Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Dangerous Bonds ❯ Chapter 7 ( Chapter 7 )

Title- Dangerous Bonds (7/?)
Warning- AU, Mild violence and shounen-ai in future parts.
Parings- 1+2, 3+4
Rating- R
Summary- Duo, possessing psychic powers, is invited to a special institute for gifted students. Everything seems normal enough but there's something going on behind the scenes. What does it have to do with Duo and his new friends and will they find out in enough time to save themselves? This is a crossover with the Dark Visions trilogy by L.J. Smith.
Disclaimer- I do not own any part of Gundam Wing or the Dark Visions book series. The following story is being written without profit, no malice is intended. *insert pleasant, innocent smile here*

Notes: ummm /thinking or telepathy/ it will probably get confusing later on but that's the fun part. Opps all most forgot to add the italics

This Fic was Beta-ed by Ilyena sylph a long, long time ago, although any and all spelling and grammar mistakes are still completely my own. I've been sitting on it for a while so send any daggers my way, I probably deserve them ^_^;;

 

Chapter 7

 

 

/This really sucks./

 

Duo was sitting in silence, with his head down, waiting for someone to say something. He had told the whole story, from when he first saw the guy at the airport to seeing Relena comatose on the floor this morning; he only left out the small detail about his drawings being unrealistically good and the even more insignificant detail of Heero's gun. Actually, he completely left out any mention of Heero during his narrative.

 

Now he was waiting for one of them to say something, anything. Duo looked up at them; no one seemed inclined to speak. In fact, they all seemed to be thinking seriously, except Heero, who still had that same cold, emotionless look. That look was starting to piss Duo off.

 

Finally, tired of waiting, he snapped, “Well?”

 

“Why didn't you tell anyone before?” Quatre didn't sound angry, he sounded sympathetic.

 

“I told everyone, now,” Duo said getting irritated; he didn't want sympathy.

 

“Before, Maxwell.”

 

Duo turned to glare at Wufei, “I'm so sorry. Weird stuff happens to me all the time, it really didn't seem all that important.”

 

Quatre winced, “Don't, Duo. It's not your fault. No one blames you.”

 

“I do,” Wufei said. “If he had told Une about the stalker…”

 

“Une was responsible for what happened to Relena.” Heero watched Wufei turn around and glare at him and waited for the explosion. He was tired of Chang's attitude and he was ready to take him down a notch.

 

“I think Heero is right.” Everyone stopped and looked at Trowa. It was the first time he had spoken since he had finished being questioned by the police. “Duo said Une told him she was going to take care of Relena.”

 

“She was talking about the medicine, though,” but he wasn't so sure about that now. Duo was wondering how much Trowa knew.

 

“You said she was acting strangely. The way she was when you left the lab on Monday?”

 

“…Yes, but—”

 

“Une has split personalities.” Trowa said as if this was the natural conclusion to come to.

 

“What?” blurted Quatre.

 

“A week before I met Une, a strange man came to see me.”

 

“What do you mean strange man?”

 

“He was old and he also wore a cloak but he didn't fit your description; for one, he had a wooden nose. He told me a lot of things that didn't make since at the time. Things he couldn't have known because they had not happened yet, things about this Institute. And he told me about a woman I would meet here. Based on what he told me and what Duo has said, Une has split personalities and one of them is probably psychotic.”

 

“No way, this is too weird,” Duo's head was swimming in confusion at the sudden turn of events. “Why didn't you say something about that guy before?”

 

Trowa shrugged slightly, “I hadn't seen the connection until now.”

 

“Even if it is true, what was Relena saying that was so important that she needed to be silenced? She sounds just as crazy as Une, if not more.” Wufei asked.

 

Quatre was frowning, he didn't doubt Trowa at all but he was wondering how he could have missed something like that in Une. “Duo,” he said suddenly, “what about that crystal you found,” Quatre asked suddenly. “Do you still have it?”

 

“Yeah, why?”

 

“May I see it?”

 

Duo got up and left the room to get the crystal. He returned with a folded napkin, which he handed to Quatre with a distinct look that said he was glad to be rid of it.

 

Quatre unfolded the napkin and looked at the small fleck of green, “You found this on the electrode?”

 

“Yep,” Duo said from his seat still eyeing the small shard as if he expected it to attack them.

 

“And this is what was causing the headaches?”

 

“As far as I can tell. What else could it have been?”

 

Quatre touched it slightly with the edge of his index finger and pulled back his hand almost immediately. “It stings.”

 

“Let me see that,” Wufei asked. The napkin was passed to him and after a few seconds of studying he said, “I've seen something like this before. It looks like a focus crystal. People channel energy through them, it's supposed to bring power, but the ones I've seen are much larger than this.” He paused, looking thoughtful, “I always thought it was a silly superstition.”

 

“Why does this hurt instead of focusing power?” Trowa asked no one in particular.

 

Quatre looked at Duo and thought back to when he had first helped him with the headaches. He had pulled the crystal's negative energy out of Duo and into himself because it was easier to heal that sort of thing from within himself than in others. He knew, when transferring energy, it wasn't unusual for feelings and emotions to come with it and, sometimes, whole thoughts as well. That was how he knew about Duo's drawings and how much they worried him. The small crystal had brought great power, but if Duo hadn't revealed that piece of information the reason was strictly personal and it wasn't Quatre's place to reveal it either.

 

Quatre sighed loudly, “I wonder if Mr. Treize knows what Une is doing here.”

 

“I'll bet everything I own that he's behind the whole thing. Those two old men knew there was something going on here and so did Relena. She kept saying she didn't want `it' to happen again. Something bad has happened before and you don't get the kind of cash he's been throwing around without doing some dirty dealings. Hell, I bet he even supplied her with those things,” Duo said pointing at the crystal. “That's probably what he was doing with that briefcase.”

 

“What briefcase?” Wufei asked.

 

“The briefcase he took with him to when he went back to the lab on Monday.”

 

“Treize was already in the lab when we got there on Monday. How do you know what he had with him?”

 

“No, not when he was already down there, when he went back. I saw him go back down there while I was lying on the couch.”

 

“He never came back into the lab,” Wufei said sternly.

 

“That's bullshit! I saw him. I may have had a headache but I know that I saw. You must have past him on the away out of the lab, Quatre. You came out right after he went in. There's no way you didn't see him.”

 

Quatre shook his head, “He didn't come back into the lab.” Wufei was staring at Duo like he was crazy.

 

Duo stood up and headed to the door.

 

“Where are you going?” Quatre asked.

 

“I'm going to look at that hallway. If he didn't go into the lab he went somewhere else because I didn't hallucinate him.” Duo stormed out of the room and they could hear him run down the stairs.

 

Heero stood up and followed him without preamble.

 

“Well?” Quatre asked after a moment.

 

Trowa shrugged and left. Quatre and Wufei followed close behind.

 

Duo was in the hall looking for cracks in the wall with his hands.

 

“It won't be on that wall.” Heero said quietly from behind him.

 

“What?” Duo said stopping momentarily to look at him.

 

“That wall is smooth, aside from the door to the basement. You can the see whole thing from the inside of the lab; the same thing is true for the back wall.”

 

“How would you know, you've only been down there once.” Duo said looking at Heero suspiciously. /Why is he trying to help?/

 

“I've been down there more than once, just not when you've noticed.”

 

Duo was going to question him, but the others had just come around the edge of the hall. He sighed and moved around Heero to check the other wall.

 

He founds something close to the end of the hallway, a long thin crack in the wall from the ceiling to the floor. It wasn't wide enough to hide a hinge but…

 

Just to the right there was a small indentation in the wall. When he pushed it gave way, when he pushed harder it slid up and revealed a small keypad. “It's a lock,” Duo said. “I knew there was something else in this hall.” But he stepped back and leaned on the opposite wall. Even if he knew it was there, he still couldn't open it without the code or his kit.

 

Wufei stepped into the hall to get a closer look at the keypad. “I think I can open this.”

 

Just as he reached for it, the front door unlocked.

 

“Kitchen!” Quatre said pulling Trowa with him into the room. Heero followed them.

 

Wufei slammed his fist into the wall to make the panel close just as the front door opened. Duo stepped out of the hall and saw Treize pull the two Rottweilers in behind him.

 

“Mr. Treize?” Duo said as Wufei stepped behind him. Duo prayed silently that Wufei wouldn't say anything to give them away.

 

“Mr. Maxwell. Mr. Chang. Where are your housemates?”

 

“Quatre took them into the kitchen to make sandwiches.”

 

“Even Mr. Yuy?” Treize said arching a forked eyebrow.

 

“Yeah, well, you know how persuasive Quatre is.” Duo hoped he bought this story.

 

“I see. And the two of you?”

 

Duo smiled, “I was taking Wufei down to the lab with me to look for my sketchbook.” He leaned in like he was letting Treize in on a great secret, “I didn't think it would be good if Wufei and Heero killed each other over the sandwich spread.”

 

Treize nodded, “I'll have to ask you to wait to do that.” Then he pitched his voice louder, “Mr. Winner, Mr. Barton, Mr. Yuy, please join us.”

 

“They filed out of the kitchen and approached Mr. Treize, being careful to stay clear of the dogs.

 

Treize paused dramatically before speaking, “My Lady Une had informed me of what happened to Miss Relena. She will be staying at the hospital to make sure Miss Relena is taken care of, which will leave this household without guidance.

 

“Though I am quite sure all of you are perfectly capable of taking care of your selves, I feel it would be unwise to leave you completely unprotected. I would stay in her stead but I have a previous engagement to keep. Instead, I will be leaving Alex and Mueller here.” The two dogs barked viciously. “I understand it is still early, but today is a special circumstance, as I'm sure you all understand. I am advising you to retire to your rooms for the evening. I also suggest you keep the doors to your rooms shut. Should Alex and Mueller find their ways up stairs, you will be… better protected behind your doors. Are there any other concerns?”

 

“Yeah,” Duo said looking at the dogs, “can we get our sandwiches first?”

 

**********

 

Quatre and Duo were sitting in their room with Wufei and Trowa thinking about their options. They had spent an hour or so trying get around Treize and his dogs under their guise of making dinner, with no success. Treize had been too vigilant to allow any opportunity to make it into the hall to take better look at the lock on the secret door. Once it had started to get dark, the older man had insisted they go upstairs for the night, and that was the end of their chances. Now they were back at square one.

 

“We need to get behind that door.” Wufei was still irritated about nearly getting caught by Treize several times.

 

“But the dogs…” Quatre said.

 

“I think can handle the dogs, but not right now. They're still too anxious. I'll need to wait until they're tired.” Trowa said staring at the door.

 

“Ok. If Trowa can stop the dogs from tearing us to shreds and Wufei can open the door, then we can get in there to look around.” Duo said. He waited for everyone to agree before standing up and heading to the door. “I just need to do one thing first.”

 

“Where are you going?” Wufei asked.

 

“To talk to Heero.”

 

“Wha—”

 

“Wufei,” Duo smiling at the slight indignation on his face. “I know you hate his guts, but it's only going to get worse if we keep purposely leaving him out of things. We're all in this mess now. I… We can at least ask him if he wants to help. Besides, I know he's gonna say no.” And he slipped out of the door and into the dark hall.

 

He slid to Heero's door soundlessly and listened for the dogs before knocking quietly.

 

Heero's voice answered, “Go away, Duo.”

 

Duo smiled, “How did you know?”

 

“You're the only person stupid enough to bother me.”

 

“Open the door Heero, we need to talk.”

 

“Iie.”

 

“What?”

 

“I said no. Go away.”

 

“We need your help Heero… I need your help.”

 

No answer.

 

“We're going downstairs to check out that secret room in a few hours. It will be late, so I don't expect anything to happen, but can you at least keep an eye out? Make sure no one's coming?”

 

“No.” Heero said with finality.

 

“Fine,” Duo said turning back down the hall to the room with the others. “Ok,” he said to them.

 

They all looked up sharply, having not heard him reenter.

 

“Whenever you're ready.”

 

*********

 

They decided to go for it at a quarter past three. Trowa left the room first followed by Wufei, Quatre and Duo. Trowa motioned for them to stop on the landing as he continued down.

 

The two attack dogs growled menacingly as he reached the floor but didn't jump on him. As he got closer to them the growling diminished until it stopped completely and the dogs sat back on their hind legs peacefully.

 

Trowa waved, and the others walked by quickly and as quietly as possible and made their way to the hall.

 

Wufei fumbled in the dark for a moment until he found the panel on the wall. He accessed the keypad behind the panel and placed his whole hand on it. After twenty seconds there was an audible click and a doorway slid open from the crack in the wall revealing a dimly lit, thin stairwell.

 

Duo and Quatre looked down in the darkness and wondered if the small staircase would hold their weight. With a shrug, Duo went ahead.

 

“Are you coming down to look, too?” Quatre whispered to Wufei before he followed Duo.

 

Wufei shook his head, “This was harder to open than I originally thought. I might not be able to open it from the other side.”

 

Quatre nodded, it wouldn't do to get locked down in a hidden basement. He slowly walked down the stairs, once he reached the bottom he could see there was a narrow hallway that opened up into a small office area. Duo was already shuffling though some papers on the desk.

 

“This stuff is just normal papers: bills, notes, some documents from our school,” he was already rearranging the stack.

 

Quatre walked to a file cabinet beside the desk and opened it. It was filled with the same kind of papers: more notes, more bills, more documents signed by… “Khrushrenada?”

 

“Hm?”

 

“These are signed by someone named Khrushrenada.”

 

Duo pulled a couple of sheets out of a file folder and flipped them, “These say Khrushrenada too.” He turned back to the desk and looked through those papers again, “Khrushrenada. Khrushrenada. Khrushrenada, Treize… Treize is his first name?” Duo was thinking back to all the times Une had called him Mr. Treize. “Why? And this place is even called The Treize Institute. Why is he using his first name?”

 

There was a rattling noise and Quatre sighed, “This one is locked.”

 

Duo looked at the cabinet Quatre was talking about and saw the lock; it needed a key. Duo turned back to the desk and started riffling through the drawers.

 

“What are you doing?”

 

Duo pulled out two paperclips with a cheeky grin, “Picking a lock.”

 

He bent the two clips properly and went to work on the lock, after a few seconds the drawer slid open. Duo pulled out a thick file and handed it to Quatre, he flipped through the remaining things.

 

“What's Operation Zodiac?” Quatre asked reading over one of the documents.

 

“There's a letter in here from the NSA regarding the OZ psychic strike team. This is too crazy.”

 

“The NSA? The government is involved in this? …This is a document on the screening process for applicants.” Quatre was already reading something else.

 

“No,” Duo said shaking his head. “The NSA turned him down. I think that's why he changed his name.”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“All the NSA documents are signed by Khrushrenada but they rejected him. Well, he couldn't very well go around doing the same thing even after the NSA said no, so he changed his name.” Duo said turning to Quatre.

 

“Duo, that doesn't make sense. They would have had his first name on record and probably everything else about him.”

 

Duo made a face, “Well, I thought it made sense.” Quatre sighed and they started to look through the files again. “Oh, Hey! Treize ran outta cash. There are some letters in here to people and other corporations asking for funding. Duke Dermail, Marshal Noventa, General Tsberov,” he said naming some names off of the letters, “have you ever head of these people?”

 

“Yes,” Quatre said surprised, “Well, only Noventa. The girl I've been helping in the lab, her name is Silvia Noventa.”

 

“That can't be a coincidence.”

 

“No, I don't think it is.” Quatre said looking at something else. “These are files on Milliardo `Zechs' Peacecraft, Dorothy `Cat' Catalonia, Hilde `Scraps' Scherbeiker…”

 

“No, never heard of th— Oh wait. Here, there are files on those people. Who are they?”

 

“They're the people from OZ. And there are files just like theirs for us under the heading Operation Meteor.”

 

“Whoa… Hey, this says OZ was terminated.”

 

“Terminated?” Quatre said looking alarmed, “The project or the people?”

 

**********

 

Heero was brooding. He knew they were down there snooping around in Treize's secret lab. He knew it was down there of course, he even knew most of what they would find. /Treize has been treating me as a confidant, telling me things the others don't know in order to gain my… gain my what? Allegiance? Assistance?/ Heero snorted, /He's crazy if he thinks I'm after anything but the money. He's probably crazy already./

 

He knew that whatever Treize was planning, he was expecting Heero's cooperation. He didn't know what Treize wanted but it probably had nothing to do with people sneaking around in his private office, which was why Heero was brooding. He didn't understand why he had helped that braided idiot find the entrance. Worst still, he was angry that he had even thought about helping him at all. /I should have stopped him. Grabbed that stupid rope and—

 

A car door slammed.

 

Heero stood up, walked to his balcony and looked down. A red sports car was parked on the access road at the bottom of the hill and someone was walking up towards the house… Treize.

 

Heero went back inside and looked at the door to his room, /There is no way to get down there and warn them before Treize gets in the house. Unless…/

 

“I won't,” Heero said out loud.

 

**********

 

“This says OZ was terminated,” Duo said pulling out a folder with a large red stamp on it.

 

“Terminated? The project or the people?”

 

Duo opened his mouth to answer but a voice exploded in his mind that was not his own.

 

/Treize is coming in through the back door; you're going to get caught./

 

Quatre gasped.

 

“He…Heero?” Duo was so shocked he froze in place.

 

“He's a telepath.” Quatre said, stunned.

 

If Duo didn't know better he would have said Heero rolled his eyes at that comment; the thought was too amusing to be true. /You can act surprised about it later. You're going to get caught. MOVE./

 

That thought threw Duo into action. “Heero, tell Wufei to lock us down here and go hide,” he said as he grabbed the files and tried to quickly arrange them back in the cabinet neatly.

 

/I can hear you, Duo. The door is shut and I'm down in the lab./ Wufei's voice answered him mentally.

 

Duo was pushing Quatre into a hiding space behind the desk, “Trowa, let the dogs go and get upstairs.”

 

Trowa didn't answer but Duo could still feel his acknowledgement.

 

Duo was looking for another place to hide when he heard the door at the top of the stairs slid open. Out of time, he threw himself in the corner. He was hidden from the narrow hall but as soon as Treize stepped out of the hall, he would be in plain sight. Duo wasn't really panicking; it was more like grim resolution. He was done for.

 

Treize was at the bottom of the stairs now, in three more steps he would be out of the hall. Instead, a loud commotion broke out above them with sounds of barking, thumping and a noisy crash.

 

/What was that?/ It was Quatre's voice in his head. Duo could hear him clearly as if he had spoken the words but the sound wasn't coming from his ears.

 

/I riled Alex and Mueller./ Trowa's mental voice answered calmly.

 

Treize's footsteps retreated up the stairs and the door slid shut behind him.

 

Duo slumped in relief.

 

/He took the dogs out to the back./ Heero's mental voice said a minute later.

 

“Wufei, come get us out of here before he comes back!”

 

**********

 

They were silently sitting in the pitch-dark common room. Even though no one was speaking they could tell where everyone was sitting without the benefit of sight. It was like they were extensions of each other, invisibly connected.

 

Duo saw them as being linked together with hair thin threads like they were caught helplessly in a large spider's web; it wasn't a very appealing picture.

 

“Please stop doing that.” Quatre sounded slightly strained.

 

“Sorry…” Duo mumbled, “ I didn't mean too.” /It's like reading minds and having your mind read at the same time. I don't…/ Duo stopped himself from finishing that thought he had no idea if he was projecting it to everyone else.

 

/I don't like this./ Trowa finished for him. He didn't like the idea of people being able to hear his private thoughts.

 

Wufei growled, “No one likes it. Yuy, get in here.”

 

Heero had been lurking around just outside of the door to the room ever since Treize's car had sped off. Heero hadn't come in to sit with the rest of them because he could tell he wasn't particularly wanted at that moment. Still, he knew someone would call him in eventually, it just happened to be Chang. He walked the room and sat down between Trowa and Duo.

 

“No one likes this, Yuy. Turn it off.” Wufei said harshly.

 

“Fine,” Heero said coldly, “Just tell me how.”