Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ The Mystery of DM ❯ Chapter 5 ( Chapter 5 )

See chapter 1 for disclaimer.

"yadda" speaking

`yadda' thoughts

/yadda/ typing

`yadda' mind speech

-

Howard looked at the four men apprehensively. He coughed once before speaking. "Hope you can help, the Kid's been going frantic for the last hour. Not even Paul and I can calm him." Howard sighed, running his had through his hair. "It's even worse than that time two years ago."

Sally pushed her way forward. She had insisted on accompanying the four and they couldn't find a good reason to stop her. "Has either Diana or Duo said anything?"

"Nope," Howard shook his head, walking to the room Diana was currently in. "She's just rocking back and forth. Her computer is on, but even I know better than to touch that!"

"Were you able to see anything on the screen?" Sally queried.

"Briefly. She's got it patched into `Scythe's sensors." Howard paused before the door. "She was muttering something about recognizing someone's voice, but that was a few hours ago."

"Right after she finished alerting us, then." Quatre's eyes went vacant as he stared off into the distance, his mind putting the pieced of the puzzle together. Wufei, however, was just a little faster.

"So she saw someone through the sensors that she recognized and obviously wasn't expecting to see them again." He took a deep, calming breath. "And from what Duo wrote in his journal, the only person that could get this level of reaction is the one who almost raped her."

Howard paled. "Impossible. That guy is dead."

"How certain are you?" Sally locked eyes with Howard.

"You didn't see what was left of the body," Howard shuddered as he remembered. "Believe me, he's dead. Shinigami made very certain of that."

Quatre squared his shoulders. "Let's go. I'll have to see what sort of condition Diana's in and adjust the plan accordingly." He opened the door and walked in, the others following a few seconds later. They were in what looked like a conference room, a large table dominating the space, chairs placed evenly around it. At the far end a laptop sat, opened and powered, Diana sitting behind it, legs drawn up with arms wrapped around them, hugging them close, face buried in her knees. Quatre glanced at Heero, gesturing for him to follow; Diana'd had the most contact with the two of them and therefore was less likely to react violently if they got too near.

They circled around, both taking the same side, leaving Diana an escape route should she choose it. There was no reaction from her as they got closer. Quatre crouched down at her side, making himself seem as small and harmless as he could. He glanced at the computer screen as he knelt, his heart singing as he glimpsed a part of Sandrock. The screen appeared to be frozen, the image focused on one person, a man Quatre didn't recognize. A glance at Heero confirmed the man was just as much an unknown to the Wing pilot. Heero stood behind and to one side of Quatre, close enough to reach Diana should she decide to bolt but far enough to give the illusion of space.

"Diana? It's Quatre. Heero is standing right next to me." Quatre kept his voice soft, using the same tone from the first night they met, consciously copying the formula he always used when she called. "Wufei, Trowa, Howard and Sally are also here." There was no reaction. "Diana, please tell us what happened." Quatre slowly reached out with his right hand, brushing the skin on the back of her hands.

That got a reaction, one he hadn't planned on. Diana's head snapped up the moment his hand touched her, a strangled scream escaping her. She would have left that side of the room if Heero had been a fraction slower. He jumped forward, hands wrapping vice-like on her upper arms. This time she did scream, flailing against his iron grip, collapsing just as suddenly, breathing heavily. No one moved, each person waiting for some signal.

"You can let go, `Ro. And while I know you didn't mean to frighten her, don't ever scare Diana like that again."

Quatre sucked in his breath. "Duo?" he asked, incredulously as Heero let the boy go.

The braided boy turned around, rubbing his arms in an effort to restore circulation. He glanced at Quatre, eyes glinting. "You were expecting the Easter Bunny?" Duo grinned. "Been a while, how're you doing Quat?"

"Thank Allah!" Quatre surged up from the floor, flinging his arms around the L2 boy in fierce hug. "We've missed you, Duo."

Duo hugged back just as fiercely. "Thanks Quat. I've missed you guys too." He looked across the table, grin still in place. "Hiya Tro, `Fei, Sal. Nice to see you again, Old Man."

Howard grinned, a mirror to the one on Duo's face. "Yeah, yeah. Good to see you too, Kid." His smile faded. "So what frightened Diana?"

Duo scowled at the laptop. He could feel Diana deep in their shared psyche; she was still shaking from fear in spite of Shin calming her. There on the screen was a face he never thought to see except in his nightmares. Duo sank in the chair, hands poised over the keyboard. He knew it wasn't the same guy, but he needed to prove that to Diana. "Di, you need to take over my hands."

`No! I'm not coming out!'

"I'm not asking you to come out!" Duo puffed his bangs up, exasperated, ignoring the looks he was getting from the others. "Just take over the typing! I know you've got this thing rigged with specific pressure gauges and I really don't want it blowing up in our face. I'll tell you what to do." He paused, hands still hovering before they rested on the keyboard. Duo grinned. "Alright, isolate quadrant 312 and increase resolution 20 times." His hands moved, hitting keys with unerring accuracy. The new picture appeared, allowing him to clearly make out the man on the screen. By this time everyone had converged on that end of the table.

"Is that him?" Heero's voice was full of a promise, one Duo wished he had time to figure out.

"Nope. Jaw is just a little too narrow and his eyes are a little further apart." Duo looked down at his hands. Their task finished, they had returned to the `rest' position. "Di, I need you to save this image and open a live feed from `Scythe, visual and audio." His hands moved once more, the picture shunted off to one side of the screen as another window opened.

"…Winner kid has no idea what he's passed up."

A snort was heard over the speakers. "Don't drop your guard; they were all made pilots for a reason. Just follow the mans orders." Sigh. "Wish I knew why he had such a hard-on to get that one kid, though."

There was a chuckle. "I heard that the kid messed up his brother, permanent like."

A low whistle could barely be heard. "Yeah, that'll do it. Come on, we're done here for now." The two voices faded as their owners walked off, discussing what their boss would do to that one kid. Duo felt his blood begin to boil as his anger grew.

"See Di, told you it wasn't him." Duo kept his voice falsely cheerful, anger held in a tight leash.

`I know, I know. It was just…'

"A shock to see him again," Duo finished for her. "And guys, stop staring. It's rude." He spun around, chuckling as each recovered from the shock; well, except for Howard who was used to their one-sided conversations. "If you're going to be around for a while then you'll have to get used to it. Diana's not going anywhere."

Quatre ran a hand through his hair, fluffing his bangs. "We, uh, figured that out from what we've been able to read in your journal, Duo." His eyes begged his friend to understand why they invaded his privacy.

One of Duo's eyebrow rose as he watched the Wing pilot out of the corner of his eye. "So, just how much were you able to decrypt, `Ro?"

"All of it. I had just finished when Diana warned us." Heero looked away, successfully hiding his embarrassment; at least all except the strange braided boy were fooled. "We haven't read all of it yet."

Mentally filing away the `we' part, Duo's other eyebrow joined its twin as they climbed up Duo's forehead. "I'm impressed Heero. Only one month to figure that file out." He grinned, eyes twinkling mischievously. "Guess we'll have to work hared next time, huh Di?"

Wufei snorted, interrupting whatever Diana was saying. "One month to crack one file and you're praising him?" He eyed Heero. "I'd almost think your reputation was inflated if I hadn't seen you in action before."

"Well, that was a backhanded compliment if I ever heard one. You didn't tell them, did you `Ro?"

"No. I saw no reason to." Heero met Wufei's gaze, his own eyes betraying nothing. Wufei arched an eyebrow, daring Heero to continue.

"Ease up Wuffie." Duo chuckled as the Chinese teenager bristled. "The file wasn't protected by just one encryption." Duo sat back, a smirk dancing on his lips as everyone puzzled over this latest bit of news.

`Don't leave them hanging too long Duo. We still need to get to our Gundams.'

`Aw, let me have some fun Di! I've been cooped up for a month; I need to get some action here!'

Diana chuckled, her laughter echoing in their shared mind. `Duo, you are a pervert.' She sat back, watching from one corner as he figured out what he had said.

"Duo, just how many layers…" Quatre's voice trailed off as he stared at his friend. "Duo, why are you blushing?"

Mentally cursing Diana, her laughter still ringing in his ears, Duo ducked his head down, watching from under the cover of his bangs. "Not important Quat. Anyways, journal, yeah." Briskly rubbing his traitorous cheeks, Duo tried to get his thought in order. "Damnit Di, quit laughing!" he muttered, Quatre and Heero catching his words. "Okay, here's the thing. See, every month Diana would create a new cipher for me to use on my journal. She thought I was using it on the whole file. What I was really doing was using it on the parts I wanted to keep heavily protected and then using it for any new entries."

Wufei paled as he realized what the pilot of Deathscythe had done. "You mean that Yuy had a patchwork of,"

"Twelve," Duo supplied, helpfully. His grin was back in place as his cheeks lost their sudden color.

"A patchwork of twelve different encryption," Wufei choked out.

Trowa shook his head in amazement. "Heero, I'm surprised you didn't get more frustrated than you did."

Heero rotated one shoulder, shrugging off the compliment. "It was a worthy challenge."

"Speaking of challenges," Duo half turned in his chair, keeping an eye on Heero and Quatre, "do we have a plan? And did you bring my laptop?"

Heero walked back to the entrance of the room, fishing both computers out of his bag. Behind him, Quatre was questioning the chestnut-haired teenager.

"Duo, I need to know if you and Diana can switch back and forth." Quatre waited, plans forming and changing in his mind as he waited for the answer.

Duo sat back, his eyes vacant as he focused inwards. `Well Di? Do you think you can come out?'

Diana sighed. `I was the one to call them over here. It took me a while to realize it, but they are people I can trust. Even Sally, though I haven't been given as much time to study her as I would have liked.'

Duo smiled. `That is good to hear. Shall we try?'

`Alright.' A hushed silence filled the room as the seconds ticked by. Duo finally cleared his throat. "We can switch, Quatre," he replied in a soft voice, a slight huskiness present that hadn't been there before.

Howard sucked in his breath when he heard Duo speak. "Diana?" he asked as he pulled off his sunglasses.

Diana glanced at Howard, a small smile on her lips. "Well, I was going to have to speak to them anyways; getting the Gundams out without talking would have proven nearly impossible."

A grateful smile graced Quatre's lips as he realized she now trusted them. "Thank you Diana." She ducked her head, hiding behind her bangs, the posture similar but still different from Duo's.

Heero had frozen when he heard Diana speak. `Now I know why that man liked her voice.' He shuddered inside. `I could get to like it too,' he wistfully thought. Then scowled at himself. `Idiot! You have job to do here! Don't get sidetracked!' A small portion of his mind strenuously objected, pointing out all the benefits of Duo and Diana sharing a body. Heero ignored that voice with great effort. "Duo's laptop." He held out the slim case to Diana who took it with a grateful smile.

"Now, let's see if this will work." Her eyes sparkled as she connected the two computers.

`What?! You mean you don't know what's going to happen!?! That is my laptop; you destroy it and I'm going to…' Duo began to sputter, trying to come up with something to threaten Diana with.

"Duo, if something happens to your laptop, it'll happen to mine as well. So we'll both lose. Now relax, I want to see how far I can extend `Scythes sensors." Diana perched at the edge of the seat, her fingers flying over her keyboard as she firmed the connection between the two machines. They hummed as the two processors began to work as one. Diana's smile widened.

"Hey Boss!" Paul leaned into the room, interrupting what Diana was doing. "Gotta call from a Miss Schbeiker; you wanna take it?"

Diana's fingers hovered over the keys before resuming their action. "Damnit Duo," she scowled, "I told you to remind me to boost Howard's security!" Momentarily stopping, she grabbed her headset and snapped it into place.

`Well excuse me! You were so focused on finding out who that guy was that you didn't hear me." Duo, sitting in that strange shared mental space, stuck out his tongue.

Diana rolled her eyes. "And you call me childish. Howard, if you take this call I'll make sure she gets rerouted the next time." Howard absently nodded as he wandered over to the rooms phone, thanking every god he could that it was an old-fashion voice only model. "Ex. Begin recording phone line activity, full record. End Ex."

Quatre, Wufei and Trowa all looked puzzled at her strange sentence. Working on her notes, Sally arched her eyebrows in surprise, not understanding what the command was for. Heero, leaning against the left wall, was the only one not surprised; in fact, one could say he was pleased. In the background, Howard started to talk to Hilde.

"So you can use the headset to give commands to your computer." Heero kept close watch as Diana continued to type.

"Of course. It helps save time. Instead of typing simple commands and interrupting whatever I'm working on I just speak them." A small crease formed as her eyebrows drew together slightly, the keystrokes slowing down. "Damn, still not enough."

Quatre shifted forward, one hand on the back of her chair, the other braced against the table. "I take it there was a reason the floor plans of the building the Gundams are being hidden in wasn't included in your data."

Diana nodded. "Closed system. I either need to be on site or get enough processing power to use `Scythes exterior sensors to scan the layout."

"Then how were you able to get the layout of the floor the Gundams are on, with each Gundam noted precisely?" Quatre waited for her reaction. He had already figured out how she had done it and he was fairly certain Heero had worked it out as well. The blond tactician just wondered how the other two pilots would react.

Diana squirmed, saved from answering Quatre's question as Howard ended his call. "Ex. Stop recording. Filter out background noise and all voices currently on file. End Ex."

"Processing," came the response, the electronically generated voice tingy over the earpiece. Diana let out a soft, nearly inaudible sigh as she hunched further over the table.

"Do," she paused, gathering up the courage to continue. "Do you promise not to get angry?"

`Not asking for a lot are ya?' Duo sounded smug, concern shadowing his question.

`Enough Duo.' Diana reached behind, grabbing her braid and started to pluck at the end of it.

"Yes," Heero replied instantly, Quatre echoing him. Wufei and Trowa shared a glance before they also gave similar answers.

"You have found Nataku when the rest of us couldn't. To do other than trust you now would not be honorable." Wufei looked at Duo. `Diana,' he mentally corrected himself. `Right now that body, though it looks like Duo, is called Diana right now.'

Howard watched as Diana seemed to curl up further. "Still need me here Kid?" Diana shook her head. "Right, you need anything you holler. I've gotta get back and make sure those slackers are working." He started walking to the door. "Miss Po, you gonna stay here?"

"Mmmm. I think I'll help keep the fireworks to a minimum." Sally continued her note taking, still trying to pinpoint what version of MPD Duo had.

`You sure you can handle this without Howie?' Duo leaned forward, getting ready to take control of their body should he need to.

`I've got to be able to do this, Duo. If I need you to I'll let you take over. Just, let me work this out.'

Duo smiled but didn't back down. `Alright, but I'm gonna take over if things look like they're getting outa hand.'

`Thanks.' Diana took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. "I hacked your Gundams."