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This story is set in AC 200 making our boys and girls now 21 years old. Bit by bit I will improve on each of the characters, filling in what happened to each one in the four years since we last saw them. Please, Review and I will take all in.
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The Doctor's voice echoed in my head painfully. I could hear his dull voice a mile away. Although the words were unintelligible at this moment, I could tell he was talking about me. Not only that but I could tell he was on the far side of the room. He was talking to another man. I could smell his cologne. It was familiar. Too familiar. As I inhaled slowly I could pick up other scents, motorcycle grease, chip fat and something else. Hair conditioner.
There was only one man on the planet I knew who smelt like that and he was the only person I would trust in the room at the moment, although I would never tell him that. I'd never hear the end of it. In six years I had grown to trust this man with my very life and occasionally enlist his help in important assignments. However he was also the only man I would happily punch in the face just for existing in the same room.
His name was Duo Maxwell, and he was my closest friend. He knew all of my deep secrets, about the girl and her dog, about Doctor J, about my plans to kill Relena Darlian during the war. Only Duo knew about them. Only he could be trusted because he too had a dark side. He told me he had feelings for someone but knew that if he expressed them then sooner or later his "problem" would emerge and I got him to realise his need to open up.
"The thing is, Mr Maxwell, is the patient, Mr Yuy's blood samples don't tell us anything, we could only repair the injury. We couldn't tell if he got poisoned or has any kind of illness." the Doctor was saying.
"OK Doc," Duo replied "Can we talk about this later? He's awake."
The Doctor crossed the room and, as predicted, checked the readings. They were still the same but that wasn't surprising. Duo chuckled and the Doctor walked out. I could hear his mutterings leaving the room. It was then that I opened my eyes and sat upright, despite the pain in my side and back.
"How ya doing buddy?" Duo asked
"I've been shot" I said, turning to look at him "What do you think?"
That seemed to be funny to him and he pulled a backpack from his shoulder and threw it over to me. I looked at the bag and opened it. Inside was a clean set of underwear, a pair of faded jeans and a shirt. All mine. Duo had predicted that I would want to leave so he had packed for the occasion.
"I figured it was better than jumping out of the window in your hospital gown." he said smiling.
I nodded slightly and got out of bed, ignoring the bleeping of the machine. With a flick of a switch I turned it off and began to arduous task of disconnecting myself. Wires were attached to every part of me. Mostly my chest and around the gunshot wound. I pulled off the gown and began to dress.
As Duo and I have known each other for the past six years, I have no reservations about changing in front of him. He doesn't say anything whilst I do though and I live with it. I have no problems about changing in front of anyone really. My training to become the Perfect Soldier made me immune to the effects of embarrassment.
Dressed and ready I left the room, much to the amazement of the Doctors and nurses who had helped treat me. The security guard looked at me in amazement. Something told me that when I came in, I was dead.
"Did something happen here?" I asked Duo
"Yeah. They didn't think you would survive, let alone walk out of here" he answered as we left the large building.
Free of the hospital, Duo sighed and let out a small cheer. He hated hospitals and feared needles but if his friends were in trouble, he would always go into the hospital they were in.
"My car is round the corner" Duo said "I couldn't find your car keys"
I resisted the overwhelming urge to tell Duo how easy it would be to find the keys, but I didn't because he had helped me out.
I climbed into the car, a Lotus Elise rescued from the junk yard and restored. I have to admit it took some skill as most of the parts had to be built from scratch. Yet every time Duo put the keys in and turned them the car roared to life. We left the hospital car park and Duo turned onto a main road southbound. I knew that Duo would ask about my injuries so I pre-empted the inevitable questions.
"My Father did this to me" I explained.
Duo nearly killed us by narrowly missing a truck. He looked at me for a second then back to the road, from that point onwards he drove in a stunned silence. There was something about his face that told me something was wrong. His eyes were fixed on the road and his knuckles had gone white.
"Heero" Duo began "Something has happened to Relena."
For some reason my pulse began to quicken and the old feelings of an impending battle raged inside me. I looked at Duo but he was still looking at the road.
"Perhaps you should take a look" he said, taking a turn to the Preventer Headquarters.