Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from Gundam Wing and Endless Waltz, nor do I own any characters from Dragon Ball Z. Wish I did, but I don't, so there's no point in suing me.
Hi! You were right, the last chapter was too short, so here is a longer one. Thank you for the reviews everyone, I loved them. Hope you enjoy this, I worked hard to make their personalities believable. ~ PFF
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Chapter 12
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At around 09.00am, Duo strolled back towards the secluded safe house feeling slightly better. His hair had been neatly re-braided and he had absorbed as much fresh air as possible.
But he still couldn't find the effort to even pretend to be his usual cheery self this morning.
The pilots might ask questions and he didn't feel braced enough for them.
As he grasped the handle to open the front door he realised that it was locked and he had forgotten his key.
Typical.
In addition he didn't have his lock picks, so now he would have to knock, meaning that it would be impossible to sneak inside and up to his room without being noticed.
This was obviously going to be a bad day.
He rapped sharply on the door and waited for someone to answer and let him in.
In the seconds that he was sullenly standing there, he looked up at the safe house with a frown on his face.
It was the only rentable home in the area. There was nowhere inconspicuous enough to stay in the nearest town so they were stuck with the choice of either living it rough for a week in the wilderness by camping out, or making an offer with a rural property owner who was asking for quite a large sum of money.
It was a nice enough house. Really roomy with two floors, four bedrooms (meaning he was sharing with Heero), and two bathrooms. It had all the works. Nice furniture, with a wood cabin themed feel to everything. It was a good forest getaway home for city folk trying to escape the hustle and bustle of everyday life.
The only problem Duo had, was with the man who had rented it to them.
Everything about him seemed to scream that he was a slimy soul. He was obviously a money grubber – the type to sell his own mother for a crisp cheque. But everyone had out voted him when it came down to the final choice.
They were all supposed stay at the house until further notice. No missions had been sent yet and it had been just under a week. This was practically like a well deserved holiday.
It was one of those rare moments where all of the five war comrades were together in the same house with nothing but spare time. Sadly there was no TV or stereo, so Duo had been entertaining himself by chatting constantly to anyone close enough to hear.
But not today. Today he just wanted to curl up into a silent ball, and hide away in his room with his thoughts.
As the front door finally opened, Duo knew instantly that it was not likely to happen.
Wufei stood in the doorway with his hand hovering over his hidden gun in the waistband of his loose white pants.
The Chinese teenager's onyx eyes quickly scanned over Duo's face and showed recognition. He relaxed minutely.
"Maxwell, what are you doing outside?"
That's Chang Wufei for you, straight to the point.
Duo didn't know Wufei very well, as they were rarely in contact, but Duo had learnt enough about the teenager to know that it was going to take an infinity amount of time and effort to gain his respect. Wufei had a prickly air about him that deflected most people, and his holier-than-thou attitude didn't do him any favours.
Duo couldn't be bothered to tread carefully around the uptight pilot today so Duo didn't even bother answering and pushed past him into the house.
Wufei blinked in surprise. He must have been shocked that Duo didn't come back with a witty comment or smile. Tough, he wasn't getting either.
"Maxwell, answer me!" Wufei snapped as he slammed the front door shut behind him.
Duo ignored him and glided like a ghost towards the stairs intending to go straight to his room, but Quatre stepped out into the hallway from the kitchen and blocked his path.
The aqua eyed, milky blond-haired Arabian boy gave him a serious look and Duo instantly deducted that his friend knew how he was feeling.
Quatre had never openly admitted it to him, yet he'd never hid it either, but he seemed to have the gift of being able to pick up other people's emotions, like an empath.
Duo didn't think that was such a hard concept to imagine. He knew that stranger things existed in this world.
Like himself, for example.
Besides, Quatre didn't come across as insane. He seemed highly intelligent and emotionally in tune. He also had a powerful aura about him that Duo had respected from their first meeting. Duo had come to notice this past week that all of the pilots respected him, and seemed to gravitate towards him in some way.
A quick look over his friend's appearance revealed to Duo that Quatre had experienced a restless night as well. Probably because he had been picking up Duo's emotions and it had kept him awake.
"Again?" Quatre asked softly, referring to the nightmares.
He was the only other person apart from Heero who knew about his disturbing dreams, but in this instance Quatre knew everything. Duo had blurted out the vague outline of his dreams to him when he'd been gently persuaded.
Quatre was probably his closest ally compared to all of the pilots, because second to Heero, he was the one other pilot that Duo had spent some time getting to know in detail. Besides, the Arabian boy was open and kind to everyone all of the time, so it was extremely hard to dislike him.
Quatre was also the only one that he could have a decent conversation with. Trying to chat with the other three pilots was like trying to squeeze blood out of a stone.
"Come and sit down in the kitchen and I'll make us both a coffee. That might manage to perk us up a bit." Quatre said soothingly, and without waiting for a response he had placed a loose hold on Duo's wrist and led him into the kitchen where he prompted him into sitting down at the table next to Trowa.
Trowa was drinking a glass of orange juice and reading yesterdays newspaper attentively. Half of his face was hidden behind his auburn sweeping spiky bang. The silent youth flicked his one visible forest green eye over Duo's weary face then returned to his newspaper, failing to change his neutral expression.
Trowa was a complete mystery to Duo. He knew next to nothing about him. He didn't even know for certain what nationality he was because he had no traceable accent or defining looks, but Duo had come up with the theory that the pilot was perhaps Latin American. Or maybe European? It was a toss up.
The green eyed teenager could easily be mistaken for a statue at times and he only spoke when directly spoken to, or when he had something important to say. Again, Duo had hardly bunked with him, and up until now there had barely been any time to get to know each other.
Quatre busied himself with the kettle as Wufei stomped into the kitchen glaring daggers at Duo.
Duo pretended not to notice and lowered his gaze, suddenly finding the wooden table surface very interesting to look at.
"What is your problem today, Maxwell?" Wufei barked as he banged his fist down on the table, making the orange juice in Trowa's glass slop over the side and for the salt shaker to fall over.
"Leave him alone, Wufei." Quatre ordered sternly.
The Shenlong pilot paused to consider Quatre's tone, but he didn't take the advice and opened his mouth to speak again.
Duo chose that moment to raise his head and give him a frosty glare that usually stopped most people in their tracks.
Wufei's anger diminished on the spot, only to be replaced by bewilderment. He took a step back to scrutinise him with his brows drawn down into a frown.
Duo let his gaze fall back down to the table and he began to absentmindedly trace the grain patterns with his fingers. He couldn't be bothered with Wufei's unstable temper and sharp tongue, so hopefully that had put a stopper on it.
"Here you go Duo, drink up, it might help." Quatre offered as he placed a steaming cup of coffee on the table in front of him and then sat down in the nearest chair with his own beverage.
Wufei collected a glass of water from the tap then sat down opposite Duo, not taking his acute gaze off him.
A tense silence filled the room but Quatre was the first to break it.
"Duo, was it the same one?"
This simple question probably seemed cryptic to Trowa and Wufei, but Duo understood perfectly.
"Yeah." he breathed out dully.
Quatre nodded, deep in thought as he sipped his coffee.
"I know that it is none of my business, but may I ask what you are talking about?" Wufei questioned quite politely, but with an annoyed edge.
"Nothing impor-" Quatre started, trying to protect Duo secret and save him his pride, but Duo was beyond caring who knew and cut him off bluntly.
"Nightmares."
The tension in the room intensified even more and he seemed to have the attention of everyone.
Trowa folded his newspaper neatly and placed it down on the table before re-fixing his gaze on the braided boy once more.
"Do you want to talk about it?" He asked calmly.
"No." Duo shot back instantly, slightly disappointed that he had to pass by the chance to have a serious talk with Trowa. But he didn't feel comfortable discussing his deepest darkest memories with anyone else.
He had only originally told Quatre because the blonde pilot was inadvertently sharing his feelings, so there was a close connection between the both of them…plus he had asked really nicely. It was hard to tell Quatre to piss off when he asked anything nicely. Duo sometimes got annoyed with Quatre always trying to emotionally deconstruct him in a similar fashion to how you would take a toaster apart to see how it works, but it felt like too much effort to fight against the blond's therapist tendencies.
Duo picked up his mug and downed the scalding contents in a few gulps, then slammed it back down on the table and sat back in his chair folding his arms in a protective manner in front of his chest.
"Grow up, Maxwell, and get over it," Wufei said coolly, "There is no reason to act like a poor tormented soul. Nightmares are not real."
Duo gave a low vibrating growl in the back of his throat and narrowed his eyes angrily. He was about to snap back but at that precise moment Heero strode into the kitchen carrying his laptop and looking determinedly focused.
He placed the open laptop on the table in front of Duo so he could read the screen.
"We have a mission." Heero stated, locking his Prussian blue eyes on Duo intensely.
"We? As in the both of you?" Quatre asked curiously, leaning to his left to look at the email message over Duo's shoulder. It was odd for partnered missions to be scheduled, and it usually meant that it was going to be tough to complete.
Duo carefully stored away all of the vital information needed in his mind as his eyes flicked over the screen. Yes, it was definitely a two-man job, and yes it was going to be difficult.
Heero recited the basic outline almost robotically. "01 and 02 only. No Gundams involved. Maximum stealth required to retrieve highly classified computer files. Destroy base afterwards by detonation."
Quatre gave a very concerned frown as he read the statistics on the OZ military base they would be infiltrating. "No Gundams? That's risky. The success rate is less than 60% because the chance of being spotted by base personnel is high…and they are well equipped with weapons. At least it's not too far from here, so we'll be on hand if you need us."
Duo just gave a careless shrug. He wasn't worried.
Together he and Heero made the best team. They could accomplish anything with teamwork. Heero's computer hacking skills and raw strength, and Duo's stealth and speed were perfect for this mission, so it seemed highly unlikely that they would fail.
Usually he would have voiced out his thoughts to reassure everyone, but the words felt stuck in his throat today.
Heero continued to speak instead, which was a nice change.
"We leave at 6.00pm precisely. It will take an hour to get to the base by car."
Duo glanced at the clock on the wall and noted that they had nine and a half hours to prepare since it was only 08.30am. That was plenty of time to steal a car from the nearby city, and to make a few sets of C4 and detonators, and to go over the plans thoroughly.
He cast an understanding nod in Heero's direction and pushed the laptop away.
Heero looked over him sceptically as he reclaimed his computer.
"Are you up to this mission?" he asked seriously. "It could be hazardous to the both of us if you are sleep deficient and not as quick to react."
"I'm fine," Duo answered truthfully.
"Hn." Was Heero's acknowledgement as he turned and exited the kitchen to go back upstairs.
"Duo, I think you should have something to eat." Quatre suggested kindly. "I can make you something if you want it?"
"Thanks for offering Quatre, but I can scavenge it myself," Duo returned with a small thankful smile. The thought of food suddenly brightened his mood considerably.
He scraped back his chair and rose to his feet, heading towards the cabinets in search of something edible, announcing, "I'm hungry."
"As usual." Wufei muttered under his breath. Duo didn't take it personally. He was a growing Saiyan with a high metabolism, so what?
Gathering a box of cornflakes, a bowl, a spoon, and bottle of milk from the refrigerator, he turned back towards the kitchen table, balancing all the items precariously.
He stopped dead in his tracks and drew a sharp intake of breath as his ki senses flared into life.
Four VERY high power levels assaulted his mind all at once and everything he was carrying fell from his numb grasp as his hands shot up to clutch his head, wave upon wave of pain shooting through his skull.
All of his senses blurred, his hearing became muffled, and it felt like the world around him was spinning.
He pushed past the pain and forced himself to focus on the power levels. He instinctively knew that if he fixated his mind on them he could attune his senses and dull the pain. It was a similar experience to conditioning his eyes against a light being switched on, after being isolated in the dark for a long time.
With agonisingly slow progress, he adjusted to the power levels, and the severe pain dimmed to just a throbbing ache at the back of his mind.
His thoughts were still a jumbled mess and it was hard to string them together.
I know two of those ki powers, I recognise them. I know who they are…but that can't be right, they're dead in this time…unless they followed me…but why now? Why eight years too late? It can't be them…it just can't…
The muffled sounds around him slowly became coherent words, and he finally realised that someone was shouting his name close by.
He forcefully drew himself back to reality and found his back was pressed against the kitchen sink, and someone was shaking him roughly by the shoulders. Duo's eyes refocused and he found himself staring blankly into aqua eyes. It was Quatre.
The blond standing in front of him was frantic with worry.
"Duo! Duo, answer me! What's wrong? DUO!"
"Snap out of it Maxwell!"
That was Wufei's voice coming from his right, using anger to mask his worry.
"We can't help you until we know what's wrong, Duo."
That was Trowa's voice on his left. Concerned, but calm and rational as usual.
"What's going on? What's wrong with him?"
Heero had arrived on the scene.
Quatre's hand slapped him across the face before he could register the blond's intent to shock him out of his paralytic state.
Duo's jaw clenched in surprise.
Quatre raised his hand again.
"OW!" Duo blurted in delayed reaction to fend him off.
"Duo, are you OK?" Quatre asked hopefully, still gripping Duo's shoulder painfully tight with one hand. For such a gentle looking guy he sure had a firm hold.
"Y- Yeah, I'm fine…" Duo belatedly realised that his hands were still pressed to either side of his skull to relieve the pressure, so he cautiously lowered his arms and pushed away from the sink, forcing everyone to take a step back and give him space. He shook his head to clear his thoughts and looked around at the faces of his comrades.
All of them surrounded him, staring in wide-eyed concern. Yes, even Heero looked concerned, in that funny way he showed it, by trying to drill his stare into your head in an attempt to understand.
"You don't look fine." The Wing pilot frowned in disapproval.
"You look like you've seen a ghost," Quatre said worriedly, taking in Duo's chalk white complexion.
"More like I've just felt one…" Duo corrected still feeling lightheaded.
When Quatre presented him with and odd look, it was only then that he realised what he had just said.
"Never mind, I'm still a bit disorientated." He waved it off. "I'm fine, really. It was just a sudden headache that caught me off guard, sorry if I spaced out on you all."
Well it wasn't a lie…He just wouldn't explain what had caused the headache in the first place.
"You're sure?" Trowa asked.
"Positive." He flashed them a quick reassuring smile to dispel anymore questions.
"Okay then, Maxwell, if you really are fine then you can clean up the mess you just made." Wufei ordered, giving one last failed look of indifference before turning heel and walking out of the kitchen.
What mess? He looked down at the tiled kitchen floor. Oh, that mess.
The bottle and bowl he'd dropped had shattered on impact with the ground, and the milk and cereal had spilled around his feet. Good job he'd been in his shoes, and not his socks.
Without thinking, due to his hazy mind, Duo bent down and started to scoop up the soggy mess with his hands, but quickly pulled his right hand back reflexively as a shard of glass sliced into his palm.
"What do you think you're doing?" Quatre asked in exasperation as he pulled Duo upright and gently pushed him back into his chair at the table.
"You don't look very well, you should sit and rest. I'll clean up this mess instead.
And look, you've cut your hand; I'll have to clean that up too…."
Duo just watched Quatre drag over a broom and sweep up the fragments of his breakfast with detached interest. His full attention was still on the ki levels.
They were too far away to be on Earth. They were located in the direction of the L-2 colony, but they were still powerful enough to sense while in space. He was reminded of the time Freeza arrived on Earth from space, except this time the presences' felt neutral, containing no malicious intent.
There were two very powerful levels, and two smaller ones that were still way over an average human's level.
I recognise who the two most powerful ki's are…Gohan and Mirai. It's pretty hard to forget them…but I don't think I know the other two. One of the smaller signatures feels almost identical to Mirai, but at the same time it's completely different. I don't understand, and this headache isn't helping at all!
"Duo, are you even listening to a word Trowa is saying?"
Blinking in surprise, Duo found Quatre crouching in front of him and carefully bandaging his wounded hand.
"Hm? Oh sorry Tro, what were you saying?"
Trowa frowned mildly before repeating himself.
"Since we no longer have any cereal, would you like toast instead?"
"Er, no thanks, I'm not hungry."
"But Duo, just a moment ago you said that you were hungry." Quatre gave him a puzzled look.
"I've changed my mind."
"But-" The Arabian boy spluttered, all set to argue the importance of food.
"Drop it Q. I'm not hungry."
"You need to eat something." Heero said sternly. "If you don't you will not be on top form for the miss-"
"God Heero! Can't you even care about anything other than the mission?" Duo burst out angrily.
"I'm only looking out for your life. Careless mistakes can get you killed." Heero replied icily with narrowed eyes.
Duo slumped in his seat, too distracted and emotionally stressed to argue back.
He was startled when a hand reached out and placed itself on his forehead.
"Oh Duo, you have a slight temperature." Quatre concluded and quickly withdrew his hand. "You must be ill."
"That's it, I'm contacting Doctor J and rescheduling tonight's mission. You are obviously unable to carry out the task in your current condition." Heero evaluated and turned to leave the room.
Duo snarled and jumped to his feet, knocking his chair over backwards.
"I'm fine! Why can't any of you just believe me? I want everyone to just, LEAVE. ME. ALONE!" He shouted at the top of his lungs.
Everyone froze and stood staring at him in shock.
"I'm going out to get a car, I'll be back in an hour." Duo growled through gritted teeth as he pushed past the three stunned pilots to stomp out of the kitchen.
For good measure he slammed the door behind him, causing the house foundations to quake.
"Maxwell," a voice called from the living room couch.
Duo looked up in time to catch the small object thrown at him. He opened his hand and saw that the object was a silver house key.
"Thanks, Wufei." Duo mumbled as he walked out of the front door and closed it behind him.
If he had looked back he would have seen Wufei's expression of pure disbelief at the correct usage of his name.
Wufei watched Maxwell leave, feeling as if he'd been smacked in the face.
From the moment of introduction, Maxwell had disrespectfully abbreviated his name to Fei, and it had only evolved from there. The braided pilot relished in coming up with new infuriating mutilations of his name to call him whenever they met up again.
Wufei's guess was that Maxwell could sense how much the name-abuse riled him, and he seemed to thrive on that sense of danger that came from poking a sleeping dragon.
He'd been sure until moments ago that Maxwell was acting peculiar just to gain attention.
But then again Wufei had never seen him so… subdued before.
He had managed to give everyone a fright in the kitchen, when he had acted as if in pain and shock.
He hadn't responded to anyone for just under a minute. For 50 unsettling seconds, he'd withdrawn so far into himself that nothing could break through.
It was unnatural.
Feeling unnerved once again, Wufei quickly got up off the couch and strode into the kitchen to seek a second opinion. This needed discussing.
When he opened the door he saw the kitchen occupants moving sluggishly to recover from Maxwell's outburst.
Quatre was listlessly pour his half-finished coffee down the sink, and Trowa was righting a knocked over chair, his movements stiff. Heero was standing with his back against the fridge, arms folded, with a dark look of contemplation on his face. The oppressive silence was heavy.
"He said my name," Wufei blurted out.
"Excuse me?" Trowa turned to ask in confusion. Heero and Quatre's attention snapped to Wufei.
"Maxwell just called me my given name." He rephrased slowly. "Do you know how uncharacteristic that is?"
The information sunk in and the other three pilots exchanged uneasy glances.
"Oh dear, we have a problem," Quatre said quietly. "I've never seen Duo this bad before."
They all came together into the centre of the kitchen to base themselves in a loose circle of conversation.
"He has acted in a similar manner before, but not to this extent," Heero admitted. "In the months that I've come to know him, I have noticed that his personality switches for a few hours after he has had a restless night. Then by about midday he returns to his usual self, if not a little more quiet and downcast than normal."
"It's because of his nightmares isn't it?" Quatre asked knowingly.
"You know about those?" Heero asked sharply.
"I've known for some time. How could I not know when I can tell how much pain he's in?" he replied, rubbing at his heart and looking distressed.
"They are only nightmares," Wufei said placidly. "It's nothing to get worked up over."
"You don't know anything!" Quatre snapped. Everyone looked at him in surprise, and even Quatre, after a shocked pause, looked bemused at what he had just done.
"Oh I'm sorry Wufei; I seem to be channelling Duo's mood swing. I didn't mean that."
"Its fine," Wufei flicked off his bewilderment and excused him.
"Duo's nightmares aren't… normal. They feel different." Quatre continued uncomfortably. "You all know of my ability to sense strong emotions, correct?"
They all nodded the affirmative.
"Well, if I'm sleeping close by during one of his nightmares, I pick up flashes of his feelings…. But whilst sleeping I don't usually accept transmissions so easily. I shut myself off from the outside world. Only extreme emotions, such as fear and pain, can penetrate my protective state, and the terrible thing is that Duo has succeeded on more than one occasion. I've never known Duo to be scared of anything before, but in his nightmares he's terrified! And after what he's told me I can't blame him."
"What did he tell you?" Heero asked, fighting to keep a look of curiosity off his face. Wufei's interest was peaked as well.
"He explained his dreams to me one early morning many months ago when we were together out in the desert. Both of us had had restless nights, so I sat with Duo and we had a long talk. He refused to go into detail, but I understood well enough to know the torment he goes through every so often. He also revealed that he's been having the same repetitive nightmare for the past eight years."
Wufei felt his eyebrows shoot up in disbelief at that small piece of information.
"Eight years? That is not psychologically possible." Wufei returned, "Unless it's not just a normal fabricated nightmare. It would have to be based on fact and past trauma."
Quatre's eyes widened in horror as he thought that over. "Allah, no, don't let it be true…" He whispered fearfully. "Oh Gods, poor Duo…"
"Tell us what the nightmares contain," Trowa tried to coax the blonde standing in front of him.
"I can't, it would betray Duo's trust," Quatre replied stubbornly, "He would never forgive me."
"Did he tell you who Dr. Gero was?" Heero questioned.
"How do you know about him? Has Duo ever told you about his nightmare?"
"No," Heero's expression darkened, "I left him to his own business, but I can't help overhearing when he talks and thrashes around in his sleep."
"You mean you let him sleep through the nightmares, when you could have woken him up?" Quatre's eyes flashed dangerously.
Heero ignored him and continued with his previous question. "He mentioned the name Dr. Gero. Who is he?"
Quatre gave up on his anger, as it was obvious Heero was not fazed.
"He never told me exactly who he was; just that he was someone who was prominent in his early life. He spoke with vehemence in his voice whenever the name was mentioned though. From what I was told, he's the man in the nightmare who's experimenting on Du-"
Quatre slapped a hand over his mouth looking mortified as he accidentally let slip some vital information.
"Experimenting?" Wufei repeated in concern.
"Don't tell him I told you!" Quatre said fretfully, his expression upset and guilt-stricken.
Trowa, Wufei and Heero looked at each other, understanding that the situation was far worse than previously thought. Heero turned away with a deep thoughtful frown on his face.
"Does anyone actually know anything about Maxwell's past?" Wufei asked cautiously.
It was a guess that none of the pilots knew anything of each other's pasts as it was personal information. But then again, perhaps Wufei the only one left out of their information sharing circle. He hadn't tried to get to know any of them.
Wufei had to assume that Maxwell had spoken to one of the pilots about his past at some point, because he loved to talk.
He knew nothing but the Deathsythe pilot's name, but that was because he had never had a decent conversation with the braided boy. Wufei had observed from afar his tendency for useless chatter, so he had vigilantly avoided him.
"I know that he used to live on L-2 before he came to Earth." Quatre supplied.
Trowa shifted his weight to his other foot and folded his arms as faced the group expressionlessly. "Once when Duo was questioning if I had a family, I asked the same question in return," the calm pilot spoke softly. "He became uncomfortable and informed me that he's an orphan, then changed the topic hastily."
"Oh, I never knew that…" Quatre said sadly.
"Anything else?" Wufei prompted.
Quatre and Trowa shook their heads, and so they all turned to look expectantly at Heero.
"I can't find any trace of a Duo Maxwell ever existing." Heero said sounding slightly perturbed. "The only file I managed to uncover was the one Professor.G made a few years ago. It just stated that Duo was first discovered at the age of twelve, as a stowaway on a Sweepers ship that had left the L-2 space dock a week before. From then on Duo became a crew member and he was taken in for training. In later reports with added video footage, Duo revealed to G that he had lived on the streets of L-2 for quite a few years. Other than that no one knows anything about him."
The mystery of Duo Maxwell is growing by the minute. Wufei mused. That is, if his name is really Duo Maxwell.
"Why didn't you inform us of this, Yuy?" Wufei asked in mild surprise. "That information is highly important. Pilot 02 could be the enemy in disguise for all we know." Wufei folded his arms, his stance demanding.
The Prussian eyed boy shot Wufei a glare.
"It was pointless knowledge. Only you and Quatre out of the five of us have real names and birth dates. More to the point, do you really believe that Duo would betray any of us? I've deemed Duo as no threat to us, and I've been analysing him closely for a long time now, so trust my judgement."
Wufei decided not to provoke Heero any further by commenting back. Besides, it was true that he didn't really believe that Maxwell was the type of person to betray them.
"What were his medical records like?" Quatre asked, almost reluctantly, as if he didn't really want to hear the answer.
"I found no evidence that Duo has ever been experimented on if that is what you are asking." Heero replied. "But there was hardly any information to go by. I found no medical statistics. Not even a blood type. Only his height and weight are occasionally recorded."
"That cannot be possible," Wufei frowned as his confusion mounted. "It is basic procedure during training to receive a health check every month…or at least it was in my case."
"Yes, it was procedure for all of us." Heero carried on. "The reports state that Duo blatantly refused to go near any Doctor or medical scientist. At his first health check he resorted to violent measures to escape a basic blood test." Heero's brow furrowed further as he recited his knowledge. "Even an attempt to sedate him didn't work. He managed to fight off the sleeping effects as if it was nothing, yet the Doctor had accidentally given him an overdose that should have killed him. He walked away unscathed whereas the Doctor involved ended up in hospital for two weeks. After that, Professor.G was forced to admit defeat and he gave up trying to get Duo to take tests. Duo was pleased, Professor.G was certainly not. "
"Are you sure that's right?" Quatre asked with wide aqua eyes.
"Look over the reports yourself if you want proof." Heero fixed his cool gaze on him. "I also researched the name Dr. Gero." The Wing pilot said in a low voice, "I thought that it might have once been an alias for Professor.G, but I found no evidence to suggest so. My theory was left inconclusive."
"So basically, we still know nothing about Duo?" Trowa asked.
"Correct."
Wufei let out a sigh of annoyance. This conversation wasn't getting them anywhere.
"Have you tried questioning him directly?" He asked Heero.
The other pilot threw yet another frosty glare at him.
"Of course. I've tried on more than one occasion. He's always succeeded in diverting the topic onto something else, avoiding the original question."
One of the most infuriating traits that Maxwell owned was to be able to talk himself out of almost any situation.
Wufei had detected that he had a natural talent when it came to talking. He could easily gain the trust of anyone because he seemed so open and honest about everything.
It came in handy for anything related to the war, but whenever it came down to anything outside of the war - basic house chores for instance - he always managed to worm his way out of the situation somehow.
To his amusement, Wufei could imagine Heero's attempted questioning.
Heero would have asked a straightforward question and Maxwell would have gone off on a tangent about anything and everything but the answer to the question.
Before Heero would have become aware of what had happened, the topic would have changed completely. So when the longwinded conversation finally finished, Heero would have walked away without even realising (until much later) that he never received an answer to his original question.
Maxwell was an expert. No question about it if he could outsmart Heero Yuy, the supposed Perfect Soldier.
"Winner, why don't you try? He seems to open up to you more than any of us." Wufei finally suggested.
Quatre shook his head adamantly. "No, I won't do it. If he doesn't want to tell us then that's up to him."
"Wait for him to come to us with the information." Trowa said wisely.
"But if he hasn't divulged the information to us yet, he may never do it at all," Wufei argued back. "Maxwell needs encouragement and I think Winner is the best man for the mission."
Wufei purposely threw in the word 'mission' to try and spark Heero's interest, but the Japanese pilot didn't take the bait.
"No questioning him any further, agreed?" Heero looked directly at Wufei, trying to glare him into submission.
Wufei glowered as he recognised defeat.
"OK, just act natural around Duo when he returns," Quatre advised. "No directly questioning him, or even hinting in the slightest, and defiantly not a word about this conversation."
With agreeing nods, everyone went their separate ways and carried on with their daily routines.
Quatre moved to clean the cups he had placed in the kitchen sink, Heero disappeared back upstairs, and Trowa settled on the living room couch with his face buried in a book.
Wufei went straight up to his single bedroom to find peace and quiet where he could meditate and ponder more over the enigma that was Duo Maxwell.
Duo cursed as he stomped up to the safe house nursing several burnt fingertips, with a black rucksack slung casually over his shoulder that he had retrieved from his Gundam, which was hidden deep in the forest.
He had stupidly been lacking attention whilst hot-wiring a car on the outskirts of the nearest city and had paid for it dearly when he received a nasty electrical burn from a static spark.
Still, he had succeeded in possessing a sleek, yet practical black sports car. Very nice.
He had parked it a short distance away in the forest so if it was discovered or traced at all, the house would still remain hidden and none of them would be suspected of grand theft auto.
For the past hour Duo had been trying to look on the bright side of things, and it seemed to be working. His mood had improved greatly and mostly all of his crankiness had drained out of him.
Well, sure, he had become a bit overly stressed at the city traffic and on a separate occasion he'd nearly run over a few pedestrians because they were annoying him. Save from that, he was slowly improving his temper control.
But all of the time his mind was subconsciously following the four specific ki signatures in space.
His mind and body were functioning separately causing him to make clumsy mistakes every so often, but he couldn't help it.
It was hard to concentrate when it felt like someone was physically poking at his brain through a hole in his skull. It was distracting.
Duo had noticed recently that the group of four was slowly moving closer to Earth, meaning that they must have left the L-2 Colony.
A few temporally unanswerable questions ran through his head in a constant cycle.
Are they coming for me? If they are, what do I say? Would a casual, 'Hi how ya doing? Long time no see,' be good enough? Are they here to take me home?
Home… Where do I belong? Past or future?
Shaking his thoughts away Duo pulled out the front door key from his pocket, silently thanking Wufei. He slid it into the lock and opened the door, then stealthily stepped inside hoping to go unnoticed by his comrades.
He didn't want to face any of them as he shamefully remembered his earlier tantrum and how he had blown up in their faces like a short fused dynamite stick.
Sadly, Lady Luck was not with him today because Trowa looked up at him from his position on the living room couch.
"How did it go?" the green eyed boy asked.
Duo paused in surprise.
Trowa hardly ever asked a direct question that was pointless and seen as small talk.
"Er…fine." Duo answered.
"That's good." Trowa replied and shifted his attention back to his book.
"Yeah…I guess it is…" Duo said slowly as he edged away from the couch towards the kitchen with a frown on his face.
With one last puzzled glance at Trowa, Duo darted into the kitchen - only to find Quatre in there, much to his dismay.
The Arabian pilot was sitting at the spotless kitchen table mindlessly staring into space and sipping a fresh cup of tea, but as soon as he saw Duo enter the room he looked up and forced an obviously strained smile onto his face.
"Hello Duo,"
"Hi,"
"So…How did it go?"
This feels slightly familiar. He tried not to roll his eyes.
"Fine,"
"That's good."
Why are they acting so weird? Are Trowa and Quatre working as a double team in an attempt to creep me out? 'Cause it's working!
"Um…bye." Duo said hastily as he backed out of the kitchen.
He made a mad dash up the stairs before Trowa could open his mouth again, but he didn't quite manage to make it to the safety of his own room.
He found the landing blocked by Wufei, who had just exited his own room.
"So you're back in one piece?" the Chinese teenager asked.
Something about the way he said it sounded slightly out of place. His voice didn't hold the usual derision that Duo was used to hearing.
Firstly, Trowa was acting out of character by virtually chatting. Then Quatre was acting closed off and tense. Now Wufei was acting almost…nice.
Something was seriously wrong with this picture.
Not giving him a chance to say anything, Wufei offhandedly asked, "How did it go?"
Something snapped inside of Duo and he suddenly lost his grip on the temper control he had been working on for the past hour.
"Oh I can't believe this!" He complained loudly. "Not you too, Wu! Will all of you lot stop acting weird? It's freakin' me out!"
Wufei had obviously not expected an answer like that so he looked on in confusion.
"You can stop treating me like glass right this instant buster, and you can tell that to everyone else as well! Unless you want a thermal scythe shoved up where the sun don't shine, I suggest you all learn to stop tiptoeing around me like I might shatter if you handle me wrong!"
He stood toe to toe with Wufei, their faces only inches apart by the end of his rant.
Wufei blinked dumbfounded.
Duo poked the other pilot in the chest as a threat and then swept past him into his bedroom, slamming the door behind him.
Again he found himself not alone. Heero was at his computer.
The moment Duo crossed the threshold into the bedroom, Heero moved quickly and tapped the escape key. Duo caught a glimpse of the computer card game Solitaire on the screen before it disappeared and was replaced by a mission report document.
Even though Duo was once again in a foul mood he felt the corners of his mouth twitching as the muscles strained to make a smile.
He had long since know about Heero's secret, but he still found it amusing that the Perfect Soldier played computer games in his spare time instead of working solidly like the other pilots thought.
It made him seem much more human.
And such a computer geek.
Duo groaned as he collapsed onto his bed face first, burying his face in his pillow.
Heero turned in his seat to look at him and was about to speak when Duo cut him off, turning his head slightly so the sheets didn't muffle his voice.
"Don't you dare ask, 'How did it go?' because if I'm asked that question one more time I'm going to be forced to hurt someone."
He said it lightly but with an undertone of serious warning.
"I wasn't going to ask that," Heero replied calmly. "I was going to ask, have you got everything you need to make the detonators? Because we are going to need four at least to bring the base down."
"Oh. Well I think I do," Duo sat up, shrugged off his backpack and opened it to peer in at the contents. "Yup, I've got everything. I picked up all of the parts I needed when I made a pit-stop at Deathscythe out in the woods."
Heero nodded and turned back to his laptop signalling the end of the conversation.
Duo gave a deep sigh then got up off the bed and trudged towards the door dragging his rucksack across the floor behind him.
He was going to have to leave the protection of his room to go sit in the kitchen for the next few hours since it was the best place in the house to make C4 and detonators.
Quatre was probably still in there though, Wufei was lurking somewhere in the house, and he would have to go past Trowa again, risking unwanted meaningless conversation. The tables sure had turned.
Personal Mission: Avoid useless confrontation at all costs and designate all pilots out of kitchen… It sounded hard, but it was doable.
"Hey Heero, I'll be done in an hour or two, so we can go over the mission plan with the other guys afterwards, OK?"
Heero didn't show any sign that he had heard but Duo could tell that he was listening.
"Right then, I'll let you get back to your secret game of Solitaire, see ya later."
Heero's head snapped up in surprise as he registered what Duo had said, but by that time the braided pilot had already closed the bedroom door behind him.
