CHAPTER FOUR: In Which Duo Plots Revenge
Duo lay on the bed beside of Wufei, watching over him as he slept.
The painkillers always knocked him out cold; that was probably the main reason Wufei hated taking them. He sighed and brushed the loose hair out of his lover's face. Wufei was, of necessity, sleeping on his stomach, his face pressed into the pillow. He looked unbelievably cute and Duo was glad the others weren't around to see his dopey grin as he gazed at the Chinese pilot.
Not that they didn't call his normal grin 'dopey', but this one - he'd never live this one down if they saw it.
Wufei whimpered softly and the fingers of one hand plucked weakly at his other wrist. He murmured something in Chinese and his eyebrows drew together.
"Shh..." Duo soothed, stroking his forehead and hair until the grimace on the pretty face smoothed out and Wufei fell back into a deep, calm sleep. Duo watched him for several minutes, but he slept peacefully on.
His lover wondered if he had been dreaming of water tanks or lakes, and decided it didn't really matter.
Duo sat with Wufei for a few more minutes, just watching him. It still amazed him that the boy was his, after all that time spent longing for him.
And even now he couldn't really relax around him - despite Wufei's assurances to the contrary, he was desperately afraid of hurting his lover. Today didn't exactly help calm that worry down; even if he hadn't been the one to make Wufei's back start hurting again.
And speaking of 'Fei's back hurting, he had revenge to plot!
The General was taken care of; the interrogators were all dead.
That left certain nasty Elders on L5.
Duo considered them to be just as much at fault as the men who had strapped those weights to his dragon's wrists and ankles and dropped him in that tank. After all, if they had never tried to discipline his 'Fei-chan with that water torture, then he wouldn't have admitted his nightmares to him in that Oz cell, and those bastards wouldn't have known to try that with him.
Yep, Duo nodded, those Elders definitely needed some payback.
And he was just the one to give it to them!
And he wasn't going to put it off any longer - today was bringing all the bottled-up anger back into the forefront of his mind. How dare they treat a kid that way?! and it just made it worse that it was Wufei they had done it to. Probably thought they were so smart, thought they were putting some kind of leash on the future leader of their clan. Might have worked, too, if his 'Fei hadn't been more stubborn than the Dragons they claimed to be descended from.
Duo stroked Wufei's hair once more and eased off the bed. His koi was sleeping soundly, and he needed to go do a bit of research. He couldn't actually hurt Wufei's Elders, even if he wanted to, because Wufei wouldn't like it.
So this had to be the best, most intense, fabulous, incredible prank he had ever played.
And for that, he needed to plan.
And possibly to ask for some help.
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The door clicking shut registered with something in Wufei's subconscious - the dreams that were always waiting to torment him sensed that he was alone. The one who protected his sleep merely by being there had left.
Memories stirred, and pictures began painting themselves in Wufei's mind, twisted together in a strange collage of disconnected images...
A boat full of children, gesturing for him to join them - he wasn't allowed but it looked like fun...
Elder Shang's hand flying toward his face, and his head snapped to the side from the blow... the protests of the other Elders as they caught Shang's arm before he could hit him again...
...then suddenly it was Meiran striking out at him, angry at him for not wanting to fight - her small fist hitting the exact same spot on his face...
Gazing up at the Gundam they wanted him to pilot, remembering Meiran's sacrifice and knowing he had to do this...
Water closing over his head as Shang threw him into the lake, the concrete block pulling him down...
Wufei began to struggle in his sleep, trying to wake up, but the painkillers kept him locked in tortured slumber.
*
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Duo sat at the coffee table, an evil smile on his face as he scribbled rapidly in a notebook. He wouldn't use his laptop until he had the basics of his plot ready; there was just something so enjoyable about listing things in his own handwriting.
Trowa wandered into the room, took one look at Duo's face, and wandered right back out again.
Straight down the hall to the kitchen, where Quatre had roped Heero into helping him prepare supper.
"We may have a problem."
Heero was instantly on the alert. "What?"
"Duo is planning something."
"Allah preserve us..." Quatre moaned, hiding his face in his hands.
"One of us needs to try and find out what he's planning," Trowa continued, abandoning his usual silent ways in face of the crisis.
All three boys looked at each other in silence, eyes wide.
Finally, "I'll go." Heero wasn't about to look like a coward in front of his lovers.
"No!" Quatre wailed, throwing himself at the brown-haired boy. "No! Last time you tried to stop him, Duo talked you into helping, and you came back wearing an alligator costume, with your hair dyed blue!"
"And you were drunk," Trowa couldn't resist adding, smirking when Heero glared. "I'll go."
"Hn. And come back at high speed, being chased by seventeen dogs?" Heero smirked now, remembering the one and only time Trowa had been talked into helping Duo play a prank.
"I guess it's up to me," Quatre wavered bravely, letting go of Heero and taking a deep breath. He straightened his shoulders and marched out the door.
"There goes a brave man," Trowa said softly, his eyes wide with awe.
"Very true. We may have to nurse him back to health."
"Well, that ought to be fun."
And they exchanged decidedly lecherous leers.
*
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*
Weights on his wrists, and weights on his ankles...
Flashes of yellow light and the sound of Duo's angry screams...
Shang's hand held tight over his mouth so he couldn't breathe in water; the man's dark eyes watching with smug satisfaction as he struggled...
Wufei whimpered softly and one hand clutched at the blanket where Duo would have been laying if it was night.
He whimpered again when his fingers closed on empty air.
*
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*
Duo looked up from his insane scribbling, a puzzled expression crossing his face. He could have sworn he'd heard someone call him, whispering his name -
- but the room was empty.
A moment later and Quatre walked in, the look in his eyes exactly the same as when he was preparing for a dangerous mission. Duo looked up and grinned wildly at him, and Quatre shuddered.
"Hello, Duo... what are you doing?"
"Plotting revenge." Another evil smile.
"Oh... um, revenge against who?" Quatre got a mental image of Heero ghosting his fingers down Wufei's back and winced. Please don't let it be Heero... he was only trying to help...
"Against seven Elders of the Chang clan on L5. Wanna help?"
Quatre blinked. "Seven... oh. Oh!" His usually sweet blue eyes hardened. Duo had told them just enough of Wufei's nightmares for him to realize exactly what the braided boy meant. "Yes, actually, I would like to help."
He ignored the 'eep's! that sounded outside the door, knowing that was his lovers. It didn't matter how ridiculous Duo's plan turned out to be, he was helping!
Duo grinned at him yet again. "Gee, Quat, and here I always thought you didn't have a mean bone in your body!"
Quatre sniffed. "Then you don't know me very well, do you? What's the plan?" And he sat down at the coffee table.
Outside the room, Heero and Trowa exchanged resigned looks. Ah, well, it was for a good cause. They walked in and joined the other two Pilots.
*
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Sharp pain in his back...
Tearing pain when he wrenched his wrists free...
A sadistic grin as the man in front of him lifted a sparking taser and then pressed it against his shoulder...
A man in the uniform of an Oz General, with greedy eyes watching as another man slammed a thick leather belt across his stomach and chest...
Staring up at a huge glass tank full of water; two concrete blocks wrapped with chains, restraints waiting, were dropped in front of him and he felt like his knees were about to give way...
"...duo..."
"But where are we going to get five hundred gallons of red paint on L5? They paint everything white there; we'll have to bring the paint with us."
"How are we gonna carry that much paint?"
"We can take packs of red dye, and color the white paint red when we get there."
"Tro, you're a genius!"
"And you're a baka. How exactly do you plan on luring those men to this exact position?"
"Aw, c'mon, Hee-chan, I can't think of everything! That's why I asked Q-bean to help!"
"I do have an idea..."
Quatre was about to tell them what the idea was when Duo's head came up sharply. "Duo?"
"Shh!" He sat very still for a moment, waiting.
Something about the tense set of his shoulders made Heero get out his gun.
"Oh, shit!" and Duo was up and gone, running toward the room he shared with Wufei.
The others blinked and then followed.
Heero kept the gun out, just in case.