Disclaimer: In case you havn't heard, I don't own Gundam Wing.

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"Wufei?"

Wufei looked up, Sally was there, concerned. Maybe she had a right to be, he was covered in bruises and soot, his preventer uniform was torn in some places, like it had snagged on something and just ripped. On top of all that, he was slouched over in near exaustion. By the look of things, Sally had a right to be concerned.

"Wufei, where is Duo?"

Wufei looked up, studying Sally. He didn't say a word, just kept staring like he was in shock.

"Wufei?"

"Duo is dead."

"No."

"He chased the killer into the building, that old ruined office tower they left as a gravesite. There was a bomb. He's gone, everything is burning, charred. There were so many bodies, I didn't know where to look. He's gone."

********************

Duo awoke again in a daze. His captors seemed to have a real attachment to tranquilizers. At
least he could be thankful they did not hit him over the head but then again, there was probably an unpleasant reason for that. Well, at least this cell had a cot. Actually, the area reminded him of a remodeled prison. The walls and floors were concrete and there were bars on one side but some cells were open. Some had creature comforts and a few of the prisoners were wandering around, some were fighting, practicing techniques, some playing cards. Duo had no doubt in his mind that these were all murderers.

"So, you're the fresh meat."

Duo's attention was drawn to the young man facing his cell, who couldn't me more than twenty. "Why are some of you allowed out?"

The man smiled. "We've earned it, besides there's no use escaping anyway. They have
precautions set up. Have you tried your cell yet?"

"Tried my cell?"

The man smiled, holding out a chocolate bar on the other side of the bars. "Here, take it."

Duo reached out for the candy, considering all he'd been through, he needed some chocolate. As he reached through the bars he suddenly became aware of the many volts of electricity jolting through his system. Immediatly he pulled his hand back, suppresing the urge to cry
out. The other man was laughing.

"Oh man you are gullible! The new ones are always so much fun. Well, my name's Evan."

"Evan."

"Exactly. Well arn't you going to ask me why I'm here?"

"I'm going to take a wild guess and say murder."

"Accidental murder, You were recruited by Shinji wern't you? Most of the men he brings in are psycho killers. Although you don't look like a psycho killer."

"Are you daft Evan? That's a gundam pilot!"

Duo suddenly became aware of another man sitting on a bench. This one was older, probably an ex-soldier by the looks of things.That didn't make Duo feel any better. He prefered people not to know he had been a pilot. Evan seemed to like the new discovery though. He was
smiling.

"A pilot. You're just a kid!"

"Really? No kidding."

Evan grinned. "Sarcasm. I like that. Well your in luck mister Gundam Pilot. Fights are thrice a week and in three days is the lucky day. It's death match friday."

"You call that lucky?"

"You'll do fine, you're a pilot aren't you? You'll slaughter them."

"Mister, I am not in the mood to slaughter."

The older man laughed. "You didn't seem to mind during the war. In fact you seemed to damn well enjoy it! Which one were you?"

"Deathscythe."

"Deathscythe, you're not without your own kills."

"This isn't war!"

He smiled. "Of course it is. We're battling for survival. I hope I have first match with you. I've always wanted to kill a Gundam Pilot."

Evan grinned, tossing the chocolate bar through the bars for Duo. "Don't mind him, all smoke and mirrors. Anyway they'll probably train you, wouldn't want their big show to die the first minute of the match."

Duo pulled off the candy wrapper, breaking off a piece before speaking to Evan."Why is everyone out of their cell? Got to admit I'm a little jealous."

"We've all earned it. You learn the ropes after the first few weeks. If your a good fighter and you don't escape, you earn privlages, get stuff, like that chocolate bar."

"I see."

"Some of these guys are free warriors, Soldiers from the war. They come and go, as long as they still live, like Kent over there."

Evan directed his thumb to the older man from before who was occupying himself with a game of solitare. "Of course not even he has a key. The guards come and they open the door on schedual. Those who can leave come or go then. Most of us here just occupy cells though."

"One question."

"How do they feed us?"

"How did you know?"

Evan pointed to the ceiling of Duo's cell where he could see a circular shape that appeared to open up. "That comes down with your meal, they use it to feed the really dangerous ones, or the escape artists."

"A little paranoid arn't they?"

Evan grinned. "Not really. Once there was this one guy they brought from an Asylum, the voltage on the bars didn't stop him. He would hang there all day and it wouldn't bother him at all. They let him out to fight once, he killed two guards before they were able to put him back in. Now they just open the door and stand back when he's to fight. Have you seen the guards yet?"

"No."

*************************

Duo woke up again on a hard wooden floor. He had no idea where he was now but when he moaned he could hear the echo resonating. It was a large room then, probably empty for it to be an echo. Duo rubbed the back of his neck and sat up, searching the room and trying to become familier with his surroundings. These guys must really like knocking him out and frankly he nwas sick of it. Viewing the room he was able to get an idea of where he was. Except for the floor the room was completly constructed of metal. There were no windows and the only opening were the vents near the ceiling and the large metal door that looked like it had been borrowed from a safe. There were weapons on the wall, wooden, blunted, items not meant to cause any serious harm but meant to mimic their more deadly counterparts. Duo stood up, his eyes making out the shape of a man at the other end holding two wooden swords. The guy gould be easily over 6 feet, muscular and bald.

"Your awake. Good."

"Not by my perception. What is it with you guys and tranquelizers?"

He smiled. "From now on the only way your going to see the outside of the cell room is if your knocked out. Get used to it, we have a lot of training to do."

"Training? What are you kidding?"

"I never kid Deathscythe. Would you like Deathscythe to be your battle name?"

"No."

"Good, Deathscythe it is. You're going to need to defend yourself as well as fight. Don't want our new prize fighter to die in his first match."

"So I've been told."

"If we had 01 it would probably be easier. Three days of training is not enough time to get you in shape."

"Well why don't I go get him? Give me 5 minutes I'll run over and get him. You can order a pizza while you wait."

The man smiled. "Nice effort, but after they get here we never allow our fighters out. No, we'll just have to make do with you." He began walking towards Duo. "My name is Trainer, I am your trainer, that is all you will know me as. Why don't we start with hand to hand combat?"

Trainer dropped his swords and then sunk his fist into Duo's gut. Duo doubled over, collapsing on his knees.

"Now how did that feel?"

Duo looked up. "What you want me to rank you on a scale 1-10?"

"Hm. Well you are fast at least right?"

"I don't know I never get anywhere on the treadmill."

"Funny. Lets try blocking and dodging techniques."

"Is that really necessary?"

"Well, we could allways just throw you into a match unprepared and have you die."

"I forgot which was the better alternative."

Trainer smiled and threw a punch into Duo's jaw. "How's that?"

Duo rubbed his jaw, looking back at Trainer. The guy packed a hell of a punch. "Okay, how do we start?"


Hours passed by while Trainer continued to instruct Duo, forcing him to fight. Duo was a willing learner. If he learned how to fight well enough maybe he could figure a way to escape. If nothing else he'd be able to show Heero a thing or two. Getting punched in the gut and captured all the time was really starting to piss him off. He knew he would get out of here, he'd been in a lot worse and made it before. There was no reason to assume that this was the exception. Duo was actually glad to find himself in his cell this time. He was exausted. The trainer had just used every ounce of his energy, forcing him to hone his skills.

"Wow, Trainer really did a number on you didn't he?"

Duo groaned, rolling over on his cot, rolling his eyes back for a quick glance at Evan. "I never want to go through that again."

Evan laughed. "Sorry to disapoint you, but word is you got two more days of this."

"Two more what? You can't be serious."

"Complain all you want but the more you train the better the chance of survival."

Duo rolled over on his stomach so he could face Evan. "Yea well I plan to get out of here before it comes to that."