jolted awake as soon as the sound of a strong wind blowing past the house reached his ears but instead of doing anything about it, he just crushed his head into the couch cushion he was laying on and groaned out loud to himself. Seconds later, his mind had gracelessly shoved the memory of the slight noise out and now he was in the post-sleep stupor that so many fell victim to.

All he wanted to do was to go back to sleep, damn it!

And just as it seemed like he was going to return back to his precious slumber land, a noise began buzzing nearby, preventing him from succeeding. As the seconds ticked by, his mind began to recognize the "buzz" as a human voice one that was telling him to…untie me?

Lifting his head up, he blinked his bleary eyes taking in his surroundings that definitely weren't the cold, solid walls he was so used to seeing every morning. In fact, it looked like he was in somebody's house.

In a rush, the previous two days came back to him and he remembered. He and Duo had escaped, found some town in the middle of nowhere, and had taken some China guy hostage or something. Looking down the stretch of couch, he could see the proof of Duo's smaller body curled up on the other end of the couch and when he turned his head, he saw the China guy he had tied to a chair the night before. Huh, you didn't see that everyday.

"Are you just going to sit there or are you going to untie me?" an angry voice reached his ears and then proceeded into his brain. Oh yeah, they were leaving today, weren't they?

"Hold your horses, you Chinese bastard," he swore and he forced his body up from the comfortable spot he had slept in.

"I'm Japanese," the guy snarled, pissed, but Solo couldn't muster the energy to say anything to that.

Except for, "Same difference."

Not bothering to untie the knots in the restraints, Solo simply tore them off and trudged back to the couch where he promptly collapsed against it, desiring to go back to sleep.

Of course, everything looked to be against him this fine morning as that guy was now poking at him or something, saying something about him and Duo leaving. Getting irritated, he snatched the guy's wrist when one of his hands got to close and as he squeezed it warningly, he was satisfied to hear a popping noise.

"Don't touch me," he grumbled.

"I wouldn't have to if you and your friend would leave already!" the China guy yelled at him.

"Solo…" he heard Duo's voice whine. "Make it stop…"

Well, that pretty much clinched it. There was no way he was going to be getting anymore sleep, now was he? Releasing the captured wrist as he sat up, Solo stretched his arms and legs, trying to get the sleep out of them, and stood up once more.

Ignoring the glare being sent at him by the China guy as he rubbed his wrist, Solo said, "Get up Duo. We gotta get goin'."

Receiving a whine of complaint from Duo, the braided boy nonetheless uncurled his body and sat up, yawning cutely as one of his hands rubbed his eyes. Of course, this only caused the blond to yawn widely himself, soon followed by the China guy holding his wrist. Chain reaction, cool.

"C'mon Kid," Solo said, "We gotta go rob a McDonald's or something so get your lazy ass in gear."

"Screw you too Solo," Duo yawned.

Blinking at the unexpected curse, Solo just shrugged his shoulders and stood up off the couch again. Flexing his arms one more time to stretch them, he strolled over to where Duo sat and grabbed the end of the boy's braid. Using it as a leash, the blond forced the boy to follow after him, as the braided boy behind him began to curse up a storm. Huh, didn't know Kid knew those words. Was Reaper teaching him those?

He'd have to ask him about that later…

So now they were outside, hardly anybody out in the streets at this time in the morning. Looking at the grey clouds that covered the sky, Solo had the urge to go back to the China guy's house and sleep some more but he had told Duo they were going to rob something. Speaking of Duo, he let go of his hold on the boy's braid, bringing an end to the swearing tirade the boy was on. A second later, he felt Duo jump onto his back, his legs wrapping around his waist, and small hands tugging at his blond locks. Now he was starting to get a little worried; he felt no pain from his scalp as Duo pulled on his hair.

The groan of protest coming from his stomach, though, was enough to take his mind off that and start looking for some place with food in it. Apparently Duo was having similar thoughts as the boy stopped his attempt at avenging his hair but remained on the larger boy's back.

Not liking the quiet, Solo spoke up, "So what do you feel like having?"

"Dun know," he heard the soft voice answer.

"Then how about ya get off my back until you can figure it out?" he suggested.

"Nope!"

"Freeloader," he grumbled but didn't say anything else as his eyes began to scan their surroundings, looking for a place that would promise them some nourishment.

---

Relena had been quite impatient this morning and had skipped breakfast so that she could see if Heero was still alive. Along the way, she crossed paths with Dorothy and the two continued on their way to her boyfriend's house. The girl could only hope that Heero was all right and those two monsters were gone.

A hop and a skip later, the two blonde girls had returned to the Yuy residence, Relena pressing the doorbell incessantly until someone answered the door, preferably Heero. It seemed like the best case scenario was coming true; Heero had answered the door and had swept her into his strong arms, given her a breathtaking kiss as he held her. There was no sign of those two boys around and that sat just fine with her.

The nightmare that had kept her up half the night was over and done.

"You're sure they're gone?" Dorothy asked when they were back inside the house.

"Positive," Heero answered as he ate from a bowl of cereal, offering the girls some as well. "It was really weird. They didn't stay and have breakfast or anything. Solo just woke up and dragged Duo out the door with him."

"Wait, who are Solo and Duo?" Dorothy asked, confused.

"Those were their names," Heero answered matter-of-factly.

"How do you know that?"

"Because that's what they kept calling one another."

"And why are you asking about something silly as that?" Relena demanded. "They're gone and we don't have to worry about them anymore. Let's just go to school and pretend that what happened yesterday didn't happen."

"What am I going to do with you Relena?" Dorothy muttered to herself but said nothing that would start a debate between her and her best friend. It wasn't as if this was the weekend where they could stay at Heero's home and do what they wanted. No, they still had school, especially since it was Thursday and it wasn't a holiday.

Plus, she didn't want to get a tardy. Talk about starting the day off on the wrong foot…

However, she was ignored by the two lovebirds in the room as Relena was fully determined to make her beloved boyfriend forget all about the two boys that had held him against his will by playing a very heated game of tonsil hockey. The blonde girl was fully straddling Heero's hips while he sat on the couch, the girl in the odd position of being the dominate one, a role that Heero usually took.

Hearing an "Ahem!" come from Dorothy, Relena managed to tear her face away from her boyfriend long enough to cast her best friend a look of apology before responding to an uncharacteristic whine that came from Heero. In a huff, Dorothy marched back to the front door where she would wait for the other two to come back to their senses. Sure she could walk to school by herself but that would be so boring without someone else to talk to… Besides, what would the others at school say to each other if they saw her arrive at school without Relena?

Opening the door, she took in a deep breath of fresh air, hoping that the sound of the door hinges squeaking would do something to stop Relena and Heero from going all the way.

She jumped as a loud booming sound from downtown invaded her ears, her heart skipping a beat at the unexpected stimulus. What was that? Looking towards downtown, she was sure her heart had skipped another beat at the sight of a pillar of smoke rise towards the sky.

---

Breaking into the closed restaurant had been easy. All Solo had to do was pull on the door and the lock broke from his strength alone. Even as he held it open so that Duo could enter before him, he could still see the piece of metal that had previously deadbolted the door shut sticking out. Closing the door without another thought behind him, he had made a beeline for the restaurant's pantry, Duo following after him like a loyal puppy dog.

Halfway there, a teen girl who had been heading towards the door, keys in a hand, stood there frozen, staring at them. Like the looks of the two girls from yesterday, she looked like she was about to go off on them with her voice. Fortunately, Duo seemed to have learned something about girls from yesterday as well and froze the girl in time. Smirking at the still living girl, trapped in one single second, he just flipped her the bird, a gesture that the blond idly noticed his braided partner-in-crime copy as he too passed the girl.

Anybody else they happened to encounter on their way to the kitchen and pantry met the same fate as the girl. Then there was the pleasurable activity of actually raiding the pantry itself. Since they weren't as hungry as the first time they had done this, their raiding was more controlled.

As they left, several loaves of bread tucked under their arms, Solo himself still working on a half eaten apple and Duo an orange, the two headed back out into the streets, not caring if anybody saw them. After all, what could any normal person do against them?

Nothing, that's what.

"You know, stealing is a crime."

Looking to a side, Solo ended up doing a double take. Standing a ways from them was a boy around their ages dressed in some stupid looking leather (rubber?) clothes or whatever it was they were made of.

Swallowing the bite of apple still in his mouth, he demanded, "Who the hell are you?"

The other boy blinked owlishly at him as the blond took another bite out of his apple. Frowning, the boy said, "You couldn't have forgotten about me already, Solo."

In response, Solo just shrugged his shoulders and took another bite.

Narrowing his eyes, the boy said coldly, "Maybe this will jog your memory."

Two nearby parked cars shuddered then both began to rise up in the air without anything supporting them. Raising his eyebrows at the sight, Solo made no comment nor did he take another bite of his apple. The boy smirking at them, the cars, one at a time, flung themselves at the two boys.

"Aw shit!" Solo swore as he dropped the food he was holding in favor of extending his arms out to catch the first car. Twisting his waist, Duo ducking instinctively, Solo swung the flying car like a baseball bat at the second car, sending the car straight back at the other boy. Giving the flying automobile a bored look, the boy waved his hand, as if swatting a bug away, but lo and behold the car acted as if it had been swatted away, hurling away into one of the nearby buildings. The explosion that followed was more than enough to attract the attention of the townsfolk who were coming out like wasps to investigate the disturbance.

"Why are you making a nuisance of yourselves?" the boy sighed melodramatically. "I'm just here to take you back to the base. You wouldn't want any of these poor people to get hurt, would you?"

Solo snorted. "We ain't goin' back, asshole and no, I don't give a shit what happens to these people."

That certainly took the boy off guard as he stared flabbergasted at Solo's statement. Taking the opportunity, Solo threw the car he was still holding onto at the boy in an attempt to take him out. At the last minute, the boy got a hold of himself and stopped the car just as it was about to hit him. He wasn't even touching the car yet it was just there, sitting up in the air…

That's when it snapped together in Solo's mind. "Hey, you're that kid with the mind powers, ain't ya?" he demanded.

The boy scowled and the car then began to crumple up as some invisible force squeezed it, the automobile finally giving in and blowing up, causing many of the growing crowd around them to turn around and flee.

"My name is Isley!" the boy snarled, pissed off. "And they aren't psychic powers, they're telekinesis, you moron!"

"Geez," Solo grumbled. "Ya don't have ta go all defensive on me, ya know?"

"Solo…" he heard Duo mumbled from behind, a small hand tugging at his newly purchased pants.

Glancing back at the braided boy quickly then back towards Isley, Solo said, "Yeah, yeah, I know."

"That's not going to work, you know?" Isley suddenly chirped in a sing-song voice.

"Don't tell me, you can read my mind, can't ya?" Solo grounded out.

"You bet!" Isley confirmed.

"That so? Then read this!"

Isley's face contorted into a look of disgust. "Aw…AWW! That was…how could…that's just physically impossible! Your mind…it's so FILTHY!"

"Heh heh," Solo chuckled to himself.

"If I hadn't been ordered to bring you back alive, I'd kill you for that!" Isley snarled. "But I think I'll settle for ripping your legs off!"

"Oh hell no!" Solo swore. Leaping away from the spot he had just been standing in, shoving Duo away as far as he could, the concrete ground blew up shrapnel of small rocks that were sent whizzing through the air. While Solo could handle getting hit with these without feeling anything and Duo could make a shield of frozen time to protect him, the other normal people who were still around weren't so lucky. "Idiots," Solo muttered to himself, ignoring the blood coming from the nearby wounded as he grabbed hold of the nearest object he could get: a fire hydrant.

It was too easy pulling the little red hydrant out of the ground but the water spout that ensued caught the blond off by surprise. Nonetheless, with all his might, he threw the hydrant at Isley, the metal object zooming through the air at hyper speed towards its intended target. But then the hydrant bounced off some invisible shield and went hurdling away where Solo was sure he heard it hit someone.

"Close one," Isley commented, "but you're going to have to do better than that."

Growling, Solo cracked his knuckles. "You got it."