"I figured you'd know more than me. Their chart says I should still be drooling out the mouth so they treat me like I am, never mind the evidence." Wufei wore a shadow of pity on his mouth, in his eyes. They had both had run-ins with stubborn medical personnel whose training couldn't encompass bodies altered by genetic therapies, as theirs had been. They were both under average height, still boyishly slim despite their thirty-six years. And they always would be. Duo had never much minded-- in his opinion, not having to duck under doors and being able to squeeze into small corners was plenty of advantage over growing up. Wufei had a harder time of it, in Preventers, and it had been a dark few years for him when they were nineteen or so and just realising they were as good as they were going to get. Duo didn't really understand it, but he was sympathetic.
Most the time, anyway. "Don't start giving me cow eyes," Duo said brusquely. "It's not like I've got anywhere else to be. Anyway, what did they tell you about--"
"Compression and spinal bruising," Wufei answered. "We think you were hit with a long tube-like object, possibly a baseball bat or a pipe. They're predicting significant nerve damage, muscle dystrophy, autonomic disturbance, loss of reflex function. So I imagine you'll be walking out of here in a week."
The world's been largely peaceful since the Eve Wars. Duo and Wufei have settled on L1 as Preventers, friends, co-workers, and occasionally more, and life's not all that bad - til Duo is kidnapped and released by someone with a mysterious agenda. Who are they, what do they want with Duo, and why doesn't anyone seem to want to solve the crime?
My notes: This is a brutal fic. Duo goes through hell, and some enemies are hiding under friendly cover. It's a rough ride, emotionally. Don't read this if you aren't okay with seeing heroes fall.