Part Nine
“So is there any way out of here at all?” Quatre asked, turning his head as far as it would go. His head still ached. He wondered vaguely if they were going to get dinner.
“I most sincerely doubt it,” Wufei said. “Treize is hardly a careless man. He may be obnoxious, but he’s not stupid.”
Quatre sighed. “No windows, and I’m sure the doors are guarded. Can you see any ventilation?”
“It’s too high class for air vents,” Wufei said.
“We probably wouldn’t fit anyway, not easily,” Quatre said. “We’d have to wait until we were fully healed to be able to squirm through them.”
“That leaves us with zero options,” Wufei said flatly.
“Well, there are never zero options,” Quatre replied. “I’m sure Trowa had us captured by OZ for some reason.”
“At least Treize isn’t torturing us,” Wufei grumbled. “Yet.” He looked over at his friend curiously. “What was that, anyway?”
“What was what?” Quatre asked, trying to sound clueless so Wufei would stop asking.
“You, up at White Fang, screaming for no reason.”
“Oh, yeah, that.” Quatre shrugged. “Little quirk of mine.”
“Elaborate,” Wufei said.
How to explain this? Quatre wondered. “I’m sort of an empath. But it’s tied to people I’m close to. You, the other pilots, my family. When they get hurt, I feel it.”
“That must be inconvenient.”
“You’re telling me. I didn’t mind half as much before Quinze got wind of it and started using me as his guinea pig.”
Wufei made a face. “What do you think Treize has planned for us?”
“I don’t know,” Quatre said thoughtfully. “But they have two Gundams. And now they have two pilots. I think it’s pretty obvious what he wants out of us. But I don’t know how he plans on making us cooperate.” He sighed. “What I want to know is how Trowa plans on finding us.”
“He has infiltrated,” Wufei reminded him.
“Yes, but that doesn’t mean anything if Treize doesn’t plan to let the knowledge leave this building. We don’t even know where we are.”
Wufei leaned back. “Do you think he’s recording everything we’re saying?”
Quatre considered. “I doubt it. The only thing he’d care about is any escapes we might plan, and it’s not like we’re going to come up with anything. I don’t know about you, but I can barely sit up.”
“Same here,” Wufei agreed. “So what’s our plan?”
“Languish,” Quatre suggested dryly. “And wait for Trowa to do something useful.”
The door opened and Treize came in, carrying two trays of food.
“Oh good, I was just about to call room service,” Quatre remarked.
“I aim to please,” Treize said smoothly.
“I hardly think so,” Wufei grumbled.
Treize came in and set a tray of food down on each of their laps, with plastic silverware.
“Did you cook it yourself?” Quatre asked sweetly.
“Unfortunately, my busy schedule prevents me from providing you home cooked meals,” Treize said. “It’s from the student cafeteria.”
“We could hope,” Quatre said, poking at the food.
“It’s not poisoned, I promise,” Treize said.
“If you wanted us dead, we would be dead,” Quatre replied, and began to eat. “You wouldn’t need to poison our dinner.”
“Touche,” Treize said with a smile.
“So, just out of curiosity, how do you plan to get us to work for you?” Quatre asked.
“Haven’t quite figured it out yet,” Treize answered.
“Well, hurry it up, man,” Wufei said irritably. “We’re dying of the suspense.”
“You’re hardly dying. I took great pains to prevent that.”
“We noticed. I supposed you must have figured out from White Fang’s lack of success that torturing us wouldn’t do any good?”
“Of course,” Treize said.
“Just checking,” Quatre said. “We wouldn’t want you to get any ideas.”
“Let me assure you that, for the moment, I’m fresh out of ideas. That’s why I’m assigning a friend to your case.”
“Oh?” Wufei asked, not sounding pleased.
“I’m sure you’ll get along fine,” Treize said, standing up. “So I’m going to be going now. I’m sure he’ll be in to pay a visit soon enough.”
“Can’t wait,” Quatre muttered as Treize left the room.
****
“Now that,” Quatre remarked as the man walked into the room, “is the height of fashion sense.”
Wufei laughed and eyed the newcomer seriously. “I think he must be crazy.”
“Why?”
“Because only crazy people wear tin caps to keep the aliens away.”
“I’m flattered that you both have such a high opinion of me so quickly,” Zechs said, closing the door behind him as he walked the rest of the way.
“Ooh, he’s suave, just like his boss,” Quatre said. The longer he was trapped in OZ’s clutches, the more sarcastic he was getting. Self-defense mechanism, he figured.
“I assure you that the mask isn’t for fashion reasons,” Zechs said.
“We guessed,” Wufei said dryly.
“Are you ugly?” Quatre asked.
“I think everyone will be wearing masks in the future,” Zechs said with a smile. “They’re terribly comfortable.”(Author's Note: Sorry. We couldn't resist the chance for a joke.)
Quatre and Wufei blinked at each other.
“Now, I suppose I shouldn’t waste time asking you politely if you’ll work for Treize.”
“We’d have to politely refuse,” Quatre replied. “Though the hospitality is excellent.”
“And I’m sure it doesn’t bother you at all that, since we rescued you, you owe us a debt of honor.”
“Honor is one thing. Stupidity is another,” Wufei replied shortly.
“We’re terrorists,” Quatre said with a shrug. “Obviously we don’t have that much of a sense of honor.”
“By the way, who are you?” Wufei asked.
“Did I forget to introduce myself? I’m appalled by my lack of manners.”
“Yeah, me too,” Quatre chimed in.
Zechs ignored him. “My name is Zechs Merquise. And you two are . . .?”
“Trapped and angry,” Quatre supplied.
Zechs didn’t blink. “And your names are?”
Quatre sighed, but didn’t see any point in lying. “Quatre Raberba Winner.”
“Chang Wufei.”
Zechs raised his eyebrows behind the mask. “Quite influential families you two have. Winner . . . aren’t they pacifists?”
“Most of them, yes. I’m the black sheep.”
Zechs glanced at Wufei. He glared back.
“Well,” Zechs said, “I’ve been put in charge of making you work for us.”
“So we heard,” Quatre said. “Lucky you.”
“I think you’re underestimating me.”
“The feeling’s mutual,” Wufei stated.
****
Zechs waited until both pilots had fallen asleep. What with their injuries, he guessed that they would sleep soundly, so he brought in the doctor he had hired. A quick addition to their IVs made sure they wouldn’t be waking up any time soon.
“You’re sure this will work?” Zechs asked skeptically.
“Of course.” The doctor waved off his concerns. “It’s all documented neuroscience, after all.”
“They need to be undamaged.”
The doctor raised an eyebrow. “I think by nature we’re damaging here.”
“Physically undamaged,” Zechs amended.
“It’s all laser surgery,” the doctor assured him. “The operation will be completed without making any incisions. But you will have to find a way to explain their current injuries.”
Zechs nodded. “I have that planned. How long will this take?”
“A while,” the doctor answered shortly. “And I’m going to need to concentrate.” He looked around at the medical equipment that was already set up and ascertained that it would be enough for his purpose. “So you might want to leave.”
Zechs nodded. “Come get me when you’re finished.”
****
::hides:: um.... let us know what you think?