Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing.

Warning: language

How to Solve a Pest Problem

It took a bit of time for Solo to catch his breath and a little more time before he could stand up and keep himself from falling. All the while, Duo complained, quite nosily he might add, about Solo taking his sweet time. This side of Duo apparently had no patience whatsoever and Solo could be seen gritting his teeth as he recovered from Isley's mental assault.

"You done yet?" Duo demanded as the blond got to his feet, wobbling slightly.

"Yeah, yeah, prick," Solo muttered to himself.

Seeming to have not heard him, Duo asked, "So what do we do now, oh wise one?"

The braided one was unaffected by the amber-eyed glare that was shot at him. In fact, he was oblivious to it even as he took it face first.

"What? You forget how to talk or something?" Duo demanded.

"Will you just shut up for a minute?!" Solo roared. "I have a goddamn migraine or something and you talkin' ain't helpin'."

"Well excuse me!" Duo huffed, crossing his arms.

"Damn right," Solo muttered, pressing two fingers against his temples, trying to soothe away his headache. Isley really did a number on him, hadn't he?

It was perhaps only a minute before Duo moaned aloud, "So bored! You done yet?"

Ignoring any forthcoming response from the irritated blond, who just death glared at him, the braided one glanced towards the large hole in the wall, wondering momentarily what caused the blond to get so pissy when his eyes caught something. Maybe it had been the wind or maybe it had been something else but he could have sworn that he had seen something, something like hair… And did his ears deceive him or was that a hushed whisper with a high tenor? He would have thought it was Solo but that guy's voice was too deep, too bass.

His brow furrowing, he concentrated intently on his powers, diving deep into the deep, dark well where its immense might was held. What he had planned was going to take a lot of power but it should be over quickly and he should have his answer just as fast. He had never done something like this before but hey, there was a first time for everything, right?

Unleashing his powers, he stopped time, not just in a concentrated area like he was used to but everything, even up into that whole space time continuum thing. Everything was frozen and using tendrils of his power to search quickly through this massive undertaking, he felt a lifeforce…no two…no, three of them!

And just like that he let go and everything resumed.

Now his head was pounding with a headache and he made a mental note to himself not to try something like that again, ever. It was just too much to do in too much space that was the universe itself and to hold it all for as long as he had, even though to everyone else not a second had passed, that in and of itself was an endurance trial, like playing soccer.

That was if he knew what soccer was.

But nonetheless, he had his answers and that was all that mattered. Already, the well of power was refilling quickly, a little talent that he had figured out that only he had since he had observed others expend a lot of power but recovered much slowly. In fact, he was almost back to full power and Solo was still rubbing the sides of his head with his fingers, completely unaware that he was right next to him panting like a dog for all of sixty seconds.

Smirking to himself, he knew that he would be able to hold this one over the guy's head but that would have to wait for later. He had some rats to catch first.

Casually, he began to stroll over to the makeshift entrance in the building and wave a hand. If his guess had been right, and he knew it was, then their rodent problem, all three of them, were now held in a small area of frozen time. Popping his head out into the open, he saw three teenagers, two girls and a guy, all familiar, frozen in place except for their eyes which were looking every which way in panic.

"Hey blondie!" he called. "We's got ourselves some mice!"

---

Jason Ciliars, a young man who was not one to lose his head easily but had an ego the size of Texas, was currently disciplining two of his unofficial subordinates, i.e. the twins. He was sitting atop the back of one of them, not caring that he might be crushing him while he had the other in a headlock and was digging a knuckle into the boy's head sadistically.

The other boy, the one with the fire was a distance away, giving him a contemptuous look but Jason did not really see any threat from it. He could feel where the other boy was, he could feel him through the air that he could move at will. That guy had some sort of anger issues, not that Jason cared. There was no way he could take him, especially not after that earlier display, if you could call it that.

Finally letting off with his torturing of the twins, he took out the handheld radio and made to contact Isley to see what he was up to. When nothing came back, he was a bit worried, though not because he was concerned about the other's well-being. It was because the other hadn't made any sort of contact in at least half an hour and the sounds of destruction from the town had ended about ten minutes ago, maybe fifteen.

Deciding to try a different tactic, he changed the radio frequency and contacted home, requesting them to find out about what was going on with Isley. A few minutes later, he received the news that the MIA boy was a KIA and he almost broke the radio in his hand from the pressure he exerted on it as he squeezed it tightly.

This was…unexpected. Perhaps these guys were better than he had thought. No matter, he wasn't alone yet. There were still the twins and the fire dude over there but this time, he would have to study the two escapees, see how they fought, then dive into the action himself and finish things once and for all. Yeah, that was definitely a plan.

"So what do we do now, oh mighty leader?" the fire guy asked him, mockingly, a smirk nearly splitting his face in half.

Offering a smirk in reply, he retorted, "We're going in there. We need these guys alive so don't work them over too badly."

"YES!" both of the twins cried out, sparks crackling in the air around both of them.

The fire guy blinked, surprised, then scowled as he crossed his arms over his chest, pouting. Seemed like his upbeat attitude was not what the hothead wanted to hear. As if he cared…

The wind around Jason began to pick up as he led the way into town.

---

Duo stalked around his three captives like a predator, his grin only serving to impress that vision. The three teens could only stare at the devious crimson eyes that had taken the place of the more innocent violet that they were used to seeing.

"So what do we have here?" the braided one purred. "Looks like we meet again, Ms. Eyebrows, Whiny Blonde, and Too Big For His Own Good Asian Boy. I was hoping that we would meet again."

"Duo," Solo sighed as he stepped out from the damaged building, "let them go."

"Why should I?" the aggressive personality countered, his eyes not leaving the three normal teens for a second. "They were spying on us. Who knows if they belong to the assholes in the lab coats?"

"They ain't spies," Solo stated exasperatedly. "Weren't you payin' any attention yesterday?"

"Not really," Duo shrugged.

"What about when you were called a liar?" Solo challenged. "I could've sworn ya were 'bout ta come out and tear that gal's throat out for that. Besides, how could ya have known that the other gal is whiny? I heard ya just now, ya know."

"You're just no fun," Duo pouted visibly, folding his arms over his chest sulkily.

Hearing loud sirens, Solo glanced to a side then another before pointing out, "Ya know we ain't gonna be alone fer long. Think ya can do something 'bout it?"

Looking at the rapidly approaching cars, which were coming towards them from both ends of the street, and were flashing red and blues lights all the while shrieking a loud alarm sound, Duo sniffed in disdain. Nonetheless, he raised a hand up and the police cars on one end of the street ran into what seemed to be an invisible barrier. The other fast moving cars crashed into the ones before them, the same reaction occurring to the cars behind those and the ones behind those ones.

Looking the other way, Duo created another barrier of frozen time but instead of keeping it in one place, he launched it forward where it swept up all the approaching cars like a bulldozer with dirt. The braided boy didn't even wince as one of the cars exploded and began to cause a chain reaction with the others.

Lowering both his hands, he shrugged and said, "Problem solved. Now what about them?"

Solo could only shake his head at that. He should have known that Duo, at least this Duo, would have taken care of the would-be danger as simply as he had. Looking back up at the three normal teens who were trapped in a single second, he waved a hand and said, "Let um go."

Not liking that decision one bit, Duo nevertheless did so, the three teens fell to their asses, their legs suddenly unable to hold them up as time unexpectedly began moving again.

The moment one of them were able to begin using their vocal cords again, it was the one whom Duo had affectionately nicknamed "Whiny Blonde" who began screaming, "You monsters! How could you?!"

"How could we what?" Duo asked as he prowled around the teens and placed his hands on the hysterical girl's head, resting his chin onto those very hands, his crimson eyes looking down from their perch at her.

Shrieking, the girl pushed the braided one away and scrambled over to the Japanese youth who took her into his arms protectively. "How…how could you kill those people?" she nearly screamed as she eyed Duo, terrified.

Moving over to Solo's side, he shrugged and said, "Shit happens?"

"Nice!" Solo crowed and raised a hand up to high five the other, which Duo reciprocated.

"That's not what she meant," "Ms. Eyebrows" growled, standing up with her hands fisted at her sides, her eyes glaring at the two long haired boys.

"Well look who decided to enter the conversation," Duo said sardonically, walking over towards the girl. "I was hoping to see you again," he stated as he grabbed a hold of her wrist.

Solo blinked as he saw how purple the girl's face was becoming and how the veins in her body began to stick out of her skin. Suddenly, it hit him what Duo was up to; it was the same thing he was done back in their cell when he had first met this side of him.

"Let her go Duo," he commanded, no trace of humor in his voice.

Glancing at him, Duo eyed the blond but did as he was told, letting go of his hold on the girl and not looking back as she felt to the ground, extremely fatigued from lack of energy.

"What got shoved up your ass?" Duo muttered, slipping his hands into his pant's pockets and looking put out.

"You were gonna kill her and you know it," Solo growled to the braided one, not amused in the slightest.

"That's what she gets for calling us liars," Duo grounded back, glaring back at the recovering girl.

"Ya still goin' on 'bout that?" Solo sighed.

"Hey, you got to put a sock in her mouth," Duo countered. "You didn't let me do anything to her and that ain't fair!"

"Life ain't fair," Solo said heatedly, "so get used ta it."

"Like hell we will!" Duo exclaimed, crimson eyes flashing brighter.

"Ya can say what ya like about it but there ain't nothin' ya can do 'bout it," Solo stated, turning away from his angry friend. Fortunately he hadn't closed his eyes as he had been wont to do. The amber-colored irises widening, he cried out, "Move!"

The Asian guy must have heard the urgency in the blond's voice, either that or he was just obeying Solo's order, because he had the Whiny Blonde still in his arms as he scrambled away, Solo also scampering to a side just as a fireball impacted the very spot they had been standing at. The heat from the fire had the air shimmering from it and Duo had at the last moment raised his trademark shield of frozen time to stop any debris from striking him, inadvertently protecting the girl that he had only moments before harmed.

"Damn it! Missed!"

"Don't worry about it. You'll get another shot."

Down the street from the five teens stood a group of four others, all of them not native of the area and each one of them dressed in black leather/rubber (or whatever they were made of) suits. From this distance, they could see that two of the boys had black hair, one of them longer than the other's with whitened tips while the other one's was shorter and spikier. The other two boys were tow-headed blonds who looked nearly, if not completely, identical to one another. With the exception of the one boy with black spiky hair who was scowling, the boys each had on a malicious smirk and were eyeing them all just the way Duo had been doing to the three normal teens.

"Oh great, Isley didn't come alone," Solo muttered to himself, glaring at the newcomers. "And look," he said aloud, "flame retard Mobias came with them. I'm so scared!"

The one named Mobias snarled and flames exploded from his hands furiously. However, a restraining hand from the other black-headed boy on his shoulder seemed to prevent him from acting since this one was the calmer of the two and looked vastly amused at Solo's comment. The two shorter blonds weren't holding their laughter in at all and were bawling out their mirth in Mobias' face.

"Enough," the black haired boy who looked like he was in charge suddenly snapped, his eyes becoming sharp. Calling out to the two longhaired escapees, he said, "Lets not make this harder on any of us, eh? Why don't you two just give yourselves up right now and I promise that we won't work you over…much."

"Oh, like that's suppose to reel us in, huh?" Solo replied sarcastically, raising his fists up.

"Hey, you guys gotta learn a lesson," the leader shrugged nonchalantly.

Not replying to that, Solo said to the three normal teens who were still there, "You guys might want ta get out of here. Things are 'bout to get ugly."

"Since when did you start caring about what happens to us?" the Asian boy demanded.

"I don't," Solo answered. "It's just you're gonna get in the way and I don't want to get your guts all over me, 'kay?"

Proceeding to ignore anything else the three bystanders might say or do, which happened to be getting the hell out of there, he turned his attention towards Duo whose crimson eyes were holding manic gleam, one that he hadn't seen since they first escaped. "You think you can handle what they can throw at us?" he asked.

"No problem," Duo purred. "I was getting bored anyway."

"Crazy," Solo muttered to himself before returning his attention to the latest threat to their freedom. "You ain't gonna take us alive!" he challenged.

"Can't say I didn't try," the lead boy said, shaking his head solemnly. "Guys, go have some fun with them."

The very second his hand left Mobias' shoulder, the fire wielder launched a large ball of flame at the two boys, specifically Solo. Solo just swore to himself and as he jumped away from what would soon be ground zero and heading away from the fire master, leading him to a different arena. Mobias, of course, took off after the blond, a malevolent grin on his face as flames nearly enveloped his body as he gave chase.

However, that left Duo alone with the remaining three boys, one which didn't seemed to be in any hurry to attack. That didn't mean that the other two, the twins, weren't going to do anything either. In fact the moment Solo and Mobias vanished from sight, the both began to complain.

"Aw man!"

"Why does he get to fight Solo?"

"He's such a jerk!"

"And an ass!"

"Yeah, he's an ass!"

"Excuse me!" Duo bellowed, annoyed. "I'm right here, ya know?! I'm not just some decoration you twerps!"

The two twins looked at each and conversed with one another.

"He is asking for it."

"Shouldn't let him feel lonely."

"Let's get him!"

"Yeah, let's!"

The air around the two began to crackle ominously and Duo narrowed his eyes. Already he was grasping at the time around him, ready to freeze it at a moment's notice and preparing to get up close to those two annoying babies. He was in a mood for killing, and the twins' voices quite frankly were getting on his nerves, what with the way they sounded just like one another. They probably had rhyming names too…

Each twin's eyes changed color, one flashing into a golden yellow while the other's became a solid yellow. In the next second, a bolt of lightning struck from between the two and Duo, caught off guard by the attack, froze as much time as he could, aiming for thickness rather than width, as the electrical surge struck before him.

He was nearly blinded by the explosion that resulted but he didn't stick around to see the results. Instead, he took the coward's way out and hightailed in out of there. He'd have to think of a way around that electricity first before he could even begin to think about getting in close to touch them.

Meanwhile, as the air was cleared of smoke by a gentle breeze, a large patch of the road was revealed to be melted, the air shimmering above it from the leftover heat that radiated from it. Beyond it, the two twins smirked but soon frowned as they saw they prey making a run for it.

"Aw, he's running away," one complained.

"Guess we're gonna have to chase 'um!" the other said and they grinned at each other.

Small electrical bolts flowed around each of them and soon they began to hover over the street, tiny lightning bolts raining from them to the ruined concrete beneath them like a lightning storm. Unhurriedly, the two made chase after the retreating braided one.

Their so-called leader watched after them but made no move to do anything other than to chuckle.