We're nearing the end of the first HOD story arc but have no fear -
there will be a sequel, and lotsa one-shots in my little GWX AU -
which anyone's invited to partake in, BTW - before our boys manage to
find a way home. *muses thoughtfully* ya know - the one big
attraction to this AU is the fact there's no Relena....

*ahem* Anyway - here ya go!

* * * * * * * * *

Part 8B
* * * * * * * * *

'And here I thought this day couldn't possibly get any wierder.'

It could have been the fact that he had been ungraciously uprooted
from his own mental stability and unceremoniously dropped into
someone else's. It also could have been the fact that the featured
mind in his own one-sided discussion, was his partners. That was kind
of freaky too. However, Heero couldn't decide if it was his own
ethereal presence in the American's mind that was giving him the
heebie-jeebies or the fact that he was staring at two Duo's, both
appearing to be at opposite ends of the personality spectrum.

' As if one wasn't enough.'

Heero immediately berated himself mentally for such fickle thoughts
when there was a snarling, demon-like creature wearing his partner's
face, standing only a few feet away.

" Let me guess," he said sarcastically, body automatically shifting
into a defensive stance as it always did when confronted by an
unknown. Though oft-times the bane of his existence, there were
instances that he did thank Doctor J for drilling such reactions into
him. " Shinigami, I presume."

A dark chuckle answered his words, and Heero watched, face devoid of
any outer emotion, as the black-clad killer slowly straightened,
licking his lips with a gruesome sort of anticipation. His eyes
burned with a cold fire, flickering from Heero to Duo and back, a
predatory light glowing in their depths. Thin lips pulled back in a
semblance of a smile as his voice hissed out at them.

" So clever...." he rasped, not bothering to hide his amusement.
" Maybe I'll keep you around after I dispose of *him*."

Heero started at the sound of Duo's voice laced with such venom, and
he quickly looked down at his hapless partner who was watching
Shinigami with a kind of resigned terror. Duo mutely stared at his
doppleganger as though waiting for some kind of sign, a hint to when
he was going to disappear. Heero didn't like the idea much. Call it a
quirk, but he'd been through the emotional wringer a bit too often
lately - ' a novel thing for me, I'm *sure*,' he thought dryly - and
he was getting damn sick and tired of being threatened. His own
cobalt eyes narrowed into angry slits.

" Dispose of him," he echoed, listening to the sound of his voice
bounce off the walls - if there were even walls there to begin with.
Heero was beginning to regret keeping Jean out - she might have been
able to explain the complexities of determining what was real and
what was not; a difficult task to do when in your own mind, let alone
someone else's.

" How can you dispose of him? You're not even real."

" I'm not?" The jocosity of his tone was wearing thin on Heero's last
nerve. Shinigami hefted what Heero now saw to be a smaller version of
the scythe that was a part of Duo's Gundam. " Then this won't hurt a
bit!"

Shinigami's slim frame unfurled completely as he launched himself
through the air with lightening quickness, his raised arms swinging
in a downwards arc, bringing bladed death with them. Heero's own
reflexes were on autopilot; when Shinigami's body hurtled towards
him, he was vaguely aware of himself gripping Duo by the
(theoretical) collar of his priests outfit and throwing him hard to
one side. His own hands came back up just in time to catch
Shinigami's wrists, his body twisting out of range of the metal
blade's bite. His manouver gave him the leverage he needed to pull
and propel Shinigami over his head and to the ground.

' Gorilla-press ' he thought disjointedly, the quick-think move
reminding of a time when Rashid, the Maguanacs and Catherine, while
on a joint get together, had convinced the pilot's to watch a
wrestling marathon with them, despite the fact that it was A)
completely fake, and B) nothing more then a display of muscle, hair
and how much you could intimidate someone by yelling derangedly, but
not by actually doing something. As he recalled, Wufei had started
screeching injustice at the on-screen proceedings and had walked out.
Heero had been non-plussed, even though some of the moves had looked
interesting to him. ' What am I doing?'

He glanced over, somewhat anxiously at where he'd thrown Duo and was
relieved to see the braided one sitting up slowly, though somewhat
confusedly. " Duo?"

Duo shook his head as though trying to rid himself of something
before looking up at the sound of his name. " H-Heero?" he asked,
voice sounding somewhat unsure. " What's going on?"

' Good question.'

" I'll let you know when I figure it out," he said, turning his gaze
back to where Shinigami had regained his footing and was perched
on...nothing...staring at them, a malicious grin on those deceptively
cherubic features. Heero felt a sense of frustration well up within
him at the sight of his enemy sitting on what appeared to be a pile
of air.

" I'm a Gundam pilot," he muttered, shoving his bangs out of his
eyes. " The phsyics of this should be easy for me to understand." 'So
why aren't they?'

Suddenly, he really wished Jean was there. Not his nature to depend
on anyone, he nonetheless realized he was way out of his league.

' Should've thought of that before I locked the door.'

* * * * * * * *

Duo sat where he'd landed, fighting to regain his senses. He still
wasn't quite sure what was going on, only that he was in his own
mind, and Heero was sending his best Death Glare 'O Doom at what
looked to be a copy of himself.

' Correction' he amended hastily. ' *Was* himself.'

Shingami had been having a good old time, re-hashing some of his more
interesting kills, using Duo's body, doing visual replays when he
felt his own vivid descriptions weren't horrifying enough. Duo had
been sickened when he'd first woken up within his own mind and found
himself a prisoner of his own madness. he was no scientist, but even
he realized what had happened.

The implant Sinister had put into his head had done more then just
make him evil. It had awakened a part of Duo that the American had
fought to keep under control all his life; the part of him that was
angry at the world, livid at the powers-that-be that took away his
family and friends. The very core of his soul that was Duo Maxwell
that pulsed with thoughts of revenge. The hidden facet of him that
only emerged in brief spurts when he was high on the thrill of
adreneline while commanding destruction in the cockpit
of Deathscythe.

The bug had fed off him, nourished by his inner hatred and rage, and
had taken on a sentient form of its own, one that delighted in
bloodshed and mayhem; one that delighted in all the things Duo
abhorred, and it was worse, knowing that as much as he hated
Shinigami, it was still a part of him, and therefore, his fault for
all the deaths Shinigami's birth had wrought.

' I am Death,' he thought miserably. ' Just as I always said.'

His gaze flickered over to Heero who was standing in front of him
now, muscles tense as he watched Shinigami with a focus that was
chilling. When Heero had shown up, Duo couldn't say he was completely
surprised.

Duo had sensed a strange mind sniffing around his defences.
Unfamiliar to him, he had forced himself to strengthen his barriers.
Shinigami hadn't prevented that, seeing as that would only help him
in the long run if no one could enter, and in fact had relaxed his
restraint around Duo in order to let him do it. That same lax of
restraint had been enough to let Duo allow Heero access to his mind -
when he'd felt that strong, familiar, reassuring presence on the
fringes of his consciousness, he had dropped a part of his shield
instantly, implicitly trusting the probing aura that was his partner.

Still - with Shinigami in control, this wasn't exactly the safest
place to be.

' Listen to me,' he thought with a hint of disgust. ' I've turned
into a fucking schitzo.'

" H-Heero?" he asked, rubbing the side of his face, almost
hesitantly. " What's going on?"

He had an idea of course - the way Shinigami and Heero were shooting
sparks at each other, he knew that there was only one way a
confrontation between them could end: in violence. Much as he wanted
to see Shinigami obliterated, his scattered thoughts were solidifying
back together and he had reached the conclusion that since Shingami
was a part of himself, killing him couldn't be a good thing.

He thought.

" Heero!" he called out, watching as the Perfect Soldier's fists
clenched. " Don't kill him!"

* * * * * * * *

Heero couldn't believe what he was hearing. Duo didn't want him to
kill the crazy, scythe-wielding maniac that was currently walking on
air?

' Patience,' he told himself. ' He must have a good reason.'

Shinigami suddenly struck out again with the scythe. Heero leaned
back quickly, a whoosh of air marking the blade's passing, missing
the Japanese pilots chest by inches. Shinigami then sat back again,
cackling dementedly, feral gaze focused on him. Heero growled.

' He'd *better* have a good reason.'

* * * * * * * *

Jean looked nervously at the professor before turning back to look at
the two forms on the bed. Duo still lay there serenely, lax features
making him look younger, and more child-like then he really was. Once
again, her eyes tracked to his temple where a small scar remained,
the only hint to the horror that had been inflicted upon him.

After being locked out of Duo's mind, she had wasted her energy in
futile, trying to find a way in without forcibly destroying the
barrier keeping her out. Finding no weakness in the shield that she
culd detect, she had reluctantly left Duo's mind, re-awakening in the
corporeal world. Professor Xavier had given her a small, but worried
smile, silently reassuring her with nothing more then a warm feeling
at the back of her skull, that she had done all she could do without
resorting to methods that would cause lasting damage. That didn't
help much, especially as she took in the still form next to the
American pilot.

Heero Yuy lay stretched out on the bed next to his partner, the ever-
present scowl missing from his face. Even though Heero had spent a
good deal of the time wearing a blank mask, there had always been an
underlying force behind it, a faint wisp of emotion that was nearly
indetectible without either an empathic power like Quatre's, or a
strong link like the one that flowed through all of the pilots. Hard
to sense, but there, nonetheless. But this...this *emptiness* lacked
even that undercurrant, and made Jean shudder from a sudden chill,
despite the moderate temperature of the room.

Beast was the first to break the tense silence that had sprung up.

" Can either of you sense what's happening?" he asked, turning to
give his EKG machines a cursory glance to see whether or not it was
picking up any psychic activity. For all intents and purposes, the
boys seemed to be merely sleeping. " Surely his barrier can't be
*that* strong."

Professor Xavier shook his head, not taking his eyes off the two
before him.

" Not enough to tell you anything concrete, Henry," he said at last.
" I can sense two presences, and enough conflicting emotion in there
to remind me of Magneto's mind, but I can't tell who's battling who
with just a surface scan."

Jean nodded. " The wall is extraordinarily thick - Sinister must have
done some upgrades to that controlling device."

" So in essence, we won't know what's happened until one of them
wakes up and tells us?" 'If they wake up,' Beast didn't say out loud.

" Correct."

* * * * * * * * *

Quatre looked up from where he was sitting with Trowa in the kitchen.
Wufei and Jubilee were still comparing battle experience - Jubilee
*paffing* a few strands of Wufei's hair to make a point about a
girl's strength in battle - and Trowa was smirking at the two of
them, but Quatre suddenly didn't care about what topic they had
progressed to. He closed his eyes, feeling that familiar twinge
starting up again, and he reached with one hand to rub his chest, as
though that simple action could alleviate the slowly building pain
there.

Trowa noticed his slight action and twin bolts of green pinned Quatre
in place as concern replaced the amusement. " Quatre?"

" I don't know," Quatre responded to the unasked question.
" It's...kinda like before...but not the same."

Jubilee looked up from her diagram she was drawing for Wufei about
one of her favorite strategic manouvers.

" Yer' probably feeling the effects of Jeannie's trip into Duo's
mind," she remarked off-hand. She could have thrown a hand grenade at
the table and not have gotten a more dramatic reaction.

" Duo's mind?" Quatre echoed, standing up abruptly. " She's going
into his mind?"

Jubilee blinked at this reaction. " Well, yeah - that was on her
schedule of things to do when your friend was stabilized."

" I thought she was helping Beast remove the implant," Wufei
demanded. He'd seen the effect of Quatre on the recieving end of
Duo's mental demons - it was not something he wanted to repeat.
" When were they planning on telling us this?"

" Probably after they fixed 'im up and had him back to his old self,"
Jubilee shrugged. " I mean come on - you were in the room ya know.
You saw what kinda mind set Duo had - he's a killer! They're gonna
return him to normal before they let him loose."

It was sound reasoning, but Quatre didn't like it. He especially
didn't like the way Jubilee called Duo a killer.

" You realize, we're all killers, don't you?" he pointed out to the
mutant girl. Jubile blinked again.

" I know you guys were in a war," she said calmly. " But that's
different - you killed because in war, that's what happens. I
understand that."

" So why single Duo out?"

" Because it wasn't you that slaughtered a warehouse full of
innocent, homeless people, and laughed while you did it."

That frank statement hung in the air, nearly tangible in its
intensity. Wufei muffled the growl that rose up in his throat even as
he realized Jubilee was right. Trowa's expression didn't change, but
he did move slightly closer to his blonde partner, as though sensing
his increase in distress. Quatre's hands were folded on the table,
but if you looked closely, you could see the faint trembling.

" She's right," he spoke at last in a deceptively calm voice. Then he
addressed the Chinese girl directly. " So they're going into his mind
to see if he's still under the influence of whatever Sinister did?"

Jubilee nodded, well familiar with what was happening. She sighed
mentally - she had seen this too many times before. Call it what you
want: possession, mental override, taking a new host, mind-eaters,
telepaths, anything dealing with the Shadow-King - the result was
always the same. Someone had to go in and determine whether or not
the person you once called a friend, was still there, or if they had
turned into something that had to be taken care of. Permanently. She
sighed again - suddenly, she felt very old.

" Why don't they just remove the device in his head?" Wufei asked,
puzzled by this lack of action which to him, seemed the most logical
thing to do. " Surely that would end all of this?"

" It's kinda hard to explain," Jubilee hedged, knowing that she
lacked sufficient medical-mental knowledge to explain it to someone
who had never experience first-hand the effects psychic control could
leave on the victim. It was akin to trying to explain color to a man
who'd been blind since birth - if you had never experienced it, it
was very hard to grasp the concept. Even Quatre had only a mild form
of empathy, from what she understood, and that wasn't enough to take
someone's mind over. " I think Beastie-boy could do it better."

Trowa nodded, and stood next to Quatre. Wufei rose as well and
indicated to Jubilee that she should lead them back to Beast. She
rose an eyebrow at this.

" Why do you want ME to go first?"

All three boys looked at each other and blanched slightly. A faint
blush rose on Wufei's face as he cleared his throat.

" 'Cause we're not completely sure we remember the exact location of
the sickbay." He scowled. " You have far more sub-levels in this
'school' then any Oz base I've had to sneak into."

To Jubilee's credit, she didn't burst out laughing at this admission.
Rather, she nodded and turned, leading the three boys out of the
room. All the while, the grin never left her face.

* * * * * * * * *
TBC....


Feedback onegai! I *love* hearing any and all opinions!!!

Stormy