[Sequel to Unexpected Secrets; Book 5 of the "Secrets" Arc]
Written: October, 2000
Cumulative Rating: NC-17
Pairings: (2x1) (4x3/3x4) (5+S)
Category: Angst, yaoi, AU
Cumulative Warnings: Angst, disturbing material, lemon, AU, yaoi, sap, OOC
Materials Needed: Kleenex, Inner Peace; also: avoid Colas
DISCLAIMERS: For no apparent reason, I don't own Gundam Wing or any other anime or TV characters I use here, just the ideas in
this story and some characters that are new are truly mine, for the moment at least. Don't ask. Just don't ask! Don't sue me either,
please, it would be a waste of your money.
NOTE: Timeframe---after the war has ended and the Gundams were destroyed.
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Tragic Secrets
Part 13
Watching Heero break through encryption files amazed Gene. "Geez, man! Are you some kind of ultimate computer hacker or what?
Granted, why a doctor would have so much security to begin with is a bit much!"
"Agreed." Heero was grim as he hacked his way past a variety of security measures many of which only the truly paranoid civilian would
ever have utilized. Several times, he and Gene had sat and played a bizarre game of "guess the password". Surprisingly, Gene got it right
far more often than Heero did. Strange words like "Danger", "Robot", and even a name, "Will Robinson", came up as successful. Finally,
Heero's curiosity got the better of him and he just had to ask, "Gene Starwind, you damned space cowboy or space cadet or whatever,
how the *Hell* do you know these things?" Heero actually laughed at his own inability to come up with a suitably insulting nick-name for
his maverick friend.
Gene smirked happily; it was rare he got to show off his knowledge of ancient trivia twice in one day. "Oh! That's from an old TV show
called 'Lost in Space'!" He laughed at the look of utter confusion on Heero's face. "It was about this group of space colonists who got
lost and they had this obnoxious 'Dr. Smith' character along with them and obviously this jerk seems to identify with him. Why anyone
would *ever* want to identify with a creepy character like that is beyond me, but he apparently does!"
Before this little topic could continue a strange sound erupted from the machine as a robotic voice announced, "Warning! Warning! You
are now entering the confidential files of Dr. Zachariah Smith! Do not proceed without proper clearance!"
"Bingo!" Gene shouted happily. This time, however, Heero didn't ask for explanations, he was already speed-reading the entries he had
found. A low growl erupted from his throat as he came across the pair of lists of ailments to be treated, clearly indicating the false ones
along with noting how long the false illnesses should last before he "heroically" cured them to insure his prolonged presence. This
discovery made Gene shake with rage once he realized what it meant above and beyond the implications for Duo's health alone. "That
bastard! That unethical bastard! He's been extending the treatments and even administering drugs he knew were either not necessary or
were potentially harmful just to extend his time of service! It's all right there with full notes and everything! We've got to get a hard copy
on this!"
"Already done," Heero growled as a printer across from them began spooling out sheet after incriminating sheet of evidence, each
conveniently imprinted with "Confidential Files of Dr. Zacariah Smith" at the top of each page.
As the two went through the contents of the records pertaining to Duo, Heero's rage only continued to grow. The doctor's own
obsessive record-keeping was proving his downfall as they found entry after entry where the doctor had gloated about not being found
out about the hypnotism sessions. These "treatments" included such unsavory items as instructing Duo to never believe anything negative
about him from his friends. There were also repeated hypnotic suggestions that sexual relations with Heero would result in terrible
problems as well as heavily emphasizing that he couldn't possibly trust any of Heero's claims to love him. This revelation alone had
Heero ready to draw blood.
"Wait, Heero!" Gene calmed his friend while restraining his own intense desire to locate and kill Smith. "We can't make this asshole
suffer for what he's done if you kill him, and that would be too generous for a bastard like this! We need to force him to go back in and
change those hypnotic commands. Having another hypnotist undo damage like this can actually trigger hidden traps that he may not have
recorded here and it could make things even worse for Duo!"
Barely restraining himself, Heero agreed, and sat back down to continue the disgusting task of identifying everything else that needed to
be undone.
After another intensely emotion-filled hour, Heero was finally satisfied they had all of the information they needed as well as all of the
evidence to convince Quatre of the fraud perpetrated against him. Gene insisted on having evidence for members of the medical
community as well. The young doctor would have been angry about abuse of authority in any case, but to have had it done in such a
coldly calculating and destructive manner, had sent Starwind into a fury.
"All right, Gene," Heero had returned to an emotionless approach himself trying to ignore the overwhelming desire to blast the idiot who
had ruined Duo's life into oblivion. "What is your professional assessment of the medications he has Duo on right now?"
Gene, trying to obtain an equally cool clinical detachment and failing responded, "That fucking shit head has Duo on the worst possible
assortment of psychoactive drugs, many of which are addictive at low levels, yet he is administering them at five-fold what would
normally be used. As of what I can see, unless these records are a fabric of lies, Duo is currently experiencing an altered sense of self
and has been warped by both hypnotic commands and drugs. Crap, a greater problem may well be the fact that he is now physically
and psychologically addicted to a fair number of these drugs and when used in combination as they are, that addiction can be extremely
hard to break without extensive in-patient time in a psychiatric ward." Gene was seething in anger. "Frankly, Heero, if we didn't need to
keep the asshole alive for Duo's sake, I'd offer to help you kill him myself!"
Stunned by such a pronouncement, Heero realized his worst fears were indeed coming true.
"Then, Gene, it's time I went to Quatre and Trowa with this. I don't think either you or I are going to let Smith, that fucking bastard, have
a peaceful night after we've discovered this!" Growling, Heero stalked back to the mansion considering numerous ways to make Smith
wish he'd never been born.
"Well, unfortunately, Duo sounded none too enthusiastic about seeing you, Gene. Also, I regret the subterfuge and the fact you were
shoved immediately into this instead of at least getting a good night's sleep, but I'm grateful that you came." Trowa shook hands with the
doctor he had become friends with when they shared the penthouse suites at "The Queensberry" while both Duo and Heero had been
hospitalized.
"No problem, Trowa," Gene smiled as best he could through his anger, but then gave up. "What Heero and I have come up with is some
pretty nasty shit Smith has done to Duo and he's been taking Quatre for a ride financially, too. The bastard used drugs he knew weren't
necessary and some he even knew in advance would be contraindicated and dangerous, just to extend his stay here. Now, medical
malpractice is something that will most definitely need to be pursued, but what about prosecuting him for fraud? Will Quatre agree to it?
The bastard has been committing it against Quatre for quite some time according to these records."
Trowa was thoughtful a moment, then answered with a question of his own. "Do we really have enough evidence here, Gene? I'm
certain Quatre will be ecstatic at the thought of prosecuting him, but even I know that illegally obtained personal and confidential medical
records will *not* hold up in a court of law alone."
"Shit!" Gene spat out. "Wait a minute! Heero, didn't you say they had Duo under a suicide watch earlier and they maintained recordings
of his room even after the watch was lifted?"
"Yes!" Both Trowa and Heero answered together. Hope shone brightly in Trowa's eyes, knowing recordings would be far more suitable
in court.
The three then returned to the mansion, replaced the purloined laptop, reset to its original seemingly-innocuous settings, and they headed
for the communications room where they could sit and review the recordings which had been kept in the firm's main database, the most
secure computer data storage available. The three spent the entire rest of the night pouring over recordings of specific days noting which
were the most incriminating ones, especially the hypnosis sessions.
By the following morning, three young men, brought together by chance months ago who now shared a friendship more solid than stone,
sought out the remaining people needed to complete the beginning of Duo's *true* recovery.
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