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" Everywhere I Look "Written By: Presser
Disclaimer : I do not own Gundam Wing or its characters. This work of fiction is written and shared freely without any attempt to profit financially from it. Rating : R Pairings : 1x2 Warnings : Wistful romance, AU, after Endless Waltz, and departing quite a bit from canon direction Summary: Duo Maxwell is a young, upcoming artist with a hole in his heart. He hates himself for never confessing his love to Heero Yuy, a war-weary mecha pilot running from his past all the way to the Phobos Project—the first manned mission to Mars. Duo longs for the man he loves, but doesn’t know where he is. Can they find love in each other’s arms? And what of Heero’s mysterious collapse when he arrives on Earth to search for the one he loves?
"Everywhere I Look " 22
Heero shifted in his hospital bed again and realized
his left leg was asleep. He lifted the pillow in his lap, carefully
balancing the laptop sitting on it, and uncrossed his legs. As he
lowered the pillow to his thighs, blood rushed downward, invading
them with a devilish tingling.. His eyes popped wide and he lurched
forward. The laptop spilled from the pillow. It slipped off the edge
of the bed, but Heero grabbed a corner to keep it from hitting the
floor. The motion of pulling it to him and righting himself egged
on the uncountable pins and needles assailing his legs. He groaned. “Heero?” “Give me a fucking minute, Wufei.” Wufei pulled his cell from his ear and raised an eyebrow
at it. He brought it back to the side of his head and said, “What’s
wrong?” “Nothing,” Heero said through clenched teeth.
“Just hang on.” He decided enough was enough. He closed the laptop,
scooted to the edge of the bed, and gingerly swiveled his legs to
the side. When the tingling subsided, he put both feet against the
snaps holding his oxygen tent to the bed frame and shoved hard. The
bottom edge of the tent came loose. He smiled triumphantly. I’ve
been trapped long enough. Besides, it’s a hospital, for Zeus’s
sake. Help is right “Still there, Wufei?” “What the hell are you doing? What’s going
on?” “Freedom,” Heero said with a wry grin, “is
sweet.” For the second time Wufei pulled his cell from his ear
and raised an eyebrow at it. When Heero began speaking he returned
it to his ear. “Okay, here’s what I think,” he said,
his tone serious. “First, I assume Preventers probably tracks
a larger percentage of activity in your highest strata than any of
the others because they’re smaller and you’ve concentrated
your best people on it. Plus, if Lady Une is still as dedicated, aggressive,
and paranoid as I remember her, then she’s used every connection
she established in her former position as Kushrenada’s right
hand to the hilt. So it makes sense —” “Sorry,” Heero said. I only meant it’s
reasonable to assume she’d go to whatever lengths necessary to
get the maximum amount of data. I didn’t mean to insult your
boss.” Wufei stifled a sigh. Heero charged ahead. “So it
makes sense that Preventers knows a lot about what’s usual and
typical in the chatter among government and military personnel. Plus
some of these higher-ups probably frequent forums and boards in the
lower strata, so that lets you spot new topics the moment they appear.
You’ve done a lot of pattern analysis. And you’re also charting
how fast new topics rise, which would give you —” “All true,” Wufei said, anxious to get to
any new insights Heero might have to offer. “What’s your
theory?” “It’s just a guess,” Heero said, “but
it’s a reasonable conclusion that you’ve seen a spike in
references to the scientists among those at the top, but that’s
all. No theories or suppositions, no speculations. Mostly just cryptic
mentions of them.” “And what does that tell you?” Heero was silent.
Then, taking a big breath, he spoke cautiously. “Why do people
talk about other people?” “Excuse me?” Wufei said, thrown off balance
by the question. “In general.” “Well,” Wufei said, unsure of Heero’s
intentions, “there are several reasons: they did something noteworthy
or interesting —” “Interesting,” Heero said. “Go on.” “And,” Wufei said slowly, thinking his way
through his response, “they might be interesting not just because
of what they’ve done, but because of what they could
do, how they could benefit the speaker.” Silence. “Heero, what am I missing? We know the military
would find the Gundam scientists more than interesting because of
their knowledge and experience. I’m sure there are any number
of uses they could be put to. But all that’s going on is that
people in different strata are simply mentioning them. There’s
nothing that leads us to think —” “Maybe,” Heero said, “it’s not the
military that’s interested in the scientists, Wufei.” In the pause that followed, Wufei narrowed his eyes. When Heero’s point dawned on him, he opened them
wide. “You think it’s the scientists who
are interested in the military. You think they have a project
they want to accomplish, or at least goals, and that they could use
—” “That’s exactly what I think.” Heero waited while Wufei considered this. After a moment,
Wufei drew a big breath and huffed it out. “It’s not an
unreasonable theory. Turn our assumptions a hundred-and-eighty degrees
around and the facts still fit together. But why? What would their
goal be?” “Who knows?” Heero said. “Curiosity,
the betterment of humankind … I wouldn’t put it past Dr.
J to tinker with the Phobos mission just because he was bored.” After another pause, Wufei said, “I have a lot
of work to do. If you’re right —” “If I’m right,” Heero said, “you’re
going to want me working on this full time.” “Is that something you’d consider?” “Perhaps. I need some time.” “How much?” “I’m not sure. I promise it won’t be
long. I’ll call you when I’m ready to get involved.”
Pause. “There’s something personal I need to take care of
before I can give you my full attention.” “Okay,” Wufei said. “I’ll be waiting
for your call.” Heero cut the call, killed the app providing the link, and powered down his laptop. He leaned back in his chair and looked out at gray-blue mottled clouds scudding low in front of a blood-orange setting sun, then closed his eyes. I’ve got to get out of here. Now. |
