The Tomorrow We Fight For
A Gundam Wing/Tomorrow People crossover
Part 6
By Marika

When Adam started to wake up, the first thing he was aware of was voices.

��be a fascinating case study. Do you see all the activity in that part of the neural cortex?�

�I�ve never seen anything like it. Can you imagine if we could stimulate that sort of activity in some of our people?�

�They�re talking about using that machine to bring in some more of them, you know, the one they brought in yesterday? I heard that��

The voices were getting fainter now, as if the speakers were moving away. Adam heard a door close, and then it was silent. Adam cracked open one eye, then closed it just as quickly. The light was too bright. It was blinding him. After a few seconds he realized that if he was ever going to figure out where he was, he had to open his eyes. He hesitated a few seconds as he tried to remember why it was important to find out where he was, why he needed to know that at all, but he seemed to be having trouble focusing on anything, more so than was usual in the morning.

He opened his eyes again, wincing until his eyes adjusted, then he looked around. He was lying in a bed in an all-white room that vaguely reminded him of a hospital. What was he doing in a hospital? He started to raise a hand to scratch his head, but stopped when he realized that he couldn�t move his hands. He looked down and realized that he was tied to the bed. There was a thick strap across his chest, one around each wrist, and one around each ankle. Not good.

He let his head fall back to the pillow, his eyes traveling around the room once more. He stared at the stand next to him and saw an IV bag hanging from it, the tube running down to the needle in his right arm. It took him some time to figure out what that meant. They�re drugging me, he finally figured out. That was very bad, but he couldn�t quite remember why right now. Whatever they were giving him, it was making it very difficult to concentrate. And that was very bad also, but he still couldn�t remember why. He lay quietly on the bed and tried to remember.

:Adam?: said a voice in his head, very distant and faint. He blinked. What was that?

:Adam?: repeated the voice, and this time he recognized it.

:Ami!: he thought happily. Ami would be able to tell him what was wrong.

:Where are you?: she asked.

:A white room,: he told her promptly. :Looks sort of like a hospital, but not. But something�s wrong. Do you know what�s wrong?:

Ami was quiet for a minute. :Adam, are they drugging you?: she asked slowly. :I mean, do you feel funny at all?:

:They�re drugging me,: he told her obediently. :I can see the drip-drip bag.:

:An IV?: she asked.

:Yeah, that�s it! It�s bad, but I can�t remember why. Do you know why that�s a bad thing?: he asked.

:Yes I do, it�s so you can�t teleport. Listen, Adam, I need you to do something for me.:

:Sure!:

:I need you to look around the room very closely and get a picture of it in your mind.:

:Why?:

:Adam, it would take too long to explain right now, but I need you to do this. Are there any people there with you?:

:No, they left.:

:They left you alone?:

:Yup.:

:Is the door locked?:

:I don�t know.:

:Can you check?:

:Nope.:

:Why not?:

:They got me strapped down to the bed.:

There was another pause. :All right, Adam, I just need you to look at the room very carefully. Can you do that?:

:Yup.: He raised his head and stared at the room for several minutes. It was hard to concentrate, but he worked very hard.

After a long time Ami said, :All right! We got it! Here we come!:

:What?: Suddenly there were multiple flashes of light and a lot of people appeared. �Wow,� he commented out loud.

�Shhh,� Ami murmured, placing a hand over his mouth. She undid the strap across his chest, then reached for the needle in his arm. �Just stay still, this may sting a little,� she murmured, and then gently pulled it out.

Adam frowned. It did sting a little, but there was another hurt in the room, much worse. His eyes fell on the boy with really long brown hair who was untying his wrists. He saw a bandage on the boy�s right arm. �Hurt,� he said, grabbing the boy�s wrist so he couldn�t move away.

�Huh?� the boy asked. Adam passed his hand over the bandage. His hand glowed golden yellow for a few seconds, and then he smiled to himself.

�Hurt gone.�

The boy�s eyes widened, and he moved his arm around. �Ah, yeah, hurt gone. But you know, there�s another hurt.�

�Where?�

�Right there,� the boy said, pointing to Adam�s thigh. �Can you heal that one?�

Adam passed his hand over his own thigh, saw it glow again, and suddenly his head was a lot clearer. He blinked and rubbed it, concentrating on his healing power, and the vague feeling disappeared entirely. His head snapped up. �Are you guys all right?� he asked immediately.

�We�re fine,� Ami told him. �How are you?�

�Fine, now, thanks to him,� Adam said, looking at Duo. �How did you know?�

�I didn�t,� Duo said, stepping back. �I just figured that as long as your healing powers were working, you might as well fix your own leg. I kinda hoped it would help bring you down, but I wasn�t sure.�

�It did. Thank you.� :You told them?:

:Yes� everything. They deserved to know.:

�And thanks for healing my arm. Feels good as new.�

Adam nodded in response to both comments. �Yes, well, it would be better if it worked all the time, but when it does work, it is helpful.� He swung his legs around off the bed and started to stand up. Ami and Duo caught him as his legs refused to cooperate.

�You know healing exhausts you!� Ami scolded gently.

�I�ll be fine,� he assured them as the strength began to return to his legs.

�We�d better go back to the island,� Ami said worriedly, glancing at the other Gundam pilots, who were standing by the door, guns held ready.

�No, wait!� he exclaimed. �I heard something� when I was out of it�� he concentrated, sifting through the hazy memories from when he was still drugged. He didn�t really understand how his healing powers had gotten the drugs out of his system so quickly, but he didn�t really understand how any of his powers worked, and he wasn�t complaining. There was something he�d heard while he was out� 'using that machine to bring in more, you know, the one they brought in yesterday�� �The machine is here!�

Everyone stared at him. �I heard a couple of the� whoever they were� talking right after I woke up. They said that they were going to try to bring more of us in, and that they brought the machine in yesterday!�

Megabyte snorted his opinion of them being able to bring in more Tomorrow People � there weren�t that many of them around. At least, not yet - Adam maintained the hope that they were just the first of many. �So how are we going to find it? I don�t think wandering around and asking for directions is going to get us anywhere.�

�I might be able to get it out of someone,� Jade said hesitantly. �But I need to be able to touch them.�

�That�s not going to be a problem,� Quatre said, peering out the small window in the door. �There are a couple of guys in lab coats coming this way. I think they�re coming to check on Adam. Can you use them?�

Jade swallowed. �Ah, yeah, sure.�

�Does it matter if they�re unconscious or not?�

Jade hesitated, then shook her head. �I don�t think so. It might be easier, actually.�

Quatre nodded grimly, flattening himself against the wall. �Good. Get back so they can�t see you. Adam��

Adam nodded, seeing what he wanted, and lay back down, arranging the straps so that they looked like he was still restrained and the IV tube so that it looked like it was still in his arm. :Get against the wall,: he told the others.

:Gee, and I was planning to stand here and offer to let them drug me too,: Megabyte said sarcastically as he moved to stand against the wall. Ami joined him, and Jade crouched behind his bed, out of sight. Adam allowed his eyes to grow vague and stared at the ceiling.

At the very bottom of his field of vision, he saw a face briefly peer through the window, then the door opened inward. �See? He�s awake. Sort of,� one of the men was saying as the two of them stepped inside. Almost instantly Heero and Duo were on them, knocking them out with well-placed blows to the head. Adam winced involuntarily and sat up as the door closed. That�s how the soldiers had knocked him out after he tackled the leader.

Duo was checking the pulse on the man he�d hit. �He�ll be fine,� he reported, dragging the man over to the bed and then lifting him onto it. �Can you do him?� he asked Jade, who�d stood up when Adam got out of the bed.

�I�ll try,� she said, laying her hand on the unconscious man�s forehead. She frowned slightly and her mind suddenly became inaccessible to his, indicating intense concentration. �OK,� she murmured after a few seconds. �It�s all here. We�re not in a base, really, we�re in a research facility maintained by the government.� Adam felt his stomach clench as he realized how close he�d come to being someone�s experiment. �We�re in a fairly large city� hey, it�s London! Anyway, they�ve emptied the entire floor, it�s just us. The machine is down the hall, not too far from here��

�Guards?� Heero grunted.

�Very few� none on this floor right now, but there will be one coming by to check in twenty minutes or so. There are a few of them patrolling some of the other floors, but that�s it. No one at the front door, either.�

�Any back exits?� Duo asked.

�What? Why?� Jade asked, momentarily coming out of the trance she�d fallen into.

�Well, if we send you guys home, it�d be nice to know how to get out of here.�

Jade�s eyes opened wide. �You mean we can go home right now?�

�That�s the idea.�

Jade�s smile stretched from ear to ear before she turned back to the unconscious man. �Ah, just two of them, and this guy thinks they�re both covered by cameras. One is the garbage chute, and the other is the delivery ramp, in the back. It�s a big set of doors that they can move bigger things through.�

Duo glanced at Quatre, who shook his head. �Security shouldn�t be a problem, for us.�

�Then the delivery ramp it is! Anything else you think we should know?� he asked Jade.

�Ah, I don�t think so, no, no, no,� she muttered to herself. �Oh! There�s a fire escape off of this floor, too, if you need it.� She removed her hand. �So can we go now?�

�Sounds like a plan,� Duo said cheerfully, pulling a gun out of the back of his pants. �Now where exactly are they keeping that machine?�

:Where did he get that?: Adam asked.

:We took them back to their safe house before we came here,: Ami told him. :And we neatened everything up again at the Ship, just in case. The note is still there.:

:Good.: If there ever were any Tomorrow People on this world, the things they�d left might make their lives a little easier. God knew he�d have given just about anything for a warm blanket when he first arrived.

Jade finished telling the pilots where she�d seen the machine, and then they cautiously opened the door and looked out. Apparently they didn�t see anything, because they slowly crept out into the hall. After a few seconds Quatre gestured for them to come out into the hall, leaving the two unconscious bodies behind. The hall was empty, with the pilots spread out along the wall. They swiftly moved down the hall until they came to the door that Jade had seen in the man�s mind. �It�s an electronic lock,� Duo muttered. �Did any of them have a key-card on them?�

�I got it,� Megabyte said, placing his hand over the lock. His brow furrowed with concentration, and after a few seconds a green light flashed and the door swung open.

�That could be a really useful skill.� Duo commented.

�Only if you want to be a thief, and somehow I don�t think my father would approve of that career choice,� Megabyte muttered, but he looked inordinately pleased with himself. They all stepped inside and Megabyte propped the door open with a garbage can.

The machine was sitting in the middle of the otherwise empty room, and Quatre immediately moved to the controls. �This will only take a few seconds,� he assured them, his hands flying across the keyboard. Everyone except Heero watched him � Heero was staring out the crack in the door, holding his gun ready. Adam averted his eyes from the killing device, but for once he wasn�t that upset to see one.

�All set!� Quatre cried triumphantly.

�Really?� Ami asked nervously. �All you have to do is turn it on?�

�Yes, but you�re going to have to teleport back to your own world yourself.�

Ami nodded. �Thank you for all your help.�

Adam looked at Duo, who was looking almost as pleased as Megabyte had, but couldn�t help but notice that Duo�s grin faltered slightly when he looked at him. I�ve hurt his feelings, he thought, and then almost laughed at himself. Who would have thought, a week ago, that he would be worried about the feelings of a terrorist?

Adam quickly crossed the few feet that separated them and held out his hand. Duo stared at him, a startled expression on his face. �Are you sure you want to do that?� he asked, looking at Adam�s hand.

�I am. Actually, it would be an honor.�

�An honor, huh?� Duo asked with a grin, then clasped his hand. Adam did his best not to stiffen up as a barrage of images assaulted his mind, many of them dark and frightening. But it wasn�t Duo�s fault that bad things had happened to him when he was younger, no more than it was Adam�s fault that people were always trying to use the Tomorrow People to their own advantage. He pushed slightly, and smiled at the person he found beneath all that darkness, a warm soul who�d risked his own life to help them, strangers who wouldn�t even touch him.

�Definitely. Thank you for everything you�ve done.�

�No problem. And thanks for taking care of my arm.�

Adam let his smile broaden and released Duo�s hand, breathing a silent sigh of relief as he did so. �Are we ready?� he asked the others.

�Let�s link,� Ami suggested. �Just to make sure we all go together.� Adam had a feeling that her suggestion had less to do with sticking together and more to do with her concern about his exhaustion, but chose not to comment. Instead, he held up his hands. Megabyte stood to his left and Jade to his right, with Ami right across the circle. Quatre flipped a switch on the machine as the ball of light formed, and Adam felt that peculiar buzzing he�d felt a week and a whole world ago.

:Concentrate on our ship,: he urged, not wanting to get sent to an alternate parallel universe. :Remember, the chess game, and Jade�s books� Got the picture?:

:Got it,: the others chorused.

:Go!: he instructed, and they teleported.

Now that he was looking for it, Adam noticed that this teleport did seem a bit longer than usual ones. When he once again felt solid ground under his feet, he was almost afraid to open his eyes, to find that they were in another unfamiliar place.

�Yippeee!� Jade shouted, apparently having no such problems. He opened his eyes in time to see Jade scoop all of her books into her bag and sling it on her back. �I�ve got to get home, my mum will be worried sick! I�ll talk to you later,� she called, and disappeared.

�Yeah, I�d better get going, too,� Megabyte said quickly, grabbing his coat from where he�d dropped it a week ago. �Dad�s got to be going nuts. He�s probably got every one of his men out looking for us.�

�Tell him I�ll stop by to talk later,� Adam told him. General Damon liked to keep updated on all Tomorrow People business. Actually, he�d probably want to hear this even if it hadn�t involved his son. He�d get a first-hand account from his son, but he usually liked to talk to Adam as well.

�No problem,� Megabyte said, and disappeared.

�I�d better get back too,� Ami said quietly. �My mum will be frantic.� She grimaced.

�What are you thinking?� he asked with a smile, although the thought of Mrs. Jackson�s reaction also made him grimace. He�d be giving Ami�s residence a wide berth for some time.

�I was wondering whether or not I should tell her that you got shot protecting me,� she said with a nervous laugh. �I think she�d appreciate you trying to take care of me, but I don�t think I want her to know that we were in a situation where people were shooting at us.�

�Sounds like you have a real problem there,� Adam said with a light laugh. �Why don�t you get going? I�m sure you�ll figure out something. Explaining it to her can�t possibly be worse than terrorists, corrupt governments, and giant robots.�

Ami winced. �I think those are parts of the story that will also be left out. Adam, promise me you won�t stay here by yourself tonight? I know you usually do� but I don�t think that you should be alone tonight, if for no other reason than because of the drugs. We don�t know if they�re entirely out of your system yet.�

He started to shake his head, but she became insistent. �I�m serious, Adam! You can even stay at my house! We�ll have to sneak you past my mum, but��

�That won�t be necessary. I�m sure the Damons will let me stay with them if I ask, and I am going out there to talk to the General anyway. Alright?�

�Alright. Talk to you tomorrow.� Ami also vanished, leaving him alone.

In London, Jade suddenly appeared in her living room. �Mum?� she called, heading for the kitchen, and heard something crash.

�Jade?� came a hesitant call, and then her mom appeared in the doorway.

�Mommy!� Jade shrieked, and cast herself into her mother�s arms.

An ocean away, Megabyte appeared in his father�s office, not caring if his father was meeting with someone who didn�t know about the Tomorrow People. Luckily, he wasn�t. �Dad!� Megabyte shouted, and his father practically flew out of his chair to embrace him.

�Oh thank God you�re all right!� he exclaimed. �I�ve been looking all over the world for you guys! Where have you been?�

Ami teleported in to her living room, and heard a gasp from behind her. She spun around just in time for her mother to almost knock all of the breath out of her with a fierce hug. �Oh, Ami! I was so worried about you! I called Mr. Damon, and he said he didn�t know where any of you were��

She took a step back, putting her daughter at arm�s length. �This was because of the Tomorrow People again, wasn�t it?� she asked sharply.

�Yes, but it wasn�t their fault,� Ami protested, and started to go into her explanation.

Adam sat by himself in the Ship, a piece of paper in front of him. He was trying to write down all of the major events of their adventure. Not because he was afraid of forgetting � even if he hadn�t had a virtually perfect memory, he�d be hard-pressed to forget that � but because writing these things down helped him to organize his thoughts, and he wanted it all straight in his head before he went to see Megabyte�s father.

But he was having trouble concentrating because of a fear that had been lurking in the back of his mind for days. Now that they were finally out of immediate danger, he could think about it, and he didn�t really want to.

The Ship, perhaps sensing his mood, lit up the column and moaned a question at him.

�No, I�m fine, just thinking,� he said out loud, putting one hand on the column before he teleported himself to the surface. He couldn�t pinpoint the exact time when he started to talk out loud to the Ship, instead of just ignoring it or using mental communication. Megabyte would say that it was a sign that he had to get out more often, and he might be right, but it was soothing to hear something that sounded human every now and then.

Once he was on the surface, he started walking along the edge of the beach, just where the water met the sand, dancing out of the way every now and then to avoid getting his wet.

When they�d gone to the other world, they�d known for sure that it was a different time � what he was worried about was that he wasn�t sure that it had been another world altogether. What if it was really the future of this world? They�d assumed that it wasn�t because the island showed no signs of their presence, and the Ship didn�t recognize them. But both of those could be explained away. The Ship could have been damaged in an earthquake � it had happened before, and could happen again, and that was why it didn�t remember them, not because they were in a completely different Ship. And as for the island� a lot could happen in two hundred years to cover up the signs of human habitation.

What he was really worried about was that the only way that they would let that happen to the island is if they were all dead. And that was what his basic fear was � that that would be their future, because he failed to protect them. Someone would find out about them, and they wouldn�t be able to stop them. And the Tomorrow People would be eradicated, so that there wouldn�t be any sign that they�d ever existed.

Most of this was just paranoia, born of his own deepest fears, but he couldn�t help but wonder even if that really was another world, if his own had a similar future� two hundred years of war, and situations that created the Gundam pilots� no one should have to live through what he�d seen in Duo�s mind. Was that what their future would be like?

Not if he had anything to say about it, nor any of the other Tomorrow People, he finally decided. And they did have allies here � people who were willing to fight for the same future, when the Tomorrow People couldn�t. The thought was reassuring, and he found that he wasn�t as resistant to the idea of people fighting for him as he used to be. Maybe something good had come out of that entire mess.

And with that thought in his mind, he headed back to the ship to finish his work before he went to visit Megabyte.

Several hours after they sent the Tomorrow People home (he hoped), Duo found himself on a plane next to Quatre, flying back to the states. It seemed ridiculous that a couple of Gundam pilots would have to resort to commuter class flights to get back to their weapons, but that was the situation they found themselves in. They�d broken up into three groups to go back to the safe house, where they�d probably split up to complete their own separate missions again. Quatre had volunteered to make up a story about Oz accidentally destroying the machine during transport. The disappearance of the Tomorrow People they�d leave alone, and just tell the scientists that they couldn�t find them.

By all rights, Duo should have gone with Heero, since the two of them were partnered more often then Duo and Quatre, but Duo was in some desperate need of conversation, and if he wanted anything more than stoney silences, the occasional grunt, and (if he really irritated Heero) a �baka�, that meant that he had to go with Quatre. So that was how he found himself sitting in an uncomfortably small seat (even for him � he hated to think what it was like for adults), trying not to figit too much.

Finally he asked, �Do you think they made it home? I mean, we�ll never really know for sure, will we? They could have just been sent somewhere else.� The question had been eating at him ever since the Tomorrow People vanished.

�They made it home,� Quatre said eyes half-closed. He sounded very certain.

�How do you know?� Duo had to ask.

�I can feel it,� Quatre said with a slight smile. �They made it home. They�re very happy. We did the right thing in helping them.�

�Really? You can feel them even on another world?�

�It was strongest right after they left � it�s almost completely faded now, but I could,� Quatre replied calmly, the smile not leaving his face.

Duo grinned at him and leaned back in his chair. After a few minutes, he asked, �Quatre? Are you jealous of them?�

�Because they can�t kill? A little, maybe. I hate killing � it�s so unnecessary, or it should be. And I don�t ever want to get to the point where it doesn�t bother me� but I don�t think I�d want to be in their shoes. You saw how much it hurt them when they weren�t able to protect the ones they loved. I don�t ever want to be in that position, helpless.�

Duo nodded � he�d hate to be helpless, for any reason. Although they�d done pretty well for themselves, under the circumstances. �Quatre? You ever feel jealous about their world?�

Quatre turned to stare at him. �What?�

�I mean, think about it. Eventually there are going to be more of them, right? A lot more?� They�d discussed this with Ami when they were sitting around on the island with nothing to do. �So eventually there are going to be thousands, maybe millions of them running around, not able to hurt anyone, maybe even able to heal people, if they�re like Adam,� Duo said, flexing his arm. He couldn�t believe that it was completely healed, but there wasn�t even a mark to show he�d been shot.

�That�s true. Why should we be jealous?�

�Well, everything that we�re fighting for� eventually they know they�re going to get it. It may take a hundred years, but their world is headed for peace, eventually. We don�t know that we�ll ever reach it.�

Quatre was silent for a minute. �Just because we�ll have to work harder for it doesn�t mean that it isn�t possible. And they�ve got a long, hard road ahead of them, as well.�
�I know that!� Duo exclaimed. He thought about it for a minute more. �Quat, do you think that there will ever be Tomorrow People here?�

�Yes.�

Duo wasn�t quite prepared for the solid assent. �You do?�

�Well, there is a ship here, just like the one on their world,� Quatre pointed out. �They said it was waiting for them, so the one here must be waiting for someone, too. They�ll show up, eventually.�

�You�re right, I didn�t think of that,� Duo said, leaning back once more. He grinned. �Cool.�

Half a world away, just off the coast of a tiny island in the Pacific Ocean, there was a flash of light and a splash.