Author's Note: Back to the endless destruction we go. Have a Happy Thanksgiving and enjoy.

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing.

Warning: language, violence, death

Winds of Flaming Fury

Hadn't these people ever heard of sewers? Honestly, what did they do with all the crap they flushed down the toilet? Keep it in their houses or something? Even city folk had some sort of standards and were advanced enough to have sewers. When he had tried to duck into one while trying to evade a new barrage of fireballs shot at him by that irritating Mobias, Solo had only found that there weren't any underground tunnels beneath the ground, just a bunch of dirt and pipes that he was too big to fit in anyway.

So yeah, he had a lovely hole in the ground but it did nothing to protect him from the heat of the fire.

Needless to say, Solo was pissed.

Sure, earlier he had tunneled underground and gotten the jump on Isley but he hadn't really thought about that then. Now, though, he was just ticked off at that.

When Mobias had recovered from the little homerun special that the blond had laid on him, he hadn't been happy. To show how unhappy he was at that, he had furiously thrown fireball after fireball at Solo, each one getting closer to their target. Still in the high he had been in earlier, he had tried to use his lamppost once again as a baseball bat, this time using the fireballs as his balls. That hadn't turned out well. Now his brand new clothes were scorched and burned. The only things that seemed to be holding up were his shoes (which oddly didn't look any worse for wear) and that vest. His pants were fraying and half of one of the pant legs was completely burned up. Meanwhile, even though there were hints of flames having licked it, the flannel was managing to hold up, much to the blond's relief.

Mobias, though, just wouldn't let him get a chance to throw something at him or even get close. He had built some sort of fiery wall to cover him and the heat would boil the blond alive if he got too close. He had to find some way to cool this guy off.

As if growing bored of just throwing fireballs at him, Mobias suddenly had the gall to switch it up a bit by throwing his fire wall at the blond. As he tried to leap out of the way of this latest attack, he found that he nearly tripped over something red and metal. Hearing a cry of triumph, Solo jerked his head up to see a fire wall just about to collide with him and there was nothing he could do to dodge it due to the fact that the wall was fucking long. Crossing his arms in front of his face and sending up a prayer that his hair would survive this, he was engulfed in the intense heat that the fire produced.

Looks like he found an answer to a question: fire did indeed sting like a bitch.

Slowly lifting his head up to glare at the other boy, he was not pleased to see the cracked skin on his lower arms, the majority of the sleeves belonging to his flannel shirt having been burnt off by the fire. He could practically see the blood squeezing through the skin, the burns like one huge sunburn or something. Could it have been worse? Probably but he had other more pressing concerns.

Like if he still had his hair!

Feeling his head frantically, he was relieved to still feel that silky goodness that his blond hair possessed.

"Just how vain are you?" an annoying voice demanded and Solo returned his attention to Mobias. "Is your hair that important to you or something?" he sneered. "Maybe I should just get rid of it and maybe you'll take this fight seriously."

Solo snorted. "Oh and you keeping me away with your balls of fire is fighting? Why don't ya let me in close and fight me like a man?"

"Why stop with a good thing?" Mobias countered, smirking as he raised his hands over his head to begin forming a large version of his blasts. "I mean, if you can't hit me, then how can you beat me? Your powers are useless now Solo!"

"That's what you think," Solo growled. Keeping the other boy in his sights at all times, he began to show some attention to the red, metal thing that had tripped him up earlier. Was it ironic that it was a fire hydrant? Maybe but right now, he had to find a way to use it before Mobias threw that wicked looking fire ball that was growing with every second at him.

From another part of town, there was an earthshaking explosion that nearly knocked both boys off their feet.

"What the hell was that?!" Mobias demanded as he turned his face in the general direction that the explosion had come from.

And right there was his chance.

---

Duo was definitely not an athlete, he found, as he led the last lightning boy behind him towards a metal megalith that was made of pipes which sprouted from the earth and up into the sky, attaching to a large, round, metal thing at the top that had the words "Roadrunner Country: Beware" painted on it. This also showed that Duo may not be very smart either as any moron could tell you that electricity and metal liked each other.

A lot.

Alas, Duo did not know this, nor did he know anything about this metal tower either. He just hoped that maybe, just maybe, he could use the thing against bolt boy who was catching up behind him.

But things could not be easy, oh no. There was a chain-link fence in his way, one that he chose to climb over, pointedly ignoring the way the fence began to hum beneath his flesh as he jumped from the top of it to the other side. By then, he was panting and gasping for air as he let himself run into the metal tower in front of him.

Behind him, Justin had just reached the chain-link fence but his dome of electric current had been taken down long before he had reached it. The electricity from his body shot out by itself and the metal fence absorbed the jolts; the more that flowed through the fence, the more charged it became until it began to pull apart, small chain-links curling in on themselves and creating a gaping entrance for the boy to walk through.

Still panting, Duo glared at the boy, pressing his heated body against the cool metal of the tower. If he thought about it, he could swear that he could feel something moving on the other side of the pipe but he just dismissed it as unimportant.

The twin, though, was taking this a whole different way.

"Boy, are you an idiot!" Justin exclaimed.

"Oh? And why, pray tell, am I an idiot?" he snarled at the two boys who just gave him a cheeky grin in return.

"You ran to a water tower," the twin said, as if that explained everything. "There's metal all over the place. I can fry your ass like a turkey if I wanted to, which, by the way, I'm going to do after what you did to Dustin!"

However, Duo was not paying any more attention to what the boy was saying. He was more focused on what he called the metal structure he was at. He may not have known about metals conducting electricity but from his studies back at the lab place, he sure did know about what water did with electricity.

Laying a hand on the metal pipe behind him, he reveled inwardly as he felt the smoothness change drastically into a roughness that signified rust.

Giving a wicked smirk to the twin, he said, "Surf's up."

Now this was where Duo underestimated things. What he didn't know was that the pipe he had just rusted up was the main pipeline that carried water in and out of the tower. That meant that the pressure that was inside it was incredible and by giving it a way out, it shot a massive stream of water out of it. Fortunately for Duo, he had been ducking out of the way already and was raising a shield up to protect himself.

As for the twin, he wasn't as lucky. The water slammed into him ruthlessly and with all the electrical power channeling through him, it caused a violent reaction to occur.

It was an earthshaking explosion that resulted; Duo could feel the tremors through the ground beneath him as he curled in on himself, praying that his shield of frozen time would protect him. An unbelievable amount of force impacted the water tower, the metal monolith only able to resist it for a short amount of time before it was blown off of its supports. Without anything attaching it to the ground, the tower leaned over and fell like a tree down to the unforgiving earth.

Without the tower there anymore, the water pressure in the pipes beneath the town dramatically decreased, even as it continued to bubble up from the broken pipes that stuck out of the ground, slowly flooding the surrounding area.

Slowly looking up, Duo took in the devastation around him. No more was the tower, the fence, even a couple of the surrounding buildings standing. The very concrete ground under him seemed to be curving downwards into a slight crater that was practically filled with runoff water. And in the middle of all this, he noticed an electrocuted body sticking out of the shallow water, burnt to a crisp and still smoking.

Only after staring at the sight for a couple minutes in contemplative silence did Duo finally begin to chuckle and then deteriorate into full blown out laughter. Why was he laughing? He didn't know but he felt that he just had to.

Wiping a tear from his eye, his sides still heaving with unsuppressed laughter, he noticed something moving in the distance, something that was getting closer to him by the second. Making a small bridge of frozen time so that he could get over the over-watered battleground, he leisurely crossed his transparent bridge and continued walking on nothing but time until he got to a dry piece of road that was right in the way the moving object was going.

It was at this time that Duo had his first meeting with a moving automobile, one that put on the brakes and skidded to a halt in front of him. He didn't know what this thing was but maybe he and Solo could use this…

---

Seizing the opportunity, ignoring everything else, Solo grabbed the fire hydrant that had had the nerve to trip him up just a minute ago and ripped it from the concrete sidewalk it was attached to. Ignoring the gusher of water that he would've thought at one point to have been much stronger, he threw the red piece of metal at Mobias, the hydrant catching the other boy right in his gut.

Solo didn't even wince despite how painful that looked. Putting his foot on top of the weak geyser of water, he directed the stream straight towards Mobias, the liquid putting out the fire wielder's weapons instantly with a hiss. Frowning at how weak the geyser was getting by the minute, he began making his way towards the other, cracking his knuckles malevolently.

As Mobias lifted his head up to glare at him, Solo grabbed him roughly by the front of his black suit and lifted him up, his feet dangling over the street. With his face mere inches from the others, Solo said, "Hit me."

Snarling in his face, Mobias summoned his fire to blast into the other's chest…only to hear an ominous sizzling sound. Looking down, he could see that his uniform was wet for some reason that he couldn't fathom but it nonetheless was acting as a barrier preventing him from bringing out his fire.

Smirking wickedly, Solo said, "My turn!"

A loud smacking sound followed and the blond watched with satisfaction as Mobias' body went flying over the nearby buildings, soon being blocked from sight.

Man, now that felt good! Maybe he should go look for his body, you know, make sure he was alive still.

Then put a brutal end to it by bashing his head in…

"Hey blondie! Snap out of it!"

He jerked his head around to see down the street, a truck waiting at the end of it with, well what do you know, Duo in the bed of it. Thoughts of bashing Mobias' brains out of his skull dropped out of his mind as he turn and a hop and a skip later, he was right beside the vehicle.

---

Other than the incredible pain that was throbbing through his body, Mobias experienced a massive amount of shame flooding his mind. How could Solo have beaten him like that? It shouldn't have happen! This was his time to shine, to prove once and for all that he was the strongest, the best…

But that wasn't how things had turned out. Instead, here he was, flat on his back, staring up at the gray overcast that covered the sky, and feeling sorry for himself. Well maybe he wanted to wallow in self-pity! He had been close, so close to proving himself better than Solo…

A gentle breeze rolled over him, coming with it a sudden thickening of the air around him. He felt himself behind pulled up by nothing physical and found himself face to face with Jason.

Ugh.

"Looks like ya got your ass handed to you," Jason said bluntly.

"That makes me feel so much better," Mobias muttered balefully. "Why don't you kill me right now and end my shame?"

"No," Jason replied, his blue eyes lighting up with an unnatural gleam, small natural streaks of green in his eyes. "We're not done yet. I have a plan and I need you for it."

His eyes narrowing, Mobias demanded, "For what?"

His mouth splitting into a wicked grin, Jason retorted, "You'll see."

---

"Look what I found!" Duo chirped, his hand patting the cab of the truck proudly.

Solo eyed the crimson eyed boy for a second before glancing through the driver side window and allowing a smirk to grace his lips. Tapping on the window with his knuckles, he chuckled as the window slowly rolled down, blue eyes glaring death at him.

"Fancy meetin' up with you 'gain," Solo commented cheekily.

"It wasn't something planned," a cold voice belonging to that Chinese guy answered him.

"Whatever, China guy," Solo replied dismissively, waving his hand carelessly.

"I'm not Chinese, I'm Japanese!" the guy snarled at him, eyes blazing.

"Same difference," Solo shrugged as he turned his attention back to Duo. "Where'd you find this ride?" he asked the braided one, ignoring everything directed at him from the truck's cab.

"Caught this baby moving towards me and I thought it might be useful for something," Duo answered.

"Damn right it's useful," Solo said. "Gonna want ta make tracks fast and get out of here 'fore the government assholes catch up ta us again."

"Amen to that," Duo agreed. "The lightning brats were annoying beyond belief."

"I don't think you'd have that much trouble with three guys," Solo jested.

"Three?" Duo repeated, confused. "I only killed two. I thought you got Mobias and that other guy."

"I only fought Mobias," Solo replied, a feeling of dread building in his gut. The gentle breeze that he felt against his skin did nothing to calm him down whatsoever.

"Maybe we should get out of here…" Duo suggested, feeling Solo's sudden anxiety. Both of them had just gotten into two fights that had taken a bit out of them, not that either of them would admit it, and neither wanted to face that last guy anytime soon. Who knew what he could do?

"Let's haul ass," Solo stated as he began to climb into the truck's bed.

"Hold on just one minute," the China guy interrupted. "What makes you think we're going to be taking either of you anywhere?"

The gentle breeze began to pick up and somewhere in downtown Boulder, a small whirlwind began to form, expanding at a fast pace and transforming into a tornado. But that wasn't all, far from it. Fire began to race up the tornado, following the darkness that was the tornado itself until it had completely consumed it, creating a fiery funnel cloud that was just beginning to go after them.

"Ya wanna stick around for that thing?" Solo asked as he jumped into the truck's bed. "MOVE!"

Instead of arguing, Heero obeyed the blond's order and slammed down on the accelerator pedal, spinning the steering wheel and began "hauling ass."

Buildings exploded into flames as the fire devil chased after them; those buildings that weren't consumed by fire were ripped apart by the gale force winds. Whatever had been left of Boulder was being demolished by two forces of nature combined into one fierce storm.

"Can't this fucking thing move any faster?!" Solo swore as he glared back at the fiery storm. "Faster, asshole!" he shouted at the driver.

"Shut up!" came the cold reply.

"Move left!" Duo suddenly cried out.

"What!" Heero shouted

"Just do it!" Duo screamed back, fear entering into his voice.

It had been fortunate that Heero had done as he was told. Not a second later, a large chunk of flaming debris impacted the very spot the pickup would have been had it not moved.

"Fuck!" Heero swore amiss the female screams in the cab. "Hold on!"

"What the fuck do you think we've been doin'?" Solo muttered.

Perhaps that word of caution hadn't been a waste of breath. Solo almost found himself being thrown out of the bed of the truck as the vehicle swerved to a side, narrowing dodging the flaming remains of a car followed by another dodge that avoided collision with a chunk of a brick wall that once belonged to Boulder's general store.

The next swerve Heero made took them off the paved road entirely and out into the rocky earth of the desert. The words "bumpy ride" couldn't begin to describe what that was like. Not only was the truck driving over unpaved terrain, the driver constantly had to dodge debris from the fiery tornado that was chasing after them.

It was after a roof that had once belonged to a house impacted the earth next to them, collapsing into itself and sending flaming shingles everywhere, that Solo shouted at Duo, "Can't ya put up a shield or something?!"

Duo shot him a glare, for what reason remains unknown, but nonetheless followed through with the suggestion. So when the next flaming chuck of rubble came flying at them, just as it was within a hundred feet of the speeding truck, it was deflected by a temporary shield of frozen time.

This process was repeated a couple more times, at the end of which Solo slapped the braided boy's shoulder good-naturally. But, as it seemed, Lady Luck didn't like them anymore. Emerging from the tornado of fire came the twisted remains of the fallen water tower, the powerful winds cradling the twisted hunk of metal as it threw it at the truck that was ever so slightly pulling away from it as if in a last ditch effort to crush them.

As it came closer to them and it didn't seem like Duo was going to do anything, Solo snapped his head to the brunet. "Anytime now would be good!" he snarled.

"I would but even my powers have their limits," the other growled back, glaring at the blond. "I'm tired, I'm exhausted, and I don't think I could do anything to stall the damn thing."

"Now he tells me," Solo muttered as he turned to yell back at the driver, "Get your rear in gear, we have incoming!"

He could have sworn he heard an "I know" shouted back at him but he was in no position to debate whether or not he had heard it. The truck began to move erratically, trying to make it harder for the incoming water tower to hit them all the while speeding up to as fast as it could reasonably go.

Suffice to say, in Solo's opinion, it wasn't fast enough as the tower remains impacted the ground that they had vacated only mere seconds ago and bounded off of the earth, continuing after them with the monstrous force of momentum powering it. The sounds of metal colliding with earth again and again was not a pleasant one, especially since he and Duo were close enough to see each collision the metal tower had with the ground twisted it even further.

Then without warning, the trunk had a sharp left and was out of the tower's path as it continued to bounce and roll until finally skidding to a stop some distance away. Through it all, the trunk had not lost any speed and one final turn got it back onto the paved road again.

That still left one problem: that tornado was still after them and didn't look like it would be stopping anytime soon. Sure, it was further away but it was because the two boys in the truck bed could still see it that they were still wary.

"Never thought I'd be glad to see the Colorado," the driver commented loudly to himself, loud enough that the boys could overhear him.

"Colorado?" Duo questioned as he turned to look ahead.

The truck bounced slightly as it drove over a bridge, one with a large river beneath it. Seeing as how he had never seen a river before, Solo found himself in awe of the sight and after several minutes of having passed it, the tornado came into contact with the river.

The flames didn't stand a chance and the fiery storm itself was thrown off kilter and dissipated, clouds of white smoke rising from its base angrily, furious that its prey had escaped it.