Chapter 35

Duo looked up at the rafters and stretched his stiff arms over his head. He could feel all of the muscles in his abdomen and thighs twitching and quivering involuntarily. The connection with Wing-One and the ZERO AURORA A.I. had been intense. Massive amounts of energy had been forced through his body to facilitate the bonding with the A.I. through ZERO. As a result his body had become over stimulated and full of static electricity.

He saw someone approaching from the corner of his eye. Heero had stepped up to the cockpit. He seemed more relaxed and less uptight than he did before. Now that their task was over he was getting back to his usual, borderline amiable self.

"What's wrong?" The Japanese agent asked with a frown. Duo tried to still his shaking legs in vain.

"I can't stop twitching. Shit… it feels like I just did five hundred leg presses." He tried to hold his legs down with his hands and groaned. "What the fuck?"

"Take off your gloves." Heero said firmly. Duo blinked up at him.

"Why? You trying to get a good 'ol Handy J before the old man comes back?" Duo grinned from ear to ear, causing his partner to roll his eyes in response. He slid both of his gloves off and tossed them into his lap and made a couple of lewd gestures in the air for good measure in attempt to get a rise out of Heero.

It wasn't working. Heero had reached across the cockpit and grabbed the arm nearest to him by the elbow and pulled him closer. Duo smiled, thinking maybe Heero was going to kiss him, but then felt his hand forced against an exposed metal panel beside his seat. He heard a sharp crack, followed by an intense and biting shock against the palm of his hand.

"OHFUCKSHITFUCK!" Duo hollered as he yanked his arm away from Heero. "What the hell!?"

"You needed to ground yourself. Sometimes the energy ZERO uses to connect with you gets caught in the synapse between your motor neurons and muscle fibers. I used to have to ground myself after every battle." Heero explained with a small smirk. Duo scowled up at him.

"You enjoy seeing me in pain, don't you?" He grumbled as he rubbed his still tingling palm against his knee. He saw the former Wing pilot shrug a shoulder.

"Sometimes," Heero said casually. Duo blinked and looked up at him with a devious grin. He was going to log that little tidbit into his brain for later.

He attempted to push himself up to a stand but immediately fell back into his seat. His legs were filled with an uncomfortable and heavy sensation as if they were asleep. He couldn't bear any weight against them. He groaned with annoyance and tried again.

"Jesus, how can you stand to use this system? I can't feel my feet." He grappled the thrust controls and tried to pull himself up again but failed miserably. He could hear Heero snort before he saw him dip down into the cockpit to grab him by the arm with both hands.

"You get used to it," he said quietly as he hauled Duo up from the seat and dragged him unceremoniously out of the cockpit before dumping him onto the catwalk.

Duo landed hard on his knees and braced himself up with his hands. He looked down through the honeycomb of the catwalk at the hangar floor far below. He could see Dr. J mulling about beside the hardwired console below them. He grabbed the lower rung of the railing and pulled. He tried to force his unresponsive leg to slide underneath his torso to bear weight on it, but it was no use. Nothing was working. He grunted with frustration and was about to army crawl when Heero stepped closer and began to attempt to pick him up.

His partner had wrapped his arm around his shoulders and was working on scooping up his knees when Duo reached out to grab his face roughly with both hands. He pulled him down to kiss him. He could feel Heero tense his arms, clearly startled.

Catching the other agent off guard had become one of his unofficial hobbies. Heero didn't pull away so Duo made sure to give him a few licks and nips against his lower lip before retreating slowly with a smile.

"I'm not your fucking damsel in distress," Duo said with a grin. "So don't pick me up like one."

Heero smiled. "Alright." He proceeded to lift him a few inches off of the catwalk before intentionally dropping him. Duo landed hard on his ass. He tossed his head back with a laugh, as Heero stood over him with a playful glimmer in his normally indifferent eyes. This was the Heero Duo loved. It was sad that not too many people got to witness it.

"Okay you two! Stop horsing around and come down here. This data is phenomenal!" Dr. J yelled up at them from the floor below.

"Here, lemme get on your back." Duo instructed from the ground. Heero sighed and stepped in front of him to kneel with his back facing him. Duo wrapped his arms around Heero's neck. He could feel the other agent hook his arms around his numb knees before vaulting them both up from the floor. Heero walked easily across the catwalk to the stairs. Duo took this opportunity to bury his face in his partner's hair. He breathed deeply and let himself get drunk off of his Heero's tangy, intoxicating scent.

It felt nice to finally be free to do whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted. It felt like back when they were kids and had just met on the planet for the first time. He felt normal. He could finally joke around with Heero without an impending mission or complicated war looming over them. He didn't have to worry about crossing the line anymore, or pushing Heero's boundaries when it concerned Relena. He still didn't really understand what was going on between them, but he had decided to be selfish for once and not give a shit. Heero was his and right now he didn't have to share him with anyone. Not Relena, not the mission, not the Earth-Sphere and hopefully soon not Preventer. He wrapped his arms tighter around Heero's neck and rested his chin on his shoulder as they slowly descended the steps.

"Young man, you exceeded my expectations." Dr. J said as they approached. Heero carefully dropped Duo to sit on a nearby crate before joining the old man at the console he was working on. Duo nodded and smiled brightly.

"Yeah, well I am the best." He said as he flashed them a pair of finger guns.

"You're very talented. I am surprised that you weren't G's first choice considering what your brain is capable of. Very odd, indeed." Dr. J was rambling as he poked and prodded at the screen in front of him. Duo saw Heero look up from the display to stare at Dr. J before shifting his gaze to him.

Duo gawked. "What do you mean I wasn't his first choice?" This was news to him. He watched as the old man looked up at him in surprise before reaching up with his claw to scratch at his goatee.

"Hm, interesting. I thought you knew."

"Heh? Knew what?" Duo was becoming annoyed. "Why would you say that I wasn't his first choice? What? Was there someone else that was supposed to pilot Deathscythe instead of me?" Duo had unzipped the top of his flight suit from the neck to the center of his chest. He was feeling suddenly very hot and could feel the skin on his face and neck flushing.

"Yes. Originally there was another pilot, an older youth who had been trained on Deathscythe for Operation Meteor. Something happened to him, I can't remember now. Got killed in a training accident I think. Anyway, they had your file and so they arranged for you to come and now you are here. Marvelous story, isn't it?" The old man smiled widely, chuckled and returned to his work. Duo felt his mind beginning to grapple desperately for answers but found none. Heero was still watching him from the opposite side of the console.

"Wait a sec. What file?" Duo asked, his own voice sounding meeker than he had originally intended.

"Your medical file, of course. That brain of yours was the reason they were tracking you in the first place. Only superior minds can be trusted with mobile suits. That was my idea." The old man was rambling without looking up, evidently engrossed with his task. "You got sick or something? I really can't remember, but once you had a brain scan the hospital reported it to us. All colony hospitals were required to tell us whenever patients with increased activity like that were found. Most of the time we didn't do anything about it, but with you I think Professor G had you monitored and vetted for some time before deciding to make you the backup."

"So… you're tellin' me I wasn't Deathscythe's original pilot? And what are you talking about? Brain activity? I was never in the hospital… " Suddenly Duo's memory was jolted with the realization that had in fact been hospitalized. When he was very little during the plagues of L2. The same illness that had killed his best friend Solo had stricken him as well. The police had found him with the other homeless kids and had shipped them all off to the colony hospital. He hadn't been there long. He had barely made it through the fever before they had put him into a machine. He hadn't known what it was at the time, but now he could distinctly remember men in lab coats talking to a man in a dark suit and tie who seemed very out of place in that infirmary. He had always assumed the guy was a stiff from the colony's Child Protective Services.

All of these new details began to ache his brain. He reached up with both hands to palm his eyes and try to rub the confusion from them. "You're saying the government was watching me?" he mumbled through his wrists before dropping his hands into his lap.

"Well, just us colony folk. Otherwise they wouldn't have been able to find you if they needed you. As it turned out you ended up breaking into G's ship anyway. They had lost track of you at the spaceport, but then you magically appeared right there in open space with them. G talked about it all the time. Said you got through all of his security like it was nothing. Anyway, it must have been fate. How long did you train with him? Three years*, right? Three years isn't a long time to train for a pilot, especially one with a complicated mobile suit like Gundam Deathscythe. However, you have such an amazing ability to respond and adapt because of that mind of yours. That was why you were chosen as backup. You didn't think you had just walked into that program as a stowaway and were given that chance out of nowhere, did you?" Dr. J finally looked up from his work and swiveled his robotic eyes at him. "Don't be so glum about it. You are here now, and clearly an amazing pilot. Calm down. Now look here, this response time for the …"

The old man had directed his stream of conversation at Heero, who was still watching Duo with a hint of concern. Finally the Japanese agent turned his face down to regard whatever it was that Dr. J was showing him. Duo closed his eyes and tried to block out the crazy doctor's froggy voice.

I wasn't the original pilot? Why should I care? I still ended up with Deathscythe anyway. He wasn't sure why it was bugging him so much. He couldn't help but feel like the whole situation had been deceitful. Why wouldn't they just tell him about the former pilot? Now that Duo really thought about it three years of training on a scheme that was formed before he had even been born really didn't add up. Why hadn't he thought of this before?

What kind of Big Brother crap were Dr. J and the other scientists involved in? They had been watching him since he was … he quickly counted out the years on his fingers. He had been almost seven years old when the plague hit. He had only been out of the hospital for a handful of months before Father Maxwell had taken him in at the Maxwell Church.

It bothered him that his fate had not been of his own choosing. It was bugging him that he was being watched without consent. It was also nagging the shit out of him that he was different from everyone else. He recalled Relena seated across the table and pushing Heero's PET scan in front of him. She had called Heero a Newtype. Heero had denied it. Dr. J said that all of the Gundam pilots had advanced brain activity.

"Are we Newtypes?" Duo blurted loudly, interrupting Heero and Dr. J's exchange. Heero looked up first, but Duo couldn't read his expression. Dr.J finally started laughing. His laughter only fanned Duo's embers of irritation.

"Oh hohohoho! Newtype**? That's just an old superstition!" Dr. J had grabbed his stomach and was doubled over laughing at him. "W… what do you think you have psychic powers? Can you feel the heart of outer space***? BAHAHAAHAA!"

Duo's hands balled into tight fists. "This shit isn't funny. You guys monitored me my whole life for a reason. Why? Because I can remember some stuff? You said we were all advanced in some way. What would you call it then? Relena and the doctors on Earth seem to think it is Newtype. Relena told me Heero is a fucking Newtype. So what does that make me?" Duo was seething now. If his legs hadn't been useless sacks of goo he would have stormed off to go punch something.

Dr. J's laughter was finally beginning to wind down. He coughed and sputtered before straightening his posture. "You know… I remember the first time I heard about Newtypes.^* Someone at a bar told me they met one. Said the lady could move things with her mind, and read your thoughts. Everyone laughed at him and called him a liar. I don't know what a Newtype is supposed to be. You two are clearly advanced. The Sandrock Pilot and Heavyarms pilot are too. I don't know much about that boy from L5, all of his information had been lost when his colony perished. All I know is you're special, and you've been chosen. If you want to call yourself a 'Newtype' to make sense of it all then go right ahead." Duo watched as the aged scientist smiled warmly at him before turning to grab Heero by his shoulder. "Go help your friend lie down. He's had a rough day. We can go over these details later."

"Boyfriend." Heero corrected the doctor mildly before coming over to shoulder Duo's arm and help him to his feet. Duo could feel some sensation in his legs now, but they were useless from muscle exhaustion. He stumbled along as Heero dragged him towards a small side room. The room was narrow with only two utilitarian cots flanking either side. Duo fell to a sit heavily on one and watched as Heero sat across from him on the other.

The close proximity of a place to crash began to influence his eyelids. They were becoming increasingly difficult to keep up. He flopped down onto his side and curled his legs close to his body and hugged his knees. He hadn't felt this worn out in a long time.

"I'm going to go help him write up a report. We will leave first thing tomorrow for Cinq," Heero said in a plainly. Duo struggled to watch him but finally conceded defeat by his eyelids and let them close.

"Go...tcha… see you on the other side," he mumbled. The last thing he could remember was Heero's rough fingers caressing his cheek before he took a nosedive into the realm of R.E.M.

Footies:

*Duo first encountered Professor G, the man responsible for the development and building of L2's Deathscythe Gundam, in After Colony 192. He would have been only twelve years old. Operation Meteor didn't begin until A.C. 195, when he was fifteen.- Source: "Mobile Suit Gundam Wing: Episode Zero" by Katsuyuki Sumisawa.

** Zeon Zum Deikon, politician and philosopher from the Principality of Zeon, had a philosophy that became widely accepted in the Universal Century timeline: "mankind was destined to leave the Earth for space, where they would evolve into a new stage of evolution, called the Newtype." - Source: Mobile Suit Gundam (1979)

*** Quatre actually did "feel the heart of outer space" in an episode 10 of the series. He also appears to read Heero's thoughts in episode 26. NEWTYPE? Absolutely.

^* Dr. J is like that grandpa that will tell you stories until he passed out asleep in his lounge chair.