Pairings: Duo/Heero, Quatre/Trowa

Warnings: possibilities of later violence, supernatural stuff, kinky moments, guns...um...gundams, implied sex

Author's comment: And now for some plot stuff.

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Operation Blank Conspiracy 26

Duo didn't sleep in Heero's room last night. He'd obviously wanted to, biting his lips and waiting on Heero to ask him to. But Heero didn't. Instead, he'd given Duo a kiss on his forehead before they left out of the training room for the night. Heero had explained that he'd be gone with Trowa tomorrow on a mission and that someone else would be training Duo tomorrow. He couldn't tell him who since he hadn't been giving the details himself. Duo didn't like the idea of training under anyone else but he only frowned and gave a brief nod of his head to say ok.

Besides that, Heero had to get up in the morning. With Duo there he wouldn't have been able to get any rest. Not that he didn't still toss and turn that night either way. Duo still managed to invade his dreams and it left him more than a little…hot and bothered the next morning. It didn't help that he'd never gotten around to changing his sheets that still smelled of sexy and the lingering scent of Duo and his shampoo.

Needless to say, it left him pretty grumpy when met up with Trowa in front of the door to the third floor docking station. Trowa lifted a brow at him but he didn't say anything when Heero just looked over at him glaring. Not like it was any of his business anyway.

With a sigh wanting to get this over with quickly, Heero swiped his card for the door to open and headed inside, Trowa following behind him. They easily converted over to zero G as the steps away from the door grew lighter until they were literally floating on air. It was similar to how the docking station was right below.

"Ah, good to see everyone's here now," Dr. J said greeting the two of them from his computer. He hadn't even bothered to look back at them just assuming correctly that it was them. It wasn't like just anyone could come in here anyway.

"Hn." Heero ignored the doctor in favor of floating over to Wing Zero staring up at the gundam. It never changed how amazing the giant mecha robot was to him. These machines were unique not just because they were made from gundamium alloy, but because of the programming put into them. They reacted to the pilots and gave out so much insight it was insane. Sometimes he felt like Wing Zero was a living thing. He'd think he could hear it talking to him inside of his head. It was eerie but at the same time, it wasn't a bad feeling. After all, Zero helped him to complete all of his missions successfully.

Dr. J had been the one to program his gundam. At the moment his was the most advanced of the four…no five gundams they had. Not just anyone was able to fly it. Even the other elite pilots could not handle the system's overbearing need for control. That is to say, unless this new gundam that Professor G had created could outclass it. He doubted it though, even if a lot of it still had to do with the pilots themselves. He remembered Dr. J telling him that the group of scientists were working together on a new system, one better than all the gundams put together. It made him wondering just how that would be used or who would test it out.

"The two of you know what your mission is for today right?" Dr. J asked moving over to him, his clawed hand clacking its metal fingers together as he held it up with a mischievous grin.

"Locate where the enemy is taking the gundamium alloy and possibly locate one of OZ's bases," Heero said out of reflex and started over to where his plug suit in their small changing area stripping down to nothing but tight underwear before sliding into it. The helmet sat on the wall beside the black suit with the dark blue trimming. It was always good to wear these things, especially if they needed to investigate further, which they shouldn't need to for this mission.

"How many ships are there?" Trowa asked getting into his own suit beside Heero. Neither male looked uncomfortable about undressing in front of each other. It was similar to changing in a locker room. There was no reason to be embarrassed here. They were all men. Besides, he had no interest in Trowa like that. Duo on the other hand though…

"Two ships filled," Dr. J said gliding over to Wing Zero's terminal typing onto the computer there. "About twenty mobile suits escorting them."

"Sounds like they're underestimating us a bit," Trowa said with a straight face even though his eyes sparkled with amusement. Heero just grunted grabbing his helmet and tucking it under his arm.

"If they cause any problems, we'll just wipe them out."

"This is just an observation mission, Heero," Doktor S said coming into the room and heading straight to the terminal for Heavyarms. "Please refrain from agitating our enemies."

"Hn."

"Glad you see you're finally trying to do some work over there," Dr. J said glancing over with the weird looking goggles covering his eyes at Doktor S.

"We're going to be pretty busy today anyway," the bald scientist replied glancing over at J before he went back to typing on the computer checking out Heavyarms's schematics. "We're supposed to be testing out Gundam Deathscythe."

"Is it fully operational?" Trowa asked pushing himself over to where S was.

"It's been operational. We've just been waiting on a pilot that we can test it out on."

"So you've found a pilot then," Heero said frowning as he stared at the two scientists with suspicion. "Who's going to be testing it out?"

"I'm pretty sure you know that answer by now, Heero," J said shrugging his shoulders. Yeah, he knew the answer to that. But that didn't mean he liked it. "Besides, G has already taken a liking to him. So how about you two get started on your mission and let us old folks handle our business."

Heero didn't say anything else as he floated up and climbed into the cockpit of Wing Zero. He already had an idea of who the gundam pilot would be. He just didn't expect that it would happen so soon. It wasn't like he was officially one of them yet anyway.

He slipped the helmet on frowning but trying not to worry about what would happen to the braided male. He cut the gundam on watching the lights cutting on one by one around the tiny cockpit. The door closed down over him covering him and hiding him from view of the scientists and any enemies he may soon meet out in space.

Duo…

Heero paused, closing his eyes and letting his thoughts take over as he waited on the preparations. Every so often J would ask him about something and Heero would confirm it was good to go. He knew he had nothing to worry about with Duo dying. Duo couldn't die, not that easily anyway. But the gundam systems could mess with a person's head if they weren't ready for it. Was Duo ready to deal with that yet?

The floor beneath Zero's feet shook as it slowly started to lift up like pushing Zero towards the ceiling like an elevator. He could hear a buzzer going off around the docking station as the screen on his monitor showed the red lights of the alarms flashing. It wasn't anything of concern though. Heero was used to hearing it, knowing it only alerted anyone there that someone was about to take off. He noticed across the way that Heavyarms was being lifted to going into its special ceiling compartment to prepare to leave.

Then Zero was closed off from the rest of the world and left with nothing but a dark shaft with small indicator lights to show the way. And he wait, waited for the signal to come from Dr. J, his eyes staring at the dark screen wishing this time could move faster, wishing he didn't have to leave Duo behind even for a day.

"All clear, Heero."

"Hn." That was the only word Heero needed as he pushed the button to start it up. . The gundam screeched louder than a jet engine as it started up giving out a long whine with the flames locking out from his feet making him float. He pushed forward on the throttle almost all the way and the gundam leaned over before it took off flying down the exiting shaft. When he pushed all the way forward, the gundam flew through the exiting tube until it burst free from the space station floating in space moving a ways away from the space station before Heero eased back on the throttle stopping it from moving again. It didn't take long for Heavyarms to follow him out of his own exit and the two of them linked communication quickly.

"Let's go," Heero said pulling up the coordinates on his screen. "If we get this done quickly we can get back faster."

"Are you worried about Duo?"

"…Yeah." He couldn't lie about that. He was worried about the idea of the man flying in the gundam for the first time. He wished he could have prepped him up for what was going to happen and for what to expect. But he had a mission he needed to complete. And the mission came before anything else.

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Duo frowned opening the door to Quatre's room to meet the person coming to train him for today. He didn't expect it to be the weird guy with the mushroom styled hair he'd seen that one day on the third floor nor did he want to go anywhere with the guy. The man was standing there, staring at him with those creepy eyes, his mustache twitching slightly beneath his rather long nose.

"Duo Maxwell, I presume."

"Who wants to know?" Duo asked staring at him suspiciously, still standing inside the room. At least he was dressed comfortable today, just a black jogging suit so he could move around easily if his training required it.

"You're to train with me today. Now come with me." The old man turned with his hands behind his back as he started walking away. Frowning, Duo slipped out of the room following behind him. He wasn't sure where they were going following after him and only slowing when he'd gotten behind the man.

The pace they moved at wasn't fast. Duo frowned waiting for the man to say something to him. There were no words. Duo tried asking him for some information, for a name or something but he didn't get anything out of the guy. And his nose was still huge. They stopped in front of the elevators, and once one was cleared for use, Duo followed him inside. The man reached out pressing his finger against the number three button before announcing his name to the elevator.

"Professor G…and guest." His eyes cut over to Duo as he said the words before the elevator responded by starting to move heading up to the third floor. Duo's body hadn't relaxed since coming with the man. He didn't fear him though. This G person couldn't hurt him even if he wanted to. But he still didn't know what he had planned for him to do.

The elevator dinked signaling their arrival to the third floor and the professor stepped out just as the doors opened. He started down the hallway, Duo frowning but following along behind him. Exactly what were they going to do that required them to be up on the third and most forbidden floor? Were they here to see Colonel Une? He really didn't want to see that woman again anytime soon. They stopped in front of a room labeled Authorized Personnel only and Duo lifted a brow up at that. What exactly was this guy planning on making him do?

"Ah, finally brought the young lad huh?" When the doors opened that was the first line he heard from the inside.

"Sorry, I was afraid of him being scared of your ugly mug." The older men shared a laugh as Duo followed the professor inside. He looked over G's shoulder, staring towards a weird man with goggles and a clawed hand grinning at him. He'd almost say the grin was sinister, made worse since he couldn't see his eyes through the goggles. There was also another, much taller gentleman there as well. He didn't seem to be as old though it was hard to tell from his bald head. He also didn't share the laugh with the others, just a slight lift of the lips to indicate he was amused.

They all had that similar feel to Master O. It was enough to put two and two together to let him know that Master O worked with these guys. And if Master O was Wufei's teacher, then these guys must have been associated with Heero and the others in some way.

"Dr. J. Doktor S, I'd like for you to meet Duo Maxwell, the one who will pilot the gundam Deathscythe." Duo narrowed his eyes listening to them talk. They had him planned to do what now? But when he really thought about it, his eyes widened a bit as he stared. Wait…he remembered reading up about gundams one time when he'd infiltrated an OZ base that ended in failure. They hadn't had much besides a few pictures and details on the weapons used. But he knew they were a very advanced form of the mobile suits he'd seen used in space, mostly by OZ but sometimes by the Preventers.

His eyes glanced around the room, taking in the sight of two of the three large mobile suits standing around the room at timeless ease. He'd seen them before, the gundams called Sandrock and Shenlong. He'd seen the pictures, saw them move in the videos he'd stolen from OZ and he'd been amazed by how impeccable they seemed in general. Machines shouldn't have been able to move like that. It was almost like they were human. He never thought he'd actually be standing in the place they'd been created though. Hell, he never thought he'd see one up close and personal like this.

There were two still missing which he assumed Heero and Trowa must have taken for their mission. And then there was the one hidden almost from the sight of the rest in a darkened corner of the large gundam docking room. He stared into dark eyes and for a moment swore he saw the eyes light up for a moment. He missed how Professor G seemed to gain a satisfied smirk on his lips from the sight before him. There was something really surreal about the gundams. He felt excited by the thought of riding in one and yet…there was a bit of fear lingering in his eyes as well.

He had no idea how to fly a gundam, even if he'd flown mobile suits with ease in the past. These things just looked way more advanced, more…alive. Gundam Deathscythe was far darker than either of the other two suits resembling a bat flying around at night. It didn't have wings but it just…felt like something that would sneak around at night. Maybe it was more like a wraith, or a grim reaper considering it had scythe stuck back behind its back. If it weren't for the yellow bordering the black paint or the almost glowing white legs, he would never have known it was there.

He stared at the silent wraith of a gundam licking his lips in a nervous reaction. Why was he so nervous?

"I'm going to fly that thing?" Duo said forcing his eyes to look at the scientists staring at him, reading him he felt like.

"In due time, boy," G said floating past him towards Deathscythe's module. "First we need to test you out to make sure you can even handle flying it. That's where the real challenge begins."

"Why did you pick me?" Duo said flying over to him and landing easily on one foot, the other just barely hovering off the ground. "Why didn't you pick someone else? You don't even know who I am."

"Duo Maxwell, age eighteen. An orphaned boy who became a part of OZ's experiment since the age of seven due to being kidnapped alongside another boy with a given name of Solo, age nine. You kept inside of the OZ facility of L2 along with your friend." Duo tensed up hearing Solo's name, hearing the past he thought he'd left behind him being reawakened just from listening to Professor G's words. "You and your friend were experimented on with flawless results from the Fly-Z injections. But tired of the constant abuse the two of you escaped. Or maybe you'd heard about some plans OZ had made for the two of you and you needed to escape as soon as possible."

Duo thought he could hear the sound of an artificial ocean splashing in his ear. But instead of a calming effect it was more like torrents that were the telltale signs of a brooding storm approaching. "How…How do you know about that?" He'd deleted all of his records from OZ. He knew he had. How did they know about something like that? Maybe they'd heard it from Colonel Une and Heero's report? But the look they gave him told him that they knew more than that.

"Only one of you made it out of there," G continued as if not hearing a word Duo had said. "The other was captured and presumed dead. For two years you regained your street tactics and learned new skills in preparation of infiltrating OZ's hidden laboratory. You needed evidence to prove that OZ was corrupt, that OZ was experimenting on human beings like they were monsters."

Schematics popped up on the module as G typed but he barely even paid attention to what he was doing as he continued to talk. "You returned and snuck in successfully to learn that Solo, a.k.a. 01, was alive and that he was located somewhere on L5. Since you came close to being caught by OZ again, it was almost a failed attempt."

"Where are you getting all of this from?" Duo said getting frantic, worried...angry. He could feel the other two scientists' eyes locked on him but he kept his gaze staring at G trying not to show the growing anxiety inside him or how he could feel his palms sweating as goose bumps appeared on his arms. "How the hell do you know about all of that?!"

"Even though you spent four years living at Maxwell Church, there was one instance of you running away and not returning for several months." Fingers slowed down on the module's keyboard as G lowered his hands and turned around looking down the bridge of his elongated nose to stare directly into Duo's eyes. There was no fear, no glancing away, the eyes staring long and hard until Duo found himself being the one to look away first, his head turning to the side as he tightened his jaw visibly.

"You found the OZ base on L5, the one that showed the possible existence of Solo." Sharp, violet eyes turned quickly to look at him, shock registering on that face from the draining color of his cheeks to the way his lips grew lax. "Infiltration was successful, flawless from the amount of training you'd given yourself; from the training 'that man' had given you. While searching OZ's files, you learned about your friend. You learned about his new status."

"Stop it…" The heat was rising in those formerly vibrant eyes, eyes that were darkening now with a dangerous mix as Duo gritted his teeth with barely contained rage. He didn't even notice how Deathscythe's eyes were starting to light up again.

"Deceased, correct?"

"I said stop it." Items on the tables behind Duo were starting to float up in the air but he didn't notice it, probably wouldn't have cared for all the blinded rage he was feeling.

"Just like you are now…that's how you were then. Angered, Pained, Vengeful. You wanted to kill. You wanted them to suffer. You didn't care who it was, especially when you read further into their plans for your dear friend. They'd done something…something you couldn't forgive, something that should not have been done."

"Shut up."

"So you killed them. With one shot from their very own stolen mobile suit combined with that hidden power of yours, you completely destroyed L5. It wasn't intentional, I understand. You didn't mean for that power to get out of control. But it did happen. You let your rage get the better of you…and you killed every…last…one of the people living on L5." G's staring eyes seemed to ridicule him, pointed blame towards him for something he really didn't want to happen.

When he'd read those files, when he'd learned about what had been done to Solo, he snapped. He completely lost sense of what he was doing, only knowing that it needed to be destroyed, this filthy place and everything inside of it needed to be wiped out. And after that…after that he….

"Shut up!" Duo yelled out clenching up and squeezing his eyes shut against the voice. "Shut up! Shut up! Just shut your mouth before I shut it for you!"

"How? By doing to me what you did to all those innocent lives?" Duo's eyes opened again, looking charcoal black compared to his usually bright violet blues. But G's eyes didn't change, just looked on with distaste and some form of interest as they met with the angry leer before him. "Will you snuff out my life as well then?"

"I'll kill you!" The items behind Duo shook for a moment before they took off flying in G's direction.

The professor knew exactly what he was doing. He provoked him on purpose, old arms moving quickly, the two hands moving and resting the two things that looked like heart beat monitors to Duo's forehead freezing the items that were so close to hitting him before they dropped to the floor and Duo stared helpless unable to see in front of him past the pained headache he was feeling from the shocks coming from the things pushed onto the temple of his head.

"That's why I picked you," G continued staring at the boy that seemed frozen in place staring ahead of him as G finished taping the monitoring devices into place going back to the module. "You've experienced the effects of death. You were death's hand, a thing people fear most. Something that hides in the dark, something fast and resilient. You can slip through the darkness and easily claim a life without being noticed, destroying those that get in your way. You can kill those that deserve it without batting an eye. And so you are like a god of death." G looked over at him pausing for a moment waiting until the iris of sightless eyes rolled up beneath fluttering lids. "You bring judgment down on those that must face death head on." G's finger hovered over a button as he smirked. "And only a god of death can wield a Deathscythe."

With the push of the button, Duo tensed up, his mouth wide open as he was pushed into a world he wasn't ready for, a world that felt strangely comfortable to him. And he knew that by the time he escaped this weird nightmare, he wouldn't be the same.

TBC…

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So shedding some mysteries on Duo's past and probably making new questions in the process, I guess. XD Well I liked it anyway. I haven't started on chapter 27 yet so...yeah. x.x Getting to that.