Chapter Thirteen

Not a Damsel In Distress, Part One

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Meanwhile, back on 'Loralei', Trinity and Wufei were busy.

The handcuffs were quickly used to chain up theirstill unconscious captive, and Wufei immediately started plotting a way to get to a weapons locker.

"No use," Trinity said when he mentioned it. "I already checked. 'Loralei' only has one. And they cleaned it out." She removed a single handgun from her tiny little backpack. "This is yours... you dropped it when that idiot conked you over the head. It's all we've got. Well, this and the stun gun that Bad Breath over there had."

"Sometimes you scare me," Wufei told the girl, in all seriousness, as he took the gun from her. "But this is still not good odds against how many hostiles?" He asked, looking at her.

"At least ten. Maybe about fifteen," she frowned. "I'm not very good at this."

"You'll get better; it's just mind over matter," he told her as he took both guns and tucked them in the back of his waistband before searching around. They were in a kitchen. There had to be something he could use as a weapon. Trinity caught on and poked around as well, but it was Wufei who stumbled upon the knife block. Most of them weren't really suited for what he needed, but he managed to find a few that would work, tucking them in his boots and up his sleeves- knives weren't his expertise, unless it was a sword- but anything was better than nothing.. Trinity glanced at the ones he was putting back in the block, and snitched a small knife away. It was tiny, the blade only a few inches long. She easily slipped it into her backpack, and shrugged at Wufei's raised eyebrow. Sometimes it was simply surprising how much older she acted. She really was her father's daughter.

"Any idea where all the pirates are?" he questioned.

"Bridge, like I said earlier. Most of them, anyways. They've got alot of the crew held up in the captain's cabin. But no sign of Uncle Quatre or Heero, least as far as I can feel. Too much interference."

"It'll get easier, mei-mei."

"Practice makes perfect, huh?" she pulled a face, showing what she thought of that cliche. Wufei smiled.

"Nothing's ever perfect, but practice will help you get better. A gift like yours... it's special. It needs special attention, special practice. You're young yet."

"Do you think my mama... my real mama, or my real dad.... had a gift like mine? Uncle Quatre said newtype abilities run in families. His mama had it, but none of his sisters do. I was just thinking... maybe my mama had it, too."

"That is a definite possibility," Wufei stated. It was very, very plausible.

"Do you think that's what killed her?" Trinity's voice was very small. "Or maybe she just forgot about me. Sometimes it's like there's too much in my head at once... and I forget who I am. Not so much lately, but back before Daddy... that's the only thing I can really remember. Not remembering who I was."

Wufei looked at her, at the shimmer of tears in her eyes. Such a big burden for a child to bear. For your first memory to be of not remembering who you are... poor baby girl.

"Now, you don't even know she's dead, mei-mei. There's a million and two possibilities. But I'm positive that whatever happened... she didn't forget you. No one could forget you, and I promise that I never, ever will forget you. No matter what happens, you are a part of my family, Trinity. You are a part of Duo's family, your Quatre's family, Hilde's. It's a fair guess, but I bet you charmed your way into Heero's family, too. Don't cry, don't be afraid... you're not going to be forgotten. Never, ever."

Trinity wiped a few tears away from her amber eyes before smiling, hugging his leg, and going back to looking for things in the kitchen. Wufei was beginning to see that she may have inherited Duo's mood swings somehow... and taken it to the extreme. He smiled after her, glad to ease her mind for a while, before he started perusing the kitchen on his hunt for more weapons.

He found a cabinet of cleaning supplies against the far wall and sighed. If Duo were here, he'd probably know how to make a bomb out of some of this stuff, he thought. Duo was good at those sorts of things. His strength lay in stealth and mass destruction. Wufei knew his way around explosives, but not with just improvising bombs. That small mention of Duo in his mind started a downward spiral.

Duo. Was Duo on his way here?

Well, of course. Duo'd be able to track his own shuttle, somehow. And Duo would never just let Trinity go.

Duo was out there, closing in fast. Wufei briefly, briefly considered just taking Trinity and hiding until Duo and the pretty much guaranteed Preventer's back up arrived. Duo would be coming, and if Preventer's had to send someone... it would be Agent Star. No other agent knew himself... or Yuy... that well. Duo and Belle could save them. But... Wufei didn't sit around and wait for rescue like some damsel in distress. That wasn't his personality. He was confident that he could remain safe long enough to find Yuy and Winner, and he was confident that he could protect Trinity for that amount of time as well. These.... mercs, freebooters, kidnappers- whoever the hell these people were... might not be sticks in the mud, but they couldn't rival himfor intelligence. He could do this. Plus... he had his very own little life sign detector, didn't he? He had something they didn't. He had Trinity, a formidable weapon in her own adorable little way.

He could do this.

"Cool," Trinity said. She'd found a small silver air brush attached to a long clear hose

"What is it?" Wufei asked, eyeing the device.

"Air Brush. They use it to spray paint cakes and stuff with food coloring. Aunt Hilde's boyfriend is pretty good at the cooking stuff. He's got one. It's pretty fun- he let me make Daddy's birthday cake last year. It was so neat," she giggled. "I used purple and blue and yellow and green and orange... it looked just like a rainbow. But all spotted and not in stripes." She grinned at the memory. "That was an awesome cake."

Wufei tried to imagine the cake... and failed. He supposed it was for the better anyway... it might have made him dizzy.

"Hn. We need a way to surprise our hosts," Wufei said, just voicing his thoughts. "Any ideas?"

"Bomb?" She asked, echoing his earlier thought.

"Home-made bombs... that's your dad's specialty, not mine. I'd end up blowing us up instead. And we don't have any gunpowder or C-4 or anything."

"Hmm. Hey... if there's an airbrush... there's gotta be ABC!"

"What?"

"AirBrush Cleaner. It's used to clean the airbrushes. It's got alcohol, sodium hydroxide, sodium citrate, sodium borate, sodium... well, it's got a bunch of sodium's and other stuff in it. When you spray it through the brush and it makes a mist... you gotta turn your head. It smells real bad, burns your nose and throat, and it makes you dizzy if you inhale too much. I'm just guessing... but I bet it could knock you out if you inhaled enough(1)."

"Here." Wufei pulled two small, clear bottles out. One was completely full, the other half full of some kind of clear liquid.

"We should have some kind of air gun or something to spray it into a mist. That would be cool. And we have those other chemicals, they're pretty toxic, too. All we need to do if get them under pressure. Like in an aerosol can or something." Eyeing the air compressor used for the airbrush, she smiled, reminding Wufei too much of Duo. "I have an idea..."

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Around An Hour Later:

Duo stood looking at the familiar vessel they were closing in on. The others stood with him. Belle had already made up kits for them all, and passed out weapons. Relena had balked at the stun pistol Belle had pressed into her hands.

"Better safe than sorry, princess," she'd shrugged.

"Are you sure your map is accurate," Belle asked Duo, waving towards the rough blueprint of the 'Loralei' on the computer.

Duo nodded. "Pretty sure, Bells."

"Alright then. Everyone knows the plan. Renee's going to guard the shuttle and play babysitter for Relena. Eric and I will hack the system and regain control of the ship, and Duo, you'll take Trowa and 'Anna. Duo, you'll take care of finding your daughter, Wufei, Heero, and Quatre. And the crew, too. Don't forget that, kay?"

"Got it," Duo replied, his eyes never leaving the large ship that Eric was guiding them into.

He could already see his own abandoned ship over in the corner. His gut twisted. Trinity was somewhere on this ship. But Trinity was okay. Wufei would protect her. Wufei had promised...

Duo suddenly stumbled as a wave of pain swept right through him. It was terror, anquish, shock- like nothing he'd ever felt. It went straight through his head, his heart.

Renee's eyes widened in confusion and surprise.... and worry.

"What the hell?" She demanded.

Belle looked between the two.

"What's going on?" she asked, demanding her answer.

"I don't know," Renee snapped back. "Ask him!" She pointed accusingly at Duo. "I just felt a flare of empathic power from someone on that ship. And I doubt that it was from Winner, because he's just not strong enough to project emotions like that." She took a breath, calming down a bit. "From what I know, Winner can receive, but he can't send. So, it must be his daughter because she's an empath... and she's a hell of a lot stronger than Winner. In my senses, she overpowers him almost completely. His powers just get... overshadowed by hers. And she just projected a massive flare of emotion. It didn't feel directed, so she must be either weak or really really scared so that whatever shields she has didn't work."

"Trinity," Duo gasped, struggling to fight down the nausea the emotions were causing in him. His little girl was in pain... something was wrong! "Oh, God. My baby."

Trowa could only listen to the sheer pain in Duo's voice. Partly from the empathic flare, but mostly because of the knowledge that his daughter was in pain and he was helpless to stop it.

Belle weighed her options. "Okay. Change of plan. I think it's obvious that something's gone wrong on this ship. We're all going to make our way to the bridge, stop this thing dead before someone else gets hurt."

Duo looked back out into the docking bay, grim determination on his face as he fought against the emotional pain. "I'm coming, darlin'," he whispered. "Daddy's coming."

TBC....

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AN: (1) Not sure if it'll really make you unconscious, but that first part is true, about the dizziness and burning. It's kind of like snorting alcohol or paint thinner or something. Trust me... I know from experience- I work with these things on a day-to-day basis.

And PS... if you're liking this, then check out it's sister story 'Empathy'... it's the Heero and Quatre side of things. Sympathy, Trowa's version will start as soon as this one is finished.

And PS... please review and let me know how you like it. I love reviews, and I'm not ashamed to admit it. So, even if it's as simple as 'yes' or 'no'. Or 'Great' or 'Stupid'. Anything, just to let me know how I'm doing and if there's something I should work on.