Chapter Eleven

Duo POV

It took days for the drugs to leave Heero's system, and the whole time he wouldn't let me or Trowa out of his sight. If one of us weren't there with him, the other had to be. If both of us were there then he was relaxed and content, or as content as he could be while battling pain from the infected wounds.

On the third day of his return, J triggered his "civilian" personality and left us dealing with a depressed and ragged mess that ,thankfully, wasn't scared of the others anymore. But if we thought the soldier was bad, the civilian was worse.

Without the mental abilities of his soldier persona the pain from the lashes, the stomach upset from the drugs forced into his stomach, the head pain from the high frequency rays flashed into his brain in an attempt to re-program him, all made him miserable. He couldn't move without feeling intense pain, and somehow the waves had affected him more than we thought.

"I think that guy was partially successful." I revealed to the others while Heero slept. Quatre looked up. "Think about it. If he had been unsuccessful, then the soldier we picked up would not have shown pain no matter what, even if he had to pass out to do that. Isn't that what Heero said before?"

"Yeah, he did say that."

"And now the civilian is upstairs, wracked with pain. Even before, as a civilian he was stronger." Quatre lowered his gaze. "I think the mind ray worked, just a little bit. If he had been hooked to it longer, or over a longer period of time, I think his mind might have melted just like the thing was made for."

"And he would have been successful in re-programming him." Trowa finished. "It wouldn't have taken long either. From the intensity of the lights I saw, it was at full capacity."

"What do we do?" Wu Fei asked.

"I can tell you one thing we WON'T do." I said. "And that's inform J. We have to tell him that Heero isn't fit yet for battle, but we can't tell him that the device worked enough to change Heero."

"Isn't that dangerous? What about side effects…?"

"We'll have to deal." I said. "If J learned of this I have no doubt in my mind that he'll snatch Heero up for re-training quicker that a cat would snatch a fish out of a bowl." Eyes narrowed all around and I smirked. J was now officially on the blacklist of all us pilots, because we all knew about J and his sadism from little stories told by Heero. Our little plans of J's destruction were interrupted by a small thump coming from above.

"I'll go check on him." Trowa offered. He pushed away from the table and made his way up the stairs.

"So now what do we do?" I asked.

"I hate saying this…but I think we should first wean Heero off of the trigger. Then we take our leave of the scientists." Quatre said after a few minutes.

"Wean…..take leave….Are you crazy Quatre!" Wu Fei spluttered. "We just can't get rid of the trigger! There is no possible way…."

"Yes, there is." I looked up at the interruption in shock to find Trowa supporting Heero in the doorway. "Well, maybe not completely but there is a way to transfer the voice command to another so J can't use it." Heero revealed. He limped to a chair with Trowa's help.

"Really?" Wu Fei asked in surprise. Heero let out a groan as he was lowered into the chair. The poor guy must be in a lot of pain, and I could tell by the barely repressed shivers that while he wasn't totally afraid of the others, he was still nervous around them.

"He uses the collar." Heero said. "I remember when he first started using it, he told the soldier to not let anyone remove it. It's connected somehow to a metal chip in my brain that re-enforces the triggering. If you remove….." He cut off and bent over in pain. Sparks shot from the collar.

"Heero!" I rushed over to him, just as Trowa caught him. Heero gasped.

"Listen! Remove the collar and it'll short the chip. You'll have two minutes while I'm unconscious to speak. Speak the key then say the words you want to use as triggers."

"We'll be able to activate the triggers?" I asked. Heero nodded and moaned as another jolt from the collar rushed through his abused body.

"The collar acts as a control device." Heero gasped out. "As you see. If it's removed then the chip will act in it's stead. It won't shock me but it'll release a series of waves that'll make me obey you if you say first the key then the command." Heero fell limp and slid out of the chair into my lap.

"Shit."

"That about sums it up." Wu Fei said as the collar fell still.

"That settles it then?" Quatre asked, shaken. "We get rid of the collar and re-program him so we can control the triggering." I nodded. "Then we'll take leave of the scientists."

"I suggest we keep in contact with them anyway." Wu Fei said. "They send us information and missions, but we decided whether to act on them. That way we don't go blind into anything, and we can keep an eye on them to make sure they don't do anything like this to anyone else."

"Wu Fei's right." Trowa agreed. I fiddled with the collar, studying it. Then I realized that there was a voice coming from it.

"Shit. Guys! I need earplugs!" Trowa twisted his head to look at me as I slapped my hands over Heero's ears. "Damn guys, hurry. The trigger is activated by J's voice and he's talking through the collar!"

Seconds later I had earplugs stuffed into Heero's ears and I could hear J as he cursed us. "Well Doc, I suppose you can hear us else you wouldn't be trying to trigger our friend here. So listen closely. You've lost your weapon. We will get rid of this damned collar and Heero will be free of your manipulations. We will also be free of the others, do be a doll and tell them for us?"

"Damn you!"

"Yeah yeah. Now listen. We will keep fighting. But it will be on our terms. We'll welcome any info and any help regarding our Gundams, and we'll take missions….but if we don't like the looks of a mission we won't do it. In between missions we'll do whatever we damn well please. Capiche?" I heard a click and knew J had clicked the collar off. I smirked.

"That went well." Quatre said.

"Too well." Wu Fei said, just as Heero woke up. He left the ear plugs in, probably guessing why they were there.

"You have a few days before he gets over his anger enough to do anything. Get rid of the collar before then." He said before resting his head on my shoulder. "I suggest you do it sooner rather than later."

"Okay!" I said with a grin. "Operation: Re-Program the Perfect Soldier will commence!"

Owari

To be continued in Book Two.

Current Timeline:

Prologue: (Saturday, August 1) Heero arrives at the safe house

Chapter One: (Saturday, Late August 1) Heero meets everyone but Duo

Chapter Two: (Sunday, Early August 2) Heero meets Duo, we learn a little about his life

Chapter Three: (Sunday, August 2) Group meeting, explanations

Chapter Four: (Sunday, Late August 2 – Monday, August 3) Heero and Duo go in to town, Heero reveals another secret

Chapter Five: (Monday, August 31) Heero is triggered, Heero and Quatre's first Mission

Chapter Six: (Tuesday, September 1) Heero and Duo go for a run

Chapter Seven: (Wednesday, September 2 +)Quatre follows Heero around, Heero is informed of a mission

Chapter Eight: (Monday, September 7+)Heero and Trowa go on a mission and get captured

Chapter Nine: (Monday, September 14) Duo, Quatre, and Wu Fei to the rescue!

Chapter Ten: (Monday, September 14+)Heero and Trowa are home again

Chapter Eleven: (Monday, September 21)The guys make an important decision regarding Heero

Author's Note: Now that Book One is finished, i'm working on Book Two. But I NEED IDEAS. Any suggestions for what should happen in Book Two would be appreciated. Until i finish Book Two, i'm afraid there wont be any updates for this Arc. There will, however, be a new story posted by tuesday at the latest unless something personal comes up.