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Chapter Text

Gundam Wing: Let Slip the Gods of War

Author: Cyn Finnegan

Beta: None yet

Disclaimer: I don't own them. I only like to play with them.

Archive: FF.Net (edited), MediaMiner, AO3, deviantArt (slightly edited), Gundam Wing Fans

Status: Work in progress.

Pairings: 03 x 04 (primary), 01 x RP, 02 x HS, 05 x SP, 06 x 09

Warning: This fic features scenes of physical abuse and psychological torture, canon-typical violence, angst, betrayal, mentions of past sexual assault (Trowa), Bara, lemon (eventually), and possible spoilers for New World Order, Endless Waltz, Preventer Five and The Hand of Sorrow.

Summary: The year is After Colony 203. There hasn't been a major war on Earth or in the Space Colonies for nearly five years. Our pilots are still working hard to help keep the peace they fought so hard to help create. Just days from his retirement as a Preventer field agent, Quatre Raberba Winner goes missing. Who is trying to capture the Gundam pilots, and what's his connection to them?

Part of the "Heroes of the Future" time line.

This story is based on an unfinished 2007 story called Gods of War, by Starlight Soul.

Part One: False Dawn

Preventer HQ, Washington, DC, July 17th, AC 203

    As he left Lady Une's office and headed for the elevator, Quatre Winner felt better than he had in a long while and it showed in the smile on his face. The forms he'd put in just a few weeks earlier, forms that would permanently transfer him from active field duty to an instructor in the use of firearms, had finally been approved and he couldn't have been happier about it.

    Retiring from field duty would mean fewer hours and a slight cut in pay, but to Quatre, it was worth it. He'd get to spend more time at home with Trowa, and with one of them off the hazardous duty roster, it would work the odds in their favor when the time came to adopt a child. Though Trowa's older sister, Catherine, and his own eldest sister, Iria, both offered to act as surrogate mothers, both young men stubbornly opted to try adoption first.

    One of the reasons they gave was that there were plenty of kids in orphanages and foster care in need of a permanent home with loving parents, both on Earth and in the Colonies. Another was that Quatre had inherited the reproductive problems that plagued the men in his family for two hundred years ^[1]. That made him adamant against creating life for the sake of convenience, as he'd spent the first sixteen and a half years of his life believing he had been for his late father.

    In other words, for all intents and purposes, he was the last son, but no longer heir, of the Winner family. The majority of his older sisters had seen to that when Quatre was still sixteen and professed his preference in life partners.

    Money wasn't an issue, either; neither of the young men were paupers, not by a long shot. Though Trowa received several stipend checks from the Barton Foundation during the war, he and Quatre had both done their fair share of hacking into and pilfering from bank accounts held by various members of Romefeller. While Trowa had done it for fun, Quatre had done it out of necessity due to the growing tensions between he and his father; tensions which often started out in a verbal fight and usually ended with the back of his father's hand across his face. Quatre cut himself off entirely from his family's fortune months before he'd ever left for Earth. ^[2]

    What he and Trowa hadn't spent on ammunition, transportation or the occasional hotel room had been squirreled away in several interest-bearing savings and checking accounts that really started to grow after the war. Part of those funds paid for their home in Fairfax, Trowa's motorcycle, and the bare bones of a vintage pre-Colony Aston-Martin DB5 Silver Birch which had been originally built in 1963 CE. Quatre and Trowa spent weeks rebuilding it, and it was a true labor of love.

    With a little help from Hiiro, Duo and Hilde, they re-enforced the frame with Gundanium alloy, and Trowa lovingly built an engine that would conform to the current energy standards. They finished it by recreating the exterior chassis using photos, blueprints and sheets of Gundanium and finally painting it a silvery turquoise blue that almost matched Quatre's eyes. While they were doing that, Quatre worked on his laptop to create a vocal command system for the vehicle and installed it in the car's new internal computer.

    The use of Gundanium as a building material wasn't illegal; ^[3] in fact, all Preventer vehicles, including mobile suits, the cars of many ESUN officials, and the outer shells of several newer colonies were all armored with or constructed out of the nigh-indestructible alloy. Preventer also used Gundanium for their dog tags, and ESUN had even planned to use it for building homes for the now-defunct Mars terraformation project. ^[4]

    Quatre shook himself out of his reverie as the lift car finally reached its destination, the parking garage. He approached his car, using the tiny key chain remote to open the driver's side door, slid into the well-padded driver's seat and buckled himself in.

    "Start engine," he said as the belt clicked into place and a moment later, the motor began purring like a contented kitten. Shortly after that, he added the commands "Turn on air conditioner and play music file QRW-12-12-AC195."

    The music was Quatre's first-ever birthday present, given to him by Trowa on the lowest day of the tow-headed man's life, his fifteenth birthday. ^[5] Between the Heavyarms pilot's warm, teenaged counter tenor singing voice and the soft vibrations of the motor, the Sandrock pilot felt all the day's tension drain from his body. Trowa's singing had always had the power to soothe and calm him, and this time was no exception.

    Realizing he was now a little too tired to drive himself home, he engaged the car's autodrive function, but kept his hands resting on the steering wheel so an overeager local LEO with a ticket quota to fill wouldn't pull him over again. As he pulled out into the late afternoon traffic, Quatre directed the voice system to turn on the vidphone and call home.

    "Hello, love," Trowa's image said fondly, a gentle smile gracing his handsome face. He was at home on medical leave for spraining his knee the day before while fending off a gang of thugs who seemed awfully determined to get him into the back of their van.

    "Hi yourself, sexy britches," the Sandrock pilot replied with a smile of his own as his car guided itself out of the building's garage. "I heard back about my transfer and I'm on my way home. Starting next Monday morning, I'll be a lowly firearms instructor."

    "You're hardly a "lowly" anything, Cat. The babies will be lucky to have you for a teacher. So how did Lady Une take the news that you want to retire as a field agent?"

    "Surprisingly, she was fine with it. If anything, considering all of the shit we've gone through over the past few years, she was only mildly surprised that Hiiro, Duo, Wu Fei and you weren't following suit. She did add in a stipulation, though."

    "Which was?"

    "That I, and I'm quoting her here, "take on the occasional case" that requires my unique skill set."

    "Makes sense that she'd want to keep one of her master strategists on hand, just in case," Trowa quipped sagely. "Where are you?"

    "In the car, on my way home," Quatre replied, and then yawned. At Trowa's concerned look, and his own suppressed yawn, he added "Don't worry, muhib. ^[6] I engaged the autodrive before I left the parking lot, so I'm not driving tired. I'll be home in half an hour. Wanna go out to dinner to celebrate?"

    "Sure thing. Want me to call L'Orange and see if we can get in tonight?"

    "Nah, I was thinking of Donovan's Pub. We don't need reservations, and I'm in the mood for a cheeseburger with the works, some cole slaw and onion rings, a chocolate shake and a warm brownie sundae for dessert."

    "You know, if you keep eating like Duo, you're going to get fat," Trowa mock groused.

    "Then there'll be more of me to love," Quatre replied playfully. They both laughed, knowing that with the changes they'd all undergone in preparation for Operation Meteor, the likelihood of any Gundam pilot getting fat was impossible at best.

    Their bodies had been altered to process food more efficiently, wringing the maximum nutritional value out of anything they consumed, solid or liquid, and disposing of anything they didn't need. They also healed faster than the average human, which was why Quatre was sitting up on his own and talking with Trowa within hours of waking up from surgery.

    "All right, I'm gonna get off the line now, haul my gimpy ass to the bathroom, take a shower and get ready for dinner. I'll see you in a few."

    "Okay, Tro. I'm about to hit the freeway, so I've gotta hang up. I love you," Quatre said, then raised his left hand to his mouth, kissed his callused fingertips and touched them to the image of his husband's face.

    "I love you, too, Cat. Be careful," Trowa replied before repeating his husband's gesture.

    "Always am, muhib. See you in a little while."

    "You too, love."

    The traffic that day was light, so the trip down the throughway didn't take long at all. Soon, he got to his exit and pulled on to the access road, then turned onto the tree-lined country lane that would take him home. He and Trowa loved it out here; the air was much cooler and cleaner than in the city, so he commanded the car to turn off the air conditioner and open the windows to let some of that fresh air in. The cool breeze that blew in the windows did a better of reviving him than a cup of the thick, strong coffee Quatre favored did.

    A few moments later, Quatre heard a horn honking behind him, and that was when he saw the black sport utility vehicle that had been on his six while driving on the throughway. Berating himself for letting his guard down, Quatre scanned the vehicle and its occupants through the rear view mirror and didn't like what he was seeing.

    Three men, two ex-military, probably Alliance or OZ, one ex-pro wrestler judging from his size... black suits, Ray-Bans... yup, they've got that whole "Hong Kong kung-fu bad-ass movie mook" look down pat, the tow-headed man thought as he reached out the window and waved at the driver of the other vehicle to pass. In response, the huge SUV sped up, made like they were going to pass him, and then rammed into the Aston-Martin's side, denting the passengers' side door slightly and nearly forcing it off the road and into a tree.

    "What the Hell? Are these guys insane?!" Quatre exclaimed to no one. The black SUV swerved again, ramming broadside into the front of Quatre's car and sending it crashing in to a roadside ditch. The airbags deployed as it struck the ground grille first, and he threw his arms up in front of his face to prevent his nose from being broken.

    Quatre groaned as he crawled out of his wrecked vehicle, his head ringing and his arms aching and tingling from his shoulders to his wrists. He was battered, bruised, abraded in several places and had a small cut just under his hairline, but thanks to the Gundanium armor that made up the car's frame and exterior, those were the worst of his injuries. In fact, Quatre's Preventer uniform fared far worse than his body did.

    Despite the fact it was labeled "safety glass," the rounded, pebble-like fragments from the shattered back window embedded themselves deep into the back of his jacket, scraping the flesh underneath it through both the quilted lining and his khaki t-shirt. ^[7] He heard the doors of the SUV open and close, and soon found himself surrounded by the three men he'd spotted.

    "This skinny little twerp is a Gundam pilot?! Could'a fooled me," the first man quipped, not believing that the seemingly frail form before them could possibly be a Preventer, much less the pilot a mobile suit as advanced as a Gundam.

    "Yeah, he's a Gundam pilot, all right," the second man replied mockingly for Quatre's benefit. "Pilot Zero Four, to be precise. I've had the "pleasure" of meeting him and Zero One on Moon Base Alpha when I was with OZ. This little piece of colony trash blew up a resource satellite full of our soldiers and an evacuated colony before we finally managed to stop him. We would have executed him on the spot, but we handed them over to the Treize Faction instead."

    Oh, Allah, talk about revisionist history! Quatre thought angrily. He remembered all to well exactly who had stopped his ZERO-influenced rampage, and it sure as Hell wasn't this scummy piece of OZ shit. Anger quickly turned to sorrow when his thoughts turned to the one who did stop him that horrible day, the one who risked his own life to keep Quatre from becoming the monster many told him he was since childhood.

    Without warning, the thug Quatre had tagged as an ex-wrestler lifted him up by the waistband of his pants, and growling "Stand up," set him on his feet. The second thug reached into Quatre's jacket and pulled his piece, a Sig Sauer P250 Subcompact Nitron, out of its shoulder holster.

    "Get in the truck, Zero Four. Willing or unwilling, you're coming with us," the first man ordered, still thinking of Quatre as nothing but a pipsqueak rich boy still playing games instead of the highly-trained soldier he truly was.

    "Sorry, but I don't take orders from anybody but Lady Une," the blond-haired man growled angrily, crossing his arms over his chest.

    "This isn't an order, Zero Four; it's a request from Kronus," the former OZ soldier said gruffly as he lifted Quatre's gun and pressed it against the back of his head.

    Quatre's eyes widened at the mention of that name. Kronus was one of his first trainers and the source of some of his oldest wartime nightmares. He was a sadistic madman who took an almost childlike delight in the pain he inflicted and who had an unhealthy obsession with the then-teenaged boy. If Instructor H hadn't been concerned when Quatre missed his self-defense training that last day... he might have been too damaged, mentally and physically, to ever pilot Sandrock.

    "That's great, but I don't honor requests from FUCKING SADISTIC MADMEN, EITHER!"

    Utilizing every trick he'd ever learned during his pilots' training, the lithe, tow-headed young man fought back valiantly against his would-be kidnappers, at least until one of them tossed a grenade at his feet. Instead of an explosion, Quatre's body was surrounded by a cone of energy that made him feel like he'd been dropped head first into an active volcano. He screamed as excruciating pain lanced through every nerve in his entire body as he fell to the ground convulsing. Just before he passed out, his mind, heart and soul cried out one name....

    : Trowa... I'm sorry... : Quatre thought as guilt, fear, remorse, despair and pain filled his heart.

    The three hundred pound mass of muscle again lifted the younger man's now inert form, carried him over his shoulder to the battered SUV, lifted the hatch and literally threw him in the back while his comrades got in.

    Meanwhile, in the master bedroom of their Fairfax home, a half-naked Triton Bloom-Winner felt a massive wave of guilt, fear, remorse, despair and pain that were not his own. He collapsed to the floor like a marionette whose strings had been cut, his entire body twitching like a landed fish. Just before he passed out, his mind, heart and soul cried out one name...

    : QUATRE...! :

Undisclosed Location, July 17th, AC 203

    Quatre awoke to find himself in a small, windowless room, lying face down on a dusty, foul-smelling foam mattress. He was stripped of every last stitch of clothing and, for the second time in his life, his hair had been shaved off, leaving the pale skin of his scalp bare and smooth. Like the oxygen in the colonies, the air being pumped into the little room, or rather cell, was stale and processed smelling, but Quatre knew he was still on the Earth.  He'd only been out for maybe ninety minutes, and it still took the fastest shuttles almost four hours to reach the nearest colonies.

    What is it with these assholes and shaving my head? the Sandrock pilot wondered, remembering when he and the other Gundam pilots battled the leader of the so-called pacifist faction, Pax Eterna, in early AC 196. The faction's leader, Victor Gaintz, had some of his followers kidnap him, killing nearly a thousand people by bombing an intercolony trade conference to cover the crime, then shot him up with massive doses of truth serum and tortured him with electric shocks in an attempt to force him into revealing where he and the others had hidden their Gundams. [8]

    Though he nearly died in the process, he didn't break. He held on and stayed strong until help, in the form of Trowa, came to the rescue. Until the ransom demand arrived at his apartment in L3-C8253, the only one who believed he was still alive and in danger had been Trowa, and for that, Quatre was grateful...

    A few minutes later, an oily voice whispered into his ear, bringing the Sandrock pilot back to reality.

    "Hello, little Shulmanu. You remember me, don't you? You always were my favorite, a true god amongst mortals. Tell me how to find the others."

    "Go... fuck... yourself," the tow-headed man ground out haltingly, then spat in his eye. In retaliation, the scar-faced man backhanded Quatre into the nearest wall. As he sagged to the floor, the man grabbed Quatre's left arm and tore the wedding band, which Trowa had made from scraps of the original Heavyarms, off that hand's ring finger.

    "No...! Give... that... back!" he cried, trying to reclaim the band with his free hand.

    "You won't need this little trinket anymore, my sweet little Quatre," he added in an almost sing-song voice as handed the ring to one of his men. "Your Neit won't find you, and neither will Hachiman, nor Woden, nor Zhang Fei;^[8] I'll find them first, with your help. You're mine, and I'll have my little Gods of War back with me."

    "I'll help you... when Hell boils over!"

    Still holding Quatre's left arm, the man calling himself Kronus jabbed the Sandrock pilot's arm with the business end of a hypodermic needle, its contents burning through his veins like liquid fire as they flooded his system, and more burning filled his eyes they were flooded with a noxious liquid. As the men left his cell, lights and images began to pulse and disembodied voices began to throb as the drugs took a hold of his system, Quatre's screams of agony his only response as his world narrowed to naught but excruciating pain.

The home of Trowa Bloom and Quatre Winner, Fairfax, VA, July 17th, AC 203

    Trowa was a wreck.

    It had been nearly three hours since Quatre's call had ended, and Trowa was close to having something he hadn't had since he was fourteen, a full-blown panic attack. ^[9] He knew his husband was in danger, knew he was cold and afraid and in pain, but at the moment, Trowa was helpless to aid or comfort him.

    Somehow, he'd managed to get up off the floor, hobbled to the phone, punched three buttons and called his sister Catherine and her husband, Abdul Kurama, a member of Quatre's Maguanac Corps. [11] The couple arrived about fifteen minutes after Trowa called them, and he silently thanked God that he gave his sister a copy of the front door key. They helped her younger brother into the family room, settled him as comfortably as possible on the sofa. Abdul kissed his wife on the cheek and made a beeline to the kitchen to make coffee.

    The State Police came by a few moments later, letting him know about the crash and handing him the only thing they'd found at the site: a gift-wrapped package and an envelope with his name on it. When he unwrapped and opened it, the box revealed a matched pair of throwing daggers housed in a pair of leather wrist sheaths with a trick release and a humorously snotty birthday card. The blades were a present for his birthday five days from then. ^[11]

    While Abdul puttered about in the kitchen, Cathy called the other Gundam pilots using the codes the pilots and the Corps developed during the Earth-Space War. Two calls and ten minutes later, and the pretty knife thrower reported her results to her sibling.

    "I got a hold of Wu Fei and Sally," she said in a concerned tone. "They're in town right now, so they'll be here in about an hour. I couldn't get a hold of Duo, but I did talk to Hilde. He and Hiiro are wrapping up a case on Duo's home colony. They'll be back on Earth in a few hours. Hilde said that she and Relena will pick them up at New Andrews Spaceport and they'll be here around seven."

    "Cathy, you know the last words we said to each other were "I love you"?" Trowa asked his sister as she took the tray from her husband and set it down.

    In response, Catherine replied with a quiet "I know," wrapped her slender, strong arms around her little brother's shaking shoulders and kissed his smooth, clean-shaven cheek while Abdul patted Trowa's back. He couldn't feel either gesture; all he could feel was the pain and terror wracking Quatre's body and mind and the tears burning down his cheeks.

    The backwash of Quatre's emotions was driving Trowa mad, and he had to do something about it. With great effort, Trowa rebuilt the walls he'd torn down towards the end of the Earth-Space War, effectively cutting off the empathic and telepathic links he and Quatre shared, which also stemmed the flow of tears. The pain of it tore at Trowa's heart and mind, but he had to do it for the sake of his sanity, which he was hanging on to by the thinnest of fraying threads.

    Once his head was clear, Trowa asked Cathy and Abdul to stay until the others got there, and finally noticed that his big sister had a slight, tell-tale bulge to her belly and was told the baby would be due in mid-December. Though Abdul was hoping for a girl, he backpedaled and said that he'd be happy with either a girl or a boy, as long as the baby was healthy. With his mask back in place, he could feel happy for the couple, but that happiness wouldn't be felt until Quatre was home and safe.

    An hour later, the doorbell chimed, signaling that Wu Fei and Sally had arrived, and both were visibly upset that Quatre seemed to have gotten himself in danger again. As they came in, Cathy and Abdul left without saying goodbye. The less they knew, the less could betray and it wasn't as if they'd be much help with whatever insane plans the boys were going to make.

    At seven on the dot, the car carrying Hiiro, Relena, Duo and Hilde pulled up to the curb in front of the Winner-Bloom residence, and all four got out of the vehicle and quickly entered. With everyone there, Trowa told his friends what the police told him, and what he knew from his links to Quatre. Everyone sitting in the room had tested positive as a Newtype years ago, so they didn't scoff at Trowa. He and Quatre were deeply bonded to each other; so much so they feared that if one died, the other would quickly follow, either by suicide or by force of will.

    An hour later, the cinnamon-haired man finally finished briefing his comrades, his stoic mask firmly in place, and that worried the others. It meant he'd shut down the one advantage they had, the mental and emotional connections between him and the tow-headed pilot, and though it was saving Trowa's sanity, it would make any rescue attempt far more difficult.

    "We'll find him, Trowa," Duo finally said, a look of grim determination on his face. "We'll all look for him, and we won't stop until we bring 'im home. No one hurts a member of my family and gets away with it."

    "This isn't a coincidence, Duo," Trowa replied, looking at each of the others in turn. "Think about it for a moment... I was attacked and nearly abducted yesterday, and Cat gets ambushed and kidnapped today? And what about you guys? Has anything similar happened to you in the last few days?"

    The three Gundam pilots looked at each other, and then began to tell their tales. Several men accosted Hiiro the same day Trowa was attacked, but he believed they were after Relena because of her former position as Vice Foreign Minister^[12] and fought them off successfully. Duo and Wu Fei had been attacked, earlier that very day, but they were backed up by Hilde and Sally.

    "Trowa's right," Wu Fei finally said. "This wasn't a random crime against one of us... whoever's behind this is after all five of us. This was all planned from the get-go, and whoever they are or whatever their reasons, they're not going to stop until they get us... or we get them."

    As the four Gundams and their companions all nodded in agreement, Hiiro finally chimed in with "I think it's time to implement "03's "Oh, shit" plan," then sat in front of Trowa's desktop, booted it up, and clicked on a file icon.

To be continued...

- - = = 000 = = - -

Author's Notes: This story is based on an old Hiiro/Duo fic that was last updated seven years ago. I've tried several times to contact the original author about either continuing it herself or letting me adopt or adapt it before I started this. If she's reading this, I'm sorry. I liked the original, but the more I read of it, the more it seemed like a Trowa/Quatre fic than a Duo/Hiiro one, and the more it needed (in my not-so-humble opinion) this "how did this shit happen" chapter and the final one. This is also going to be one of my shorter multi-chapter ones; ten in total.

The title of this chapter comes from a phenomenon that's also called Zodiacal light. It's an eerie light extending up from the horizon, and you're most likely to see it about an hour after sunset in late winter or early spring (Zodiacal light), or an hour before dawn in the late summer or early autumn (false dawn).

Here's a link with more information: http://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/look-for-the-zodiacal-light-or-false-dawn.

Here are some photos of what Quatre's 1963 Aston-Martin DB5 looks like: http://www.sunshineautomotive.com.au/sites/sunshineautomotive.com.au/files/Aston-Martin-DB5.jpg and http://cdn.astonmartin.com/sitefinity/new-db9/historydb5.jpg?sfvrsn=0.

And here are some photos and the specs on Quatre's pistol: https://www.sigsauer.com/CatalogProductDetails/p250-subcompact-nitron.aspx"

Annotations:

^[1] According to one of the animation bibles for the series, the men in the Winner family were the ones who suffered with reproductive issues, not the women.  In my head canon, while all of Quatre's sisters can have babies naturally, many of them had theirs via test tube to keep their figures.  The sole exceptions to this are Iria and my OC sister, Amina. And the bit about Quatre's original dislike of creating human life for the sake of convenience came from Sumizawa years before Glory of Losers and Frozen Teardrop were first dreamed up.

^[2] In The Whereabouts of Happiness (Ep. 11), Quatre revealed to Duo that he'd disinherited himself, meaning that he cut himself off from his family's money and resources so he could come to Earth and fight against OZ and the Alliance.

^[3] In my head canon, Gundanium alloy wasn't banned for use across the board, just for the manufacture of new mobile suits.  Since they were built before the ban took place, the Gundams I've listed in my Post-Endless Waltz fics were exempt from it.  Hell, mobile suits in general are still legal in my HC; since the series' official time line establishes that they were first used for colony construction and space mining, that's mostly what they're used for.

^[4] The full tale will be revealed in The Hand of Sorrow.  It'll also explain why Zechs and Noin appear in later chapters of this fic.

^[5] According to several information sites I’ve found on Islam and the Muslim faith, the only birthday Muslims celebrate is Muhammad's.

^[6]Muhib (or muHibb) is Arabic for "lover."

^[7] This comes from personal experience; I cut one of my fingers on some once.  Though it turns into pellets rather than shards when it breaks, safety glass will cut you with enough force/pressure behind it, but it won't slice you into ribbons or impale you.

^[8] Shulmanu, Neit, Hachiman, Woden and Zhang Fei are all war gods from different parts of the world: Shulmanu, Mesopotamian; Neit, Irish; Hachiman, Japanese; Woden, Anglo-Saxon, and Zhang Fei, Chinese.  Of all of them, Zhang Fei was a human general who was deified after his death and, in my head canon at least, is one of Wu Fei's earliest ancestors.  They are the code names given to our pilots by Kronus (the guy who's after them), and go in this order: Shulmanu (Quatre), Neit (Trowa), Hachiman (Hiiro), Woden (Duo) and Zhang Fei (Wu Fei).

^[9]  Reference to my fic New World Order.

^[10] This is from my rewrite of the series.

^[11]  Head canon again.  I love Cathy and Abdul as a couple.

^[12] According to an article, the boys were all born in AC 180, and their birthdays are as follows: Duo, February 2nd; Trowa, July 22nd; Hiiro, August 8th; Wu Fei and Quatre, December 12th.

^[13] Yes, I said former VFM.  I have Relena rethinking her career choice in between Preventer Five and Hand of Sorrow.  It takes her a while, but she decides to drop out of politics and become a Preventer just before Hand of Sorrow.  Her agent code name is Siren and she works mostly in communications and hostage negotiation.  Her replacement?  That's going to be revealed in another story.

Next Chapter: Six long, lonely, agonizing weeks have passed since Quatre's abduction... but what happens when Trowa finally locates and rescues him? Why was he kidnapped in the first place? And what does it have to do with the "improvements" made to the Gundam pilots prior to Operation Meteor?

Next, on Gundam Wing: Let Slip the Gods of War - Nightmares.

Chapter Text

Disclaimers, Warnings, Ratings, Archive, Etc.: See Chapter One.

Chapter Two: Nightmares

August 28th, AC 203

    All he felt was all-encompassing, never-ending pain.  Beyond it there was nothing, and before it was beyond his mental grasp.  Was there anything before the pain?  He couldn't be sure.  The pain held his thoughts hostage and caused his body to betray him without fail.  Time no longer had any meaning to him; minutes and hours were replaced by the ebb and flow of pain, and days and weeks by consciousness and the blessed void.  He was naked and helpless against it.

    There was neither silence nor darkness in his pain, either.  They realized early on that silence didn't bother him, but that was a lie; the lack of sound would have worn on his nerves.  Instead, a cacophony of disembodied voices and a spectrum of images and lights echoed and bounced off of the concrete walls of his cell.  They spoke in a dozen languages, some fast and harsh, others slow and smooth, until they all blurred and melded together into a huge, cacophonous noise.  He didn't know why he found them so soothing.  Pain ruled, drowning out his memory; it flared in his arm and he cried out weakly.

    "Tell me where they go to hide," the voices demanded.

    Who did they want?  He couldn't remember; all he knew, without a doubt, was that he couldn't tell this prick what he wanted to know.  He had to protect the people he wanted to find, whoever they were.  He could see their familiar faces when he closed his eyes, but couldn't connect those faces to a specific memory.  A moment later, another wave of pain surged through his veins, demanding that he stop being so damned stubborn and tell the man what he wanted to know.

    "No," he whispered hoarsely, his voice barely recognizable to his own ears.  Hours of screaming in agony had left his throat rough and raw.

    His unseeing eyes widened as white hot pain rolled along his skin to pour into his mouth and nose, choking him and burning everything it touched, only to disappear as quickly as it began.  A blurred shadow entered his field of vision, and more burning filled his eyes.  The captor's mouth was suddenly next to his ear, his poisonous voice riding in with the pain.

    "Answer my questions, little Shulmanu, and I'll make the pain go away."

    He hated himself for flinching, for the soft whimper that escaped his cracked, dry lips, but then the pain laughed at him, taunted and mocked him for his weakness.  It whispered dark promises of all the ways they could be together; that he belonged to it and it would never let him go.

    "NO!"

    He gasped as the pain engulfed him again, this time in an icy Arctic blast that felt like a billion frozen tattoo needles crawling just under his flesh.  It ate away at his senses, destroying him bit by bit before reassembling all the pieces.  He tried to fight against it with all of his might, but to no avail.  He knew he couldn't hold out for much longer.  Eventually, he would tell them whatever they wanted to know, and he wouldn't be able to stop himself from talking.

    Before the arctic wave could end, more pain blossomed in his chest.  A furious kick to his ribcage exploded with different kind of agony as he heard the sickening crack of bones breaking.  His considerable stamina finally giving out to this round of torture, Quatre Winner-Bloom felt the abyss wrap his naked, prone body in its cold, dark embrace as the pain settled in, content to wait for consciousness to return.

- - = = 000 = = - -

    How long he'd lain in wait, he didn't know, nor did he care; time held no meaning for him, only the life of his loved one mattered, and the ones who took him would pay dearly for every moment of pain they'd put the both of them through these past few weeks.  He'd secured himself in a ventilation shaft above a men's lavatory, and waited for someone close to his size to show up.  When, at last, someone did enter the restroom, he quietly slipped out of his hiding place, choked the man into unconsciousness, then stripped his enemy and left him lying in a heap on the cheap linoleum floor.

    Finally, clothed in the uniform of his enemy and carrying a black rucksack, silent death stalked among them.

    Fury now burned in his deep emerald green eyes as he hacked into the enemy's system.  Within moments, he'd taken down their pitiful firewalls, cracked their encryption codes and downloaded everything he needed to, from where his target was located to a list of what drugs they'd given him, their effects and side effects.  His lips pulled back in a dangerous, feral snarl as he copied every last byte of information he'd come for, then uploaded his viruses and set the last of his bombs.  One slender, calloused hand caressed the thin detonator before he shoved it in the pocket of his "borrowed" jacket and once again hid in plain sight.

    As he neared the location of the holding cells, one of the viruses he uploaded triggered the fire suppression system.  Red strobe lights and klaxon alarms went off as the overhead sprinklers dropped down, spraying tepid water everywhere.  All around the building, electronic locks opened and people ran in all directions, heedless of the solitary stranger among them.  Water pooled on the concrete floor, making his footing hazardous, and by the time he reached the wing they held their captive in, Trowa Bloom-Winner was soaked to the skin.

    He was surprised to see one door still closed as he reached his destination, but more surprising was the line of locks down it; they were simple tumbler ones, designed for strength rather than complexity.  It took him less than a minute to open them all, giving him access to the target within.

    A riot of lights, scents and sounds assaulted his senses as soon as the door opened, chief among them the stench of fresh and stale urine.  A filthy foam mattress pressed against the wall caught his attention, the naked creature lying prostrate upon it a shock.  Pale skin stood in stark contrast to the black and purple bruises that littered the form, while bones stood out in sharp relief where smooth, strap like muscles had once been.  His shoulder length sunlight blond hair had been shorn; the smooth cap that was left was greasy and matted to his scalp, and his darting, bloodshot turquoise blue eyes seemed to see nothing, not even his husband and lover.

    "Quatre?!" Trowa exclaimed softly.  The answering whimper nearly floored him as he moved to his partner's side and took in the enormity of the horror he found.  Screams rent the air as soon as Trowa's fingertips made contact with Quatre's bare back.  After a moment, he was able to make out the words.

    They were "FUCK YOU! I WON'T TELL!"

    The British pilot knew they were running out of time, so he pulled a light blanket out of his rucksack and wrapped it around Quatre's naked form, then scooped him up and began to make a mad dash towards their ride.  They'd barely made it down two hallways before Trowa realized he had to do something.  Quatre's screams were drawing too much attention to them, and that was the last thing they needed.

    "I'm sorry, love," Trowa murmured before applying a well-placed nerve pinch to the blond-haired man's neck, knocking him unconscious.

    Trowa cradled Quatre's now-slight form as he rushed from the building.  Luck seemed to be with him for a change; no one tried to block their escape.  They were almost to the black minivan he'd picked out when a voice started on the loudspeaker.  He carefully settled Quatre into the passenger seat and buckled him in.  He didn't bother with his own seat belt, just threw the car into first gear and sped off, tires hitting the asphalt of the main road just as he gleefully pressed the detonator while he pushed the powerful engine to its limits.

    As soon as he was sure they weren't being followed, he pulled over and retrieved his tablet and cell phone from the floor near Quatre's feet.  He jammed the tablet into the seat beside Quatre and booted it up before hitting the first number on the phone's speed dial.

    "Zero Three," Hiiro Yui said, having picked up halfway through the first ring.  "Mission accomplished?"

    "Roger that, Zero One," an angry Trowa Bloom replied.  "It's bad... I don't know what the Hell these bastards did to Zero Four, but it's bad.  I'm sending Sally everything I've retrieved from their databases.  Tell her to follow plan three and then all of you fly.  I've a really bad feeling about this.  I'm ditching this cell as soon as I hang up, but I'll keep in touch.  Stay safe and tell the others.  See you soon."

    Trowa closed the phone and lobbed it into the back of a passing garbage truck, then tried splitting his attention between his tablet and keeping the car on the road.  He sent the files he'd retrieved to Sally Po-Chang before shutting it down and settling in to drive.

    As Trowa kept his eyes on the road, he began to worry about what would happen when Quatre woke up.  They'd been driving for close to two hours before it happened.  His breathing changed first; the slow, deep and steady rhythm suddenly became sharp, shallow and pained.  Whimpers like those made by a wounded animal told him just how much pain his partner was in.

"    Cat?  You still with me, love?" Trowa asked softly.  Quatre sat trembling, bloodshot turquoise blue eyes wide and vacant, murmuring "Won't tell" over and over, and shrank into the seat as though expecting an attack.  Forcing his growing panic down before Quatre could pick up on and react to it, Trowa tried another tactic.

    "Zero Four, what's your status?"

    Quatre's unseeing eyes opened wide as his face contorted into a silent scream and his body arched as though a bolt of lightning were being run through it.  Trowa reached out to touch Quatre, and was shocked to feel the hairs on his arm standing up on end with the telltale feeling of static electricity.

    "Íosa!" Trowa swore in Irish as he crossed three lanes of traffic, then jumped onto the exit for the nearest rest stop. ^[1] He was glad for the early hour; there was no one at the rest stop alert enough to see him dig through his bag frantically.  Fumbling around for a moment, he finally managed to dig out the scanner he needed and slowly ran it over Quatre's tortured form.  He swore vehemently as he found the electrodes on his chest and removed them, dropping them on the back seat for study later.  Quatre whimpered in his seat, his eyes still glazed.

    "Come on, baby, snap out of it."

    "No-no-no, no more, never tell," Quatre mumbled, even as his eyes started to close.

    Trowa ran his hands through his hair, tugging on it, and hoped to finally wake up from this nightmare.  He fastened his seat belt and forced himself to calm down and return to driving.  They were still over an hour away from Sally and the safe house.  He tried to shut down, to convince himself that everything would be fine, but it wasn't working.  Even in his unconscious state, Quatre whimpered and moaned as though in great pain.

    When they finally reached the safe house, Sally was at the door, waiting for them with a pair of fuzzy blue spa socks in her hands.  Trowa gathered Quatre up in his arms like a child and silently thanked God that they were miles away from anywhere as Quatre once again opened his mouth and started screaming.

    "Get him in that bed over there," Sally ordered gently, pointing to the twin bed in the corner. "He'll probably stop once you set him down."

    Trowa followed the pretty doctor's orders and placed Quatre on the bed, afraid to know what she meant, but desperate to keep his husband and lover from being hurt further.  Then and only then did he see why Sally had a pair of socks with her as she slipped them on Quatre's icy cold feet.

    "It's okay, Quatre.  Take it easy, you're safe now," Trowa murmured as he pulled the comforter over Quatre's body.  Immediately, the tow-headed man's screams ceased and he clumsily snuggled into the cover.

    "Sally, what the Hell did they do to him?!" Trowa demanded as he spun, emerald green flames focused on the pretty doctor.

    "According to the files you sent me, these guys had previous knowledge of Quatre's unique physiology.  They knew what his pain tolerance and endurance levels were and started from there.  They've been feeding him a cocktail of designer drugs that's been specifically tailored to his body, and the list is revolting.  Mood enhancers and neural sensitizers to screw up his empathy, belladonna based drops to blur his vision... and they've been pumping him full of stimulants to keep him conscious throughout much of his torture.  You know about the nanites H put in his system, right?"

    "Yeah, we've all got them, even though I was only a mechanic and Barton's back-up pilot at first," the cinnamon-haired Heavyarms pilot answered numbly.   At Sally's confused look, Trowa elaborated with "A couple of months before Operation M started, Trowa Barton... the real one... beat me, raped me and left me to bleed to death in my own quarters.  Doktor S gave me his nanites to save my life." ^[2]

    "Well, this guy knows how to use them against you.  He kept Quatre drugged, helpless and in constant pain.  They even tried to use sound to wear him down," Sally ranted.

    "Plus lights and images," added Trowa angrily.

"But they didn't break him, Trowa.  God save him, he didn't break.  Now, we just have to wait and let the drugs wear off.  I won't risk doing more damage by trying to give him a more thorough exam until then."

    Usually steady hands, hands that could fit together the tiniest gears together in a hot minute, started to tremble, and the tremors moved up his arms and down his body.  Tears burned at his eyes as he struggled to breathe and Trowa recognized what it was; the beginnings of a panic attack.  Just as he was sure his knees would buckle out from under him, Sally wrapped her slender, strong arms around his chest and maneuvered him to the couch before his legs collapsed.

    "Damn it, Trowa, either cry it out or talk it out," she mumbled as she held him.  Emerald green eyes, wide and watery, lifted to meet her light periwinkle blue ones.  "I need you to have a level head, and he needs you to stay calm 'til the drugs are out of his system."

    "Six weeks," he gasped, trying to force his breathing back to normal.  "How the Hell did he get that bad in six fecking weeks? Who could have done this to him?  And why now, when the last war's been over for almost five fecking years?  I - I just want to wrap my arms around him and tell him he's safe now, but thanks to these bastards, I can't even do that much for him!"

    "Give him an hour or two, then you can touch him again.  And to answer the question you're not asking me, no, I don't think they raped him.  I can't be sure until we're in a safer location so I can examine him more thoroughly, but..."

    Before Trowa could take even a small bit of comfort in her words, the alarm from Sally's computer blared, causing their heads to snap up.  Guilt and grief were pushed aside as the pair of old friends and comrades checked the monitor screen.  The people who had Quatre were flying up the gravel road towards them at a high rate of speed, and would be at the safe house within minutes.

    "Shite!  Bug out!" Trowa snapped, but Sally was already moving.

    Grabbing several bags of medical supplies, she bolted for the car, leaving Trowa to grab Quatre.  Trowa wrapped the comforter around Quatre, then scooped him up and rushed to follow.  Quatre's lack of screams were a small blessing.  He dropped Quatre on the back seat and jumped in the driver's seat.  Starting the van, they tore away from the house and down the back driveway.

    "Press the blue button on the bottom of my tablet and toss it out behind us," the Heavyarms pilot ordered.  Sally did as she was told and was surprised when Trowa floored the accelerator.  Thirty seconds later, the world shook under the force of the blast.  A secondary explosion announced that the closest car's undercarriage had succumbed to the heat and shrapnel.

    "Do you guys always carry around that many explosives?" Sally asked ruefully.

    "With Duo Maxwell around?  What do you think?" Trowa smirked.  "Grab the cell phone out of the glove box and toss it here."

    "Then Noin was right; you're all pyromaniacs," Sally quipped sarcastically as handed him the phone. "What are you thinking?"

    Trowa punched up a pair of numbers on the speed dial, and it was answered halfway through the first ring.

    "05, we've been compromised.  Ditch all of your electronics and buy new ones.  The kidnappers had intimate knowledge on 04, probably a former handler or trainer, and there's a possible leak in Preventer.  Call 01; he'll pass the message on to 02 and the girls.  Tell him we're all going on a little trip back in time, and the coordinates are located in "03's oh, shit plan" that only the nine of us know about." ^[3]

    "Where's Sally?" 05 questioned.

    Sally took the phone from Trowa and said "Right here, honey, and we're as safe as houses for now."

    "How's Quatre?"

    "I'll explain when we meet up later, okay?"

    "All right.  Be careful, Xīn'ài." ^[4]

    "I will, baby.  Here's Trowa."

    Trowa took back the cell phone and said "05... Wu Fei... please, don't get caught.  Bug out, stay safe and warn the others.  We'll see you soon."

    After a curt "Roger that" from Wu Fei, Trowa ended the call and handed the phone back to Sally, who promptly put the device back in the glove box. Neither she nor Trowa could pass on the knowledge they both possessed; that their leader, the heart of their team, was down.  They couldn't shake their comrades' faith until he was there to help Trowa watch their backs.

To be continued...

- - = = 000 = = - -

Author's Notes: I apologize for the delays on my other stories, but I am working on them, too.  I'm working on a borrowed Dell laptop that likes to crash every time it gets even the tiniest bit warm, and it's rather frustrating to get into a groove and then BOOM, the stupid thing shows a blue crash screen and you've lost most of your new paragraphs.  If I didn't set RoughDraft to save every five minutes, I'd give up writing all together.

Annotations:

[1] In my head canon, Trowa and Catherine are English and Irish on their late father's side (the name Bloom), and Russian on their late mother's, so Trowa can speak some Irish Gaelic and Russian, mostly cuss words.  Íosa is Irish for Jesus.

[2] See my rewrite of "Scenario for Bloodshed," coming soon.

[3] I mentioned this in Chapter One, and I'll reveal some of the details in Up On Heaven's Boulevard.

[4] Mandarin Chinese for "beloved."

Next Chapter:  Remembering little of his captivity, Quatre awakens in Trowa's arms.  As they and Sally meet up with Duo and Hiiro, memories of their training begin to surface, and Sally discovers that she, too, is infected with nanites.

Next, on Gundam Wing: Let Slip the Gods of War - Dawn.

Chapter Text

Disclaimers, Warnings, Ratings, Archive, Etc.: See Chapter One.

Part Three: Dawn

    Warmth, familiar and yet something from a distant dream, surrounded him.  He hurt; every bit of his being seemed to be wrapped up in a haze of pain, and yet not.  It wasn't the blinding pain that stole his mind and his sense of time, but it was pain nonetheless.  He was afraid to open his eyes, afraid of what lurked in the shadows, bringing the pain with them, afraid that maybe his eyes would refuse to see.  He tried to move his arms and fight back, but they still felt too heavy to budge.

    "Shh.  It's okay, Cat, I've got you," murmured a warm, gentle voice near his ear, causing Quatre to nearly jump out of his skin.  A heavy weight slid under his left shoulder and he landed in a heap in their lap.  One hand weakly clasped another as he forced his turquoise blue eyes open.  His vision was badly distorted, so he could just barely make out the familiar head of light brown hair in the seat in front of him.

    "Sally?  Trowa?" he croaked pleadingly, then closed his eyes again.

    "Yeah, it's us.  Sorry it took me so long to find you, love," Trowa explained gently.  "They always seemed to be one step ahead of us, and they never kept you in one location for very long.  I decided to play bait, without Preventer's backing.  They tried to nab me and they led me to you.  Preventer has a leak."

    Quatre trembled as he felt Trowa's hands slowly rub up and down his arms.  To his horror, a small whimper escaped his lips, and he tried not to flinch at his partner's gentle touch.  There was no pain, but the intensity of the lack of pain was terrifying.

    "N… no more... please.  Touch... don't rub," he finally managed to say, struggling to make his abused voice work.

    "I'm sorry, love," Trowa sighed dejectedly. "Some of the drugs they'd been giving you must still be in your system.  I thought it'd be all right to touch you because you weren't screaming."

    "Doesn't... hurt, muhib," Quatre's weakened voice answered haltingly, "just… too much... too soon."

    "How's your vision, Quatre?" asked Sally from the driver's seat.  He trembled more against Trowa and his hand spasmed.

    "Cat, please talk to us," Trowa said when he didn't answer.

    "Blurry... before.  D… don't wanna open them again.  'm afraid… I'll be blind…"

    "The drops they were using in them should be starting to wear off by now, so I need to know if your vision's clear yet," said Sally gently. "If it isn't clear yet, it soon will be."

    Trowa shifted his lover so he could see his face.  "Come on, love, let me see those pretty blue peepers of yours," he coaxed softly.

    Quatre struggled, trapped between the terror he still felt and what he knew had to happen, so he cracked his eyes open.  They were still bloodshot and felt hot, dry and gritty, but the burning was nearly gone and Trowa's face was a lot clearer.

    "Still blurry, but better."

    "Gorgeous," Trowa proclaimed with a slight smile, holding up a bottle of water with a straw in it. "Now, let's see if we can get some fluids into you.  We would have gone with an IV, but it's not an option till we're holed up somewhere safe.  If you can't keep it down, then we'll have to take the risk."

    Quatre took a small sip; the cool water was soothing to his raw, pained throat.  Suddenly, his eyes widened and he turned his focus back to Trowa.  "Iria…?"

    "She's safe, and so is Cathy," Trowa replied seriously. "They weren't the targets, Cat; we were."

    "They kept asking me where we'd go to hide," Quatre whispered, then took another sip of water as his husband's lips brushed his forehead.  "I didn't tell them..."

    "I know."

    "Okay, guys, make some room," Sally warned the other two. "First rendezvous, 02."

    "Ah, shite," Trowa sighed tiredly.  "I was hoping either Hiiro or Wu Fei would be first."

    "Don't underestimate Duo," Sally replied, pushing the door open.  She then shouted to Duo "HEY, 02!  GET YOUR SKINNY ASS OVER HERE, ON THE DOUBLE!"

    "I'm not underestimating him, Sally, but for crissakes, he packs six bags for a two-day mission, and four of them are usually crammed full of explosives!"

    "I heard that!" Duo exclaimed, pushing the aforementioned six bags into the back of the van before hopping in.

    "Which part?  The blasphemy, or my assessment of your packing skills?" Trowa asked dryly.

    "Both," the Deathscythe Beast pilot replied.  Duo dropped into the seat behind the pair and ran a tired hand through his chestnut bangs, then took one look at his best friend and gave him a broad, encouraging smile.  Quatre blinked a couple of times, and found he was better able to focus on his best friend's face.  Duo looked haggard; he had faint gray circles under his eyes, his mid-back length braid was mussed and his clothes were more rumpled than usual.

    "Allah, you look like shit, Duo," Quatre croaked, wincing at how rough his voice still sounded. "What's your status?"

    Duo's bark of laughter startled the Sandrock Thunder pilot.  "You don't look much better yourself, buddy.  I'm tired, is all.  Just like during the war, only without the restful periods.  We're movin' in and outta safe houses faster than ever, but the bastards just keep finding us."  Duo turned his gaze to Sally.  "Hiiro's call came about two minutes before our perimeter was breached, so I sent Hilde on ahead to HQ.  Where's Rashid?  I thought he'd be here, too."

    "He and the Maguanac Corps took over ESUN's security before I left to retrieve Cat.  Une asked me to call them in because we can trust them.  Speaking of Anne, how's she handling the leak?" asked Trowa.

    "Ya mean other than having a litter of kittens over it?" Duo replied.  "She's been calling in everyone she knows she can trust and they're going over all of the personnel files with a fine-toothed comb, starting with the people closest to her and expanding outward from there.  In her own words, this whole situation is one gigantic clusterfuck."

    Quatre tried to follow the conversation, truly he did, but his attention kept wavering.  Waves of exhaustion were pulling him under, and as hard as he tried to fight it, to stay awake, he couldn't any longer.  Listening to the familiar, comforting voices of his partner and two of his best friends, he closed his eyes again and let his head droop to Trowa's shoulder.  A few moments later, his breathing slowed down and evened out, indicating that he was sleeping.

    "Is he finally asleep?" asked Sally, glancing in the rearview mirror.

    "Yeah," Trowa answered.  "I'm amazed he managed to stay awake this long."

    "Tro, what'd those bastards do to him?" Duo asked . "He feels… different."

    "He's still trying to purge the rest of the drug cocktail they'd been feeding him from his system.  The kidnapper was one of H's people, I'd bet a tenner on it.  Duo, they know about our nanites and how to use them against us."

    "Damn!  We need to find out what Cat knows from his time there," Duo exclaimed, his mind reeling.

    "I wish we could ask him," Trowa said as he pulled Quatre closer and tried to force his hands to be still.  "He wasn't exactly lucid when I finally found him.  They had him locked up like veal in a tiny cell that smelled of piss with recordings of multiple voices and images and flashing lights playing constantly.  He can still barely lift his arms, and just barely brushing my fingers on his bare skin made him scream in pain."

    "Give him a couple days, Tro, an' he'll be as back to normal, or at least as normal as any of us are," reminded Duo.

    "Not bloody likely!" the Chinese American doctor exclaimed. "He's looking at months of recovery time, and then maybe even physical and speech therapy!"

    "It took Hiiro three months to completely recover after self-detonating in Wing.  Cat's nanites should be fully up and running by now."

    "I guess I still don't know enough about them," admitted Sally.

    "You should probably check out the files Hiiro and Quatre have.  Outside of the Mads, the two of them are the experts," Trowa said, shifting in his seat.

    "Geez, I never really thought about warning 'em!" Duo said with wide eyes. "Fei an' Hii-kun probably didn't even realize it!  I mean, I told Hilde and she was cool with it, but…!"

    "Spit it out, Maxwell," growled Sally.  "What did they not realize?"

    "That our nanites can be spread to others through bodily fluids," he replied sheepishly, blushing furiously.  "Not through blood, sweat, tears or saliva, mind, but through... um... other stuff."

    Sally paled. "How long did it take before you noticed the effects, and what are they?"

    "It was little stuff for me," answered Duo. "Basically, they reversed all the damages years of malnutrition had done to my body.  Height-wise, I gained a good three inches in a matter of weeks; my speed and reflexes were always good, but they got better.  I'd never tested myself to see if I ever got as strong as Hiiro is, but they definitely made him stronger."

    "With me, it started with the injuries I'd sustained just before I was injected with them healing rapidly.  Later, I noticed I'd gotten taller, too, and that my balance and equilibrium had improved to the point that I don't need a pole to walk a tightrope.  With Quatre, they corrected a bad case of night blindness and enhanced his strength, stamina and endurance.  They also corrected a slight limp he'd had from a broken foot.  As for Wu Fei, you've seen him wearing a pair of prescription reading glasses at times, right?"

    "Yeah."

    "Imagine the lenses being three times thicker than they are now, and him having to wear them almost all the time.  He was extremely far-sighted."

    Sally did imagine it, and couldn't help the chuckle of mirth at the mental image of her husband talking about honor and integrity as a nerd.  He was still cute, though.

    "In other words, they correct all your flaws an' enhance your positives," Duo added.  "Getting back to your question, it takes about a month for the little suckers to fully integrate with all your body's systems."

    "Why so quickly?" she questioned softly.

    "They have to multiply quickly in order to prevent any damage to the host's body," replied Duo, pulling one of the bags onto his lap. "I'll pull up G's files on 'em and send 'em to your tablet.  I'm a hacker and mechanic, not a doctor, so you'll probably understand 'em a lot better than I do.  While I'm at it, I'll e-mail a copy of 'em to Tro's office computer at Preventer, just in case."

    "Thanks, Duo.  I'm good to drive for a couple more hours, so why don't you guys get some sleep?  We'll switch off at the next rendezvous."

- - - = = 0000 = = - - -

    That voice... he knew that voice.  It was the same oily, venomous sound that tormented him through some of his oldest nightmares.  He tried to struggle, to fight back as they stripped him of his clothes and possessions, but his body refused to cooperate.  His limbs seemed too heavy, despite his great stamina.  The voice laughed at him, amused as he struggled to keep them from tearing his wedding band off his finger.

    "Do you remember me, little Shulmanu?  You always were my favorite, a true god among mortals. Tell me how to find the others."

    Quatre struggled in Trowa's arms, startling his lover awake.  The Heavyarms Bombardier pilot grabbed at the flailing arms and tried to hold on to the weaker man without hurting him.

    "Quatre, wake up!" he cried. "It's all over!  You're safe!  Wake up, love!"

    With a gasp, Quatre's eyes snapped open and he slumped, trembling and panting, in Trowa's arms.  Despite his weakened state, he brought left hand up to his face.  Tears threatened to fall as he turned to his husband and whispered "They took it, Trowa... they took my wedding band."

    Trowa hugged Quatre as tightly as he dared to, ever aware of his broken ribs, and felt the tow-headed man was close to hyperventilating from sheer terror.  Though they were still closed off, the auburn-haired man attempted to project love and reassurance through the empathic and telepathic links they shared.

    "It's all right, Cat," he whispered as he pulled the chain from inside his shirt.  Trowa unclasped the necklace and slipped it around his husband's neck before gently wiping Quatre's tears away. "I found it at the site of the first raid.  I've had it with me ever since."

    "I know him, Trowa," Quatre sobbed as Trowa kissed his forehead again. "I think we all know him.  Training… I still have nightmares from his training.  He… he had a name for us…"

    Duo's cobalt blue eyes widened in shock and horror as the color drained from his face. "Gods of War," he whispered.

    "No!" Trowa protested, his own face turning ashen. "That's not possible!  The Mads had him executed!  Even they thought he was fecking crazy!"

    "He escaped," Quatre corrected raspily, pushing his horror away.  "He had friends on the inside, and H could never find him again."

    "Who's driving next?" questioned Sally. "We're almost at the next pickup site."

    "I will," Trowa replied. "I got some sleep with Cat."

    "Okay," Sally glanced at the tow-headed man in the mirror.  "Quatre, now that the drugs are nearly all out of your system, I'm going to check you over again, okay?"

Quatre nodded, not wanting to talk.

    Sally frowned. "Does your throat hurt?"

    Quatre nodded again and snuggled into Trowa's warmth.  Exhaustion was tugging at his consciousness again.  Just as he was starting to drift off, Trowa slipped out from behind him while Sally was saying something from the front.  To his surprise, the van squealed to a halt and the Heavyarms Bombardier pilot jumped out the side door.  The sounds of a fire fight rang out for several moments before Trowa bellowed "ZERO ONE!  THIS WAY!".

    Moments later, more bags were tossed into the back of the van and Hiiro collapsed into the seat behind him.  Sally slid into the seat beside the half Japanese pilot as Trowa took her place behind the wheel.

    "Status, 01?" snapped Sally, turning in her seat.

    "Dislocated shoulder and a couple bruises," Hiiro answered with a feral grin.  "I lit a pack of matches, stuffed them into the spout of a very full bottle of vodka and tossed it into the sewer.  Got caught in the shockwave."

    Sally moved into the back seat, giving Hiiro an apologetic smile. "This is probably going to hurt."

    Hiiro shrugged with his good shoulder. "No more than doing it myself would."

    "Yeah, I can verify that," Duo chimed in with a wince.  There was no need for the Deathscythe Beast pilot to elaborate further.  They all knew the story of how Hiiro had set and splinted his own broken leg after making a leap out of a window on the fiftieth floor of a hospital just to escape the Alliance.  Duo just happened to be there when he reset it.

    "Hey, Duo," called Trowa from the front seat, "go through yours and Hiiro's bags and make sure the bad guys didn't slip us any presents.  Hiiro, no time for modesty; there are bags of clothes behind your seat, so let's ditch the ones you have on.  Duo, you probably should change clothes, too, and pray we don't get pulled over by the local LEOs for littering... or worse."

    Sally returned to the seat with Quatre and pulled a bag from between the front seats. She brought out a pen light and turned to her tow-headed patient.  "How's your vision, sweetie?"

    "Clear," Quatre replied, his voice still raspy. "Throat hurts, though, and I'm starting to feel hungry."

    "Your eyes look good, but I don't want you talking for a while.  All that screaming did a lot of damage to your throat and vocal chords, so unless you absolutely have to, no more talking until they've had a chance to heal properly.  How does your chest feel?"

    Quatre lifted his eyebrow at her but answered anyways.  "Sore."

    "That's because you have at least two broken ribs and several bruised ones.  You've lost a lot of weight, too, so you're going to feel weak for a while.  I can't really give you a good estimate on your recovery until I understand the nanites better.  We need to find a way to check them and make sure they weren't damaged or tampered with in any way," Sally explained.

    "What about our nanites?" Hiiro questioned defensively, concern etching itself on his handsome face.

    Duo jumped in to explain.  "The man trying to nab us knows about 'em, and he knows how to use 'em against us.  He called us his Gods of War and was particularly good at causing pain."

    "He called himself Kronus.  I'd had the least exposure to him because I took Trowa Barton's place just before the man left," replied Trowa. "He was a sadistic monster; even the mechanics knew to keep away from him.  Until today, I thought the Mads had carried out his execution."

    "Yeah, the old farts were about to, but J told me he had friends on the inside who helped him escape," Hiiro sighed. "To answer your question, Sally, we'd know if our nanites had been tampered with.  The pain was most likely caused by something interrupting them, like an electromagnetic pulse.  I can tell you from experience that it hurts like Hell."

    Sally pulled a bottle of strawberry smoothie out of the cooler, opened and stuck a straw in it, then handed it to Quatre. "If you start feeling sick, honey, stop.  If your stomach can handle it, we'll try some soup or something more solid later on.  Hiiro, let me have everything you've got on the nanites."

    "Sure thing."

    "Get some rest back there, guys," Trowa chimed in. "We'll meet up with Wu Fei in about three hours, and then it's off to the safe house.  We need to contact Lady Une and let her know as much about this guy as we can remember."

    "We'll take care of that once we've had the chance to talk to Fei," said Duo. "He might remember more about Kronus, and hopefully he'll remember what that whacko's real name is."

To be continued...

- - = = 000 = = - -

Author's Notes: No A/N for this chapter.

Annotations: No annotations this chapter.  Sorry.

Next Chapter: On their journey to meet up with Wu Fei, Trowa and the others desperately try to remember more about Kronus, the madman pursuing them.  Quatre reveals some of what he remembers of his captivity, and finds out what weapon was used during his torture.

Next, on Gundam Wing: Let Slip the Gods of War - Day Dreams.

Chapter Text

Disclaimers, Warnings, Ratings, Archive, Etc.: See Chapter One.

Part Four: Day Dreams

  Duo and Hiiro were sound asleep in the second seat of the van, Duo's head resting on his best friend's shoulder.  The moving van was the first chance they'd had to really rest in several weeks.  Sally sat in the first seat with Quatre.  Her new tablet, courtesy of Hiiro, completely held her attention as she soaked up everything she could about the nanites that she and some of her friends were now infected with.

  Quatre slept tucked against the side of the van, his bruises already beginning to fade from black and plum to green and yellow.  He had been alternating between deep sleep and ravenous hunger.  It was a good sign; it meant his nanites were hard at work repairing the damages Kronus and his men had done to his body.  Given enough time, he would be back in fighting trim.  They just had to survive until then.

  "Hey guys, we've need to make a pit stop," Trowa announced from the driver's seat. "The car's fuel cells need to be recharged, and we need a stretch and bathroom break.  I don't know about anyone else, but I've been sitting in cars, off and on, for nearly thirty hours now, I haven't seen the inside of a loo since before I left the bad guys' lair, and I really don't feel like peeing behind another bush unless it's absolutely necessary."

  Hiiro stretched, nearly dislodging Duo. "We should get some food and supplies, too, while we're at it," he said with a yawn.  "Katoru's gonna go through a ton and a half of protein over the next few days."

  "He needs more fluids, too.  I'm sorely tempted to insert that IV," Sally sighed.

  "Everybody armed?" Duo questioned.  At the chorus of affirmatives, he smiled and laid out his plan.

- - - = = 0000 = = - - -

  Trowa pulled up to the recharger unit closest to the front of the store and gingerly climbed out of the driver's seat, then stretched and helped Sally get Quatre out of van.  They'd decided to use the lavatory in shifts; Trowa and Quatre first, then Sally, Duo, and finally Hiiro, and the latter two decided that they would pick up and pay for the food and fluids while Trowa took care of recharging their vehicle.

  With all of the van's doors opened, Trowa could keep watch on Quatre and still keep an eye on Hiiro and Duo inside the store.  Sally stayed with Quatre and Trowa to watch the taller man's back while his attention was on the van.  Despite his weakened state, Quatre sat hidden in the shadows with a gun resting in his lap, his alert blue eyes never leaving Duo and Hiiro as they gathered everything they needed in the small store.

  "How are they doing?" asked Trowa as Quatre's stomach growled loudly.

  "They've cleared just about all the beef jerky from the shelves and they're moving to another isle.  Duo's got a basket full of bottled water and yogurt drinks, too, and he's now at the microwave.  They're about to leave my direct line of sight, but they're tall enough for me to see them over the aisles," said Sally.

  "They'll watch each other's backs," murmured Trowa, closing the plug station and moving to climb back into the van.

  Quatre tapped Sally's arm to gain her attention.  Once he had it, he signed to her, "Trowa's too tired to keep driving.  He's worried; he's gonna wind up pushing himself too hard."

  Sally nodded in response before turning her attention back to the two men in the store.  "They've hit the register."

  Trowa started up the van and was surprised to find someone tugging on the tail of his shirt.  He turned to find it grasped in Quatre's hand and turquoise eyes focused on him.  Sally's watched as Duo and Hiiro finished checking out and made their way back to the van.  Before Sally could say anything to Trowa, Duo did.

  "Look out, clown boy, I'm driving.  Get back there, cuddle with your hubby, get some rest, and for God's sake, EAT SOMETHING," Duo ordered as he handed Quatre a cup of hot tomato soup.

  "Oy, yebat'... Duo," warned Trowa. ^[1]

  "You're as predictable as Relena says I am, Trowa," Hiiro added as he climbed into the passenger's seat.  "Our first reactions have always been to protect our loved ones no matter what, even when we've pushed ourselves past our limits.  There are five of us to carry the weight of this load, jikei-san, so let us help you out, okay?" ^[2]

  Trowa gave in with little more than a token grumbled complaint, and then settled into the seat with Quatre tucked against him, accepting the packet of beef jerky pressed into his hand by Sally.  Quatre was carefully sipping his soup to avoid causing his throat more pain and to allow his stomach to adjust to real food again.

  "I think I understand your nanites a lot better now," said Sally, going over her notes again. "They were given to you to counter the adverse effects of all the g-forces you were pulling during mobile suit battles." ^[3]

  "So that's why we never lost consciousness or redded out," Trowa quipped. ^[4] At that moment, Quatre finished his soup and handed the container to his husband, who handed it to Hiiro, who stuffed it into an empty bag for later disposal.

  "And why you boys are all still healthier than horses while many mobile suit pilots have cardiovascular problems," Sally replied.  After a moment, she grimaced and added "I'm gonna stop beating around the bush.  This guy had to have some kind of inside knowledge on your nanites to be able to use them against you the way he was."

  "Even without first-hand knowledge of them, he could've accidentally stumbled on how to use them to cause pain," said Hiiro from the passenger's seat.  "I learned that the hard way; EM grenades are not a lot of fun.  Luckily, the nanites aren't damaged by them, just forced to shut down and reboot."

  "I've always wondered why those disappeared from armory so quickly," Duo murmured.

  "I thought it was for the best after that mission," Hiiro replied. "It's a wonder I didn't get caught.  Rendezvous point in three minutes."

  Quatre tapped Trowa's arm to get his attention before signing, "Ask Hiiro what it felt like.  Did it burn like fire, or freeze like ice?"

  "Cat wants to know what it felt like, fire or ice," said Trowa, giving his husband a questioning look.

  "Both," replied Hiiro, surprised.  "It felt like fire when they went offline, then like ice when they finally rebooted.  It didn't happen all at once, either.  It was more of a cascading effect."

  "Then they used some sort of EMP weapon on me," signed Quatre tiredly.

  "Those electrodes I took off of you at the rest stop…," Trowa said softly.  "I wonder... were they the source of the pulse, or did they just produce electricity?"

  Quatre closed his eyes and leaned his head against Trowa's chest, letting his heartbeat calm him.  "Don't remember much," he signed with trembling hands.  "At first, he only tried questioning me, but soon he became more than a little eager to start on the pain.  Once he started, it was all I knew."

  He twisted, hiding his face against Trowa, unwilling to let them know how much the man enjoyed torturing him, or how much it was still affecting him.  Trowa could feel Quatre's whole body tremble against him, and started to rub his hand up and down his husband's back.  The Heavyarms Bombardier pilot wrapped his arms around Quatre and snuggled in as best as he could in the seat.  He placed a gentle kiss against the ridge of Quatre's ear, and was surprised when he jumped away, terrified.  Blue eyes opened wide and his body trembling uncontrollably, Quatre fought against the fear that washed through him.

  Trowa met those wide, frightened turquoise eyes with his steady emerald ones.  Gently, as he would have with a child on the street, he pulled Quatre back to his chest. "It's okay, love.  You can tell me what happened."

  Quatre fought with his panic, and let his hand close around Trowa's.  His body continued to tremble, his mouth working though no sound escaped.  Finally, he buried his face in Trowa's neck and the words slowly tumbled out.  "He-he'd put his lips right by my ear and whisper.  I - I could feel his l-lips on my ear.  H-he'd keep them there while the p-pain burned and whisper."

  Trowa's arms tightened around Quatre and the rage he felt shimmered in his deep green eyes.  "We're gonna get this bastard, Cat.  He's never going to hurt you again."

  A few minutes later, they pulled into the parking lot of a busy market.  There were people milling about everywhere, giving them enough witnesses and cover to ease their fears of attack.  Wu Fei stood with his back to a stone wall, his bags against one side.  They pulled up right in front of him and Sally opened the side door.

  "Oi, Fei!  Get a move on!" Trowa exclaimed, his eyes still blazing though Quatre was drifting off again.

  "You look like you're ready to kill someone," Wu Fei snarled as he climbed in the van, obviously in a foul mood of his own.

  Once they were moving, Trowa took one look at the group and felt the fury drain from him.  Quatre was drifting deeper into sleep against him; his gentle, rhythmic breathing reminding him of just how exhausted he really was.  The adrenaline he'd been running on since Quatre's abduction suddenly seemed to abandon him all at once and he lifted a trembling hand to brush through his bangs.

  Wu Fei was suddenly beside him, dark eyes locked on him. "Trowa, how long has it been since you've gotten more than a few minutes of sleep?"

  "I - I couldn't... not u-until...," Trowa stammered as he felt exhaustion overtake him.

  "I know, brother," murmured Wu Fei.  "You had to make sure we were all safe and keep the squad together.  We're all here now, so you can get some rest and I'll take the watch."

  Tears glimmered in Trowa's eyes though none fell.  "They hurt him, Fei.  They hurt him so badly."

  "And we're gonna catch them, but you need to rest so you can take care of him.  Quatre needs you," replied Wu Fei, keeping his voice low and even.  He continued to murmur to his friend until emerald eyes drifted closed and sleep overtook him.  Once he was positive Trowa was sound asleep, he turned to his friends and asked "What the Hell happened?"

  "D'you remember during our training, that asshole who called himself Kronus?" Duo asked softly.

  Wu Fei paled drastically and his hand strayed to his shoulder.  "Yeah, he was a fucking monster," he hissed, drawing himself up.  "Master O sent him away after he… after he tried to break me.  I still have the scars from it."

  "Well, the bad news is that the fucker's alive and he's figured out how to use our nanites against us.  Worst news is that he seems he's trying to collect us, though we don't know why yet.  D'you happen to remember what his real name was?"

  "No.  The only thing I'd ever heard him call himself was Kronus.  I know he had a name for us, too, but I don't remember it."

  "He called us his Gods of War," sighed Hiiro. "When we check in with Lady Une later, we'll pass on the information we have.  Fei, there's a change of clothes in one of the bags behind the last seat.  We've been changing and ditching everything as we go."

  While Wu Fei changed, Sally looked over at Trowa and Quatre.  "How much should I be worrying about him?" she asked softly.

  "What do you know about his past?" asked Duo.

  "Just the basics.  Born on Earth in July, After Colony 180, orphaned and separated from his sister at the age of two, escaped from an Alliance orphanage at four, ran with a merc crew until he was almost ten, emigrated to L3-8253 and went to work for Doktor S at eleven, then became Trowa Barton and Gundam Pilot 03 and returned to Earth at fourteen.  He told me something earlier... that he'd been raped by the real Trowa Barton just before the start of Operation Meteor."

  "That makes you the fifth person he's ever revealed that to," Wu Fei replied gently.  "We can't tell you the rest of the details, Sally; he has to.  What we can tell you is that he was taught at an early age to protect his squadron, and he takes that very seriously; so much so, he can sometimes forget that we can help protect ourselves."

  "Like the day your stomach growled and he practically fed you his lunch?" said Sally thoughtfully.

  "Yeah.  If I hadn't ordered food and had it delivered to his office, he wouldn't have eaten until he returned home later that evening."

  "The four of you always carry little bags of his favorite candy," Sally prompted, trying to understand completely.

  "He won't buy stuff like M&Ms for himself," explained Duo, "but he'll buy 'em for everyone else.  He's more likely to pick out a healthy snack for himself an' Cat; usually a piece of fruit or something."

  "Three o'clock apples," Sally murmured. "Trowa shows up at my office every day at three and gives me an apple, though I'm not sure how he found out they're my favorite."

  "He's good at ferreting out little details," Wu Fei replied. "He's truly a master spy, and he'll do anything for those he considers family.  Somewhere along the way, he realized you get hungry around three in the afternoon.  He doesn't tolerate the thought of one of us being hungry well."

"Given our pasts, Fei, z'at surprise you?" asked Duo. "That's the one thing he an' I really have in common.  Starving to death was a distinct possibility for a lot of our early years."

- - - = = 0000 = = - - -

  He was about eight years old, and had just stolen some apples for dinner when he spotted her.  She couldn't have been more than five or six and tiny for her age.  Her dark hair was filthy and matted and her big brown eyes were filled with fear.  Bruises decorated her too-thin face and arms.  He circled the block and made sure she knew he was coming towards her.  He was almost there again when she darted into the alley, sobbing.  He stopped at the outside edge of the opening, knowing there was no exit within the alley.

  "Are ye hungry?" he called softly.  His only response was a terrified whimper.  "I won't hurt ya."  He set the apple on the ground in front of him.  "Ye can have it.  I won't touch ya."

  He watched as she silently slipped out of her hiding place to slowly move towards the food.  Once she was within easy reach of the apple, her tiny hands snatched it and she started gobbling it up.  Once the apple was gone, she looked up at him adoringly with her big brown eyes.

  "Ye got a name?" asked Nanashi, handing her another apple.  She shook her head and he tipped his head to the side thoughtfully, "How 'bout I call ye Mouse, then?"

  She nodded and reached out to take his hand.  As soon as her small fingers touched his, a blackness spread from where their skin met.  He dropped her hand but it didn't stop the spread.  He screamed as she was devoured by the blackness, tears streaming down his cheeks from wide, terrified green eyes.

  Strong arms held him and rocked him while crooning softly.  Those arms held his arms pinned to his sides and he was confused to still feel Quatre's weight across his lap.  He slowly opened his eyes, confusion swirling in their emerald depths.  Worried turquoise orbs met his as Quatre moved so they were almost nose to nose.

  "Dreaming about Mouse again?" Quatre asked softly.  Trowa nodded and was surprised when Quatre reached up and wiped away a few stray tears and kiss his husband's cheek.  He gave Quatre a weak smile before looking over his shoulder to find Wu Fei behind him.

  "Are you finished trying to jump out of the van?" asked Wu Fei calmly.

  Trowa nodded again, still not trusting his voice.  He didn't move to get out of Wu Fei's grasp but he pulled Quatre back against him and hid his face in his husband's dirty hair.  Of all his nightmares, the ones he had about Mouse always shook him the worst.

  "Trowa, tell us about it," Hiiro said from the passenger seat.  He was pale and his eyes wide when he saw one of Quatre's hands stray towards his chest.

  "When I ran with the mercs, we'd pick up any little ones we found and took them to safety.  I was good at finding them, and they trusted me because I was a kid, too.  One day, I think I was eight, I'd found this little girl and took her with me.  The poor baby was covered in bruises and didn't have a name.  She was maybe only five or six, and I called her Mouse because she was so tiny and so scared.  I'd stolen a bag of apples from an abandoned shop that day, just a little while before I found her… but some OZ soldiers saw me take them and followed us.  They beat her to death to punish me, then started in on me." A sob tore from his throat.  "She was just a baby... she trusted me!"

  Wu Fei held on tighter as Trowa tried to pull himself back together.  The tears that had fallen freely in his sleep were bottled up tightly once more, denying him the release he needed and deserved.  Giving an exasperated growl, Quatre pulled his hand away from his chest and grabbed Trowa by his chin.

  "It wasn't your fault," he ground out, his voice sounding much closer to normal.  "You did what you had to in order to survive.  Those OZ soldiers were monsters."

  Isn't that what I keep trying to tell you about ZERO, Cat?  That it wasn't your fault?  Trowa thought, looking into Quatre's face.

  "Quatre's right, Trowa," said Sally from behind him.  "It wasn't your fault.  You were just a baby yourself."

  "Aw, shit!  Guys, we've got a problem!" said Duo, drawing their attention to the road ahead of them.  Without giving them more than a second to look, he turned across traffic to avoid hitting the man standing in the road.  A moment later, an explosion rocked the speeding van, nearly causing it to roll over.

  "Was that a grenade?" Sally questioned, blinking.

  "Yeah, it was," Hiiro answered, his voice starting to slip into his old wartime "mission mode" monotone.

  "How the Hell did they manage to find us?" demanded Wu Fei.

  "I think it's me," said Quatre.  He turned to Trowa. "Muhib, did you check me for bugs?"

  "I - I didn't have time to.  I stopped looking after I found the electrodes," Trowa stammered, wide-eyed.  He scrambled for his duffel bag and pulled out the scanner.  Starting at the top of Quatre's head, he scanned all the way to his feet. "Found it; socks off, Cat."

  Quatre pulled off his socks, and on the top of his right foot was a small scar over a bulge.  "Sub-dermal," he said to Sally.

  "Hiiro, hand me my bag, quick!" ordered Sally slipping into the seat and pulling Quatre's foot into her lap.  Pulling out a needle and a vial of lidocaine, she quickly numbed the area she was about to work on.  "Take some of those gauze pads and use the alcohol to prep them.  I'm gonna need them."

  "Please, just hurry," Quatre growled.  Sally sighed and opened a sealed package containing a clean scalpel while Hiiro prepared the gauze.  With practiced ease, she swiped the top of Quarte's foot with the squares and sliced along the small scar.  A moment later, she held up a small tracking device before handing it to Hiiro in exchange for more of the gauze.  She cleaned and stitched up the incision before taping a dry piece of gauze in place.

  "Hiiro, get rid of that damned thing," said Trowa softly as he leaned with his head against the window and closed his eyes.  "Duo, please... just get us to the safe house as quickly as possible."

- - - = = 0 0 0 0 = = - - -

Author's Notes: A reviewer posited to me this question: "[D]on't you think it's a little too much for all the pilots be Newtypes? Since you stated they all have nanites, therefore heal faster plus are pretty much as close to perfection as anyone can be, it feels a little over the top to make them Newtypes as well (except for Quatre since it's practically cannon by now)."

My answer was, quite simply, this: "Well, that all of the boys being Newtypes is right there in the series. We know that Quatre's an empath and a bit of a telepath, but Trowa shows both telepathy and empathy, too. Duo's was kept vague, Wu Fei's ability to sense evil was downplayed, and though there were hints, you don't find out what Hiiro's is until the very last episode."

Then again, many in the cast had Newtype abilities, including Relena (unspecified, though she had a connection with Hiiro), Zechs (unspecified), Treize (ditto), and Lady Une (projective empathy strong enough to make people do whatever she wanted).  Hell, Victor Gaintz from Battlefield of Pacifists and Dekim Barton in the manga version of Endless Waltz were also depicted as being Newtypes who could control peoples' minds.

In fact, I think the only characters in the series who weren't Newtypes were the Mads and Howard (though they could recognize them), the Dorlans, Cathy, Mr. Hawthorn (the ringmaster/owner of the Circus), Noin, Sally, Tsuberov, Dorothy, Dermail and most of the rest of Romefeller, Quinze and most of the rest of the White Fang, Nichol, Leia Barton, the real Trowa Barton, and Mariemaia.  I'm not sure about Hilde.

In closing out the notes on this chapter, I hope I've provided a better explanation of what the nanites do and why the boys were given them in the first place.

Annotations:

^[1]Oy, yebat' is Romanized Russian for "Oh, fuck."

^[2]Jikei-san is Japanese for "revered older brother."

^[3] More information of the effects of gravitational (g) forces can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki /G-force

^[4] See [3].

Next Chapter: Exhausted, our stalwart heroes reach the safe house, but find no time to relax.  Realizing that their chances of survival will be greater with help from their comrades, the Gundam pilots decide to continue on to Preventer HQ.

Next, on Gundam Wing - Let Slip the Gods of War: Noon

Chapter Text

Disclaimers, Warnings, Ratings, Archive, Etc.: See Chapter One.

Part Five: Noon

  The group of six were exhausted by the time they reached the safe house, which was actually a fairly large log cabin located in a heavily wooded area outside of Manassas. Hiiro and Duo spent the remainder of the trip alternating between passenger and driver. Trowa had been oddly quiet since the discovery of the tracking device, all of his energy focused on Quatre. Wu Fei moved into the back seat with his wife, the revelation that she was infected with the nanites weighing heavily on his mind.

  Wu Fei and Sally left the van to check out the house. Guns drawn, they slowly made their way through the single story home. When they finished a visual check from front to back, they took out Hiiro and Duo's hand held scanners and swept for bugs. Once it was deemed safe, they returned to the van to help bring in their supplies while Trowa carried Quatre inside.

  "God, I could sleep for a week," Duo murmured as he turned off the engine.

  "Sally and I will take first watch," said Wu Fei, taking a look at the motley group he called family before him. "Duo, Hiiro, you guys wanna help me with setting up the perimeter?"

  The cobalt-eyed man nodded while taking in the serious look between 05 and his wife. The glance conveyed the true depth of his concern while being stripped of their usual snark and sarcasm. It was a full twenty minute conversation wrapped into one three second glance.

  "Trowa," said Sally, "why don't you make some dinner while I check on Quatre again. Once the two of you finish eating, you're both going to get some sleep."

  "Okay," the dejected Trowa replied softly, moving towards the door with Quatre in his arms.

  "Just giving you fair warning," replied Sally seriously as they made their way into the house.

  As soon as they got Quatre settled on the couch, Trowa headed for the kitchen. Two pairs of blue eyes watched in concern over his silence. Once the Heavyarms Bombardier pilot was quietly working away at the stove, Sally turned her attention back to Quatre and, to her relief, the Sandrock Thunder pilot was looking better than he had a while ago. With the help of the nanites, his bruises were fading and his stamina was rapidly returning to that of a normal man his age. It wasn't up to his usual standards, but it was far better than she'd expected.

  "Don't be too hard on him, Sally," Quatre implored softly as she examined his eyes with a pen light. "He's being hard enough on himself for missing that damned tracker."

  "I know, and he shouldn't be, because I missed it, too," she sighed. "He's been more subdued than usual since we found it... I'm worried about him, Quatre. He's put himself under so much stress since they took you. I'm almost positive he hasn't been sleeping well."

  "He'll endure," answered Quatre with a conviction that surprised her. "Trowa's always been able to endure. It doesn't surprise me that he hasn't been sleeping. We've been chasing away each other's nightmares since the first war. Don't underestimate him, Sally."

  "Okay, you're cleared to move around the house, and I want you to continue taking in as much protein as your body demands. Nothing too strenuous for now, give yourself enough time to heal. Because of the situation, I'm clearing you for a weapon," Sally sighed. Loud enough to carry into the kitchen, she called, "Trowa, I'll finish dinner. You go help your husband get cleaned up. Six weeks without a shower is too long."

  "I wasn't going to say anything, but a bath will make sleeping with him a little more pleasant," Trowa joked, walking in with a towel in his hands. "I've started a big pot of lamb stew; just tell Fei to add some salt to taste and stir it well. Oh, and I've only got cheap pots and pans here, so don't let it stick to the bottom. There are some frozen rolls in the freezer. Give us about half an hour before you put them in the oven, which I thoughtfully set to preheat for you."

  "I guess Wu Fei's told you of my infamous lack of cooking skills," Sally said with a laugh. A moment later, Quatre tugged on Trowa's shirt to get his attention.

  "You ready, Cat?" he asked with a chuckle.

  "I've been ready since the moment you found me," came the tow-headed man's reply.

- - = = 000 = = - -

  "So these are the latest design, huh? Nice," Wu Fei quipped admiringly as he double checked and activated the pre-installed system.

  "Yeah," replied Hiiro from his position, using his tablet to sync the devices. "I'm pretty sure this is Trowa's his regular escape. I got worried once and tracked him down electronically. The deed to this house is in the names of Nathan and Margaritka Bloom, and has been since before we were born. I hate to admit it, but I've underestimated him several times during the war. His network of contacts and safe houses is almost as extensive as my own."

  "I think he prefers not to use his contacts unless he absolutely has to, though he keeps in touch with them," Wu Fei added as he turned on the last sensor before climbing down and rejoining the other two. "He's always been true to his motto."

  "I still think, after all these years, it's amazing how close the two of you have become," Hiiro said softly.

  "For one thing, Trowa looks for people he can call family," explained Duo. "His need for people he can protect led 'im to Cathy, Cat, you and Fei, though I don't think he realized it, or that he and Cathy have that in common. The two of you are the most obviously protective of the ones closest to you. I doubt he'll ever admit it, but I think Tro wanted to protect Cat from the first moment they met, even though Cat can take care of himself."

  "What about you?" Wu Fei asked his best friend. Duo smirked, his cobalt blue eyes twinkling. "He told me once, just after the war, that he didn't know what to make outta me. You and Hiiro could be studied and your reactions predicted. Cat, though he's deceptively innocent in appearance, can be predicted just as easily. He couldn't find any way to piss me off so he could learn my reactions. The fact that Hii-kun here can read me better than he could unnerved Tro, but in the end, it was Cat's faith in me and love for him that let him accept me."

  They were all left to think about Duo's words as Hiiro rummaged through the bag for the first wristwatch. He pointed it at the sensors to create an up-link and set it to the system before tossing it to Wu Fei. Once all six were set, they returned to the house where they were greeted by the savory scent of cooking food.

  "Sally, babe, please tell me you haven't been trying to cook again," Wu Fei quipped in mock dismay as he stepped into the kitchen.

  Sally grinned before responding to her dark eyed man. "Nope, Trowa put it together while I checked Quatre. He's got a lot of pre-made and frozen foods in the freezer. He must've spent days here, just cooking."

  Hiiro handed Sally her wristwatch. "You're right. He has spent a lot of time up here. Where'd they go?"

  "Quatre needed a bath, so Trowa's helping him with that," Sally answered while she examined the watch. "Are these connected to the perimeter alarms?"

  "Yeah, Wu Fei can show you how they work," Hiiro replied, turning towards the interior of the house. "I'm gonna leave these for them and then check out the sleeping arrangements."

   As Hiiro left, Sally tried her best to suppress a yawn and failed. Taking the big spoon from her hand, Wu Fei kissed his wife on the cheek and said "Sal, why don't you go in the other room, lay down and take a nap for a while. I'll finish fixing the food."

  Trudging her weary way into the living room, Sally made a beeline for the sofa recently vacated by Quatre and sat down. It was every bit as soft and comfortable as it looked. To Wu Fei's amusement, she bounced on the seat to settle herself in, stretched out fully and fell asleep as soon as her head hit a pile of well-stuffed throw pillows.

- - = = 000 = = - -

  Cool tile lined the bathroom in a gentle blue, the accents all the warm, golden hue of polished brass. The tub was a large, sunken pool the likes of which Quatre had seen only in his father's mansions in the L4 cluster. On a nearby shelf, large, fluffy blue towels and bath sheets waited for their use. Quatre sat on the closed lid of the toilet while Trowa filled the tub with warm water and something faintly sweet smelling. Quatre looked at the bottle being set down and chuckled; the scent was Mr. Bubble.

  "How are you feeling?" Trowa asked softly, still much more subdued than usual.

  "Human again," replied Quatre, just as softly. While they waited for the tub to fill, he snagged one of Trowa's belt loops and tugged the verdant-eyed man towards him. "Trowa…"

  Deep green eyes stayed trained stubbornly on the floor. "I screwed up, Cat. I should have done a more thorough scan at that rest stop. I'm sorry..."

  Quatre sighed and tilted Trowa's chin down until their eyes met. "A couple of years ago, it might have been an issue. We haven't really needed our war skills in ages. It was a mistake, Trowa, and one I know you won't make again. We're all struggling to remember our old skills. Besides, this is part of "03's oh, shit plan," right?" Quatre said, giving him a quirky smirk. "Where would we be without it?"

  "Probably stuck in the stupid van till who knows when, listening to Duo's bad jokes and singing "One Hundred Bottles of Beer On the Wall" 'til our heads exploded," answered Trowa, giving him a small smile in return.

  "You joining me?" asked Quatre, tugging on Trowa's hand.

  "If you want me to," replied Trowa, almost shyly.

  Oh, that's not good, Quatre thought, his brow furrowed in concern at Trowa's behavior before a knock at the door disturbed them. Trowa turned the knob and opened the door, giving him a view of Hiiro.

  "I just wanted to give you your alarms," Hiiro gave Trowa a smile. "Thanks for sharing your sanctuary, Trowa."

  "Thanks, Hiiro," said Trowa, taking the wristwatches. "I would've shared this place, eventually."

  "If it was ever needed, and we all understand that," responded Hiiro. "Go help Katoru."

  "Thanks again, Hiiro," replied Trowa, giving the Wing Seraphim pilot a slight smile before closing the door. As soon as the latch caught, Trowa locked it, then slowly stripped out of his clothes, giving his husband and lover a brief show.

  "I'll have to remember this is where you go when you take off on your own, just so I don't worry so much," Quatre sighed before spinning him around and wrapping his arms around him.

  "God, I've missed you, Cat," Trowa groaned, letting his arms wrap around Quatre's waist. "Me, too, love you," murmured Quatre against Trowa's shoulder. "Come on, before the water gets cold and we lose all the bubbles."

  He couldn't help but oblige as he turned his attention to Quatre. Once they were comfortably seated in the tub, Trowa worked a soft face cloth over Quatre's skin. A soft murmur prompted the Sandrock Thunder pilot to duck his head before nimble fingers worked shampoo into the grease-matted pale blond fuzz that was now his hair.

  "It's gonna take two washings to get your scalp completely clean," said Trowa practically. "It'll grow back, love; you know that."

  Quatre nodded and moaned as Trowa gently scrubbed his scalp. Ducking again to rinse, they quickly repeated the process before working in a little conditioner. At Trowa's order, Quatre left the conditioner to soak in while the taller man washed his own hair, and when he heard it was time to rinse, he was feeling sleepy again.

  "Hey, stay awake long enough to eat," Trowa ordered as he got them out of the tub, dried off and in clean t-shirts and sweat pants. He'd also found two pairs of oversized flip-flops for their feet.

  "Mmmph," Quatre replied softly, and heard his husband chuckle in response.

  "You're only getting away with that answer because you're so tired."

  "Want me to help comb the knots out your hair now?" questioned Quatre sleepily. Even though Trowa had long ago lost the full frontal cowlick, as Catherine had called it, his hair still snarled up after washing.

  "Nah, it should dry a little, first," replied Trowa softly. "Besides, it's just the guys and Sally."

  Quatre gave him a small, encouraging smile as he slid a comb into Trowa's pocket. "Let's go get something to eat before I doze off again."

  Trowa led the way from the bathroom, his calloused hand clasped around the comb as he tried to get the tangles out of his wet hair. He took them through the living room and into the dining room where they found Hiiro and Duo setting the table. The smells of stew and warm bread filled the air, causing several stomachs to growl loudly and Sally to wake up. When the pair entered the dining room, they noticed that Duo had his hair unbraided.

   "I can't remember the last time I've seen you with your hair down," Quatre exclaimed as the Deathscythe Hell pilot entered with the bread in a tea towel-lined basket.

  "Only a small handful of people have seen it down since Sister Helen started braiding it for me," Duo replied with a shrug.

  "What he's not saying," Hiiro supplied, "is that, with Sally here, the number's just risen to nine."

  "Sit down, everyone," Wu Fei ordered as he brought in the stew. His eyes widened at the sight of Duo. "Duo?"

  "It's nothing, Fei; it just needs combed out. I'll rebraid it later," sighed Duo, taking a seat next to Hiiro. "I know this is usually Cat's line, but I think we need a plan."

  "I've been thinking about that, too," Quatre admitted, taking the seat Trowa pulled out for him. "We're very vulnerable against someone who knows our collective weakness, and hiding from him isn't going to solve anything. I think it's time we call in the people we trust and make a stand."

  "Zechs, Noin and Nichol are gathered with Lady Une as we speak," Hiiro said. "Relena and Hilde are there, too, so that makes six more."

  "Quatre and Hiiro are right," Trowa conceded, accepting a bowl of stew from Hiiro with a nod of thanks. "We need people who aren't going to be susceptible to an EM pulse, and Zechs, Noin and Nichol are good, good enough to help us. The next question is: do we stay here tonight and try to get some rest, or do we leave right after dinner and show up at headquarters later tonight?"

  "How far are we from headquarters?" Sally asked, accepting a bowl of stew from her husband with a murmur of thanks. "You managed to lose me while I was sleeping."

  "About an hour and a half away," Trowa replied. "If we're going, it'll have to be right after we finish eating. I recommend giving Lady Une a call when we're less than a mile away from headquarters."

  "That's a good idea," Wu Fei quipped as he dunked some of his bread in the stew's thick gravy. "We've been running for six weeks without end, so it'll also give us a chance to rest. Even during the war, we had plenty of time to do that."

  "If you count all the times we slept in our Gundams," Duo grumbled playfully around a mouthful of food.

  "At least we had time to sleep, back then," Wu Fei chuckled.

  Hiiro ran a tired hand through his hair and sighed, "Katoru, what'll our chances for survival be without any help?"

  "Truth?" Quatre replied, anger creeping into the blond-haired man's voice. "About a hundred times worse than we had during the war. Just having Zechs or Miss Noin there to back us up will more than double our chances of survival. We can't do this alone, simply because Kronus knows about the nanites. I say we go tonight."

  "Sounds like we're all agreed, then," said Sally. "We're going to headquarters once we've finished eating."

- - - = = 0 0 0 0 = = - - -

Author's Notes: And so, another chapter is done. It's not as long as some of the others, but Sally and the boys needed a breather from the action.

Progress on my other stories: I'm a bit blocked on Chapter Six of Finding Triton, but Chapters Two of Guardian and Three of Boy are coming along and should be posted within the next week to ten days. The first two chapters of my GW rewrite are almost done enough to be posted, and everything else is pending until I can get a few of these others done.

Next Chapter: At Preventer HQ, Lady Une, Nichol, Zechs and Noin are still busy looking for the leak when Sally calls. When she and the Gundam pilots arrive at headquarters, some of Kronus' men attack, knocking them unconscious even as the men are arrested. While they recuperate in a conference room, Quatre and the others share what they know.

Next, on Gundam Wing: Let Slip the Gods of War - Day Terrors.

Chapter Text

In the time since Wu Fei's call informing her that there was a potential leak in her organization, Commander Une had been busy. She called the three agents she trusted most, Zechs, Noin and Nichol, into her office and asked them to bring their tablets. [1] The search wasn't going well. In the hours since, they'd found several agents and members of the office staff and cleaning crew whose true loyalties were questionable at best and treasonous at worst.

"God damn it!" she exclaimed, slamming her fists down in frustration on the desk in front of her. "I've got another one we need to delve deeper into! How many is that so far?"

"Fifteen out of the first one hundred fifty agents we've looked at, and we've been at it for only eight hours now," an exasperated Nichol replied tiredly, looking up from his own tablet. "Only another thousand files to go."

"I'm going to order some Chinese. Anyone else want some?" Zechs said with an exhausted sigh as he stood up. A moment later, he jumped, startled, when Noin's desk phone started ringing. Seeing who it was on the caller ID, she picked up the receiver and put the call on the speaker. "Fire here," she said.

"Water here," Sally's terse voice said on the other end. "We're about a minute away. We need at least two escorts, preferably all four of you, or more if you can find anyone else you can trust. We have a tail and a serious vulnerability the enemy knows about." At the sound of her best friend's voice, Noin breathed a silent sigh of relief. She and Sally had been friends since the Earth-Space War, and she'd been worried since the Chinese-American doctor dropped out of sight six weeks earlier.

"Roger that, Water. Hang in there, all of you, we're on our way out now," she replied decisively.

"They're almost here. They've got a tail and a serious vulnerability the enemy knows about."

"Then let's go," Une said, checking her clip. The click of it slamming back home had the whole group on their feet and moving as a unit for the elevator, checking their own weapons and donning bulletproof vests as they went.

By the time they reached the ground floor, they were as ready as they were ever going to be. As they moved towards the mirrored glass doors, they fell into formation without saying a word. To their surprise, and to Zechs and Noin's relief, Hilde and Relena were standing at the welcome desk, talking to the receptionist.

"Relena, Hilde, are you girls on the clock?" Lady Une asked.

"Yes, ma'am," replied the dark-haired girl. She took in their stances with a well-trained eye. "We're here on a case."

"Are you both wearing vests?"

"Of course," Relena answered, pulling her weapon, a Walther P22-5120300, from its shoulder holster with a look of concern on her face while Hilde flashed her PPK. [2] "Our paranoid, overly-protective husbands would never let us hear the end of it if we weren't. Why? What's going on?"

Unbeknownst to the others, Hilde and Relena were there on orders; Duo and Hiiro's orders, to be precise. After six weeks on the run together, the two pairs had split up that morning after Trowa's call letting them know he'd retrieved Quatre. And knowing the girls wouldn't be happy sitting around and twiddling their thumbs, the two Gundams sent them ahead for their protection.

"Good," the Commander ordered, glancing out the window, "As of this moment, you're officially being borrowed by my office. We have some friends coming in, and they need to reach my office safely. Right now, the six of us are the only ones we can trust."

"They're here," Noin said from her place by the door. Relena and Hilde took their places, and as the van skidded to a stop, they were surprised to see an SUV pull up behind them. Three men in black suits jumped out of the vehicle and started closing in on the van. With the slightest sign from Une, they moved.

"FREEZE!" rang out around the vehicles as Une, Noin, Zechs, Relena, Hilde and Nichol moved to surround the group, but they couldn't get into place before an EM grenade made it into the van. Sally, Duo and Hiiro managed to tumble out of the vehicle before it detonated, but the others weren't as lucky.

"I SAID FREEZE!" Une snarled as she moved to disarm the nearest assailant, her Sig Sauer pressed against the base of his skull. Nichol and Noin disarmed the other two while Hilde, Zechs and Relena moved to check on the agents in the van. The three men struggled against their captors as they started moving them into a group and towards the building.

Une handed Nichol the man she cuffed and gave him a savage smile. In her best imitation of her old "Colonel Une" tone, she said "Agent Silver, you have my permission to shoot him as many times as you see fit if he even thinks about trying to escape."

"Thank you, ma'am!" Nichol replied with his own savage look, and then shoved the two prisoners to get him moving. A moment later, he was joined by Noin, who was escorting the other thug.

"They're all unconscious," Relena said from inside the van. "Hiiro!"

Seeing her best agents lying on the ground, Lady Une jogged over to where the younger woman knelt. Hiiro moaned painfully as Relena's hand caressed his cheek, but as he opened his Prussian blue eyes, they fell on the woman he loved's worried Nile blue ones and gave her a faint smile.

"Great, they've knocked out the only doctor currently in the building," Une quipped as she helped Sally into a sitting position.

"Damn, I'd forgotten how much that fucking hurts," Hiiro grumbled, his hand gravitating to his head. "I'd hate to get that full force again. You okay, Sally?"

"Yeah," Sally moaned, shaking her head to clear it. "It's certainly not pleasant, whether you have them or not. The others are out cold."

"Good thing Cat and Tro dumped us out on the pavement when they did, or we'd be helpless, too," replied Duo as he stood up, cradling his left hand. "Come on, Sal, you can lean on Hii-kun and I'll carry one of the others. Zechs, you can grab Trowa, he's all legs. I've got Fei, and Lena, can you handle Quatre?"

"Sure thing, Duo," Relena replied, putting one of Quatre's arms around her neck as she slid her other behind his back. As light as he was now, it wasn't difficult for the pretty blonde to carry her friend.

"Duo, what's wrong with your hand?" Hilde asked, seeing his hand spasm.

"Later, okay?" Hiiro interrupted gently. "Getting Katoru and Trowa under cover would be a good idea right about now."

Once they were inside the building, Lady Une left orders with the secretary to have the van towed to the garage and the SUV towed to the impound lot. Hiiro led the way to Lady Une's office, his eyes constantly scanning for danger. The commander brought up the rear, watching their backs. Once they were safely ensconced in the conference room, Lady Une turned to the conscious agents.

"What the Hell happened out there?" she asked, toning down her voice at the sight of her exhausted agents.

"They tried to gas us and used an EM grenade to make sure we couldn't fight back," Hiiro answered while glaring at a point behind her head. "Quatre and Trowa sensed them coming and dumped us out just as the grenade landed. Their leader's a man calling himself Kronus and he worked for the scientists who created the Gundams. They ordered his death when they found out he was a danger to us, but he had friends on the inside and escaped H. We'd forgotten all about him; Quatre was the only one of us who remembered him and knew he escaped."

"How did they manage to incapacitate a van full of my best agents with nothing more than an electromagnetic pulse grenade?"

"Nanites," Quatre replied. "The scientists had been experimenting with them for decades as a way to protect pilots from the negative effects of fighting in mobile suits. The Alliance rejected the idea of using them because of costs. Months before the onset on Operation Meteor, the five of us were injected with them. It took most of the first month for them to fully integrate with our systems. Sally and Wu Fei are married, so her infection is directly connected, and unless Hiiro and Duo have been using condoms all this time, Relena and Hilde are probably infected with them, too."

The two young women looked at each other, then at their husbands. As a mobile suit pilot herself, Hilde understood the concerns the Mads might have had for their young recruits, and she'd accepted the fact that she, too, might be infected with nanites when Duo told her about them. Relena gave her husband a look that said "we'll talk about this later" more clearly than words would have.

"I have them, too," Zechs chimed in. When everyone looked at him, wondering how that could have happened, he simply added "Howard gave them to me. Noin doesn't know." [3]

"I call interrogation rights," Duo groaned as he slowly forced himself to sit up.

"Me, too," Hilde added, putting her husband's arm around her shoulders.

"Are we gonna be allowed to drop them into an active volcano first, then dip them into a vat of liquid nitrogen and hit them with twenty pound sledgehammers for good measure?" Wu Fei joked, though he made no move to sit up yet.

"I kinda doubt it, Fei."

"Damn."

"What do we know about Kronus?" Zechs asked.

"Other than he's a sadist?" Duo complained. "Not a Hell of a lot. The Mads thought he was insane enough to be a danger to us. G actually threatened to shove him out an airlock if he didn't leave immediately. He was supposed to go to J, but turned up with H a month later. The only one of us not as intimately familiar with his techniques is Trowa, though it doesn't explain why he tried to nab Trowa first."

"How is it that he doesn't know Trowa well?" wondered Une.

"Simple," admitted Trowa from his seat against the wall, "I'm not Trowa Barton, but a mechanic and back-up pilot who was in the wrong place at the right time. The real Trowa Barton was determined to follow through with the original plans for Operation Meteor, which included dropping a colony and all her citizens onto the Earth and create an everlasting nuclear winter, but he was killed to prevent it from happening. I was working on Heavyarms at the time and witnessed it. Rather than kill me, too, they let me to take his name and pilot Heavyarms. As to why they tried to kidnap me first, that's anyone's guess."

Une looked surprised by the new information. "What was your name before?"

"You already know my birth name, Triton Bloom," Trowa replied with a shrug. "The Govs at the Alliance "orphanage" only referred to me as a number, and the captain of the mercenary corp who took me in called me Nanashi. Barton called me "No-name"."

"Wait a minute," Relena murmured. "The Mads are all former Alliance scientists, right? Who's to say they didn't take some of their more useful underlings with them? If we dig through their old files, there's a chance we can find out more about this guy. Maybe get his real name or some useful information on him."

The door opened to allow Nichol and Noin in, and the black-haired woman made a beeline to Quatre and Trowa and wrapped the tow-headed younger man in a warm hug. Like Lady Une, Noin tended to treat the boys like her younger brothers. But to say that Nichol Cage didn't much like the Gundam pilots was an understatement.

Unlike Zechs, who respected the younger men not only as warriors and pilots, but as family since Zero One was married to Zechs' younger sister, Nichol could barely tolerate being in the same room with any of them, especially Trowa, whom he'd pegged as a Gundam pilot and spy during the war. Even though seven years had passed, he was never going to think of them as anything but terrorists. His disdain for the five wasn't to the point where he'd betray Lady Une or the Preventer Agency to the enemy, his unrequited love for her wouldn't allow that, but it was still there.

"I see Winner's finally been found," the curly-haired man practically snarled. "Care to share with the rest of the class now?"

"We're looking for a man calling himself Kronus. He has a connection to the scientists that created the Gundams. He's trying to collect the pilots but we don't know why," Zechs answered.

"The father of the Greek gods," Noin said incredulously. "That bastard must think pretty highly of himself to call himself by that name."

"He called us his Gods of War," added Wu Fei, looking directly at Nichol, then turned his attention to the rest of the room. "Master O sent him away after he tried to break me. It was only a few weeks after Meilin's death."

Une watched as Sally took Wu Fei's hand to give it a discreet squeeze, and then asked "Meilin?"

"My first wife," answered Wu Fei. "She was my back-up pilot for the Shenlong, which I wasn't interested in piloting at the time. She died after a battle outside of L5-0206 nearly a year before Operation Meteor commenced."

"I was serving as the doctor of an Alliance garbage skow at the time," Sally added, remorse coloring her words, "and the late, unlamented General Septem ordered my commander to introduce a biological weapon into the colony's air supply. I argued with Septem, tried to get him to see reason and stop, but my commander went along with him."

Wu Fei had heard Sally's tale before, shortly after the Earth-Space War. He never blamed her for what happened; short of climbing into a Leo and fighting her commander and fellow officers, they were determined to carry out Septem's massacre and nothing was going to stop them. Nothing, that was, except for a pair of teenagers in a pair of advanced mobile suits.

"It wasn't your fault, Xīn'ài. You stood up to that bastard."

"Not enough."

Lady Une pinched the bridge of her nose, trying to fight the migraine all of this new information was giving her. "What about the rest of you? Are you the original pilots?"

"Sure am," Duo answered. "I broke out of an Alliance prison facility and stowed away on the Sweeper ship G was using. He was impressed that an untrained twelve-year-old brat could bypass his supposedly impenetrable security system and recruited me on the spot."

"Yeah," Quatre added. "I was recruited to the project when I was still twelve, against my pacifist father's wishes. Oddly enough, the day I met H was the same day that I met Rashid and the Maguanac Corps."

"Dr. J found me after Odin Lowe died during his last hit," Hiiro began. "Dekim Barton considered me a great find because, at eight years old, I already knew how to take apart and reassemble many weapons and could also fire a small rocket launcher, and was impressed by the fact that I finished Odin's job for him. Kronus was my first trainer after..."

Nichol looked impressed at Hiiro. "Odin Lowe... the assassin?"

"And my biological father," said Hiiro softly. "He promised to protect me, and he did for a while. He taught me everything he knew, from surviving in the wilderness to how to live a good life. Our last mission went badly; we were outnumbered fifty to one, and he'd been mortally wounded. He put a detonator he'd been carrying in my hand and then shoved me into an air conditioning vent with orders to get out, count to one hundred and push the button. J found me two days later." [4]

"You said that Kronus was your first trainer," questioned Zechs. "You also mentioned that Kronus was a sadist."

"Where do you think most of us learned to ignore pain?" Quatre asked, lifting an eyebrow at the other blond.

"J was just as opposed to Kronus' methods as the other Mads were, but he had added bonus of Barton breathing down his neck with his specifications for his perfect human weapon. Oddly enough, that was never me; our Trowa is closer to the "perfect soldier" Barton's ego craved."

"Bollocks," Trowa quipped. "There's no such thing as a perfect soldier, Hiiro. Even the Mads know that."

Une took a look around the room, taking in the body language of the group before she started issuing orders. "Okay, Zechs, order dinner. Relena, get yours and Hilde's boss on the line and let him know that I'm in need of your skills. Hilde, you and Nichol go down to the emergency supply closet and get some blankets and pillows. Noin, please get on the phone and let Doctor Winner and Mrs. Kurama know that their respective baby brother is safe and no, we can't tell them where they are until the threat's over."

"Quatre needs foods that are high in protein and calories, and we all need new computers," Sally said, rubbing her arms. "The tablets we had were all fried by that EM grenade."

"Nichol, grab them some new ones," Une ordered, and the curly-haired man nodded.

"We're going to need my laptop and the hand held locked in my desk drawer," Trowa said thoughtfully. "I think I've figured out how they've been tracking us. Hiiro, how up to hacking Quatre's nanites are you feeling?"

"Whoa, wait a minute!" Quatre yelped, his eyes widening. "You think they're using my nanites to track us?! That'd require them being within ten feet of us!"

"Not us, love; just you. What if Sally's been right all this time and they'd altered one of your nanites to send out a tracking signal? To that one nanite, you're a walking, talking battery with enough juice to send out a signal without anyone ever noticing it."

"So, you need your desktop and the hand held," repeated Zechs. "I'll get them after I order food."

"Just take care of the computer and hand held, I'll order the food," Une sighed, then smiled softly. "I want the nine of you to settle into the conference room. There's a private bathroom with a shower connected to this office, so we should be okay here. There'll always be at least two of us on guard."

He woke disoriented, dreams of his life before H and Rashid mixed with dreams of his life before and after the war. He felt arms wrapped around his middle, giving him an anchor to this life. He pressed back against the warm body behind him and was relieved when the arms tightened protectively and a pair of warm, soft lips pressed against the nape of his neck.

"Good morning, sleepyhead," Trowa whispered huskily. "Are you completely awake this time?"

"Yeah. Sorry, I was disoriented for a moment," he yawned hugely before turning around to lay his head on Trowa's chest.

"H, Rashid or your father?"

"My father, mostly," Quatre replied softly. "He tried to be good to me, but I was a mistake, and he never let me forget it. He had one rule: everything had to be his way, and there was no highway option. He never told me about my mother or that I was a natural-born, and tried to make Iria swear not to, either. We fought all the time as I grew up, but it escalated after I'd met H and Rashid, and usually ended with Father hitting me. Our battles lasted for nearly two years, until I cut myself off and came to Earth. Sometimes I wonder what Father would say to me now, if he'd be proud of who I've become and everything I've helped to accomplish."

"Sounds like your father wasn't the nicest guy in the Sphere," Duo sighed from across the room. "God, I hope there's some coffee in here. I'll even settle for some of Cat's sludge right now." [5]

"Hey!" Quatre yelped indignantly.

"Ignore him, love," Trowa said soothingly. "Duo wouldn't know good coffee if it bit him in his arse."

"Yes, there's coffee," Zechs quipped from the doorway, "and breakfast. Anne's already searching the Alliance databases, and Nichol spotted three men watching the front of the building when he went for breakfast."

"What about the other exits?" Quatre asked, concerned.

"There are at least three men on each exit," Zechs answered. "We have local LEOs preparing to assist in taking down each group."

"That'll give us fifteen men to interrogate," Duo said with a grin. "Someone will give something up."

"Correction; fourteen men to interrogate. The ones we grabbed last night had a suicide plan. The first guy moved too quickly, though, tipping us off to the other two. We've seized the substance the other two had and know what to watch for later."

Quatre stood up and stretched. "When can we begin interrogating them?"

"Unfortunately, you two will have to be excluded from this investigation, Quatre. You were the target, and Trowa's your husband. We're going to have to follow the rules this time, boys," said Une from the doorway. "Zechs will be the lead on this one; everyone else will report to him. Any behind-the-scenes research can come from any computer in the building; the login will identify the researcher. Sally, Noin, and I are going to keep investigating our Preventers. I will not tolerate leaks in my agency."

"Quatre and I will be working on his nanites," Trowa stated while he helped himself to some pancakes and golden syrup. "I want to find that tracker and check their programming. I'll eventually need to check everyone else out, and that includes you, too, Sally."

Hiiro set a plate in front of Relena before speaking. "Relena, Wu Fei and I will start searching for Kronus' records on the old Alliance database."

"I guess that leaves me and Hilde to interrogate the prisoners," Duo quipped, giving his elfin woman a glance.

"Twenty credits says they'll have them singing in a half hour," Zechs joked.

"I've got forty that says it'll be fifteen," Nichol replied.

"Deal."

"Zechs!" Noin exclaimed, admonishing her husband as he and Nichol shook hands. "I don't believe you two!"

"Unless they're as well-trained as we were, though I doubt he had enough time to do it," said Hiiro. "I'm going to check J's virtual database, plus some of the contacts that Odin left."

"All right, then let's get to it," ordered Une with a smile before turning to Hilde and Duo. "Duo, Hilde, don't make me regret letting the two of you work together on this."

Hilde gave her a wicked grin. "Why would we do that? I was hoping that this could lead to a transfer! You guys have all the fun!"

"Ha! "Fun," she calls it," Duo grumbled.

"We'll see how this goes, first. Then we'll talk about a transfer," said Une skeptically.

Duo sat calmly in the straight backed chair, his right ankle resting on his left knee. His face was the picture of innocence, his deep blue eyes downcast as though studying the delicate-looking cup balanced between his fine-boned hands. Behind him, Hilde paced like a caged tiger, her entire form crackling in agitation. Every move she made screamed predator and she knew it. As she paced, her voice reverberated off the walls of the small interrogation room.

"We're giving you a chance to avoid life in prison, here," Hilde said sweetly. "We just want some answers."

"Go fuck yourself, ya little bitch," the man snapped, his L2 accent apparent. The dark-haired woman slammed her hands on the table, causing the man to jump as Duo spoke up.

"Hilde, calm down," he said coolly.

"What the fuck is this, good cop/bad cop?" the man sneered. "Lemme guess; Tinkerbell over here is supposed to scare me and you, little boy, are gonna to protect me? That's a laugh!"

Letting those words sink in, Duo lifted cobalt blue eyes from his coffee and allowed the older man to finally see the cold-blooded God of Death, Shinigami, hiding behind his seemingly carefree mask. When the thug realized just who this young man was, he shuddered in response; the temperature in the room seemed to drop a good twenty degrees just from the ice in Duo's stare.

"I don't think you understand, jerk-off," he replied, giving his victim a deadly grin, his voice dropping an octave. "That asshole you call your boss hurt one of my little brothers and tried to capture another one, and if there's one thing I don't like, its people hurting my family. She's here to protect you from me."

Author's Notes: I apologize for taking so long with this chapter. I had this all ready to post weeks ago, but the file had somehow become corrupted and I had fallen back on a back-up copy. On an up note, I'll be receiving a brand new Toshiba Satellite between October 10th to the 13th. It's not my dream laptop (that would be a Qoosmio gaming laptop), but it's close.

Progress on my other stories: I'm a bit blocked on Chapter Six of Finding Triton, but Chapters Two of Guardian and Three of Boy are coming along and should be posted within the next two weeks. The second chapter of my GW rewrite is almost done enough to be posted, but the file for Chapter One wound up getting corrupted, too, so I'm rewriting it. It's a total pain in the ass, I swear.

Everything else is on hold until I can get a few of these others done and out of the way.

Annotations:

[1] One trope in post-Endless Waltz fan fiction is that everyone still uses reams of paper for files, reports, etc., even when there's almost no evidence of it in the anime and only in the WinnerCorp scene in Episode Zero. I simply replaced reams of paper files for digitized ones.

[2] Yes, it's another James Bond reference, but I chose that particular pistol for Hilde because I figure she's a Bond fan. I chose the P22-5120300 for Relena because it's lightweight (1.1 pounds at the most without the clip) and has a lighter trigger pull weight (how much weight/pressure it takes to pull the trigger), making it an easier gun for her to handle.

[3] Head canon of what happened to Zechs between Episodes 18 & 19.

[4] A capsule synopsis of most of Episode Zero, told in the first person.

[5] Refers to Turkish coffee.

Next Chapter: More information on Kronus comes to light, plans are made, and Trowa finds a way to keep the enemy from tracking Quatre.

Next, on Gundam Wing: Let Slip the Gods of War - Twilight.

Chapter Text

A half-hour later, Duo and Hilde returned to Lady Une's office, grim and quiet. They placed their tablets with their notes on her desk, along with a vid chip copy of the interrogation, before taking seats to wait for her attention. After a few minutes, she looked up from her task and raised an eyebrow at them.

"Do I need to send the psychologist in now?" questioned Lady Une with a cocked eyebrow.

"Nope," Duo sighed tiredly as he sat down and propped his aching feet on the conference table. "They sang like a flock of canaries."

"I thought some of those guys were gonna pee their pants when they figured out who you are," Hilde quipped with an evil-sounding cackle.

"Do you believe them?" the Chief Preventer asked, then added "Feet off the table, Duo" in an undertone.

"Yeah, I do," Duo replied. "I was almost sure we were gonna need Sweets once the first guy realized who I am, but he seemed to be under the impression that I'm the lesser of two evils. [1] Five of 'em want protection from Kronus; the rest are all blindly loyal to the fucker."

"Did they give us enough information to warrant it?" Sally asked.

"Yes and no," Hilde replied. "It's more complicated than that. Kronus, or Anthony Gaintz, was Alliance; he was researching the effects of torture and brainwashing for them while Doctor J, the other Mads, Berg and Howard were developing the Tallgeese. The men wanting protection say that he's possibly working from a warehouse on the south side of town, though we have three other buildings he's known to work from.

"We're gonna have to tread carefully on this; the five looking for protection are only trying to keep hostages alive. Kronus took their families, most of which are children. I'm guessing he's pretty pissed off that Trowa blew up his lab."

"Bastard's lucky he escaped," Duo added sourly.

"One of the viruses I uploaded into his database set off the fire suppression system to encourage his people to evacuate the building," Trowa said from the doorway. "I found the nanite they altered in Quatre and reprogrammed it, so that little problem's been taken care of. I've also set up a decoy signal so no matter where we go, they're gonna think that Quatre, at least, is still here."

"And while my sexy and adorable husband did that, I pulled up the files we've been looking for, and they confirm what Hilde found," Quatre said as he sat down. "Gaintz was an Alliance researcher, all right; for nearly three years, until they discharged him due to severe mental instability. That was six weeks before Berg's sabotage caused J and the other scientists to flee to the colonies and begin the Gundam project. [2] Kronus disappeared about four months before the launch of Operation Meteor. He had a son named Victor, who was a member of the White Fang but left after Quinze approached Zechs. [3] Even H couldn't dispute the man's madness."

"Victor Gaintz... why does that name sound familiar?" Lady Une asked.

Duo provided the answer. "He was the loon behind that phony group of pacifists called Pax Eterna. You know, the guys who took Cat and blew up a colony trade conference to cover it up, then went looking for what we thought was Tsuberov's only secret mobile suit factory." [4]

"And if it weren't for Tiel, we'd have never known that there were more," Trowa added. [5]

"So, getting back to Kronus, what did he do that finally convinced H that he was dangerous?" Hiiro asked.

Quatre's face darkened and tried force the trembling hands on his lap to still. "H-he tried to break me. He seemed to think that I'd be the weak link among us because of my space heart… that I'd be the easiest one for him to control. He… he was too hung up on my looks for comfort. I-if it hadn't been for H walking in that last day, h-he..."

"I told S exactly what the man is," Trowa chimed in, furious that their enemy had tried to hurt his husband once before. "When you've been the target of a predator, you can recognize the traits in others like them. S should have had the bastard shoved out one of the airlocks while he had a chance."

"Kronus may be crazy, Tro, but he's smart, too," said Duo, deftly turning the conversation back to the topic. "We need to check out all of his buildings and hit 'em all at once. If he catches on to our plans, he'll have time to escape and I'm positive he'll take it."

"Good idea," Lady Une replied grimly. "This has gone far beyond kidnapping and assault, people, and I can't afford to be down any of my best agents. Duo, Hilde, I want you to return to Interrogation and separate the victims from the willing employees. Question the victims and see what else you can find out. Hiiro, Wu Fei and Sally, I want you three to find out everything you can about Anthony Gaintz. Quatre, I want you and Trowa to locate any blue prints you can find for those buildings and lay out the best plan of attack.

"If this guy does have hostages, we'll need to know where they're being held and how to extract them without any losses. Their safety is our top priority, so we can't afford for anyone to go off half-cocked. Zechs, Noin and Nichol, I need you to create five teams out of this mess."

"Oi, Hiiro, could you come in here? We need your opinion on this," Trowa called out as the Wing Seraphim pilot passed.

"What's up?" Hiiro asked, joining them at a table mounted touch screen monitor loaded with blueprints.

"Of the five of us, Kronus knows my Trowa the least," explained Quatre. "We want you to work with us on the plans because he was in charge of most of your training. He knows all of us to some extent, but it seems to me that he's operating on the premise that my Trowa's the original Trowa Barton."

"We're pretty sure he's holding the hostages in this building," Trowa interjected as he expanded a blueprint. "My job's going to be getting them out of there in one piece. I should be able to find them all right, but until we have a good idea of how many and how old the hostages are, I'm worried about where we're going to stash them. If they're mostly kids that aren't too big or too frightened, I think I can hide them up here in the ventilation system."

Hiiro looked at them funny. "You're gonna take them into the ventilation system?"

"This one I would. You see, it's a specialty design, though only the manufacturer and a select few people know it. It's a fiberglass and steel composite, coated in a plastic/rubber hybrid polymer. It can easily hold close to a ton and it's pretty much impervious to an EM pulse."

"You're sure he's holding them in this building?"

"Yeah," Trowa sighed. "They were seen by a couple of the men Duo and Hilde have been interrogating. It sounds like he's not keeping them drugged, but he is using those fucking drops in their eyes."

"Drops?" inquired Hiiro.

"They burn and keep your vision blurry," Quatre elaborated. "If you rub your eyes, they make them burn worse and crust shut. I learned that the hard way."

"I have the solution to that," said Sally with a Cheshire Cat grin as she joined them. "I've just picked these babies up from the hospital and ordered them for all of our first aid kits." She handed them each a tube of clear liquid. "These were designed to neutralize most compounds that can be used to cause temporary blindness and distorted vision. Thanks to the files Trowa, here, found at their one base, I know which chemical mix Kronus likes to use."

"How much of this stuff do we use?" asked Trowa while examining the tube to find where it split in two.

"The tubes are actually two separate pieces. One dose per eye," answered Sally. "These are the latest advance in optical care. They were specifically designed for use by mobile suit pilots."

"In case a hydraulic line breaks?" questioned Quatre, giving the tube an appreciative glance.

"Among other things. This stuff will neutralize an amazing list of compounds."

"We're gonna need at least a couple dozen of these for the hostages," said Trowa, adding them to his list for his pack.

"The hostage list is up to two women and twenty children," said Lady Une, entering the room.

"Is that going to be a problem with your plans?" Hiiro asked, looking at the two maps closely. "Just out of curiosity, how the Hell did you ever learn to navigate this kind of mess?"

Trowa shrugged, his eyes turned to the map of the duct work. "I have an Eidetic memory, but I used to just keep exploring them till I found what I wanted. [6] S though it was some kind of instinct that I'd developed out of need. Most industrial buildings are set up in one of a dozen or so patterns, so it shouldn't be a problem. We'll use these offshoots to hide the kids."

"We should try to get our forces in on a seemingly unrelated cause. They'll probably focus more on that and make it easier for the two of you to slip in," said Hiiro. "Once we get confirmation that you have the hostages into the ventilation shaft, we'll rush all the facilities at once."

"You're taking them into the ventilation?" questioned Lady Une.

"Yeah. It's a fiberglass/steel composite covered in a plastic/rubber polymer. It should support the combined weight just fine. Quatre's coming with me."

"Okay, then I'll trust your judgment, Trowa. Duo and Hilde are going to lead the team taking down that facility. Zechs and Noin are going to lead the second team. Sally, you and Wu Fei will lead team three. Hiiro will lead team four and Nichol and I will lead team five. The two of you are in charge of getting the hostages to safety. We'll have paramedics waiting for you. We're working with the local LEOs to be mobilized in three hours. They've called in their SWAT teams to assist us. They'll be meeting here in two hours to finalize our plans.

"Noin's calling in our chosen teams; they'll be here within the next half hour. Quatre, can you be ready to brief them in about forty-five minutes?" Lady Une asked.

"Sure thing," Quatre answered. "We'll need the plans for all of the buildings in here and I'll need to go over them with each of the team leaders. How are Duo and Hilde doing on the interrogations?"

"They're in with the last guy now," Sally replied. "He's been a little bit tougher than the others; seems he's truly loyal to Kronus. Seems the only ones who are completely loyal are the ones who had the suicide plan."

"Good, let them know I need to be briefed before the meeting," Lady Une declared. "I'll need to know the team leaders' plans as soon as they're ready."

Quatre followed Trowa's lead as they snuck into the warehouse. The sting across the way made the perfect cover for the presence of so many officers. While all eyes in the building were busy watching the happenings across the street, no one was looking as they slipped into the exterior ventilation.

Trowa led the way through the strange duct system with ease. Each time they checked a series of rooms he would mark the cleared vents and tunnels with an iridescent mark. They were nearing mid-building when they found the first hostage. Trowa moved close and whispered against Quatre's cheek.

"I'm going in," he whispered. "Be ready to pull her up."

Trowa faced a room much like the one he'd found Quatre in. Voices played at different volumes, speeds, and in different languages while images and multicolored lights flashed and pulsed in time with the sounds. A little girl of six or seven was huddled in a corner with her knees pulled to her chest and her head on her arms across them. He dropped to the floor and knelt beside her, letting his hand rest on her shoulder to gain her attention.

"It's okay," said Trowa, placing his badge in her hand. "My name's Trowa, and I'm a Preventer. I've come to get you out of here. Did they put drops in your eyes?"

She nodded. "Uh-huh. They burned."

"I know, sweetheart," soothed Trowa, "but I've some stuff here that'll clear them right up. It's going to feel cold. Tip your head way back, open your eyes up wide and keep them open for me, okay?"

The girl nodded, then did as she was told. Trowa quickly split the tubes apart and emptied the contents of them into her eyes, flushing out the drops as best as he could.

"They don't burn any more," she said, awed. She then put her tiny hands to his face and added "You're pretty."

"Thank you. You are, too. I'm going to lift you up to my friend now, and we need you to stay quiet, okay?"

"Okay."

Quatre reached down and met her halfway before pulling her up into the duct. Once she was behind him, he pulled Trowa up and they closed the vent. The tow-headed man marked the vent with a different symbol before they moved on to the next one.

The next vent led to a dark room with the sound of heavy breathing. Trowa opened the vent and peered in through a small eye piece. With just a sign to Quatre, he dropped into the room and moved to the boy's side. He was barely on the floor before the boy started whimpering.

"Please, don't leave me in the dark," he sobbed.

"It's okay. My name's Trowa, and I'm a Preventer. I'm here to take you home," Trowa said softly. "Did the bad guys put any drops in your eyes?"

"Yeah, and they hurt," sniffled the boy as he latched on to Trowa's arm.

"I've got some stuff with me to make them feel better. Tip your head all the way back and open your eyes real wide for me," Trowa said gently. He quickly flushed the boy's eyes before moving him towards the vent. "I'm gonna lift you up to my partner now."

"You won't leave me?"

"Nope. My friend Quatre and a little girl are going to be up there with you, but I need you to be quiet for me, okay?"

"Okay."

They continued through the rest of the rooms, and soon they had rescued four women and twenty-nine children. Five of the kids, who were closer to babies in age, were all unconscious, their screams of agony too much of a risk to the group. The two women took two of them each without a word, while Quatre held the fifth, a little girl who's hair was the same color as his. He and Trowa settled the children in to wait for the team.

"All teams, the hostages are cleared. Repeat, the hostages are cleared. Be advised that we have five more children than expected," Trowa announced before going to radio silence.

"All teams, we are a go," Lady Une ordered over the radio while joining her team. "Kronus' capture is our top priority."

Agents moved in as one at the five buildings, an intricate dance of armed men and women versus their surprised foe. In most buildings, the agents found little to no resistance. Duo and Lady Une's teams found themselves trapped in fire fights within the close halls of the two labs. Trowa and Quatre listened in while each of the teams checked in.

"Team two's secured," Zechs called.

"Team three, secured," Sally added.

"Team four, secured," Hiiro said softly over the radio.

"Team one, reporting. We're under heavy fire," Duo responded, the sound of gunfire chasing his voice before the radio clicked off.

"Team five cleared, but we need a meat wagon here ASAP. We've got a lot of suicides," Lady Une stated. "Has anyone found Kronus yet?"

"IT'S ALL OVER, KRONUS!" Duo shouted over the sporadic gun fire. "ALL OF YOUR FACILITIES HAVE BEEN TAKEN OVER AND THE HOSTAGES HAVE BEEN RELEASED. PUT DOWN YOUR WEAPONS AND SURRENDER, AND I GUARANTEE THAT YOU WON'T BE HARMED."

"Duo, someone's moving around back there," said Hilde. A loud scuffle from the hall where Kronus' men were making their stand signified the end of the fire fight. They came out with hands raised, weapons on the ground.

"We're surrendering. Are our families really safe?"

"Yeah. We'll take you to them shortly," Hilde replied as the men were led off. She could only imagine how they felt; their families were as much hostages as Quatre had been.

"There's someone else back here," Duo hissed before signaling for Hilde to follow him.

The two of them moved silently towards the office where someone was hastily shoving papers into a bag. Once they had a clear view, Duo knew who they had within their grasp and felt a savage grin tug at the corners of his mouth. Kronus was a tall, thin man with dark hair and eyes. While he may have been handsome at some point, it looked as though someone had recently taken a cheese grater to his face.

With a glance at Hilde, he slipped into view with his gun trained on Kronus.

"Freeze, Kronus!" ordered Duo.

Kronus froze, his dark eyes lifting to fall on Duo. "Duo! How nice to see you again!"

"Do yourself a favor and shut the fuck up, asshole," said Duo evenly. "Anthony Gaintz, A.K.A. Kronus, your ugly ass is under arrest for the kidnapping and assault of Quatre Raberba Winner, among other things."

"Did you come alone, little God?" questioned Kronus in a lilting voice that set Duo's hair on end.

Duo flinched but realized that Kronus couldn't see Hilde though she could see into the room. "Of course not. Ya think I'm that stupid? There's an entire team of Preventer agents in this building."

The slow grin that spread across his mangled features was disturbing, completely mad in its appearance. "I think not."

Where the gun had come from, he didn't know. The force of the first bullet grazing Duo's left arm nearly spun him around. The second one sliced through his vest, leaving a shallow crease across his ribs. His training took over and let the jester's mask that Kronus knew so well to fall away. He knew the effects of the transformation; he was terrifying, and the others had often told him as much.

He turned back to Kronus, shooting the dark haired man through the hand holding the gun. "Bad choice, asshole."

Hilde stepped into the room, her gun trained on Kronus. "Duo, status?"

"Took two hits, left arm and right ribs," Duo answered, wincing. "Nothing to worry about, Hilde; he just grazed me."

Relieved, Hilde grinned at Kronus with her best demented pixie grin. "You might call yourself Kronus, pal, but as I recall, his story didn't end too well."

"I'm the Father of the Gods," mumbled Kronus, "I created the Gods of War. I created them, so they belong to me." He turned madness tinted eyes towards Duo. "So pretty, all my little gods."

Just then, two Preventers moved in to cuff Kronus while Hilde ripped off Duo's sleeve to examine his wound. "The Olympians killed Kronus. Anthony Gaintz, you have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you…"

"Why didn't the nanites work on the children?" Kronus demanded, looking at Duo's nearly healed arm.

"WHAT?!" Duo bellowed. He could feel his rage building beyond what he felt he could control. "YOU INFECTED THOSE KIDS WITH THEM?! Get... him... out of here. NOW!"

"Yes, sir," a young man named Henson replied with a savage grin.

Duo turned his attention to the rest of his team and asked "Status?"

"The building's secured, sir," came the reply.

"Team one's secured. We've caught Kronus," Duo said wearily over the main channel. "Quatre, Trowa, unless they're in need of more urgent care, you'd better get the hostages to Preventer medical ASAP."

Author's Notes: Well, we've come to the end of another chapter, and I have an announcement to make. Unfortunately, I'll no longer be archiving new stories on Adult Fanfiction dot Net, and will be taking all my old ones down. The reason is twofold; first is they demand that you include full disclaimers on every single chapter, and second is they threatened to take down the first chapter of this one unless I produced written permission from Shinigami's Soul to adopt this, which as I explained in Chapter One's notes, I'd been trying to do for months now. From the look of things, she no longer uses the e-mail address she registered on MediaMiner with, getting that permission is not possible, so I took Chapter One down from AFF.

From now on, my MA rated stories will appear on An Archive of Our Own, and all of them will be on my LiveJournal and Tumblr pages and on the Gundam Wing Fans website (I might set up another WordPress app on the site for posting fanfic). The fanfic blog will be free for anyone to sign up, and you can post your own, too, and any pairing you like is okay with me.

Annotations:

[1] Gratuitous reference to the Fox TV show Bones. Dr. Lance Sweets (played by John Francis Daley) was an FBI psychologist on that show.

[2] Will be covered in my rewrite of the series.

[3] & [4] Will be covered in New World Order (thinking of changing the title. It's kinda lame.)

[5] Will be covered in my version of Tiel's Impulse. In this, Tiel is 19, and is the pilot of the Gundam Nemesis.

[6] A.K.A., photographic memory. Some people claim it doesn't exist, but I think it does.

Next Chapter: Five children were infected by nanites, but something is wrong with them. Unable to participate in the investigation, Trowa and Quatre head for their home for some rest and reconnecting.

Next, on Gundam Wing: Let Slip the Gods of War - Night Terrors.

Chapter Text

Disclaimers, Warnings, Ratings, Archive, Etc.: See Chapter One.

Part Eight: Night Terrors

WARNING: LEMON ALERT! THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS SCENES OF GRAPHIC TEXTUAL GAY SEX! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

Several hours later, Sally and Lady Une walked out of the medical wing; both women were exhausted and felt like zombies. Sally made a beeline straight to Wu Fei, emotionally wrung out from the events of the past few days, and allowed him to support her for a moment.

"How are they?" the Shenlong pilot asked.

"All the older children are uninfected," Sally informed them tiredly. "However, the five babies you rescued, four boys and one girl, all tested positive for nanites, and according to Kronus' records, they were never hostages. He was using them as human guinea pigs, and they were probably injected with the little buggers within the last three weeks.

"If I had to hazard a guess, all five of them were taken from orphanages or foster care, and they show the first signs of severe malnutrition. We don't know if they have families or not, but I've got the lab team running their DNA through every missing childrens database, just in case someone reported a missing child. In the meantime, I need someone to check on their nanites. There's something wrong with them."

"What do you mean by wrong?" questioned Quatre.

"The samples Trowa showed me, the ones from each of the five of you, were all moving and busy, like healthy, normal cells. The nanites in the five babies' tissue samples are lethargic; they're barely limping along, as though they're unfinished. I don't know what's wrong with them, and that's why I'm worried they could be causing the kids more harm than good. I'd like to check out their programming, but..."

"But not yet," Trowa answered. "You're right; we should check out their programming, but it can wait until after the drugs are completely out of their systems. We still don't know if they've been tortured or not, but if they have, that might've affected their development."

"Waiting would be best. They're all still fighting off the drugs, and judging from their reactions, I'd guess that they were thoroughly tortured," Sally sighed. "Besides, we all need to get some sleep. I don't know about the rest of you guys, but I'd really like to sleep in my own bed tonight, preferably with my husband lying next to me."

"All of you should go home, get some rest and reconnect. Tomorrow's going to be a lot harder than today was," Lady Une said as she gave Quatre and Trowa a careful once over, noting the dark circles under their half-closed eyes. Still, she was glad to have all her boys home and safe. "You two are not to report in before noon, if you report in at all, and neither of you can participate in the interrogation of Kronus until I can get special sanctions from the defense council."

"We'll be in tomorrow to check out the kids' nanites," said Quatre, his wariness dissipating some.

"But...," Trowa started to protest before two of Quatre's warm fingers clamped over his mouth.

"She's working on getting us special sanctions, muhib, and I'm sure she'll make it so things run in our favor. We've gotta let her have some fun, too," Quatre said with a smile. Trowa sighed and relented without further argument.

"I'm gonna go get Sirocco from the kennel before she tries to gnaw her way through the bars again," he said. "She's spent way too much time there the past six weeks."

"Go on and get that monster of yours," said Lady Une seriously. "I want to talk to Quatre alone for a moment. We'll be waiting for you here."

"We'll see you tomorrow," Hiiro added with a yawn before he grabbed Relena by the hand and led the way out, Duo and Hilde on their six.

"Good night," called Sally as she and Wu Fei followed them. "Oh, Anne... take your own advice and go home, okay? I'm sure Mariemaia is missing her mom, and Tiel's probably getting bored with babysitting."

As Quatre watched their friends leave, his nimble mind tried to figure out why Lady Une wanted to speak to him alone. Once Trowa was out the door and well on his way, he turned his vivid turquoise blue eyes on his commanding officer.

"Quatre, I'm worried about Trowa," she began. "He hasn't slept well, if at all, the entire time you were gone."

"I'm not surprised," Quatre replied. "We've been helping each other work through our nightmares since the first war."

"Maybe the problem's with me," sighed Lady Une, moving to lean against a wall. "I've never realized just how many of his nightmares center on me. How has he continued working here with them?"

"Have you talked to him about this?" asked Quatre, running a hand over the smooth, pale cap that was now his hair.

"No, but a few days after you were taken, he called me at three AM, an absolute physical and emotional wreck. It was obvious that he hadn't slept at all that night, hadn't been sleeping for a while, and that he'd been crying. After he finished apologizing for waking me up, I finally got him to tell me why he was calling me at three in the morning."

Quatre did a bit of swift mental calculation, and then his eyes widened in shock.

"Oh, shit," he groaned. "That's right around the anniversary of the ZERO incident. Trowa's nightmares usually escalate around that one... add in the extra stress of my abduction and the lack of sleep, and you could have had the makings of a major incident on your hands."

"His call wasn't the issue; I have my own demons borne from that time. I'm just worried about him," she finished.

"Given the circumstances, calling you was probably the best thing he could have done. He's fine as long as he doesn't try keeping his emotions bottled up. He has to talk things out to take the edge off of his nightmares. It was one of the things we were really starting to explore before the attack, and it's worked so far.

"As for how he can keep working here after all he's been through, you have to understand how Trowa thinks. He separates everything, almost compartmentalizes things, even his emotions at times. During the war, he was both Trowa and the Silencer, two halves of the same whole. Trowa performed with Cathy at the circus, fixed Heavyarms, talked with the rest of us and did all of the things that didn't involve death and destruction. The Silencer was all things death and destruction, and a damned sight closer to the "perfect soldier" Dekim Barton's ego craved than Hiiro was, and you've heard Hiiro admit to that.

"While they're physically the same, mentally they couldn't be more different. In the end, though, it was always Trowa who bore the guilt and pain of what the Silencer had to do. We all have ways of keeping our sanity intact, and that's Trowa's method."

"Don't take this the wrong way, Anne," said Trowa from the doorway, startling them both, "but you were a different person during the war; another soldier obeying the orders you were given. Your actions then have nothing to do with the woman you are now. It was the same as with Middie." [1]

"You don't forgive and forget, do you?" she stated.

"No, I do forgive, or else Quatre and I wouldn't be together, but I remember why things happened the way they did." He let the large Savannah cat off her leash. "Go and see him, monster. I think she was in a big hurry to see you. She practically dragged me down the hall, tail held high."

Quatre dropped to his knees and buried his fingers into Sirocco's thick, short fur. He couldn't help but laugh at the sounds the cat made as she greeted him. She licked his face and rubbed against him, nearly knocking him off his feet. In her excitement, she turned and butted her head into Lady Une's knee, all the while loudly "talking."

"I think she's missed you," Lady Une laughed.

"Don't let her happy act fool you," Quatre replied wistfully, still smiling. "She's well and truly Trowa's cat. Oh, don't get me wrong, she'll miss me, but he's the one she'll actively seek out and follow around like a puppy."

"Um… well…," Trowa stammered, blushing in embarrassment, "she got loose and tried to find you… several times."

Quatre was taken aback by that revelation; he might have been the one to adopt Sirocco from a local shelter as a kitten, and they might have raised her together and loved her like she was their child, but because of their basic natures, the one she truly gravitated to was Trowa. The fact that she tried to escape and find him was a heartening revelation.

"Hopefully, I'll have that dispensation for you by mid-afternoon, so go home and get some sleep, both of you," Lady Une ordered, then caught the pair of men up in a fierce hug. "The conference room floor probably wasn't the most comfortable place in the Sphere to sack out."

"At the time, it was heaven, especially given the company I had," replied Trowa as she released them. "Good night, Anne."

As they entered their home together for the first time in weeks, Trowa disarmed the security system and let the cat off of her leash, then re-armed the system, dropped his keys into the basket on the entry hall table and unlaced and toed off his boots. Quatre followed, watching his partner in silent concern. He reached out and tugged on Trowa's hand, stopping him in his tracks.

"Come here, you," murmured Quatre gently, Trowa turning green eyes on his partner and stepped back into his space.

As Quatre drew him into a tight hug, he murmured into Quatre's neck, "You're not worried about me, too, are you?"

Quatre pulled on the body of Trowa's shirt and started untucking it. "Trowa, muhib, I know how strong you are, but I'm always going to worry about you. You're my husband and I love you. Besides, you've this incredibly bad habit of putting everyone else first and forgetting to take care of yourself."

"Pot, meet kettle," Trowa sighed before kissing a particularly sensitive spot on Quatre's neck.

"I know, I'm just as bad, but you know I'm okay, right?" Quatre said softly, reveling in the feeling of his husband's soft lips on his skin. At the lack of a verbal reply, he gently tilted Trowa's face down.

"Look, you found me and I'm safe," the tow-headed man added sternly. "The nanites are doing their job and I'm fine, even if I'm still a little skinny."

"A little skinny, Cat? You might not be skin and bones anymore, love, but you're still so thin..."

Trowa began to tremble, which started as a tiny vibration under the hands on his back as Quatre placed a gentle kiss first on his forehead, then on his lips. He knew without words that he was close breaking down the walls his husband had been hiding behind. As the trembling increased, he pulled Trowa towards the stairs, his still-healing body protesting just a little. He ignored the slight ache in his muscles and moved them both towards their bedroom.

"Quatre," Trowa protested. "We shouldn't be…"

"I'm fine, muhib," Quatre interrupted, leaning in for a deeper kiss. Once he was sure his husband was thoroughly silenced, he laid him out on the bed, turquoise eyes alight with desire as they devoured the man lying before him.

"I know how that mind of yours works, Trowa Bloom-Winner," he continued with a gentle smile. He tugged at Trowa's shirt again, finishing the job of untucking it. "Honestly, you're worse than Rashid sometimes. Until I prove to you I'm fine, you're gonna worry about me like an old mother hen," his smile became something more, something predatory. "Besides, I've missed you, too."

"So seducing me is how you're going to prove to me that you're all right, eh?" Trowa questioned, and then swallowed thickly as he sat up and allowed Quatre to finish removing his shirt.

"Damn straight."

Any ability Trowa had to speak seemed to leave him as soft lips attached to his collarbone and sharp white teeth began to nibble. Without a thought, Trowa's hands moved to snake their way under Quatre's t-shirt, touching the scar on his back that matched the one on his abdomen, only to have equally strong hands grab them and pull them back. [2] His wrists were gently pinned against the mattress on either side of his head as Quatre's lips left his skin.

"Not yet, muhib," Quatre murmured huskily. "Let's keep 'em there for right now, okay? I need to remark my territory."

Trowa couldn't help the guttural moan that escaped his lips as Quatre returned his attention to re-acquainting himself with his lover by kissing, nibbling, touching and tasting each and every inch of the taller man's flesh, starting where he'd left off on his neck. While Quatre flicked his tongue against a hardening nipple, he slid his hand down Trowa's lean torso to cup the growing erection making a tent of his uniform pants. It drew another faint moan, making Quatre chuckle against his chest.

"You're awfully quiet tonight," he chuckled huskily while his hands slid Trowa's pants down his legs, which were quickly followed on their journey to the floor by his boxer briefs. Once Trowa was nude, Quatre quickly stripped off the black t-shirt and pants he'd put on before their earlier rescue mission.

Despite his usually quiet nature, Trowa tended to be quite loud in bed, almost embarrassingly so and no matter who was dominant, much to the amusement of his usually vocal partner. On the other hand, Quatre tended to be somewhat quiet during sex, whether they were going slow and languid or having a good, old fashioned, peel the paint off the walls, screaming hard fuck. It was something they'd each agreed never to tease the other about, but it was also something Quatre certainly enjoyed to push to its limits.

"Do you know how much I love you?" Quatre murmured before nibbling on a ticklish spot on Trowa's right hip, where his birthmark was, causing Trowa to squirm and laugh. He let his hands slide down to knead the firm half-globes of his husband's well-toned ass, a finger brushed enticingly over his tightly-puckered entrance.

Trowa gasped in response; six weeks of forced celibacy made his husband's ministrations feel all the more exquisite, and he couldn't help the spastic jerk of his hips as he felt Quatre's lips lightly brush the tip of his penis. Quatre flicked his tongue along the slit, lapping up a small drop of pre-cum that leaked out, and then gently added pressure by wrapping his hand around the base. He finally took Trowa's full length into his mouth, his head slowly bobbing as he sucked on it. Trowa's gasps and moans filled Quatre with even more fire as he brought the taller man to the brink and then let him cool off.

Quatre sat up and reached for the tube he knew would be within easy reach. He quickly spread some of the silky lube on his fingers and settled back between Trowa's legs, his turquoise eyes fixed on emerald ones all the while. Murmuring softly to his husband, Quatre prepared him slowly and gently, indulging in the unusually soft sounds of his lover's pleasure as lightly calloused fingers brushed Trowa's sweet spot.

"Ah... Quatre, please," Trowa groaned, looking at his husband and lover through slitted emerald eyes as he writhed beneath him. "I - I need you…"

"I know, muhib. I need you, too," Quatre replied softly as he spread more lube on his own bare, achingly hardened length. He then positioned himself and slowly pushed his way in, allowing his husband time to adjust to the intrusion. Trowa was wonderfully tight, and the intense sensations of their joining nearly caused them both to lose themselves.

Only when Trowa wrapped his long legs around Quatre's waist and began pressing back did the tow-headed man allow himself to move, falling into that timeless rhythm as he wrapped his hand firmly around Trowa's still-straining erection and began slowly pumping it. He leaned forward, claiming Trowa's soft lips in a deep kiss as their passions built within them. Quatre knew when Trowa succumbed just before it happened; his lithe body tensed just before his deep green eyes rolled up into his skull, while the proof of Trowa's orgasm coated his hand, and the clenching of muscle sent him over the edge with a sharp cry of ecstasy.

Catching their breaths, Quatre rolled off Trowa and settled to the side, pulling his husband to his chest. He could feel the normally calm Trowa's body trembling against his; the emotional storm he'd been holding back for a month and a half was about to crest. Quatre had succeeded in breaking down the walls Trowa had built around his heart and mind over the last few weeks. Using sex to shatter those walls was a last-ditch method, but it was also the easiest, most effective, and most enjoyable one. It could get the taller man to open up when all else failed.

"Love you," Trowa sighed as the emotional dam finally broke open, tears streamed down his cheeks as he finally let go of the fear that held him hostage for six long, agonizing weeks.

"Love you, too," whispered Quatre, holding his husband tightly, rubbing his back in soothing circles as the Silencer finally shattered. "It's all over now, muhib. Let it out... let it go."

And after hearing the same words he spoke to Quatre on Peacemillion's observation deck a lifetime ago, he did.

Trowa's breath hitched as he started babbling his way through the story, and Quatre listened, silently and intently, knowing that to speak now would break the spell and end the healing release. Even without their empathic and telepathic links, Trowa's heart-rending tale of their search for him tore at his soul. The fact that he'd called Lady Une to talk about his nightmares and had nearly broken down in front of Sally mid-escape told the real tale.

After a while, he'd talked himself to sleep, his and Quatre's bodies wrapped around each other in a tight embrace.

Two hours later, Trowa woke up, the need to empty his bladder overwhelming his need for sleep. Disentangling himself from Quatre's arms, he eased himself out of bed carefully so as not to awaken his slumbering husband, and quickly made his way into the bathroom. After relieving himself, he washed his hands, then cupped them under the warm stream and splashed the water in his face.

Moments later, as he dampened a washcloth and rubbed some soap on a corner of it to clean Quatre off with, he looked in the mirror and took stock of all the love bites that now decorated his lean, toned body.

"Hmph, "re-marking my territory," my ass, Cat," Trowa grumbled to himself. "Damn, I look like one of Sirocco's toy mice when she gets through with it."

"Here you are," the naked, tow-headed man said drowsily, rubbing the sleep from his turquoise eyes. "I woke up, and you weren't next to me. I got worried..."

With a look of mischief gleaming in his deep green eyes, a devilish grin on his face, and the face cloth in one hand, Trowa suddenly stalked up to his husband, draped the tow-headed man over his shoulder and carried him back to the bedroom, causing him to squawk. Once there, he dumped Quatre onto the mattress and washed the shorter man's member clean, renewing his earlier erection in the process. They both knew that only half of the deed was done; Quatre had re-established his link with Trowa, now Trowa needed to re-establish the one he shared with his husband. [4]

"You've re-marked your territory, love, now it's my turn. Turnabout's fair play," the Heavyarms Bombardier pilot quipped with a grin. Trowa climbed on the bed next to him, began to kiss, nibble and suck on the pale column of his neck like a vampire. He then slowly traveled downward, first paying several long minutes worth of loving attention on Quatre's sensitive nipples, sucking and licking them until they turned into sharp points of pleasure.

Trowa's mouth followed his hands down Quatre's body at the same leisurely pace until he got to his husband's turgent member, taking its full length into his mouth even as he reached down to fondle his own, and began readying himself for what was to come. Unlike Quatre's earlier performance, Trowa made fast, clean work of it, letting his beautiful soul mate come in his mouth, crying out his name.

Not giving him time to recover, he then rolled Quatre over onto his stomach. Trowa grabbed the lube, squirted some on his hand, and began preparing to reclaim his mate with the same maddening slowness that soon had Quatre pressing back against the intruding digits. Out of habit, Trowa rifled through the bed stand drawer for a condom, but...

"No, no rubber," Quatre pleaded desperately, "please, just take me now."

"As you wish, muhib," came the reply, soon followed by a long, slow thrust.

Trowa and Quatre both saw stars as the taller man entered his husband. Quatre's passage was every bit as tight as it had been on their wedding night, and Trowa needed a moment to catch his breath before he could move, or else he'd come too quickly to satisfy either their desires. After that moment passed, Trowa began to press forward unhurriedly, driving his husband mad with need.

"F-faster..." came the blond's lust-strained voice, and Trowa obliged, gripping the lean hips in front of him. Trowa's thrusts went from long, smooth strokes to short, fast ones and back again, tormenting Quatre with pleasure.

This time around, there was something primal, desperate, almost frenzied about their lovemaking, and it was all on Quatre's part. For a tactile being such as he, six weeks of being touched by hands covered in nitrile gloves had been maddening. Although he reacted badly at first because of the drugs, Quatre had welcomed and even craved Trowa's warm, strong hands on his body. Touch enhanced his empathic abilities, making them far more accurate. That was why they weren't using condoms; they needed skin-on-skin contact to reforge the bonds they shared.

"Ya Alllah, 'ana kumingh...!" [5]

With that utterance, Quatre came hard, and Trowa emptied his cock in the blond's bowels as the ring of muscle clamped down on it hard. Spent both physically and emotionally, he rolled off Quatre's equally tired form and drew him close to keep him warm, then wrapped the comforter they'd just had sex on around them.

"I love you so much," Trowa whispered as he spooned Quatre up against him. "I don't know what I'd do if I ever lost you. You are my life, Quatre Raberba Winner, and I don't think I'd be able to survive you for very long."

Trowa gave his husband a soft kiss on the cheek, and received a murmured "love you" in response. Quatre's breathing began to slow down and even out, and he was soon deeply asleep. The exhausted acrobat closed his eyes, too, and joined his husband and lover in the arms of Morpheus.

- = 0 = -

Some hours later, Quatre woke up with his empathy screaming at him that someone or something was in the room with them. An instant later, Trowa did, too, thanks to their shared link. As the two forced their breathing and heart rates to remain at levels normal for sleep, they glanced about from beneath their eyelashes, looking for Sirocco, only to make out the Savannah molly's slumped form over near the door. [6] They knew without a doubt she wasn't sleeping; her posture was unnatural, as though she'd been stopped in mid-leap and fallen to the floor.

With two pairs of well-trained eyes, empathy and telepathy, they searched the shadows for intruders, only to have Trowa's cell phone on the bedside table start ringing just as they found them.

"Nuh-uh," a familiar voice said just as they felt the EM pulse shut down their nanites. The pair rode out the wave of pain, just barely keeping conscious. "I told you before, little Shulmanu. You and Neit belong to me, and I'll have all of my little Gods back with me."

- = 0 = -

Author's Notes: After rereading chapters one through seven, I noticed some contextual errors and a few gaffes, such as in chapter three, where Sally was supposed to fix Hiiro's dislocated shoulder, so I fixed the gaffes and reloaded the files. I've also decided to add an eleventh chapter to this, mainly to cover what happens to the five infected kids. No spoilers, but I guarantee their fates won't be tragic.

By the way, this was my first time writing a gay sex scene, so please be kind. I didn't want it to be too clinical or too vulgar.

Annotations:

[1] Another reference to Middie Une, though an oblique one about her pre-series activities. The full story was revealed in Trowa's chapter of Episode Zero.

[2] Many fan fiction writers tend to forget that Quatre was run through during his duel with Dorothy, so he has an identical scar on his back. Both it and the scar from the bullet wound he'd gotten in his Episode Zero chapter (another through and through) are on his left side (VIZ flipped the manga to read like an American comic book).

[3] Yes, I made Quatre a nibbler and Trowa a screamer, just for shits and giggles.

[4] Head canon again, but this one is series based. There are several incidences in the series where Trowa could sense that Cat was in trouble and could even hear Quatre call out to him, The Birth of Queen Relena and Takeoff Into Confusion being the most glaring ones.

[5] Basically, it's Arabic for "Oh, God, I'm cumming...!". Not terribly clever, but it gets the point across.

[6] An unneutered male cat is a tom, and a neutered one is called a gib. Spayed or not, a female cat is known as a molly, and a group of cats are referred to as a clowder or a glaring. I like glaring, myself. Clowder sounds too much like chowder, and chowder makes me want to go out and buy either some clams or some corn.

Next Chapter: Captured, Quatre, Trowa and Hiiro confront their enemy, but if Kronus is there with them, then who did Duo and Hilde arrest the night before? And what will he do to Trowa?

Next, on Gundam Wing - Let Slip the Gods of War: Darkest Before the Dawn.

Chapter Text

Disclaimers, Warnings, Ratings, Archive, Etc.: See Chapter One.

Part 9: Darkest Before the Dawn

Quatre clung to consciousness with everything he had, letting his training settle into place like a pair of old, well-fitting jeans.  Large, bruising hands lifted him and carelessly slung his naked form over a shoulder, then took them to the living room and dropped them there.  The Sandrock Thunder pilot quickly recognized it for what it was and let his body hit the ground limply.  His hands landed across fingers and a quick code was tapped against a palm, identifying Hiiro to him while rough hands pulled him into a sitting position.

"All right, boys, quit pretending.  I know you're awake already."

Quatre opened his eyes and leveled a glare on the man seated in his chair, turquoise blue eyes widened fractionally at him.  Kronus sat with his feet planted firmly on the floor and his elbows braced on his knees, his dark hair liberally peppered with grey and his scars, which had been red and raw-looking at the time of his arrest, were now pale and silvered with age, as though he'd aged a decade overnight.  That led all three pilots to the same conclusion.

"How many doubles of you are there?" an angry Hiiro questioned.

"Six in total and all of them blindly loyal to me.  They truly believe we're all one and the same," Kronus answered in a curiously childish, sing-song voice.  "I'm very angry with you, my pretty little gods."

"I'll just bet you are," Quatre snarled.

"We belong to ourselves, not you or anyone else, you deluded son of a bitch!" Trowa growled through his teeth as his trypanophobia took hold, fury and fear pounding in his ears with his pulse as Kronus carefully prepared a syringe. [1]

Two of his henchmen pulled Trowa up to his feet, easily restraining the struggling, terrified man between them while the scientist jabbed the emerald eyed acrobat in the neck, injecting him with its contents.  The Heavyarms Bombardier pilot jerked away from the madman, landing in a heap on the floor, only to be kicked in the chest as he started to succumb to the effects of the drug.

"YES, YOU DO!" the scarred man screamed at Trowa as his foot connected with his rib cage. "YES, YOU DO!  YOU'RE ALL MINE!  YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO LOVE ME AND ONLY ME, BUT YOU BETRAYED ME INSTEAD!"

"What did you give him?" Quatre asked, his eyes locked on his husband's supine form as Kronus smiled darkly.

"I call it liquid pain," he replied, his smile growing broader and more sinister as Trowa's body started convulsing.  "It's a drug cocktail designed to begin at the last known pain tolerances of Gundam Pilot 04."

As Trowa screamed, so did Quatre; their telepathic and empathic links were still wide open from the previous night, so everything Trowa felt, Quatre did too.

- = 0 = -

At the Maxwell home, Sally helped Duo to sit up and used a damp face cloth to wash the drying blood off of his face, not all of it his.  The Deathscythe Beast pilot pushed the doctor's hands away in frustration and anger, then began gathering his weapons when the phone rang; a frantic, tearful Relena on the other end.  Finishing their search and clearing the house, Lady Une and Wu Fei entered from the bedroom area.

"That was Relena.  The fuckers broke into their place and grabbed Hiiro," he stated, his voice deathly cold as he checking his gun.

"Why not take you guys, too?" a bewildered Hilde asked.

"Maybe Kronus didn't recognize us," Wu Fei answered. "We're older now; Duo's hair is a lot shorter than it was during our training and I've let mine grow longer..."

"That isn't it, Fei," Duo retorted as he punched a pair of numbers on his cell phone. "Before I took him out, Kronus' goon here told me the bastard didn't want to waste his time on us yet.  Dammit, I'm not getting an answer from Quatre or Trowa's cells, or their land line!"

"Let's go," Lady Une ordered, stuffing her own cell phone back into her jacket pocket. "I've contacted Zechs and Noin; they're already on their way."

- = 0 = -

Zechs and Noin were approaching the front door just as the screaming started.  Guns drawn, they moved quickly toward the picture window and peered in through the gaps in the curtain.  Though there wasn't much to be seen through the small space, they could see a dark haired man seated in Trowa's overstuffed chair.  At least two men were standing beside Hiiro and Quatre, the tips of dark and pale hair the only things visible over the edge of the couch to identify them.

"We need to get in there," Noin hissed as they withdrew to a safer distance.  Zechs was already dialing Lady Une, his quick mind working on a plan to get inside.

"The bastards beat us here," he said as soon as she answered.  Hanging up the phone moments later, he turned to Noin. "The others are five minutes out, and there are three hostages.  Our orders are to keep an eye on the situation unless it becomes necessary for us to take Kronus and his men out."

"Okay, I'll move around back to see if I can get a better shot from the kitchen window," replied Noin.  "Oh, God... that's Trowa and Quatre screaming... that cannot be a good sign."

- = 0 = -

Pain, vast and all-encompassing, burned white-hot through Trowa's veins.  Screams of agony were torn from his throat before his mind even registered he was reacting, and his vision blurred as his world was reduced to madness and fire.  He couldn't think beyond the pain; it ripped its way through his brain, shattering the walls between Trowa and the Silencer.  The pain was a madness far greater than anything the ZERO System had ever shown him.

Without any conscious effort, he was determined to survive as he always had; rather than try to hide the pain under a mask of indifference, he would hide himself from the pain.  Everything that made up Trowa Bloom and the Silencer were shoved into a tiny stone cell in his mind, walled off and protected from the pain the only way he knew how.  And then he, too, was gone, lost in the cold, dark, lonely silence of his self-made mental prison.

- = 0 = -

"You're risking one of your "little Gods" just to punish us?" Hiiro snarled, his mind running in circles on how to get the three of them out of enemy hands.

"He's in need of retraining," answered Kronus, his hungry dark eyes watching as Trowa writhed on the floor. "You all are.  He'll learn to submit to me or I'll force him to.  In time, he'll forget all about you and you'll forget all about him."

Quatre ground his teeth painfully; the thought of forgetting Trowa or being forgotten by him ignited a deadly rage he was all too familiar with.  It was the same rage he'd felt when his father was killed and his sister Iria injured right in front to him.  The same killing rage that caused him to build Wing Zero, then to complete and become overwhelmed by the ZERO System. [2]

"You're wrong," the tow-headed man finally said defiantly, gritting his teeth.  "I'll never forget Trowa, and he'll never forget me."

Quatre was right; even when he'd been suffering from total amnesia and was terrified by Duo's sudden appearance at the Circus, Trowa instinctively knew that Quatre was not only important to him, but that he loved him, and would stick with him for better or worse.  There had been hope in his eyes when Quatre approached him, not fear, and hope would always be stronger than fear.

"How do you know his mind can take that kind of pain?" Hiiro demanded.  Quatre glanced at the Wing Zero pilot and was surprised to see the slightest hint of movement in his arms.  Not for the first time, he wondered what tricks Hiiro had learned from his own grueling training. "Quatre's level of pain tolerance has always been greater than any of ours!  What if Trowa's mind can't take it?  What'll you do with a mindless doll, asshole?"

"I can always create another," Kronus replied, his eyes flicking from Trowa's screaming form to Quatre and back.

Quatre fought the urge to scream at Hiiro, to tell him that Trowa was stronger than that.  His thoughts raced over Sally's concerns about the nanites in the children Kronus used as test subjects and it finally came to him.

"No, you can't," Quatre voice ground out.  "Your experiment on the children failed.  Their nanites aren't working properly."

"SHUT UP!" Kronus screamed suddenly, rising to his feet.

"That's why you took me in the first place... to reverse engineer how the Mads programmed them!" continued Quatre.  Thanks to his father's abuse, he saw the blow coming even before Kronus moved.  Muscles relaxed in preparation for it and he forced his still-healing body to take the blow limply and leveled a deadly glare on the madman.

"Katoru's right," Hiiro said with a smugness he didn't feel. "You don't know how to program them properly, do you?!  They're killing the kids by sapping their fragile little bodies of the very nutrients they need to survive in a vain attempt to reproduce!"

Kronus turned away from Quatre and landed another kick to Trowa's supine form.  Hiiro and Quatre watched in horror as Trowa stopped screaming and his eyes went blank, all personality leaving them.

In the sudden silence of their shattered link, Quatre went berserk.  His vision went white with rage and grief and he launched himself at the madman without a single thought for his own safety.  He never heard the shots that stopped the first bodyguard, nor did he see Hiiro launch himself at the second one.

By the time Zechs, Noin and Hiiro were finally able to pull him off of Kronus, the older man was nearly dead, bones shattered under fists backed by raw fury as Quatre literally broke Gaintz's face.  Once he was torn off of Kronus, Quatre let his full attention fall on Trowa.  Despite the drugs in his system, the acrobat laid there, silent and still.  Emerald green eyes were half-opened and glazed, the vibrant life missing from their jeweled depths.  Quatre reached out with bloodied, bruised hands and gently straightened out Trowa's limbs.

"C'mon, Trowa... please stay with me.  Please.  You're stronger than this," he said as he gathered his husband's inert form into his arms, tears of pain and sorrow burning their way down his cheeks.

"Katoru," stated Hiiro.

"HE'S STRONGER THAN THIS!" Quatre screamed, not taking his eyes off his husband.  Hiiro nodded, unwilling to argue with his friend.

"Mein Gott! What the Hell happened in here?" Lady Une asked as she rushed in the still-open door, her eyes going round as she saw Trowa lying motionless in his husband's arms.

Zechs glanced up from monitoring Kronus. "Something happened to Trowa, which set Quatre off on Kronus.  I can honestly say that he beat the living shit out of the bastard."

"Kronus shot Trowa up with drugs to induce pain at Katoru's last known tolerance levels," Hiiro elaborated unsteadily, and then glanced towards his shell-shocked friend.  "Trowa's mind couldn't handle it.  I think losing their link drove Katoru mad and he attacked Kronus blindly."

"I... I can't feel him anymore," Quatre murmured as he turned terrifyingly empty eyes on his husband.  "No!  No, don't do this, Trowa!  You're stronger than this!"

"Katoru..."

"NO!  He's stronger than this, Hiiro!  He hides!  He'll even hide from himself, if he has to!  That's his survival mechanism!"

To Be Continued

Author's Notes: I'm not dead, I finally got a new laptop, a 17 inch Toshiba Satellite that doesn't crash constantly, my shoulders don't hurt from typing, and RoughDraft works wonderfully on Windows 10.  Life is good.

Annotations:

[1] Trypanophobia is the fear of injections.  In this timeline, Trowa spent nearly three years in an Alliance "orphanage."  While he was there, the UESA doctors took blood samples from the children at least once a week and gave them daily shots of experimental drugs to dampen any Newtype abilities they might have had.  They weren't gentle about it, either.

[2] In my rewrite of Gundam Wing, Quatre is something of a coding genius and he did, indeed, create the programming for the ZERO System on the insistence of Instructor H.  He'd started working on it just before the series starts and was attempting to remove the "takes over the mind of emotionally compromised pilots" component while he and Trowa traveled together to New Edwards. You can also see Episode 21, Grief-Stricken Quatre, for details.

Next Chapter: Though beaten, Kronus managed to take out two Gundam pilots... or has he?  Quatre attempts a desperate plan to rescue Trowa from himself, but what will it cost him?

Next, in the penultimate chapter of Gundam Wing - Let Slip the Gods of War: Eclipse.