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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" Heero bolted upright when a loud honk sounded from outside the barn and glanced around in confusion. "The hell was that?" He spun around on his backside and peered through the gaps between the wooden boards, clicking the safety off his sidearm. Wufei's voice mumbled from beside him. "It's a goose, you dimwit. Haven't you ever heard a goose before?" "Oh." He clicked the safety back on and shoved the gun into his waist band. He had an awful crick in his back from sleeping on the half-rotted boards and wished he'd taken Wufei's advice to sleep on top of his sleeping bag. Not even the pallet had cushioned the hard, uneven surface. "My back is killing me." "You should have slept -" "On top of the bag, yes I know. I was cold." "Well, maybe if you wore clothes once in a while..." Heero grunted in reluctant acknowledgement, stretched, and nudged a snoring Duo with his knee. "Wake up. It's morning." "Mmph, Sis'er Helen, jus' five more minutes." Heero shoved his socked foot into his lover's arm and Duo jerked awake with a snort. "Whazzit?" "It's morning, you idiot. Wake up. And wake up Trowa while you're at it." "I'm already up," came Trowa's subdued murmur. Duo rolled over and propped his head on a hand, yawning loudly. "Did you sleep at all?" Trowa shrugged and glanced over at him. Duo could barely make out his face in the muted light of the barn, but the bags under his eyes were prominent. "A little." "Tro, I know it's hard, man. But you gotta sleep. And eat. You're not going to help Quat by running yourself ragged." "For once, I'm going to second Maxwell's advice," Wufei said as he rolled up his sleeping bag. He glanced up at Trowa, his expression stern. "You want to help Winner, don't you?" Trowa shot him a baleful look. "Well, you look like a damn zombie and you are pretty much acting like one, too. You're no use to him, or any of us like this. So I'd suggest you get your shit together, or you're going to end up compromising the mission, not to mention putting your husband at greater risk." "Easy, Fei," Duo admonished. "No need to be so harsh." "No, Duo. He's right." Trowa ran a hand through his tousled hair and blew out a heavy breath. "I do need to get my shit together. I'd never be able to live with myself if I jeopardized the mission because I'm wallowing in self pity. I can't put Quat in even more danger." Heero stood up and stretched, his back popping so loud, Duo involuntarily cringed. "There's no room for liabilities." He sent Trowa a firm look, but Duo could see the softness, the sympathy in his eyes. "Either you're with us all the way, or you stay behind and let us deal with it. There is no in between." Trowa nodded and reached for his bag. "I'm with you. All the way." "Good. Now, eat. You need to keep up your strength." Duo gave Trowa lopsided grin. "Yeah, Tro. Can't have that buff body of yours wasting away to nothing." He fished some jerky and a can of beans out of his bag. "Can't light a fire in here, or out in the field. Too obvious so we'll have to eat 'em cold." He handed Trowa a package of jerky. "Protein." Trowa took the jerky and tore the plastic wrapper open. "Thanks." He tore a long piece off and stuffed it into his mouth, actually hungry for the first time since this all happened. Duo slapped him on the back and popped a piece of the dried meat into his own mouth, then went to work opening the can of beans. Heero watched his lover for a moment. "Did you bring spoons?" Duo looked up at him with wide eyes. "Oh, shit. That's what I forgot." "Damn it, Duo." "I've got spoons," Sally said, digging into her pack and pulling out a handful of silverware. "Spoons, forks, knives, and an extra can opener, just in case." Duo breathed a sigh of relief. "You're the best, Sal." She shrugged and handed out the utensils. "Can't be too prepared." Duo turned at the sound of Trowa crawling out of his pallet and watched him stand up. "S'up, Tro-man?" Trowa didn't bother to look back as he stepped towards the door. "Nature's calling." With that statement, Duo realized his own bladder was demanding attention and nodded. "Yeah. Me, too. I'll join you." "Suit yourself." Trowa disappeared out the door. Duo turned when a hand grabbed his wrist and he looked down into this lover's face. The morning sunlight streamed in through the cracks in the wood, casting horizontal lines across his face. Duo could see the concern in his eyes. "Try to talk some sense into him. I'm worried he could compromise the mission in the state he's in. He's not stable." Heero shook his head and turned when Wufei pressed a can of beans against his arm. He took the proffered can and looked back up at his lover. "If he can't get it together, he's not going to be allowed to help." Duo was conflicted and he shot his lover a soft, but admonishing look. "Heero, his husband was captured. What do you expect? You can't keep him from fighting to get Q back." "I can and I will if he continues on like this. I won't have him putting Quatre, us, or himself in danger." He looked down and stuck his spoon into the beans, but didn't eat them. "He listens to you -" "He listens to you." "Also you. More than you realize. Just...try to get through to him." Duo nodded and bent down to kiss him. "Alright. I'll do my best." "That's all I ask." Duo stepped out through the rickety barn door, closing his eyes as the rising sun hit him in the face. It was bright, but he could feel the warmth and took a moment to bask in it. It was late October and northern Britain was not known for its balmy weather. The chill of the night had settled into his bones, but at least the cold rain had stopped. There was an instant of panic when he glanced around for Trowa and didn't see him. He pressed his hand over his chest in relief when he noticed the truck was still there at least. "Tro? Where'd you go, buddy?" "Right here." Trowa appeared around the corner of the barn, zipping up his fly. His eyes were mild, steady, but Duo could see the prominent shadows beneath them. "Man, don't freak me out like that." He walked several paces into the meadow and fished himself out of his jeans. "Thought you'd taken off," he said, glancing over his shoulder. Trowa was now sitting up against the barn with his knees up to his chest and his head down. Duo finished his business and stuffed himself back in. Heart breaking, Duo went to him and slid down the shingles until his butt rested on the cold, damp ground. "We're going to have wet stains on our asses," he joked, trying to get a positive reaction, dismayed when Trowa didn't respond. "C'mon, buddy. You gotta snap outta this. Do you want to help Quat, or not?" Trowa's head jerked up and he glared at Duo. "Of course I do!" "Well, that's not gonna happen if you don't get your shit together. Hee-chan said he's not gonna allow you to compromise the mission and I have to agree with him. I know how personal this is for you, but if you want to be involved in Q-man's rescue, you're going to need to get yourself together. You gotta find that solider that you once were. We all do." Trowa rubbed his forehead, nodding. "I know. I'm trying." "You can't try. You just gotta do it, man. This is war. We all have to bring back that aspect of ourselves again, even though we don't want to, if we're going to win this." He nudged his friend with an elbow. "I'll bet Quat knows that and is doing the same thing." "Quat's...he's always been strong. Able to adapt to anything. Stronger than me." He shook his head and picked a cat's tail out of the ground. "He's always been stronger than me," he said, twirling the stem between his fingers. "Now you know that's not true." "It is. If it had been me instead, I know he would have gone right into commander mode. What did I do? Just fell apart." "You're allowed to fall apart, but you also need to bounce back from that. If you want to be involved in this, and for Quat's, and ours, and even your sake, you have to find that soldier again." Trowa dropped the cat's tail and brushed his hands on his jeans. "You're right. I will. I can do this." "Hey, don't take it too hard. Civilian life has made us all a little softer. Hell, you should see Hee-chan at home. He's taken a real liking to interior decorating." Trowa snorted and Duo grinned, encouraged. "I'm serious! You should have seen him when we went shopping for curtains. It took him three hours to decides if green, or beige would go better with our furniture." For a moment, Duo's heart stopped when Trowa's shoulders started shaking, thinking he was breaking down again. He ducked his head, trying to get a glimpse of his face. "Are you - are you laughing?" He was and God was that a relief. It was also contagious and Duo soon found himself laughing along with him, slinging a casual arm around his shoulders and leaning against him. "Oh man, Tro. You have no idea. He gets these home and garden catalogs now and he spends hours pouring through them. I caught him once and he blushed like a beet and denied he was doing it. It was a few months later that I found out he had a stash of those things." Trowa threw his head back, laughing hysterically now and Duo realized how much his friend needed this. He gave him a hearty slap on the back. "Just don't ever bring up textiles and color swatches around him. Trust me, my friend. That is a can of worms you don't want to open." He chuckled as Trowa wiped tears of mirth from his eyes, a few residual giggles still escaping. He glanced over at Duo and smiled warmly. "Thanks. I needed that." "Anytime, dude. We all need a good laugh sometimes." "Even when things are bad?" "Especially when things are bad." Trowa nodded again and folded his arms over his knees. "I suppose you're right." The door swung open and Wufei stepped out, looking around with a sense of urgency, then found the two of them leaning against the barn. "There you are. What the hell are you doing?" Duo pulled Trowa into a one-armed hugged and grinned at Wufei. "Relax, Fei. We were just having a chat." "Well, there's no time for that. Get your asses in here and eat some breakfast. Yuy found out something you need to see." "Ah, finally! A development." Duo stood up, wincing at the wetness on the back of his jeans. He brushed them off and linked his arm through Trowa's. "C'mon, buddy. Let's go find out what's new." Trowa was staring at Wufei intently. "Is it about Quat?" Wufei shook his head, his eyes softening. "No. Sorry. But I think you'll find this...interesting." He held the door open and pulled it closed once Duo and Trowa stepped through. They'd lit the camping lanterns. There were two on each of Heero's sides as he sat on his pallet. The glow from his laptop reflected off his face, making it appear blue. He was staring wide-eyed at the screen, occasionally looking down to enter in a keystroke. Sally handed Trowa and Duo each a can of soup. "You'll have to eat it cold, I'm afraid." Trowa took the can and a proffered spoon, thanking her with a nod while Duo patted his stomach. "Cold soup. My favorite. Thanks, Sal." He spooned the soup into mouth as he stepped over to his lover, talking around his mouthful. "What'cha got for us, babe?" Heero turned the laptop around, revealing what looked like classified documents. He swiped his finger and the screen flipped to the next page and then the next page. "Do you ever remember hearing about anything called Operation: Newtype?" Duo stuck his spoon into his mouth, the handle protruding from between his lips as he squatted down next to his lover and shook his head. Pulling the spoon back out, he said, "No. No, that doesn't ring any bells. What about you, Tro?" Trowa was kneeling beside him now, peering into the screen. He lifted his hand and Heero moved his own hand away from the mouse pad so Trowa could read through the documents. He scanned the lines of text, swiping his finger across the pad to flip to the next page. "This is news to me. Mars reformation - what? What the hell is this?" "I've never heard of it either," Heero muttered. "Which is weird. I always thought I'd had everything on Khushrenada and OZ." He shook his head and turned the laptop back towards himself, typing a few words into the keyboard. "This...this was hidden behind an unprecedented amount of firewalls." "Is that what you've been trying to crack since yesterday? I was wondering why it was taking you so long," said Duo. "I've never encountered this much security before." "What is Operation: Newtype? What does it have to do with Mars?" Asked Trowa. Behind them, there was a derisive snort and Duo turned to see Wufei standing a few feet away, his arm around Sally. "Those assholes were planning on creating Newtype soldiers and they were going to use Mars as their base of operations." "What?" Duo coughed on a mouthful of soup. "What? How? When did all this happen?" Heero was staring at the screen again. "As soon as Romefeller realized that some people who were born in space had these special abilities, they opened up a "research" center." He curled the index and middle fingers on both hands in a quote gesture. "While they did do research on the phenomenon, they also launched a super secret program where they began experimenting on Newtypes." His face contorted into an expression of disgust. "And when I say experiment, I mean all kinds of horrific, inhumane things. They essentially tortured these people." "Why?" "Because that's what humans do when they want to "understand" something," Wufei scoffed. "Mind you, this was all done in the name of science." Duo clicked his tongue. "Lemme guess. They decided Newtypes would be a useful tool in warfare." "Bingo," said Heero. He scrolled through the screen and turned it back to face them. "Here's a list of all the organizations that helped fund the project." Duo read down the list, mumbling out loud. "Romefeller, White Fang, oh big surprise there. The Barton Foundation...Wi -" Duo looked up sharply. "Winner Enterprises?" Heero nodded solemnly. "Afraid so." "But...why?" Trowa growled beside him, fury setting in. "Because Quatre's father was nothing if not an opportunist. Anything for an advantage, even if that included throwing his own son under the bus." He turned away and chucked the soup can against the wall. "Son of a bitch!" "Okay, Tro. Relax. That was a long time ago." Duo glanced back at Heero. "Does Quat know about this?" "I doubt it. He's never given me an indication...I mean, I've never felt anything." He looked up to see Trowa giving him a hard look. "I've never gotten that impression from him." "Of course he didn't," Trowa snapped. "He would have told me." He stuck his fingers into his hair, dragging them through the tousled locks in a show of aggravation. "Can't believe it. His own fucking father." Heero was looking back at the screen. "It says here that WEI's first donation occurred on December 12th, 185." He glanced up at his lover. "Quatre's fifth birthday. His father must have already known he had abnormal abilities." Duo cocked his head. "I thought Newtype abilities didn't manifest until they reached puberty." "In most cases, that's true. It was in mine. In Quatre's case, though..." He shook his head and tapped the monitor. "His manifested when he was just a toddler. Very rare and an indication of an exceptionally strong Newtype." Duo leaned back and crossed his ankles. "Well, we already knew Quat's was stronger than most. When was this program first launched anyway?" "It says here that the research program opened on March 4th, 166. The weapons program only two years after that." Heero looked up, glancing at each of them in turn. "Does anyone remember hearing about the rash of Newtype disappearances from AC 167-169?" They collectively shook their heads. "There was a media blackout on the subject, but not before some of the story broke. It wasn't big news on Earth, but in the colonies, it was. At least until the people in charge shut it down." "How many disappeared?" Asked Trowa. "The coverage was inconsistent. Anywhere from fifty to one hundred fifty from what I can discern." "There's a big difference between fifty and a hundred and fifty," said Duo. "It does say that the number of specimens...people they experimented on was one hundred twenty two, so that must be the correct number." "And they wanted to figure out a way to recreate the abilities Newtypes have," Wufei interjected. "They developed an AI program that mimicked the strongest Newtypes." Trowa's eyes widened. "Zero." Heero nodded. "Yeah. Zero was the prototype and Epyon was based off of it." Duo sputtered. "But, the Mad Five came up with that!" Heero turned the computer again, his face grim. "They were in on the program, Duo. And guess who directed it." He pointed to the short list of names near the top of a document. "Fucking Zander?" "Zander was appointed by Treize Khushrenada to oversee the operation," said Sally. "So what happened to the program?" "It lost its funding after the first war and the fall of Romefeller and was scrapped," Heero said with a sigh. "It looks like Zander's been busy rebuilding interest." Trowa stepped forward. "He's relaunching it?" "According to this, he already did. Five years ago." "And the Newtypes he's recently taken are part of his plan to recruit new soldiers," Duo guessed. "Not quite. Zero's been destroyed. They need to recreate the system again, but in order to do that, they need to harness the abilities of the strongest known Newtypes. But they can't use the Newtypes who are currently alive as soldiers. That would require decades of torture, brainwashing, and indoctrination and the process would likely kill more than half of them." "Sounds like something they would do," said Duo. But Heero shook his head. "Not if you need power in numbers. It's also not efficient. The best way to do it is to recreate the AI program and clone the Newtypes they've captured and install the system into their brain via a microchip while the clones are still in infancy." "What about Mars?" Asked Trowa. "Some of the captured Newtypes have already been transferred. There were giant ships that were specifically built for their experiments and were taken out past Mars' orbit. That way, they could ensure their secret operation. In addition to that, they were terraforming Mars..." He pulled up a photo from the bottom of the menu and pointed at it. "This was the complex that they'd begun construction on back in 186. They never finished it because the war happened." Duo snorted. "I bet ol' Treizey was pissed that he didn't have his magic soldiers by the time war broke out." "Not for lack of trying," said Sally. "When he died, the program died with him, or so we thought." "Do we have a lead on Zander?" Heero looked up at Trowa and shook his head. "Not yet. But we will. Hopefully when we reach the stronghold, they'll have more for us." "They'd better," Duo muttered. "Speaking of which, I hate to call this little conference to an end, but we're burning time here," Wufei pointed out. Trowa nodded eagerly. "Yeah, we need to get going." He turned to his pallet and began rolling up his sleeping bag. The situation was even more urgent than he'd realized. If Quatre hadn't already been taken on one of those ships, if he wasn't already on his way to Mars, he just might be soon. Trowa didn't even want to imagine the deplorable things his husband would have to endure. "Trowa," Heero's stern voice broke through the haze of panic and he turned, looking at him over his shoulder. Heero's eyes were dark, deadly serious, but there was a hint of uncertainty and concern. "I know you know the repercussions of going into this when you're not thinking clearly. If you can't -" "I can, Heero. I am. I got this." "You sure?" Trowa nodded, feeling much clearer now than he had been since Quatre was taken. He could feel the dark cloud of the Silencer settling into his bones, filling him with a deadly calm like he hadn't felt since the war. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm ready." Heero watched him intently for another long moment, needing to be sure. Then he nodded, seemingly satisfied. "Alright. Let's go then." "Wait a minute," Duo said, holding up a hand. He turned on his lover. "What about you?" "What do you mean?" Duo rolled his eyes. "I mean, hello!" He pointed at his lover. "You. Also a Newtype." "Duo, I really don't -" "No, I really do. Save it. If they found out about Quat, then that also means they know about you. I don't want you at risk, too." Duo's voice dropped, his face twisting into something like pain. "I - what if something happens to you? What will I do then?" Heero lifted his chin and fixed his lover with a steady gaze. "Nothing is going to happen to me. And even if it did, you would continue on with the mission. No matter what. You may be my lover, but right now, your duty is as a soldier. That's your job and you will do it like it's your only priority. Understood?" He stepped around Duo without waiting for a response and began packing up his things. Duo watched him for a moment, then crouched down to throw his things into his bag. "I hate it when you go all Perfect Soldier on me. I don't know whether to be pissed, or turned on." Heero shot him a smirk. "Why not both?"
~ * ~ Chapter 17 |
