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"Incendiary"Written By: The Plotting Housewife Disclaimer: Gundam Wing belongs to Bandai, Sotsu
and associated Parties. This work is written for pleasure not profit. Rating: NC 17 Warnings: Yaoi, wrongful imprisonment, Newtypes,
internment camps, eventual rape/noncon Pairings: 3x4, 1x2, 5xS Summary: A group of wealthy college kids are murdered.
There are no witnesses, but there is a suspect. From within the simmering
sludge of irrational fear and prejudice, conspiracy theories are born
and innocent people pay the price. "Incendiary" Duo was, of all things, in dire need of a hot shower. He groaned as the stolen truck hit another bump in the road, wishing he'd brought a cushion to protect his ass from the cold, dirty metal. It was a three-seater and the cab was taken up by Wufei, Sally, and Trowa. That left he and Heero to ride out the unpaved country roads in the bed. He felt disgusting as he pulled his braid over his shoulder and picked tiny twigs out from between the weaved locks of hair. They'd taken a detour on foot through the woods, not even bothering with any of their vehicles. They walked for three days until they were sure they were cleared from the big city and under the cover of night, snatched an old pickup from a local farmer. Duo felt bad about taking the old guy's truck so he left a wad of unmarked credits inside the handle of his back door. He wanted to leave a note, but it was too risky. They didn't want anyone sniffing out their trail. He was really worried about Trowa's state of mind. He hadn't said much since Quatre was taken four days ago and Duo and Heero had taken to forcing him to eat and sleep. He stared straight ahead, seemed lost in thought and spoke only when spoken to, though he'd taken to saying, "I can't feel him. I can't feel him," every so often. It was as if he'd forgotten how to live. Duo could only hope it was just temporary shock because they needed him. Quat needed him. Heero had gotten an encrypted message through to Zechs and Relena to let them know what had happened and he'd picked up chatter through various obscure internet sites, ones that were well-protected with high security firewalls. The information on Quatre's whereabouts was exceedingly difficult to find, but he'd been able to pinpoint his location outside of Alnwick where an old prison had sat unused for decades. That was just one site out of about fourteen scattered around the country that was being used to hold the imprisoned Newtypes. If there was one thing to be said about imprisoning someone who was well-known, it was that people were going to talk about it, including people who weren't supposed to talk about it. Certain aspects of human nature were reliable to a fault and Heero knew someone would inevitably brag, juicy gossip that was just too good not to share and what better than the news that Quatre Winner was not only a Newtype, but was among those who were apprehended? Someone out there would be proud about that fact, feel some sort of perverse vindication, and wouldn't be able keep his mouth shut about it. All he needed was one person to spill the beans before it spread like wildfire throughout the internet. Even with the attempts to smother social media usage, there were those who knew how to work their way around them and one of them was Heero. Just as he'd predicted, someone had talked and he traced the rumors to their source. The name Bridgepoint West popped out like a beacon and the street level footage he'd been able to find on the vehicles that came to Trowa and Quatre's house were tracked going northbound to the location. The counter movement had been initialized and strongholds of rebel forces were going up all over the country, recruiting not only AWOL military and police, but also civilians who wished to take up arms to fight the new regime. One such branch was located about forty miles outside of Alnwick. Heero had gotten in touch with the head of that branch. He had to jump through about a thousand hoops to prove who he was before he was given the coordinates to their exact location. They were on their way there but they had to be extremely careful, avoiding any main roads and arteries through towns and cities. They had enough weaponry on them to mobilize a small army which wouldn't bode well if they were caught. They stopped into the towns long enough to stock up on necessities and then they were on the move again, through back roads that didn't even have names, much less were located on any maps. Heero had to install his own self-made blocker that he'd created during the war so he could still use his computer to garner information without being tracked. Duo was also worried about Heero. He didn't know how much Zander's people knew, whether they'd known that he and Heero were in the country when they'd sent them on that wild goose chase. He had to assume they did and if that was the case, they probably knew about Heero's Newtype abilities. He still had no idea how Newtypes were able to do what they did. He was fascinated by the things Heero and Quatre could do, fascinated by their connection. He'd seen the magic happen himself during the war when Heero and Quatre were often in close contact with each other. Quatre's abilities went far beyond just impressions of people's feelings. The fact that he could read minds had creeped Duo out for the longest time. He'd been uneasy when he'd first found out, but if there was anyone in the world that he could trust, it was Quatre and Quatre would never violate someone's privacy unless he absolutely had to. Trowa's ability seemed intricately connected to Quatre himself and did not go beyond the two of them. There were no records on file as far as Duo knew about Trowa's uncanny ability to know where Quatre was and whether, or not he was in distress. In that sense, he was only a Newtype as far as Quatre was concerned and that was it. The fact that he kept mumbling that he couldn't feel Quatre was unnerving. Even more so when Heero had said he couldn't feel him either. Duo didn't know if it was just the distance between them that was causing it, the power just too diluted to travel that far. He hoped that was the case because the alternative was something Duo didn't want to think about. Heero's gift was far less intense than Quatre's, more muted. Limited to vague notions of feelings, but he could extend it pretty far when he set his mind to it. He'd known about Father Maxwell, Sister Helen, and Solo long before Duo ever told him about them. He hadn't known their names, but he had recollections, almost like pictures of them in his mind and he could feel the emotional connection Duo had with them. Doctor J was intimately connected with Heero's abilities because he knew every single thing about him and that information was recorded in the Doctor's abstruse notes along with every complex detail of Heero's physical, mental, and emotional profile. That knowledge, that also extended to all of the pilots and their affiliations with the Mad Five, covered everything, even their most mundane habits which included all of their biological functions. Duo could still remember blushing to the tips of his toes when he'd gone through the intensely awkward sexual training. Basically, since they were male and teenagers, especially because they were male and teenagers, they were prone to preoccupation of the sexual nature. They couldn't afford to be distracted by something as pesky as sexual arousal. It could cost them a mission, cost them their lives. He'd been connected with electrodes to monitor his heart and brain waves and was shown images of naked males and females, shown video clips of pornography, and was given a moderate electric shock whenever he responded with anything remotely resembling arousal. It was a wonder any of them had any sex life at all after that. If that wasn't bad enough, they were also forced to hold their full bladders and bowel movements for days at a time. Sometimes, you just weren't going to have the chance to stop and take a shit when you were on a mission, no matter how badly you had to go. They were starved and deprived of water, even sleep. They were kept in tiny rooms with no outside stimuli to enhance emotional and mental endurance. Every possible threat to the mission was addressed. Every 'i' was dotted, every 't' crossed. The truck hit another hole in the road and Duo's ass bounced painfully against the rippled bed. "Ow," he moaned. He glanced over at his lover whose head lolled with the movement of the truck, his eyes closed. How he could sleep on this roller coaster ride was beyond Duo. He shook his head affectionately and watched the endless trees and pastures pass by, getting difficult to see now that it was getting dark. They'd be stopping soon to sleep. Hopefully, they'd be able to find a barn to camp out for the night. Under the stars wasn't bad, but it got a little chilly at night and it wasn't fun waking up covered in dew. Tomorrow, they would reach the rebel compound. He glanced up at the stars, pinpointed the lights of the different colonies. As different as each of them were. Different, but the same. He remembered feeling some jealousy when he'd discovered the connection Heero had with Quatre and was a little angered when he found out they had slept together after the Zero incident. Of course, that had been his own petty feelings. He and Heero weren't together at the time and Heero had explained to him that the intimacy had been a comfort to them during a very difficult time. Duo realized it was silly to be jealous, realized it was something that they'd needed. Quatre had been distraught over Trowa and Heero was missing Duo. They'd also needed to explore their strange Newtype kinship. It was new to them both, finding someone who was like them. It took him a while to get over those bitter feelings, wishing he could have with Heero what Quatre had. He finally had to accept that it was just the way it was. He loved them both dearly and he couldn't harbor any ill will towards either of them. He wondered how Quatre was doing. Unlike Wufei and even Trowa in the beginning, he'd always believed Quatre was as capable as the rest of them. He was probably the strongest when it came right down to it. Not physically. In that sense, he did score last in physical strength which was understandable considering his petite stature, but physical and mental endurance, he'd easily surpassed even Heero. He had no doubt Quatre would get through this virtually unscathed. He had a good head on his shoulders and he was more prone than the other pilots to thinking out his actions before he implemented them. He was a strategist by nature. He didn't do anything without carefully calculating all possible outcomes. In that, he was similar to Zero which was why he'd been able to merge with the system with relative ease. He was the only one, with the exception of Heero, to conquer that system. Something that still terrified Duo to this day. He didn't know how they did it. Trowa had nearly lost his mind and everyone else who'd ever used it did lose theirs. The truck slowed to a stop and Duo turned towards the little window in the back of the cab as Wufei slid it open. He pointed to an old barn about a quarter mile off the road. "We're gonna camp there. Sound good?" "Yeah, that's fine." Wufei nodded and slid the window closed, pulling the truck off the road and through the field, parking it behind the barn and out of sight. Duo breathed a sigh of relief as the jarring finally stopped and his ass sung his praises as he lifted it from the hard surface of the truck bed. He bent down and shook his lover's shoulder gently. "Hey, Hee-chan." "Mmf." "Come on, baby. We're here." Heero's eyes cracked open, gleaming dark blue in the moonlight. "Where's 'here'?" "Dunno. We have to check our coordinates. It's out in the boonies, that's all I know." He offered Heero his hand and pulled him up. They grabbed their stuff and jumped down, stretching muscles that had been dormant for some hours. "Ahhh...God that feels good, eh Tro?" Trowa was silent, gazing up at the moon with a solemn expression. Duo didn't give up trying to engage him. The sooner he snapped out of it, the better for all of them. He wrapped an arm around his friend. "Come on, buddy. You gotta come back to us. Let's go inside and get you settled." Duo looped his arm through Trowa's and guided him into the barn, busying himself by setting up the pallets for them to sleep. The barn had an old musty smell, faint remnants of animals and dung still lingered in the air. Duo's nose prickled. Wonderful. As if he didn't already stink, now he could add rancid barnyard stench to the list. He prayed the compound had showering facilities. He glanced up at Trowa and patted the pallet he'd set up for him. "Come on. Sit down." Trowa obeyed and Duo dug through his pack until he located a can of peaches. He popped the lid open and handed it to Trowa, licking fruit juice from his thumb. "Here. You need to eat. I don't have any spoons, so you'll just have to slurp it." Trowa quietly sipped the juice from the can as Heero walked over. "I'm low on battery power and since the sun's down, I can't charge my computer until morning, but I checked our coordinates. We're outside of Wakefield. We should reach the compound sometime in the late morning." Duo nodded, "Sounds good. I got dibs on the first shower." Heero smirked and plopped down on his pallet, Wufei and Sally settling down on the other side of him. Sally sat up and glanced over at Duo. "How is he?" ""He" is just fine, thank you," said Trowa, a little irritably. "There he is. He's still with us." Duo ruffled his hair and Trowa swatted his hand away. Sally was blushing. "Sorry, Trowa. I didn't mean to act like you weren't here, or -" "It's okay, Sally. I'm sorry I snapped at you. I'm just...out of sorts." "Understandable, sweetie." "Go to sleep," Wufei grumbled. Duo turned a wry grin on Trowa. "Well, we heard the man. Orders are orders." He glanced at Heero who was already snoring softly. Wufei huffed and nudged him and he rolled onto his side with a snort, then settled back down, sans snoring. Trowa turned misty eyes on Duo. "I can't feel him," he said again. Duo rested a hand on his knee, heart hurting for his friend. "I know, man." "Why can't I feel him? I always feel him. Always, but - I can't feel anything, Duo." "I know, buddy, but you can't give up. We don't know what's happening, but I'm sure whatever it is, Quat is fine." "How can you be sure?" Duo shrugged. "Because it's Quat." That earned him a small smile. Encouraged, he continued. "You know as well as I do how tough that little blond shit is. Probably tougher than all of us. He's also stubborn as a mule. He's not going to let anything happen that would take him away from you. This is a setback for him, nothing more." Trowa chuckled. "Remember our wedding?" Duo threw his head back, laughing. "How could I forget?" Quatre was dead set on getting married on the fifteenth of October. Not even an "emergency" was going to deter him from his wedding day. He'd been dragged to the L4 capitol for official business. So he brought Trowa with him, as well as the entire wedding party, called a magistrate, and they got married right then and there in the middle of the conference, signing off on legislation as he took his vows. Quatre was the one who'd walked seventy miles through the desert in one hundred plus degree heat with no water and then went straight into battle. He was the one who was training with Wufei in the Peacemillion hangar and making plans to destroy the Gundams less than a week after he'd been run clean through with a sword and suffered a punctured kidney and internal bleeding. Trowa had to force him to go back to the infirmary and even then, he'd gone practically kicking and screaming. That was the kind of tenacity they were dealing with. That was Quatre. He wasn't going to let this bring him down. He'd fight his way back to them because Quatre Winner didn't take anything lying down. He knew what he wanted, knew what needed to be done and he wouldn't settle for anything less.
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