Part 26 - Select [Yes] to save any changes

There were two seconds of stunned silence before Duo suddenly burst out laughing.

"Hey, you can't blame us for trying, Cat!" he managed to say between gasps.

The truth was, none of the others looked very happy about it. They were not voicing their objections out loud, because they knew it would be in vain. Once Quatre had decided something, making him come back on it was like trying to move a mountain, and a very stubborn mountain at that. Heero was frowning and looking at his feet. Wufei had his arms crossed on his chest and was biting his bottom lip to prevent himself from saying something that would be dismissed anyway. Trowa was looking away, somehow managing to distance himself from the situation, which was enough to show his disapproval.

Sally was trying to decide if she should say something one way or the other, but Iria beat her to it.

"Quatre, be reasonable, you can't get out yet! You would…"

"I would what?" Quatre interrupted. "Iria, I have been shielding you all for forty-five minutes! And I felt that man coming from the other end of the corridor yesterday!"

"It would be too tiring for you, Quatre," Iria insisted. "Your shields are coming along nicely, but they're not at the level they were before. And you still need rest."

Quatre looked like he was about to say something that he would have regretted later on, but he closed his mouth on whatever it was. He got up from where he was sitting on the bed, went to the control panel in the far corner of his room, opened it, and pressed a button. The light humming that everyone had become accustomed to died instantly.

"Quatre!" Iria protested.

"I can stand it," Quatre said firmly as he turned around to face them all again. "I know that I can. If I can just focus on something, I'll be alright."

"Quatre, please…" Iria pleaded anxiously.

"I won't be left out of this. People died, Iria!"

She looked at him, eyes wide with fear.

"You know that I can handle myself, Iria," Quatre added. "Thanks to you and Wufei. Maybe my shields are not back to their former levels, but they're strong enough for me to get out of here and you know it perfectly well. You know that keeping me in here will only slow the process of rebuilding them, that I need to get used to feeling a lot of people around me so that I can raise really efficient shields. And you know that not feeling anyone will only tire me more in the end."

His eyes met hers, and she found herself looking away, unable to stand the weight of that gaze.

"Why don't you want me to go, Iria?"

There was a long moment of silence before the older woman finally looked at her brother again, this time with tear-filled eyes.

"I just don't want you to get hurt, Quatre. That's all."

Quatre came closer, overwhelmed by his sister's reaction.

"It's too late for that," he said softly, finally closing the space between them and taking her in his arms in a strangely protective gesture.

She clutched at him, holding him tightly against her as if she never wanted to let go. Around them everyone else was silent.

"I'm sorry if I upset you," Quatre whispered in his sister's ear. "But… that's the way it is. It is very important to me."

"I know," she answered, bravely holding the tears back.

"Thank you."

"But if you are going," she said as she finally let him go, "I am going too."

She waited for them to protest, to say that she couldn't, to enumerate the reasons why. They didn't, none of them, not even Sally.

"I want to be there. Just in case," she kept on. "And… there's Neelah, too."

Quatre simply nodded.

"Well," Sally said, "as long as you promise not to get in the way and do what the guys and I tell you without asking questions for your own safety, I don't think that will be a problem at all. If it's okay with you guys…"

Four nods answered the unspoken question.

"Then it's settled."

Wufei glanced at Duo and Heero, and the American mock-saluted.

"We're off to get ready," he said with a smile, and all but bounced out of the door, Heero following more slowly.

Wufei then looked at Quatre.

"I agree with your sister on one point. If you want to come with us tomorrow, you need to rest properly today. No need to have you with us if you're not functioning at a hundred percent. What do you want to do?"

Quatre suddenly shivered and hugged himself. Iria had to prevent herself from asking what was wrong, and it was hard for her, but she managed. She might as well start showing him she trusted him.

"I'd like to go outside, in the gardens," Quatre finally said. "Because… If I have to stay one more minute in this room I think I will start screaming very loud."

Iria had a shaky smile as she heard that. She had not realized just how taxing on her brother's state of mind it had been to stay cooped in here.

"Just make sure to go back in if you feel yourself tiring too easily, Quatre," she said, kissing him on the cheek.

"I promise," Quatre answered, kissing her back.

He watched her as she got out, and almost jumped when Sally walked to him and put a hand on his shoulder.

"She'll be okay, Quatre. Just leave her some time to collect her wits. She's just worried about you," she said kindly.

"I know. I am not really making this easy for her, anyway."

"She's a grown woman, and she's known you since you were born," Sally laughed. "I think she's more than able to handle you. And if she's not, those two can until she gets back on track," she added with a wink in Trowa and Wufei's direction.

"Oh, please!" Quatre groaned. "I'm just planning on sitting outside and getting some fresh air, that's all!"

"I have no objections. Just stay put and don't run around or do anything strenuous, and we'll be fine. I know I don't need to threaten those two to look after you, so please be gracious for today. It's not always a bad thing to be a bit spoiled, especially after the kind of things that happened to you."

And she caught Carter's arm and was gone, the psychiatrist stumbling after her and trying to keep up.

Quatre looked away from the door to find Wufei and Trowa both staring at him. It was weird to see them looking at him with the same kind of intense expression.

"Would you mind coming with me outside?" Quatre asked almost shyly.

Wufei's only answer was to go to the door and turn back expectantly, waiting for the other two to follow. Quatre did happily, enjoying the idea of just sprawling outside on the grass with them, but Trowa didn't move from his place.

"You go on ahead," he said quietly. "I'll be with you in a minute."

It was only then that Wufei realized just how withdrawn Trowa had been throughout this. Quatre didn't seem to notice, apparently holding onto his shields and eager to get out of the room for the first time in nearly two weeks, and Wufei didn't bring his attention to it. Quatre deserved a break for today. But that wasn't really what was bothering Wufei deep down.

'Why is he using his power?'

Wufei had had the luck to grow up around people who were aware that there were New Types in need of training among them. At least, now he was able to look back on it and say it was luck, because the training itself had not felt like it at all. What it meant was that Wufei was very aware of what he could do with his ability. And now that he had apparently undergone the final stage of development, he felt even more in tune with it, as if they were finally one and the same, and the power was not just a convenient thing that had landed on him because of a certain genetic configuration.

Very soon in life, he had learnt about the vital importance of qi, the living pulsing energy that any breathing being carried like a signature. He had been taught how to control his ability and manipulate his own qi to boost his own speed, accelerate his movements in a fight, and some other tricks that could always be useful. And then, he had been taught how to read that energy in other people. How it flowed around the body differently according to a person's health, or state of mind. How to locate people that he couldn't see by opening his senses to their qi. And, most importantly, how to use that knowledge in battle.

He had always dimly known that he was being prepared for something bigger. A scholar like himself didn't need such a developed power after all, and the Gundam had always been built for him, not for her. But he had chosen to ignore the greater purpose for a long time, obeying his masters because it was simpler, and also because learning how to control the power was a challenge that he was thriving to fulfill. He had wished with all his might that he would never have to use it, just as he had known that the wish was in vain. It had taken bitter events for him to realize that at something more than an unconscious level.

Then, the others had come. All different. All powerful, and not always aware of how much. But Wufei had known. Qi tended to flow quite differently in a New Type, and the flow was modified any time the power came into action. The pattern changed to accommodate whatever ability was being used. Sometimes, Wufei thought it was just a bit too convenient that all Gundam pilots had turned out to be full New Types who could control their abilities. He often wondered if it was pure chance that they had met, or if their mentors had had a hidden purpose with this. There was no way of knowing, of course. None of the doctors had ever been very forthcoming with information they felt the pilots didn't need to know. And what really mattered what that they had found the others.

The powers had drawn them together, forming complex group dynamics long before they had started to actually function as a group. They had been able to ignore the pull for a surprisingly long time, but in the end they had been drawn together like it was the most natural thing to do. And, in a strange, twisted way, it was Zero who had given the final push toward the formation of their group. Had Quatre not used Zero that last time, Wufei was not sure they would have managed to find themselves, no matter how strong the pull.

Wufei shook himself out of his thoughts about the past to come back to the present. Trowa, using his power to hide something to Quatre. Trowa knew perfectly well that Wufei would feel it, and he had not even tried to be discreet about it. It could only mean one thing. Trowa was trusting Wufei to keep quiet about it, and it probably meant he had excellent reasons for it. Wufei knew his friend well enough to know that he rarely did something without a purpose. If it was important enough that he was ready to risk discovery while hiding it from Quatre…

Wufei decided to trust Trowa.

Carter fumed as he stalked down the corridor in pursuit of those who had unceremoniously dropped him in front of his bedroom. They had apparently assumed that they could leave him behind just like that. Carter had learnt long ago that making any kind of assumptions was dangerous.

He caught up with them as they got into a room that Carter found strangely familiar. As he crossed the threshold, he understood why. This was the 'bunker', the place where he had seen Heero and Duo after getting lost in the mansion more than a week ago.

'Has it been that long already?' Carter suddenly wondered as he looked around, greeted by the sight of the weapon racks. 'I have been here for eight, no… nine days. I completely lost track of time, and… did it really take that little time for Quatre to get better?'

Because even if the blond wasn't alright, he was definitely a far cry from the wreck he had been at the clinic. A week of bed rest combined with the electromagnetic shielding seemed to have worked wonders but then, the psychiatrist wasn't the best authority on full New Types anyway. Carter could tell that Iria thought this wasn't enough. Her intent had obviously been to slowly lower the settings so as to make sure her brother got re-accustomed to his ability progressively. Quatre had decided otherwise. And apparently, when Quatre decided something, not a lot of people went against it.

"Are you sure you've got everything you need?" Sally was asking the boys.

"Sure, Sal, don't sweat it," Duo said as he picked up knives from the rack, the very same Carter had seen from quite close up that last time. "I'll take one of the guns just to be safe, but we're trying to be stealthy here… at least in the beginning. I'll ask Howie and he'll send some spice along with the shuttle so we're good on that side too. Heero can work on that during the flight."

"You're not taking anything, Heero?"

"I have my own guns," the Japanese young man said laconically, picking a gun from the rack and checking it methodically before handing it to Duo, who began checking it too.

"Of course," Sally answered with a smile.

Duo finished his inspection of the gun, and looked satisfied.

"Pick yourself one," he told Sally. "Your Preventer standard issue gun is just not going to cut it, you know."

"Probably not," Sally admitted.

Carter cleared his throat loudly, which had the expected effect to make the other three look at him. To their credit, they didn't even pretend that they were surprised to see him there. They had probably known he had been there all along. They just didn't care. Somehow, this stung even more.

"Not that I want to be overly dramatic here, but you're not leaving me here either," the young doctor said firmly.

Duo snorted, and Carter reddened in anger.

"I'm not joking!" he snapped.

"Sure, I know that," Duo said, becoming serious again. "The thing is, why the hell do you think we should take you with us, Doc?"

Carter didn't find anything to answer. Because Duo was right. There was no actual reason for him to come. He was just the psychiatrist who had helped Quatre to get better. In such an operation he was probably quite useless.

"I just want to help," he finally said a bit lamely.

"Now isn't that peachy," Duo sneered.

"Duo," Sally said warningly, but he didn't listen to her.

"How can you help, Doc?" he insisted.

"I don't know!" Carter almost yelled, letting his exasperation take the better of him. "I have no idea, but I want to help anyway! Why don't you tell me what I can do?"

Without a word, Duo turned back to the weapon rack, caught a gun, and held it out in Carter's direction.

"Know how to use that thing, Doc?" he asked mockingly before throwing the gun to Carter.

Carter caught the gun firmly, checked it like he had been taught to and armed it, smiling when he heard the satisfying click that confirmed the weapon was loaded. Basic survival instincts prevented him from pointing the gun at Duo just in time. There was no point in dying stupidly just to prove a point.

"Good enough for you?" he asked a bit cheekily. "Living in the war zones near Neo-Chicago isn't a bed of roses, you know. Knowing how to use a gun if only for self-defense was kind of necessary. "

It would have been too much to say that they were impressed. But they were not unimpressed either. Duo grinned and clapped a bit exaggeratedly.

"Alright, you're in, but you stay with the shuttle and you do what you're told, or none of us shall be held responsible for what happens to you, got it? Heero, let's go."

Carter gaped, too shocked by the brutal switch in moods to find something intelligent to say. Before he could gather his wits, both pilots were out of the door, leaving without a look back. Sally's laughter made him come back to himself, and he realized he was staring at an empty doorframe.

She was smiling at him a bit too knowingly between chuckles, and that put him ill at ease. Suddenly, he felt like a moron holding up the gun, and his cheeks reddened a bit.

"What?" he said a bit more harshly than what he had wanted to. "Didn't think I could use a gun?"

"Actually, I did. You didn't think I wouldn't check on you as soon as I knew you had one of my pilots in your care, now did you? I had never heard of you, so I did my homework."

It made Carter feel even more embarrassed about the little display of testosterone, but Sally caught his arm in an appeasing gesture.

"Good thinking on not pointing the gun by the way, I hate autopsies. Now that you got what you wanted, you should take some rest. We're taking off early tomorrow morning."

"Why did he say yes?" Carter asked out of the blue.

Sally laughed again.

~AC 197, March 17th, L4-A001, Winner private shuttle port, 4:57am~

The Winner private shuttle port was nothing more than an old bay that just happened to have an access to space. It was actually quite small compared with most of the facilities that had been built after AC 100, but was still functional in spite of its age. The buildings had been upgraded over the last ninety years to make sure they were up to date with security standards, leaving most of the infrastructure exactly as it had been back when the bay had been the only entry point into L4-A001.

Now the colony had modern, state-of-the-art spaceports for its citizens. The little bay had become useless once the colony had been finished. The Winners had bought it from the budding colony government, a kind move considering that they had financed the building of the whole colony cluster and could have argued that it already belonged to them.

Right now, the place was hustling and bustling with Sweepers. There were about fifty of them, and they were hovering around the sleek black shuttle Howard had sent like a swarm of bees, Sally noticed with a smile as she stepped in.

Duo was in the middle of all this, the only black-clad figure in the whole room. He was already wearing his space suit and was busy typing on a computer connected to the entrails of the shuttle. Every time a Sweeper passed by him, they would exchange a few words before they went back to their respective work. There wouldn't be any other chance to catch Duo alone before the end of all this. Well, technically, he wasn't alone, but the other four weren't here, and that was what mattered to Sally the most.

She came closer, careful not to step on anything important and answering salutes with a smile and a nod. She recognized some of the men from the time spent on Peacemillion. They had a good reason to remember her, that was for sure.

"Duo," she called out.

He turned around and saw her. Grinning, he beckoned her to come over.

"What brings you here in the wee hours of morning, sweet lady?" he asked with a wink, typing another command on his keyboard and reading the answer he received from the shuttle's computer.

"Just wanted to talk to you," Sally said casually. "About that ability of yours. Quite impressive. "

Duo didn't look surprised at all. He just shook his head with a disillusioned smile.

"Ability, huh? I've always wondered what I should call it, y'know?"

Sally breathed more freely.

"To be honest, I've never been able to decide whether it was a blessing or a curse ever since it happened for the first time, Sal," he kept on.

"What about now?" she asked quietly.

"Now it's… better, I guess. No more dragging guys in the back alleys of L2-D3678 and making them believe they had a hell of a good time with the kid, and with the stains on their pants to prove it too."

Sally gasped, and Duo shot her a perplex look.

"You know, I've been wondering why you didn't find out about me. You hypnotized me, after all. I should have spilled it out at one point."

"Hypnosis doesn't really work that way, Duo," Sally said, her voice a bit weak. "And I am beginning to think that your minds have all developed quite impressive defense mechanisms. I don't think I would have managed to make you say it even if I had asked the good questions, and I obviously did not. From what you told me that day, I had understood that you sold yourself to survive."

"Fucking with a person's body or mind isn't all that different."

"Duo…"

Sally shut her mouth and shot him a sheepish look.

"Is there anything that I can say without sounding condescending or giving the impression that you are to be pitied?"

"Nope," Duo said with a shrug. "So don't say anything. I don't feel sorry for myself… at least, not usually. I don't see why you should."

"How does it work?" Sally suddenly asked.

Duo did not object to the abrupt change of subject.

"When I was a kid, I just thought I could get into people's heads and control their brains."

"And that's not the case?"

"Nope," Duo said, turning to his laptop when it emitted a sharp beep and pressing some keys. "I don't even touch the brain. According to Prof G, I send false nervous impulses to the autonomous sympathetic nervous system."

Sally took a minute to digest the information, then she gaped.

"Wait a minute… that means…"

Duo nodded.

"You can control all of the automatic reflexes…" Sally whispered.

"Breathing, heart rate, blood pressure, pupil dilatation, vasoconstriction, sudation, digestive functions, the whole nine yards," Duo confirmed. "I have to give you that, it was difficult to guess, although you had the others well sorted out," he finished with a smile.

"Sorted out? What do you mean?"

"Remember that little conversation you had with Iria, Carter and Shannon on our... abilities?" Duo asked with a mischievous smile.

"You were there?" Sally choked out.

"I arrived 'round the time you were explaining how Heero broke all of his bones and left just after you said you weren't sure I was a New Type. I increased the blood pressure in your eyes a little and the blood vessels compressed the optic nerve. When you were looking in my direction, your eyes sent a message to your brain and I wasn't in it, so you didn't 'see' me."

Sally almost asked about the assassin Duo had interrogated and silenced, but she decided against it. She didn't really need to hear him say it now.

'He increased the guy's breathing and heart rate and made him sweat a lot. The brain registered those as signs of panic and reacted accordingly by sending more messages of panic into the body. He widened his pupils to make him disoriented and nauseous, and he controlled the muscles' movements to immobilize him. And after that… and after that, he only had to increase blood pressure in the brain, and there you go… brain embolism. Maybe Heero was showing mercy when he pulled the trigger.'

"Of course, there are drawbacks," Duo kept on, unaware of what was crossing Sally's mind and eyes fixed on the laptop's screen again. "First, for reasons unknown, I can only do it on one person at a time. I had to take turns with you to make sure none of you would see me, and you guys gave me some trouble. Good thing they were mostly fascinated by what you had to say, or it could have been tricky. And I can't use it on Wufei, because he already controls all of that stuff in his own body, so I can't mess with it. I can't use it on myself either, by the way. G told me that it was probably because I can't use my brain to trigger my own autonomous nervous system or something."

When Sally didn't answer, Duo turned around. She was staring at him uneasily, as if she didn't really know how to react, and he really couldn't blame her. At least, she wasn't totally freaking out. Duo realized with some surprise that he had feared she would.

'I should know her better than that,' he silently chided himself. 'She didn't freak out on the others, did she?'

"Relax, Sally," he told her with a wink.

"I'm sorry," Sally started, but then stopped when she realized that Duo had stopped blinking again.

She felt her heart rate go down by a notch, and her breathing became deeper and slower.

"It has good sides too," Duo said softly as he broke eye contact with a blink. "And I make a point of not using the… other sides on people I consider friends."

Sally's mouth opened and closed as she looked for something to say, but Duo had already gone back to his laptop, and she was left to stare at his back. It looked like the conversation was over.

Sally didn't have the time to feel awkward again. Just as she began wondering about what she should do now, the other pilots came into the bay with Iria and Carter, and Quatre waved at her from afar. She waved back. Duo didn't turn around.

"We can't stay all together if we want to have a chance," Quatre said an hour later, eyes fixed on the schematics of the satellite that Heero had uploaded in the shuttle's computer system.

"We're outnumbered," Wufei pointed out.

"And in unfamiliar territory," Duo added. "What if they moved the walls and everything like they did on the other one?"

"We don't have a choice," Quatre said firmly. "If the design of the satellite was altered, it means they have an advantage on us. Staying all together will only make us more noticeable. As for being outnumbered… it wouldn't be the first time."

He smiled at the other pilots, and they nodded, all sporting an amused expression. Somehow, Carter didn't find it very funny.

Carter, Iria and Sally had changed into the same black suits as the pilots before take-off. A Maguanac had lent his suit to Carter, and Sally and Iria had gotten theirs from two female Sweepers. Carter didn't feel very comfortable in his. He had been on shuttles before, but only on commercial flights, as a passenger. The skin-tight suit made him very uncomfortable, and very self-conscious. Apparently, he was the only one to feel that way.

"ETA?" Wufei asked Duo.

The American looked at his watch.

"Forty-two minutes," he said. "How do we play this?"

Once again, they all turned to look at Quatre. He was still staring at the screen, and got up to get closer to it.

"We will use the maintenance hangar to get in. It's in the underground levels, and cutting it off from the main surveillance system is easier. Heero, Duo, you'll go this way. If nothing changed, there is an access into the control room in the north wall. If it's not there anymore, make one. Wufei, Sally, you'll take this way. It leads to the life support and intern communication controls. You know what you have to do. Trowa and I will try to locate Neelah and Selim. You all join us once you're done. Keep contact at regular intervals. Any questions?"

No one had any. Quatre turned to his sister.

"Iria, if you would…"

She smiled and got up.

"I'll do it now."

"You should do it in the cockpit," Duo said, indicating the door. "If you close the door, there's almost no background noise."

"Thank you, Duo. I'll be right back."

She disappeared in the cockpit and the door slid shut behind her.

"Well, I guess we're all set," Duo sighed, accepting the coffee that Trowa was handing out to him. "What kind of weapons should we take?"

"We don't shoot to kill unless we're directly threatened," Trowa said quietly, giving a goblet of tea to Quatre.

"If they're not morons, they should realize that their best option to stay alive is to run anyway," Wufei said, sipping his own tea, and giving out a cup of coffee to Heero.

"Morons are unfortunately quite common in any place," Sally sighed, offering some fruit juice to Carter, who didn't think he could swallow anything stronger.

"I still hope there won't be any casualties," Quatre said. "If everything goes well there shouldn't be any."

No one tried to remind him that there probably wasn't a chance that Selim would go quietly. They all knew he was only too aware of it.

"We'll find your sis, no worry," Duo told Quatre with a small smile.

"I know, Duo," Quatre answered with a small smile of his own. "I… I…"

His eyelids began to droop, and he frowned. He hadn't felt tired when they had boarded the shuttle, but now, his body felt like it was made of lead.

"You okay, Cat?" Duo asked, worried.

"I… think… don't know…"

Quatre's body slumped in his seat as his eyes finally closed. Sally gave a startled exclamation and was about to get up to check on him when Trowa's soft voice cut in.

"It's okay, he's only sleeping."

Five pairs of eyes stared at Trowa, who was drinking his coffee like nothing had happened.

"You did this?" Sally asked incredulously. "How? Why?"

"I did," Trowa confirmed. "I did it because I knew he would want to come and I think he's not ready for this yet, no matter what he says. I borrowed something from you," he added for Sally.

There was a small silence as everyone looked at Quatre quietly sleeping in his seat.

"He's going to kill you," Wufei finally said.

Trowa shrugged.

"I know. I'm taking the risk."