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"Out of the Blue"Written By: Honor Disclaimers: Gundam Wing does not belong to me.
Technically. Untechnically…*grin* I’ll give them back when
I’m through playing with them. In the not-to-foreseeable future.
Maybe. Pairings: 1x3, 4x5, 2xH Warnings: Lemon, action, twisted and dry humor,
EWWT (Eternal Waltz, what’s that?) some Relena bashing (sorry,
she’s just easy to pick on!) Rating: NC-15 or NC-17 Author’s Notes: Nyx actually can be blamed
for this. She emailed me, requesting that I write a 1x3. So here it
is. *huggles* Thanks for pouncing on me! I wanted this idea out and
done with. It was beginning to bug me. Summary: Heero calls Trowa in for help in order to protect the Gundams, but keeping the Gundams out of dangerous hands isn't the only thing on his agenda. "Out of the Blue "
My eyes widened slightly as I saw Quatre for the first time in a month. When Wufei had contacted me, telling me which house they were in, he had informed me that Quatre had a “slight cold”. He hadn’t been kidding. Quatre’s face was bright red, his eyes were a little blood shot, and his voice sounded like he was trying to speak under water. He had attempted to untangle himself from the multitude of blankets he was wrapped in when I first crossed the study’s threshold, and I quickly went to him before he could manage it. Leaning down, I gave him a hug. He likes being hugged, so I make a point of doing it whenever I’ve been gone for a while. Like I had been with this last mission. “Stay put, Quatre. Your lover will have my head otherwise.” He grinned at me. “Wufei is rather over-protective, isn’t he?” A ‘someday my prince will come’ look came into his eyes. Those two really were in love with each other. Of course, it could be an overdose on the cold medicine too… “How long can you stay?” He continued eagerly. “Two weeks. Une promised faithfully that she wouldn’t call me in for at least two weeks.” “Good.” The Arabian settled back with a satisfied sigh. “That means we can finally enjoy each other’s company. It’s been a while since all five us were in the same house for more than five minutes.” I nodded ruefully. The last time we attempted a pilot get together, Relena had crashed it. Not on purpose, but she HAD crashed it. “Duo should be arriving sometime this afternoon. Three is when is shuttle is scheduled to come in.” Quatre started volunteering information, just like he had during the war. I love it when he does that. Saves me from asking tedious questions. “And Heero should be in late tonight. He wasn’t sure when exactly—something about having to ‘fix’ Relena’s security before he could leave—but he said it would probably be somewhere around nine or ten.” I nodded again. “That’s fine. Where’s Wufei?” “I sent him away.” Quatre replied with great dignity. “He was *hovering*.” I bit back a smile. “I see.” “It’s not funny, Trowa.” “I’m not laughing.” I countered, keeping my face straight with an effort. “Your eyes are sparkling.” His voice was accusing, and there was a slight pout to his mouth. The subject needed to be changed before I got myself into trouble. “Besides the cold, how is everything else going?” “Rather well. Business as usual and all that.” A hand waved this away. “I’m more concerned about you.” I raised an eyebrow at this. “Me?” “Yes, you. And Heero. Everyone seems to have settled into their peacetime lives except you two.” Huh. I knew what Quatre really meant by this, of course. Duo was going steady with Hilde Scheibeker. I was glad of that in many ways. Hilde was a lot of fun. She fit Duo perfectly. Quatre and Wufei of course were engaged, and probably would be married before the next month was out. And if Relena had anything to say about it, she would probably have Heero engaged to her before Quatre and Wufei could finish their vows. A red alert sounded in the back of my mind as I started doing the math. With everyone else ‘settling in’ as Quatre termed it, then it meant there was only one clear target: me. “Quatre…there isn’t any need to worry about me. Some people take longer to find their one and only. As for Heero…well, I wouldn’t be surprised if Relena announces their engagement soon.” Quatre started laughing, listing toward one side in his chair. It sounded odd, considering how stuffed up he was, which was rather funny in and of itself. “I’d actually be *very* surprised by that.” “Ah…” This really wasn’t the reaction that I had been expecting. “Why?” “Because Heero doesn’t like to play with girls.” A morbid fascination took over my senses. Heero had never made any indication while we were traveling together of which way he swung. I didn’t peg him for swinging the same way I did, though. I managed to close my mouth before I could pry out of Quatre just *how* he knew this. Quatre sat back up again, containing his humor. “I know because I gave him some advice on how to discourage Relena. That’s when he told me.” “Oh.” Urk. I really have no idea what else to say. I mean, in this kind of situation, what *should* you say? The vidphone rang. A canned female voice announced “Incoming call from Heero Yuy.” Quatre made an abortive move to answer it, nearly tripping over the blankets doing so. I waved him back into his chair and went over to the machine, hitting the accept button. “Yes?” Heero’s face appeared on the screen. //Win—Barton. Hn. Good, it’s actually you I need to talk to.// My head quirked a little to the side at this. Me? “Continue.” //I have…a situation. And I need your help.// For a split second that last sentence simply did not compute. Heero has never asked for help in his life. Not even when he was so banged up after his attempt at self-destructing that he couldn’t even sit up in bed properly. I had to restart my brain to get it past that mental hurdle. “Can this be explained over a ‘phone?” //No.// A tic was visible at the corner of his mouth. Uh-oh. It looks like somebody is in trouble. I’m so glad it isn’t me. Heero tends to shoot first and send apology flowers later. “Where are you?” Relena is as bad as Quatre when it comes to moving around spur of the moment sometimes. //Sanc Palace.// I pulled up a flight schedule for L4 and ‘hmm’ed in thought for a moment. “I should be there late tonight. I’ll send you my flight number.” //Acknowledged. I’ll pick you up.// I returned his tight nod. Quatre had by this point managed to extract himself from the blankets and was looking over my shoulder. “I take it that you aren’t going to be coming any time soon?” //No.// Heero visibly hesitated. He had gotten better at being social since the war ended some nine months ago. //Actually, if this cannot be solved quickly I might have to call everyone in.// By everyone it was understood that he meant all five of us. Oh boy. The picture this was painting in my head wasn’t pretty. Quatre worried his bottom lip as he thought. “I’ll alert Duo and Wufei. We should be able to meet you downside a few hours after Trowa—” “Quatre.” I turned my head so that I could Look at him meaningfully. “You aren’t going anywhere until that cold is gone.” “But—” “For one thing, I don’t fancy the idea of Wufei after my hide with one of those swords. For another, you’re not exactly at your brightest right now.” //I concur. Quatre. Go get some sleep.// Quatre wrinkled his nose at me, stuck his tongue out at Heero, then huffed his way back to his blankets, muttering dire threats at both of us as he went. Heero and I exchanged a look. “Hn.” //Hn.// “Will you two stop that?” Quatre demanded testily. “I’ll let Wufei and Duo know of the change in plans.” I continued, carrying on as if we had been having an actual verbal conversation. “Barton, out.” “I wonder what is wrong…” My shrug was casual enough, but I was wondering the same thing. “I’ll know soon enough. Where’s Wufei?” “The back gardens, I think. That’s where he usually goes.” It took a few moments before I was able to locate Wufei in the back gardens. I recognized the Tai Chi forms he was going through, and was wise enough to wait until he had completed whatever level he was on and turned to face me. I had witnessed first hand what happened when you tried to interrupt Wufei. Duo had nursed a black eye for two weeks. He came to a stop, turning to look at me. “Barton.” I returned his gruff nod. “Chang. There’s a situation. Yuy has called me in.” He frowned at this. “When do you leave?” “In roughly ten minutes. He said that if the situation isn’t resolved quickly, then he will call all of us in.” The frown deepened. “Understood.” “Sit on Quatre.” I added wryly. “He wants to go with me.” Wufei rolled his eyes. “He would. I’ll drive you to the shuttleport.” “No need. I’ll get Abdul to do it. Alert Duo and have him on standby.” With a lazy salute to him I turned and headed back to the house so that I could collect my unpacked bag, dialing the number to the shuttleport as I went. + It was pitch dark when my shuttle landed on Earth. I had spent most of the nine hour flight sleeping, since I knew that I wouldn’t be getting much of it as soon as Heero got his hooks into me. I did have the presence of mind to call Une and warn her of what was happening. She didn’t seem too startled at the news, which made me think that Heero had called her first and warned her who he was bringing in. Heero looked like he hadn’t been sleeping well for the past three months. There was a light in his eyes that I wanted to peg as panic, but Heero doesn’t panic. As I drew closer to him, I had to change my mind on that. Apparently, I had just never *seen* Heero panic. Because he was darn tootin’ doing it now. And if Heero was panicking, then the rest of us should be running in circles, tearing at our hair and screaming hysterically. Maybe scrambling for a bomb shelter. I knew better than to try to get any information out of him before we were in a secure location. I nodded at him in acknowledgement, then followed him silently toward the waiting car. As soon as I had closed the door we were off in a squeal of tires. “Someone is trying to locate all of the Gundams.” I jerked in my seat, shocked that he had both volunteered the information as much as I was about the information he had given. “How successful have they been?” “Heavyarms and Wing have been located.” Erk. I can now completely understand why Heero is so agitated. I feel a little twitchy myself. After the war had ended, we had chosen to hide the Gundams instead of destroying them or turning them over to the Preventer force. Technically, they were under Preventers jurisdiction. Untechnically, no one would actually dare lay a finger on those mecha without express permission. Or a death wish. “How?” Heero’s jaw rippled as he ground his teeth together. “After I established the mainframe, someone tampered with the program, allowing easier access to certain parts of the database. They entered through a side door.” Heero hadn’t been allowed to keep track of everything. Relena complained that it took too much time. And it *was* a time consumer, even Heero admitted that. But it meant handing certain key elements to someone else’s control. We had all argued bitterly over that, but to little avail. Finally we had settled on letting Heero set up the system and alarms to make sure that it was secure and letting someone else update and monitor it. Whichever fool it was that dared to tamper with that system wouldn’t live comfortably as soon as five pilots managed to get there hands on him. “Is there any sign of who? Or if they plan on moving on the Gundams before they locate all seven?” Heero shook his head minutely. “No. Which is why I need you. I can’t review all the information quickly enough.” And because Heavyarms was one of the Gundams found. He knew just how much trouble he would have been in if he hadn’t pulled me in immediately. “Understood.” A thought occurred and I looked at him sideways. “Who knows of this?” “Une. Sally Po. Zechs.” Three of the most trustworthy people in Preventers, in other words. I noticed that he hadn’t mentioned Relena and breathed a sigh of relief. The communicator on Heero’s wrist beeped. He slapped it on with a growl. “What?” //Yuy.// I recognized the voice clearly as belonging to Une. Heero’s eyes closed briefly. “Which one?” //Deathscythe.// “Shimatta.” I shared an angry glare with him. Make that three Gundams found. “Understood. We’ll be there in five minutes.” I forced myself to sit back in the seat. “Duo is on standby. I’ll call him as soon as we get there. The Gundams must be moved.” “Hn.” ~*~*~*~
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