Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing.

Warning: language, violence, death

Ultimate Showdowns

"Are you sure this is gonna work?" Kid asked skeptically, raising an eyebrow at his counterpart.

"Not really," Reaper shrugged. "I can't beat this other guy by myself. You can't even beat me so you going ahead alone would be stupid."

"So we both try at da same time?" Duo asked, finishing up Reaper's plan in a nutshell. "What if that don't work?"

"Then we'll have to think of something else," Reaper replied, sighing in irritation.

"Okay, if it does work, does that mean both of us will be in control? What then?"

Reaper paused, that possibility having not occurred to him yet. "We'll have to chance it," he said determinedly. "We both know what'll happen if we don't do something."

"Yeah, yeah, I heard ya," Kid muttered to himself.

---

Trowa slammed up against a wall and immediately slid to a side just as a spike-covered fist hit just where his head had been, the fist tearing into the wall like it was paper. Pushing himself away from the wall, Trowa spun his body and landed a knee into Astaroth's back and danced away as spikes erupted all over the other.

Pulling his fist out of the wall, Astaroth turned towards Trowa, glaring at him with a promise of intense pain. Crossing his arms over his chest and curling his body somewhat, Astaroth seemed to puff out until all the spikes in his body shot out, each one going in a random direction.

Letting reflex take control of his body, Trowa leapt and twisted about to avoid each and every spike, miraculously managing to accomplish the feat. He hadn't even landed back on his feet as his root whip captured a few of the flying spikes and, with a tug, sent them back at Astaroth.

Coming out of the ball like form, Astaroth's eyes widened and brought his forearms up just in time to catch the spikes, the sharp projectiles actually digging through his scaly flesh and into his bones. Lowering his arms, he snarled at the retreating Trowa and sucked all of the spikes in his arms back into his body, reforming them all over his body again with barely a sign of injury on his person.

Approaching the end of the hallway, Trowa spun around the corner and ran down the new corridor, his eyes quickly scanning for another plant he could use. However, he had expected Astaroth to charge down the hallways, not break through the walls and nearly spear him with an assault of spikes and debris.

Gasping in surprise, Trowa spun his whip in front of him, the whip forming a spiral like barrier that caught most of the spikes and wrapped around them. For those that got past, all but one missed him and the one that got him slashed him on his shoulder. Gritting his teeth, he threw his whip back then snapped it forward, sending the spikes back at Astaroth, keeping only one of the spikes with him. Astaroth jumped back into the hole in the wall he had made, thus evading the potentially lethal attack.

Coming back out to face off with Trowa again, he lifted his hand up just in time to prevent Trowa from stabbing him with one of his own spikes. Unfortunately, said spike ended up stabbed right through his hand and a spurt of blood slapped him in his face.

Immediately, Trowa pulled the spike back and out of Astaroth hand before he could absorb it back into his body, not willing to relinquish his best weapon thus far. As Astaroth clutched his bleeding hand in pain, Trowa whipped his whip towards the rubble that had once been apart of the wall and extended all the roots in his whip to grab all of them.

Throwing his hand up, Trowa threw the large ball of debris up and then swung it back down at Astaroth like it was a wrecking ball, the scaly one not noticing the attack until it was upon him and sending through the floor and into the one below.

Raising an eyebrow, Trowa released his whip's hold on the debris and let it fall to cover the other boy. Coming to the edge of the hole, he waited until the other broke out of his temporary prison with a snarl before he leapt down at him feet first. The soles of Trowa's feet connected with the back of Astaroth's skull and the force he had been falling with sent the other face first into the rubble-covered floor. Jumping off the other boy, Trowa spun in the air and landed on his feet nimbly, awaiting Astaroth's next move.

---

Slamming open the door to the stairwell, Romafellor did not hesitate as he ran as fast as his body would allow down the flight of stairs, his aged heart beating in his chest like it hadn't done in decades. Adrenaline helped to keeping him moving and a flood of it entered his bloodstream as a shrieking neigh screamed from above.

The sound of marble hoofs clomping clumsily on the stairs, soon followed by a crashing sound, most likely the statue running into a wall, freaked the businessman out but not enough that he lost all his wits. He knew he wouldn't be able to outrun this monstrosity for long; he wasn't in the prime of his youth anymore and all this physical activity was beginning to take its toll on him.

Reaching a random floor, he slammed through the stairwell door and continued to flee for his life.

---

They attacked simultaneously, getting the upperhand in their battle to reclaim control of their body right at the beginning. Having only expected them to come at him one at a time, the third personality almost lost his hold on the precious control he possessed but managed to retain it just barely.

"We're almost there!" Reaper shouted. "Keep it up Kid!"

"That's what I'm doing!" Kid shouted back, focusing all the energies he could muster on this single difficult task.

Instead of retorting back as he was wont to, Reaper instead focused his eyes on the prize and pushed himself against the third personality, starting to shove it away and out of control.

He could feel it; that other them was losing this fight, even as he wrestled for control. However, this third guy was so damn stubborn and not willing to give up like he should! Damn it, just give it up already!

It'd be much simpler that way.

Then the third pushed back and the force of his defensive nearly destroyed the other two's assault. Kid nearly failed right then and there but he held on and slowly built back up his attack, his teeth gritting as he inched closer and closer to the forefront.

Whoever could get there would be the one in control.

Kid then felt a blow shove him back and he lost whatever precious ground he had gained. Seeing Reaper refusing to give up urged the other personality to continue on, even though he was already becoming tired from all this strain.

Reaper, meanwhile, was swearing up a storm as he continued pushing forth, any defensive the third mounted against him only pushing him back momentarily before he regained whatever ground he lost and gained even more. He could feel it, they were going to beat this!

He stretched out an arm and reached as far as he could around the third, his fingers only inches away from victory.

---

It was a good thing neither of the two girls were wearing high heels because that would've made running for their lives so much more harder. Every once in a while, either Relena or Dorothy would check behind them to make sure the blond haired boy wasn't following them as Relena led them down hallway after hallway.

"How much…further?" Dorothy panted as they stole around another corner.

Slowly coming to a stop, Relena took a look at where they were, her brow creasing as she wracked her memory. It wasn't that long ago that she had been here. In fact…

"Wrong turn!" she mumbled to herself as she doubled back towards the corner they had just passed and returned to the hallway they were once in. How could she have forgotten about that? Then again, everything in this place looked the same…

"Relena!" Dorothy said loudly, looking behind them.

Peeking around, Relena nearly shrieked as she saw a massive…thing lurking down the hallways, the thing catching sight of them and starting to go after them.

"Faster!" Dorothy nearly shrieked.

"This way!" Relena exclaimed as they hooked around the next corner. "He's down here, I know it!"

Passing by a number of windows and taking a couple rights and lefts, they came upon a dead end where only one door on their far right could be seen.

"There?" Dorothy asked, not taking her eyes off the single door.

"Positive," Relena confirmed.

A grunt caused both girls to freeze and as one, they slowly turned their heads around to see their only exit cut off by the deformed Sigmund, the giant hulk looking over at them with piercing, feral eyes.

"Not good," Dorothy said to herself, though Relena heard her easily.

---

Let it not be said that Solo wasn't stubborn. He had that in spades so after crashing through a few ceilings, he found himself standing next to a large crane with a clear view of the Romafellor Building straight across from him.

He had debated for a couple minutes on how he was going to get across; he still felt in his gut that he wasn't high enough. However, despite the glare of the sun on the windows, he thought he saw the hulking form of Sigmund through one of them and he knew that if he wanted to get him good, he was going to need all the power it could muster.

That meant that he needed to be closer to the building but how was he going to do that? With one of those annoying helicopters coming into view, Solo growled, both in frustration and irritability. In fact, he was so frustrated and irritated that he banged his head against the nearest surface, said surface giving way against his thick skull.

In response, he got an ominous groaning sound.

Turning his head slowly, he noticed that he had hit his head against the supporting metal pillar of the crane and that his hard skull had left a dent in it. That's when he got an idea.

Oh yeah, this ought to do just nicely.

Sliding along the building's makeshift roof, Solo, with one punch, tore a part of the crisscrossing metal tower and grinned in satisfaction as the crane began to lean towards him and the Romafellor Building. Bending his knees, Solo launched himself up high into the air, using the sides of the collapsing crane to carrying him up towards the top.

Crouching and bracing himself against the metal surface, Solo looked straight ahead in determination as he drew closer and closer to his goal. It must've been an awesome from below, he mused to himself for a second. Seeing a sight like a large ass crane falling off a building didn't happen every day, you know? He cleared his mind a second later, focusing on what was about to occur.

The helicopter was still doing what it was doing as the arm of the crane fell down and slammed right into it, causing it aircraft to explode in a ball of flame that would have impressed the blond a few months ago. However, the moment he heard the explosion, he shot off the crane and right through the windows, ramming right into Sigmund.

The force in which he hit the giant sent Sigmund not just through the wall but the floor in the adjacent room, the blond holding onto the behemoth all the while. The moment Sigmund stopped, Solo unleashed a merciless assault of punches and blows into Sigmund's person, not letting up for an instant as he sought to deliver the most damage possible.

Slipping off the hulk, Solo wrapped his arms tightly around that thick, corded neck and swung his body into, through, and dragged him into even more of the wall before throwing Sigmund over his shoulder into an, God forbid, undamaged wall.

Baring a grin full of teeth, Solo launched himself after Sigmund, all too ready to dish out some more pain.

---

Have you ever gotten the feeling of frustration when something was just within your grasp and yet you can't quite reach it?

That spelled Reaper's aggravation to a "T" as he was so close to beating this third personality guy and yet was prevented from going that one extra inch by said personality guy. He pushed and shoved with all his might, not holding back for an instant as he fought to gain that tenuous control the third personality had on their body.

Speaking of them, Kid was starting to lose the fight and was slowly being pushed farther and farther away. Reaper had to admit that Kid had managed to last quite a long time, longer than he had expected, but now whatever assistance Kid had given him was slowly vanishing as the third personality began to take the upperhand in this fight, one that they couldn't afford to lose.

Becoming more and more desperate by the minute, Reaper was able to do the equivalent of poking the third personalitiy's eyes, making him howl in their mind and pause in his defense. It was the kind of lapse that Reaper had been seeking and it was an opportunity that he didn't squander as he shoved himself ahead and took hold of their body.

However, the very instant he took control, Kid came out of nowhere and grabbed it as well.

That was the last either of them would know as everything became fuzzy and faded into darkness.

---

Both of the two fighters were bleeding and panting for air but they kept their eyes focused on one another, daring the other to make the next move. Trowa tightened his hold on the pilfered spike but made no move to strike, even as he slowly backed down the hallway, Astaroth edging after him so as to not let him get too far.

Astaroth feinted at his right but did nothing else. Trowa brought his guard up but slowly let it down a bit when no attack was forthcoming. He made a bit of a show of moving at the scaly one but only jumped back in the end, Astaroth stopping in his tracks momentarily before resuming his slow pacing.

Slowly, the two entered a large room in which a good amount of the floor was a glass dome, a railing circling around it so as to prevent anyone from falling and breaking through the glass.

Catching sight of a plant, Trowa leapt at it and grabbed the base of its stem, pulling it off its pedestal and swinging it towards Astaroth, the roots breaking through the pot and extending outwards. Astaroth shot a barrage of spikes in a preemptive strike but Trowa had already counted on such a thing. He had the roots wrap around their selves time and again until it was one long, thick cord that he spun in front of himself and blocked all the spikes coming at him.

Astaroth was suddenly in front of him, slashing with a spike which Trowa blocked with the plant roots that had become a staff of sorts. Pushing Astaroth back, he jabbed an end of his root staff into Astaroth's gut and another into his forehead, stunning the scaly one long enough for Trowa to slam the end of the staff onto the floor and use it like a pole to spin around on and level a one-two kick into the other's chest.

Landing back on his feet, Trowa raised the staff up and swung it down in an arc at the scaly one but Astaroth rolled out of the way at the last second and jumped back to his feet. Growing a very long and very sharp spike out of the palm of his hand, Astaroth copied Trowa's earlier action, swinging the spike down and cutting the root staff in half.

Holding onto the remaining half of his cut staff, Trowa loosened the roots and swung them at the metal railings, the roots wrapping around them tightly. With a flick of his wrist, Trowa tore a segment of the railing out and threw it at Astaroth, the scaly one ducking to avoid it.

It was at this time that somebody else entered their fight and it happened to be an old man who seemed to have been running for his life. The panting man stared at both of them and they stared back just as dumbly. A shrill neigh interrupted the standoff and the man spun around and backed away from the rapidly approaching marble statue that was intent on taking his life.

"You gotta be fucking me," Astaroth deadpanned and Trowa acted as if those words were a catalyst.

He shot out his whip at the statue, the roots extending and wrapping around the horse's neck. Using both hands, Trowa pulled and directed the statue straight at Astaroth. Eyes widening, Astaroth caught the statue but couldn't be stopped from being shoved back by the moving rock, plowing straight into a wall.

Teeth clenching tightly, Astaroth's eye flared with rage and he shoved the statue off of him. The statue whinnied, or so Trowa thought, in surprise and as it flailed about, Astaroth was on the warpath, heading straight for the unnibanged young man with lethal intent.

Acting quickly, Trowa shot his whip out again to grab the statue and flung it towards the scaly one. Unfortunately, Astaroth just happened to be between him and the statue.

The sculpted piece of marble collided into Astaroth's back and the youth was sent tumbling along with it straight into Trowa.

Trowa felt the unintentional blow all too well but that was soon overtaken by the feel of glass caving in behind his back and the force of gravity taking hold of all three of them.

---

Neither Dorothy or Relena could express how relieved they felt as they saw Solo crash right into Sigmund and take him away from them to who knew where. It had really been one of those tense moments, the kind where you knew you were about to be horribly mangled and could do nothing about it.

Now, though, both were on the verge of crying tears of joy. At least that was until Dorothy remembered what they were doing only a moment before.

Turning back towards the door that led to the room that Relena claimed Duo was in, the girl slowly made her approach, wary of anything that she might encounter. She had seen and heard so many things in such a short amount of time that she wasn't just going to jump ahead into anything.

That was exactly how she got into this mess in the first place.

Tentatively, she turned the doorknob, almost surprised that it was not locked but she wasn't about to break from her caution this soon. Almost fearfully, she pushed the door opened, pressing herself against the wall beside the door and peeking through the doorway.

What she saw was definitely more than she expected.

There laid Duo on a bed surrounded by all sorts of medical equipment from an IV to a heart monitor. Throwing aside all caution, Dorothy made her way towards the comatose boy, her eyes wide and disbelieving at the sight.

"What have they done to him?" she uttered.

"He was like this when he was brought here," Relena answered solemnly. "Romafellor told us that somebody named Xavien did this to him."

Xavien. The man behind all of this. To see Duo, the lively boy that she had come to know, to be reduce to this…it was almost too much for her. James Maxwell was on the mark about this. To think that a childhood dream could be twisted into this horrible nightmare…

It was as if something snapped within her. Dorothy did not know exactly when it happened but the next thing she knew she was pulling out needles and taking off probes, getting Duo ready to be moved. Solo could get him out of this state, she was sure about that.

"What are you doing?" Relena cried out, stunned by her best friend's audacity.

"I'm getting him out of here," Dorothy replied curtly. "That's the reason why we're all here."

Relena grabbed her from behind and pulled her away from the bed and medical equipment. "But he needs all of this!" she blurted out. "It's the only things that have been keeping him alive this whole time!"

"Let go Relena!" Dorothy snapped.

Rudely, Dorothy shoved her way out of Relena's grip and made to approach the bed again only to stop in her tracks. Hovering over the bed was the body of Duo and the very air around him seemed to waver as if he was being held by some unnatural force. The space around the boy distorted more and more until Duo could not be seen by either of the girl, both of them root to the floor.

Then just like that, it was gone. Duo was gone.

Staring at the now empty bed, Dorothy's mind could not grasp what had happened. Only one thought managed to float about in her head, though, and it was something that made a ball of dread build up in the pit of her stomach.

How am I going to explain this to Solo?