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"The Price They Paid "Written By: yanagi Disclaimer: I don’t own Gundam Wing. I just
borrowed the boys to play with. I won’t hurt them–much.
Rating: NC 17 Pairing: 1x2x1, 3x4x3, 5x6x5 Warnings: Swearing, sexual innuendo, full body
cavity search, limes and lemons later on. Summary: 'They' sentence Heero to two ten year sentences to be served concurrently. The differences between what the boys experience can be startling. *thoughts*
"The Price They Paid" Chapter 34 - A Bomb Made in Heaven Duo grumbled, he just knew this was going to be a bad idea. He was supposed to lecture. He Duo Maxwell was giving a lecture. Granted it was on bombs, but still. And Wufei wasn’t helping any at all. Every time he looked at Duo he started snickering, although he would swear he wasn’t. Duo knew a snicker when he heard one. But he had a job to do and he intended to do it right. So, lecture time. Duo sighed and opened the door to the stage. He walked across the stage to the podium and stood behind it, which, he decided, looked pretty silly. He was barely tall enough to see over it. An aid hurried to lower it, but Duo snorted and said, "Forget it. I’m so not good at formal. Instead, why don’t you just take the damn thing away entirely?" The aid fiddled with something in the unit then wheeled it to the side of the stage. "Well, that’s better . . . um . . . I do need the mic. Ok?" the aid handed Duo the microphone and scurried off the stage. Duo watched him for a second then pulled his attention back to his lecture. "Ok, here it is. I’m supposed to give a lecture on bombs but no one told me until about thirty minutes ago. Really well organized around here, ya know? So, instead of boring you all with a bunch of stuff you should know already I’m just going to open the floor to questions. If anyone finds out that they don’t know something just go ahead and either ask your next door neighbor or me. We’ll work all this out somehow or other." A hand went up almost at once. When Duo pointed at the man, he stood up and told everyone his name. "Hi, there, Frank. What’s your question?" "Um . . . is it really possible to make a bomb out of farm chemicals? I hear about that one from time to time but . . . and how stable is it?" Duo shrugged. "That one’s as old as fossil fuels. You could make a bomb out of fertilizer and old-fashioned diesel fuel. You can’t do it anymore because bio-diesel won’t work. As to the stability of the final product, not real. You could blow yourself up pretty easily. That all?" The man nodded and sat down. Another hand went up almost at once. "Adam, sir. Is it possible to make a bomb out of kitchen chemicals?" Duo sighed, he hadn’t known he was going to get all the old chestnuts. "Ok, people. Listen up. You can make a bomb out of kitchen chemicals, but I don’t recommend it. It’ll blow your face off if you fuck up. And you can distill nitro, if you have to. I’ve done it my self. But I don’t recommend it. You have to do everything exactly right. If you mess up, it’ll either blow up prematurely or not at all. It’s simple, but not easy. Home made explosives are very dicey. And bomb making is a real good way to commit suicide. That said; we still have to deal with the fact that some idiot is making a bomb right now. What I’m supposed to be teaching you all is how to deal with the results. Cross jurisdictional sensitivities have made bomb disposal a real problem. So we get hired to do the job." Duo rubbed his face. "I’d really like to see you all live to have grandchildren. So, enough with the urban myths and on to practicalities. Now, questions?" Duo was more than a little startled to realize that everyone was taking notes. Heero, sitting in the last row was grinning like a fool. Duo grinned back and waited for everyone to finish writing. "Now. I seem to remember the old Red, Yellow, Blue myth is still making rounds. That’s really a ‘thing’. Most bomb makers are using whatever they can scrounge. I made one bomb with all yellow wire, because that was all I had. And telephone wire won’t work. You need a bigger gage than that or your pulse might not be strong enough. Questions?" The entire hour was taken up by questions and comments inspired by them or whatever popped into Duo’s head. Everyone took notes which made Duo feel really strange. It also made him feel good. After the hour was over Duo called a halt to questions and told the recruits that next was a ‘practicum’. Duo wasn’t sure what the word meant but he wasn’t about to ask. He’d find out soon enough. ~ * ~ Duo met Heero in the hall and put one arm around him. "What’s next? We have classes all day today and tomorrow." Duo shivered suddenly. "Brrrr! Goose walked on my grave." Heero pulled Duo into his chest and rubbed his goose-bumped arms. "Why do you say that? It’s creepy. What’s wrong?" "Sister used to say that when she got a phantom chill. I don’t know what’s wrong, but something is. I don’t like it. Cuddles, please." Heero obligingly cuddled Duo until the bumps went away. After Duo stopped shivering and Heero stopped fussing they went to their new offices and checked with the secretary to see what they were supposed to be doing next. Heero had some reservations about what Quatre was doing but he was going along with it because he felt that Quatre had a better handle on what was good for all of them. When he thought about what could have happened to them he was grateful that Quatre had found it possible to use his money and influence to help them as much as he had. He just hoped it was enough. The public could be so fickle, as they’d found out before. When he found out that he was up this afternoon for a bound combat demonstration, which was laughingly referred to as combative prisoner transport training. He just sighed, this was going to be very interesting. ~ * ~ After some consultation with Zechs and Wufei, Heero decided what he was going to do. He didn’t bother to consult much with Duo, he knew that Duo would tell him to ‘let ‘er rip’. He couldn’t help but smile a little, he’d contained himself for months while in prison. This was going to be interesting, more than that, it was going to be fun. Heero walked into the dojo and looked at the gathered men and women. They were all larger than he was by at least four inches and twenty pounds. He smirked at Duo, who was standing at the back of the group. He also saw Zechs and Wufei standing behind Duo. "Good afternoon. . . ." Heero looked around. "Please bow to the instructor." Everybody bowed to Heero who bowed back. "Thank you. I intend to run the class along the lines of a formal martial arts class. Be warned that whatever you think you know is either wrong or doesn’t apply to me. So . . . Who wants to be first?" A man stepped forward. "I don’t particularly want to go first but I’d like to know the reasons behind this class. You take your prisoner and transport them." Heero sighed softly. "That’s the point of this class. Your objective is to get me from here . . ." Heero pointed to his feet. “To there." He pointed to the other end of the room. "Without killing me or having me kill you. And I guarantee you it isn’t as easy as it sounds. Some of you might have a chance in hell. Others aren’t even going to get the transports on me." Heero looked around at the class. "Rules: One. You can’t hit me unless I hit first. Two. You have to get the transport shackles on me first. Three, you have to get me from here to there. I don’t care if you decide to carry me. Ok? Who’s first?" There was some shuffling of feet and muttering. Then two men stepped forward. Both men were very large and powerful. Heero heard a soft gasp and knew that Duo was having trouble. He couldn’t break his concentration but he gave him a quick reassuring glance and was glad to see Zechs had an arm around both Duo and Wufei. He turned his attention back to business with a short nod to Zechs. The two men made the mistake of thinking their greater size and apparent greater strength made a difference. As one man tried to disentangle the chains the other made a grab for Heero. Heero dodged easily and back peddled into the other man. He flailed wildly accidentally lashing out with the handful of chains he held. He hit Heero across the back with it. It wasn’t much of a blow but Heero called a halt to the exercise and faced the group. "Can anyone tell me what they did wrong?" Duo waved his hand from the back of the group. "Not you. Someone else." A few people snickered. "Anyone?" Heero gritted his teeth. "Oh, please." One woman held up a hesitant hand. "Um . . . they didn’t get the chains ready before trying to . . . no?" Heero was slowly shaking his head. "I’ll give you sometime to think about it." Heero walked over to Duo and put his arms around him, resting his head on Duo’s shoulder he grumbled. "Help. They’re probably hopeless. I wanna go home." Heero put an exaggerated whine in his voice. Duo patted Heero’s shoulder. "Sorry. I can’t go and neither can you. I’ll admit that I’m a little shaky. All these big guys are pushing all the wrong buttons. And . . . " Duo turned to Wufei who was just leaning against Zechs just a little too casually." I don’t think ‘Fei is any happier." Wufei shrugged. "I’m not that happy either. I know that these guys aren’t going to hurt me but I still feel crowded. And that smell is triggering all the wrong things." Wufei motioned to a spot on the just mopped floor that was still wet and smelling strongly of disinfectant. Zechs took Wufei firmly by the shoulder. "We’ll leave in a little while, my little dragon. But you should stay as long as you can. Duo, you too." Duo and Wufei both nodded, but neither of them looked very happy. Heero gave Zechs a level look then went back to his trainees. He didn’t look any happier than Wufei or Duo, but for a different reason. "Anyone figure out what went wrong?" Heads shook all around the group. "Very well. I said, and I quote. No hitting me. For any reason with anything. Accidentally or on purpose. I won’t have a bruise. . . I don’t bruise very easily, but any other prisoner would have a mark. A mark that could breach the contract, beside being bad form, so . . . next?" The next group got the chains ready before hand, then couldn’t get them on Heero. He didn’t fight them exactly, all he did was refuse to put his hands close enough together to get the chains on him. They finally gave up with disgusted expressions on their faces. Heero allowed the next group to chain him but wouldn’t walk for them. When one of the men tried to pick him up, he wriggled out of the man’s grasp like an eel and fell to the floor with a solid thump. He disqualified them with a snort. "If you decide to carry your prisoner, you can’t drop him. Marks. So, anyone else?" Heero stood up and looked around. Heads shook all over the group, they knew when they were whipped. He sighed. "Ok, suppose your man has already been restrained. All you have to do is keep him under control. Anyone?" Four men volunteered, Heero’s eyes glowed for a second. "If you insist. But this time you have a fighter on your hands, and you still can’t hit me. Ready. Set. Fight." Heero waited until one of the men grabbed him, then he leaned into the pull and walked right over the man. Then he used him as a weapon. He grasped the man by one arm and wheeled on his heels, dragging the man into one of the others. The next two men Heero kicked. He dropped to his hands and kicked out backwards with his feet spread. Using the chain between his ankles as a weapon, he caught one man in the chest with a foot and the chain got the other across the throat. They both went down coughing and choking. The gasps from the group of people were loud enough that they almost distracted Heero too early, he flicked his eyes to see what was going on in the group. Seeing nothing out of the ordinary, he returned his attention his opponents. Just in time to see the first two regroup and start for him. He watched them carefully but didn’t see any signs that they’d lost control of themselves and gotten mad. Heero waited for the men to do something. He dodged the grab from one side and ducked as the man on the other side made his move. That put the men grabbing each other. Heero couldn’t help a soft snicker. He watched as the men disentangled themselves again. Then he called a halt to the exercise. "Ok, that’s enough. Anyone have any last thoughts before I end the class?" Heero didn’t bother trying to find the voice. "What now? I mean, you’re still in chains. What do you do now?" Heero shrugged. "If I was a normal prisoner, I’d find a cutting tool of some sort and get these off. But as I’m me . . ." Heero stepped wide and threw his arms wide too. The chains broke with pathetic twangs. He strolled casually towards Duo chains dangling from his wrists, leg irons jangling on the floor. Duo greeted him with a snicker and "Need some help with that, lover?" Heero grunted and smirked at Duo. Duo fished in his braid for a lock pick and knelt to open the cuffs around Heero’s ankles. As he knelt, Heero fished another pick out of his hair and started on the cuffs around his wrists. The class just eyed them with amazed respect and not a little awe. ~ * ~ Zechs cornered Heero in the office the next day and got answers to his questions without argument. He rubbed his chin while he thought. Then he told Heero he needed to make some arrangements. "If you make it worse, I won’t be best pleased with you." "Don’t worry. I’m very good at this. I was trained carefully and I seem to have an aptitude for it as well. Someone has been after me for months to do a job for them. I don’t work anymore, but I’ll do this for love. You laugh and I’ll smack you." Heero smirked instead. "I think you’ve been dodging calls from Quatre without knowing it. Have you been getting calls from Bloom Enterprises?" Zechs nodded. "Yeah, they won’t go away . . . do you mean Quatre has been using a dummy corporation to try to get me to work on someone?" Heero nodded. "Duo and Wufei both have problems. Duo can’t be around big men without a safety and Wufei has a real problem with that institutional smell. They both need help." Zechs nodded and got a far away look in his eyes. "Zechs? Zechs? Hey! Come back." Zechs focused on Heero sharply. "Yes? . . . Oh, do I need to make plans for you as well?" Heero shook his head. "No I got a lot of help at the juvenile facility. Really good help too. Can you help them? No bull. I need to know." "I can help. Really. No bull. I wouldn’t . . . do you have any reports?" Heero fished around in his ever present briefcase. And handed Zechs a handful of papers. "Here. This should tell you everything you need to know. And I have more files on my computer if you need them. All you have to do is ask. And stay out of that briefcase. It’s booby trapped. " Zechs held up his hands in a ‘wouldn’t dream of it’ gesture then settled down to read. What he read bothered him a little, in that the problem was easy to cure with a little effort. Especially if the subject was willing and cooperative. Which he knew that Duo and Wufei both were. He’d thought that Dr. Terry was taking care of the problem, but evidently he didn’t feel qualified. ~ * ~ "Wufei? You in here?" Zechs opened the door to the room he’d had prepared. He knew Wufei would be in there. He’d asked Wufei to meet him after all. "H-h-h-here. Zechs . . . I have to leave. . . I can’t be here." Wufei was hugging himself and shivering hard. "We have to go. Please." Zechs gathered Wufei into his arms and cuddled him. "We need to stay. You don’t like the smell?" "No. Can’t stand it. It’s nauseating. Please. We need to leave." Zechs pulled Wufei to a couch and sat down with him in his lap. Wufei didn’t resist, even though Zechs could tell he wanted to. "What is it about that smell? Can you tell me?" "Smells like . . . like a . . . prison. . . I can’t . . . can we leave, please?" "No my love, not yet. What prison? When were you in prison?" Wufei burrowed into Zechs’s shoulder. "Not me. Duo . . . I found him . . . the Alliance had gotten him. He wasn’t there long, but they’d drenched him in that disinfectant that they use. Gotten it in his hair, all over his clothing and in his eyes. He was blinded by it. It didn’t last long and he wasn’t that upset, but . . . oh, Zechs what if . . . if he hadn’t recovered. His eyes . . . His beautiful eyes . . . They were clouded . . . Milky . . . Damn . . . I don’t like to think of it. Please, I need to be out of here." Zechs held Wufei gently but firmly. "You need to stay. Nothing bad is going to happen to you. I won’t let it. But if you don’t get over this you’ll have trouble at a time when we can least afford it. Do you understand?" Wufei drew in a deep shuddering breath. "Yes, I understand. I’ve tried to meditate my way out of this trap. I’ve failed. I don’t know what to do. We tried to find someone to help but he won’t return our calls . . ." Zechs interrupted Wufei. "I’m sorry about that. I’m not qualified, at least not on paper. And in prison, I didn’t feel like I could do anything for anyone. But I’ll help you, for my heart’s sake. You can spank me later. Yes?" Wufei snorted softy. "You’ll enjoy that way too much. Pervert." "Yes, but I’m your pervert." Wufei closed his eyes and drew in a deep breath. He jerked back. "You’ve soaked yourself in that shit." Zechs shook his head. "No. Just my handkerchief. Open your mouth." Wufei did so and found a small spoon slipped between his lips. It was dipped in honey, one of his favorite sweets. He sucked the sticky stuff off the spoon with a small sound of pleasure. Zechs kissed him to share the flavor. "Nice?" "Um-hum. Very." Zechs continued to kiss Wufei, every time he started to react to the smell again he distracted him with something pleasant. A kiss, a taste of honey, some tea, anything to distract him from the smell. But he never removed the smell, in fact he made it stronger. There was a small device on the table next to them which sprayed the stuff every few seconds in timed decreases until it was spraying every five seconds. The smell was finally beginning to make Zechs’s eyes water. "Wufei? What do you smell?" Wufei sniffed gently. "Your aftershave . . . [sniff] peaches . . . [sniff] starch. . . [sniff] tea." Wufei trailed off sniffing again "Anything else?" Zechs pushed Wufei away from his chest and waited, hoping. "No." Wufei pushed his hair out of his eyes in an irritable gesture. "Nothing else . . . should I?" Zechs maneuvered Wufei so he could see the device just as it emitted a mist of disinfectant. "Zechs . . . god, it stinks in here. It’s awful. Come on. You need to get out of here before you throw up." Wufei jumped up and dragged Zechs out of the room, scolding him like a fish wife. In the hall he turned to look up at Zechs. "There now. You’ve made your eyes water something fierce." Zechs fumbled in his pocket for a handkerchief that wasn’t saturated with the stinking disinfectant. He found Wufei’s white silk one pressed into his hand instead. "Are you all right? Do you feel sick? Or faint? Or. . ." Wufei interrupted Zechs with a sharp snort of amusement. I’m not some fainting onna. I’m not sure what you did, but thank you. I don’t remember a time that I’ve been tricked quite so neatly. Quite a trick." Zechs smiled into obsidian orbs. "I couldn’t stand the idea of you being . . . disturbed by a smell. I . . . it . . . well." Wufei cut Zechs off before he stammered himself into incoherency. "I’ll forgive your prevarication this time. I have known for a while that disinfectant was a problem for me. I don’t believe it was that easy to cure. Amazing." Zechs smiled down at Wufei gently, "It was easy because you’re strong. You have a sound mind and don’t coddle yourself. Now . . . we have to figure out how to cure Duo. He needs to be able to be in a room of large loud men without freaking out. He’s going to be around men like that as long as he works. So . . ." Zechs hugged Wufei. "Shall we put our heads together?" Wufei smirked at him and Zechs laughed. "Kiss later, plot now." Wufei nodded and guided his lover into their offices. "Wait here. I’m going to get Heero. There’s no sense in trying to plan something without him. I’ll have a tea tray brought." "How are we going to keep Duo out? He’ll wonder why he’s not included." Wufei put one index finger by his nose, looking wise. "He’s been having Binky brought by. The poor thing misses his company, so he’s been brushing her and playing with her just about now. He’ll be busy for an hour. I best get going so we’ll have time." Wufei hurried out and Zechs quickly cleared the conference table of its burden of empty cups and other detritus left over from break. When Wufei came back, the table was clean and all the mess was neatly in the nearby trash can. Wufei placed the tea tray on the table and settled at the left of Zechs, this left the right-hand seat for Heero, who had followed him in. Heero looked from Zechs to Wufei and put his foot down. "I won’t do anything to hurt Duo. I don’t know what you’re planning but I hope you know what you’re doing." Zechs held up a hand and smiled at Heero. "I won’t hurt Duo. You know that. I want to help him just like I helped Wufei. His files are incomplete. So. . . information. I need a lot of it. So start talking." Heero eyed Zechs, gave a jerky nod and started talking. ~ * ~ Duo entered the room carrying Binky who immediately jumped from his arms and headed for Wufei. Wufei picked up the little dog and patted her head. "And how are you, pretty lady?" Wufei turned to Duo. "She looks good. Coat is good. Eyes clear. No stains. You’re doing very well with her." Duo smiled happily. "Thanks. She does look good, doesn’t she? But she’s not real obedient. I mean, she seems like she tries, but I’m . . . well, I’m not sure she understands what I want. I need training just as much as she does." Duo managed to look both proud and depressed. Zechs shrugged. "Why don’t you take her to see the resident trainer. We’ve got working dogs here. You know. Drug dogs and cadaver dogs, I think there’s some bomb dogs, too. Wufei, do you know if there are any attack or guard dogs on the premises?" Wufei shrugged. "No, I don’t. Why don’t we go down to the training area and see? I’ll be glad for the walk." Zechs nodded and stood up. "Me too. I believe the dog training area is behind the warehouse where Sheila is kept. Come on." They all walked to the training area, or rather jogged. After all it was only half a mile. Zechs called the time in a deep voice that made heads turn. Duo took pity on poor Binky and had her brought by car. When they all got to the training area, Duo was astonished to see that there were at least twenty dogs in the compound. Each dog had a trainer and each group of five had a man overseeing the training. They called commands to the group, watched each dog and trainer to see if they needed help or instruction and just generally kept an eye on things. Zechs led the group over to one of the head trainers and spoke to him while Duo claimed Binky from the driver who’d brought her down. He thanked the man and asked if she’d been a good girl. Binky tried to lick his face so he patted her to make her stop. The driver grinned at him and allowed that she had been fairly good, the only problem was she’d distracted him a little trying to lick him. Duo sighed. "I’ve got to break her of that somehow. Not that I mind a little dog slobber but she shouldn’t do that. Thanks." Duo took the little girl and carried her over to the group. The head trainer had listened as Zechs talked and at first had refused to do what he asked, but when Zechs explained that Duo was in real trouble, he said they’d try. So Zechs gathered the group of men together and quickly explained what he needed them to do, which was crowd Duo just a little. Duo brought Binky over to the group a little hesitantly, he was worried about the other dogs. The other dogs just sat by their trainers eyeing the new people with interest. Duo wondered what the men would make of a Gundam Pilot having a dog like Binky. It seemed that they didn’t think it was anything unusual. One man remarked. "I wish my wife would let me have a lap dog. She’s worried about the mess. She doesn’t even like Rex in the house, but he’s in anyway. Cute little thing. But she’s a real licker. Need to do something about that." Duo nodded. "That’s one of the things I’m here for. She needs more training than I know how to give her and the man who takes care of her during the day doesn’t know more than enough to keep up what she does know. She’s a good girl, wants to please, so it’s my fault." Duo didn’t even notice that all the men in the group had gathered around him petting the little dog and crowding him. All he could see was his dog and her needs. The head trainer called the group to order. "Gentlemen,
attend your dogs. Mr. Maxwell, that means to put her down and pick
up her lead. We’ll work on heel first. Walk, please." "One, I don’t yell. It’s not good for the dogs. Yelling doesn’t tell the dog anything except that you’re angry. Getting angry doesn’t do any good. The dogs want to please. So . . . and don’t jump like that. I’m not going to hurt the dog. Flinching that way made her break training, now you have to discipline her. Pull her gently back in to position and say ‘Phooey’ in a strong voice. That will tell her that she did something she shouldn’t. I don’t approve of saying ‘bad’ when they break training for something that startled them or distracted them. Now. Get your dog back in heel please." Duo got Binky back in position and told her ‘phooey’ she returned to her place with a rather shamefaced look. They continued around the circle for several minutes, each dog and trainer getting a refresher and closing in on Duo slowly. Duo didn’t notice, he was too busy making sure that Binky did what she was supposed to do. Binky was ecstatic at all the attention and did a good job of being good. "Excellent work, gentlemen. Now we’ll try ‘sit’. I want each of you to ‘sit’ your dog and hold position. I’ll come around and check your form. Sit, now." At the command ‘sit’ all the dogs sat at their masters’ heel and settled in, except for Binky. She didn’t seem to know exactly what she was supposed to do. She sat, but she scurried around to face Duo. He didn’t have a clue in the world how to get her to sit at heel. He tried moving around so that Binky was at heel. But that put him out of line with the rest of the men. She moved to face him. He picked her up and put her were she was supposed to be and she returned to what she thought was her proper place. The head trainer stopped Duo from trying to get her in position. "Don’t. She’s been trained that that is the proper ‘sit’ position. You’ll just confuse her. Try telling her, heel, then sit. Some dogs are trained that way." So Duo told Binky to heel then immediately told her sit. She sat at his heel with her head cocked to one side. Duo immediately praised her telling her ‘good girl’ which made her break position. Duo sighed and looked at the head trainer. "She always does that. I don’t know what to do." "Tell her ‘phooey’ and put her back in position. Work on that for a while. Just keep putting her back in position with a reprimand until she’ll hold the position while you pat her and praise her. It might take several sessions to really get it right. And don’t let her get bored. I’ll have the rest of the group work around you. The distraction should make her break position several times. That’ll give you the opportunity to correct her." the trainer turned to the group and started an advanced exercise that kept the men circling Duo and Binky. Duo worked with Binky for several minutes. Binky quickly got the idea of what Duo wanted and sat at heel nicely within fifteen minutes. Fifteen minutes in which Duo was surrounded by very large men. When he noticed he jerked on Binky’s lead making the poor dog yelp. He immediately turned to pick her up and make amends. The head trainer came over to see what had happened, as well as most of the group. "What happened? Did you step on her?" Duo shook his head. "No, I just got startled and jerked on her lead. I . . . have trouble with groups of large men. I just realized . . . um . . . could you guys back off just a little . . . I feel a little crowded here." "Sure. Gentlemen, at ease, please." All the men formed a line and assumed the at ease position, dogs at heel. "Thank you. Well, Mr. Maxwell, Binky is coming along very well. I’ll put you both through the rest of the positions. Sit/stay, down, come, and so on. You can remember what to do. And you should spend at least an hour a day on her. That licking will become a problem sooner or later. To cure that, just don’t allow her to do it. At all." Seeing the expression on Duo’s face, the man sighed. "I know. But it’s pack behavior that you shouldn’t encourage. Every time she does it, just put her down and say ‘phooey’ to her. She’ll get the idea very quickly. Every time you pick her up and she doesn’t lick, give her a treat. You should keep treats in your pocket for her. Now. I need to finish this session and you should take her and give her some water. She’s beginning to pant. That’s a sign that she’s tired. Dog’s out of shape." Duo nodded. "Thanks. I’ll be back tomorrow, if that’s ok. I need to work on things with you a little more. And I’ll tell her walker that she’s out of shape. He’ll know to take her farther." Duo turned to the group of men who faced him with slight smiles. "Thank you for letting me join you today. I’m sorry I’m such a butt." Duo turned to leave, never seeing several of the men frowning. After he left, the general consensus was that he sure didn’t look like what they would have thought a Gundam pilot should. Zechs took a moment to address the men while Wufei and Heero headed Duo back to the offices. "Gentlemen, thank you for your cooperation. It doesn’t seem like much, but we’ve made a great advance. Duo has never not noticed so many large men around him before. I hope you understand how much help you’ve been today." One of the handlers held up his hand. "Yes?" "Sorry. I’m not trying to be critical but why does he think he’s being a ‘butt’" Zechs rubbed his cheek for a moment trying to decide how to phrase his answer. "Because the last time he was surrounded by this many large men, he wound up under a table with a gun in his hand. He can’t stand being crowded. He managed to ask you to back off instead of going into attack mode. Great advance but he feels bad about having to ask you to back off. We’ve made great strides in less than an hour. Again, I thank you." There was some foot shuffling and grumbling, then another man held up his hand. Zechs nodded at him. "Why does he dislike crowds of large men?" Zechs just looked at the line of men for a moment. "You don’t want to know. Believe me . . . dismiss!" Zechs turned away before he had to answer any more uncomfortable questions, leaving the men to make their own conclusions, which were unpleasant to say the least. Gossip started to spread again. ~ * ~ Wufei needed to go to the men’s room, but when he started to enter the janitor stopped him, saying, "Be really careful. I just mopped the floor so it’s still wet. And I spilled the cleaning compound so it’s really strong." Wufei just nodded his understanding and entered anyway. The smell was strong. Wufei sneezed several times. The smell was so strong that it was making his eyes water. Suddenly Wufei realized that it was the smell that usually triggered his panic reaction. Only he wasn’t panicked, just disgusted at the strength of the smell. He shuddered once and leaned against the wall. Putting both hands over his face, he started to cry. The janitor, hearing him, went for help. Zechs hurried into the room and grabbed Wufei, scooping him up into strong, loving arms Zechs carried him out into the hall. "Mausi, . . I mean. ‘Fei. What is it? Please. Let me help you." Wufei snuggled into Zechs and sighed. "Sorry. I know I’m being an idiot, but . . . I wasn’t scared. It just stank. I . . . damn. Crying like an onna. What must you think of me?" Zechs held Wufei against his chest, snuggling against him. "I think that you have just realized that you are better. Something that had interfered with your life to a considerable extent has been cured. You have a right to feel how ever you feel." Wufei sniffled softly. "But weeping like a foo . . ." Zechs interrupted him. "A weak man refuses to recognize his feelings. A strong man weeps and makes no excuse. I love you, Chang Wufei. A few tears of relief and happiness won’t change that . . . hanky?" Wufei accepted the offered item and defiantly blew his nose. "Well, I hope you have as good luck with Duo. He’s worse that me. Here." Zechs looked at the soggy cloth. "I think you could keep that." ~ * ~ Duo grumbled, it had been several days since the first visit to the dog compound, Binky was learning so quickly that he was sure he’d have to stop his visits soon. He was enjoying them a great deal and hated to think he would soon have no excuse to return. All the men gave him room, but he had to ask several times for them to back off. They did tend to get too close, not that it really bothered him anymore, but he was afraid they’d step on Binky by mistake. He’d thought that they would make fun of him for having such a sissy dog but it seemed that dog people were dog people no matter what kind. All the men had either Dobermans or German Shephards but they all gave Binky more respect than he expected. "Good morning, gentlemen. Today we are going to work on agility. Mr. Maxwell, since you’ve never done this, I’m going to put you last so you can see what we’re doing. I think you’ll be surprised at how good Binky will be at this. A Maltese is a very good agility dog. Small, light, and very flexible. So . . ." Duo set himself at the end of the line, so that he could see everything without being in the way. Binky sat nicely to heel with an interested expression. Duo was astonished to see that all the dogs were expected to run a sort of doggy gauntlet. The obstacles included hoops to jump through, a sharply angled board they had to climb, a sort of tight rope made of planks and a series of upright poles that they had to pass on alternate sides. He wondered how he was expected to get Binky to understand what he wanted. The first man brought out his dog and started. The man went through the course himself leading his dog. The dog obediently went through all the obstacles at request, except for the tunnel made of hoops and canvas. He refused, trying to go around it. The trainer tried again but the dog refused again. He seemed not to understand that he had to go through, not simply get to the other end. The man ahead of Duo in the line sighed. "Stubborn, ain’t he. That dog inni’ going to go through that tunnel if he can get out of it." "Um . . . I hate to sound ignorant but why not let him go. He seems to be afraid of it." The handler turned around and stuck out his hand, Duo couldn’t help but notice that he was at least 6’3". "Joe. That tunnel represents a drain. Like under a road? So the dog has to go through it. Not over the road, where he could get hit by a car or something. And if he’s chasing a perp. We want him to stay on the subject. Sometimes the conduit will split under the road. If the guy doesn’t come out where we expect him to, the dog needs to be on his tail still." Duo shivered, he remembered running from dogs several times. He had respected the dog and feared the master. "I see. Well. . ." Joe eyed him wondering why he’d shivered. "I remember wondering how the hell I was going to get dogs off my tail. Only thing that ever worked was rolling in garbage, or in one case, swamp mud." "God. I’d hate to be on the running end of a hunt. I . . . I don’t mean to be rude. But who the hell decided it was a good idea to put a kid like you, or Yuy, or any of you in a damn Gundam?" Duo gave the man a sharp look, but decided he was honestly wanting to know. "A bunch of crazy scientists. They thought that getting us young would make it easier to control us. Didn’t work. Something in us that made us good pilots . . . um . . .gave us brains enough to see what was really going on. Don’t ask me to explain it, I don’t understand it myself. I just know that we did what we thought was right, despite orders. Right is right, no matter what. So . . ." Joe just shook his head. "Jesus. I wish my kid was half as smart as you. Oh, you’re up. Skipped me for some reason." The man gave his dog a pat. "Probably because Castor is the best at agility in the group." Duo stepped up and the head trainer gave him instruction. He ran Binky through the course slowly, showing her just what was expected of her. She didn’t hesitate at the hoops, or the tunnel, but she wasn’t too sure about the ‘ladder’ or the parallel planks. She tried and Duo had to catch her as she fell from the tight rope like planks. The head trainer told Duo to praise her then have her try again. This time she succeeded so Duo gave her some treats. He noticed that all the men were gathered rather closely around him. It gave him a startle but he managed to control it. The men backed off without him having to ask. They all worked their dogs for another thirty minutes or so. The head trainer called ‘praise your dogs.’ Then had them all gather around for a critique. "Good work, men. Starting with Maxwell, as he has a bomb training session in about forty-five minutes. Mr. Maxwell, your dog has heart. You need to ask her to give more. She’ll give it. She may be small but she’s a goer. Don’t dismiss her courage because she’s small. How do you feel when someone dismisses your abilities because you’re smaller than average?" Duo made a face. "Exactly. You’re both doing very well. I’d advise getting into a junior show class. She’ll never be top quality. She’s been shaved. But she’ll do well to have the training. We’re going on to training that’s not suitable for her. Simply because she doesn’t have the size. Now." The head trainer looked at his watch. "You better get going. She’ll need water and a cool off before you head for the class. . . . Can I ask you a question?" Duo shrugged. "Sure. You can ask anything, I just don’t guarantee to answer. Shoot." "What are you doing in a bomb disposal class?" Duo grinned then shrugged. "Teaching it." ~ * ~ Heero watched with pride as Duo worked with Binky ignoring the large men all around. He’d told Zechs if this failed and made Duo worse, he’d beat him to within an inch of his life. Zechs had just shrugged and said if it did, he’d let him. "I’m good at this. I don’t make mistakes. Just be there for him." Wufei had started to say something to Heero but Zechs had just shaken his head at him. Wufei realized that he was worried about Duo too. His stomach was acting up again. Zechs eyed Wufei for a moment then nudged Heero into the hall. "Wufei have stomach trouble?" Heero thought about that for a full second. "Not that I ever noticed. But, come to think of it, he’s having trouble lately. Wonder what’s up with that." Zechs sighed. "I’m sure he’ll tell us if it is serious. Let it be for now. I’ve embarrassed him enough for this month. My ass won’t thank me if I annoy him too much." Heero touched Zechs on the arm. "If he gets too rough let me know. Sometimes it’s easier if someone else handles such things." Zechs was touched. "Thank you, Heero. I really appreciate that. Wufei will never do me any harm. I know that. We have a written ‘contract’ you could say. I wrote down what I really won’t do and what I like best. He’s very good and extremely careful. I’d like to try shibari, but he won’t until he can find an instructor." Heero just nodded with a soft grunt." I take it that you approve?" "Hn" Heero walked off to check the arrangements for Duo’s class. He’d been sitting in on them as well as helping with equipment and ‘subjects’; dummy bombs for Duo to use as examples. Heero had something special planned for today. He’d heard some grumbling about Duo not being as good as his reputation. Heero had been keeping the bombs fairly simple up to now to make sure that everyone was up to speed before throwing something really complicated at them. Today was separation day. The day he separated the men from the boys. ~ * ~ When Duo approached the building, he broke into a run, several men were kneeling or laying on the asphalt near the side door. The fire escape door that let directly into the large room he’d been using for his practicum. "Hey, what the hell is going on?" One man managed to contain his coughing long enough to snarl. "That fucker Yuy is a damn sadist that’s what’s going on." Another man poked him and hissed. "Watch it, they’re lovers!" "So what? Doesn’t change my opinion one bit. That bomb is impossible. The guy’s a freak." Duo just smiled at the one man and laughed at the other. "If ‘Ro built it, it’s nearly impossible. And yeah, he’s a freak. But he’s my freak." He opened the door to see if the smoke had cleared yet. "Well, come on. Let’s see what lover boy has built to torture me with." Heero was just done arming the bomb again. Duo knew he wasn’t going to make it easy for him. "Ok, ‘Ro. What’s the special occasion?" "Separation day. Time for it." Duo nodded "‘K. This group fail?" Heero nodded. "Gave them twenty minutes. They’re the second group. You got . . ." Heero looked at a clip board. "Three more groups. Need to talk to you for a sec." Heero drew Duo a side and explained that he’d used Duo’s class notes to divide the class into testing groups. Since they were all gathered already, he’d gone ahead and started the test a bit early. "I put two weak men and two strong men in each group. The strong ones in the failing groups, I marked down as try again. The weak ones either have to do well or they’re dismissed. Is that ok? If not, we’ll figure out something else. One group will make it easy, as the weak ones will get support from the strong ones, they’ll all play to each other. Make a good team, if they pass this one. But I have my doubts about some of them. And passing doesn’t necessarily mean disarming the bomb." Duo nodded. They’d discussed the class several times and he felt the same as Heero. Some of the recruits would get themselves, and the rest of their teams, killed. They couldn’t cooperate with others. Duo snickered slightly. "‘Ro, you ever think it’s a bit weird? We’re wild-eyed individualists with a vengeance terrorists extraordinare and we’re talking about cooperation and team work?" Heero shrugged. "We managed to cooperate enough to win a war, I think we’re entitled. Go . . . teach . . . show off." Heero brushed a quick kiss over Duo’s knuckles and shoved him back towards the bomb of the day. Duo examined the bomb and sighed. "Heero, I hate you. God, where did you get the idea for this monster." Heero smirked at Duo. "I took all the things you complained about the most and put them all in one package. Oh . . . if you don’t disarm it in ten minutes, it’ll smoke you. Just so you know." Duo watched as group after group set the thing off one way or another. He and Heero finally resorted to wearing gas masks so they didn’t have to hold their breath as they activated the super fans Heero had placed strategically so that they didn’t have to wait too long for the smoke to disperse. After the last group set the bomb off by trying to pry the lid off, Duo sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. Heero thought it was cute as he always reached over the top of his head to do so. "‘Ro, I think we screwed up. No one beat the beast. Maybe you went a little too far." Heero bit at his lip. "Maybe. But if I can think of it, why not a real scenario?" "Heero. We both are experts at this. I don’t think there’s anyone else out there that has the training we do. Not that is still in the business anyway." They both looked up to see the whole class gathered in a group. One of the men broke away and came over to the two ex-Terrorist teens. "Sir! Respectfully request permission to speak, sir!" Duo blinked at the man but Heero just nodded. "Permission granted. Speak" "We have discussed it amongst ourselves. Sir, we don’t think it was a fair test. No one could disarm that thing in the time allowed." Heero eyed Duo, then turned to the whole group. "I think perhaps I did go a little too far with this test. So it’s nullified. But I know someone who can disarm it in the time allowed. Duo can do it." Duo turned to look at Heero with a slight smirk of his own. "‘Ro" "No, I’m right. I made the bomb with your abilities in mind. Not theirs. And not the abilities of our normal bomb maker either. So, yeah, you can do it." Someone muttered, "Sure he can do it. He helped make it." Heero shook his head. "No he didn’t, I made it all by my sneaky little self." So it was decided that Duo should show the class how it was done and disarm the bomb himself. ~ * ~ "Ready? Time." Heero punched the button to start the timer. Duo glared at it for a second. Then snarled. "Nine minutes? You’re a shit, Yuy. No nooky tonight." Heero just snorted and settled back to watch Duo work. "Here. Here’s a kit." Duo just prodded his braid and pulled out several tools and bits of wire. "I’ve got my own. Thanks though." Duo teased the pins out of the hinges and carefully lifted the lid, several men gasped. They’d tried that and set off the thing. "Ha! Yuy, you won’t catch me with that one. Mercury switch on the lid? Old, old, old. Got one for that." Duo rummaged around in the kit and pulled out liquid oxy. He injected it into the lid and froze the mercury, then he clipped the wires to the switch, but he was careful to raise the lid straight up. He swore as the timer started clicking over twice as fast. "Dammit! Ok, hurry up." Duo inspected the inside of the bomb and realized that to disarm the charge would take more time than he had. Several others realized the same thing and moaned in sympathy. Others started easing for the doors. "Yuy, I’m gonna hurt you bad. This is really tricky. I gotta figure out. . . ." Duo mumbled himself into silence, denying the charge that he couldn’t shut up ever. "Charge. wire. . . short. . . yeah . . . Then. . . hummm . . . gonna kill you slow. Fuck . . .fiend. . . " Duo reached into the box and rummaged around, making all the gathered men cringe. "Here." Duo pulled out a canister and handed it to Heero. Heero smirked happily. His lover had done it again. Against all the odds, he’d disarmed the bomb. Duo turned around to find himself surrounded by a large group of very big men. "Well, what the hell are you looking at? All I had to do was remove the target charge. The smoke. Think outside the box." A sharp bang made everyone flinch. "Yeah, that was the igniter. The main charge; the smoke bomb, is in Heero’s hand." "Excuse me?" No one bothered to look for who said it, they were all thinking the same thing. "Ok. Heero knows his booby traps. The problem is not to keep something from going off. It’s to contain the amount of damage it does in the process. In this case, the igniter charge was small. Only big enough to set off the smoke grenade. We don’t want smoke, but we don’t mind a small bang. So separate the igniter from its target. Make it so the smoke doesn’t go off. Simple. Not easy, just . . . you have to examine all sides of something to find a way around it. You all were thinking about keeping it from going off altogether so you didn’t analyze the consequences of letting part of it go off. So. . ." Duo shrugged letting the men figure out the rest for themselves. "‘Ro, I’m starving. Let’s go get something to eat." Duo started to shove his way through the crowd, then he turned, eyed Heero and sighed. "You shit. That was a real dirty trick. Lucky for you it worked." Heero smirked at Duo. Then handed him back the clips for his side arm. "You’re not the only pickpocket in the crowd. How do you feel?" Duo shrugged. "Good. Good. I’m hungry, a little creeped out, but not bad. And . . ." Duo turned to the group of grinning men. "Thanks, guys. That was really dangerous, so thanks a lot." Duo grabbed Heero and hauled him out of the room. Shoving him into a small office across the hall he pounced. Heero braced himself for a punch in the gut, but got a crushing hug and a kiss instead. "Heero, you’re one crazy mother fucker. You could have gotten some of those guys hurt. But thanks. I . . . really . . . thank you so much." Heero gathered Duo into his arms and indulged himself in a fit of the shakes and had Duo rubbing his arms. "Hey, me too pal. Me too." A sharp rap at the door warned them before Zechs stormed in, determined to take the blame if the desensitization had failed. But he saw Duo cuddled up to Heero and relaxed. "How did it work? Are you really all right? Please . . ." Duo grabbed Zechs from one side and Heero grabbed him from the other. Duo stood on tip toe and blessed Zechs with a kiss that lasted long enough that Wufei, leaning on the door frame, exclaimed, "Hey! My boyfriend, I believe. Hands and lips off. Go ravish your own." One of the cleaning crew opened the door a few minutes
later and seeing what was going on exclaimed. "Oh! Excuse me!
Go get a room!"
~ * ~ |
