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"Endangered"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, sap Pairings: 6x2, implied 3x4 Summary: The pilots must separate to talk with
various colonies on behalf of GAIA. "Endangered" 19)
"I cannot let you leave here, Zechs," Treize said calmly, stepping in the path of his friend's advance, a steel-chased pistol in hand. "You're not being rational..." "Rationality flies out the window in the face of love!" Zechs threw back, drawing his own gun. He looked like himself, dressed in the dark green GAIA uniform with his trademark gray coat over it, but death and mayhem was in his eyes. "Get out of my way, Treize!" "I can't do that, Milliardo," Treize countered again, his tone of voice deliberately calm. "And I'm not even going to argue with you that this isn't fair because you wouldn't let me go running off to rescue Wufei..." "That's *not* the same and you know it!" Zechs snapped. He took a few more steps forward, brandishing his gun. "I have no qualms about disabling you to get past you, damn it..." Treize nodded, respectful. "I'm well aware of that. Yet I still cannot let you leave. I need you to stop and do some thinking... and then we need to talk." "Talk!" Zechs fired a warning shot that just missed Treize's kneecap. He ground his teeth when Treize did not even flinch, knowing his friend's legendary accuracy. "What the fuck is there to talk about? And my next shot *will* hit something!" Moistening lips gone dry, Treize nodded again. "I have no doubt you will shoot me the next time, Milliardo. Nevertheless, I must stand here and confront you. Your heart is on fire, I know. But your mind is chaotic, unable to process right now. I beg you, please, my old friend. Calm yourself. If you do not, you may doom your little lover faster than you can believe possible." Zechs's blazing, ice-blue eyes glared at him, narrowed. "What are you talking about? They TOOK him! I have to rescue my Dancer!" "Who took him?" Treize persisted, inching nearer. He had no hope of grabbing Zechs's gun, not with those reflexes, but he neared anyway. "Do you know who it was? There are two OZ factions. Which one has him?" "I... will find out," Zechs bit back, but there was a note of uncertainty in his voice. "We have people in place - Trowa Barton, and now possibly Heero Yuy." Zechs recalled now what Howard had told him. Heero had contacted the spaceport on L2 and was definitely on the job, probably trying to get on board the transport to Barge. [Howard said Heero was willing to die to save Duo. Oh, Heero...] Remembering Heero's fierce dedication to his missions, Zechs now understood that Heero likely had done everything humanly possible to both prevent the capture and now to rescue Duo. [He's... willing to die...] "Remember who they are, Milliardo," Treize continued, still keeping his voice calm. "Gundam pilots... those magical creatures with whom we have placed all our hopes... and who hold our hearts. Milliardo, it is time now to trust them - trust that they will watch over your Duo for you. And your Duo himself is hardly weak. Whomever has him will be facing deep trouble, you can believe it." "I have... to go save him," Zechs moaned, but the crack in the armor was already widening. "I have to..." "No, Milliardo," Treize murmured, stepping up to place a hand on the other's forearm, though Zechs's gun was now pointed at his stomach... and only inches away. "What you have to do right now is calm down... then you will come to the computer center with me to see something else I brought from Earth... something I neglected to show you earlier." There was still a glint in Zechs's eyes. "Fuck you, Khushrenada..." Treize had the audacity to smirk. "Whomever may get that privilege is unknown, though it certainly won't be you. Now, are you going to come to see my new toy?" Zechs shifted his weight and pressed the nozzle of his gun against Treize's ribcage. "Do you know how good it would feel right now to pull the trigger, Treize?" But the former commander-in-chief of OZ only chuckled. "I bet it would, at that. All right, I promise you'll get to shoot something... sometime... and not me, hopefully. Are you coming?" [Bastard,] Zechs thought blackly. [He always knew all my buttons...] "You're just lucky you and I aren't lovers, Treize. With that attitude, I think I might have to have you in cuffs every night, and whip you to within an inch of your life just to wipe that audacious smirk off your face." Treize swallowed carefully as the other's gun was withdrawn. [Yes, a very good thing we aren't,] he mused, his mouth gone dry. "*Now* you're scaring me, Zechs." "Hmph," Zechs snorted in response, holstering his gun. "Lead on... and this better be good." [Oh, it will be,] Treize thought, a trickle of perspiration finally making its way down his neck.
In the computer center, Treize sat Zechs down before a console, then retrieved a box of computer modular disk cases from a storage cabinet. Setting the box down beside the computer console, he set about connecting the set of modules to it. "This is your toy?" Zechs inquired, frowning. "I don't have time for computer games with you, Treize..." The former commander-in-chief of OZ took a deep breath, having decided to come straight out with the truth. "Milliardo, this is the Zero module system. I brought it for you to use with Tallgeese II if the need should arise. It seems that that need very well might occur." Abruptly Zechs stood up, backing enough to make the chair clatter as he stared in disbelief at the simple box of disk cases. "Zero?" Then he glanced at Treize, feeling as if his blood had turned to ice. "You... you developed the Zero System! You... you..." Treize stared back unflinchingly. "Yes, I know, I'm a bastard. Milliardo, the best strategy in war is to develop the worst weapons one can imagine and never, ever use them. It's called deterrence, Milliardo, although knowing that our enemy has captured Gundam pilots, one has to wonder what for... and I'm afraid I know what for, Zechs. And I'm not sorry one bit I developed this damn thing." "What... they captured Gundam pilots for?" Zechs scowled at the other man, a hand closing into a fist. Treize had no doubt he planned to use it... again. "What on earth are you talking about, Treize?" "The Zero System," Treize replied, then stood to face his friend squarely, though he had to look up a bit as Zechs was taller. "Our enemy wants Gundam pilots so they can use them to test the Zero System. I'm sorry, but it's what I've come to believe." Zechs paled, his mouth suddenly dry. "Test the... my Duo test the Zero...?" "Do you know what that means, Milliardo?" Treize asked, his voice stern as if he was a commander instructing a subordinate. "Have you looked at the Zero file?" "Yes," Zechs admitted, turning away. "I toyed with developing it myself, but reason won out and I never finished it." The Zero System - developed by the Gundam scientists, it was designed to enhance a pilot's battle capabilities by actually tapping into his brainwaves and heightening his senses so that input of battle data was instantaneous and response time shaved tremendously. But the question had always been - could any human pilot truly bear such an enhancement? What else would the Zero do to the mind of a pilot? It was clearly an extreme measure designed for extreme situations. Without the threat of more advanced mobile doll systems, such an extreme surely was no longer necessary. "Sensible, but then you always were more sensible in the long run than I," Treize replied quietly. "I had to see what it could truly do." Zechs glanced over, an _expression of horror on his face. "You tested it!" Treize lowered his gaze, a shadow falling over his face. "Oh, yes." "And?" Swallowing with difficulty, Treize made himself look up at Zechs again. "I will not use it. Ever. The thing made it crystal clear that to do so would be my death. It goes beyond anticipation, Milliardo. The damn thing can predict your future." He closed his eyes, remembering with pain. "And it told me I have none." "Treize..." "I shall pilot my Epyon, perhaps, but not with the Zero System," Treize continued, determined. "My heart is impure, tainted with my history of lust for power. That is not for one such as me. You on the other hand..." "I'm not so pure!" Zechs retorted, thinking blackly of the revenge he'd taken... and the men he'd lost in battle. "Don't be so sure of that," Treize threw back just as hotly. "You know your mind as never before, Milliardo Peacecraft... and your heart. You've changed, my old friend. God, how you've changed, and all for the better since you've given your heart to that feisty little demon who ensnared you. The 'God of Death', isn't that how he refers to himself? The two of you burn bright blazes across outer space, Milliardo, and I'm a faded old wisp in comparison. The future is just waiting for you! If I stay away from that thing," and he gestured at the box, "I might find a future... somehow. But the stage is now yours. Will you take it?" Zechs gaped at his oldest friend, though he understood the double meaning of Treize's question - take the stage... and take the Zero System. "Just one minute! Why do you think OZ has developed the Zero System as well? Didn't you order the existing copies of that file destroyed?" Treize snorted. "Trant Clark is the one who sent me the file with the others," he responded, and unconsciously his own hand folded into a fist as well. "Trant Clark is now leader of the Aft Faction of OZ! Why else would he have seized half of Barge if he didn't have some mammoth trump card to play like the Zero? Of course he did not delete that file! He's developed the damn thing and is going to make my Wufei..." He stopped, his throat tightened with emotion. "Treize, I'm truly sorry," Zechs murmured, laying a hand on his friend's forearm. "No wonder you hastened here to outer space! I wish you'd told me sooner." The older man shrugged him off. "No, it wouldn't have made a difference. All of you are right - it was wrong for me to want to chase off to rescue Wufei, just as it's wrong now for you to chase off to try and rescue Duo. I wasn't even going to bring the Zero, much less tell you about it, but... well, you should know now... just in case." Zechs shook his head, confused. "Trowa would know if the Fore Faction has the Zero as well, so I'm assuming they don't," he said thoughtfully. "But... if Trant acts against them with the Zero..." Treize nodded firmly. "We may have to use the Zero to defend the Fore Faction against Trant Clark," he replied.
"You failed," Lieutenant Trant snapped at the undercover officer reporting to him from the L2 cluster. "How dare you let that Gundam pilot get away!" Buncher ran a nervous hand through his mop of red hair. "I... I don't know how, but the Fore Faction got him first... and possibly the other. He's vanished, too." The third party on the conference call spoke up hastily. "Sir, we're going to have to go in and take him... go to the Fore section and steal the Gundam pilot, I mean." Trant glared at the other man's image. "You're insane, Hestian..." "Sir," Lieutenant Hestian said quickly, "Things are starting to get critical out here. There's new activity in L4 that could be a result of the visit of that shuttle we'd spotted - another Gundam pilot's work? I doubt he's still there... and of course now the United Earthsphere Alliance has jumped into GAIA's arms. I don't think it's unreasonable at all, especially with this kidnapping, that GAIA will make a move soon. You've got to get ready for that, sir!" There was a barrier in place between the two sections of Barge, supposedly heavily guarded on both sides, but in the month or so since OZ split into the two factions on Barge, there had been little challenge on either side to altering the delicate and uneasy truce between them. "We need the new mobile suit to tip the balance of power," Trant mused. "But we're not ready. Well, it could work -they certainly won't be expecting it. Buncher, get back here to Barge - I'll give you a chance to redeem yourself." "Thank you, sir!" Buncher exclaimed in relief. The conference call ended. Hestian, sitting in a dank office somewhere in the L3 cluster, smiled to himself, contemplating the future. [Trant's going out in a blaze of glory,] he thought, amused. [He's obsessed with the Gundam, but he'll never defeat them! Then it'll be up to little ol' me to wade in and take over Barge... all of it...] (TBC)
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