The Uncanny G-boys

[Author's Note: Now this is what Quatre's and Dorothy's relationship should be. ^_^ | I don't know why Heero is acting the way he is in this one. It seemed like a good idea at the time...]

"Hey, Quatre, check it!"
The blond boy turned just before Duo got the first word out -- however, Duo had seemed to have learned something, as he had given away no thoughts of shoving Wufei's hand in his face. Wufei's...webbed...hand. Quatre took a step back.
Wufei tore his hand from Duo's grasp. "Maxwell, you're really asking for it."
The braided boy only laughed. "Whatcha think, Quatre? Would he look good with scales or what?"
Wufei shifted in annoyance, in the process revealing a line of faint turquoise markings leading down his neck to a point beneath his sweatshirt. Quatre pretended he hadn't seen. "Duo, the Professor said we're at the age where our powers could take on physical attributes." He said this more for Wufei's benefit rather than to be informative. Duo should have known already. "It's only, uh, natural."
"But it's cool!" The braided mutant practically bounced. "So does that mean Heero could grow wings?" The comment was inspired by the figures of their remaining two friends coming down the hall toward them. Heero scowled as if he had heard.
Wufei tugged the collar of his shirt higher with one hand, muttering, "And maybe you'll grow a hooded cloak and a scythe..." His bitterness hid a trace of worry, as Quatre caught him thinking his concern that the newly forming scales felt like they were crawling along his neck.
Duo hadn't heard the barb, however. He greeted Heero and Trowa then turned to size up Quatre. "Does that mean you'll end up looking like the Prof?" He cracked up. None of the others shared his mirth.
A female voice suddenly spoke up behind them, "Why, that would be a waste of such beautiful blond hair." Quatre jerked away in time to avoid what he suspected would have been a dangerous petting of his hair. Going with the momentum he whirled to face Dorothy, who had one hand raised. He staggered back two steps. He hadn't sensed her at all. Bad. Very bad. He took yet another step away as she smiled disarmingly, lowering her hand to the textbook she held clasped to her chest. "Relax, silly, I don't bite." She tittered unpleasantly.
Quatre schooled his expression into indifference. "Let's go, guys. We'll be late for that mechanics class." Slowly he turned, deftly creating a mind barrier in case she tried anything else. As the group walked away Dorothy laughed loudly, going off in another direction. Quatre shuddered, then lowered his head, hunching his shoulders.
"I guess we all have our own little problems, huh, Winner," Wufei muttered, clapping him on the back to reassure him that his friends were there for him.
"Yeah," Quatre grumbled in reply. His ears were burning. He knew the blush must have colored his entire face.

Later, after classes ended for the day, a good number of students gathered on the basketball court. Quatre, waiting on the bench, managed to shut out all their cheering except for two girls right behind him.
"Yeah, Duo!!"
"Go, Duo! YAY!"
Quatre rolled his eyes in a good-natured way, then made a gentle probe at their minds to find out who they were. He was slightly surprised when one of them returned the energy -- albeit weakly. She had mind powers, too, although different from his. He turned halfway with an apologetic smile. She had red-brown hair that curled around her face just above her neck and lively gray eyes. She smiled back then stuck out her tongue, and then returned to cheering. Her companion-in-yelling had very short, deep-indigo hair and equally bright, blue eyes. Both wore denim jeans, the former with a mauve teeshirt and the latter a lavendar one with sleeves that went over her hands.
Quatre turned back to the game in time to see Duo shoot the winning basket. Yay. They played without him again. While he was happy the guys had won, he wished he could have helped. Just because he had superior mind powers didn't mean he was good at sports. He grabbed up a water bottle and headed off to change out of his rarely used shorts and tank top, trying not to look disappointed.

On the way to English Lit the next morning Quatre met up with the two girls again, along with Duo -- he had an arm draped around each's shoulders as they walked toward the classroom. Quatre gave a weak grin from the doorway, shaking his head. He had to suppress a broader grin as he inadvertantly picked up the mischievous thoughts of a hiding Wufei. The blond boy waved to the three then made to duck into the room before he might be accused of being Wufei's accomplice.
"Maxwell! Good morning! Hi girls! Tell me, if his clothes slip, is it worth the headache?"
Quatre ducked back into the hallway when he heard Wufei utter an "Oof!" of pain. He made it in time to see a scattering of sparks drifting away from the Chinese boy, and the indigo-haired girl lowering one hand. "That's what you deserve! Rude!" She stuck her nose in the air to accentuate her point.
The gray-eyed girl chuckled. "You were asking for trouble, you know that." She patted Wufei's shoulder. He scowled then sighed.
"Hey, Quatre!" Duo suddenly lunged forwardand grabbed the blond boy's arm, yanking him fully into the hall. "I don't think you've met my friends yet! This is Hilde Schbeiker. She zaps stuff."
Wufei smiled nastily. "Sort of like Duo. Except she doesn't kill things."
Hilde scowled. "I could use a stronger bolt you know!" She threw both hands toward him but nothing happened except a dim glow along her fingers. She shook them and scowled again. "Damn."
Duo was also annoyed at the comment although he kept quiet about it. He motioned toward the other girl. "This is Catherine Bloom. She -- uh -- um...Well, show him."
The gray-eyed girl thought for a moment then said, "You know the eraser with the blue stripe on it?" Quatre nodded. That was the one which always left streaks when someone used it. The girl held up her palm and squeezed her eyes shut. After a long moment a chalkboard eraser appeared out of thin air to settle on her hand. She opened her eyes and grinned excitedly as she turned it to show the blue stripe. "Go check and see if it's not there, so you know it's not a trick."
Quatre only put a hand to his head rather than see the physical evidence. He had heard the pop of matter transference clearly in his mind. "I -- I believe you."
Wufei, however, elbowed past him to glance into the room. He turned back with a nod. "Okay, let's see you put it back."
Catherine closed her eyes and flattened her palm. Quatre carefully focused on the eraser, curious to see if he could follow the flow of power. That's going to hurt, came Catherine's voice. She opened her eyes to stare at him. Trust me. Her eyes closed again and when she was certain he had backed down she moved the eraser. It disappeared -- with a faint pop only Quatre could hear -- and then reappeared right over the blond boy's head. It bounced off, leaving a rain of chalk dust in its wake. Quatre coughed and vainly tried to shake the dust free before bending to retrieve the eraser. He raised an eyebrow when he faced Catherine again.
"Sorry," she shrugged, embarrassed. "I'm having trouble with returning things. I need to work on that."
Duo interrupted by grabbing the eraser. "Well, now that we're all late, we can worry about this some other time!" He motioned for the girls to enter the classroom first, then allowed Quatre and Wufei to pass. He waited a moment to follow, flinging the eraser at the back of Wufei's head while trying to look innocent.

After class Quatre pulled Catherine aside just before she stepped out of the room. "So what are the limits of your power? You can speak to me..."
"I can sense what you're thinking, but not like a true telepath. I'm better off sticking with conjuring." She smiled good-naturedly. She held up her hand while holding his eyes to hers. He felt a momentary shift -- and saw a faint spark in her eyes -- and then a pencil appeared on her hand. She flashed her teeth in an impish grin, giving the pencil to him, then striding out the door. Quatre opened his binder to return the pencil to the plastic pocket where it usually resided.
Duo was waiting in ambush outside the door. He snagged the blond boy's arm before Quatre could react. "Q-man, you're supposed to warn me when Wufei is going to pull a stunt like that! You're good at that!"
"So I should go around reading minds just so you know who is going to play a prank on you?" Quatre shook him off. Suddenly he grinned. "Besides, I thought it would be funny."
Duo stopped short and stared at him, then smirked. "You're starting to be evil. Finally you've learned something!" He clapped him on the back. Quatre chuckled. Five paces later he abruptly stopped, going rigid. "Q-man? Hey -- hey, Quatre?" Duo looked at him in concern, hand poised to take his shoulder and shake him.
Quatre spared him the effort by twitching forward, as if halting himself from doubling over. "Biatch alert," he warned in a hoarse whisper.
Duo glanced around, on edge immediately. "I don't see--" He paused when he saw that the other boy's skin was becoming increasingly pale. "Breathe, man, breathe." With haste he guided Quatre to the likeliest safe spot -- the boy's room. Once there he stood guard with arms crossed while Quatre leaned over a sink, merely staring for several minutes and afterward running cold water to splash his face.
"What's she doing to you?" Duo asked in a quiet tone. "You better tell the Prof if she's messing you up."
Quatre leaned on the sink gazing blankly at the water dripping into the drain. "H-her power is throwing me off balance a bit...I -- I'd rather assume it's too much for her to handle...than take it personally...We're all here to learn control, after all." He wiped his sleeve across his face then smiled weakly at Duo. "Catherine's power caused a minor reaction, too. So, basically, anyone with mind powers will mess me up."
Duo relaxed his stance, sighing. "Just be careful around Dorothy, okay? Catherine we know we can trust."
"Will do." Quatre retrieved his books from the window sill and nodded toward the door. "I'm okay now...Thanks for the help."
"No prob." They exited into the crowded hallway. Quatre had only a second's notice to pull back, but it wasn't enough time to stop Duo from walking right into the path of the hither-to concealed Dorothy. The braided boy staggered aside while the girl merely smiled.
"Hello, boys." She directed a pleasant gaze over Duo's head.
"Hey, hey! Give a guy some privacy!" Duo attempted to push her away without actually touching her, meeting with resounding failure.
"Oh? I don't see anything my innocent eyes shouldn't behold." Her smile, still aimed past Duo, became more sinister.
"Innocent, my ass. Get out of here!"
"But I'm not in there, Mr. Maxwell." At last she swung her gaze to meet the violet-eyed glare. Duo then found himself looking not at her smug face but at her hair. It seemed to be, well, glittering. He drew back a step, blinking to make sure he wasn't imagining things. She narrowed her eyes, smile still in place. Duo turned -- not of his own volition -- and balled his hand into a fist as he took a step toward Quatre.
The blond boy held two fingers from each hand to his temples, eyes closed in concentration. Duo felt a second force enter his mind. Time to go to mechanics class, remember, Duo, your favorite? The braided boy jerked to a halt, blinking then scooping up his books from the floor; when he'd dropped them he couldn't recall. Then he pushed past Dorothy to leave the hallway.
Quatre slumped back, drained from the effort of shielding both his mind and Duo's. Yet the battle of wills was not over. He stubbornly leveled a glare at Dorothy. She was holding the door open with little concern for anyone who might be looking. She shook her head so he too could see the multi-colored gleams that winked throughout her hair. "I've graduated, Mr. Winner. I hope you don't fall too far behind, although I must applaud your passing this time." She began to laugh, releasing the door. Quatre sighed, feeling helpless as it closed after her retreating form. Okay, so now it was personal...

"Two people messing with my mind! Man!" Duo was so disgusted with the idea that he pushed his plate away, too unnerved to have lunch. "Uh, nothing personal, Quatre. But, man, she was gonna make me punch you! That's low, man, real stinkin' low."
Quatre poked at his food with disinterest. "It's okay...I know you couldn't help it..."
Heero reached across the table to point at Duo's plate. "You going to eat that?"
"No." Duo sighed and leaned back, folding his arms behind his head. "Damn. That was so low."
Heero shoveled a forkful of macaroni and cheese into his mouth then said, "You should tell the Professor." Except it came across less eloquent than that.
"What? Tell the Prof? I told him that already."
Quatre continued aerating his lunch. "I was hoping I could talk to her. Find out why..."
Heero swallowed before speaking again. "She doesn't need a reason."
"But...I haven't done anything to her. And I can't get into her mind to find out if there's a motive or not, but I want to know." Quatre sighed in frustration, shoving his plate away. Heero claimed it, as well.
The fourth member of their table spoke. "Maybe she thinks you're a threat." Trowa had been more interested in the contents of his soda cup for the duration of the lunch period, and it was there that his gaze still remained after the comment -- failing, of course, to meet Quatre's worried glance.
"Sad when mutants can't get along with each other," Heero managed around another mouthful.
Duo snorted. "You're a big help, you know that?"
The glare Heero gave him made him realize that the Japanese boy was, in fact, taking the matter seriously. "So what would you have us do, gang up on her with all our powers? We'd be no better than her."
Duo tapped his chin as if actually considering the idea. "Hmm, y'know..."
"Duo!" Quatre spoke while the others scowled their disagreement. "I -- I'm not asking you guys to defend me. That's too much. I -- I'll give her one more chance. Then I'll tell the Professor. I've...been practicing my defenses. I think I can handle it if she tries an attack."
Trowa abruptly stood, crushing the empty cup in his hand. "That would be foolish." He casually tossed the cup in a garbage can as he strode from the table. Quatre watched him leave, unable to keep from wondering who he had meant the foolish for, him or Dorothy.

A tedious session of Global History finished off Quatre's day. The only good part about it was being assigned a project that two people would collaborate on, and with Catherine also sharing the class they immediately teamed up. Their topic was the American Civil War. "This shouldn't be too hard," Quatre commented after he had switched seats with another boy so he could sit next to her.
"Are you doing anything after class? We could start on it today."
"You know the horse-riding assistant, Sally Po?" She nodded. He continued, "I have a meeting planned to learn tending the horses, but I'm sure I can reschedule it for classwork's sake." He grinned.
"Okay, that'll be great." Catherine scribbled a note for herself. The final bell rang. In reflex they slammed their textbooks shut and hurried to join the flood of freed students. "So I'll meet you in the library in about ten minutes?"
"Twenty. See ya there." He waved and fought his way against the crowd, moving in the general direction of the stables. After a few turns he came to a hallway that was completely empty. That's odd... On a whim he glanced back the way he had come. That hall was empty, as well. An uneasy feeling prickled along the back of his neck. When he turned ahead again he was no longer alone.
Dorothy stood about seven feet away in the middle of the hall, arms hugging the books from her last class to her chest. The smile she usually had reserved for him had been replaced by a blank yet remarkably menacing countenance.
He decided to not fall into any more traps. A mind barrier went up and his words held the force of a portion of his power. "What is it you want from me? I have no intentions to harm you, so I don't understand why you might see me as a threat." He sent another measure of power to plow into her mind, seeking to make her back down. Her mind was completely cut off from his efforts.
She laughed delicately, then with a casual tossing aside of her books she stepped forward. "You? A threat to me? I told you already that I'm much more powerful than you."
Quatre took a wary step back. "I was informed that the Professor was keeping tabs onyour power."
"You mean this?" She removed her headband. Small red and green lights blinked at both ends. She held it out on the palm of her hand then stared straight at it. It pulled apart into six seperate pieces as if its very molecules had been rearranged. "Unfortunately, the Professor failed to notice how my powers have advanced." The blinking lights fell silent. She turned her hand to dump the fragments onto the floor, crushing them underfoot as she approached him. "More's the misfortune for you, Quatre." Her hair began to glitter. He retreated to the side, struggling to keep his barrier in place despite his growing fear.
"But why?! I haven't done anything to you! Isn't it hard enough we can't fit in with normal people? Why do you insist on fighting each other?!"
"I'm not fighting with you, Quatre. I'm seeing if you're up to the test."
"What test?? Why?!"
"Because I said so."
A wave of mental energy hit him, tearing through his barrier and sending his thoughts reeling. He attempted to rebuild the shield but failed when she radiated another wave. Quatre tried to stand his ground. It was becoming increasingly difficult. Her hair glittered again, signalling a third attack that promised pain. He wasn't strong enough...His back slammed against the wall as he lost his balance. His control over his mind was slipping, leaving him with a feeling in his head that resembled potato soup. Some thoughts remained intact while others just...drifted. He wished she would stop toying with him. But he had a feeling she wouldn't let up until he was reduced to a drooling, mindless idiot.
Dorothy relented only slightly, although her hair continued to glitter. She held out one hand and slowly drew closer. Oh, Allah. He didn't want to know what would happen if she actually touched him. He had visions of his brain melting while she happily stole his power. His knees weakened and he tried to shrink away from her, letting out an involuntary whimper. There was no place to shrink away to.
Abruptly Dorothy's hand was deflected to the side. She actually paused and blinked. Was he only acting, and had he projected some type of shield? Tentatively she held out her hand again, meeting the invisible wall. No, wait...It was a...
Strong hands suddenly clamped down on both of her wrists. She tried to fight the unseen assailant. It was futile. She sent a mental blast at the force, but it went right through it only to elicit a pained cry from Quatre, who slumped to the floor. The force holding her suddenly became visible. Trowa.
With full strength he pushed her backward, crossing the hallway to trap her against the wall. He only had to hold her there long enough for help to arrive, which would be easy considering the state she was currently in. Her eyes rolled wildly as she tried to comprehend how anyone could avoid her mental attacks. She began to struggle a bit, however it was perhaps only a distraction to hide the build-up of glittering. All at once she went still, staring him dead in the eyes. Then she released an almost tangible wave of energy. Trowa only flinched, his eyes looking just as dead back at her.
The energy, unfortunately, continued to flow. Quatre uttered a hoarse scream and finished his impending collapse across the floor.
Dorothy stiffened. Trowa watched as the light in her eyes faded, the glittering disappearing in an instant. She became a ragdoll in his grasp. He let her go in disgust, allowing her to hit the floor with absolutely no dignity. He turned to see a grim-faced Professor Xavier heading toward them, an equally disturbed Jean Grey right behind. Trowa stood silently as Xavier regarded Dorothy's limp form, the boy knowing he didn't need a to explain anything. Without a word he went over and gathered up Quatre in his arms, following Jean to the medical room.

Back to the Uncanny G-boys

(c) 2001 - 2004 Autumn Loweck. This work may not be copied, distributed, or reprinted without the author's permission. Characters of Quatre, Duo, Wufei, Heero, Trowa, Dorothy, Catherine, and Hilde belong to the creators of the GundamWing series, Sotsu Agency, Sunrise, Bandai, and whoever else in Japan involved in this most cool anime. Professor Xavier and Jean Grey belong to Marvel Comics, FOX, and all those other cool people who created the X-Men.