~ * ~

Zechs woke to the feeling of someone caressing his wrist. All he could think was that he'd finally gone round the bend, snapped his crackers, lost his marbles. He decided that an enumeration of the various ways to say he was crazy was counter productive and opened his eyes.

Wufei smiled at him and apologized. "I'm sorry. I didn't think I would wake you."

"What are you doing?" Zechs realized that the ache in his wrist was fading.

Wufei scooped a dab of cream from the small jar on the bed. "It's an old family cure. Good for bruising, minor abrasions and sprains. Hold still." Wufei finished with that wrist and reached over to take the other in his hands. Zechs decided it felt too good to resist.

When Wufei finished with his wrists, he went to the foot of the bed and carefully pulled Zechs socks off, so that he could salve his ankles. He was astonished at the feelings the sight of those long, narrow, high-arched feet caused.

"Chang, don't." Zechs tried to pull his foot out of Wufei's hands.

"I will. There's no need for you to suffer. It'll just take a minute or two." Wufei simply laced his fingers with Zechs toes and bent them back gently. Zechs gave up, well aware that if he put too much pressure on the grip, it would hurt. "I'm not asking if it's ok. I'm telling you, I will. Hold still."

Wufei gently stroked the salve on bruised ankles, causing Zechs to sigh in relief. He hadn't realized how much it was hurting until the pain was gone. Now he started to relax as Wufei not only massaged his ankles, but also started massaging his foot. It felt so good that he just let him. He couldn't really remember the last time someone had just done something for him since he was little; except for Heero and now Wufei.

"You don't have to do that, you know."

Wufei snorted "I rarely do what I have to do anymore. I outgrew that particular stupidity during the war. I've done what I was supposed to do for much too long, all it did was lead to regrets. Now I do as pleases me; or pleases someone I like. Shut up and enjoy it. You're way too tense. Acupressure."

Zechs groaned at that cryptic remark and then sighed as Wufei found the source of his tension and applied his thumbs to the pressure points in his foot. "I'm very good at this. I was trained in much more than Gundam piloting. In fact, few people know that I was actually a scholar. I wanted to study classical Chinese poetry. Meilan used to make fun of me for it. I also was interested in holistic medicine. Thus the acupressure and acupuncture, also cupping and moxibustion. I'm not too good at herbology as I wound up involved in the war, but Quatre is very good at that, so we trade off. Zechs? . . . " Wufei had to laugh softly, Zechs was practically purring, his whole body was limp. "Well, this is going well. Now the other foot, please."

Zechs just lifted the other foot and allowed Wufei to take it in his strong, slender hands and work his magic on it as well. Wufei continued his massage, pressing on the nodes in the arch of his foot until all the tension was flowing out of his body. Neither of them noticed Duo and Heero standing in the door watching.

Heero stood behind Duo with his chin on Duo's shoulder. He noticed that Duo as nearly as tall as he was now, which was nice. He whispered in Duo's ear and Duo nodded, so Heero gently cleared his throat. Wufei turned his head and smiled at them, clutching the foot Zechs tried to withdraw and continuing his massaging, much to Zechs embarrassment.

"Wufei, you . . . stop."

Duo grinned. "He really gives a good foot massage, don't he. Make a really good healer, but . . . 'Fei. You really should stop, he's gonna self destruct in a minute." Duo took pity on the red-faced prince and Wufei, noticing the incandescent blush, gently put his foot down on the bed.

"Don't tense up. You'll ruin all my work. Just lie there for a minute and let it settle in. Duo, would you get him a clean pair of cotton socks. These silk ones are nice, but with that cream, they'll be too slick. I don't want him to fall."

"Sure, where are they?" But Heero had already gone to get them. Duo and Wufei noticed that he seemed to know where things were and exchanged a significant look. They weren't going to have as much trouble integrating Zechs into the group as they'd thought. Heero brought back the socks and handed them to Zechs who put them on without comment. Just groaning softly as he realized that the tension he'd carried in his shoulders forever was gone for the moment.

Duo disappeared into the living room and called back, "Phone's ringing. I'll get it for you." Zechs groaned again only not in pleasure this time. It could only be one person and he didn't want to talk to him. Relena's personal assistant was a stuffy little man, fussy and rigid. He called at least once a week with a laundry list of complaints and insisted that Zechs send Relena a letter of apology for his misdeeds. Of course Zechs refused and usually went into an hour-long sulk. Heero grimaced.

Duo's voice was angry as he answered, "No, I don't know who the hell you think you are, but I'm not bothering him right now. He's upset enough without you adding to it. If Relena wants to give him a dressing down, I'd suggest she call him herself . . . well, lets put it in language you won't misunderstand. Fuck you and the horse you staggered in on sideways. Don't call again. Asshole." The click of the handset on the cradle was loud in the silence.

Zechs groaned again. He expected to hear from Relena now and he really didn't want to hear her scorn. "Oh, God. I don't need this. I really don't. I can't stand much more of her . . . disapproval. Dammit. I'm not a . . . fuck, give me the damn phone. I'll call back. . . ."

Wufei snarled, "No, you won't. If it's beneath her to call herself, you don't need to worry about it. I want tea. Be a good host and fix me some." But Heero was already rattling around in the kitchenette making it. They all sat down with a cup, Heero on the love seat beside Duo, Zechs in his favorite chair with Wufei sprawled elegantly across the couch, feet on the poof, Zechs had to move his feet to accommodate him.

Zechs leaned his head back on the back of the chair with his eyes slitted. His head ached now. "Ssssss. Head ache. Damn."

Heero finished his tea. "You've had quite enough excitement for one day. We'll go and let you get some rest. That sedative should still be working."

"Not." Zechs rolled his head back and forth on the headrest.

Wufei jerked his head at Heero and Duo. Duo took the hint at the same time Heero did, they made their excuses and slipped out quietly leaving Wufei to brew a calming tea, persuade Zechs to drink it, and then get him back to bed. Wufei tucked him in carefully, shut the curtains, and slipped out quietly, smiling to himself. He had a few words to say to Miss Princess Perfect Pink. *Duo, you're so disrespectful.*

The resultant call left Wufei with a lot to think about

~ * ~

It took them several days to get Heero's furlough, as he wouldn't go until Zechs could go too. But when they got it, it was a forty-eight-hour full freedom one. That meant that they could go anywhere in the city as long as their sponsor was with them. Their sponsor was Quatre, back from his most recent trip, which meant that they could go almost anywhere.

Zechs packed as Heero directed, wondering where they were going, but he was just happy to be going anywhere at all. He realized that he hadn't been off the grounds, except to go to the mall, in over six months.

Heero stuck his head in the door. "You coming, or did you change your tiny mind."

Zechs gave him a casual one-finger salute, causing him to snicker and withdraw his head. Zechs shouldered his backpack and settled it comfortably, wondering again exactly what was up. He checked the list he'd been faxed one more time and shrugged, whatever they were up to, he was all for it.

"Get in let's go come on get the lead out."

Zechs blinked, he'd heard about Duo's legendary ability to swear, scream, give orders, and pilot, all at one time, but this was his first example of any of it and he was frankly stunned. The entire sentence had been tossed at his head as Duo snatched his backpack and Heero's, dumped them in the back of the van, shoved him into the open door, and jumped in after him, dragging Heero after.

"Holy crap. Will you snap too? We've got just about a half hour drive to fill you in before breakfast then we're going to the Widow Maker and show up all the new recruits the mother fuckers are hopeless and hapless so I'd like to show them how a real Specials handles an obstacle course he's never seen before. Then we're going camping overnight and I hope you can cook over an open fire because I don't and no one but me can stand dry ration bars and cold water, bunch of wusses so . . . Heero dumbass get off me, later for you will you drive so I can give you head? We're supposed to meet Quatre and Trowa at the course Wufei get that fucking stupid look off your face Heero has a driver's licence don't you? I already dismissed the driver so I hope you do."

Heero just waited for him to wind down and take a breath. Zechs felt somewhat out of the loop, but patiently waited for someone to translate. Wufei covered his eyes with one hand and flapped the other at Duo.

"Maxwell, will you shut your mouth for three seconds? The only one of us who has a drivers licence is Zechs, unless it was revoked. Was it?" Wufei uncovered his eyes and rolled one at Zechs who shook his head. "Well, then. He can drive. I'll sit in front with him and . . . Duo, if you start giving Heero head in the back seat, I'll tie you both up and stuff you into different parts of the van. Nasty mouthed L2 brat."

Duo stuck his tongue out at Wufei and twinkled at Zechs. "He's a virgin, you know." Wufei howled and jumped onto Duo who yelped and tried to hide behind Heero. Heero pulled him out and pushed him into the seat beside Wufei. Zechs forcibly reminded himself that the oldest of them was only . . . eighteen? He wasn't sure. But this was getting out of hand rapidly.

"That's enough! I will drive, with Wufei in the front with me. Duo, you will NOT give Heero head while I'm driving. Nor will you do so anytime we're confined in a small space together. Do. I. Make. Myself. Clear?"

Duo grinned and gave him a sloppy salute. "Sir. Yes, Sir. Certainly, Sir." Zechs just snorted, got into the driver's seat, and motioned Wufei to join him. Heero pinned Duo in the back seat and spent most of the drive necking with him Zechs only had to tell someone to ‘keep hands above the belt' once, and then it was Heero, whose wandering hands had wound up on Duo's rounded ass.

Wufei navigated, so they were at the restaurant where they were to meet Trowa and Quatre in less than the allowed half-hour. Zechs parked neatly and turned just in time to see Duo pull away from Heero with a soft ‘we're here.' Heero smiled at him and gave him one last quick kiss then reached over him to open the door and shove him out. Zechs blinked and Duo swore. Wufei snorted.

"Do they have any self-control at all?"

"No."

"Then how did you manage to . . . defeat my troops. Self control and discipline were ground into them from the beginning."

"Oh, private life and missions are two completely different things. You don't want to see Shinigami and the Perfect Solder. Duo and Heero are deadly, don't get the wrong idea. We all dreamed of the day that we wouldn't have to fight every minute of every day and dream of fighting at night. Seeing that they haven't had private time together in nearly . . . I've lost track. A long time. I think they are showing a great deal of self-control. Come on, let's go in before they scandalize the place and get us ejected before we even get a table."

Wufei was wrong about getting ejected, when they got in the restaurant Duo was happily talking the waitress into getting the cappuccino machine turned on early and Heero was holding a chair for an elderly lady to be seated. Zechs sighed, "Those two are dangerous to my sanity. How do you deal with Maxwell in full cry?"

"I'm glad to see him happy. He's been so miserable without Heero . . . you don't even want to know how bad it was, at times I was afraid for him. But . . . I will warn you that he does tend to get a little crazy, Heero, hopefully, will keep him from blowing up something."

Zechs was forcefully reminded that these ‘boys' were trained terrorists who could, would, and had demolished entire military installations all by themselves. All five of them, working together, had stopped one of the greatest war machines in history dead in its tracks. If they wanted to act childishly they had the right.

They were also good-hearted young men who loved and laughed, hurt and cried; just like everyone else. Zechs was well aware that when you lost the ability to cry you weren't quite human anymore. ‘Mushy stuff' wasn't just for girls, guys just hid it better.

Wufei turned to call Zechs and noticed the way he was watching Heero and Duo. ‘Um . . . they won't really do anything to embarrass us. Not in public. Come on."

Zechs smiled at Wufei. "I was just thinking. Heero and I tried in a very serious way to off each other. Now he's the only friend I've got. Life can be seriously warped at times."

Wufei gave Zechs an indignant look. "And I'm . . . left over rice? What! We all like you. You were never . . . cruel. You abided by the rules of combat and fought with honor. We just . . . didn't agree on things. We could drop this conversation any time now."

"Yes. It's getting . . . unpleasant. I'm ready to turn over a new leaf as the saying goes and I'd . . . like to be friends . . . with all of you, if that's possible."

Wufei settled into a seat at the table Heero had picked and smiled at Heero who gave him an inquiring look. "I think that it's up to Heero, as you and he have the most to . . . forgive, if you take my meaning." Heero started to say something heated. "Heero . . . he brought it up. I think we should get it all out in the open and get it over with. I don't have any objections to Zechs. Do you?" Heero just snorted "Duo?" Duo gave him his patented wide-eyed-innocent look. "That leaves Quatre and Trowa and . . ."

"What leaves us?" Quatre settled into one of the two empty seats, Trowa took the other. Wufei filled them in quickly and Quatre announced with finality. "We like you. You never did anything to us that we wouldn't have done to you, given the chance. You never tortured any of us, or tried to have us executed. So . . . I don't see a problem. Pass the sugar, please." and that settled that.

~ * ~

Breakfast was fascinating to Zechs as he'd actually never bothered to watch teenage boys eat. When he'd been that age, he'd been too busy trying to get his belly full and later he'd eaten in the officers mess with men twice and three times his age. Now he watched in amazement as Duo negligently folded a pancake into quarters and stuffed the whole thing into his mouth, talking intelligibly around it. Heero was calmly buttering his fifth biscuit and nodding, ducking a waving fork. Quatre seemed intent on inhaling French toast as fast as the waitress could bring it and Trowa was doing the same with scrambled eggs, cottage fries and sausage. Wufei was a very neat eater, but the amount and variety of dishes he ate left no doubt in Zechs mind that he also was still growing.

"Hey, you gonna eat or daydream. If you don't want that I'll . . ."

Zechs slapped Duo's hand away from his slice of ham and then cut it in half. He forked it into a compact bundle and stuffed it into his mouth, mumbling, "Geer orf. Mine ge' yur' o' " then he set himself to nourishing his own body. Duo noticed that he ate as much, in a completely elegant fashion, as he and Heero together.

When they were almost finished, a woman approached hesitantly. "Excuse me, but are you . . . I don't want to cause trouble. I just wondered if you were Heero Yuy. You look like him." They all stiffened, but as she was only holding a book and a pen, they relaxed. She didn't look the type to kill someone with a pen. So Heero admitted that he was. She offered him the book. "Would you please autograph your picture for me. I don't care what a lot of people think. You saved us from the Alliance and Oz and . . . well . . . all those crazy people. Please don't say no."

Heero flushed scarlet but took the book and autographed the picture. Then he handed the book to Duo saying, "I'm sure you would like Duo Maxwell's autograph as well. And . . . " the woman suddenly gave a little squeal and a hop. "Yes I thought so." They handed the book around the table, each one of them autographing their picture. Wufei was the last of the group to sign, he handed the book to Zechs who just handed it to the woman.

She blinked then said softly. "Would you mind? You're in here too. You're a Gundam pilot, it says so right in the book. Please?" So Zechs signed, handed the book back, and picked up his coffee cup with a strange tightness in his chest.

"See, the war has been over for . . . almost two years now? And people are beginning to forget things. Anything that's nasty . . . unpleasantness of any sort. All gone. Only heroes, even misguided ones . . . . well, enough goo. Let's get out of here." Duo scooted his chair out and headed for the register. "I got it."

Duo paid at the desk, flirted with the girl a little and hurried out to hop into the van, now full of bodies. Heero and he sat at the back, with Quatre and Trowa in the center seat, Zechs drove, with Wufei still navigating. There was a lot of laughing and teasing, pointing at sights and general mayhem. Zechs gave up trying to maintain order when he realized that he didn't particularly care if they were stared at or not.

As they drove, Duo kept up a flow of chatter that Zechs found endearing. He compared things to things in the colonies, not always in a complimentary light. Seeing flowers, he told a story about the first time he saw real flowers.

Wufei smiled at Zechs. "If he gets on your nerves just tell him to shut up."

"I don't understand how you can be so rude to him. The . . . Duo obviously loves you all. It's not . . . "

Wufei sighed and shook his head. "And we love him too, but . . . imagine being confined to a small safe house with all that energy. He can drive a person to murder. . ." Wufei turned around and snarled, "Maxwell, will you please shut up?"

Duo just laughed, much to Zechs's surprise and settled down against Heero. "Sorry, ‘Fei. I'm just really excited. Heero and Zechs get to see my baby."

Zechs nearly drove into the ditch.

~ * ~

When they reached the facility Zechs couldn't help grinning. He'd thought he'd never see such a thing again and had regretted it. He regretted that he wasn't in the condition he'd been in during the wars. He still worked out but not with that intensity.

Duo hopped out, chattering. "Now you get to see my baby. You'll love it. I'm a fiend when it comes to obstacle courses. Some guys say that the full course is impossible but I run it every day and they've all seen me do it so I don't know how they can say it's too hard they're all a bunch of pussies. I got some of the obstacles from plans the Specials used for their course. And I made some up myself. You'll be needing stuff. We'll get you set up at the HQ and then we can be on our way. We'll be facing . . . mmmuuurffff?" Heero had put his hand firmly over Duo's mouth.

"Lover, slow down before you turn blue." Heero removed his had and replaced it with his lips. Trowa poked Quatre and they wound up kissing too.

Wufei rolled his eyes and snarled, "Will you get a grip, or a room. Or maybe a cold shower. Geez!"

Zechs solved the problem by dragging Duo by one arm and Quatre by the back of his shirt. Duo yelped but laughed, Quatre didn't make any objections just snickered. Zechs hauled them for several feet until he was sure he'd broken up the incipient necking session.

"Save that for after. I want to see Duo's baby." He gave Duo a stern look. "I nearly had a heart attack with that one, by the way. Now, get it together and act . . . no, never mind, you are acting your age. Act your IQ. Come on."

They entered the building and Zechs saw that it was a combination of meeting rooms and locker room complexes, complete with showers, whirlpools and first aid stations. He was sure that all of them were needed.

As they approached the desk Zechs held back waiting to see what was happening. Duo smiled at the older man in the slight shadows behind the desk and accepted a box from him with a thank you. The others took their turn and accepted their boxes. When Heero got to the desk he wondered if there would be one for him, he should have known better. Of course there was one for him.

Duo stuck his head into the window. "Thanks Gunnie. But there's one more. You'll have to measure him, but he gets full kit. Don't short him ‘cause he's not a recruit. Give him full respect, ok?"

"Sure, sir." Then the man snapped to so hard that he nearly hurt himself. "Sir! Commander. I . . ." he saluted and held it.

Zechs saluted back. "At ease Gunnie. I'm glad to see that you landed on your feet. Can you oblige me?"

The gunnie relaxed and reached to one side producing a box just like he'd given to the others. "Here . . . I made it up for sentiments sake. I never thought that I'd ever have a chance to issue it. I hope your sizes haven't changed too much."

Zechs accepted the box murmuring his thanks. The gunnie saluted again then sat down with a rather silly grin on his face. Zechs couldn't believe the man remembered his sizes after all this time.

"Come on. No day dreaming. We need to be changed and on the field in . . ." Duo looked at his watch, "thirty minutes. Plenty of time."

In the locker room they all stripped off and started changing into the UOTD, which was urban camouflage. Duo poked Wufei who looked where he was pointing. Zechs was standing with his back to the room, stepping into his pants. His back was beautiful, strong, muscular, and lean. And scarred.

They weren't easy to see, in fact, the only reason they were noticeable now was the angle of lighting. No one who wasn't a soldier or doctor would have known what they were looking at. The scars were only visible as shadows. The bright lights in the locker room showed them as slightly darker lines across the planes of muscle.

"Shit. I'm gonna so kill someone!"

Zechs started and turned to see five furious faces staring at him. He realized what had happened and raised an eyebrow. "What? It's nothing. Happened years ago."

"Who dared? . . ." Wufei reached out, then drew his hand back again.

Zechs shook his head. "The Headmaster of the school I was at. I . . . wasn't amenable to gentler discipline."

Wufei snarled. "The school Board of Directors should have been notified"

"Oh they were. In fact they had to sign off on . . . this." Zechs realized he was going to have to elaborate or he was going to spend a great deal more time with this than he wanted to. "Don't look so surprised. Charity students are held to a stricter standard of . . ."

"Charity! What are you talking about? You . . . charity?" Duo was indignant.

"When I fled Sanq, I became an orphan. No one wanted me. I was much too hot an item so I was sent to a school that would accept me as a charity student. I hated the place with a passion. I ran away, I fought. I was insolent to every member of the faculty. Everything I shouldn't have done I did. The last time I was beaten I ran away and . . . attracted all the wrong kind of attention. The Krushrenadas recognized me and came to get me. Then I went to the Specials Academy, I was . . . tough, rebellious, arrogant, and in general, a pain in the ass to my instructors . . . I was also so good it frightened them. So . . . what are we going to do?"

No one asked any more questions, his closed expression and firm change of subject left them with no choice.

Duo paired them up easily. "Ok, what we're going to do is put on a small show for some of the more difficult but worthwhile trainees. These guys are worth a little extra effort because of their special skills, but they aren't exactly team players . . . yet. So . . . me n' Heero. Quat', you and Tro' and Wufers, that leaves you n' sexy Zechsy."

Zechs choked and started laughing. He laughed so hard he had to sit down. "Well. Sexy. Maxwell, you'll be the death of me yet."

Wufei just snorted and smacked Duo in the head.

~ * ~

The sight that greeted the rather large group of trainees was something out of an Oz nightmare. Duo and Heero came out of the building first checking their guns. Then Quatre, with Trowa directly behind him, Quatre had his head turned slightly smiling softly as Trowa bent to him. Then came Wufei small, slight, wiry and dark. Directly behind him was Zechs tall, broad shouldered, muscular and light. The combined force of personalities was like a wall.

"Ok people, listen up. The idea is to accomplish the objective in as little time as possible without losing anyone. There will be times when someone has to be sacrificed, this is not one of them. You all go first while we watch. Then we go. There are two scenarios so we don't know any more than we would from a briefing. You," Duo pointed to a man. "Pick one. Then you have twenty minutes to set yourselves up and get started. We'll just lounge around and watch you all make fools of yourselves. As you know every inch of the place is viewed by cameras, they'll all be shown on the monitors here in the theater. Just like watching a movie." There were some rude remarks. "Yeah? You assholes couldn't cooperate with each other for nothing. Go. "

So the group went. And it was a giant fiasco. They lost three men in the first two minutes as they charged into the first room and walked right into a trap which ‘blew' them up. The bright orange paint splattered them liberally and the judges ‘tapped' them out.

Duo groaned, "Dammit, three toe tags in under five minutes. They're so not gonna make it. Fuck."

Zechs sighed and nodded. "They can't cooperate for more than two minutes. If I was training them, I'd wash most of them out now."

Quatre shrugged. "I'm getting rid of anyone who causes one of his fellows to fail or die. Those who get killed or left behind have a second chance. I want to be fair. But I won't have a bunch of fuckups in my force."

Duo, Trowa and Wufei groaned, this particular rant, while dear to their hearts, was getting old.

Zechs raised an eyebrow and waited, Quatre didn't make him wait long.

"Your dear sister while one of my best friends has fucked up royally. That foolishness about dissolving borders has turned around and bitten all of us firmly on the ass. The police are spread way too thin, they can't take care of everything so I'm organizing my own security force. I don't intend to loose anymore information to corporate espionage or have anymore trouble on Winner owned stations. Some of my mining colonies are completely out of hand. These people are all supposed to be some of the best mercenaries around, but they can't work together. I'm not sure what to do but get rid of them. But I want to be fair. It's just. . . dammnit!"

Trowa put his arm around Quatre and hugged him. "Love, you're doing the best you can. Don't take it so hard. We don't need them if they can't follow simple orders. What's so hard about go in, get the info, and get out. We didn't make it that hard."

Zechs nodded his understanding. "I see. Cooperation is necessary, very much so, but sometimes it's also necessary to sacrifice one man to get the mission accomplished.

Duo gave Zechs an assessing look. "Yeah, but it's also necessary to be able to tell the difference between necessity and convenience. These scenarios are set up so that they can be fulfilled without the sacrifice of a single man. But they have to cooperate to the fullest."

Zechs just hummed softly and started thinking hard. As soon as they got the mission statement he was going to be ready with some ideas at least.

As they watched the other group through the surveillance cameras set up throughout the complex they all realized that this whole bunch were ‘wild eyed opportunists' as Heero put it. They were all determined to be the one who came out on top. So they were as determined to cut each other's throats as they were to accomplish the mission. Duo watched eyes narrowed, arms crossed tightly over his chest, bouncing on the balls of his feet. In the end none of them survived.

~ * ~

"Jesus fucking H Christ. The whole bunch of you wound up dead. Shit on a stick. You're all gone. Get your shit and git. Get the hell out of my fucking sight. Bunch a' wannabe heroes. Go . ."

But several of the men had different ideas. Their complaints added up to you couldn't have done it either, so Duo opened the package of intel for the second ‘mission', shared it with all of them and snarled. "Watch the experts do it right."

Their objective was to break into a facility (run the full cooperation obstacle course) hack into a computer, retrieve data and insert a virus, then get out without losing a man. Not that hard. Unless everything went to hell; which, with Duo setting up the parameters, you could more or less count on.

So they started by cutting through an electrified fence, Duo jumped it with some wire he produced from what he called his ‘magic vest' Heero started the cut with cutters he took from his own vest and Zechs finished it. Then they crawled across several yards of open field and under a concertina wire fence which Quatre held up for the others so they had a quick slide under without risking getting caught and tugging on the wire hard enough to set off any alarms.

Then they had to climb a slick concrete wall. Zechs stood at the bottom and cupped his hands throwing the others up so they could reach the top. That left him at the bottom with no way to climb it. He watched for a moment wondering what to do. They all had to make it or the mission failed. He wasn't surprised to see Heero drop upside down from the top by the knees, someone was holding his legs but he couldn't see who. Heero crossed his arms over his chest holding an arrangement of belts. It made a ladder of sorts. Zechs jumped got his foot in the belt then grabbed Heero's belt and hauled himself up climbing Heero like a monkey. They dragged Heero up to sit on the top of the wall and sort out the belts.

After getting redressed they took stock. The next three parts of the course were a run, dodging through some false walls arranged to simulate an office complex and finding some way to hack into the ‘computer' room.

The run was easy Zechs found that even though his legs were longer he didn't have to hold back, they all kept up. The office was a little harder as it was booby- trapped, but Heero and Duo, the demolitions experts, took point. Zechs was the one to see the trap on top of the file cabinets and point it out. Duo remarked that Lyons was a ‘fuckin' genius' at traps, almost as good as me.'

They disarmed the device, but when Trowa wanted to take it with them Duo vetoed the idea saying ‘leave it. It might be motion sensitive just the ticket to trap us.' Wufei seconded and Trowa didn't argue, traps weren't his forte. Zechs was impressed with them so far. He'd frankly expected to be left behind at the wall, his abandonment wouldn't count as losing a man, or would it?

Heero sat down at one of the desks and started hacking into the system. "Who the fuck designed this damn thing?"

Duo smirked. "That would be me. In pieces. And no, I don't have a clue. Someone else patched the system together for this exercise so I wouldn't. Wouldn't be fair to the other team."

Heero grumbled a little but typed furiously. Finally he swore and reached over to smack Duo in the head.

"Ow! Hey! You're the hacker in the bunch . . . hack." Duo reached over and started typing on another keyboard. It was like watching two parts of a machine. As Heero found his way into the system, Duo started retrieving the data.

"You're a fiend, Duo. Who ever heard of storing data like this. It's like pealing an onion. . .Damnit!"

Zechs flinched and looked over his shoulder. He was guarding their backs as the others cleared the floor, searching for any guards and more traps. "What?!"

"I almost lost an entire layer of data. Shut up." Heero didn't look away from the monitor.

Suddenly Duo gave a soft crow of triumph. "Gotcha. Damn, I got to find out who set this up. He's really good. Fiendish, but good. . . . Heero, watch out for a worm."

Heero just nodded and kept typing. Duo inserted a flash card into a USB port and started saving the scavenged data to it. It took them another five minutes to finish the job. While Heero finished saving the last of the files Duo popped another flash card from a pocket and at a nod from Heero he disconnected the data flash and put the new card in. He tapped a few keys to download the virus and leaned back in his chair.

"Man, that was fierce. We get it all?"

Heero nodded, pocketed the data flash card and stood up. He checked his weapon, smiled softly at Duo and motioned to Zechs to go first.

They found the others still checking cubicles.

After clearing the ‘floor' they entered a stair well. "It's supposed to be night so watch out for night security. There's got to be some men in here somewhere. Lyons wouldn't let me get away without facing some of his pets. And by pets I don't mean lap dogs. Let's go." Quatre slipped up the first half flight and pressed himself against the wall. He was proud that Duo had managed to get a man like Lyons on his side.

"Clear!" Quatre leaned back against the wall again after taking a quick peek up the stairs. He held his ‘weapon' at his shoulder and waited for Trowa to ‘jump' him. They went up the stairs the lowest man moving up to take a place behind the head of the line to be the next to go. This took the pressure off the ‘point' man as it was a different one of them each time. That way no one got stale.

Quatre whispered. "Remind me why we're going out this way?"

"So we have to face a bunch of different challenges, it'd be too easy to go out the way we came in. Shhh!"

They were faced with a decision to make. They were at an intersection, left, right, or straight ahead. They bunched up and listened. Nothing. But that didn't mean much. Lyons as Duo pointed out was a ‘crafty asshole' and had lots of badness up his sleeve.

Badness which came out to play just then. A group of men came at them from straight ahead, running into the hall from a door about fifteen feet up the hall. Duo tossed a flash-bang at them and Trowa and Zechs gunned them down with ruthless efficiency, but they'd made way too much noise.

"We're gonna have t' make a run for it. Fuck. I was so hoping this wasn't gonna get this messy. But whoop ti do, and here we go." Duo nearly made Zechs jump out of his skin as he started laughing. Not the happy laugh of a seventeen year old boy it was the maniacal laughter of Shinigami.

Wufei sighed and snarled, "Fuck. Ok here we go. Zechs make sure you don't touch him until you're sure he knows its you. He tends to stab first and ask questions later."

Zechs twisted his head in an odd manner making his neck pop. "And I don't? Let's go."

Heero closed his eyes. "Which way . . . which way . . . got it. Left. We can't go right or straight ahead. Those are the two easy ways out so they'll expect us to try one of those. We go left."

Zechs got a sudden cold chill, which was banished when one of the ‘corpses' sneezed. *No flashbacks, please, no*

They headed out in a closed formation with Zechs, as tallest, at the back. Then Heero and Duo one on each side of the hall, after them Wufei then Quatre and Trowa as another pair. They checked doors clearing them with quick fierce glances. They left the doors open behind them especially if they opened out.

The sound of slamming doors alerted them to the men coming up behind them. Zechs found Quatre laying on the floor at his feet with Trowa crouched behind him, this made it possible for all three of them to get a good field of fire as Zechs would shoot over Trowa's head and Trowa over Quatre's. When the attack came they were ready for it and it didn't take much time for them to again wipe the field.

Quatre grumbled, "This is way too easy, something bad is up ahead, I just know it." Trowa patted him on the shoulder whispered something in his ear that made him snicker and they started on.

Heero motioned right at the next intersection and Duo moved that way right into a dead end. He gave Heero a questioning look and Trowa sighed. He hated crawling through air ducts, he always felt as if he was about to get stuck. Zechs growled, if they weren't big he would get stuck.

Wufei shook his head. "Won't go. Zechs won't fit. No man left behind. Remember." Heero just nodded then motioned to the vent Duo had opened. It was huge.

"Intake. Come on." Heero motioned for Zechs to go first. "If he doesn't fit we'll go another way. This is the shortest."

Zechs stuck his head into the intake and then pulled it out again. "No go. Shoulders are too wide. Not a skinny teenager anymore."

Wufei eyed the breadth of the shoulders in question and snorted. ‘Never were. Or I miss my guess."

Heero again closed his eyes and consulted his internal map, Duo did the same. After a quick consultation they headed back the way they'd come and chose a different hall. This one was empty but Duo didn't like the look of it so they waited while he took a pair of glasses out of his MOLLIE vest. He put them on and shook his head.

"We got all kinds of trouble. Hot spots and laser triggers. Damn. I'm so inventive I even scare myself. Well. . . here we go. Only way to make it is to run like hell." Duo started to take off but Wufei stopped him.

"Maxwell, if I remember right I still beat you by three-tenths of a second on the fifty." Duo laughed. "Yeah, I know. You're still prettier. Suck it up."

Duo gave Wufei the glasses at his request. He put them on and took off down the hall, at a dead run. He dodged and ducked as the triggered booby traps went off splattering red, blue and green paint and powders every where. He made it to the end of the hall and watched panting as the others sauntered over the colors, checking doors and trying not to get the mess on their boots. When they reached him they gave him a quick once over to make sure he wasn't ‘wounded'. He wasn't.

Trowa checked the door at the end of the hall for traps and nodded the all clear. When they opened the door they were in for a nasty surprise. There were no stairs. Just a fifteen-foot drop to a concrete floor. And a big sign that said "loss of one team member for jumping."

"Fuck, fuck and double fuck." Heero eyed the drop wondering what to do. If it had been a real mission they would have jumped and taken the risk but not now, the sign was clear.

Zechs moved up and eyed the drop. Then he did some math. "Look. I'm six . . . three or four. Trowa, how tall are you? . . ."

Trowa estimated the distance then said "I'm 5'11" thereabouts. It'll work."

Wufei made an impatient noise. But Quatre snarled ‘incoming' so they turned their attention to fighting off the newest wave of attackers.

While the ‘dead' men gathered themselves up and got out of the hall Zechs and Trowa worked the escape out and told everyone what they had to do. It didn't go down well with Quatre but everyone else was ready.

"I just hate climbing on people what if I kick you or something."

"Rather be kicked by you than shot by them. Come on love get it on the stick."

Zechs lay down on the floor near the edge of the drop with his head pointed that way. Heero and Trowa helped him scoot to the edge then slide over it head first back to the wall. He hooked his knees at the edge and dropped his arms down. Quatre lay over his shins to hold him in place.

Trowa climbed down Zechs first, then Duo and Heero, Quatre was last. Then Zechs rolled back up using just the muscles in his abdomen, he reversed himself and hung from the edge by his hands. While he was turning around Trowa placed himself with his hands on the wall, Heero clambered onto his shoulders and Duo got on Heero. Duo reached up and guided Zechs, helping him to place his foot on top of Heero's head, then he jumped down, flipping neatly to the floor. Zechs barely placed his weight on Heero, instead as soon as he had a firm footing on his shoulders, he also flipped to the floor.

They formed a flying wedge with Zechs as anchor. With Heero on his left and Trowa on his right, then Duo beside Heero and Quatre beside Trowa. Wufei took eyes behind, having to run backwards as much a he did forward. His yelp of "incoming oh fuck" was enough to raise the hair on everyone's neck. They all turned to see that the ‘incoming' was an old Aries backed up by twenty men.

Zechs heard Heero laugh, it was as bone chilling as Duo's. Trowa put a hand on Zechs's arm before he could get in the line of fire. ‘Now you see why they get the big money. Just pick off the stragglers and anyone they miss."

Wufei started firing, not the sweeping full auto fire of a pure firefight. He just started picking off the men on the right edge of the group, he ignored the Aries completely. It wasn't yet close enough to pose a danger. They were still out of range of the 60mm chain gun. And surely it wasn't still missile capable, even if it was, no one would use missiles in this scenario. Too much collateral damage.

Zechs watched to see what they were going to do. Heero started issuing commands and Zechs had to offer one objection. "But that puts us firing right at you. You . . ."

"No, we're already behind them. Just clear them out. I'm hit but it's not bad. Duo's fine. Just keep them off our backs, we got to get that Aries before he gets close enough to bring that sixty into play.

The judge called a time, but no one was listening to him so he gave up. That Aries had put everyone on the field into full combat mode. The officials and other spectators were going to have to sit back and enjoy the show.

Zechs took aim and blasted away, he didn't realize that they'd fallen into the same configuration as they'd used before except that Wufei stood at his side. They took their time and did it right. There wasn't a man left standing in less than two minutes. The Aries was getting closer and closer.

Wufei snarled. "They better get their asses in gear or we're done for. I'd hate to lose after all this. Damn. . . . ok."

They watched as Heero and Duo reeled out a long piece of thin strong cable that Duo produced from somewhere. The cable wasn't more that three-sixteenths of an inch thick but it was some sort of alloy. Duo quickly fastened a handle to the end in his grasp as Heero did the same. Then they parted at a dead run, running away from each other at an angle. The Aries kept up its steady advance. Then Zechs saw what they were about to do and nearly had a fit.

"Oh my god. That won't work. It's not possible it. . . they'll. Fuck."

But it would work. Heero cut behind the Aries one way and Duo the other, wrapping the cable around one foot of the mecha. They dropped the handles when the leg began its stride and hurried to pick them back up when the foot settled back on the ground. Then they quickly tied the cable to a quick anchor Duo pulled from a thigh pocket. He pushed the anchor into Heero's hands and waited as he pressed the orifice against the ground and triggered the charge. The cable was now firmly attached to the asphalt pavement. When the Aries started to take it's next step it pulled against the cable then staggered. The operator wisely surrendered rather than damage his mecha. More than it was already. It was in pretty bad shape and the man was lucky it had stayed together when they'd trapped it.

"Come on. We got to go. We're on the down hill side now, but we got to get to the HQ under our own power and Heero is ‘wounded' so we got to go slow."

Heero had a green mark on the upper thigh of his pants where a ‘bullet' had gone through the muscle. He was now walking wounded only he wasn't walking, the judges had declared him alive, in no danger of dying, but not mobile. Wufei considered. Trowa bit his lip. Duo and Quatre just waited. There was no way either of them could carry Heero.

Zechs was puzzled. "I thought that wound in his arm would have put him out."

Duo snorted. "Wound? Fuck, I shot him worse the first time we met and he's been shot lots worse and finished the mission. It's just that with that wound in his thigh, the leg is broken, and he's not walking on it." Heero just snorted. "Ok, ok, baby. I know you could if you really had to, but the judges decisions are final, so now what? Make a stretcher? Out of what?"

Zechs just reached out and scooped Heero up, Heero snickered and helped Zechs get him into a fireman's carry. "I can manage him for . . . probably a mile before I wear out. How far is it?"

Duo just nodded shortly. "Thousand yards or so. Straight run. And lucky for you, all down hill. Move out."

They moved out indeed, with Zechs in the middle of a box created by the four still ambulatory Gundam pilots. Wufei took point with Duo and Quatre on each side, and Trowa eyes behind. There was one more surprise in the form of an APC, but Quatre produced a small rocket launcher, attached it to his rifle, and placed both rockets under the vehicle, enveloping it in a cloud of pink smoke. The judges announced it was destroyed.

And that ended that. They made the last of the run at a slow jog because that was the opposition's last hurrah and they knew it. They crossed the finish line just as Zechs was beginning to flag, Heero was heavy.

There was no question in anyone's mind that the six gundam pilots had proven that cooperation was a good thing. They'd beaten a scenario that most of the first group had said out right was impossible. There was some shuffling and fussing. But it didn't take long for the judges to get everyone headed in what ever direction they were supposed to go.

~ *~

Heero shucked out of his equipment and stood holding it in one hand. Duo smiled at them all and announced that they would leave everything at the desk for the Gunnie to clean and put away. They could also pick up towels and supplies for their much needed showers.

Duo sniffed himself and announced loudly. "Eeeuuuwww. Man we can go to the moon and beyond, invent stuff that scares me shitless, but we can't come up with a really good, long lasting deodorant. Sucks."

Wufei shrugged as he stripped off his sweaty undershirt. "Yeah, but if they did all the deodorant companies would go out of business. Here…." Wufei tossed his shirt at Trowa who, as nearest to the hamper, wound up ducking a barrage of dirty clothing. He stuffed it all into the hamper and followed admiring Quatre's ass.

They goofed around in the showers, snapping each other with towels and in general making a great deal of noise and mess. When they finally got down to the job of getting clean, Zechs brought up Heero's scars. Complaining that they were much worse than his, but no one thought to be indignant on his behalf. Quatre chose to answer after nods from the others.

"Heero's scars are from honorable combat. He got them knowing what he was getting into, . . er. . . more or less. But you. You were . . . injured by people who were supposed to have your best interests at heart. It's somehow . . . not the same."

Zechs ducked his head and turned off the shower he was under. He quietly picked up a towel, the others did the same waiting quietly for him to say what he wanted to so badly. "I don't believe anyone has ever had my best interests at heart. Not the people at the school, not the Kushrenada's, not . . . anyone really. So. Well, never mind."

Wufei reached out and pulled Zechs's braid gently. "We care. Really care . . . we're war heroes. We have to stick together. No one understands gundam crazy except another gundam pilot . . . let me dry your back."

Wufei took the towel and dried Zechs then turned to allow him to do the same. There was some laughing as Zechs, Duo and Wufei took care of their hair. Then they agreed that snacks and drinks were in order.

~ * ~

As they drank juice and ate some kind of dried fruit and nut mix that Wufei swore would help them recover faster they wandered in to the open vestibule of the HQ. Quatre looked at his watch and sighed. He was tired and wanted to go home. Trowa smirked and handed Quatre a paper. Quatre grinned at him and handed it to Wufei.

"You're responsible, respectable and available. I'm turning custody of one Zechs Merquise over to you. I'm tired and have to get up early tomorrow if we want to have time for any fun. So make sure he's a good boy, ok?"

Wufei blinked at the paper, which did indeed turn custody of Zechs over to him until ‘further notice.' He wondered idly what Quatre was up to but didn't worry too much about it. When he was told about it Zechs couldn't help teasing Wufei a bit asking him if he would be a good master. Wufei snorted at him and grinned in a rather evil way.

"Will you obey me without question?" No one expected the stricken look Zechs couldn't hide. "Zechs . . . I would never . . . I'm sorry. I seem to have opened a wound. Forgive me."

Zechs sighed, then dragged himself back together. "Treize used to say that to me when I was a trainee. Just . . . we were friends and comrades once. Still feel it once in a while," He shook his head. "There, all better now."

They allowed, even encouraged the change of subject. Beginning an analysis of the mission that lasted through their drinks and a large bag of the snack food. They all agreed that it had turned out quite well and that Zechs was a true asset.

Duo snickered and announced, "With emphasis on the ass. Very nice. If I do say so."

Zechs groused. "What are you doing looking at my ass. I don't want Heero after it, in a very not nice way. I really don't want it kicked." The conversation wandered, as idle conversations are wont to do, from training to trucks to Duo's real yen for a drivers licence and that special car.

"Excuse me but which one of you is the Gundam pilot." They all languidly raised hands. "Look, no offence, but this is important. That Aries is fubar to the max. The batteries are running down and the gyros are getting ready to go off line. We got major probs. So a little help would be greatly appreciated."

Duo hauled himself to his feet with Heero's help, he was stiffening up nicely, thank you. Zechs grunted as he got up, hauling Wufei to his feet at the same time.

Zechs nodded. "We're all Gundam pilots, even me. Let's see exactly what you have."

They went to see exactly what the situation was. And it was bad. They couldn't get the verniers started and the batteries were low enough that they wouldn't move the suit. If the gyros stopped, the suit would topple over, and it was close enough to the building that it was going to fall on it. So they had to do something soon or the entire back wall of the HQ was going to be rubble.

"Umm . . . where did that thing come from anyway. It doesn't look in real good shape."

The messenger sighed. "It belongs to Mick. He salvaged it from somewhere or other. He's not real stable. He thought it was his . . . it's not. . . but we don't argue with him much. In general he's harmless, that suit is the only thing that gets him off kilter."

Duo rubbed his forehead in frustration. Some of the guys they'd hired were just a little shell shocked, not quite right in the head. This was their safe place, the place they fit in, Duo knew some of them weren't really capable of relating to society in general. They could relate to others here in WEI Security so they were ‘coddled', helped to hopefully find reality, sanity, or at least functionality.

"Hey, Mick, what's wrong. You got a real mess here." Duo sat down beside the man and looked at the suit. It was whining softly. Not a good thing.

"Oh, man. My baby is in real trouble. I got to get her going again. We'll need her some day, we will. You'll see. Suits are good for more than war, you know . . . you know that right? And when we need war suits again there won't be any. You know that right? But we'll have that one. And the Gundams … the Gundams were blown up you know. Right. I'm right aren't I?"

Mick didn't look at Duo once, he kept his eyes on the Aries rocking and muttering. Duo grunted as he stood up.

"Okeeeee, Hee-man. We got to get that suit going. Mick's been wrenching on that thing for months. It keeps him happy and we use it in training . . . damn it. I thought he was getting parts from junkyards. Those batteries . . . hey! You," Duo shouted at a man who was running towards the suit "Stay off that. The gyros are winding down, don't fool with it."

The man changed directions and headed for them instead. He came to a halt and saluted, Duo returned it and started questioning the man about the suit. When he found out that they hadn't been able to get proper batteries and had replaced the military spec suit batteries with car batteries he covered his eyes with one hand and groaned. Wufei snarled something in Chinese and Heero just glared. The glare scared the man into babbling, which produced the additional information that they'd installed a quickie recharge plug in the heel. Which was what he'd been headed for when they'd called him over.

"How long will it take to recharge the batteries?"

"Not long, but the charge won't last. Those batteries are on their last legs. I'll get started. You'll have about . . . twenty steps, maybe a few more. Then we'll have to recharge again. We had to recharge three times to get the damn thing here. But Mick wanted to so bad that we just couldn't refuse him. . . .um . . . Major Maxwell?" Duo just looked at the man. "You gonna take his suit away?"

Duo shook his head. "No, I know how it is. I miss Scythe so bad sometimes I'm almost sick. No, he gets to keep it. But we got to get him some good batteries. Go charge it."

"Zhou ma. la ji" Wufei took a deep breath. "Damn it. That trash is dangerous. "

Heero could tell how much it meant to both Duo and Mick. Duo because it meant a lot to Mick and Mick was one of his men. So Heero started for the suit.

"Where do you think you're going?" Duo reached for Heero and missed as Heero eeled his shirt out of Duo grasp.

"To move that suit." Heero turned to glare at Duo.

"I'll move it."

"No, I will."

"He's my man." Duo put on his stubborn face.

"So? I'm better at handling a bad suit." Heero put on an equally stubborn face.

"No, you won't. I'm not risking you. The warden will have a fit."

"The warden isn't in on this. He wouldn't know anyway."

"I'll move it."

"No, I will. Damn it Duo, you're so stubborn."

"Me! Heero you . . . you're . . . hey!"

Zechs turned along with Heero. While they'd been arguing about who was going to move the suit Wufei had simply gone to the suit and rode the winch line up to the cockpit.

"Wan xiao!" Zechs didn't realize he'd spoken aloud until Heero and Duo both said ‘huh?' in identical tones.

"Stupid boy. He'll get himself killed. I'll . . . damnit. That suit is a menace. It's one of the second run suits and not quite up to standards. It's unstable. Shit."

Zechs yanked at his braid in frustration. "He'll go down. That damn thing is . . . stop him!" Zechs sudden shout wasn't aimed at Wufei, Mick had finally realized that someone else was going to pilot his suit and was headed for it. Several men wrestled him to the ground and started comforting him, explaining what Wufei was doing.

Zechs looked around and told Duo that the area needed to be cleared. Duo just headed off to take care of getting the onlookers out of the way, Heero ran to check that the recharge truck was close. Wufei just started walking the suit back to its rack in a warehouse at the back of the hangers.

It took them two recharges to move the suit the quarter mile to it's rack and both times Duo swore they were going to set the thing on fire the sockets got so hot. Zechs bit his lip and worried. Heero grimly threatened to tie Wufei up and never let him go.

"It's not worth it. That old thing is . . . junk. I wish. Damn. . . Duo . . ." But Duo was in as bad a shape as Heero was. Zechs realized that they were both missing their Gundams. Somehow he'd never missed Epyon or Tallgeese at all.

"It'll be ok. But when that young man gets out of that disaster on legs I'm not going to be responsible for what I'll do. I swear if he's hurt at all I'll blow that pile of junk to the moon."

Wufei finally wrestled the suit into its rack and slid down the cable. Duo grabbed for Wufei, Heero grabbed Duo and Zechs got hold of Wufei. Heero and Duo wound up hugging each other while Zechs shook Wufei like a rag doll

"Dammit. Little dragon, you've got the sense of a pea. You could have been badly hurt. You could have . . . if that suit had fallen over . . ."

Wufei tried to interrupt. "I was strapped in . . ."

Zechs cut him off. "Doesn't matter, the whole chair module would have broken lose and smashed you into the cockpit walls. Dammit. Just . . . " Zechs suddenly realized what he was doing and nearly dropped Wufei he was so startled. ‘Oh hell. Chang, I'm sorry. I . . . well, . . . fuck."

Heero and Duo hugged each other nearly hysterical and trying hard not to laugh themselves silly. Wufei managed to retrieve his dignity, straighten his clothes and not smack Zechs.

"I'll thank you not to manhandle me. No matter how upset you are . . . I'm fine, just a little burnt. I . . ." Wufei found himself surrounded. When he said he was burnt Heero grabbed one hand and Duo grabbed the other. Zechs just got out of the way.

"Where? Dammit. ‘Fei how'd you burn your hands?"

Wufei tried to pull his hands away. "The controls got hot. Mick was wearing gloves. I didn't have any. It was more important to get the suit racked before the gyros failed. I'm not badly . . . oww. Maxwell. That hurt. Don't . . . will you stop fussing?"

Heero now had both of Wufei's wrists in his hands. Duo was yelling for a medic and Zechs was simply wondering if spanking Wufei would get him solitary. Wufei was struggling with Heero a little but Zechs snarled him into submission.

"Stay still brat. Burns get infected easily. Damn. Just a. . . not badly burned, huh? You're starting to blister and those are electrical burns Wan Xiao. Be still, I say." Zechs took the burn spray from the medic without even realizing it. The medic started to object, but Duo frowned at him and shook his head.

Zechs sprayed the stuff on Wufei's hands and waited for it to start to skin. Heero released Wufei, as Wufei realized how much it was hurting because it stopped. Zechs sprayed again.

Wufei hissed softly. "Oww oww oww oww, fuck. It hurts. Dammit."

"Yes it hurts. Hold still and let the neo-skin dry." Zechs replaced Heero's hands with his own and held Wufei by the wrists until he stilled. "You're not doing anything until tomorrow. That stuff will seal the burns but . . ."

Wufei interrupted with some irritation. "And who's going to take care of me. Heero makes a lousy nurse and Duo drives me crazy. Quatre will cry over me and Trowa will have to comfort him."

"I'll take care of you. Least I can do. Heero . . ." But Heero had already climbed into the nearby car and was holding the door open. "Smart. A fait accompli. Come on." Zechs helped Wufei into the car, making sure he didn't try to use his hands.

Wufei endured the fussing until they got to the house, then he made one determined effort to get to his room before Quatre descended on him in a flurry of recriminations. Zechs didn't let him get away with his attempt, instead he firmly gripped him by the shoulders and forced him to endure Quatre fussing and respraying his hands. When he finally got to his rooms, Zechs followed him in, even though Wufei attempted to shut the door in his face.

"Zechs. I'd appreciate a little privacy."

"Not going to happen. I'm staying right here." Wufei knew that any attempt to remove him was fruitless. Even without burned hands Wufei was only about half the size of Zechs, it wasn't going to happen.

"Well, I need some privacy, go. . . come back in ten minutes."

Zechs gave Wufei a look. "What are you up to? Chang, you might as well tell me. I'm not leaving, so you'll just have to give up on whatever you're planning.

Wufei flushed furiously and Zechs wondered what he was up to. "I have to . . ." Wufei mumbled off.

"What . . . I couldn't hear you. Mumbling isn't going to get me in or out any time soon. You might as well just sound off and get it over with." Zechs eyed Wufei's red face with some amusement. "We're both grown men. Get over yourself."

Wufei gave Zechs a burning look. "Alright. I. Have. To. Piss. Now get out."

Zechs just snickered. "And how are you going to manage with those hands?"

Wufei started to clench his hands into fists and realized that he had a very real problem. The spray had stiffened into a protective glove. He couldn't bend his fingers, not to mention that it was painful as well. He let out a soft moan.

Zechs laughed. "Come on. I'll hold it for you."

~ * ~

Authors notes.

Quick anchors do exist. Not big enough to stop a Gundam in it's tracks. In fact they are used to anchor buildings like sheds and walls in concrete floored buildings and use .22 blanks to shoot the anchor into the surface.

For those of you who don't play paint ball, the judges are ‘invisible', everywhere, and their decision is final. They give their instructions and decisions over the same tactical radios the combatants use to communicate with each other.

For more info on MOLLIE vest go here: http://usmilitary.about.com/od/armyweapons/l/aainfantry4.htm

I replaced my old ALICE with a new MOLLIE just because I could. They are handier than backpacks, under certain circumstances, because you don't have to dump the pack to find things.