Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Starting Over ❯ How I Could Just Kill A Man ( Chapter 8 )

Title: Starting Over

Author: Makoto Sagara
Series: Gundam Wing
Archive: the usual suspects (ffnet, affnet, Foreverfandom, my site, mediaminer, my update LJ, and the gw-fanML on yahoo); anywhere else, please ask first.
Category: Angst, Action

Pairings: 1+2+1, Hilde/Cathy, 3+4+3
Rating: T
Warnings: Shonen ai, language, angst, sap, Post-EW, Episode Zero story spoilers
Disclaimers: I make no money, so suing is pointless. If you think I own GW, then you need to see someone. I have the number to a nice doctor... Oh, SALLY!

Author's Notes: I was planning on having this be the title of the last chapter, but Heero and Duo had other things in mind, I guess. Many thanks to Jokes for her hard work! Luvre! I'd apologize about the time that it takes me to update, but with six other WiPs, I can't really say that I am. For some reason, the muses were more amused working in another fandom, and I had to suffer with my conscience telling me that I was bad for not updating this. So, I'm sorry that my muses suck? Does that work?

Starting Over, Chapter 8 - How I Could Just Kill a Man

Quatre slowly narrowed aquamarine eyes as he stared at the two Asian men as they sat around the desk in Duo's office. Heero shifted under the scrutiny of his friend's calculating glare. The blond man had lost none of the ability to seem both totally in control and on the verge of killing everyone at the drop of a hat, if Heero was forced to be honest about the situation. “So, which one of you wants to tell me what the hell is going on around here? I left and things were relatively peaceful. However, you two call me back and it's total chaos. The huge picture window that Duo's so fond of is completely trashed. Heero has an obviously broken nose and bruised face. Wufei's pissier than normal, if truth be told. Trowa's not saying anything, and that's unusual in and of itself. Hilde and Cathy look like they'd like to roast Heero's privates over an open fire. And Duo's damn near Shinigami.” He ended his speech by turning the full force of his glare onto Heero as he sat quietly in the chair. “I think you should really explain yourself, Yuy, before I add more bruises to the spectacular one that Duo gave you.”

“How'd you know that Duo did it?” Heero asked, ignoring the rest of the Arab's statement for the time being.

“Oh, well, if it had been Wufei, even you'd be in the hospital,” Quatre answered, giving their friend a wide smirk. The Chinese man returned it with an eerie calm as he raised a delicate eyebrow in Heero's direction. “Besides, the girls are still giving you dirty looks. If either one of them had done that,” he waved a pale hand in the direction of Heero's sore nose, “they'd be strutting around like peacocks and snickering at you every time you came into view. Trowa would have just kicked you out of here. So, that leaves Duo. Explain. Now.”

Heero sighed, knowing there was no way he was going to get out of this situation and wondering if he'd be adding any more bumps and bruises to his body by the end of this conversation. “I told the others where I was for the last year. Duo didn't take it very well.”

Wufei scoffed, folding his arms defensively over his chest. “Yes, you could phrase it that way, I guess, but I would rather say that he… What's that saying he's always using… blew his top? Yes, I think that's the one.” He smirked nastily. “I'm really surprised that all he did was throw the one punch. I think you deserved much more.”

Heero watched as Quatre's mouth twitched before those cool light eyes narrowed again. “Care to enlighten me then?”

“I spent the last year under an assumed name at St. Sebastian's on Earth,” Heero deadpanned.

“Alright, well, I didn't see that one coming,” Quatre said after a few minutes of uncomfortable silence. “I guess it could have been worse. You didn't get plastic surgery. You didn't go off and join some psycho's army.” He shot a hard look at Wufei, who had the decency to blush. “You just… dropped off the face of the planet for a year and turned back up like nothing happened.” He drew his lips into a tight line. “So, seeing as how Duo has punished you, and probably hasn't forgiven you at all yet, I say that I'm going to let you off.”

Heero relaxed, letting go of a tension he didn't know he'd had when the blond set them down to talk in the small room. He still remembered all too well what happened after Quatre's father died, and how he'd almost killed Trowa. The image of a mentally exhausted and defeated Quatre while they were in Sanq came back to him and he tried not to cringe. That was something he never wanted to experience again. “Thank you,” he said softly.

“That's it?” Wufei yelled, staring at Quatre like he'd grown another head. “You hear his stupid story, forgive him because Duo has already hit him, and then we continue on like nothing happened? I cannot believe this. We wasted a year looking for this idiot, and you don't even call him out on it.”

“Oh, Wufei,” Quatre said coldly. “He's not off the hook, not by a long shot. Do you really think that Duo's just going to forgive him for pretty much abandoning him? Do you think it's going to be so easy for Heero to get back into his good graces? I don't. And I think Heero could do with having to do a little groveling. It might do him, and Duo, some good. Besides, we'll be here to make sure he doesn't do something stupid, like leave when he feels he's done helping Duo, and we can watch how badly he screws up.”

Wufei sat back down in the chair that he'd shot up out of and thought quietly for a moment. “I hadn't looked at it quite like that before,” he responded. “I look forward to the groveling that is to ensue.”

“There you are,” Quatre said with a genuine smile. “Now, tell me what we're going to do about that gang?”

Heero couldn't tell if his blood had run cold at the blond's speech about what he'd have to do to get back on Duo's good side, or if it was the excitement practically radiating off of him now that they had a `mission'. Either way, he knew that he was screwed. And not in an enjoyable way, as Duo had said once or twice.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Duo looked around at the seven children that he, Trowa, Cathy and Hilde were supervising for the day. While a part of him was grateful to be away from the orphanage while Quatre, Wufei, and He-Who-Duo-Refused-to-Think-About planned for their self-appointed mission, the other, wilder part of him that he'd repressed for the last year was yearning to help. Was it really his fault that he liked the explosions that he'd set during the wars? He didn't think so, but he knew that the others would hate him if he jeopardized all the work done and blood given just to take out a stupid group of drug-dealing gangbangers.

“You're being awfully quiet today, Duo,” Cathy said, intruding into his solitary reverie.

“That's never a good sign,” Trowa said as he shifted Aaron on his hip while stepping away from Cathy, who was holding little Megan. She had a history of yanking on his unusual bangs every chance she got. “Considering what's been going on lately, however, I'd say he's dealing with it pretty well.”

“I guess that's true,” Hilde added, looping one of her arms through Duo's. “How are you holding up, love?”

“Hill, I'm tired as hell. I slept beyond poorly last night and seeing Heero is the most excruciating mixture of intense pleasure and abject misery I've ever experienced,” Duo answered truthfully. He was too tired to even bother to mask his weary expression.

“Do you want to talk about it?” she asked. “You know that I'm a great listener, and if you can stand Cathy knowing it all later, then no one else needs to know.”

“When are you going to tell Trowa that you and Cathy are screwing each other?”

“Oh, she told him last week. Came back and told me that all he said was `I figured' and went back to working on the bus.”

“I remember saying to a certain German woman that Trowa wasn't going to care about something like that.” He shot a look at the other two adults and shook his head. “Besides, Trowa's still not honest with himself about why Quatre comes to visit as much as he does.”

“Unlike you, who is the perfect picture of total honesty?”

“Hey, I may run, hide and refuse to answer some things, but I never tell a lie,” he said, feeling rather irritated with his friend, who was pulling on his arm uncomfortably while she pestered him. “I never made it a secret that Heero could have come and helped Trowa and I start this orphanage and I would have been the happiest in my whole life.”

“Very true,” she conceded before watching Becky running around with Fatima. “And now that he's here, how do you feel?”

“Didn't we just cover this?” he whined childishly. “I'm torn between tying him up in my bed for the rest of our lives and punching him until neither of us can move.”

“Kinky,” she said with a wildly inappropriate wink. “Does Yuy know about this side of you?”

“Haha, you're so not funny today, Hill. Can you just say what it is that's bothering you and your girlfriend so that I can mope in peace?”

“Fine, I'll give in this once, but only because you're not cute when you're being pissy. Heero was gone for a year, in a behavioural reprogramming therapy that was rather intensive. He obviously felt that he needed to do that so that he could have normal interactions with other people.” She sighed, letting her black hair sweep across her eyes before shoving it out of her face. “He's changed, for the most part, and I'm glad, but Cathy and I are worried about what he could still be harboring from the wars.”

“Well, neither of you were so worried about Wufei, Trowa, Quatre or me when we started this all up.”

“That's because we were all forced to see someone while we were going through the vetting process, and Wufei has Sally to ride his ass about his physical and mental health. Quatre…” She paused, looking at the braided man carefully. “Quatre has learned to deal with most of his issues, and he told Cathy that Iria forced him to start seeing a therapist before she let him take complete control of WEI. So, we're alright, mostly. But, Heero, that's a different story. What does he want?”

“I wish I knew,” Duo said sadly.

“We have a few more days before we have to decide what to do about him, as far as the authorities are concerned. If he wants to stay, then we can put him to use. It would be nice to have the older boys start some sort of martial arts training. I know that we talked about it when the kids started arriving, but now that he's here, we might be able to actually do it.”

“I'll talk to him about it, but I wouldn't hold my breath.” Duo shrugged her arm off unceremoniously. “He's going to try and leave after he deals with the Cockroaches.”

“You're sure about that?”

“About as certain as I can be with Heero, but I don't know how far that goes.”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Heero looked up from the drawing that he was working on of the territory belonging to Los Chupacabras. “This is as accurate as I can be without actually going into the building itself,” he said to his two companions. “This,” he marked a spot in the middle of the main room, “is where the leader has set up court. He has six members in his inner circle and there are a few others stationed around the room.” He marked another spot outside the old department building, across the street. “That is where the prostitutes that I can surmise belong to the gang sell their wares.”

Wufei took the drawing and studied for a few long moments. “It's a very practical setup.” He gave a wry smile. “I can safely assume that he has someone watching the women that belong to them at all times?”

“I noticed two males standing at opposite ends of the block the girls worked and at least one child, gender undeterminable, that could run into the business and warn the others of approaching conflict,” Heero answered.

“That makes things both easier and harder for us,” Quatre said as he looked over the drawing as well. “Could the children be bribed? I'd rather not be responsible for the death of children who were only there because they had to join the gang.”

Heero looked at the blond and frowned. `It hasn't been long enough for him to be able to forgive himself for what happened after his father's death,' he thought sourly. `I suppose that I just assumed he was dealing with it. I wonder if he's talked to anyone about it. Or what happened with Trowa during that time?'

“We could, in theory, call out the leader and his inner circle to a place far away from their territory,” Wufei said, cutting into Heero's thoughts. “When they show up, we could then take them out.”

“In theory, it should work,” Quatre said. “However, the problem with L2, and any slum area, is that if you take out one, three more will pop up and begin fighting violently for the territory. We need to do something that no one can ignore.”

“Quatre's right. There's also another benefit to us doing this our own way, instead of handing this all over to the local authorities. The building is condemned, and only part of the second floor is capable of being used. The rest is falling in and it's only a matter of time before the entire building collapses in on itself,” Heero added.

“So, you two are suggesting that we just blow up the building?” Wufei asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Not exactly,” Heero answered. “I was thinking we could `help along' the destruction of their home base, with controlled explosions.”

“That idea has some merit,” Wufei said thoughtfully. “However, Duo would be the best person to set the charges on the second floor. I cannot tell you how many bases he snuck into and set his explosives before waltzing out and causing a commotion to distract the OZ personnel from finding them.”

“I agree that Duo was the best at doing that during the war, but I know for a fact that we've all done the same thing,” Quatre said. “I also know that Trowa infiltrated OZ's ranks more than once to steal information, set charges and then blow the whole base up.”

The blond's comment brought a noticeable flush to the Chinese man's cheeks. `I bet he's thinking about the time that Trowa did the same thing in Mariemaea's Army and he didn't report him to Dekim Barton.' Heero decided to save the Preventer from any more discomfort. “Since the gang is used to seeing both Quatre and yourself, Chang, around the orphanage, I want to volunteer to be the one to place the charges while you two cause a distraction.”

Cold, dark eyes leveled an impressive glare at him. “Are you doing this to impress me? You are failing. If something were to happen to you, I'd have to answer to Duo, not to mention Une and Po. I veto your suggestion.”

“Actually, Wufei,” Quatre interrupted calmly. “Heero is correct. He was able to scout their territory without being found easily. If you and I were to create enough of a distraction with the members, perhaps taking out a few of them in the process, he could get in and out in about fifteen minutes.” A cold smile ghosted across the blond's face. “Are you up for it?”

“Alright, you've made your point, Winner,” Wufei relented. “When do we begin?”

TBC