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"Crisis"Written By: Artemis Disclaimer: Gundam Wing and its characters are
copyright to Sunrise, Bandai, Sotsu Agency, and associated parties.
I make no money with this fic. Rating: NC 17 Warnings: yaoi lemon including rimming, angst,
violence, language, reference to past NCS involving a minor, death,
angst. Pairings: 6x2, 3x4 Summary: Sequel to Interfacing: Regained. GAIA
prepares to go into space and announce itself to the world; Duo and
Zechs' relationship goes through its own crisis. "Crisis " 3) Duo shook his head as he heard Zechs's voice coming over the airwaves. The man sounded determined, but Duo wasn't in the mood to talk. He'd come out here to get away from Zechs and Heero, and now he was on a mission. [I don't need this right now,] he thought and reached over, switching channels and essentially blocking out further radio contact with the base. "I'm not interested in hearing your explanations, Zechs," he said to himself, and returned his focus to the carrier he was about to intercept. [I wonder if this is more ex-OZies coming to join us?] He was about to radio the carrier and ask when he noticed its rear-loading door opening. "What the...?" In seconds, a mobile suit was dropping from the plane's belly and heading straight for him. He looked at his radar to check incoming speed, but the suit wasn't there. "Shit!" he yelled, and then saw the telltale heat signature. "It's a Gundam!" "Oh, this isn't good," Sally muttered to herself, then hit the call button, hoping to get the base's attention again. When the channel was cleared, she hastily announced, "You'd better call off your Gundam, boys. I'm afraid mine is getting the wrong idea." Zechs, who had been consulting with the radar officer again, whipped around to gape at the radio, his hair flying with the suddenness of his movement. "What? You brought a Gundam? The 05?" Sally frowned. [I've got a bad feeling about this... that's what OZ calls it...] "Who is this? Are you the base commander?" she asked, hoping Wufei's fears were unfounded. "Yes, this is the commander, but only of this facility, Miss Po," Zechs replied tersely even as he signaled for more radio channels to be activated. "My name is Zechs Merquise." Then he called over the other channels, not waiting for her reaction. "Quatre, Trowa, better head over there!" "Zechs Merquise!" Sally exclaimed, startled. [Oh, wait, what did that girl tell us? I knew we should have gotten more details...] "He's OZ!" Wufei screamed through his connection, then shouted at the approaching Gundam, "You guys are traitors!" Heero had already powered up Wing Gundam. "I'm closer," he told the others, heading out of the hangar, immediately transforming into bird mode. "I'll intercept, Zechs." "We're right behind you, Wing," Quatre said, swinging his Gundam around and in the direction of the newcomers and Duo. "Come on, Tro!" "This guy means business," Duo said, as he prepared to do battle with the Gundam he'd seen only one other time at New Edwards base. He opened a visual/audio channel to the other suit. "This is the Gundam Deathscythe. Who are you calling a traitor? Traitor!" Wufei glared at the image of the pilot on his screen. "This is Nataku, the Shenlong Gundam and my name is Chang Wufei," he snapped back, certain he was facing an enemy. "Are you from that OZ base? I will kill you if you are!" "The Deathscythe isn't responding, sir," the base's radio operator reported. "Keep trying!" Zechs ordered. "Miss Po, can you talk to your man? I'm afraid our Gundam pilots are jumping to conclusions!" "I'll see what I can do," she murmured. But Wufei was ignoring her now, locked into his fighting mode. "You think I'm OZ? You're gonna eat those words!" Duo yelled back at the antagonistic Chinese boy staring daggers at him. "This base is under the control of the Gundam Alliance in Action. I'm the God of Death and I'm defending this base!" He was ready for battle. His hands were gripping the controls with fierce intensity and he was leaning forward over them; patently ignoring the blinking communications lights signaling incoming calls. "If you attack, be prepared to die!" "Huh?" Wufei stared at the image of the incensed boy dressed in all black. "The Gundam WHAT? I've never heard of such an alliance! I'm not fooled that easily!" [There's something different about this Gundam,] Wufei noted, frowning. Of course it had been a while since he'd seen it, and it wasn't as if he'd studied this one in any detail, but it seemed... more menacing somehow. "You *are* a TRAITOR!" he yelled, drowning out Sally's protest in the background as he swung his beam trident at the offending Gundam. Which suddenly wasn't there. When he swung Nataku around, he spied the reason when Deathscythe shifted around to come at him - there were new rockets on the back! But he didn't have time to worry about that because the massive green thermal scythe - double-bladed! - was heading right for the Shenlong's head! It just missed. "Duo, answer your radio, damn it!" Heero was saying, pushing Wing to its top speed, frustrated that he hadn't been able to get there to prevent the start of the fight. "You're strong," Wufei admitted to the other pilot. "Which only means that I can fight you!" This time the trident met the huge scythe in a great crackle of plasma energy. "Heh," Duo chuckled. "Fight while you can, 'cause you'll soon be dead!" Their weapons were locked and for the moment neither was giving way. Duo was acclimating to the improvements to Deathscythe rapidly. Its increased power and speed actually gave him more time to strategize and he found himself remembering the conversation about Chang Wufei from several weeks before. Lucrezia Noin had been the only one who opposed asking him to join their alliance, but in the end even she had conceded. [She was right,] Duo now thought, seeing that it was obvious the fifth Gundam pilot's answer to their invitation was a resounding "NO!". [He wants us all dead!] With a surge of anger and strength Duo finally broke away from the Shenlong's trident. He moved his Gundam back and then swung at the other Gundam again. This time the Chinese boy anticipated the move and maneuvered away. [Damn, he's good!] he thought and took another swing. The second strike sliced into the tip of the other Gundam's foot. "Ha!" Duo exclaimed and then was partly distracted by a familiar heat signature heading his way. [Wing! I don't believe it! Zechs sent Heero to rescue me!] When he opened his audio/visual channel, Heero did not look pleased. "Get out of here, Heero!" Duo shouted as he continued to do battle. "I don't need your help!" "You're going to have to kill me to stop me, pilot!" Wufei shouted back as he recovered. [And he just might do that, too,] he noted to himself, then frowned as he heard Sally's voice again. "Wufei, you must not fight him! This isn't an OZ base!" the woman was yelling at him. "These people have left OZ to oppose Romefeller -that's what Relena told us!" He scowled at her image on his screen, then hastily dodged yet another swipe from the massive thermal scythe. "But this pilot clearly came out here to fight me!" Back in the control tower, Zechs was leaning his gloved fists against the glass, teeth clenched, every fiber in his being straining to keep from running to Tallgeese to go out there and stop his Duo from fighting the strange Gundam. [Damn, damn! I can't... I have to stay to command the base and they don't need my help, those kids... oh, my Duo, does your heart burn to fight so much? Have you felt captive here these past weeks?] Federi, observing behind him a distance away, exchanged glances with more than one officer. Their commander was truly a frightening entity at times, and his Gundam pilot lover was even more so. [What manner of men are these? They fight destiny itself, desperate to turn the world upside down. I can only hope we manage to keep out of their way...] By now, Wing Gundam had reached their position. As the Gundam transformed back to its fighting form, Heero radioed Duo again. "You have to stop fighting, Duo! These are potential allies. The carrier is flown by an ex-Alliance officer known to us. Do you remember the woman who told us about the missile silos at New Edwards? This is her..." "Allies don't try to kill you, Heero! Now get out of my way!" Duo shouted, swinging his thermal scythe in the direction of Wing as a warning to back off. Then he swung at the attacking Gundam again, arming his missiles in preparation to destroying it. [What's up with Heero anyway?] he wondered as he fought on. [Why would he want me to stand down?] The question nagged at him and Duo decided it couldn't hurt to open a channel to the base to get some answers. "Barclay Base, this is Duo. What the hell's going on?!" Zechs unfroze abruptly and dove for the radio. "Duo! Please stand down! That Gundam is mistaken; he took your aggressive approach for an attack run. We're trying to convince him we're not OZ - you both must stand down! Heero is correct - these could be allies!" "Both of you, stop fighting," Heero put in over the open channel to both Duo and Wufei. "I'm retreating now... Quatre and Trowa, hold back..." And true to his word, Wing Gundam backed off a distance from the battle. Wufei stared at the images on his screen, having opened more channels as well. "He attacked me!" he complained to Zechs. "And who the hell are you, pretty-boy?" Zechs was still staring at Duo's flushed image, at the bewilderment on his face. "Disarm your missiles, Duo... please?" Duo swallowed hard, a bit breathless from the fight and the growing confusion. "No, Zechs, I can't," he said, wiping the sweat from his brow and looking intently at the worried features of his lover. He didn't like going against Zechs, but he was sure the man couldn't understand the situation. "If I back down now he'll kill me and then strike at the base." [Oh, SHIT,] Zechs thought, recognizing all too well that Duo truly believed the base could be in danger. And, too, this was Treize's fierce "little dragon" who had come out of his Gundam to cross swords with the OZ commander-in-chief. This was Chang Wufei who had cold-heartedly killed the pilot cadets at Lake Victoria months ago. He knew how badly shaken Noin still was over that incident. "I understand, Duo," Zechs radioed back, then briefly touched the image of his beloved on the screen before switching to the channel open to the new Gundam. "Chang Wufei, this is Zechs Merquise, commander of Barclay Base, the headquarters of GAIA," he called. "There are no OZ personnel on this continent! Those of us who were once with that despicable organization have allied with the Gundam pilots to begin anew to forge a peace on Earth and in space. We intend to defeat Romefeller, our enemy. You have no enemies here, Wufei!" "Listen to him, Wufei!" Sally called immediately after. Wufei saw that Duo had shifted his tactics to chiefly defensive ones, but he wasn't entirely convinced yet and shot a Dragon Fang the way of the Deathscythe to show he was still dangerous though the more powerful Gundam had gotten in some mighty blows to his Nataku. "I don't deal with traitors, Zechs! You betrayed your own organization - how can I trust you?" But he saw the other Gundam back off, and the heat signatures of two more were retreating. When Deathscythe easily dodged the shot, Wufei backed off for a moment, breathing hard, then spoke to the other Gundam pilots. "How can you guys work with him? I don't understand... when did this all happen?" Heero immediately replied, "Several weeks ago - you've been out of the loop for too long, Wufei. Things have changed. OZ has changed for the worse and good people like Zechs are helping us organize to face their new threat. Stop fighting and come to the base to talk with us. We'll tell you all about it." Wufei retracted the Dragon Fang, then swung around again to face the Deathscythe. "You, what's your name, Duo? Just know this - if this is a trap, yours is the first head I'm taking." "Oh, is that right?" Duo asked, sarcastically. He didn't even flinch at the threat. "I'll look forward to you trying and then I'll have the pleasure of beating you to a pulp!" "You're on!" Wufei snarled back, but did not advance his Gundam again. Duo looked back at Zechs's image again. The man was still tense, but was definitely being the diplomat. [Gotta give him credit for talking this Wufei guy out of fighting. Zechs, do you have any idea just how much I love you?] "I'm standing down... but staying alert," Duo said, nodding to the base commander as he pulled back from the other Gundam and lowered his thermal scythe. "Acknowledged, Duo - thanks," Zechs returned, the relief evident on his face and expressing the relief of everyone in the tower. "Mr. Chang, Miss Po... please allow the Gundam Deathscythe and Wing Gundam to accompany you to our base as our guests. We look forward to meeting with you." Wufei only snorted; Sally ignored him and immediately replied, "Thanks so much, Zechs, only you'd better call us Wufei and Sally or you could have another fight on your hands!" "That's fine, Sally," Zechs answered, managing a smile. "We don't stand for formalities much either, despite the uniform. We'll see you in a few minutes... thanks again. Merquise, out." To his fellow GAIA pilots, he said, "Thanks, everyone, see you back in the hangar. Heero, Duo, do you mind escorting them here?" "Not a problem," Heero muttered, noncommittally. "Will do," Duo said in agreement. [But I'll be watching my back the entire time. I don't trust this Wufei...] In a matter of minutes the three Gundams and one carrier were at the base, the other two Gundams already having returned. Heero and Duo settled their suits in their construction niches and then descended to meet face-to-face with the newcomers. Though he was still coming off his battle-high, Duo's mind raced back to the image of Zechs and Heero huddled in conversation in the computer room. That was the image he had been racing from when he'd left the base and now he was faced with it again. [How is it they've become such good friends? When did Zechs have time for that when he doesn't have time for me?] Zechs was already striding across the hangar, heedless of the cold still rushing in from the doors that were just now beginning to close. The long legs of the base commander closed the distance quickly, the long flaps of his gray coat flying behind him. As Sally and Wufei were still to leave their vehicles, Zechs went directly to Deathscythe, slowing only as Duo turned to look up at him. The ice-blue eyes looked deeply into the wide, cobalt eyes looking back at him, then the last two steps closed the space between them as Zechs came forward and simply wrapped his arms around his diminutive lover. "You're safe," he murmured fervently, his thoughts and emotions still churning from the recent danger. "Yeah, I'm okay," Duo said, stunned by the loving embrace. His arms came up automatically to wrap around the other man's waist, enjoying the warmth and strength of Zechs's body. [Whoa, I really thought he'd let me have it.] Zechs, aware that there may be others - besides Heero - looking, pressed a quick kiss against Duo's hair before releasing him and straightening. "Please... just leave your radio open to the base when going out?" he asked, looking down at the little Gundam pilot, his fingers touching the boy's chin. "That's it?" Duo asked, raising an eyebrow in surprise at the man's protectiveness and mild tone. Zechs was the base commander and that meant he knew about everything that went on at the base---most importantly the security. There had to be severe consequences for engaging an enemy without contacting the base or any of the members of the alliance. "Look, I don't want special treatment. If I did something wrong or you're mad at me just say so." The ice-blue eyes blinked once. [And getting mad at Duo Maxwell would accomplish... what? I know him better than that...] "Do you think you did something wrong, Duo?" The younger pilot's eyes grew wide. He wasn't expecting Zechs to turn the tables on him. "Oh, I just figured I must've broken some sort of rule... Though I don't think I really did anything wrong. I mean, I was defending the base." A short distance away, Sally and Wufei had disembarked from their respective vehicles and were slowly coming over. Heero was standing to one side speaking in quiet tones with two other boys of about the same age - the other Gundam pilots - while Zechs was apparently dressing down the aggressive Deathscythe pilot. "Something strange about this," Sally murmured in a low voice to her companion, whose black eyes were darting about nervously. "You said it..." "No, I mean Zechs... and that must be Duo. Hmmm..." Sally studied the two pilots, interested. [Not what it appears to be, I'm guessing. They're standing pretty close...] Zechs's gloved hand settled on the younger pilot's shoulder. "Nothing wrong with defending the base, Duo," he murmured, smiling a little. "And indeed you did defend, and well. Really, there's only one little matter. When we got the radar contact and realized you were heading in that direction, I called you on the radio. Why didn't you answer?" [Oh, shit! He would have to ask me that!] "I... I did get your call... yes," Duo said, stalling a bit, looking around the hangar and hoping for an interruption. He couldn't tell Zechs that he hadn't wanted to talk to him. That he was upset about what he thought he saw happening between him and Heero. [I can't lie to him. So how do I say this?] "I needed some space," he said, looking up into those ever-watchful, blue-blue eyes. "I've been feeling cooped up lately and I thought..." [Nope can't say that...] "I needed some time alone. I'm sorry I didn't respond." Zechs nodded, giving the other man's shoulder a little squeeze. "You didn't realize I was calling from the tower," he murmured. "And I know you were... not yourself... after the rematch with Heero." He was careful not to refer to the loss... but that incident was a catalyst for Duo's responses. "That's why I said that I want you to be sure to leave a connection open to the base when you go out." Then he smiled. "Any more Gundams that could show up against which you'll be needing to defend the base?" "Not unless Howard built one he's not telling us about!" Duo said with a wide smile. He was glad for Zechs's sensitivity, though he couldn't help a little shudder when the rematch with Heero was mentioned. [Great, so he probably knows the whole painful truth about that, too!] The older pilot laughed, then glanced over to where the others were waiting. "If you get in a fist fight with this one, Duo," Zechs murmured as he nodded in that direction, noting the angry stance of the little Chinese pilot, "you'd better win. I'll be placing my bets on the God of Death." Smirking, he strode forward to greet the visitors and his fellow GAIA pilots. "Don't worry," Duo said with a suppressed chuckle as he followed the man's step. "I won't let you down." He was supremely proud to have Zechs betting in his favor. [Oh, man... I would never let you down.] "Sally, welcome to Barclay Base. I'm Zechs Merquise," Zechs greeted the woman first. She appeared to be in her late-twenties, tall with light brown hair twisted into long curls. Sally Po smiled up at the stunning blond man as she shook hands with him. [Hmmm, you're sure easy on the eyes...] "Thanks, Zechs. And this, as I'm sure you've guessed, is Chang Wufei." She indicated her companion who stood sullenly aside, arms crossed over his chest, barely making eye contact with anyone. Wufei wore a long white Chinese tunic and pants, and wore his long black hair tied at the nape of his neck. "Wufei, welcome," Zechs said simply, and extended his hand. Wufei glanced at the hand like it was a venomous snake. But he noted Sally glaring at him, so he unfroze a little and bowed. "Thank you." Duo hung back a little, fists on his hips, as he watched with an almost audible growl. He didn't like this Chang Wufei and could see that the other boy didn't like them much either. [And I thought Heero was a tough customer...] Suddenly, Quatre bounded forward into the grouping with Trowa, his ever-present silent partner, standing at the fringes with Duo. "Welcome!" Quatre said, smiling, sensing warmth coming from Sally and a deep chill from Wufei. "We're pleased you could finally join us." "Thanks. We would've been here sooner but..." Sally said, her glance slipping to her antagonistic companion. "Anyway, I'm glad to meet you." She extended her hand to the little blond, pleased by his friendliness. "Oh, yes," Quatre replied, shaking her hand. "I'm Quatre Raberba Winner, pilot of the Gundam Sandrock." "Nice to meet you, Quatre." Sally smiled at the boy. It was obvious to her that the members of this little group were rebels... Gundam pilots and ex-OZ personnel. An odd alliance, but one that had formed nonetheless. [I wonder how they found each other?] She still needed Wufei to accept them, but it seemed he had his doubts. If she could only work him into the conversation... but then Quatre was speaking again. "This is Trowa Barton, pilot of the Gundam Heavyarms," he said, introducing his tall, quiet lover. [Come on, Tro, Miss Po won't bite. But the other might....] "Hello," Trowa replied simply, then turned to the Chinese boy. "So, we meet again. And I see you recovered the will to fight somewhere." "Hn," Wufei muttered, but he seemed to untense a little. Off to the side, Heero nudged Duo in the arm gently. "Maybe your lover won't say what you need to hear, Maxwell, but I will." He glanced back at the group. "But this isn't the time. There's going to be a meeting. Meet me back here afterwards." Duo narrowed his eyes on the other boy. He was surprised by the comment, and especially by Heero's timing right in the middle of these introductions. "What are you talking about?" Duo asked, in a whisper, tugging at Heero's sleeve to pull him further away from the group. "All right, you want to do this now, we do this now," Heero muttered, going with him. He gestured to Quatre for the group to go ahead when the little blond looked over worriedly, though Heero hadn't come forward for the introductions yet... nor Duo. (tbc)
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