A/N: I'm sorry for not updating since forever. I haven't been reading Gundam Wing fanfiction for a long time and I felt not comfortable enough to write on the story. But I'll try to continue and end it soon. I just hope you are not too disappointed how everything turned out in this chapter. I also changed my pen name. I just got bored of my old one.

Chapter 14: Discovered

A new day brings new hope.

Whoever had said that surely hasn't ever been in Duo Maxwell's shoes. When said pilot opened his eyes next morning - or better make that noon - he felt like a gundam had just walked over him. His eyes hurt – well, that was probably because the sun was shining full force in his direction, just who had opened the curtains over night anyway -, his throat was raw like sandpaper and his muscles started screaming as soon as he twitched so much as his little toe.

"Shit." Duo groaned. "I feel like I haven't slept at all." He tried to roll on his side but was stopped short when he came face to face with Kenji. Duo blinked. 'What the fuck...?!' He carefully backed up a few inches. 'This kid is worse than a gum on my shoe. How did he get in my bed anyway?' Duo scrunched up his face trying to remember and came up with nothing. "So much for a good morning." He grumbled quietly while carefully trying to get out of the bed without waking Kenji.

Being finally out of bed he noticed two things. First that this wasn't his room at all and secondly that the Nataku pilot was hunched on a stool in what must be a very uncomfortable sleeping position across the room. Duo stared confused at his comrade and then back to Kenji who slept with his mouth open the sleep of the dead. 'Just what is going on here...?! Not only am I sleeping with Kenji again in one bed but also Wu Fei is sleeping on a stool? Maybe one of his exercises...' He shook his head. 'One thing is for sure though, I so do not want to be anywhere near Wu Fei when he wakes up. That looks goddamn painful.' With a grin he quietly left the room to go find something edible for breakfast and if he was lucky he could even get a hold on some aspirin.

In the meantime Kenji found his way back to the living and after discovering that he had been abandoned, he trudged down the stairs only to find Duo propped up with a pillow on the sofa eating cereal. While indigo eyes continued to stare at the flickering screen, Kenji stopped at the sofa waiting to be noticed. Had he known that it was pretty useless trying to get Duo's attention while he was watching TV he might have considered a different strategy but luckily the fates were on his side and none other than Wu Fei saved him.

Said pilot choose this moment to wake up. When the Chinese realized that neither kid nor pilot where were they were supposed to be namely in bed like sick people should be, he did the first thing that came to his sleep-deprived mind: "MAXWELL!!!! KENJI!!!! Where are you?"

Duo in turn choked on his cornflakes, jumped up, saw Kenji, dropped the bowl while continuing choking on some cereal stuck in the wrong place. Being a sensible child Kenji came to his rescue and started clapping him on his back. When Duo could finally breathe again, he noticed with teary eyes that he had a katana stuck under his nose. And there he thought it couldn't get any worse.

"Back to bed NOW." A very irate Wu Fei yelled at the both of them.

"Why??? I just got up." Duo protested.

"It's for your own good. Now move it." Wu Fei emphasized this by coming even closer if that was possible.

Duo and Kenji looked at each other and slowly started backing up towards the stairs. Wu Fei did have an advantage after all. But the longhaired teen wasn't one to give up so easily.

"Look Wu Fei I don't know what crawled up your ass. But would you mind explaining what's going on? Maybe you only hit your head when you fell off the stool-"

"Be quiet, Maxwell. This is all your fault anyway." Wu Fei gritted out between his teeth. "If you think all my work was for nothing you are wrong. I will not spend another night on that stool."

"Hey, nobody is forcing you to sleep on that stool anyway. I always thought you take your training of controlling your body too seriously anyway."

They had reached the room Duo had just left half an hour ago. "The stool has nothing to do with my mental exercises. Now get back in there. In the bed." Wu Fei pushed them towards the bed.

Kenji and Duo had resigned to their fate and did as they were told. Wu Fei threw them another glare and finally closed the door. Looking at Kenji he asked.

"Do you have any idea just what this was about?"

The kid frowned and then slowly shook his head. "Sensei mad?"

Duo shrugged. "Maybe he just had a bad dream last night and he got up on the wrong foot. Who knows?"

The 02 pilot scratched his head. "And why is everything my fault again? All I did was sleep last night." He then got up and poked his head out of the room. No pissed off Chinese in sight. Back to Kenji he said. "Wait here. I'll be right back."

Duo tiptoed over the wooden floor to his own room. Throwing on his usual black clothes in a hurry he grabbed his laptop and went back to Kenji's room.

"Get dressed kid." He pointed to a bag with clothes while booting up the laptop. "At least I can get done some work like this. Who would have thought I get room arrest just for sleeping. Wu Fei definitely needs some time off."

Duo set down to work but he wasn't even busy for half an hour when the alarms suddenly went off. Someone must have tipped off the sensors around the grounds. "Oh shit." He checked with the security program and it showed unwanted visitors in military clothing.

"Damn. Why now? Stupid ozzies." He cursed while turning off the alarm, grabbing some of Kenji's clothing and his laptop stuffing it in his always packed travel bag. He also retrieved Wu Fei's bag while calling Kenji to follow him downstairs to the backdoor the one leading to the woods. The gundams were hidden on a clearing not far from the house. Wu Fei had showed Kenji how to get there for a worst-case scenario. Duo just hoped Kenji would find his way; he first had to find Wu Fei who hopefully would be in his usual meditation place.

Scanning the grounds through the small window in the door he turned back to Kenji grabbing his small hands. "Listen kiddo. We're gonna make a little trip now. You're up for it?"

Kenji gave him a small tight nod but Duo could see the fear visible in the child eyes. Duo quirked his mouth upwards, trying to reassure the child. "Don't worry. Let's play a game, okay?!" Adrenaline was cursing through his veins while he explained quickly to Kenji. "Remember what Wu Fei taught you? Do you remember how to get to the secret place?"

Kenji only hesitated seconds before mumbling a shy. "Hai."

"Good. You'll go there as quickly as you can without being seen while I find Wu Fei. Wu Fei and me will try to get there as quickly as possible, too. The first there is the winner, okay?! Then let's go."

Duo threw one more glance through the window before opening the door. He motioned to Kenji to run into the woods. Checking that Kenji was no longer visible he took off in the opposite direction hoping that he would not be too late for Wu Fei. Duo reached the small opening and breathed a sigh of relief when he spotted Wu Fei unharmed. The Chinese boy was just about to yell something at the black clad 02 pilot when he saw the bags.

"Status, Maxwell."

"Triggered alarms. They're coming into this direction. I sent Kenji to the gundams." He threw Wu Fei his bag and they both made their way as silently as possible through the woods. They hadn't been far as they heard cars and voices shouting. OZ had stormed the save house. They hurried between the branches and finally reached the clearing.

Wu Fei took off immediately for Nataku removing the camouflage net while Duo followed suit while scanning the grounds. No sign of Kenji yet. Hadn't he found the clearing?

"Wu Fei, are you sure that Kenji can retrace his way to the clearing?"

The dark haired pilot looked up. "He has to."

Duo got a bad feeling about this. Kenji wasn't Yuy. Maybe it had been a mistake to let the kid go by himself. But Kenji had enough time to make it here by himself and they would have been too slow if he had kept Kenji with him while looking for Wu Fei. It didn't matter though how he turned the issue Kenji didn't show up. They still had a few minutes but they couldn't wait forever. Duo turned back to the task at hand. Deathscythe had to be ready for take off. He just hoped Kenji would make it in time.

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I reread the other chapters and I haven't been too happy with them. It needs a lot of revising but since I never get around to do just that I'll just continue on with the story. Hope you can bear with me.