After Dark
Part XII
By Mieren
\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
Before they could do anything, the five exhausted pilots began gathering information, unwilling to proceed before they knew everything about what they were up against.
Duo and Heero sat awake through the day in a room carefully shielded from the glaring sunlight. Slivers of light snuck into the room, causing Duo to flinch and shift positions several times to avoid the creeping threads of golden death. As a single unit, they began sifting through all of the information the Mad Five had hidden from them. Some of the security measures were almost impossible even for the two working in tandem.
Once they hacked past one of the locks, the two pilots began hunting through different files, intent on covering as much information as they could before they were booted off of the system. It had happened several times as the security systems objected to their snooping.
Heero had found many references to the experiment on L2. He knew that Duo was aware of the scientists being at fault for the plagues, but some of the other information he had uncovered made his blood run cold. They had intentionally orphaned children for the experiment to create the stress of living on the streets, cold and starving. He swore silently to himself that he would not be the one to tell Duo that G had personally organized the destruction of the Maxwell Church.
Duo suddenly cursed loudly.
"What?" Heero snapped, broken free of his thoughts.
"Those fucknuts are over three hundred!" Duo shouted, eyes blazing.
"The scientists?" Heero asked incredulously, shock distracting him from his hacking. Duo nodded tensely.
"Xellos… they found a way to summon him from some other dimension. Wanted him for a weapon," Duo reported, sentences choppy and unsteady. "They managed to control him for a few years. Forced him to make them immortal. He escaped shortly after. They've been trying to kill each other since."
Heero gaped, mind reeling. It took him several seconds to regain the ability to speak.
"How did they control him?" he managed in a weak voice. "Maybe we can do the same thing." Duo tapped a few more commands into the computer, his violet eyes flashing gold for an instant when he found what he was searching for.
"O," he said simply, mouth tight.
"What?" Heero demanded. "Explain."
"It would appear that he's a warlock."
"Shit," Heero snapped. "So much for that idea."
"Not necessarily," Duo muttered. Heero glanced at him curiously, almost frightened by the cold, calculating look on the braided pilot's face.
"How would it help us that O is a warlock?" Heero demanded when no answer was forthcoming.
"Because according to this, so is Quatre."
\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
Quatre looked up when Heero and Duo walked into the living room of the small farmhouse they were hiding in. Duo immediately cringed and ducked back into the lightproof room. Rolling his dark eyes, Wufei got up from the floor at Quatre's feet and began shutting all of the curtains so the braided pilot could enter the room.
With the target of his mental tinkering out of reach, Quatre leaned back and relaxed slightly. His eyes made the customary flicker over Trowa in the corner and Heero where he was still standing in the doorframe. He stared suspiciously at Duo for several seconds when the pale brunette edged into the room a second time. Everyone was decidedly nervous around the pilot of Deathscythe since he hadn't eaten anything since his arrival two days prior. It didn't help that Duo's eyes occasionally flickered to their throats.
Sure enough, the moment the braided pilot forced his eyes to adjust to the meager light filtering through the curtains, he began staring at Quatre and Wufei. For an instant, his eyes flared with golden light. Both pilots moved back several paces. He ground his teeth forcibly when he realized what he was doing and looked away, clenching his fists until his knuckles turned white. Trowa gave him a sympathetic look. Even Heero's expression softened slightly.
Brushing off their looks, he forced his mind to regain focus and rounded on the blond pilot on the far side of the room.
"Hey, Quatre," he grinned. The Arabian flinched when the other boy unintentionally flashed his fangs. Realizing his mistake, he quickly hid his teeth behind his lips. His feet held a sudden interest to him.
"Yes?" Quatre asked gently. When Duo didn't immediately respond, Heero stepped into the conversation.
"Why didn't you tell us you were a warlock?"
Quatre went white, aquamarine eyes huge. Duo cursed under his breath, directing a vicious look towards the Japanese pilot who seemed immune to it.
"Way to go, Mr. Sensitive," he snapped.
"I'm a what?" he squeaked. He shook his head forcefully, blond hair flying. "I'm just an empath. There must be some mistake." Duo threw another glare at Heero before trying to explain.
"We hacked H's records," Duo said softly. "He… tampered with you when you were still in a test tube. Got the gene from O. Empathy nothing. You're using magic." If possible, Quatre paled further.
"Master O has something to do with this?" Wufei growled.
"Yeah," Duo growled. "He thought he was so tough since he could use magic that he summoned a monster from… I don't know where. Long story short, it was Xellos. He made the Mad Five immortal and then escaped. The bastards are now well over three hundred years old. Everything else that we've seen is due to the war they've been waging on each other since."
Silence ruled in the small room until Trowa summed up all thoughts and emotions in a single word.
"Shit."
"No kidding," Duo sighed, flopping onto the couch. His gold-flecked eyes involuntarily flickered to the side where Trowa was leaning against the wall, gaze shifting to his throat. The taller pilot smirked back at him.
"Don't even think it. It would be a bad idea, Duo," he said.
"What would?" Duo asked, puzzled.
"Gnawing on me," Trowa answered drolly. "Didn't you even wonder why all of the vampires ran away when they saw what we were?"
"I was going to ask you that," Heero said stiffly.
Trowa responded with an enigmatic smile and calmly approached Duo. Silently, he took the braided pilot's arm. Silver flashed through the air, immediately followed by a round of rabid cursing from Duo, who yanked his arm away from the grinning werewolf.
"What the hell are you doing?" Duo snapped, nursing his sliced arm, which had already stopped bleeding.
"I thought a visual would be useful," Trowa responded calmly. He looked at the splattering of blood across the floor. He spat on one of the crimson pools.
For an instant, nothing happened. Then a small wisp of smoke rose from the blood, streaming gently into the air. Intrigued, Duo leaned forward. Trowa instantly caught his shoulder and pulled him back, shaking his head slightly. Before the American could question his actions, his answer appeared before him.
The small pool of blood exploded with the same force as an equal amount of C4.
"You don't even want to see what happens if blood mixes," Trowa chuckled, steadfastly ignoring the incredulous stares leveled in his direction.
"How…" Wufei started, unable to complete the question.
"Thanks to the Mad Five, in tandem the two viruses are combustible," Trowa explained. "Since the virus infecting the werewolves is so much more infectious, vampires are at severe risk of spontaneous combustion. Conversely, the vampires are barely contagious, so we're almost completely safe from retaliation."
"Cute," Duo muttered.
"That's illogical," Heero protested.
"Not really," Trowa said, shrugging one shoulder. "Our immune system can fight off the virus before we're at risk of exploding. Yours cannot."
Heero tried to protest again, but was cut off when Duo suddenly spoke up, violet eyes glittering maliciously.
"Hey, Trowa," he called, grinning wickedly. "How do you feel about licking bullets?"
Emerald eyes widened slightly for a moment before crinkling with amusement. His smirk was mirrored around the room.
"It's doubtful that method of attack will work against Xellos," Quatre said hesitantly. "You said I'm a… a warlock." He looked up with miserable aquamarine eyes. "So how exactly do I fight?"
The other four pilots exchanged quick looks, expressions grim.
"It would appear that you'll have to learn on your own," Wufei sighed. "I was trained to pilot by Master O, and even I don't know."
"I hope you're a quick learner, blondie," Duo muttered. "Because when you face off with Xellos, you're on your own."
\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
To Be Continued…
Sorry for the delay. I've finally taken this one up again. R&R!