Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ The Palace of Justice ❯ 18 ( Chapter 18 )
[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]
By: Lethanon 
Anime/Manga: Gundam Wing Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Sci-fi / Thriller | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 01.24.2011 | Pages: 3 | Words: 5.6K | Visits: 381 | Status: Completed
Anime/Manga: Gundam Wing Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Sci-fi / Thriller | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 01.24.2011 | Pages: 3 | Words: 5.6K | Visits: 381 | Status: Completed
18:
Fingers combed lightly through his hair, drawing Trowa further out of sleep with each pass. He smiled before he opened his eyes, lingering on the feeling of it, the confidence of the gentle touch, the ease and familiarity of it even though it was so new.
Wufei was leaning up on his elbow over him, shielding what he was doing from view with his body. His own hair had fallen over his shoulders in a tangled mess, enhancing the appearance that it hadn’t been long since he woke either. It left Trowa feeling warm and cocooned in a bubble of the here and now, safe from Frank and the troubles of his long days in the Hanger. For a minute, there was only Wufei and the fingers that didn’t still as he woke but continued to soothe.
“Morning.”
“Good morning,” Wufei corrected, leaning in to kiss his throat, leaving a trail of the light kisses up over his jaw to his lip and then pressing him further into the pillows to say good morning properly. A good morning didn’t begin to cover it when he was getting kisses from Wufei.
Duo came out of the shower and sat back down with Heero, so Trowa forced himself to untangle himself from the sheets and darg himself up, surprised when Wufei followed him into the bathroom and started getting undressed. Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, Trowa hurriedly did the same, climbing into the shower and tugging Wufei in with him, sighing as the hot water fell of his scalp.
Duo had left his shampoo on the floor and Trowa picked it up, putting some in his palm before very carefully reaching out and cleaning Wufei’s hair, careful to avoid the plugs. It took a lot of time, far more than it would have had Wufei been able to just scrub it through and wash it out, but regardless of it being time consuming Trowa enjoyed himself and Wufei shut his eyes and let it happen, the expression on his face calm and a little relieved.
“That feels so much better,” Wufei muttered when he was done, running his fingers through the clean, unknotted strands, leaning up to kiss Trowa in thanks, a small smile on lips that made Trowa want to do nothing all day but kiss them again and again, over and over.
Unfortunately he didn’t have that luxury.
“You’re very welcome,” he murmured, getting out first and drying himself off quickly before helping Wufei out, getting dressed while Wufei dried himself off. Then Trowa put the toilet seat down and had Wufei sit. He took his time combing the excess water out of Wufei’s hair, then carefully combed it into sections that would fit between the plug slots and braided it through into a series of corn rolls. It didn’t suit Wufei too well, but it would keep his hair out of his face, in a neat, tidy manner, and it would avoid getting dirt into the plugs. Then he cleaned out each plug and got him bandaged and by then he was running late for work.
Wufei still grabbed his hand as he was hurrying out the door and pulled him back for one last kiss and there was a hint of worry in it. Trowa wondered what Wufei knew, that he was suddenly concerned, but when he said nothing Trowa surmised it was just fear without a cause and that he could understand so he just gave Wufei the kisses he wanted, and hurried after Duo.
“You got any idea what spooked Wufei?” He asked as he caught Duo at the shuttle bay and they stepped on together.
“No clue, though Heero mentioned he didn’t stay plugged in long yesterday. But Wufei didn’t talk about it and you know Heero, he didn’t ask the right questions about it. So no clue.”
Nodding, Trowa took a seat and they caught the shuttle to Level 3 in silence. There was no time to have a sit down breakfast, so they ordered coffee to take away, apologising to Tracey for not staying to talk and hurried off. Duo caught the shuttle down to Level 2 before splitting off to run an errand for Heero and Trowa felt the loneliness keenly as he sat alone down to Level 1. Everywhere he looked, people were talking to friends they’d known for years. They all had things to ask one another, stories to catch up on, jokes they shared. Trowa felt an intruder, and wanted to go back to His Room.
That wasn’t a possibility, and he clocked in and headed for Hanger101.
Giles was already there when Trowa arrived, and he suspected he had been there most of the night, though he must have left at some point because he had a pile of sandwiches half eaten beside him. The controller was well into production on the table; a container had been beaten out of some scrap sheet metal and the sliders had been cut into the surface, part of the wiring already laid out in the guts of the device. It was an exceptional amount of work to have gotten done and Trowa just shook his head, going over to clap a hand on the man’s shoulder and squeezing gently. Some people were worth having as friends. Giles certainly fell in that category.
“Triton!” Hatty was smiling, or at least he assumed that was supposed to be a smile. He face did seem to be sitting a little better against her mechanics and Trowa wondered if Giles had fixed it properly, or if Hatty herself had done something, but he wasn’t game to ask.
“Good morning, Hatty.”
“Did you enjoy sleeping with your boyfriend again? You seemed to like it when he woke you up!” It made Trowa pause, frowning again, not sure how to make her understand it wasn’t okay to keep spying on him. Them, because if Wufei found out Hatty could become a heap of scrap metal before she ever knew what she had done.
“I enjoyed it,” he agreed softly, going over to look at the list of components they needed to complete. Giles had ticked off a few more overnight and he checked them over where he had piled them on the end of the bench. Each was as well crafted as the other, showing no sign of the rush they had taken to get them made, so Trowa put them down and gathered the pieces he needed for the final pieces, leaving Giles to work on the controller.
“Can I sing again while you work?” She sounded so excited by the idea that Giles and Trowa just nodded, not even bothering to lift their heads or check with one another and Hatty cried out in delight and broke into song. It wasn’t anything Trowa recognised and he didn’t care. It quickly became background noise as he bent his head to the task quite literally at hand.
He finished the last pieces of the replica and sent them through to His Room, along with instructions on how to assemble it in case Heero and Wufei were feeling adventurous, or Duo got back and was bored. Then he got to work helping Giles on the controller. Two hands made easier work of assembling it, but then they had to work on the programming, which was far more difficult and they sat together, huddled in front of the laptop trying to design an interface that would be easy to use, that would also integrate and override the old System.
They were so absorbed in their task they didn’t notice the blinking light on the System window. They didn’t realise Hatty had stopped singing, nor see the look on her face. The lights under her skin turned a rich purple and the scream that tore from her throat was what finally drew their attention. Trowa looked up as Hatty threw herself off the back of the table, tearing at the pins in her head, flinging them away and crawling away into a dark corner of the Hanger. Seeing her haul her torso across the floor made Trowa feel ill and he staggered out of his chair, going after her, catching up in a few short strides and kneeling beside her, pulling her close and forcing her to still. She threw her arms around him and Trowa didn’t know what to do.
“Hatty...stop. Stop now, Hatty. What’s wrong? What happened?”
“The bad man is trying to get me! Don’t let him get me, please Trowa, I don’t want to disappear, please don’t make me go near the bad man!”
The what now? Trowa just blinked at her and tried to decipher what she was saying but it made no sense.
“I think she means Frank,” Giles said softly and Trowa turned to see him squinting at the laptop. “There’s a flurry of activity on our network link, it’s not enough to have been Hatty.”
That made sense, though what Frank had been trying to do was a mystery. Trowa nudged Hatty and helped her get up into a sitting position again.
“Okay, come on, back to the table. Don’t be scared, Giles and I are with you.” Scared. Really? She was a damn machine, she wasn’t supposed to know what fear was, let alone freak out. It was a human response and maybe it was programmed but it sounded real and the expression on her face was too accurate. Giles looked as equally disturbed as he felt, which made Trowa feel only marginally better.
“Hatty, what happened?”
“He came...he wants to erase me! She was holding him back but she’s not strong enough!”
Nataku? Trowa didn’t think there was anyone else Hatty could mean and winced. Nataku was in there because of them. She’d sacrificed herself to save Wufei and while she’d seemed to have her own reasons for doing so he wasn’t sure how much of it was just that she’d been programmed to do it. There was a very real chance she regretted it now, whatever her original reasons for going in.
And if she wasn’t succeeding in holding Frank back, what did that mean for the rest of them? And what was the point in leaving her there if she wasn’t achieving anything?
“Why does he want to erase you, Hatty?”
“I don’t know!” She wailed and covered her face with her hands, head lowered. It was so human, hiding and if she had been capable of crying Trowa knew she would have had tears to match the weeping she did, shoulders shuddering as she sobbed.
“It’s okay, Hatty. You’re fine. You didn’t let him catch you, you’re too clever for him!”
She peeked out between her fingers and Trowa watched as she very slowly started to smile and her arms carefully fell away, fixing the hat on her head straight again. She looked almost bashful...a little shy, like a teenage girl who just got a compliment.
“Really?” No, not really at all.
“Of course. You’re much more important to us than he will ever be.” That at least was true at this point. She was the only chance they had, and Trowa suspected Frank had figured it out.
“We’re running out of time,” Trowa whispered, more to himself than the others, but Giles nodded in agreement and tossed Trowa the soldering iron.
“You get the circuitry finished, I’ll complete the program.”
“Giles...”
“I’ve read all of Harrison’s journals. Trust me, I know what I’m doing. Harrison was never a good military man, he’s left holes in his System. They’re small, but they’re there.”
Trowa nodded, because there wasn’t time to argue about it and he looked up at Hatty, hesitating only a moment before holding out some of the pieces to her and explaining what he wanted her to do with them. She had hands, she could use them like the rest of them. He wasn’t going to discriminate against an extra set of hands.
“We’re building a new System?” Hatty asked quietly.
“Yes, Hatty.”
“So He won’t be able to find me anymore?” He would, but she would want him to, but Trowa didn’t bother trying to explain that yet. Instead he just smiled reassuringly at her and helped her lodge what she’d made into the tray Giles had constructed.
Piece by piece it all slowly came together. Even Hatty had burn marks up her arms by the end of the day and Trowa’s hands were so sore he’d almost lost all feeling in them. Giles looked only marginally better.
“I need to sleep,” Giles admitted softly. “We’ll make mistakes if we don’t take a break.” Trowa had to agree, not sure how much longer he could keep it up and wanting to see Wufei anyway. Hatty grabbed out before either of them could move and wrapped both arms tight around Trowa’s shoulders, hauling him back against her chest with inhuman strength.
“Hatty! What the hell!”
“You have to stay here!” She sounded scared. The whole mess was starting to bug Trowa more than he wanted to admit.
“Hatty, Frank doesn’t have a body. He’s not going to come after you. You don’t need to be afraid, you’re not plugged in right now!” How could something so intelligent be so dumb?
“I don’t care, I want you to stay with me! If you want to sleep with your boyfriend he can sleep here too, but you have to stay with me!”
“Hatty, we talked about this,” Giles chided her, and Hatty glared at him, face caught in the expression of a petulant child. It was clear she remembered what was said, but her hold on Trowa didn’t ease. If anything it tightened.
“Hatty! You’re hurting me.” She wasn’t, but she didn’t know that and Trowa was rewarded with a light yelp and a gradual easing on her grip that allowed him to slip out and turn to glare at her. “Listen to me, Hatty, and listen very well. I sleep in My Room. I sleep with my Boyfriend. I do not sleep with you. Do you understand?”
She dropped her face in her hands and cried. There were no tears, but that was irrelevant. Giles and Trowa stood there and just watched her, not sure what to think, or do about it. What was the standard procedure for dealing with a sobbing robot? He doubted there was a precedent.
“Hatty. Giles needs to go home and rest as well. We want you to rest, okay? Sleep, if you need to. And do not plug in to the System until one of us gets back, okay? Can you do that for me?”
“For you?” She peeked out from behind her hands again and Trowa sighed. This was worse than dealing with a child. At least a child had an excuse. What sort of excuse could a robot possibly have?
“Yes, Hatty. For me. Please?”
“O...okay, Triton. I can do that.”
“Good girl, Hatty. You’re a really good girl.” But he was going to have to leave his laptop to run the Molecularizer since Hatty wasn’t connected, and he just hoped he didn’t end up needing it for anything in His Room while they were assembling the replica. Or worse, that Hatty decided to have a play with it while they were gone. It was hard to know just how capable she was of doing things on her own. She appeared to need directions from them to do things, but what if she found a way to just do something? What if it was a disaster?
Forcing himself to stop thinking about it took effort but he grabbed his things and went to the Molecularization pad, turning to look at Hatty one last time.
“Be good, Hatty. I’ll see you in the morning.”
“Okay, Triton.” She really didn’t need to sound so depressed about the whole thing. Trowa felt like he was stomping on baby turtles.
He didn’t have time to get his head straight in the shower. The door opened and Duo was there, and Trowa knew as soon as he saw Duo’s face. He wondered why he hadn’t thought of it earlier, when Hatty had first freaked out but maybe he just hadn’t wanted to. The connections were there, Wufei’s edginess that morning, and his apparently dodging the System yesterday, but regardless of the warnings Trowa knew he wasn’t ready for it. He stumbled out into the main room and stared at Wufei on the bed.
There was no sweat, no shaking, no mad thrashing as there had been when Wufei had been in withdrawals. There was nothing, just a still body and closed eyes and Heero fiddling with the Computer as if he might find a way to fix it. Trowa staggered to the bed and sat beside Wufei, reaching out to stroke one of the corn rolls he’d put in that morning, remembering Wufei’s small, happy smile. There was no sign of it now.
“Wufei?”
No reply. He bit his lip and looked up at the ceiling, struggling to maintain control and think while his eyes ached. Had Hatty known, or just been too pre-occupied with her own peril to notice? If she’d known, had she tried to make him stay with her so he wouldn’t find out? Was it out of jealousy or a desire to protect Trowa from the hurt he was feeling now? How vindictive could a robot be?
But he was just upset and coming up with increasingly unlikely scenarios. Knowing it didn’t make anything easier to deal with.
“We don’t know what happened. He was fine, talking to us on the message board, then he swore and he was gone. Just...like this.” Duo sounded as worried as Trowa felt, and he didn’t know half of it.
“It was Frank,” Trowa said softly. “He went after Hatty too but she disconnected herself in time.” And if only he’d stopped to think Hatty wouldn’t be the only target. But if he’d come home earlier they wouldn’t have gotten half of what they had done finished, and he would still be where he was now, sitting at Wufei’s side unable to do anything.
"We wondered," Heero admitted softly but he didn't try to interfere in any way, for which Trowa was grateful. He couldn't take Heero saying anything smart right now, or implying there might have been some way to have avoided it. Heero was the reason Wufei had been connected to begin with, encouraging him in his suicidal mission so that he wouldn't feel useless. Trowa considered comatose to be pretty useless and it was taking all his self restraint not to get up and beat the crap out of Heero.
Climbing into the bed beside Wufei, Trowa lay next to him and watched him quietly, reaching out to run the tip of his finger down Wufei's nose. He had a cute nose, small and a little flat, round at the tip, giving him a smooth profile. There was no sign of a haughty frown Wufei often sported, or the angry tilt that pulled his brows down on a regular basis. Completely relaxed, Wufei was oddly androgynous, and it annoyed Trowa. Wufei had never seemed small or sick before Frank. He'd never missed a day of work. Look at him now.
Anger rose in Trowa, a slow insidious dragon that uncoiled in his guts and rose through his muscles. It wasn't Heero who was responsible for this, and it wasn't even Frank. Not really. There must have been some subtle sign on his face because Heero frowned and lunged to catch his arm but Trowa slipped free, scooping up the folders Duo had assembled on each of the people who sat in a position of power inside Frank. These were them, the culprits and the reason Wufei was here at all. And it was definitely time they paid a price as high as Trowa had paid.
"Trowa," Duo called warningly but he ignored him, reading as quickly as he could while still absorbing all of the information. Room numbers, ID tags, injuries, allergies, occupations, recent deals, history, family...he let it all sink in before dropping the folders on the floor and going to shower.
He ran the water cold deliberately, needing to be as awake as possible. He dressed in his blacks and packed his favourite pistol and a set of knives. Duo watched silently, sitting on the side of the bed, not saying a word or trying to tell him what to do because they all knew Trowa wouldn't listen. Instead, Heero quickly pulled on his blacks and grabbed his own gun, tucking it away in the back of his trousers and stuffing a few extra things in his bag.
Trowa didn't care. If Heero wanted to follow him and make sure he didn't do anything, Trowa wasn't going to stop him, but he wasn't going to guarantee he wouldn't do anything stupid. He wanted blood, right now. Every minute he spent getting ready was another minute Wufei lay still on the bed, and another minute for the dragon within to rise up until Trowa felt consumed by the rage. On the outside he was deathly calm, but inside...no robot could understand what was within.
He didn't wait for Heero, going to the bed and kissing Wufei's forehead before leaving, striding down the hallway to the shuttle and hopping on. He didn't care that people stared, whispering around him. He didn't care that they shifted away when Heero joined him. They didn't matter.
"Do you have a plan or are we just doing something stupid?"
"Something stupid," Trowa ground out immediately and he knew it was, and it wasn't like him at all but sometimes you just had to roll with the punches and see where you landed. Frank hadn't just punched him, he'd ripped his insides out through a gaping hole in his chest and Trowa was going to do the same. Eventually. He was tired of investigating and letting Frank call the shots. It was time to get a step ahead, and stay there.
"They've increased security on Level 5..."
Trowa just stared at him as if he had grown a second head and Heero shrugged. Yes, they were Gundam pilots and accustomed to this sort of thing, but that didn't mean the soldiers were completely useless. It just meant the security detail didn't stand the best chance, which was fine with Trowa. He didn't need to be reminded, but he suspected that was what Heero was trying to do. Remind him he was thinking about going on a killing spree, and really Heero should be happy considering it was what he'd been wanting to do since they'd arrived.
"Killing them won't stop Frank," Heero tried one last time.
"It'll make me feel better," Trowa ground out, then smirked at Heero, resembling the mask he had worn during his time in the circus, and not seeing much difference between then and now. "Besides...I didn't say I was going to kill them." That would be far too easy, and Une would yell at him and the paperwork would be disgusting and if Wufei woke up....when Wufei woke up, Trowa would be too busy trying to keep his job and stay out of prison to spend time with him. Killing them wasn't worth it, even if he knew he would eventually get away with it.
They moved quickly once they reached Level 1. Heero had bought his gas canisters again and kept knocking out the guards at each room they wanted, frustrating Trowa who wanted badly to knock some heads together. It became almost a game to see who could get there first, Heero growing increasingly smug with every canister he let off, Trowa feeling increasingly incensed. Heero broke down a door and Trowa strode into the room, gun in one hand and a knife ready in the other. When the man lifted a gun of his own Trowa felt no qualms whatsoever about tossing the knife at his wrist, disabling him and by the time he'd finished crying out in disbelief, Trowa had kicked the gun out of his hands and had his own pointed at the man's head.
"Tie him up...make sure he can still walk," Trowa ground out and Heero obeyed, hands weaving around the man, fixing his hands behind his back and trussing him as best he could while still letting him walk.
The next one wasn't much different, but the third a woman came out and screamed at them, begging them not to take him and to please understand that she loved him and it didn't matter what he'd done wrong because they should understand her pain and be forgiving. Trowa kicked her as hard as he could, feeling nothing as she tumbled backward and had Heero tie the man to the other two, dragging them along down the corridor as he moved on to the next apartment.
This one had children and Trowa took them to their room and slid them under the bed and told them to stay there until they were sure he had gone, and then followed the same routine. Every plea for mercy fell on deaf ears, every cry of anger only fuelled his own. He hated these people, and he intended to ensure they never hurt anyone again. But short of killing them, he was going to need Quatre's help and in the meantime he refused to let them just wander wherever they felt.
They weren't paying for it if they could go anywhere and do anything. Unlike Harrison, who'd given his life for them, or Giles who'd lost so much and yet still found so much to give, without any acknowledgement. Unlike Hatty, who waited in the dark with only the beat of her own heart for company. Everyone else was paying for the greed of a few rich men, and Trowa couldn't tolerate it any longer.
"Where are we taking them?" Heero nodded his head at the trail of nine men he was hauling around on rope reigns and Trowa found enough sense to pause and think about it.
"Down," he grunted, but he went to the last man's Computer and turned it on, switching through to his message board and praying for a small miracle.
'Hatty, are you plugged in?'
Everyone was staring, waiting, and even Heero looked ready to lose patience before the reply came, but Trowa waited.
'I am.' Trowa grinned.
'That's my girl. Hatty, I need you to access the eye. It doesn't matter if Frank sees you do it, but you're going to have to do it really quick. I want you to access it, find my location right now, and have the eye Molecularize everyone in this room into Hanger101.'
Again, she was silent for a long time and Trowa wondered if she was ignoring him, if she was perhaps still throwing a tantrum from earlier but then he felt strange and knew she was just using the time to get the job done.
The transfer had them all doubled over and several of the men threw up, which gave Trowa the time to stumble to the cage in one of the corners and check it over for damage. There was none. Trowa wasn't sure why it was there, but he suspected Harrison hadn't completely trusted his creations and had kept them there. Or, his other theory was that this was where they had altered Wufei, and they'd kept him in the cage until he was ready to merge with Frank as the Origen. Either way it disgusted Trowa, but was perfect for what he needed.
"What, one prisoner wasn't enough?" Heero grumbled but Trowa ignored him, shoving the men in one after the other before turning back to Hatty, his grin feral as he wandered over to her and gave her a high five.
"Thank you, Hatty. That was very well done."
"Thank you, Triton. It was very hard, but I found a way." Yes she had, and while Drank would know they were up to something and it wouldn't take him long to figure it out, it was too late to do anything about it and Trowa drew an imaginary point on his figurative wall under his own name, and nothing at all under Frank's.
"Heero, I need you to go back to My Room and finish the Molecularizer."
"What about you?" Heero was watching the prisoners but walked backward to stand beside Trowa. He nearly jumped out of his skin when Hatty reached over to play with his hair, examining it closely with wide eyes. She was lucky Heero didn't put a hole through her. Instead he just glared before turning his attention back to Trowa.
"Duo's right. You make weird friends." As if that even mattered right now!
"Someone needs to guard them...I can do that from here, and I need to finish the controller Giles and I have been building. Hatty and I have work to do, so please...go finish the replica."
Heero still didn't move and Trowa barely restrained himself from throwing him to the ground when a firm hand landed on his shoulder, but Heero just squeezed and turned to the Pad, going to stand on it and waiting patiently.
"Wufei will be okay."
Trowa sent him back to His Room quicker than was necessary, then leant against the desk and hung his head, taking deep, shuddering breaths. The men in the corner were making too much noise so he tossed a gas cansiter in with them and watched them topple over. Far too easy...it was too easy for something that was so complex. He turned to look up at Hatty, who was just watching him curiously. Trowa reached up and turned her hat around so it was on backwards.
"Why?"
"Because it looks cool. And because we have some hard work to do and not much time to do it in. Will you work with me, Hatty?"
"Of course, but...Triton?" He didn't want to talk and glared up at her. She was entirely unperturbed by his scowl and simply continued to watch him.
"Why aren't you sleeping with your boyfriend?"
"I don't have time to sleep, Hatty." He refused to let the tears come. He could fix this, he could...and he would! If she would just help him.
Cold arms reached out and tugged him in against the squishy, plastic casing of her chest. He almost pulled away, brought his hands up to shove when the sound penetrated and his ear hovered uncertainly over her heart. His heart. Beating. He let Hatty hold him in a cold embrace, let her sing softly under her breath while she pet his hair.
"Don't worry, Triton. We're going to wake him up," she promised and the words didn't sound like a machine at all.
"Yeah, Hatty." He pulled away and checked where Giles was up to in the program, not surprised when Hatty started singing again as soon as his fingers started typing. But she paused and he saw the smile from the corner of his eyes that wasn't her usual smile. This seemed darker, and far more human. He didn't like the way she looked down at him, and then she whispered to him.
"And then we're going to make them pay."
Fingers combed lightly through his hair, drawing Trowa further out of sleep with each pass. He smiled before he opened his eyes, lingering on the feeling of it, the confidence of the gentle touch, the ease and familiarity of it even though it was so new.
Wufei was leaning up on his elbow over him, shielding what he was doing from view with his body. His own hair had fallen over his shoulders in a tangled mess, enhancing the appearance that it hadn’t been long since he woke either. It left Trowa feeling warm and cocooned in a bubble of the here and now, safe from Frank and the troubles of his long days in the Hanger. For a minute, there was only Wufei and the fingers that didn’t still as he woke but continued to soothe.
“Morning.”
“Good morning,” Wufei corrected, leaning in to kiss his throat, leaving a trail of the light kisses up over his jaw to his lip and then pressing him further into the pillows to say good morning properly. A good morning didn’t begin to cover it when he was getting kisses from Wufei.
Duo came out of the shower and sat back down with Heero, so Trowa forced himself to untangle himself from the sheets and darg himself up, surprised when Wufei followed him into the bathroom and started getting undressed. Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, Trowa hurriedly did the same, climbing into the shower and tugging Wufei in with him, sighing as the hot water fell of his scalp.
Duo had left his shampoo on the floor and Trowa picked it up, putting some in his palm before very carefully reaching out and cleaning Wufei’s hair, careful to avoid the plugs. It took a lot of time, far more than it would have had Wufei been able to just scrub it through and wash it out, but regardless of it being time consuming Trowa enjoyed himself and Wufei shut his eyes and let it happen, the expression on his face calm and a little relieved.
“That feels so much better,” Wufei muttered when he was done, running his fingers through the clean, unknotted strands, leaning up to kiss Trowa in thanks, a small smile on lips that made Trowa want to do nothing all day but kiss them again and again, over and over.
Unfortunately he didn’t have that luxury.
“You’re very welcome,” he murmured, getting out first and drying himself off quickly before helping Wufei out, getting dressed while Wufei dried himself off. Then Trowa put the toilet seat down and had Wufei sit. He took his time combing the excess water out of Wufei’s hair, then carefully combed it into sections that would fit between the plug slots and braided it through into a series of corn rolls. It didn’t suit Wufei too well, but it would keep his hair out of his face, in a neat, tidy manner, and it would avoid getting dirt into the plugs. Then he cleaned out each plug and got him bandaged and by then he was running late for work.
Wufei still grabbed his hand as he was hurrying out the door and pulled him back for one last kiss and there was a hint of worry in it. Trowa wondered what Wufei knew, that he was suddenly concerned, but when he said nothing Trowa surmised it was just fear without a cause and that he could understand so he just gave Wufei the kisses he wanted, and hurried after Duo.
“You got any idea what spooked Wufei?” He asked as he caught Duo at the shuttle bay and they stepped on together.
“No clue, though Heero mentioned he didn’t stay plugged in long yesterday. But Wufei didn’t talk about it and you know Heero, he didn’t ask the right questions about it. So no clue.”
Nodding, Trowa took a seat and they caught the shuttle to Level 3 in silence. There was no time to have a sit down breakfast, so they ordered coffee to take away, apologising to Tracey for not staying to talk and hurried off. Duo caught the shuttle down to Level 2 before splitting off to run an errand for Heero and Trowa felt the loneliness keenly as he sat alone down to Level 1. Everywhere he looked, people were talking to friends they’d known for years. They all had things to ask one another, stories to catch up on, jokes they shared. Trowa felt an intruder, and wanted to go back to His Room.
That wasn’t a possibility, and he clocked in and headed for Hanger101.
Giles was already there when Trowa arrived, and he suspected he had been there most of the night, though he must have left at some point because he had a pile of sandwiches half eaten beside him. The controller was well into production on the table; a container had been beaten out of some scrap sheet metal and the sliders had been cut into the surface, part of the wiring already laid out in the guts of the device. It was an exceptional amount of work to have gotten done and Trowa just shook his head, going over to clap a hand on the man’s shoulder and squeezing gently. Some people were worth having as friends. Giles certainly fell in that category.
“Triton!” Hatty was smiling, or at least he assumed that was supposed to be a smile. He face did seem to be sitting a little better against her mechanics and Trowa wondered if Giles had fixed it properly, or if Hatty herself had done something, but he wasn’t game to ask.
“Good morning, Hatty.”
“Did you enjoy sleeping with your boyfriend again? You seemed to like it when he woke you up!” It made Trowa pause, frowning again, not sure how to make her understand it wasn’t okay to keep spying on him. Them, because if Wufei found out Hatty could become a heap of scrap metal before she ever knew what she had done.
“I enjoyed it,” he agreed softly, going over to look at the list of components they needed to complete. Giles had ticked off a few more overnight and he checked them over where he had piled them on the end of the bench. Each was as well crafted as the other, showing no sign of the rush they had taken to get them made, so Trowa put them down and gathered the pieces he needed for the final pieces, leaving Giles to work on the controller.
“Can I sing again while you work?” She sounded so excited by the idea that Giles and Trowa just nodded, not even bothering to lift their heads or check with one another and Hatty cried out in delight and broke into song. It wasn’t anything Trowa recognised and he didn’t care. It quickly became background noise as he bent his head to the task quite literally at hand.
He finished the last pieces of the replica and sent them through to His Room, along with instructions on how to assemble it in case Heero and Wufei were feeling adventurous, or Duo got back and was bored. Then he got to work helping Giles on the controller. Two hands made easier work of assembling it, but then they had to work on the programming, which was far more difficult and they sat together, huddled in front of the laptop trying to design an interface that would be easy to use, that would also integrate and override the old System.
They were so absorbed in their task they didn’t notice the blinking light on the System window. They didn’t realise Hatty had stopped singing, nor see the look on her face. The lights under her skin turned a rich purple and the scream that tore from her throat was what finally drew their attention. Trowa looked up as Hatty threw herself off the back of the table, tearing at the pins in her head, flinging them away and crawling away into a dark corner of the Hanger. Seeing her haul her torso across the floor made Trowa feel ill and he staggered out of his chair, going after her, catching up in a few short strides and kneeling beside her, pulling her close and forcing her to still. She threw her arms around him and Trowa didn’t know what to do.
“Hatty...stop. Stop now, Hatty. What’s wrong? What happened?”
“The bad man is trying to get me! Don’t let him get me, please Trowa, I don’t want to disappear, please don’t make me go near the bad man!”
The what now? Trowa just blinked at her and tried to decipher what she was saying but it made no sense.
“I think she means Frank,” Giles said softly and Trowa turned to see him squinting at the laptop. “There’s a flurry of activity on our network link, it’s not enough to have been Hatty.”
That made sense, though what Frank had been trying to do was a mystery. Trowa nudged Hatty and helped her get up into a sitting position again.
“Okay, come on, back to the table. Don’t be scared, Giles and I are with you.” Scared. Really? She was a damn machine, she wasn’t supposed to know what fear was, let alone freak out. It was a human response and maybe it was programmed but it sounded real and the expression on her face was too accurate. Giles looked as equally disturbed as he felt, which made Trowa feel only marginally better.
“Hatty, what happened?”
“He came...he wants to erase me! She was holding him back but she’s not strong enough!”
Nataku? Trowa didn’t think there was anyone else Hatty could mean and winced. Nataku was in there because of them. She’d sacrificed herself to save Wufei and while she’d seemed to have her own reasons for doing so he wasn’t sure how much of it was just that she’d been programmed to do it. There was a very real chance she regretted it now, whatever her original reasons for going in.
And if she wasn’t succeeding in holding Frank back, what did that mean for the rest of them? And what was the point in leaving her there if she wasn’t achieving anything?
“Why does he want to erase you, Hatty?”
“I don’t know!” She wailed and covered her face with her hands, head lowered. It was so human, hiding and if she had been capable of crying Trowa knew she would have had tears to match the weeping she did, shoulders shuddering as she sobbed.
“It’s okay, Hatty. You’re fine. You didn’t let him catch you, you’re too clever for him!”
She peeked out between her fingers and Trowa watched as she very slowly started to smile and her arms carefully fell away, fixing the hat on her head straight again. She looked almost bashful...a little shy, like a teenage girl who just got a compliment.
“Really?” No, not really at all.
“Of course. You’re much more important to us than he will ever be.” That at least was true at this point. She was the only chance they had, and Trowa suspected Frank had figured it out.
“We’re running out of time,” Trowa whispered, more to himself than the others, but Giles nodded in agreement and tossed Trowa the soldering iron.
“You get the circuitry finished, I’ll complete the program.”
“Giles...”
“I’ve read all of Harrison’s journals. Trust me, I know what I’m doing. Harrison was never a good military man, he’s left holes in his System. They’re small, but they’re there.”
Trowa nodded, because there wasn’t time to argue about it and he looked up at Hatty, hesitating only a moment before holding out some of the pieces to her and explaining what he wanted her to do with them. She had hands, she could use them like the rest of them. He wasn’t going to discriminate against an extra set of hands.
“We’re building a new System?” Hatty asked quietly.
“Yes, Hatty.”
“So He won’t be able to find me anymore?” He would, but she would want him to, but Trowa didn’t bother trying to explain that yet. Instead he just smiled reassuringly at her and helped her lodge what she’d made into the tray Giles had constructed.
Piece by piece it all slowly came together. Even Hatty had burn marks up her arms by the end of the day and Trowa’s hands were so sore he’d almost lost all feeling in them. Giles looked only marginally better.
“I need to sleep,” Giles admitted softly. “We’ll make mistakes if we don’t take a break.” Trowa had to agree, not sure how much longer he could keep it up and wanting to see Wufei anyway. Hatty grabbed out before either of them could move and wrapped both arms tight around Trowa’s shoulders, hauling him back against her chest with inhuman strength.
“Hatty! What the hell!”
“You have to stay here!” She sounded scared. The whole mess was starting to bug Trowa more than he wanted to admit.
“Hatty, Frank doesn’t have a body. He’s not going to come after you. You don’t need to be afraid, you’re not plugged in right now!” How could something so intelligent be so dumb?
“I don’t care, I want you to stay with me! If you want to sleep with your boyfriend he can sleep here too, but you have to stay with me!”
“Hatty, we talked about this,” Giles chided her, and Hatty glared at him, face caught in the expression of a petulant child. It was clear she remembered what was said, but her hold on Trowa didn’t ease. If anything it tightened.
“Hatty! You’re hurting me.” She wasn’t, but she didn’t know that and Trowa was rewarded with a light yelp and a gradual easing on her grip that allowed him to slip out and turn to glare at her. “Listen to me, Hatty, and listen very well. I sleep in My Room. I sleep with my Boyfriend. I do not sleep with you. Do you understand?”
She dropped her face in her hands and cried. There were no tears, but that was irrelevant. Giles and Trowa stood there and just watched her, not sure what to think, or do about it. What was the standard procedure for dealing with a sobbing robot? He doubted there was a precedent.
“Hatty. Giles needs to go home and rest as well. We want you to rest, okay? Sleep, if you need to. And do not plug in to the System until one of us gets back, okay? Can you do that for me?”
“For you?” She peeked out from behind her hands again and Trowa sighed. This was worse than dealing with a child. At least a child had an excuse. What sort of excuse could a robot possibly have?
“Yes, Hatty. For me. Please?”
“O...okay, Triton. I can do that.”
“Good girl, Hatty. You’re a really good girl.” But he was going to have to leave his laptop to run the Molecularizer since Hatty wasn’t connected, and he just hoped he didn’t end up needing it for anything in His Room while they were assembling the replica. Or worse, that Hatty decided to have a play with it while they were gone. It was hard to know just how capable she was of doing things on her own. She appeared to need directions from them to do things, but what if she found a way to just do something? What if it was a disaster?
Forcing himself to stop thinking about it took effort but he grabbed his things and went to the Molecularization pad, turning to look at Hatty one last time.
“Be good, Hatty. I’ll see you in the morning.”
“Okay, Triton.” She really didn’t need to sound so depressed about the whole thing. Trowa felt like he was stomping on baby turtles.
He didn’t have time to get his head straight in the shower. The door opened and Duo was there, and Trowa knew as soon as he saw Duo’s face. He wondered why he hadn’t thought of it earlier, when Hatty had first freaked out but maybe he just hadn’t wanted to. The connections were there, Wufei’s edginess that morning, and his apparently dodging the System yesterday, but regardless of the warnings Trowa knew he wasn’t ready for it. He stumbled out into the main room and stared at Wufei on the bed.
There was no sweat, no shaking, no mad thrashing as there had been when Wufei had been in withdrawals. There was nothing, just a still body and closed eyes and Heero fiddling with the Computer as if he might find a way to fix it. Trowa staggered to the bed and sat beside Wufei, reaching out to stroke one of the corn rolls he’d put in that morning, remembering Wufei’s small, happy smile. There was no sign of it now.
“Wufei?”
No reply. He bit his lip and looked up at the ceiling, struggling to maintain control and think while his eyes ached. Had Hatty known, or just been too pre-occupied with her own peril to notice? If she’d known, had she tried to make him stay with her so he wouldn’t find out? Was it out of jealousy or a desire to protect Trowa from the hurt he was feeling now? How vindictive could a robot be?
But he was just upset and coming up with increasingly unlikely scenarios. Knowing it didn’t make anything easier to deal with.
“We don’t know what happened. He was fine, talking to us on the message board, then he swore and he was gone. Just...like this.” Duo sounded as worried as Trowa felt, and he didn’t know half of it.
“It was Frank,” Trowa said softly. “He went after Hatty too but she disconnected herself in time.” And if only he’d stopped to think Hatty wouldn’t be the only target. But if he’d come home earlier they wouldn’t have gotten half of what they had done finished, and he would still be where he was now, sitting at Wufei’s side unable to do anything.
"We wondered," Heero admitted softly but he didn't try to interfere in any way, for which Trowa was grateful. He couldn't take Heero saying anything smart right now, or implying there might have been some way to have avoided it. Heero was the reason Wufei had been connected to begin with, encouraging him in his suicidal mission so that he wouldn't feel useless. Trowa considered comatose to be pretty useless and it was taking all his self restraint not to get up and beat the crap out of Heero.
Climbing into the bed beside Wufei, Trowa lay next to him and watched him quietly, reaching out to run the tip of his finger down Wufei's nose. He had a cute nose, small and a little flat, round at the tip, giving him a smooth profile. There was no sign of a haughty frown Wufei often sported, or the angry tilt that pulled his brows down on a regular basis. Completely relaxed, Wufei was oddly androgynous, and it annoyed Trowa. Wufei had never seemed small or sick before Frank. He'd never missed a day of work. Look at him now.
Anger rose in Trowa, a slow insidious dragon that uncoiled in his guts and rose through his muscles. It wasn't Heero who was responsible for this, and it wasn't even Frank. Not really. There must have been some subtle sign on his face because Heero frowned and lunged to catch his arm but Trowa slipped free, scooping up the folders Duo had assembled on each of the people who sat in a position of power inside Frank. These were them, the culprits and the reason Wufei was here at all. And it was definitely time they paid a price as high as Trowa had paid.
"Trowa," Duo called warningly but he ignored him, reading as quickly as he could while still absorbing all of the information. Room numbers, ID tags, injuries, allergies, occupations, recent deals, history, family...he let it all sink in before dropping the folders on the floor and going to shower.
He ran the water cold deliberately, needing to be as awake as possible. He dressed in his blacks and packed his favourite pistol and a set of knives. Duo watched silently, sitting on the side of the bed, not saying a word or trying to tell him what to do because they all knew Trowa wouldn't listen. Instead, Heero quickly pulled on his blacks and grabbed his own gun, tucking it away in the back of his trousers and stuffing a few extra things in his bag.
Trowa didn't care. If Heero wanted to follow him and make sure he didn't do anything, Trowa wasn't going to stop him, but he wasn't going to guarantee he wouldn't do anything stupid. He wanted blood, right now. Every minute he spent getting ready was another minute Wufei lay still on the bed, and another minute for the dragon within to rise up until Trowa felt consumed by the rage. On the outside he was deathly calm, but inside...no robot could understand what was within.
He didn't wait for Heero, going to the bed and kissing Wufei's forehead before leaving, striding down the hallway to the shuttle and hopping on. He didn't care that people stared, whispering around him. He didn't care that they shifted away when Heero joined him. They didn't matter.
"Do you have a plan or are we just doing something stupid?"
"Something stupid," Trowa ground out immediately and he knew it was, and it wasn't like him at all but sometimes you just had to roll with the punches and see where you landed. Frank hadn't just punched him, he'd ripped his insides out through a gaping hole in his chest and Trowa was going to do the same. Eventually. He was tired of investigating and letting Frank call the shots. It was time to get a step ahead, and stay there.
"They've increased security on Level 5..."
Trowa just stared at him as if he had grown a second head and Heero shrugged. Yes, they were Gundam pilots and accustomed to this sort of thing, but that didn't mean the soldiers were completely useless. It just meant the security detail didn't stand the best chance, which was fine with Trowa. He didn't need to be reminded, but he suspected that was what Heero was trying to do. Remind him he was thinking about going on a killing spree, and really Heero should be happy considering it was what he'd been wanting to do since they'd arrived.
"Killing them won't stop Frank," Heero tried one last time.
"It'll make me feel better," Trowa ground out, then smirked at Heero, resembling the mask he had worn during his time in the circus, and not seeing much difference between then and now. "Besides...I didn't say I was going to kill them." That would be far too easy, and Une would yell at him and the paperwork would be disgusting and if Wufei woke up....when Wufei woke up, Trowa would be too busy trying to keep his job and stay out of prison to spend time with him. Killing them wasn't worth it, even if he knew he would eventually get away with it.
They moved quickly once they reached Level 1. Heero had bought his gas canisters again and kept knocking out the guards at each room they wanted, frustrating Trowa who wanted badly to knock some heads together. It became almost a game to see who could get there first, Heero growing increasingly smug with every canister he let off, Trowa feeling increasingly incensed. Heero broke down a door and Trowa strode into the room, gun in one hand and a knife ready in the other. When the man lifted a gun of his own Trowa felt no qualms whatsoever about tossing the knife at his wrist, disabling him and by the time he'd finished crying out in disbelief, Trowa had kicked the gun out of his hands and had his own pointed at the man's head.
"Tie him up...make sure he can still walk," Trowa ground out and Heero obeyed, hands weaving around the man, fixing his hands behind his back and trussing him as best he could while still letting him walk.
The next one wasn't much different, but the third a woman came out and screamed at them, begging them not to take him and to please understand that she loved him and it didn't matter what he'd done wrong because they should understand her pain and be forgiving. Trowa kicked her as hard as he could, feeling nothing as she tumbled backward and had Heero tie the man to the other two, dragging them along down the corridor as he moved on to the next apartment.
This one had children and Trowa took them to their room and slid them under the bed and told them to stay there until they were sure he had gone, and then followed the same routine. Every plea for mercy fell on deaf ears, every cry of anger only fuelled his own. He hated these people, and he intended to ensure they never hurt anyone again. But short of killing them, he was going to need Quatre's help and in the meantime he refused to let them just wander wherever they felt.
They weren't paying for it if they could go anywhere and do anything. Unlike Harrison, who'd given his life for them, or Giles who'd lost so much and yet still found so much to give, without any acknowledgement. Unlike Hatty, who waited in the dark with only the beat of her own heart for company. Everyone else was paying for the greed of a few rich men, and Trowa couldn't tolerate it any longer.
"Where are we taking them?" Heero nodded his head at the trail of nine men he was hauling around on rope reigns and Trowa found enough sense to pause and think about it.
"Down," he grunted, but he went to the last man's Computer and turned it on, switching through to his message board and praying for a small miracle.
'Hatty, are you plugged in?'
Everyone was staring, waiting, and even Heero looked ready to lose patience before the reply came, but Trowa waited.
'I am.' Trowa grinned.
'That's my girl. Hatty, I need you to access the eye. It doesn't matter if Frank sees you do it, but you're going to have to do it really quick. I want you to access it, find my location right now, and have the eye Molecularize everyone in this room into Hanger101.'
Again, she was silent for a long time and Trowa wondered if she was ignoring him, if she was perhaps still throwing a tantrum from earlier but then he felt strange and knew she was just using the time to get the job done.
The transfer had them all doubled over and several of the men threw up, which gave Trowa the time to stumble to the cage in one of the corners and check it over for damage. There was none. Trowa wasn't sure why it was there, but he suspected Harrison hadn't completely trusted his creations and had kept them there. Or, his other theory was that this was where they had altered Wufei, and they'd kept him in the cage until he was ready to merge with Frank as the Origen. Either way it disgusted Trowa, but was perfect for what he needed.
"What, one prisoner wasn't enough?" Heero grumbled but Trowa ignored him, shoving the men in one after the other before turning back to Hatty, his grin feral as he wandered over to her and gave her a high five.
"Thank you, Hatty. That was very well done."
"Thank you, Triton. It was very hard, but I found a way." Yes she had, and while Drank would know they were up to something and it wouldn't take him long to figure it out, it was too late to do anything about it and Trowa drew an imaginary point on his figurative wall under his own name, and nothing at all under Frank's.
"Heero, I need you to go back to My Room and finish the Molecularizer."
"What about you?" Heero was watching the prisoners but walked backward to stand beside Trowa. He nearly jumped out of his skin when Hatty reached over to play with his hair, examining it closely with wide eyes. She was lucky Heero didn't put a hole through her. Instead he just glared before turning his attention back to Trowa.
"Duo's right. You make weird friends." As if that even mattered right now!
"Someone needs to guard them...I can do that from here, and I need to finish the controller Giles and I have been building. Hatty and I have work to do, so please...go finish the replica."
Heero still didn't move and Trowa barely restrained himself from throwing him to the ground when a firm hand landed on his shoulder, but Heero just squeezed and turned to the Pad, going to stand on it and waiting patiently.
"Wufei will be okay."
Trowa sent him back to His Room quicker than was necessary, then leant against the desk and hung his head, taking deep, shuddering breaths. The men in the corner were making too much noise so he tossed a gas cansiter in with them and watched them topple over. Far too easy...it was too easy for something that was so complex. He turned to look up at Hatty, who was just watching him curiously. Trowa reached up and turned her hat around so it was on backwards.
"Why?"
"Because it looks cool. And because we have some hard work to do and not much time to do it in. Will you work with me, Hatty?"
"Of course, but...Triton?" He didn't want to talk and glared up at her. She was entirely unperturbed by his scowl and simply continued to watch him.
"Why aren't you sleeping with your boyfriend?"
"I don't have time to sleep, Hatty." He refused to let the tears come. He could fix this, he could...and he would! If she would just help him.
Cold arms reached out and tugged him in against the squishy, plastic casing of her chest. He almost pulled away, brought his hands up to shove when the sound penetrated and his ear hovered uncertainly over her heart. His heart. Beating. He let Hatty hold him in a cold embrace, let her sing softly under her breath while she pet his hair.
"Don't worry, Triton. We're going to wake him up," she promised and the words didn't sound like a machine at all.
"Yeah, Hatty." He pulled away and checked where Giles was up to in the program, not surprised when Hatty started singing again as soon as his fingers started typing. But she paused and he saw the smile from the corner of his eyes that wasn't her usual smile. This seemed darker, and far more human. He didn't like the way she looked down at him, and then she whispered to him.
"And then we're going to make them pay."