By: Spooks
~ ~ ~ ~
Trowa carefully opened the door the bedroom, stepping in and followed closely by Quatre. Immediately the pair focused on Heero, who was twitching and shaking against his bonds, trying to break free in the grip of the nightmare. The backboard of his narrow bed was bumping a small side table, the cause of the light thumping they had heard. Quatre flipped the light switch by the door, hoping that the sudden brightness would wake the pilot. Nothing happened, though, and he tried the switch a few more times. With a groan, the blond pilot realized he hadn't heard the air conditioner for a while, either.
"Power's out," Quatre whispered as Trowa crossed the room and started to shake Heero. Looking down at the sleeping Wing pilot, Trowa noticed how noiseless his struggles were, almost as though he had been struck dumb. He shook the boy's arms strongly, hoping that he'd wake up soon. The European pilot stopped and turned, momentarily distracted when Quatre gasped.
"What is it?" He asked quietly, wondering what was wrong. The blond was standing by Duo's bedside, eyes huge in the darkness as he stared down at the braided boy, who was also trembling in his sleep.
Quatre ran out the door suddenly, returning momentarily with a flashlight. He flipped it on and pointed it straight at the American's face, illuminating the thick crimson rivulets of blood that was gushing out of the corners of the boy's tightly shut lips, the blood staining dark red puddles on the pale pillowcase under his head. His eyes were squeezed shut and tears were leaking out the corners in a continuous salty stream, his nostrils flaring as he breathed sporadically through his nose.
Eyes wide, Quatre and Trowa exchanged a look. Trying to wake the American, Quatre pinched Duo's arm, hard. When this didn't work, he leaned over and yelled in Duo's ear. Desperation crossed the blond's features as the boy silently continued thrashing and oozing blood from his mouth. Trowa ran out the room and returned with a syringe, injecting the contents into the sleeping American's arm. After a few moments the drug took affect and Duo opened his eyes with a sickly wet gasp.
Immediately he turned and looked over at Heero's sleeping form. "You have to wake Heero up right now!" He yelled hoarsely, blood and gore pouring down his chin and soaking his shirt as he opened his mouth to speak. The mess stained the front of his gray shirt a grisly scarlet.
Deciding to let his partner deal with Duo's bloody mouth, Trowa left again and quickly returned with another syringe and injected it into Heero. It took longer to work for the Japanese boy, but eventually he stopped his struggling and opened his eyes. Shining the flashlight in Heero's direction, the other pilots could faintly see damp trails streaking down the sides of Heero's face. Tears.
Quatre had already released Duo from his restraints, sitting the braided pilot up and examining his blood soaked mouth. Trowa followed suit, releasing Heero and pulling him upright as well. Noticing the looks the two recently awakened pilots were giving each other, Trowa gently guided the Japanese boy out of his bed and over sit on Duo's. Immediately the two threw their arms around each other, embracing tightly, smearing both boys with the bloody mess.
"I'm so sorry, Duo, I couldn't stop him, I should have been able to but I couldn't," Heero choked out, clutching Duo's arms firmly. "It's all my fault." He dropped his head in intense guilt and shame.
"No, it wasn't! You had no control, so do not blame yourself!" Duo responded, pulling away and looking at the Japanese boy's sullen and guilt stricken face. He timidly reached up to touch his bloody mouth, thankful beyond words that his teeth were still there. "See? They're all still in place. It's only a little blood. It's alright," he soothed, grinning a wide bloody smile to prove it.
"But it still hurts, doesn't it?" Heero asked quietly.
"Yeah, it hurts like hell, but there's no permanent damage," Duo responded. He blinked suddenly and remembered they weren't alone in the room. It wasn't that he hadn't been aware that Trowa and Quatre were there, it was just that their presence was arbitrary next to the importance of making sure Heero was okay. "Oh, uh…Hi guys, uh, what's up?"
"Hello, Duo," Quatre responded cautiously, looking incredulously back and forth between Duo and Heero. Seeing Heero with his guard down was unnerving, and witnessing the sudden closeness between the pilots of Wing and Deathscythe was mildly shocking, to say the very least.
"What happened?" Trowa asked softly.
Heero and Duo exchanged a look and Heero closed his eyes, bowing his head slightly. "We had a nightmare," the Japanese boy answered quietly.
"What do you mean, 'we'?" Quatre asked in confusion.
Duo looked at Heero encouragingly, nodding slightly. He put his hand on Heero's shoulder for comfort. Coming to a decision, Heero told the other two pilots about the dreams.
~ ~ ~ ~
Once Heero explained the basic story to Trowa and Quatre, and after Duo had completely washed all the blood from his mouth, the four wakened pilots sat in the hallway outside Wufei's room. A single candle was set up in the middle of the pilots. The small flame flickered warmly, casting deep shadows on each of the boys' serious faces.
"So, think we should wake Wufei up and have a party?" Duo asked, trying to lighten the mood.
Trowa checked his watch. "His shift was supposed to start in about fifteen minutes, so I'm sure he'll be awake soon anyway."
Sure enough, a few minutes later the door to Wufei's bedroom opened and the boy stepped out, fully dressed and adjusting the sling around his should and neck. His shirt had its collar turned up to relieve the chaffing of the sling on his neck. He looked down at the other four pilots and blinked sleepily before joining them on the floor.
"I take it there were problems?" He asked simply.
"Want a quick rundown or the long version?" Duo asked in return.
"Quick now, longer when I'm more awake," Wufei yawned.
"Power, phone lines, and radio are all down. Heero and I had a little problem sleeping. All in all, we're probably going to be leaving in the morning regardless of what the docs said," the American declared.
Wufei raised a single eyebrow. "Wonderful."
After a few seconds of silence, Duo produced the pack of cards from his pocket. "Strip poker, anyone?"
~ ~ ~ ~
The rest of the night passed uneventfully as the pilots played cards in the candlelit hallway. As dawn approached, they had moved to the living room to take advantage of the early morning light from the rising sun.
Duo stood in front of the window, stretching his arms up and yawning, bouncing lightly on the tips of his toes. He sighed as he felt his back pop in several places. Usually such a beautiful sunrise would be worth savoring, but the way the rosy sunlight cheerfully glinted off the charred metal of the car wreck utterly ruined the view.
Turning his back to the sun-splashed wreckage, the American looked around the room at his fellow pilots. Trowa and Quatre were sitting together on the couch, Wufei was perched on the opposite arm of the same sofa, and Heero was seated on the futon by the door. Everyone looked tired and stressed. No wonder, they had all been up since early morning, and the day before had been physically and mentally taxing to say the least.
"Well, it's dawn, guys. Anyone else ready to get the hell outta Dodge?" Duo asked wearily, breaking the silence and sitting down beside Heero.
"I still want to check the phone lines and power to see if we can repair them," Heero replied, shooting a significant glance at Duo. In other words, he needed to see if it was indeed Wufei, while in his episode, that had cut the lines. Duo nodded slightly, remembering their conversation the night before and understanding.
"After you do that, though, I think we need to seriously consider leaving immediately. At the very least we need to contact the scientists using the communication equipment in the Gundams," Quatre said thoughtfully. "I'd rather them not know about most of this, for all of our safety, but maybe a version of the truth would suffice to let us be able to move without compromising our reason for being here."
Trowa nodded in agreement. "Perhaps you and I should do that while Heero checks the phone line and power."
"Sounds like a plan," Duo said as he rubbed his stomach thoughtfully. "Me and Wufei can make breakfast while you guys do that. That cool with you, Wufei?"
"Fine, Maxwell. I would hate to leave you to your own devices in the kitchen anyway," Wufei grumbled, adjusting his arm sling on his neck as he stood up and headed into the kitchen area. Duo shrugged and followed him, covering a yawn.
Trowa and Quatre headed out the front door, making their way in the direction of the Gundams. Heero followed them outside, standing for a moment on the soft green grass of the front yard, shoes dampened by the shining dew. The Japanese boy stared at the twisted metal of the car for a few seconds, facial expression blank and inscrutable in the pale light. He blinked after a few moments, shaking himself out of his melancholy introspection. He had work to do.
~ ~ ~ ~
Duo watched the back of Wufei's head as the Chinese boy rummaged around in the small pantry. The American pilot knew that something was going on with Wufei, he just wasn't sure exactly what it was. Wufei jerked gracelessly back out of the pantry, holding a package of pancake mix awkwardly in his good hand.
Narrowing his eyes, Duo cocked his head to the side. Wufei usually moved so gracefully, catlike, even, because of the years of martial arts and stealth training he had undertaken. The whole morning the Chinese boy had been moving subtly different, if not outright clumsy at times. As if to emphasize Duo's thoughts, the pancake mix slipped out of Wufei's grip, landing with a soft thud on the floor. Wordlessly he bent to pick it up.
"Wufei, are you okay?" Duo asked suddenly, turning to the refrigerator and rummaging around inside it.
"I'm fine," Wufei returned coldly.
"Oi, I guess we're going to have to drink this juice and the milk so it won't go bad with the power out. Thank Shinigami for gas stoves, or we wouldn't be able to cook, eh Wufei?" Duo said conversationally as he retrieved the drinks from the refrigerator, shutting the door quickly. He continued. "Are you sure you're alright? You seem a little bit off lately."
"Well, maybe it's because everything was completely screwed up yesterday, I was possessed, you were possessed, Quatre was possessed, I'm missing my memory from about half the day, my arm got broken, and to top it all off, we had to sleep in shifts and stay up most of the night, Maxwell," Wufei growled in response, getting out a frying pan and hefting it lightly. He glared at Duo.
"Oh, well I guess when you put it that way…" Duo's voice trailed off as he looked at the frying pan gripped in Wufei's hand. Suddenly Wufei grinned and put the frying pan down.
"What, did you think I was going to smack you with the frying pan? I'm not that grumpy in the morning. My arm just hurts," Wufei said lightly, lifting a small bottle of pills from the counter and thumbing in open. He took a pill, grimacing slightly as swallowed it dry. He placed the bottle on the table.
"Gah, how do you do that?" Duo asked, pouring a glass of orange juice and handing it to Wufei, who just shrugged and took the drink gratefully. He then leaned back against the counter and looked significantly at Duo.
"What?" The American asked under the scrutiny. "Something hanging out of my nose?"
"No, baka. You have to make breakfast now," Wufei returned, rolling his eyes.
"Why me? What are you going to do, huh?" Duo asked in confusion.
"I will not be able to flip the pancakes properly with one arm. I shall supervise," Wufei responded seriously, hopping up to sit on the edge of the counter.
Duo groaned and rolled his eyes. Maybe he'd been imaging the differences in Wufei since his little episode. He glanced over at the pilot of Nataku, who was perched on the counter and staring blankly at the glass of juice in his hand. Or maybe not. Duo sighed and turned his attention to making the pancakes.
~ ~ ~ ~
Meanwhile, Heero had managed to find a ladder and climb up to where the phone and power lines ran into the house. He had decided that since no internal damage had been done on the wires that he could discern, maybe he should start at the house connections and then work his way out. Maybe, just maybe, the dead phone line and power outage had nothing to do with Scelestum and the dreams. Maybe. Heero mentally crossed his fingers as he turned his gaze to the connectors.
Heero's heart dropped into his stomach as he examined the power connections under the eave of the roof. They had definitely met with foul play. A closer examination showed the power line had been eaten through with an acid that had slowly worked its way through the rubber coating of the line before severing the internal wires completely. The acid had been carefully placed, so that only one side of the line was eaten through and still looked relatively normal from a distance. Heero sniffed the chemical carefully, it was a method he had seen before and the scent of the particular acid used was unmistakable. It had been set approximately 12 to 18 hours ago, the proper time frame for when he had seen Wufei in his dream.
Having confirmed the destruction of the power line, the Japanese boy carefully leaned forward and climbed a rung higher to reach the place where the phone line entered the house. Steadying himself with one hand on the edge of the roof, Heero peered at the line. Squinting into the light shadows, he shifted his grip on the edge of the roof, sliding his hand into a flaky substance. Annoyed and slightly disgusted, Heero eased his hand down to look at what he'd stuck it in. Curling up his lip, he realized it was dried blood.
Taking a deep breath, he carefully put his arm up again to steady himself, making sure not to put his hand back into what was surely left by Wufei yesterday. Heero peered again at the connection until he was absolutely sure what he was seeing was accurate. He even went so far as to let go with his other arm and precariously balance at the top of the ladder while he touched the sharply cut ends of the wires.
The line had been cut cleanly, and if the state of the dried, flaking blood was any indication, it had been done yesterday afternoon when he had been asleep and when Wufei had been controlled, the same time the acid had been set on the power lines. It just didn't make sense, though.
If Wufei had done this yesterday while Heero had slept, how did J's message get through after he had woken up?
~ ~ ~ ~
As Heero climbed down the ladder, eyebrows knit in consternation and worry, he heard running footsteps coming around the side of the house. Face blanking immediately, he leapt the rest of the way down the ladder and took a defensive position, wishing he had grabbed his gun on the way out the door.
Crouched and ready, Heero tensed as the footsteps came closer. It sounded like two people, and the pace was not erratic, so the runners were not in a panicked flight. They were just in a hurry. Despite this observation, however, Heero didn't relax his posture until Quatre and Trowa came around the house, jogging side by side. The pair came to a skidding halt when they saw Heero crouched down and in a fighting stance.
"Sorry to startle you, Heero," Quatre said, panting lightly. "We need you out at the Gundams, it seems at some point yesterday their systems were hacked. All communications and computer systems are completely shot on Sandrock and HeavyArms. Looks like the others are just as bad."
"What?!" Heero asked, eyes widening. There was no way Wufei would have had enough time to down the Gundams, set the acid on the power lines, and cut the phone line. Not to mention that Trowa probably would have noticed Wufei climbing around him an messing with HeavyArms. There wasn't enough time when Heero had been asleep or when Wufei had been missing during the afternoon either. It would have taken an hour for anyone to get through the security on Wing Zero's computer system alone.
Without another word, the three pilots took off in a loping run back in the direction of the Gundams. Heero had to see for himself. Maybe it wasn't as bad as it seemed. Right. Maybe.
~ ~ ~ ~
Duo could feel Wufei watching him as he fiddled with the gas stove and tended to breakfast. Something just wasn't right with the Chinese pilot, and it was more than yesterday's events that caused it, of that Duo was completely certain. Ever since Duo had tried to subtly question him on it, Wufei had been staring laser holes into the back of his head.
Deciding to ignore Wufei's strange behavior for the time being, Duo turned away from the stove to set the table. It seemed that Wufei was just going to continue to sit on the edge of the counter with that blank stare pasted on his face. Squinting, Duo realized that Wufei wasn't really staring at him per say, but was just staring blankly in Duo's direction. That was odd. He looked…well, like he wasn't even awake. Duo bit his lip thoughtfully. He was missing something vitally important here. Something was nagging at the back of his mind, something very important.
"Earth calling Chang, I repeat, Earth calling Chang," the American joked, ripping some paper towels off the roll to serve as napkins. "Come in, Chang. Do you read?" He stopped in front of Wufei and waved his hand in the boy's face.
With a sharp gasp and a jerk, Wufei's eyes came into focus and he grabbed Duo's arm in mid-wave. "Yeah, I read. What?"
Duo snatched his arm back, rubbing it slightly. Wufei's grasp had been really tight. "Damn, Wufei, that hurt! I was trying to get you out of la-la land. You were staring at thin air," He said lightly, turning around and getting a few cups from a nearby cabinet. He then flitted over checked the food on the stove.
"Sorry," the Chinese boy replied grumpily. "I was lost in thought."
"Unfamiliar territory, huh?" Duo teased back, clearing off part of the table that had somehow accumulated a fair amount of papers and junk since yesterday's dinner. He picked up an armful of papers and grabbed a couple of items, accidentally dropping the Wufei's bottle of painkillers.
"Damnit."
Duo dumped his armload of junk on an unoccupied counter space. Bending to retrieve the fallen bottle of pills, Duo noticed the writing on the bottle. Oh my God... Standing in the middle of the kitchen, reading the inscription on the pill bottle, Duo realized they were in deeper than any of them had realized.
Then the world went black.
~ ~ ~ ~
In the cockpit of Zero, Heero cursed. Somehow his entire computer system and communications grid had been infected with a virus. Merely getting past the Gundam's heavily encrypted and firewalled computer security system was a monumental task, never mind setting up a virus that could do so much extensive damage in such little time. And if Wing was down, that meant without a doubt that the other Gundams' computers systems would also be wiped.
Quatre leaned in the open cockpit door. "Hey, Heero, Trowa just got back from checking Altron and Deathscythe. He says it's the same thing as Sandrock and HeavyArms. How's Wing?"
"Wing is down. All communications and start up systems are down. Major repairs are needed before it can even be started safely. I don't understand how someone could break into the systems like this," Heero said, low menace punctuating his quiet tone of voice. "I don't know when this could have happened." The Japanese boy stood up and joined Quatre at the mouth of the cockpit.
Quatre shrugged. "Well, looks like we're not going anywhere today unless we walk," the blond shielded his eyes against the glare of the early morning sun and squinted at the horizon. "Looks like a storm's on the way, too."
"Wonderful," Heero deadpanned before jumping down to the ground. He glared at the dark clouds on the horizon and said something to Trowa. Trowa nodded.
Quatre sighed and jumped down, joining the other two pilots. Together they began walking back to the safe house. Before they got halfway there, however, they were met by a decidedly flustered-looking Wufei.
~ ~ ~ ~
"I don't know what happened! He just fell over!" Wufei exclaimed as he waved his good arm at Duo's body. The American boy was lying in the middle of the kitchen floor, a crumpled heap of limbs and chestnut braid. He was shivering slightly.
"He just fell?" Heero asked flatly, kneeling down at Duo's side, checking the fallen pilot over for cuts or bruises. He appeared to be knocked out.
"Well, I guess he fainted. One minute he was clearing the table, the next he just passed out," Wufei responded, eyebrows raised in concern as he paced the kitchen floor.
"Let's at least move him onto one of the couches in the living room," Quatre said gently, kneeling on the other side of Duo.
"Yes," Heero agreed as he gently gathered the American into his arms, carefully placing the braid over Duo's shoulder and chest. Trowa moved ahead of him into the living room and arranged a cushion on one end of the couch for Duo's head. Heero placed the unconscious boy on the couch, arranging his braid and limbs so the he'd be comfortable. This done, the Japanese boy turned on his heel and faced the other pilots.
"Trowa, please go and finish breakfast. Quatre, Wufei, and I will stay here guard Duo so he cannot hurt anyone or himself. When breakfast is ready, we shall eat it out here if Duo is not awake by then," Heero said calmly, kneeling down on the floor so he was level with Duo's head on the couch.
"We could give him a shot like Trowa did this morning to wake you two up," Quatre said, biting his lip and looking at Duo's prone form.
"Only as a last resort," Trowa quietly stated. "It wouldn't be wise to use another dosage so soon after the last one. It could do more harm than good."
"Oh, okay," Quatre replied. Trowa nodded at him and left to finish Duo's cooking.
Wufei and Quatre shrugged at each other and sat down. The three conscious pilots sat silently, watching each other and Duo. Actually, Wufei stared blankly, Quatre chewed on his lower lip in worry, and Heero crossed his arms and glared at the floor, deep in thought. Outside, a distant rumble of thunder vibrated in the distance.
~ ~ ~ ~
In the dreamscape, Duo opened his eyes. He was strapped to a chair, much like the night before when Scelestum had knocked his teeth out while making Heero watch. Testing his bonds, Duo managed to move enough so that he could twist his neck and peer into the dense blackness surrounding him. Unlike the other nightmare, the world was completely and utterly devoid of light. Squinting into the darkness, Duo was sure he could here a faint shuffling sound coming towards him.
Nervous dread flooded Duo's senses as he felt a presence beside him in the dark. Suddenly, a familiar voice whispered out of the darkness. "If you stop struggling, he'll let you out of the chair."
Duo tried to place the speaker's voice, he knew that tone, that pitch. But he wasn't thinking too clearly, an obvious result of the maddening place in which he was trapped. "If I stop struggling, then he'll let me out of the chair? What does he expect me to do? Wander around in the dark by myself?" Duo shot back sarcastically.
"No, you'll get a collar and a rope. You still won't be able to fight back, though. It's too late for that now," the voice sighed sadly. "I'm so very, very sorry, Duo. I wish he hadn't gotten to you, too. I was watching the whole time. I felt so weak being unable to stop him." Duo could feel the shame and helpless guilt washing off of the other figure in the darkness. Realization hit Duo when he figured out who the other person was.
Duo nodded slightly, even though the other person couldn't see it. Relaxing in his bonds, he found that they fell off immediately. He stood up and felt the collar circling his neck, along with light pressure tugging down from the rope attached to it. He turned to the other figure in the dark and circled his arms around him, hugging the other boy in a comforting gesture. The other boy hugged back fiercely.
"It's okay, Wufei. It's not your fault."
~ ~ ~ ~
Duo did not regain consciousness before Trowa finished breakfast, so the pilots ate in the living room. The silence was broken only by the occasional muted clink of forks colliding with plates. The nervous tension filling the room was palpable.
"Okay, I can't stand this anymore! What the hell are we going to do?" Trowa suddenly burst out. Quatre blinked at his partner in shock.
"Trowa...are you okay?" The blond asked.
"No, I'm not. I'm completely stressed from the events of the past twenty-four hours, and I'm frustrated as hell! I just don't understand all this," Trowa set his empty plate down on the floor carefully. He cradled his head in hands and leaned forward. Quatre rubbed his back lightly. "Sorry guys, I'm just not used to this type of situation."
Heero chuckled darkly from his spot on the floor by Duo's couch. "I understand what you mean. Sabotaging OZ, blowing up bases, and fighting in battles I can understand. This type of enemy is something I've never had to prepare for or expect."
Trowa nodded. "Exactly."
Quatre bit his lip as he considered. "Is there anything that you've left off from what you told us last night, Heero? I must admit, I was skeptical about your dream theory, but I can't help but find myself thinking of it as the only explanation for what's happening. So if there is anything at all that you left off, it'd probably be best to let us know so we can all analyze it."
"Well, I guess there is the phone line," Heero said, not wanting to think about the specifics of the nightmares for the time being. "From the looks of the sabotage job done on the power line, the phone line was cut at the same time. As I have mentioned before," Heero nodded his head in Wufei's direction. "It was probably Wufei that did it yesterday during the time when I was asleep."
The Chinese pilot looked thoughtful. "I still find it strange that I'm missing such a large chunk of time from yesterday. Again, I must apologize for my actions," he boy said solemnly.
"Don't worry about it," Quatre said, rolling his eyes. "It wasn't your fault."
Wufei shrugged. "I still feel," he made eye contact with Heero, staring straight into the Japanese boy's deep blue eyes. "I feel guilty."
Guilty... The word echoed in Heero's mind for a moment. He shook his head slightly and continued. "As I was saying, the line was cut while I was asleep. The strange thing is that I received a message from J after I woke up. It's impossible."
"Impossible would be the word," Quatre said with raised eyebrows. "Did you trace the email to see if you could figure out J's location?"
"No," Heero returned, surprised he hadn't thought to do that himself. "I could now, but..." He glanced at Duo, who was still lying unconscious on the couch.
"If you don't mind me using your laptop, I'll do it," Trowa said, picking up on what Heero was thinking. Quatre smiled and sent the other boy a proud look.
Heero merely nodded and turned back to Duo, tenderly brushing the American's bangs away from his closed eyes. Silently, Quatre and Trowa went upstairs to trace J's email.
~ ~ ~ ~
In the darkness of the dreamscape, Duo and Wufei had linked their arms so they wouldn't lose track of each other. The wandered aimlessly, hoping that eventually they would find something, anything at all other than empty space and pitch blackness.
"So, Wufei, you've been stuck here how long?" Duo asked conversationally.
"Since yesterday when that cloaked weakling captured me during my nap. I was meditating at Nataku's feet and suddenly I was in this place, except there was light, and Heero was here," Wufei responded quietly. "Then there's a blank space in my memory, because I woke up in this place in the dark. Every once and a while I can feel or hear something happening. Like a few hours ago my rope was being pulled around."
"Hm...that was probably when Scelestum, that's the robed bastard's name, by the way, knocked my teeth out," Duo laughed lightly at Wufei's shocked gasp. "Well, see, Heero and I were stuck in the same dream, I guess. This Scelestum guy has been messing with Heero's head since we got to this safe house. It had a rope with it in the dream and tied the end of it to a post. I guess it was your rope, huh?"
"I suppose so," Wufei responded. "I've only seen this Scelestum once, and that's when I first arrived here. I've been all alone in the darkness since then." His voice trailed off and he stopped walking, essentially stopping Duo, too. Even though only their elbows were linked, Duo could feel Wufei's posture slump.
"Well, you're not alone anymore, Wu. Misery loves company, eh?" Duo responded lightly, digging lightly into Wufei's ribs.
Wufei jumped slightly and laughed. "Gah, don't do that. It tickles."
"You're ticklish?!" Duo sounded incredulous in the darkness as he chuckled.
"It is a weakness I have yet to conquer," Wufei deadpanned, causing Duo to laugh louder and dig at his ribs again. The Chinese boy laughed again, trying to evade Duo without losing contact in the darkness.
"S-stop, Duo," Wufei laughed, managing to catch both of Duo's wrists.
"Fine, fine," Duo pouted futilely in Wufei's direction. "I'm pouting at you, by the way. Feel better?"
Wufei snorted lightly as they linked elbows again. "As better as I'll be until we can get the hell out of here."
Suddenly, the pair felt a light pulling on their respective collars. Their ropes were being tugged.
~ ~ ~ ~
In the living room, Heero watched Wufei out of the corner of his eye. Something was nagging him, something important. He tallied up in his mind the events as they had concerned the Chinese pilot in the past day.
First he had seen Wufei in his dream, controlled by Scelestum. During that time it was probable that he had cut the phone lines and set the acid on the power line. Then he had managed to return to the clearing before Trowa could notice his absence. So it was impossible that he had sabotaged the Gundams at that point. And later, after the car accident he had only been missing for an hour or so, which may have been enough time to deal with the Gundams.
Heero sighed quietly and glanced over at Wufei. The Chinese boy had cleaned up the breakfast dishes and pans, then returned to the living room. Wufei now appeared to be deep in thought as he stared out the window at the darkening sky. A peal of thunder shattered the silence of the quiet morning.
Turning back to his thoughts, Heero considered when they had found Wufei. He had no recollection of what had happened, he had set his own broken arm and cleaned himself up. So it was highly unlikely that he had dealt with the Gundams then. That was another thing that puzzled Heero. Duo was right when he said that Wufei wouldn't normally set his own broken bones. And why hadn't the normally analytical pilot questioned the reason his arm was broken to begin with?
That brought Heero's train of thought up to that night. Duo had said Wufei was acting oddly, and Heero was inclined to believe him. Then there was the nightmare. The hammer... Heero shuddered at the memory.
So that brings us to this morning. We all stayed awake, and he woke up and came out right when he was supposed to...Wait a minute! Heero's eyes narrowed into dangerous blue slits. He was restrained like the rest of us while he slept! He should have needed help to get free. How could we have missed that?! Heero berated himself angrily.
It was so obvious. Wufei must have gotten free and taken care of the Gundams while Duo and himself had occupied Trowa and Quatre. No one had checked on the Chinese boy after they had their nightmare. That would have given Wufei enough time to go and down the Gundams' computers.
Heero took a deep breath and turned fully towards Wufei. The Chinese boy sat unaware, blissfully staring out the window at the approaching storm.
"Wufei, how did you get out of your restraints this morning?" Heero asked in a voice laden with menace.
Wufei jumped. "What do you mean? I woke up and there were off of me."
"No, they weren't," Heero stood up and strode across the room, pulling Wufei out of his chair by his uninjured arm. The Chinese boy's collar and arm sling slipped down from its place high up on his neck. There was an angry red circle of raw skin that ran around his throat, just like a collar.
"No, they weren't. I was able to break free, my dear Heero," Wufei responded in a low, slightly raspy voice. He chuckled. "I was able to free myself easily, just as you would have been able to."
Heero stepped back quickly in shock, comprehending. "You never woke up yesterday, did you? You're still under his control," Heero dropped down into a defensive crouch, preparing to take out Wufei without hurting him too badly. "How?"
"Sleeping pills," Wufei smiled coldly. He smirked, and a thunderclap tore through the air, signaling the arrival of the storm. "Quite a nice effect. We couldn't have planned it better."
"We?" Heero's brow knit in confusion as he stared at Wufei. The Chinese pilot's posture was completely different, and his mannerisms were entirely someone else's. Heero narrowed his eyes at the familiarity of the boy's stance. Wufei took a step forward, stalking menacingly towards the crouching Wing pilot.
Heero tensed himself, concentrating on keeping himself between the taken Wufei and Duo's prone form on the couch. Heero was so focused on the pilot in front of him that he didn't even hear anything behind him until he felt the sharp pain in the back of his neck.
The Japanese soldier's legs collapsed from underneath him. The blow had hit a nerve center in the back of his neck, and as he tumbled helplessly to the floor he realized that he should have watched his back. Darkness flooded his vision, but not before he made out the shape of Duo standing triumphantly over his body.
Heero closed his eyes as unconsciousness took him.
~ ~ ~ ~
In the dreamscape, Wufei and Duo were being pulled through the darkness by the collars. Grabbing onto the fabric of each other's shirts to keep together, they stumbled forward quickly, jerked randomly around. Suddenly, a bright light flashed above them, blinding them momentarily from in the glare.
Squinting and peering up, the two found that their ropes had been drawn straight up, disappearing upwards into the source of the light. The lines snapped quietly as the slack was pulled completely out of them. If jerked a mere six inches upwards, the ropes would have the boys hanging in the air by their necks.
A loud popping noise brought the attention of the two boys to another circle of light that appeared in the darkness. Sitting, motionless, restrained to his chair, was a visibly frightened Heero. The Japanese boy blinked and peered at Duo and Wufei in fear, sorrow, and torturous guilt.
Duo sighed and brought both his hands up, hooking his fingers between the collar and his neck in an attempt to lever himself more room to breath. The rope had slipped around and was being suspended upwards at the side of his head instead of the front. A glance over at Wufei showed him in a similar pose, fingers hooked up under his collar, too.
Before anyone could say anything or move, the ropes were tugged again, upwards a couple of inches, bringing both collared boys to their tiptoes to avoid suffocation. The ropes slowly began to move laterally, causing the two to shuffle quickly and painfully on their toes. Heero could only watch, struggling against his bonds in vain.
~ ~ ~ ~
Upstairs, Trowa typed away on Heero's laptop, the keys clicking rapidly. Quatre sat perched on the desk beside the computer, peering down at the screen anxiously.
"Are you sure?" The Arabian asked dubiously. "Are you absolutely, completely positive?"
"Yes, I am. I don't want to believe it, but I'm sure," Trowa answered, glancing up from the screen. "Heero sent this email to himself. It looks like it's from J on the first impression, but a quick check of the coding shows that it never left this terminal. It explains the dilemma with the phone lines being cut pretty well."
"But why?" Quatre asked, hoping down from the desk and pacing the length of the room, feet keeping time to the driving rain against the window.
"That's something only Heero can answer," Trowa responded, closing the laptop and turning around in the computer chair.
"Maybe that thing manipulated him while he slept in order to give us the illusion of still having the phone lines until the Gundams could be taken out," Quatre mused, stopping his pacing as Trowa stood up and stretched.
"Probably. I just don't understand how Heero didn't pick up on the forgery right away. He's usually so careful about these things," Trowa said as the pair made their way out the door and down the stairs.
"I don't know, Trowa. Yesterday was a weird day. I--" Quatre broke off his sentence as they entered the living room. Wufei sat by himself on the couch, staring out the window at the driving rain. "Wufei, where are Duo and Heero?"
"Duo woke up, and Heero decided to go and check on the Gundams again," Wufei said calmly, slowly turning his head to gaze serenely at the two pilots. "They left together."
Quatre looked out at the pouring rain as another thunderclap shook the house. "In this weather?"
"No."
"But you just said..." Quatre trailed off, disturbed by Wufei's expressionless face and vacant stare.
Wufei's lips slowly tugged themselves into a grotesque parody of a smile as Duo silently stepped into the room behind Trowa and Quatre. The American pilot held hypodermic needles in both hands. Simultaneously he stabbed them into the backs of their necks, injecting the plungers with his thumbs. Quatre immediately slumped to the floor, unconscious almost immediately. Trowa blinked and stared in shock at Wufei, who waved at him as he fell to the carpet.
Outside, the storm raged.
~ ~ ~ ~
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