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"Incendiary"Written By: The Plotting Housewife Disclaimer: Gundam Wing belongs to Bandai, Sotsu
and associated Parties. This work is written for pleasure not profit. Rating: NC 17 Warnings: Yaoi, wrongful imprisonment, Newtypes,
internment camps, eventual rape/noncon Pairings: 3x4, 1x2, 5xS Summary: A group of wealthy college kids are murdered.
There are no witnesses, but there is a suspect. From within the simmering
sludge of irrational fear and prejudice, conspiracy theories are born
and innocent people pay the price. "Incendiary" They returned to the house to find the front door wide open. Weapons out, they scaled the property and peered in through the windows. Furniture was knocked over, items strewn everywhere. The place was was a complete mess. Whatever had happened, there was a fight of some kind. Trowa ran back around and stormed through the open door, shouting Quatre's name. "Trowa," Heero hissed. "We need to be sure the place is secure - aw, hell..." He ran in behind him, gun at the ready. There was no sign of Quatre, but Sally was sprawled on the floor, bleeding from a head wound and just beginning to regain consciousness. Wufei rushed to her side, wrapping his arms around her as he helped her sit up. "Baby...oh, God. Are you alright?" Sally groaned and reached up to gingerly touch her head. "Son of a bitch. They pistol-whipped me." Duo crouched down in front of her. "You okay, Sal? How many fingers am I holding up?" "Four." "A'tta girl." Wufei brushed her hair away from her face, apologizing when she cringed in pain. "Maxwell, make yourself useful and find a first aid kit." "Copy that." Heero and Trowa were searching the house. They could hear the footsteps above them as Trowa checked each of the upstairs rooms. Duo returned with supplies to clean Sally's wound and set to work unwrapping gauze and dipping it in alcohol. Heero walked in a minute later. "Doesn't look like anything was taken." "Except Quatre," Sally muttered. Trowa's thundering footsteps sounded down the stairs. He was panting, in a panic. "He's not here. He's not here...Where is he?" Duo stood up, his eyes cautious, concerned. "He's not here, Tro. Sally says he was taken." Trowa ran to her, skidding across the wooden floor on his knees. He grabbed her by the arms, despite Wufei telling him to take it easy. "Sally, please. Who was here? What happened?" "Damn it, Barton. Give her a minute." Sally laid her hand on Wufei's arm. "It's okay. Just get me some ice and some aspirin for my head." Wufei shot Trowa a warning glance and stood up to fetch them while Duo cleaned her cut. Sally took a deep breath, shaking her head a little to clear it, and looked up at Trowa. Her heart broke at the helpless look in his eyes. They were wild, frantic, but there was also guilt. Guilt that he couldn't protect his husband. Sally was deeply worried about his mental state. "They came out of nowhere. Smashed the goddamn door in with a battering ram. They jumped through the window, too." She pointed at the large picture window, the glass smashed. The table that stood in front was tipped over and the heirlooms that Quatre had lovingly placed there to display them, broken beyond repair. "We had our guns out, but we were surrounded. They came in through the back, through the kitchen -" "Who were they, Sal?" She closed her eyes and rubbed her head. "Ugh...Armed Response Unit, I think. I'm not sure. They were buttoned up tight, though. Vests, masks, helmets. They were armed to the teeth, too. Quat and I didn't have a chance. They ordered us to lower our weapons, or be shot. So we lowered them. They came to apprehend Quatre, one guy tried to grab him from behind. Quatre got him in the jaw. I think he broke it -" "That's my boy." Duo looked like a proud father. Wufei came back with the ice, aspirin, and a bottle of water. Sally winced as he pressed the cold pack against her head and she swallowed the pills down quickly. "I tried to stop them and they hit me. When Quatre tried to come to my aid, they hit him. We both went down. They arrested him and took him away." Heero pressed, "Sally, did they have police markings written on their backs?" She took a moment to think about it. "I - don't think so? My memory is a little fuzzy, but I'm pretty sure they were unmarked." "Did you see their faces?" "No. Ski masks." Duo chucked a broken wine bottle across the room. "Fuck." Trowa was eerily silent as he knelt on the floor. His eyes distant, looking utterly lost. He stood up slowly and walked over to the nearest wall. He screamed in rage, driving his fist through the drywall, knocking framed pictures off, shattering their glass covers. He continued on to the kitchen table and flipped it over, still screaming. Picking up a chair, he smashed it against the wall, the legs cracking and breaking on impact. Duo stood up, prepared to intervene, his heart aching for his friend. "Tro -" "Let him get it out, Maxwell. He needs this." Wufei watched as Trowa destroyed his own house, consumed by anger, fear, pain. After punching a few more holes in the walls, he finally collapsed onto his knees, with his back to them, his shoulders slumped, head down. He sucked in a pained breath and it came out in a shaky groan. Careful not to startle him, Duo came around and crouched down beside him. Trowa's face was tight, barely controlled. His lips moved and Duo had to strain his ears to hear him. "So stupid...stupid, stupid, stupid. I'm so sorry, baby. I failed you -" "Tro..." Duo laid a tentative hand on the distressed man's shoulder. "Tro, buddy...we're gonna find him. You didn't fail him -" "I did!" "Okay, well...we all did then. But you can't beat yourself up and you can't disappear. Not now. Quat needs you more than ever and you won't be able to help him, or help us help him if you fucking lose your mind now." Trowa stared at him, tears cresting over his lids. "I can't imagine what you're going through right now, man. I don't even want to try. But it's not hopeless. You know what we're capable of. We won two wars when we were in our teens. There's no telling what we can do now." He cupped the back of Trowa's head. "We are going to find him and bring him home. Okay?" Heero knelt down on his other side, tucking Trowa's head under his arm. Trowa leaned into him and Heero held him as he lost his composure. "You need to listen to Duo. He's right. But, you know we're here for you. You know that right?" "I know," he croaked, soaking Heero's shirt with his tears. "We gotta find him. We gotta -" "We will. Hey -" Heero held Trowa's head up, meeting the distraught eyes, his own firm. "We will." "Has Hee-chan ever steered you wrong, Tro?" He shook his head, dropping his face to Heero's shoulder. "No." "But you gotta stay with us, man." Trowa visibly collected himself, pulling back from Heero's embrace. "Yeah, okay. I'm here." "Squared away?" "Yeah. Squared away." "Good." Duo ruffled his hair and gave him a reassuring smile. "You know we won't rest until we find him." Sally lifted her head from Wufei's chest. "Wait...what happened with Zander?" Duo scratched his head. "Yeah...about that..." "We think we may have been tricked into going out there so they could come get Quatre," said Wufei. Sally's eyes widened as she looked at him. "But...Darren...why would he -" "We're not sure it was him." "And if it was, he may have been coerced," Heero added. Trowa lifted his head from his knees. "Trace that call." "Yeah, I'm on it." Heero got up to grab his laptop and hooked the phone into it. He pulled up the call log, looking it over carefully. "It came from Preventers Headquarters." "Voice analysis?" "Yep. Hang on." Heero ran a recording of the call through the filter of his analysis program and nodded. "It was him." Wufei cursed. "So, he's either a fucking traitor, or he had a gun to his head when he made the call." "How did they find out?" Trowa asked, sounding miserable. "How did they know? Who were they?" He looked desperately at Duo, for answers that he knew he didn't have. "I mean I -" He stopped, eyes widening. "That...bitch." "Whoa. Hang on...we don't know it was her yet." Trowa's head snapped towards Duo. "How the fuck else could they have known?" Duo held his hands up. "Okay, you're probably right, but there's a chance she didn't tell anyone. We have to be sure before we start spilling blood, Tro. Think about this, okay?" "I need to know." "We'll find out how they did, alright? But let's take this one step at a time. We can't afford to make mistakes here. I know how restless you must feel. I feel it, too, but this is too important to go off all half-cocked." Trowa took a deep breath, logic finally setting in. What he really wanted to do was tear the whole city apart, block by block, with his bare hands. But Quatre's life was at stake and Duo's was right. If he went into this with his emotions driving him, it increased the risk of screwing up, and that could jeopardize Quatre. They needed to go into this with clear heads and careful planning. Heero was furiously typing into his computer and Duo walked around to watch over his shoulder, curious. "What are you up to, love?" "I'm hacking into the surveillance satellite to pull up the street level footage. I'm hoping we can figure out who came for him." He scanned through the files until he found what he was looking for and pulled up the street view. Trowa, Wufei, and Sally gathered around to watch as three dark box vans stopped just down the block from their house. About ten to fifteen figures jumped out of each truck, barely visible in all black, and swarmed around the house. "Goddamn. I guess that says a lot when they used those kinds of reinforcements to come get him." Wufei snorted. "I'm willing to bet they know he was a Gundam pilot, hence the extreme measures." "Gee, you think?" "Quiet," Heero snapped. He leaned forward, peering into the screen, eyes squinting. After a moment, he pointed as one of the agents turned in just the right way, exposing his back. "There." "Oh, son of a bitch," said Sally. "I guess they were ARU. Not all of them had that on their backs, though." "Could be a mix," suggested Wufei. Heero nodded, thinking that was plausible. "We could have local militias getting involved and working with them as well." Duo snorted. "Oh, well that's just fucking great." Wufei let out a frustrated breath. "And this probably means that Une is indeed in trouble. They didn't use her to make the call because they knew she'd never go along with it." Sally nodded. "She would rather be shot than betray someone's trust, especially a friend's." She turned to Wufei. "I'm tired." He held her close, trying to quell the curse words that wanted to spring from his lips. "I should take you to a hospital." "No...no, I'm okay. A little concussed, I think, but I'll be fine. I need to rest. Not sleep, just rest." "Trowa?" Trowa seemed distracted, but jolted out of it when he heard his name. He blinked at Wufei with bloodshot eyes. "Can we use one of your guest rooms so Sally can lie down?" "Uh...yeah," he rubbed his eyes, trying to shake himself out of his shock. "Yeah, sure. I hope you feel better, Sal. I'm sorry I was so rough with you. I wasn't thinking." "It's quite alright, hon. I don't blame you, and don't worry, you didn't hurt me, or anything." Wufei helped her up the stairs, leaning over the banister for a moment. "I'm going to stay with her. Keep an eye on her and make sure she doesn't fall asleep. Just holler if you need me." Heero grunted in affirmation and turned back to his computer and Duo gave them a salute before plopping down on the couch next to his lover. "So, what's the plan?" "Well, we can start with the police and work from there. I'll need time to hack into the proper databases before I can extract anything useful. I'm sure there's a dozen, or so firewalls I'll have to crack to get to it." He glanced at Duo. "It'll take a while." "Yeah, I figured." "I tried to track the vehicles that were here, but there's a block on their location now. I'll need time before I can find that, too." "They knew," Trowa whispered, almost inaudibly. "What's that, Tro?" "They knew I was planning on assassinating Zander. How did they find out?" He gazed up at them, his green eyes helpless. Heero turned to Trowa. "Where were you when you discussed this with her?" "In a briefing room at Preventers -" Trowa stopped, eyes widening. Heero nodded. "And Preventers is under suspicion for sympathizing with Newtypes -" "Which means the room was likely bugged," Trowa said, realization dawning. "That's how they found out." He buried his face in his hands. "How could I have messed this up so badly?" Duo got up, sighing, and wrapped his hand around Trowa's arm. "C'mon, buddy. Let's get you some tea. You look like you could use it." Trowa stood and followed, looking utterly dejected. Duo sat him down at the table and looked through the cupboards. "Let's see...where does Quat keep his tea stash...ah, here we go." He pulled out a box and examined it. "Chamomile. That good? It'll help you relax." "I don't need to relax. I need to find my husband." "Tro, you do need to relax. You are in no shape to go tearing through the city right now and you wouldn't even know where to start -" "i could start with the police -" "What are you gonna do? Storm the place? Go on a one-man rampage? They'd shoot you dead before you got ten feet inside the building." Trowa sat back, fingers drumming on the table. "I can't just sit here." "Yes, you can. And you will if I have to tie your ass to the chair. Quat would kill me if something happened to you while he was gone." Duo walked over to the table and leaned over, looking into Trowa's eyes. "You are not thinking clearly. I'd wager you're not thinking much at all at the moment. You are tired and irrational and so goddamn emotional -" "Well, of course I am!" "Hey, I'm not judging. I'm just saying. I know you know as well as I do how that can get you into trouble in situations like this." Trowa's eyes were desperate as he looked at Duo and Duo's heart hurt so badly for him. If he found out who these bastards were, he was going to skin them alive with his bare hands. "I'm so scared, Duo. I'm so scared for him." "I know, buddy. So am I. But you know Quat's a fighter just as much as I do. And he's smart as a whip. You know he can take care of himself. And if he ever found out that you were doing this to yourself, or put your own life in danger, especially for him...how do you think he'd feel?" Trowa squeezed his eyes shut, fighting battles within himself that were as painful as they were contradictory. Duo could sympathize as he was feeling much of the same conflicts. An internal battle waging itself with the need for action now and knowing that they needed to wait to make sure this was done right. It was an agonizing restlessness that itched down to the bone. "Maybe I screwed up because I'm so emotional about this to begin with. I didn't stop to think that the place might have been bugged when I said I could take out Zander. I was consumed by the need, the desire..." He looked helplessly up at Duo, eyes shimmering with tears. "I want his blood. I want his blood so bad I can taste it." Duo gave him a sad smile, placing a hand on his friend's shoulder. "I know. I don't blame you. And you'll get it, you understand? You'll get it, but only if we do this right, okay?" Trowa's lip quivered, but his face hardened, expression full of steely resolve. "Yeah. Okay. You're right." "I'm always right," Duo joked. It earned him a small chuckle. It would have to do. "Now, let's get that tea ready." Duo prepared mugs for everyone with Trowa's help. He tried to remain upbeat for his friend, but the mood was sullen. He carried two mugs up for Wufei and Sally. "How's she doin'?" ""She's" doing just fine," Sally said, sitting up with some effort, accepting Wufei's help. "My head feels like tree trunk, but I'll survive." She took the tea and thanked him. Wufei took his own mug and blew the steam away. "Any breaking news?" "Nope. Heero's doing his hacker shit. You'll know if there is." "How's Trowa holding up?" "He's a hot mess." Wufei nodded. "Understandable." "I'm gonna go back down and stay with him. You guys holler if you need us." "Thanks, Duo." He went back downstairs to find both his love and his friend sitting on the couch together, sipping tea and talking quietly to each other. He couldn't hear what they said, but that was just as well. This was a moment between them. Duo watched with warm affection as Trowa sniffled and Heero's arm wrapped around him, rubbing his back in soothing circles. He was so glad they came. Trowa needed them desperately and he was sure Quat was also relieved that Trowa wasn't alone. Probably in part to keep him from doing something stupid. Heero sensed him and turned, offering his lover a smile, and Duo smiled back with a little wave and came down the rest of the way. "Sorry to interrupt." Trowa wiped his face quickly. "S'okay." Heero turned back to his computer. "You two should rest. We'll sleep in shifts. In the morning, we'll have to find somewhere else to stay. They know about us now. It's best if we stay off the grid for a while. It's not safe for any of us to be here." "I can't rest." "Tro, no. You have to rest. You are not going to be of any use if you're walking around sleep deprived." Trowa turned despondent green eyes on Duo and Duo relented. A little. "Buddy, I get it. I do. If I was in your shoes, I wouldn't be able to sleep either. But even if you don't sleep, you need rest. I know you know that somewhere in that thick head of yours." He tried for a smile and was vindicated when Trowa's lips curled up, ever so slightly. "Yeah. Okay. I'm going to stay down here, though. I can't go up there...not now. Not without -" "It's okay, buddy. Sleep wherever you want. It's your house. I'll stay down here, too." Trowa stretched out on one sofa, while Duo flipped the lights and went to the other couch. He laid in the dark, silent but for the faint clicking of Heero's fingers on the keyboard and Duo's soft breaths. The agony in his chest, in his heart, was so overwhelming, he wasn't sure how he was going to get through this. His baby was out there, somewhere, taken prisoner for no other purpose than because he was different. He wondered what Quatre must be feeling right now. What he was enduring. Was he frightened? Probably. But Trowa also knew how strong his Quat was. Quatre wasn't the type to lay down and give up and that gave Trowa the strength to go on. He was sure that Quatre, wherever he was, was doing what he could to help those around him, possibly giving the other prisoners strength. That was just who he was. He loved and believed in humanity unconditionally. He never lost faith that people would do the right thing, even if it took them awhile. Quatre always tried to make the best of any given situation. That was one of the things Trowa loved the most about him. Quatre had always been the bright ray of sunshine in his life, his love and devotion a live-giving force to be reckoned with, even when Trowa didn't believe anything could ever be good. He closed his eyes, comforting himself with the thought that his husband would fight. Fight for himself and fight for those who couldn't. He would fight to find his way back to Trowa. He would never give up, or give in, and neither would Trowa. They would find each other again and they would put a stop to this, once and for all. He pulled one the couch cushions against his chest, wrapping his arms around it and nuzzled into the other, whispering against the soft fabric. "Just hang on, baby. Stay strong. I will find you and I will bring you home. I love you so much. Stay strong for me, love..." End of Part One.
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