Maxwell's Demon
Part 4
By: Madam Hydra

[in Treize's suite]

    "Uh... harder!  Do it harder, Treize!"

    "I'm  trying!  Just let me  catch my 

breath...."

    "Treizzzzzeee!!!  You can't just LEAVE me like this!" howled Zechs

in acute frustration.  "I'm going to DIE if you don't...!"

    "Will you... shut up!  I'm trying to... concentrate here!" Treize

muttered after spitting out a mouthful of platinum blond hair flung

into his face by Zechs' thrashing movements.

    "It's all your fault!  You got me into this mess!  Now you fucking

well better fix it or ELSE!!!" ranted Zechs, who was by now clawing

frenziedly at the bedsheets.  "Put your back into it, man!  I know

you're stronger than that!  Use your hips!"

    ""I swear, you can be such a baby if you don't get your way.... 

I'm not in exactly the best of shape here either, you know!"

    Finally, gathering the last bits of his strength, Treize reared

up, then shoved decisively downward using the entire weight of his

body.

    The OZ ace let loose a rapturous "AHHH!!!!!" then went limp in

sheer relief as something went  and slid into place.

    "There... are you satisfied NOW?" growled Treize as he wearily

collapsed onto the bed, his bare, sweat-sheened chest heaving. 

    "Mmmmm...."  Zechs stretched languorously before rolling over onto

his back.  "Ohhhhhh yesssss... that's MUCH better."  He glanced over

at Treize.  "For a few moments there, I was afraid that you were going

to have to call the medical staff to help you get my spine back into

working order."

    "Don't be so damn smug!  Have you SEEN how big some of those

hulking orderlies in the medical department are?"

    "Male or female?"

    "Either!  Both!  God, sometimes I can't even tell WHAT they

are....  I swear some of those orderlies look like they can take on a

LEO barehanded and win!  Believe me, you wouldn't be laughing once

they've gotten their hands on you!"

    "How on earth do you know all this?"

    "Poor Une.  Slipped in her bathtub and managed to dislocate her

shoulder a few days ago."

    With a decided smirk on his face, Zechs said, "And how did THAT

happen?  The woman practices gymnastics for exercise, for god's sake. 

I've seen her do back-flips on a balance beam without using her hands.

 And you're trying to tell me she just FELL in her bathtub!?"

    A wonderfully innocent expression appeared on Treize's face.  "I

haven't got a clue."

    Zechs rolled over and pinned Treize to the bed.  In a low growl,

he said, "You didn't happen to be WITH her when this occurred, did

you?"

    "Absolutely not!  I found out only after the fact."

    "Sure...."

    With a hurt expression on his face, Treize muttered, "What do you

take me for?"

    The OZ ace had the grace to look a bit guilty.  "It's just that...

oh, never mind.  You were saying about the orderlies?" he murmured as

he nuzzled Treize consolingly.

    With a sigh, Treize murmured, "I just stopped in at the infirmary

to check on her condition. It wasn't pretty.  She was lying on a

gurney with one huge orderly sitting on top of her while an even

bigger one was yanking on her arm.  It took about fifteen minutes to

get her shoulder back into place."  

    Zechs blinked, then winced.  "Ouch...."  After a moment, he said,

"You know, I never realized that you were so ticklish."

    Treize grunted wearily.  "Damn that drunken little devil! That bit

with the feathers was positively inhuman!  I think I might have

sprained half my muscles!" 

    "What do you expect?  He was trained as a terrorist.  He saw a

weakness and exploited it ruthlessly," Zechs retorted with a pained

grimace.

    "Hmmmm...."  Treize glanced at the closed bathroom door.  All that

alcohol had finally caught up to his little dragon, who was now puking

his guts out... hopefully into the toilet.  

    "Milliard, make a note.  Wufei mildly intoxicated is amusing. 

Moderately intoxicated, uninhibited.  Heavily intoxicated, a sadistic

little monster."

    "Duly noted, sir," drawled Zechs.

    In a lazy voice, the OZ general murmured, "So... what do we do for

revenge against our wicked little dragon?"

    Zechs gave his lover a vicious, wolfish grin that exposed lots of

gleaming white teeth, then rolled back over onto his stomach.

    "Oh, I'm sure we can think of... SOMEthing...."

--------------------------------------------

[in the waiting room of Relena's office]

    "It's too quiet," Quatre muttered unhappily.

    During their first twenty minutes of waiting, Quatre, Trowa, and

Relena could all hear muffled thumps and the shuffle of movement --

occasionally mixed with incoherent cries and exclamations -- through

the closed door to Relena's office.  But the sounds had abruptly

ceased.  After two minutes of silence, Quatre started to fidget

restlessly.  After five minutes of no sounds, not even Trowa's

soothing pats could keep the smaller boy still.

    "It's too quiet," the blond pilot repeated.  He glanced up at

Trowa.  "I mean, we never hear Heero, but you KNOW how noisy Duo

gets!"

    "That's true," Trowa said thoughtfully.

    Quatre was starting to have visions of poor Duo's strangled corpse

sprawled atop Relena's desk.  He had no doubt that Heero really loved

Duo, but Quatre couldn't deny the fact that Duo occasionally had a way

of teasing people until they wanted to throttle the braided pilot,

just to shut him up.  And if Heero was suffering from a loss of all

his normal inhibitions, would he be able to resist the urge to

strangle Duo if the other boy accidentally provoked him?

--------------------------------------------

    For the last thirty minutes, the gagged and bound Relena had

nearly been beside herself with rage.  At first she hadn't understood

what was going on, but after a few minutes of listening to the thumps,

thuds, and muffled moans coming through the door, she realized just

what sort of activity was going on... and in *her* office, no less!

    Even more shocking was the fact that the other two Gundam pilots

-- the one with the ludicrous hair bangs and the air-headed blond --

knew *exactly* what was happening to poor Heero, but were perfectly

happy to sit back and do absolutely nothing about it.

    Perverts!  All of them!  That, or the monster calling itself Duo

Maxwell had taken control of their minds as well.  Yes, that was

probably it.  He had corrupted them all.

    Her eyes started to water as she tried to think of the sort of

horrors her poor Heero must be suffering at that very moment, but her

imagination failed her.  Just the thought of Maxwell and his foul

minions pawing Heero with their slimy hands....  

    And all she could do was sit helplessly on her waiting room sofa

and hope that Heero would survive the terrible ordeal he was

undoubtedly undergoing.

--------------------------------------------

    A few more tense minutes of silence passed.  Finally, unable to

stand the suspense, Quatre stealthily crossed the room and put his ear

to the door.  He heard nothing.  Quatre hastily waved Trowa over.  The

brown-haired pilot carefully brushed his hair bang to one side and put

his own ear to the door.  After listening carefully, he gave a small

shake of his head.  He too was starting to look a trifle concerned.

    The two of them were leaning even harder against the door, trying

to catch the faintest sign of activity on the other side, when,

without warning, the door suddenly flew open.

    The abrupt loss of support only caused Trowa to wobble just a bit

before he regained his balance.  However, for the second time that

afternoon, Quatre ended up face down on the carpet -- this time at

Heero's feet.

    The blond-haired boy stared up at the Wing pilot nervously.  After

all, less than half an hour ago, Heero had been positively eager to

shoot him full of holes.  A chill rippled down Quatre's spine when he

saw the expression on Heero's face.

    He was smiling... no, he was *grinning*.

    "Uhh... I can explain... I didn't mean to...." Quatre babbled

nervously.

    In a frighteningly cheerful voice, Heero asked, "Quatre, what on

earth are you doing sprawled out on the floor?"  He reached down and

hauled the smaller boy to his feet with no effort at all.

    Quatre smiled nervously and hastily backed up until he felt the

comforting presence of Trowa behind him.  A quick peek at the

Heavyarms pilot's face -- the slightly widened green eye and raised

eyebrow --  told him that Trowa found the Wing pilot's behavior more

than a little unnerving as well.

    They were both used to seeing a brooding, hyper-intense,

occasionally suicidal Heero, but this strange psychotically cheerful

Heero was making Quatre's skin crawl.

    And where was Duo?

    Momentarily disregarding Heero's blatantly amused expression,

Quatre frantically scanned the room looking for any sign of the

Deathscythe pilot.  He froze when he saw what appeared to be a limp

body lying on top of Relena's desk, covered with the Peacecraft's

hugely expensive cashmere coat.  Two bare legs, exposed to the knees,

were visible at one end while several long strands of chestnut brown

hair and a still, unmoving hand trailed out from underneath the coat

and hung over the opposite edge of the desk.

    "Duo!" Quatre blurted anxiously.

    "Shhhhhh!"  Heero then leaned closer to Quatre and whispered,

"He's sleeping."

    The figure stirred slightly and a low, husky voice exhaustedly

muttered, "No, he's not...."

    Duo poked his head out from under the coat, brushed his unbraided

hair out of his face, and gave all of them a bleary-eyed glare.

    A relieved, if somewhat dazed Quatre noted that it seemed that

Heero had been as good as his word.  Duo looked like he had had

*quite* a workout....

    "Uh... are you okay, Duo?" Quatre asked.

    "I feel... like a quarter mile... of heavily traveled road... but

otherwise, yeah.... And tell Sally... 'a dramatically increased

libido', my ASS!"

    Heero calmly strolled over to the desk and patted Duo's rear end,

still modestly covered by Relena's coat, with a proprietary air.

    "But it's such a pretty ass," the Wing pilot in a voice of smug

satisfaction.  He looked rather like a cat who had not only swallowed

the bird, but also polished off several dishes of cream.

    Duo glared at his lover -- who was now playfully running his

fingers through Duo's long brown hair -- and acidly retorted, "Well,

if you don't hurry and do something about Relena's friggin' computer

file, EVERYONE in the damn world is going see just how pretty it is!" 

    Heero chuckled easily and said, "Relax.  I'll take care of it. 

Now why don't you just lie down and get some rest?"  He leaned over

and gave Duo a casual kiss on his cheek, then sauntered over to the

workstation and started typing.

    For a nervous moment, Quatre was afraid that Heero was going to

begin singing, but the Wing pilot merely started to hum an old

romantic tune... and did so surprisingly well.

    "Relax, he says...," Duo said with a snort, before pulling the

coat back over his head.  After a minute or so, there was a soft

snore.

    Trowa coughed discretely, then said, "It seems that the side

effects haven't quite worn off."  

--------------------------------------------

    From her position on the sofa, Relena couldn't get a good look

into her office or at Heero's face.  However, she could see Trowa's

and Quatre's expressions... and they looked positively stunned and

stupefied.

    It was worse than she feared, by god, if even Maxwell's pet thugs

were upset.  She felt the tears welling up in her eyes as she wondered

just what had happened to her beloved Heero....

--------------------------------------------

    As Trowa casually kept an eye on the cheerfully humming Heero,

Quatre returned to the waiting room and was appalled to see the tears

cascading down Relena's face.

    As he blotted up the tears, he murmured sadly, "Oh dear.  Miss

Relena... I suppose finding out about Heero and Duo must have been a

terrible shock to you, but I suppose it's really for the best. 

Surely, you can see now that all your interference isn't going to

change anything.  You're only making things harder on Heero if you

continue to make these sorts of accusations about Duo.  Why don't you

just give in and accept what's going on?" 

    When he saw the furious, defiant glare that Relena gave him,

Quatre sighed and shook his head.

--------------------------------------------

    Whatever effect the drugs might have had on Heero's emotional

state, they didn't seem to affect his mental abilities.  After about

ten minutes of rapid typing, he pulled a disk from the computer and

shut down the system.

    Trowa murmured, "Got it?"

    With a faint smirk, Heero said, "Yes.  Relena's no expert.  I

found it within the first three minutes.  I spent most of the time

trying to determine whether this file had been automatically archived

or backed up somewhere else in the system."  

    "Are we ready to leave?"

    Heero shook his head.  "Not quite yet.  This 'Amelia' computer

virus is tenacious and sneaky.  I need to double-check the mainframe

to make sure all traces of the file is gone."  He shrugged.  "Besides,

I need to grab some new clothes for Duo.  It shouldn't take me more

than 45 minutes."  

    Trowa glanced at the torn shreds of black clothing strewn all over

Relena's office.  "I see."  

    As he watched Heero stroll out into the waiting room, Trowa was

relieved to see the unusual cheerfulness slowly disappearing from

Heero's demeanor.  But traces of it could still be seen in the faint

smile of amusement that seemed to hover on the Wing pilot's lips.

    Suddenly, the Heavyarms pilot felt a warm hand grab his wrist.  He

glanced down to see Duo looking up at him, a worried look on his

heart-shaped face.

    "Trowa... would you mind keeping an eye on him?  Make sure he

doesn't do anything stupid, huh?"

    The brown-haired pilot nodded, then cocked his head slightly. 

"He's right.  You look like you need some rest."

    Duo shrugged eloquently.  "Well, you know Heero.  He said he was

going to fuck me stupid." 

    The corner of Trowa's mouth twitched upward. "Ninmu kanryou?"

    "Oh yeah... ninmu kanryou."  Duo winked a bright violet eye, then

grinned sleepily at the other pilot.  "And how...," he added before

pulling the coat back over his head.

--------------------------------------------

    Relena felt her heart shatter into little pieces as she watched

Heero walk out her office, then stop short to stare at her with cold,

furious eyes.  She could tell that Maxwell had been busy at work.  She

had no doubts that the diabolical fiend had spent the last half hour

doing unspeakable things to Heero's mind, twisting and warping his

memories so that everything that she'd done appeared in the worst

possible light.

    Just as Heero started to reach behind his back, the tall pilot

called Trowa quickly walked into the waiting room, deftly took Heero's

arm, and firmly escorted him out into the hallway.

    Relena couldn't help but notice that Heero continued to stare

fixedly at her, even as the hallway door closed.  Maybe there was

still some hope for the two of them....

--------------------------------------------

    Quatre sighed depressedly at being left to babysit Relena again. 

He felt a guilty sense of relief that she was gagged so he wouldn't

have to keep up any sort of conversation with her.  He decided to sit

down on the waiting room's loveseat and not share the sofa with

Relena.  Considering the anger in her eyes, he wouldn't put it past

her to try kicking him.

    After several minutes, he found himself trying to stifle a yawn.

    ....and that's the last thing Quatre Raberba Winner remembered....

--------------------------------------------

    Lady Une -- bruised, cranky, and her arm still in a sling --

snapped at one of her subordinates as she eyed the thick banks of dark

clouds rolling toward the installation.

    "What's going on?"

    "I don't know, ma'am.  The meteorological report is for sunny

skies.  There's no reports of any weather fronts in the area!"

    "Then how do you explain THAT!"  She waved her good arm at the

black clouds.  Beneath the towering thunderheads, constantly

illuminated from within by brilliant flashes of lightning, she could

see the smeary film in the air that told her of torrential rains

approaching.

--------------------------------------------

    Relena stared in mingled confusion and annoyance as the small

blond Gundam pilot leaned over and suddenly fell asleep on the

loveseat.  True, she might not be a trained fighter like Heero, but

somehow, the fact that Quatre considered her so weak and harmless that

he could fall asleep while guarding her was rather galling to her

pride.

    As she fumed silently, she once again attempted to free herself

from her bonds.  However, she was having little success.  Maxwell, the

cunning devil, apparently did an expert job.  No amount of twisting or

pulling was getting her anywhere.

    Suddenly, she felt someone watching her.  Her heart sank as she

looked up and realized that she had totally forgotten one *very*

important thing -- Duo Maxwell's presence.

    And now he stood in the doorway to her office, wearing a sinister

grin....

Part 5

Back to Fanfics

Back to Main Page