004 | Back in Black | Open

[stillshinigami]

So he's feeling better, that's pretty clear by the fact that he's goofing off in the courtyard. With his exploring track record? Getting assaulted near every time he's gone out to look about? He'd made a point to stick around for a while until he had completely recovered before doing anything, but now he was fed and feeling stir crazy. So there he was. Out in the court yard taking a spin on his hover boots. They shorted out plenty but they did what they were designed to do. Faster, higher jumps? When they worked it was great and he was having some fun, yelling out for the sheer joy of it.

"Hah!" He said as he jumped over a length of the pond with ease and continued on. He looked back to marvel at the distance he'd jumped, not really paying any mind to what was in front of him.

Comments

[stillshinigami]

"Sure, but I think they're jamming a little. Even unloaded. You'll have to see about maintaining it." He knew Heero wouldn't mind having that and he was glad he chose his clothes chest, a quantity loop hole. But the guns worked in perfect condition last time he used them.

"Eh. Heero?" He said slowly, pulling apart the seeds at the end of the grass idly. "Been kinda been wanting to ask you a couple of things lately."

[stoicperfection]

"It shouldn't be a problem." Heero was sure he would have no problem maintaining it. He had enough experience with guns after all. Fixing a jammed gun in this place would be a good distraction for him.

He pulled the sleeves of Duo's hoodie down, making himself a little warmer. While it was pretty warm to begin with, the little extra was nice. It made him wish he had his jacket from home.

"What?"

[stillshinigami]

Says the guy who doesn't want any distractions to make him feel comfortable!

Duo nodded and stretched his arms out over his head, then behind him to lean on.

"About how strong you are. About Quatre's abilities. The old men started talking about new types after a while and how dangerous they could be in the wrong hands. I think they were talkin' about you guys back then."

[stoicperfection]

Pft. It's only a jacket. Jackets can be quite useful. They have pockets to hold things and material to tie stuff. More functional than comfort.

"Newtypes?" He had never heard of the term before. None of the scientists had ever said a thing like it. "What is that?"

[stillshinigami]

"The way they describe it, Zechs, yourself, and Quatre fit the bill. High learning curve, enhanced reflexes, physical strength or endurance... empathy and psychic powers or something like that." He frowned a bit.

"You've never heard of it? But does it make sense?"

[stoicperfection]

"I haven't. None of them ever mentioned it." It did make some sense. The three of them who Duo mentioned all had the ability to master the ZERO System too, though Quatre not as well as himself and Zechs. But still, it explained why they were all able to endure using it.

[stillshinigami]

"The doctors seemed to imply that all of us pilots were, or to some degree. Or something. I don't really know if he was just blowing smoke or not." A shrug. It was a curiosity to him just what J was getting at back then.

"So how strong are you anyway?"

[stoicperfection]

He wouldn't know if Duo's version of J was the kind of man to do that. It made him curious to know if he was any different from the one he found on the street all those years ago.

"I can bend metal bars."

[stillshinigami]

Bend bars? Well, that wasn't really a surprise, but it was certainly impressive. Too impressive. He always said Heero was more than human some how. But why wasn't Quatre or Zechs that strong?

"It's kinda unnatural, y'think?" Duo eyed him, frowning a bit like there was something else on his mind.

[stoicperfection]

A different way for a newtype to develop? Quatre was the only one out of the three to have empathic ability. Zechs was similar to him in a lot of ways, sans the strength as far as he knew.

"I'm genetically modified." He replied as if it were the most obvious thing. To him, it was. It explained at least his abilties in his world. Quatre's was still something he couldn't explain, or even Zechs for that matter. He had no ideas.

[stillshinigami]

"By Dr. J." Duo blanched, sitting upright and forward. That guy was absolutely insane. No wonder why he nearly went with Operation Meteor. He was a crack pot.

It didn't really bother him before. Not until Heero reminded him of his resilience and his own recovery rate. They weren't as good as Heero though. "Hmmn."

"I think I'm thinking too much into this."

[stoicperfection]

Of course not. Duo didn't start with his involvement until later. As far as he knew, he started the youngest, and therefore J had more time to experiment on him. Maybe see what worked before they used it on the others in a variant. Besides, it didn't matter how fast or slow Duo healed because there was something even bigger separating them; he was made expendable.

"You might not be."

[stillshinigami]

It was that fact that scared Duo the most all in all. Dekim had said it, Trowa had said it. Did it really need to be said? Was he really that replaceable? Shoulda seen him when he saw his mobile suit become a mobile doll, Heero. not a fun day for him. Not one bit.

"Doctor J treated me after I got shot. It was weird, y'know? I missed an appointment and he looked like he was about to flip his shit. Wasn't much they could do about it in any case. Still." He seemed like he just dismissed it. It was just old creeps being... old creeps. What could be said about it?

"I really wanna pretend that it was just routine. Except I healed pretty quick from that. Cut my recovery time in half."

[stoicperfection]

Now that sounded familiar enough. When things were done when he was a child, it was always done on a strict schedule. It wasn't just because of it being a militant organization. The medical examinations were almost always the same time during the day whenever they happened. "It was."

Heero looked Duo over for a moment, trying to work out in his mind just what Duo's J was doing to him. "If things ran similarly for both of us, he must have given you something for recovery. You must have healed as fast as I could."

[stillshinigami]

He pauses, a joyless smile passing over his lips as he shakes with a chuckle. Heh. "Sure. Probably. It wasn't like they could afford to lose me for half a month."

So he is silent for another moment and scratched the back of his neck. "I know I brought this up outta the blue, I was just thinking about back home. The war. Quatre... Especially Quatre." He worried about Quatre.

[stoicperfection]

The way Duo responded to his statement had him concerned. This version of Duo seemed like he thought so little of himself, despite his words. All of his gestures seemed so self depreciating. Quatre made him feel the same way whenever he saw him. It was so wrong.

"I want to talk to your Quatre." The last time he saw the blond, they hadn't actually talked to one another beyond greetings.

[stillshinigami]

"From what I heard, they abused him pretty badly back when he was..." Aw shit he never really told this to Heero, had he?

"Quatre was captured. Used as a figure head to control Winner Corp. And they did a lot of things to get him to be compliant. I don't know half the things they did but I know he's pretty damn claustrophobic now. And he got caught by those shadows in the last big fight." Extrapolate. "So Haku told me that he's been holed up in his room all this time."

[stoicperfection]

Duo hadn't really told him any of this, only that what happened to his versions of Quatre and himself had it bad. It was a lot worse than he expected to find out, at least for Quatre.

Going to the fountain could wait until later. Now he really needed to see how he was doing. Maybe he could convince him to come out of his room for awhile. "I'm going to go see him when we're done here."

[stillshinigami]

"You wanna go now?" Duo asked, looking back to the entrance back into the common hall. He knew Quatre would enjoy the company.

Couldn't help but crack a smile then, realizing from Heero's face and the way he said that that he did genuinely care about Quatre. That was good. The guy needed plenty of support here.

[stoicperfection]

"Yeah." Heero stood, brushed the grass of his jeans before he held a hand out to help Duo up.

This was better than just sitting around. Had he known Quatre had also been captured by the shadows, he would have seen him a lot sooner than now. Because yes, he was worried about him.

[stillshinigami]

Duo clasp his hand into Heero's and helped to pull himself to his feet. He nodded with some enthusiasm and gestured to the door.

Absently, he watched as Heero went on ahead. He was really starting to like this version of his old comrade. It was refreshing to see him care about the well being of his...family?

They were kind of like brothers after all of that, weren't they?

[stoicperfection]

The other Heero must have cared in his own way, at least about one of them. But this version definitely did. He cared about the other four pilots in his own way, offering whatever words of wisdom he could to them. That was what he was going to do now. Speak to this Quatre and hope he could make him feel better.

He went on ahead first, looking back to check and see if Duo was still following him. "Coming?"

[stillshinigami]

He was a little slow, but he moved on after his partner once he got his boots back on his feet. He jogged forward to meet with Heero, walking at his sides with his hands in his pockets.

"Yeah. Yeah. Just hold your horses, hey?"

[stoicperfection]

"I'm working perfectly fine." He retorted, keeping his hands clenched at his sides. It wasn't all seriousness. He was even a bit teasing. "You're just too slow."

[stillshinigami]

"M'tired." He mumbled, walking at his friends side. He was thankful that the hover boots took a lot of the work of what he was doing earlier, but he was getting a little work out in some muscles in his core he didn't seem to use often enough.