FORGOTTEN SOUL
Chapter Eleven


Duo hurt.

A lot.  His whole body ached, and it was impossible to sleep on the lumpy little cot his captors provided for him.   For three days now, he had been subjected to  both physical and mental torture and didn't know which was worse.   Bit by bit, he felt himself slipping  further into these lies Dr. J himself was telling him; it was getting harder to remember who he was and, even worse, who his friends were.

Duo pounded the walls of his cell in frustration.  He knew he had no chance, that Dr. J would turn him into a brainwashed slave, just like Heero.  But he was determined to hold out for as long as possible.  Every night, he forced himself to repeat the names of everyone who was close to him, so he wouldn't forget they were his friends.  But even now, he knew he was starting to succumb to the brainwashing.

In the morning, two soldiers appeared as usual to bring him to Dr. J's lab.  Briefly, Duo wondered if he should try to take them both out and make a break for it, then suddenly wondered why he would want to do something like that.   By the time he remembered, they had cuffed him securely and were leading him down the hall.  In just a few minutes, they had reached the lab.

Duo quietly took is place by another one of the test subjects, a quiet boy named Wu Fei, who was glaring about in his usual stoic manner.  The Chinese flicked a dark glance towards Duo and narrowed his eyes.

"How you holding up, Maxwell?"

"Huh?"  Duo turned to him, confused for a moment.  Wu Fei gave him a level stare, looking straight into the baffled violet eyes.

"What's my name, Maxwell?"

"Wu Fei, of course.  What's your problem today, man?  You're starting to creep me out."

The Chinese boy's stare didn't waver.  "Why are you here, Duo?"

"I was dragged here by Stubbs and Ugly over there, what do you think?  Since when do I get up this early in the morning?"

"No, stupid!"  Wu Fei's glare became hard, almost desperate.  "Why are we here, in this establishment?  How did they capture us?  What is it they want to do?  Think, Maxwell!"

Duo was getting a headache.  He closed his eyes and strained for a moment, then opened them with a little gasp.   "Oh, yeah," he gulped, suddenly remembering all the events that had led him here; of Heero's capture and sudden betrayal, and how the New Romefeller was trying to turn him into a brainwashed slave as well.  "Sorry, Wu.  I forgot everything for a second.  Thanks for reminding me."

Wu Fei's eyes were troubled.  "We can't keep this up much longer, Maxwell.  I'm starting to forget things, too.  I wonder how Barton and Winner are doing so far."

Their conversation was interrupted by Dr. J entering the room, followed, as always, by the smug general Duo hated with a violent passion.

"Having a pleasant conversation, boys?" he asked with one of his superior smirks.  Duo stuck his tongue out at him.  

The general smiled.  "Now, Duo, insubordination is a very serious charge in this establishment.  I can't stand insubordination from one of my own soldiers."

"I don't work for you!" Duo snapped defiantly.  "And I am NOT one of your soldiers, you ugly bastard!  So you can just kiss my--"

Fortunately, Wu Fei kicked Duo in the shins before he could complete the sentence and managed to shut him up.

The general smiled a long, evil smile.  "You're more resilient than I'd thought," he said, grinning with delight.  "You're almost as stubborn as Yuy was, though we went harder on him because his body could take more.  It is going to be such a pleasure breaking all of you."

Duo took a deep breath to hurl a string of his most colorful insults at the hateful general, but the figure that suddenly entered the room behind Dr. J. left his mouth hanging open in shock.  He felt Wu Fei tense, saw the black eyes fill with anger and betrayal, as they both stared at the newcomer standing rigidly before them.

"Yuy," Wu Fei growled.

Heero Yuy didn't even glance their way, and Duo's heart sank as the Perfect Soldier gave the general a brisk salute, his face devoid of any emotion.  The general returned the salute, and a wide smirk spread across his cruel features.

"That was quick.  Very quick.  I assume you have completed your  mission, soldier?"

"Yes, sir."

"Then Releena Peacecraft is no longer a threat?"

Duo's breath caught in his throat, and he stared at Heero in a kind of hopeless shock.  No, no, Heero COULDN'T have hurt Releena.  If anything, Releena was the only one who could've snapped him out of the spell he was under.   Heero may have been able to betray his comrades and turn them over to the enemy, but harming  Releena was the last thing Heero would do...

Heero's empty expression didn't change.  "Releena Peacecraft has been disposed of, sir," he stated calmly, and Duo collapsed, unable to stand any longer, unable to believe the awful truth he'd just heard from Heero's own mouth.  

'He really is a cold blooded monster,' he thought through a numbing haze of hopeless despair.  'Even if he has been brainwashed, I never thought him capable of something like this...'

The rest of the conversation was lost to Duo.  He was vaguely aware of being dragged back to his cell, and the last thing he saw was Heero's cold, cold eyes as he spoke those chilling words.

'Releena Peacecraft has been disposed of, sir.'  

Duo tossed and turned on his cot, finally slipping into an exhausted, troubled sleep.  Just before he drifted off, he was surprised to find that he was crying.

**********************

Duo woke with a violent start as a steel-like hand clamped down over his mouth, muffling his startled yelp.  Gripping the intruder by the wrists, he glared into the darkness, and saw a pair of familiar blue eyes peering down at him.

"Duo," whispered a voice he knew anywhere.   "It's me."

Prying the other's hands off his face, the braided pilot jumped up from the cot and glared at the figure in the room with him, his violet eyes blazing with a sudden, all consuming hate.

"I knew it was you, pal," he spat, curling a lip at the figure who watched him silently from the corner, his face hidden in shadow.  "So, why are ya here, anyway?  Did your master order you to dispose of "the difficult noisy pilot" as well?  Or did you just come in for a little midnight chat with an old friend?"

"I'm getting you out of here," came the flat reply, somehow infuriating Duo even more. "Get ready.  I need your help to find the others as well, so--"

"Screw you," Duo snarled, stalking back to the cot and flopping back down on it.  "Even if I did believe you, I want nothing to do with you, Heero.  I don't trust lying, murdering bastards.  So, go screw yourself; me and the others will find a way out of here without you."

He turned to face the wall, listening to the silence stretch between them.    He knew he had overreacted and was behaving stupidly, but all the anger, hurt and betrayal from the past few days had finally caught up to him.   He needed a target to lash out at, and Heero was the perfect volunteer.

The other boy let the silence hang.  Duo tried to ignore it, but when his curiosity overcame him, he sneaked a furtive glance at Heero and found him leaning with his shoulder against the wall, gazing at the floor.

Abruptly, he turned, and something sailed through the air to land beside Duo's head.  It was a short black handgun, and Duo stared at it for a moment, then glanced at Heero, who gazed back with his usual calm expression before turning away.

"If you get caught again, I'm not coming after you a second time," he said flatly.  

He had just reached the door, when a familiar "click" behind him made him pause.  Turning back, he saw that Duo had grabbed the gun, and now had it pointed directly into his face.

Duo's smirk was cold.  "Like I said," he smiled.  "We'll find a way out of here, 'without you.'  'Fraid you won't be comin' back with us, pal."

Heero gazed back without speaking.  His eyes had lost that calm, blank expression; now they simply looked tired.  "Just promise me one thing, Duo," he said, a faint hint of bitter regret underlying the normal stoic monotone.  "Take care of Releena for me."

Duo blinked, and for a moment, the gun wavered.  "Releena?  B-but you said...this morning you said that...."  Heero continued to stare at him, and Duo struggled to think past the pounding hate in his skull, a hatred that was brought on by the effects of the brainwashing, he knew.  Taking a deep breath, he forced himself to lower the gun.  "You didn't really kill her, did you?"

Heero glared and turned away again.  "Are you coming or not?"

"Yeah," Duo muttered, rubbing his pounding skull.  The blinding hate he had felt just a moment ago was gone now,  leaving behind only normal feelings of hurt and betrayal toward the other pilot.  Duo was still angry at Heero, but he no longer felt the overwhelming need to kill him.

Still...

"Hey, Heero."

Heero turned at Duo's voice, and was knocked completely off his feet as a vicious right hook took him right in the jaw.  Stunned, he looked up to see Duo glaring down at him, furiously massaging his hand.

"NOW we're even."

*************************

Outside in the hall, the two pilots huddled against a doorframe,  gazing warily about as they prepared for what was to come.  

"So, what's the plan?" Duo asked, his violet eyes darting up and down the hall.  "I'm assuming there IS a plan, right?  Tell me you're not just playing this by ear."

"More or less," Heero muttered, and Duo groaned.  

"Just like old times," he sighed.

"Do you know where they're holding the others?"  Heero asked, checking the ammo left in his gun.  "I need you to get Trowa and Quatre out of here.   That's your job.  Think you can handle it?"

Duo snorted.  "Yeah, no problem.  I'm assuming you have a mobile suit or something waiting for us in the hanger, right?  So that leaves Wufie..."  Duo's eyes widened and he stared at Heero in shock.  "Heero, you're not going after Justice Boy yourself, are you?  He'll tear you apart!"

"Yeah."  Heero closed the gun with a soft click, and turned to Duo.  "Better get going.  We're on a time limit as well."

"What are you..." Duo closed his eyes.  "You've rigged the place to explode, didn't you?"

"I couldn't bring the detonator in with me; there was the risk of them finding it.  So I had to do a timed countdown."

"Great.  So how much time do we have left?"

"Twenty-three minutes."

"Better and better," Duo sighed.  "All right, I'm outta here.  Don't do anything stupid, okay pal?"  Hefting the gun, he gazed around once more and took off down the hall. Heero listened to his footsteps fade away before he sprinted away in the opposite direction.

****************

Wufei was lying on his back with his head pillowed on his heads, staring up at the ceiling, when his door opened abruptly and Heero Yuy waltzed in.

Rising slowly to his feet, his muscles coiled and ready to spring into action, Wufei watched the other pilot as if he might attack any second.  There was anger in the slanted black eyes, and a little fear, but his expression didn't blaze with an all consuming hate the way Duo's had a few minutes before.

"Yuy," Wufei said cautiously, never taking his eyes from his face.

Heero stared at him calmly, then stepped aside, leaving the Chinese boy a clear shot at the exit.  "Duo and the others will be in the hanger," he stated flatly.  "You don't have much time left, so decide what you're going to do, now."

It didn't take him long to decide.  Wufei came forward with a lunge, slamming Heero back into the wall, his fists in the collar of his shirt.  Heero made no move to resist, and was shoved back into a corner, gazing blankly into the other's narrowed black eyes.

"One question, Yuy," Wufei hissed, his breath hot against his face.  "Did you kill Releena?"

Heero stared at him without expression, then closed is eyes.  "No," he muttered softly.  "I didn't."

Wufei smiled grimly, releasing him to slump against the wall.  "In another time and place, I would kill you for what's been done to us," he said quietly, all the anger gone from his voice.  "But you've been through more hell than the rest of us put together, and I've fought all the battles with you that I want.  So..."  He extended a hand and pulled Heero to his feet, managing a tiny smile from the corner of his mouth.  "I'll be willing to put this behind me, if you are."

"Wufei," Heero began, and let out a heavy sigh.  He wanted to tell the Chinese boy he was grateful, that all he wanted was to put this whole nightmare behind him, but there was no time to talk.  "Get going," he said, nodding towards the door.  "You have seventeen minutes before this place goes up in flames.  Duo and the others should be in the hanger."

"What about you?"

"I have one more thing to do," Heero replied, walking into the hallway.   Turning around, he glared at Wufei and narrowed his eyes.  "Don't wait up for me if you run out of time," he said firmly.  "If I'm not there, just go."

Watching the other pilot sprint down the hall, Wufei had the sudden, dread suspicion that Heero would not show up on time, by choice.

*********************

Heero found Dr. J in the lab, as he suspected.  The gray-haired scientist looked up as he entered and gave a sad little smile.

"So, Heero.  You've managed to resist the brainwashing, after all.  Brilliant.  Just as I thought you would.  You've come to kill me, then?"

A bit startled, Heero shook his head.  "I'm getting you out of here.  The place is rigged to explode.  We only have a few minutes--"

"I'm afraid it's too late for that, soldier."

Heero whirled around, pulling out his gun, as the general stepped through the door.  He was unarmed, but was still wearing that smug, triumphant smile.

Heero pointed the gun straight at his sneering face.  "This mission is over," he growled, allowing himself to feel a little flame of hate for this man, this person who was responsible for all the pain he had put the others through.  Heero thought of Releena, and his anger intensified.  'You won't hurt Releena, or the others, ever again,' he thought grimly, and his finger tightened on the trigger.

"Hold on a minute, soldier."  The general raised a hand, and there was a little square device held loosely in his fist.  "I have something to show you.  Maybe you'd want to see this?  It concerns you, after all."  He grinned evilly and raised an eyebrow at the boy in front of him.  "Didn't you ever wonder what that little device planted inside your head is for?"  

Heero didn't reply, but all his senses immediately went on guard.  'Don't listen to this,' an inner voice warned.  'Just shoot him.'

The general pressed a button, and suddenly Heero felt like his head had suddenly exploded.  Bolts of pain shot through his skull and spread throughout his body, consuming him with pain.  It felt like he was on that wall again, being tortured with those electrical shocks, only this was worse, because it came from the inside.  Heero collapsed and writhed on the floor, clutching at his skull. Through the agony, he was dimly aware of Dr. J looking on helplessly, and the general's manic grin.

When the general finally stopped, Heero couldn't even move.  He lay there on the floor, panting in great, heaving gasps, his body wracked with pain.  The general looked on mercilessly and smiled.

"You can thank Dr. J for that little device," he told the gasping pilot.  "I asked him if there was the slightest chance that you would overcome the brainwashing, and he said there wasn't.  So, naturally, I had him invent a little safeguard, should that ever happen.  It seems to work quite well, don't you think?"

"Bastard," Heero rasped, trying to crawl to his feet.  If he could only reach his gun...

The general pressed the button and sent Heero to the floor again.  "You were always a slow learner," he sighed when he finally tired of watching him convulse in agony.  "But, that always was part of the fun.  Now, perhaps with this, your training will go a little faster than before.  What do you think?"

Once more, he used the device, and Heero was helpless against the pain ripping through his body.  Only one thought kept running through his mind.   Releena and the others were safe, and in a few minutes, it would all be over.

A gunshot suddenly rang through the air, and the general howled.  Freed from the relentless pain, Heero looked up and saw the man shaking his hand as if something had stung it.  The little torture device had been knocked clear
across the room.

"Nice shot," a familiar voice said.  Heero turned his gaze towards the door and saw Duo, Trowa, and Wufei standing in the entrance.  Duo still had a gun trained on the stunned general.

"Not really," the braided pilot replied, flashing his trademark smirk.  "I was aiming for his ugly face."

"What....are you...still doing here?" Heero demanded, as Trowa and Wufei pulled him to his feet.  "I told you not...to come after me."

"Oh, yeah.  Like we were gonna leave you behind when this place blows," Duo snapped, still keeping his gun trained on the general.  "What kind of cold bastards do you think we are?"

"It wouldn't be honorable," added Wufei, crossing his arms and glaring at Heero with an indignant look on his face. "And I won't have it on my conscience."

"We wouldn't leave a comrade," Trowa finished softly.  "And we definitely won't leave a friend."

"Oh, bravo," the general sneered, clapping his hands.  "How very touching, boys.  But, you won't get away with this, I assure you." He suddenly bolted for the torture device across the room, somehow avoiding Duo's shot, and made a mad dive for it.  Rolling to his feet, he pointed it at them like it was a weapon.

"One move, and I kill Mr. Yuy with the press of a button!" he warned.  Heero stiffened, and the others reluctantly backed away. Duo glared, but slowly lowered his gun, giving Heero an apologetic glance.  The general smiled.

"That's right.  I knew you would see it my way if ---ugh!"  The general suddenly crumpled to the floor, unconscious, and Dr. J. glared down at him in disgust, tossing away the pipe he had used to whack him over the head.

"All right!  Nice one, J-man!" Duo crowed.  Dr. J. sniffed and walked over, a tiny smirk tugging at his mustache.

"I've been wanting to do that for a long time," he announced.  "So, how do you propose to get us out of here before this place goes up in flames?"

"There's no time," Heero said flatly.  The others glanced at him and he sighed, feeling a pang of guilt that they would have to be destroyed along with him, yet somehow glad he wouldn't have to die alone.  "We have less than a minute left.  There's no way we'll make it to the hanger in time."  

"Oh, ye of little faith," Duo sighed.   As he spoke, the ground began to shake, and there was a tremendous roaring sound from up above.  Duo looked at Heero, his arms folded over his chest, and flashed him a knowing grin.   "There's no way I'm letting you fail Releena, pal," he said mischievously, but his violet eyes were serious.  "You promised her you'd come back right?   So, you're gonna have to go on living, no arguments about it.   Soooooooooo............."

With an earsplitting crash, a mobile suit crashed right through the ceiling, landing with a roar in the middle of the room.  Mortar and tiles went flying, and everyone ducked, covering their heads.

"Right on schedule!" Duo yelled triumphantly.  He turned and gave Quatre a thumbs up and a huge smile, before scrambling onto one of the suit's enormous hands.

"Come on!  Let's go!  Move it, people!"  Quickly, everyone complied, Duo and Heero climbing aboard one hand,  Trowa, Wufei, and the scientist in the other.  Quatre turned the suit around, gunned the engine, and lifted into the air just before the room exploded in a roaring ball of flame.  The gundam pilots felt the blast singe their clothes and skin, but no one was seriously hurt, and Quatre flew the suit safely out of range.  Heero looked back at the burning buildings, at the inferno that once was the New Romefeller, and
let out a tired sigh.

"Mission accomplished."

*********************

Author's note-

Gomen, everyone.  I've been SO lazy lately.  My thanks to everyone who kept e-mailing me, telling me to get off my lazy trip and finish the story already.  Well, one more tiny little scene to go.  Stay tuned for the Epilogue!

ARIGATO,
Julie B.