k2: Okay, jut so ya guys know now when I revised this chapter I practically rewrote each scene in a new light. I even rearranged one or two scenes with another to make the timing more correct. Heck! I even changed the titled a little!
MK: Prolly her most redone chap so far.
k2: In other words we're not telling you what's in store for the other chapters I have revised already. You will just see them in their own due time while I continue to write the new ones.
MK: Anyway we really need feedback on this chap-.
k2: What'dyuo mean we?
MK: Okay, she majorly needs feedback.
k2: Thank you.
Gundam Wing Generations:
The continued Epic of the Gundam Universe
St.1: New Types and Space hearts
Ch.3: The Mad Scientist.
Rating: PG-13 (T)
General genre; Drama, Mystery, Action as sub genre.
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Hiiro, his unconscious prisoner slung over his shoulder, walked along side Duo as they entered Lady Une's office together. Upon entering the first thing Duo did was notice the fact that she had redecorated since the last time he had been there. There. Of course, were similarities to the old arrangement, but only due to the fact that she had the same mahogany desk littered with paper work (and a solitary picture frame) and the same picture of Treize Kushrenada placed upon her wall, a pair of incense burners burning just below it on a shelf she had placed directly beneath it. Other then those two everything looked different. The coat rack that used to be in the far corner of the room was now next to the door, she had a brand new throw carpet the spanned the entire length of the office with a thinner width then the office offered and the two oak chairs that had been in here before were replaced with a pair of mahogany ones with cushions built into the design. Une had placed more pictures on her wall also, ones of Mariamaia during birthday party or two, a few of them during her rehabilitation courses, and three of them included Une herself in what (Duo was quite startled to note) was the most happy expression he'd ever seen on her face! It all brought a bright grin to his face as he looked around, the place seemed homier then usual.
"Looks like that little red head's turning you into a real home maker, isn't she?"
Une looked up quickly, startled at sound of Duo's voice, and narrowed her eyes as she took the two in. "I take that is the man brought for questioning?" She asked sternly as she stood her eyes reflecting a coldness neither pilot had seen since the war. Both Hiiro and Duo knew how much keeping the piece meant to Une, her responsibility towards the man she had once loved was still strong in her heart and her duty was all she had left of him now.
"Yeah, it's him." Duo grumbled as he rubbed the back of his head, irritated at the reminder of why they were here in the first place.
"Hiiro!"
Both ex-pilots turned sharply around at the sound of a familiar female voice and Duo missed stifling his groan as he saw Relena standing behind them, her eyes wide with concern. Eyes that turned quizzical at the sound of Duo's exasperation. Exasperation that was slightly quenched the moment a sharp pain hit his ribs where Hiiro's elbow was now embedded.
"Ow!" Duo glared at Hiiro and began grumbling again, irritated with both Hiiro and Relena. "Man, you two are the weirdest couple." He grumbled as he stalked off to sit on one of the chairs. "Personally I'd hate it if my girlfriend stalked me."
"Ignore him." Hiiro stated shortly to Relena, "What are you doing here?"
"I was with my brother when Une called him. I felt I should come along also-."
"Why did you call him?" Hiiro turned around sharply to face Une and found that she stood with a slight smile on her face.
"You're going to be working with him. Why else?"
"I thought you said Dorothy was here." Relena spoke up, cutting any retort Hiiro may have had off.
"She's down the hall, about three doors down." Duo stated, mildly amused by what he saw.
"Thank you Duo. I will see you later Hiiro."
"Where is Wind anyway?" Une asked quickly.
"Coming!" Relena threw over her shoulder as she hurried down the hall.
"She is one weird girl." Duo murmured as he watched the last wisps of Relena's hair disappear.
A moan from Hiiro's shoulder indicated that the mysterious would be kidnapper was about to wake up, stealing the attention of the three occupants of the room. Hiiro raised an eyebrow, shrugged his shoulder and watched as the man thumped onto the floor with a painful thud eliciting another groan from him.
"Dude, that was not nice." Duo stated as he watched Hiiro turn to face the other two."
"Does it look like I care?" Hiiro asked in his usual single toned voice. "I need to talk to Relena, let me know if he starts talking before I get back. And don't' bother to get me when Zechs gets here."
"Wow." Duo watched as Hiiro disappeared behind the closing door and looked over at Une. "How often do you here him talk so much at one time like that?"
"You're his friend, you should know."
"Exactly."
111break111
She paced. Back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. Form one end of the room to another. She didn't know what else to do, she was deathly worried about her Kitten and there was nothing she could do about it.
Dorothy stopped pacing long enough to look at the overhead clock on the wall, noting the time. She had been there for nearly a half hour, what was taking so long! Hiiro had directed her to this room as soon as they had arrived at the Preventers main HQ and left her there, telling her to wait in a tone that sounded strangely like an order. And so she waited. Grumbling at first, she hated to be ordered around. But then she began to think about Quatre, which had then led her to pacing. And she'd been doing that for quite some time now, irritated, worried, angry…so many different emotions.
"Damn it!" She hissed as she began to pace again. "What is taking so long? What am I supposed to be waiting for?"
"Me, I suppose."
Dorothy whipped around, her hair trailing in a whirlwind of corn silk, to see Relena standing in the doorway.
"What are you doing here?" She asked quickly, "I thought you had a busy day today."
"I did." Relena admitted, "But if anyone finds out that Quatre was kidnapped, and I don't mean any normal run of the mill kidnapping, I mean a political icon here. A peace ambassador; well let's just say I will be busier then I can handle trying to keep the public calm."
"Why?" Dorothy asked slowly, "Surely people can't be that paranoid-."
"Dorothy, do you remember when I had that party, the one where I invited Mariamaia Kushrenada?"
"Err…yes. Yes I do."
"We were attacked and held for ransom, that was when Hiiro and the others formed Preventer Five for the first time in order to save us. The public was in disarray, there are people just waiting for me to be taken down so they can step up. Peace may have been attained, but it is a fragile thing and this isn't the first time Quatre has been targeted like this. We must keep in mind, Dorothy, that any form of attack on either Quatre or myself, or any other peace minister, is an attack on peace itself. Everyone knows that."
Dorothy closed her eyes, lowering her head. She hated to admit it but Relena was right. Not a pleasant thought, really, when you got down to it.
"I wonder though." Dorothy murmured as a thought accrued to her. She looked up at Relena, her eyes bright with unshed tears. "I wonder if perhaps there could be another reason."
"What other reason?" Relena asked, confused.
"Well, think about it. Too few people know about Kitten, I mean Quatre, well his being a Gundam pilot and all, correct?"
"Yes, that is true. Most of those that discovered his secret are either dead or in our confidence."
"So any enemy of Quatre's would be purely business."
"I…I suppose so. I mean, he has had a rather limited personal life, right?"
"Yes. The other explanation would seem to be a terrorist like you said."
"But?"
"I have many enemies. I wouldn't' put it past them to go after him in order to hurt me."
Relena stared at Dorothy intently for a moment. She understood the older girls logic but something bothered her. "Something tells me, Dorothy, that you're beating around the bush. Something else is bothering you regarding this, isn't it?"
Dorothy lifted her chin and returned Relena's intense stare gaze for gaze. "Quatre is special. More special then anyone realizes. I am worried that perhaps someone has finally seen what he tries to hide."
111break111
Ducking back inside the car Wufei grabbed another cartridge as he rid the gun of the empty one, shedding empty shell from the barrel as well. As he slipped a new bullet into the gun barrel he glanced briefly at Trowa, the traffic and the black car they were chasing. It wasn't an easy chase, mind you, and he was almost amazed at how little the rest of the traffic was affected by the two fast moving vehicles. It almost appeared as if the driver of the other car was doing his best not to cause an accident, which was pretty odd for a getaway car. Accidents usually slowed their pursuers down, but Wufei wasn't about to complain. If this kept up he would be able to shoot the tires out before he ran out of bullets, of course several of the bullets were aimed around the other shooter to try and throw his aim off.
Another barrage of bullets began to assault them once more and Wufei, again, marveled at the fact that Quatre's car was nearly bullet proof, as well as thanked whatever god had willed Quatre to add whatever improvements it was he had added. After that the Chinese youth jumped forward and began shooting his own gun off. Feeling a bullet jut barley graze his cheek Wufei cursed, anger rising, and raised the gun a few inches to shoot off three bullets. One of which more then grazed the shooters shoulder as it zoomed by forcing him back inside the car, an action, mind you, that seemed to signal the driver to step on the gas more.
"Your not supposed to kill them!" Trowa shouted emotionlessly for the benefit of being said as he, too, pressed his foot further to the floor. Wufei could tell he really didn't value those words, but he took them to heart anyway. If it came down to a kill shot, it wouldn't be while they were racing down the road.
Wufei plopped back down and checked his cheek in the mirror, barley glancing at Trowa as he did. "I bought a few seconds, I'm finding it more then a little difficult to stop that damn car!"
"I noticed." Trowa replied. "The driver of that car is very conscientious."
"Conscientious sounds more like an understatement." Wufei replied as he checked the cartridge in his gun. "If this guy wasn't so worri3ed about other drivers, not to mention his partner every time he got out in order shoot at used, then he probably could have found a way to loose us by now."
Wufei froze. His eyes widened and he felt as his throat constrict as, without warning, a rushed feeling of urgency seemed to course threw his body. Fear, anger and confusion all rolled into one followed quickly by a rush of panic. Wufei found himself gasping as the feeling died down almost immediately and, to his left, Trowa breathed out almost inaudibly.
"Quatre!"
Startled, Wufei looked sharply at Trowa. "He can do that?"
"Apparently." Trowa murmured, "It's new though. I doubt Quatre even knew he could do it. Too much has happened to him over the past two years, it was likely as not that his subconscious would react to it sooner or later."
"You think that's what it was?"
"Has to be." Trowa looked grim, "There would be no other reason why the two of us would be feeling that."
Wufei Leaned out of the car once more, his gun aiming at the tires again. Before he could shoot, however, the Driver managed to veer out of Wufei's line of sight. Wufei cursed and re-aimed but it was at that point that the shooter decided to make his appearance once more.
At first neither youth recognized the large gun he held as a shoulder rocket, they were to incredulous for it to dawn on them that quickly, though some unconscious reality managed to snap Trowa's safety belt into place without thinking and a second later he was attempting to veer away form the other vehicle just as the weapon fired. Wufei grabbed hold of the windshield to keep from tumbling over the side and the missile found it's destination three feet to the side of the car directly behind Wufei. The force of the blast slammed into the oriental teen with enough force to rip his hand from the windshield (as well as render him unconscious) and slam him into Trowa forcing said brunette to veer further to the left which also resulted in the car turning on it side as it continue dot sail across the road way, forcing other traffic to swerve in an attempt to miss them. Winning the fight over panic Trowa managed to wrap his right arm around Wufei's chest as he fought for control with the wheel. The resulting explosion set off from the rocket caused several other vehicles to veer off and slam into each other in a small series of pile ups and fender benders. An oncoming car, the driver frightened and confused, clipped the front fender of the half toppled sports car as it skidded which sent it spinning into another group of cars until it finally settled ten feet away and fell over completely pinning both Trowa and Wufei beneath it. That was the last thing Trowa remembered before the darkness kicked in.
111break111
"Oh crap." Paul, wide eyed, stared in horror at the resulting pile up in his side view mirror before whipping his head around to look through the back window. "What did you do that for?"
"Just step on the brakes already!" Phil hissed as he came back in through the window, "And stop worrying about causing accidents you moron!"
"Were dead!" Paul whispered as he turned to look at the road again. "We just kidnapped a gundam pilot, blew up two others, and caused the largest traffic jam I have ever seen. We. Are. Dead."
"Not a big accomplishment considering this the first pile up we've ever seen." Phil growled.
"We were supposed to keep this a small operation, not blow up the roadways!" Paul argued, his panic level beginning to rise.
"Paul, take a deep breath and calm down." Cole stated calmly, "You are the driver. You have the easiest, simplest job. We need you to drive without causing us to wind up in a fiery death. Now do it before I tranquilize you and drive myself. Got it?"
"I'm dead." Paul stated again before taking a deep breath and nodding his head.
"And step on it!" Phil shouted.
"Shut up Phil." Cole stated, "You never make it easy on Paul, now is no the time to over power him."
"Crap." Phil shook his head, glanced out the back of the window and grinned. "At least we aren't being chased anymore, at least not now. IF you hurry up Paul I am quite sure we won't be period."
God help me. Paul thought to himself as he pressed the gas pedal down further to the floor. I was born into the wrong family.
111break111
Trowa found his ears ringing even in the darkness of sleep as the constant deedledeedle sound of a cell phone pervaded his unconsciousness, forcing his mind to swim back to reality in a sluggish haze. As he opened his eyes Trowa groaned, his head screaming in pain as the memory of exactly what had happened slowly came back to him. At the moment the only thing he could recall, however, was the fact that he had crashed. He wasn't quite sure why he'd crashed, or why it was he was even driving. As it was the car was overturned, the windshield cracked beyond repair and threatening to shatter (the reason why it hadn't shattered escaping him for the moment), and being one of the few reasons why his neck wasn't broken when the topless car overturned.
"Wufei!" Trowa snapped wide-awake as the full memory of the crash hit him. Unlike him Wufei hadn't been buckled in, the last thing he remembered was catching him and sliding along the ground. He looked around him quickly and spotted the Chinese youth on the pavement beneath him, unconscious and bleeding where his head had hit the ground. He also had what seemed to be scorch marks from the explosion on his olive skin. From his current angle, however, Trowa wasn't quite sure what else was wrong with the other young adult so he couldn't be entirely sure if he was okay or not, nor whether he was breathing or not.
And then Wufei was being dragged away form his line of sight.
"Wufei!" Trowa cried out, startled.
"Hey!" An outside voice announced, "The other ones awake! Give me a hand over here Vivian!"
A head appeared next to Trowa's and the brunette recognized the facial features of a strange man, his hair in the early stages of graying. The man winced slightly at seeing Trowa and allowed a soft smile to grace his lips. "Don't worry kid, we'll get you out in a jiffy. We've already established that your door's jammed though, so we gotta do this the hard way."
"Hard way?" Trowa repeated as the head disappeared again.
"Got the knife?"
"Right here Troy." A soft female voice replied.
When Trowa saw the man again he was holding what appeared to be a medium blade of some sort, Trowa wasn't quite in the mood to pay mind to any detail.
"Hold on a sec, Vivian needs to get into position."
"Whose Vivian?" Trowa asked numbly, unaware he was even asking a question as his mind continued to blur negating any chance of him making sense of what was happening.
"I am." The soft feminine voice replied lightly as another form appeared.
Trowa's vision chose that moment to blur all together, blocking the woman from view. All he saw was a large blur combining her hair and face into one mesh of dark and light color.
"I get to hold you still while Troy cut's the belt around you, that way you don't get any worse damaged the you already are, okay?"
"Huh?"
"Never mind, just stay calm." The woman stated as strong hands clasped onto him. The next thing Trowa knew he was falling to the ground gently and being helped front the wreckage of the car. A wave a of dizziness assaulted the youth and he stumbled into a strong torso pillowed by a pair of large…breasts? Startled Trowa stepped back quickly and found himself facing a large woman standing about what he could only assume was 6' some odd inches and what he could only assume was an 'amazon'.
The woman laughed, a sound that rumbled deep within her chest and belied her soft-spoken voice, and her eyes twinkled. "Well, I suppose that means you're not feeling too bad, but we better have Carl look at you anyway."
"Don't worry Kid, she doesn't bite." The older man stated kindly, "She's like a big teddy bear."
"Wufei." Trowa turned around quickly and felt his head protest loudly. He stumbled again and leaned against the toppled car as the nausea that decided to show up subsided.
"Your friend is okay." The woman, Vivian he supposed, stated softly.
"Hey, Troy!" Trowa looked up at the over excited voice of a young man and saw a youth no older then himself pulling on the older man's arm. "What're we gonna do?"
"At the moment, we're going to help these nice young men Vick, there's a whole mess here that needs attention. I've already called for official help; the authorities should be here soon as well as medics. Luckily these boys were the only ones seriously damaged from all this."
"Luckily?" Vick cried in exasperation. "I thought you said-."
"Ixnay." Vivian hissed quickly before abruptly changing the subject. "How's the other one?"
"He's fine, nothing broken, but he's cut up real bad with a nasty burn."
"Good." Troy replied somberly, "This one's got a nasty road rash on the side of his face and from the looks of his shirt his shoulder also." Trowa absently touched his face and winced as he felt a stinging sensation almost immediately. "But I need Carl for further diagnosis."
"Right here Troy." A third man announced as he appeared with Wufei handing limply at his side, his arm slung around the guys neck. "This one won't have any problems when he wakes up."
Troy nudged Trowa over towards 'Carl' who handed Wufei over to Vick who in turn knelt down and leant him against he toppled sports car. Carl then stepped forward and gave Trowa a quick examination, frowning when as he went. When he finished his frown had deepened into a grim expression. "I think it best we get you checked over at a hospital."
"No." Trowa replied flatly.
"Excuse me?" Vivian protested, "If Carl says you need medical attention-."
"It can wait." Trowa replied as he glanced in the direction he and Wufei had been going. Quatre. "It will have to."
A groan from Wufei signaled that he was beginning to come around and Trowa knelt down next to him, setting a hand on his shoulder.
"Wufei? He asked softly, "Can you here me?"
"Oh, my head." Wufei gruffed. What…hit me?"
"A rocket." Trowa stated.
"Rocket?" Wufei repeated as he rubbed his head.
"The kidnappers had a shoulder rocket stored. They wanted us off their tail."
"Kidnappers?" Wufei's eyes widened and he sat forward quickly. "Quatre!"
"Gone."
"S4!t! We need to get going!"
"We're not going to catch them now." Trowa responded, "The best thing for us to do is to get back and let the others know what happened. See what they got out of the one they already have."
Wufei managed to pick himself up with the help of the blue car and looked around him. People were scattered about, talking with one another and generally seeing if everyone was okay. He, Trowa, and four other people he didn't know were the only ones in this general area as well as the ones mostly affected by the crash. He also noticed that no one appeared seriously hurt, which was more then a small relief.
"Guess we got he brunt of this crash, huh?" Wufei asked, wincing slightly as he noticed just how badly hurt Trowa was.
Trowa nodded, "We can get our own medical attention after we debrief."
"Right. Lets go."
"And where are you guys going to go with your car totaled like that?" Vick demanded irritably. "I mean, look at it! I'm surprised it isn't on fire or further damaged or whatever by now!"
"He's right." Wufei mused, "Just what exactly is that thing made out of."
"Quatre had it reinforced with a much denser and durable metal as well as replacing all the glass with a new form of the old armor plated glass. Something his company has been developing, he was going to suggest it to Relena later in the week."
"You're joking."
Trowa shook his head negativity and found himself smirking ruefully. "Looks like his test second test run was a success.
"What was the first test run?"
"Valentines day."
"Not to interrupt or anything," Carl began calmly, "but there is still the fact that you two need-."
"Can you give us lift?" Trowa asked quickly. "We can get medical attention faster if you take us where we need to go."
"And where is that?" Troy asked, though for some reason Trowa suspected he already knew.
"We'll direct you." Trowa replied. "And we would greatly appreciate the ride. We can repay you the necessary gas as compensation in cash once we get there."
"No need." Troy replied with a smile. "My name is Troy Richardson. That's Carl Slovotsky." He pointed out the grumbling medic before turning to the amazon. "This lovely young lady is Vivian LaBour, and that strapping young man next to you is Victor Stripe. Carl and I will take you where you need to go."
"But-."
"No." Troy interrupted the youth before he could speak. "Stay with Vivian Vick, you the rules."
"Fine." Vick grumbled.
Deedledeedle. Deedledeedle.
Trowa looked up at the annoyingly familiar sound of a cell phone and watched as Wufei pulled his phone out of his pocket.
"Speaking." HE stated as he answered the phone. His right eyebrow raised slightly and then he said, "We were a little preoccupied with being unconscious at the time. Yes, I said unconscious. Needless to say we crashed. No, he actually did a good job of not causing any accidents. Let's just say that there is a rather large pot hole in the road now. Yes, were fine, but we have some pedestrians demanding that we go to the hospital. No, they got away. Yes. Yes. Yes, I know what that means. No, I do not want to talk to him-." Wufei pulled the phone from his ear as a voice sounding suspiciously like Duo's began shouting over the earpiece yet while one could recognize his voice his words were a little more then garbled. Trowa was more the a little amused when Wufei closed his phone on the overactive brunette and stuffed it unceremoniously in his pocket.
"We need to hurry, Une called Wind to be in on this and Hiiro refuses to start anything until we get back."
"I take it Duo's still upset at you?"
"I see you're not. You're the only one I'm worried about."
"Let's go."
111break111
Paul pulled the black car into the remains of a broken down warehouse in the middle of the warehousing district of old Sanq. He turned the motor off and leaned against his seat, sweat trickling down the side of his head as his stress level continued to yo-yo back and forth as his conscience warred with itself.
"Wimp." Phil grunted as he stepped out of the car irritably. "To think that I share the same DNA stream as you. Feh."
"I'll…meet you guys inside." Paul murmured in reply as Cole exited the car as well with Quatre held delicately in his arms.
"Fine, I'll get the test subject inside. Don't lag behind too long, and get that holo projector up while you're at it."
"Sure Cole." The other sighed softly as he watched his brothers leave with their young captive. I'm sorry.
"We're back!" Phil declared as he opened the door leading into what appeared to be a makeshift main room currently occupied by what appeared to be an old man around sixty or so years of age with a shock of white hair on his head and a medium sized beard covering his face.
"Did you bring him?" His sharp voice clipped through the dim lighting of the room, his eyes sparkling with suppressed excitement.
"Yeah, we got'im." Phil replied as he indicated the pale blond in Cole's arms. "Not as easy a job as you said it would be though."
"Oh, goody! Goody, goody, goody!" he cried as he rushed over to them with his hands held out, giddy as schoolgirl about to get a present. "Let me see him! NO! Wait." The old man looked across the room for a moment then turned back." Better yet bring him, bring him!" He grabbed Cole by the sleeve and began to pull him further into the room. "Phil, open the door to the lab! Quickly now!"
Without a word of argument Phil rushed ahead of them in order to open the door on the other side of the room and, after stepping inside, he hold the door open for the strange old man and his brother.
The room the four of them were in now was a much larger room, a good portion of the warehouse to be exact, and consisted of all sorts of different lab equipment, a large tube with a greenish color liquid towards the center of the room hooked to a large computer and a large examination table, the type that was essentially human shaped.
"Quickly now, on the table! And be careful with him, his life far more important then yours!"
"Yeah, some father he is." Phil grumbled from a safe distance out of earshot.
Cole placed Quatre on the examination table as gently as possible and was then shooed away by the old man who abruptly began ripping the buttons on his shirt open. He grabbed a stethoscope from a tray table consisting of multiple examination devices as well as several different kinds of needles, syringes, and other such medical equipment. After placing them in his ears he pressed the cold ampliphying metal against Quatre's chest and began to listen closely. "Good, good. He has a strong, steady heart beat. That increases his chances for survival by about 10. Cole, take that shirt the rest of the way off and bind him immediately."
"Yes father." Cole stated before complying to the orders.
"Now then, Phillip." The old man turned to his other 'son' with narrowed eyes and approached him quickly. "Tell me. What did you mean by it wasn't' as easy as I had said it would be."
"First of all, Doc Fue, you didn't' tell us everything about this kid. You just said he was a rich brat! You told us nothing of his possibility of being one of those gundam pilots that helped out during the war!"
"Unnecessary information Phillip." Fue stated simply. "Is that all?'
"No. His buddies were at the café with him, we didn't know that. When we grabbed him we were attacked. We lost Jasper and almost got caught ourselves. If it hadn't been for Cole keeping a small rocket launcher in the trunk we woulda been caught."
"Oh, dear." Fue stated, "Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. Captured you say?"
Phil nodded. "That rich snot there broke his arm, one of his friends shot him in the leg. I hate to admit it but there was no way we coulda brought him back with us."
"Dear, dear. What now, hmm? Yes, what now? Perhaps we must leave. Space would be good, yes space. I have a lab in space, not as good as this one but still usable. No, no. H would be there, yes H. That old codger warned me, yes he warned me. Warned me to stay away from his prize. Protégée he called him. Protégée? How can you call that boy any sort of thing Phillip? I ask you, how do you?"
"Umm…I have no clue what your talking about doc."
"Yes, well…it doesn't matter now, does? The only thing that matters is he is mien now, mine! No one will take him form me, he is the beginning of the future! Yes, the future for all mankind!"
Fue turned back around quickly and, seeing that Cole had finished fastening the last bond into placed he returned to Quatre's side with adoring eyes. "Yes, yes. For all mankind. Such a beautiful child, so young! So strong, yes I know just how strong he is! I stole H's notes, yes I did." He smiled proudly and looked up at Cole. "A new era shall be brought by my research Cole, yes a new era in warfare! From this boy I will bring forth the beginning of the new soldiers that Sam needs, yes I will. Sam will be in great need of these soldiers, yes yes. He must have them. Without them, how can he stop the new governments from…"
"Focus doc!" Phil cried irritably. "One thing at a time, you're rambling again!"
Doctor Fue stopped mid ramble, froze mid thought. His eyes narrowed and he turned slowly to face Phil, his eyes taking on a coldness that forced the much younger man to swallow hard.
"Is that anyway to talk to your father boy?" He demanded, "I gave you life 24 years ago; I can just as easily take it away! Now shut up and just follow orders! And make sure he doesn't wake up! NOW!"
"Y-yes sir!" Phil stuttered. "I'm sorry sir."
"Now then." Fue began, smiling as he turned to his other son. "Tell me Cole, is what your older brother told me true?"
"Every word Father." Cole replied, a frown on his face. "Your not going to punish Phil, are yo? For beign bad?"
"Bo, no. Not now, but if he acts up again…." Fue trailed, though his smile remained. "And while we are on that subject Cole, please bring me the remote."
"Father?"
"I must take care of Jasper before he can talk."
"Your gonna what?" Phil cried before he could stop himself.
Fue glared briefly in Phil's direction, forcing him to avert his gaze and then turned back to Cole. "It is absolutely necessary that no one, and I mean no one Cole, knows of my plans. Out of all my children, all four of you boys, Jasper is the stupidest. I have no doubt he will sing like a canary with enough incentive, he never did like pain very well."
"I doubt they would torture him." Cole replied
"Cole, you know you are my favorite. You know why you are my favorite?"
"Because I am the smart one." Cole replied
"Yes. So of course I am sure you understand, correct?"
"Yes." Cole lied.
"Good, now please go get me the remote. It's in the safe in the main room, you know the pass code. Thank you."
Cole nodded and walked quickly to the door, glancing at Phil on his way out. The look he gave his older brother was a superior look mingled with calm seriousness. Phil just stared at him as he left, confused just as Cole figured he would be. Being the smartest of the four Cole had a certain responsibility (in his own mind) to make sure he knew exactly what was going on when and how to take care of the situation. And this was one such time. He wasn't about to let that old freak kill one of his brothers. Granted, none of them were very valuable in their own right but he could still use them for his own agendas. Besides, he still had a soft spot for each of them, as odd as it sounded to himself. IT was just a good thing had taken the time to disable the self-destruct button on the remote three years ago, but Fue was right. Jasper had to be taken care of. AS much as he hated the old man his research was important, and that child they had taken was the key to everything. Jasper would have to be silenced before it was too late.
Cole made sure to close the lab door behind him and made his way to the opposite corner of the room where a large metal safe sat. On the safe was a digital pass code protector that followed a combination of numbers, letters and color buttons that also took in DNA data from the finger tips as they punched in the correct code leading to a feminine sounding voice confirming the correct or incorrect individual attempting to open the safe.
Identity confirmed. Cole, accepted.
The safe opened to reveal a pile of disorganized files and folders with a small digital device lying atop. It was about six inches long and three inches wide, the corners of the device, or remote rather, were more rounded the pointed. On it were a series of buttons labeled for various purposes with each of their names written on them. This was the remote that triggered the biological implants that stimulated the brain waves in each of their heads, the only thing that kept the four of them, Cole and his brothers, from the life of brain dead vegetables. There were seven in all, two buttons for each of them, except for Phil and Paul that is. They actually shared one of the bottom three buttons, the self-destruct button. It was a fact that neither of them knew, and it was due to them being twins. The top four, on the other hand, were the 'punishment' buttons. When pressed the digital wave that was created interfered with the implants causing them to send bioelectrical charges coursing through their brains. It was very painful, Cole had spent most of his life doing things to please his 'father' in order to keep him from using that damn button after an initial encounter when he was four. He had managed to succeed in that as the older he got.
"Cole?"
The 22-year-old vat baby turned his head to see Paul standing in the doorway, his face still pale from their last job and looking at him with concern in his eyes. Cole ignored the other and closed the safe, the automatic locks clicking into place, and stood with the remote in his hand.
"What are you doing with that?" Paul asked quietly.
"Following orders." Cole replied coldly. "With a twist."
"There's always a twist with you."
"Hand me a screw driver please?"
"Huh?"
Cole turned to look at Paul to see his quizzical expression and his eyes narrowed.
"You standing next to the tool chest Paul. Hand. Me. A screwdriver."
Paul quickly looked around himself and saw s small electronics toolbox on the desk he stood next to. He raised an eyebrow quizzically, obviously even more confused, but opened it and took out the small screwdriver that lay inside, handing it to his brother.
"Thank you Paul." The younger man murmured as he walked over and grabbed the tool. As he unscrewed the tiny screws in the small remote he continued, "Now grab those small needle nose pliers and a small piece of wire about an inch long, a quarter of a centimeter peeled."
111break111
Quatre's mind was seeped in the darkness of his drug-induced sleep, fear and confusion filling his barley conscious mind clouded in a mass of disarray. He struggled to shift through the haze, struggled to fight off the over powering sense of isolation the drug caused. Quatre, fearful of what this could mean, fought with al he had to break free of the drug infesting him.
And then he began to sense things. His surroundings, the emotions around him were present and uncontrolled. He senses curiosity at first. A calm curiousness that seemed to be directed towards him, the reason he could sense it so strongly. And then anger came into mind. Fierce barley controlled anger that threatened to destroy whomever owned that anger. It was mixed with a certain amount of loathing….
A third sense came to him then, one of fear. Fear, concern, inner-pain…the third party to whom these emotions belonged was different from the others. Different in a sense that Quatre suspected he somehow had no choice in what he did and that brought anger into his mind.
With this revelation of senses Quatre realized he was beginning to win the war over his own mind. That he was finally gaining consciousness. All he had to do was to keep on fighting, just a little more!
He felt warm hands on his skin. A mixed blessing, for that meant that he was almost entirely awake, yet at the same time he knew that even if he awoke he would only be put down again unless he managed something quick.
And then the putrid smell of cloraphorm invaded. They had already realized he'd been waking. Panic surged through Quatre, a panic that accentuated his own fear, his own anger. Urgency flashed through his mind and somehow he managed to see Trowa for scarcely a minute. Determination and anger flashing within his emerald orbs as he came to the rescue of his best friend. And with him Quatre sensed Wufei as well. He sensed the deep rooted regret residing in the Chinese youths soul and, as he passed back into unconsciousness Quatre reached out to them, desperate to reach them yet his efforts were in vain.
The senses he had been able to pick up seemed to dissipate around him. They scattered, shattered, disappeared form him. He was alone again, isolated. Trapped within the darkness of an unconscious sleep.
And yet….
And yet Quatre found himself almost basking in this solitude. His cares, his worries, they seemed washed away. The chaos that was his life, the menagerie of responsibility set before him, was lost within the darkness. His mind was purged of responsibilities as the darkness soothed him into a steady calm. Of course, he knew it was all due to the effects of the drugs coursing through his body, whatever tranquilizers it had been they used, and that this calm was forced upon him. But it was a calm nonetheless, one the pale blond hadn't had since before the war started.
When had it all started? When had his life turned into a tumult of responsibility?
I don't know what your situation is, but have a little more pride in yourself.-AN
And then he knew.
The day he met the Maganacs for the first time. The first and only time Rashid had ever dared raise a hand against him. His first taste of responsibility had come when he accepted those goggles from Rashid.
The darkness enveloping Quatre's mind receded then and he saw a familiar scene though it was as if seeing it from another's eyes. A young blond boy enwrapped in his own self-loathing stood before a giant man holding his slightly bruised cheek in shock.
"I don't know what your situation is, but have a little more pride in yourself."
He was seeing everything as it had happened on that day. The day he'd been accidentally kidnapped while trying to run away. His fathers ships had been high jacked by them, they were freeing a mining colony. A mine that was now owned by the Winner family.
Quatre had had as little respect in himself, as he himself had once said, as primordial ooze. Rashid and the others taught him about pride that day, to have pride in oneself and to give proof to the reason you exist.
He'd started out as a self-centered antisocial richling with low self esteem that day but ended the same day becoming a hero in the eyes of those men. Even as Quatre's half coherent mind mused the matter he saw the young version of himself run in front of the bullet meant to kill Rashid. The bullet flew all the way through his small shoulder and still hit the bigger man, though the velocity had been cut down by Quatre's human shield.
The scene fuzzed away and revealed itself again. Quatre was sitting, his shoulder still bleeding, in a mech and about ready to take off. On his head were Rashid's goggles, given to him by Adua. Quatre remembered that Rashid had said to make sure he got them and, because he wore them, Quatre was as much an equal as any of them. Yet as he fought along side of them something happened to the boy in that suit. Seeing it from a new perspective Quatre found exactly why it was the Maganacs had given so much respect to him. It was something one could only see as an outsider. The boy he was then gained more then pride that day. He gained more then family in the Maganacs, for which their name stood. That day the boy Quatre watched gained the responsibilities he now faced today as a leader. And for some reason fate had chosen him to be that boy. The only question now is why?
The why's didn't' matter. The memories Quatre visualized brought that same pride streaming back and he guilted himself for feeling as though he ever needed a break. HE watched as the young impulsive boy ignored the please of the Maganacs and risked his life in a very dangerous and stupid stunt. Watched as he destroyed the remaining mechas and lost consciousness in space, drifting. As the memory ended Quatre felt the unconscious pull of waking once more and he swam to the surface of his mind quickly.
Quatre began to open his eyes, this time catching a glimpse of some sort of metallic object hanging over him. His eyes snapped open and he saw a giant needle hovering over him and he attempted to move away but his body was strapped down.
"Not again!" A voice cried irritably, "That happened in the car too!"
"Get that chloraphorm over there now!" the second voice was a high-pitched shriek that sent Quatre's senses reeling. Before Quatre could react any other way a rag was over his face once more, the putrid smell of cloraphorm worming it's way through his brain.
"We cant' have him waking up again! But I can't use any other drugs on him until I get a good reading of his…."
Anything said after that was lost to the haze of a muddled mind as darkness took hold of him once again.
111break111
AN-These words were taken from Quatre's episode zero.
k2: Okay folks! What'dyou think? Just like I said, major changes! Just about as hard as it was to write the first time, actually. Now that I think about it….the revision proved to be quite a task! That last part of this, as well as the last scene involving Trowa and Wufei, were what was so hard. That and I have to try, try and get the timing juts right.
MK: Just tell 'em!
k2: Okay, okay. Truthfully, compared to what's coming next, with as hard a chapter as this wasto do the next few were even harder.
MK: Hard to believe, I know, but when you think about ti there is no other way around it. Life is hard.
k2: Espeically for a writer.