Author: Jei

Warnings: Some foul language. Black comedy of a sort. Post-canon life-altered pilots.

Pairings: 1x2

Rating: PG-13

Summary: The pilots strike a deal with the government after the war, but Heero Yuy, at least, doesn't get what he signed on for. When an unexpected event propels him back into the limelight, he finds himself trapped between what he was and what he has become. Now he must struggle to figure out what he wants to be as he is caught up as a reluctant participant in the world's events.

Disclaimer: Standard disclaimers apply.

Note: Submitted to gwyaoi's 2005 novella challenge.

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Touch the World

Part 1

He stared out the window listlessly, listening to the sound of someone walking down the sidewalk beneath, dribbling a basketball in a slow, meditative rhythm. A non-memory cried out in his mind, struggling against the waves of time and apathy, but after a fleeting moment of breaking the surface to gasp desperately for air, it sank back into the darkness with a last, half-hearted struggle.

There had been a game, once upon a time. A game he had played against a worthy opponent. He couldn't recall the outcome, nor what color their uniforms had been. They spoke afterwards. Something work-related, he thought, though the details eluded him. He did remember that something had sparkled, blinding him for a second before his vision cleared, only to be blinded once more by another, ever-shifting image.

A bored voice insisted on catching his attention. He supposed he was glad for the twice-weekly meeting with the social worker. Without it, he might just forget what day it was. It didn't help him know what week it was, though. Their interaction was mere unvarying, unevolving routine. She asked how he was doing. He answered blandly that he was getting by. She blatantly ignored the unenthusiasm and concentrated instead on making sure he was still inactive, existing without casting any ripples. The pretense of trying to find him a new place in this new world had long since fallen by the wayside.

Trudging down the street back to his apartment after an aimless, meandering stroll, he could almost remember a time when he had taken in his surroundings with interest. Near excitement, even, thinking about all the possibilities that had just opened to him. But one by one, those branches in his path had been carefully pruned as the list of do's and don'ts got longer and longer.

Had he been a fool to believe, to have faith? The future had become a mockery of his expectations. He felt empty. So empty, he couldn't even hate his life properly, and he couldn't even get properly depressed about it, either. This was what they had wanted, wasn't it? The world had peace, a stable government, hope, avenues for change... even if the people that had delivered it did not enjoy the same.

What was a person to do, once denied doing all that defined him?

His body remembered what he used to be, even if his mind was no longer there. It picked up on the sound of heels clucking against the pavement behind him, noting the presence of a person, even if he couldn't bring himself to be concerned. So what if it could be a hostile presence? Let it come and put an end to this.

He was disappointed when a woman walked past him, coat wrapped tightly around her as she hustled by. The night cycle had fallen; maybe she was on her way out to a late dinner. He himself lacked much of an appetite these days, and he suddenly envied her ability to enjoy a good meal. A humorless smile rose to his lips. He wasn't dead yet, it seemed, if he could still feel that.

The street went dead and empty again before another pair of shoes scuffed the sidewalk behind him, and he moved to the left to leave the person plenty of room to pass this time. He should have moved right, towards the open street. Coming up on his left was an alley, and into that alley he was suddenly shoved.

He stumbled, catching himself against some empty boxes stacked against the wall before he fell. There was barely time to register what was going on when he threw himself to the left, moving just in time to avoid the knife that came plunging into the cardboard he had just vacated. Landing with his butt on the asphalt, he scrambled backwards in amateurish shock. A part of him was surprised that his reflexes were still intact. Another part of him was startled like a civilian.

His stocky assailant was no random mugger. The man recovered from the miss quickly and jumped toward his target with deadly intent. With both hands, Heero caught the descending arm scant centimeters before the tip of a blade touched his chest, but the full weight of the man above him made the task daunting. The man's other hand settling snugly around his neck didn't help.

The wicked gleam in the attacker's eye made something flare to life inside of Heero. He shifted his grip subtly and found a pressure point in the man's wrist, squeezing as he heaved the man off to one side. It took a surge of sudden effort, but it sufficed to unbalance his attacker enough for Heero to press his foot to the floor and lever the man the rest of the way off with a twist of his hands. Despite his hope, the man kept his grip on the hilt of his knife as he fell to the side.

Climbing quickly to his feet, Heero was prevented from running by a tight hand wrapped around his shin. An arm followed, the hand jerked sharply, applying pressure to the back of his knee, and the joint folded. He reached out and caught himself on the edge of an open dumpster, using the support to take his other foot off the ground and kick while the man was drawing his knife hand back for a slice. Catching the man in the armpit, he had a moment of gratitude for the fact that he still favored steel-toed boots.

The arm wrenched his leg around before it slid off. His knee smarted sharply in protest when he got his feet back underneath him, but he paid it little heed, other than to notice irritably that the hesitation in his step had given his assailant the time to block his path to the alley's exit.

The two of them studied each other carefully as the unknown man slowly unfurled himself back into a ready position, with the knife still prepared to strike, though in the other hand now. The shoulder of the original arm looked rather dislocated. With a part of his mind disconnected from the action, Heero wondered who would be trying to kill him. He'd have thought that the list now should have been significantly shorter than it had been five years ago, right after the last war. Since then, he'd been living off the grid. Who would have tracked him down and sent a killer after him?

The hitman feinted with his knife several times before going for a true attack, a downwards slash towards a forearm. Heero dodged it, along with the second one aimed towards his midsection. The third, a stab, he blocked to the outside, seizing the arm to swing around behind the man. He slammed the man against the side of the dumpster, then gave special attention to pounding the arm against it as well, sending a thunderous clamor bouncing between the narrow walls. The sound didn't bother him. All that mattered was the knife that eventually fell from the man's fingers. He kicked the weapon beneath the dumpster and out of reach.

One of the assassin's feet snapped out, pushing Heero's outstretched leg far enough to throw him off balance again. Taking advantage of the loss of leverage, the man shoved himself backwards, pushing Heero towards the boxes stacked against the opposite wall. Footing was scarce, and in the time it took for him to recover, the assassin had picked up another weapon. The garbage can lid hit Heero in the back of his head with enough force to send him to his knees again.

Stars glittered across his vision, and he sensed dimly that there was blood dribbilng into his collar. Fighting down the nausea, he knew he had to act despite the lack of clarity. His attacker had paused momentarily; seeking a weapon with which to deal the death blow? Fortunately for Heero, he found one first. His tumble into the boxes had spit forth a green glass bottle, and he snatched it up.

The crunch of boots behind him alerted him to the return of his assailant and he instinctively half ducked, half fell down prone as an old metal pipe sailed through the place his head had been. Rolling onto his back, he kicked upwards to nail the man in the nuts, and as the man doubled over, his head came into range for a smash with the glass bottle. It broke, showering Heero with a fall of glass slivers even as it left him with an even better weapon.

Without thought, he slashed back in the other direction with the jagged edge of the broken glass, catching the assassin across the face. It showed how much of a professional the hitman was that the deed was endured with only a choked gurgle. In a second, Heero was on him, pushing him to the ground and slicing uncleanly through the carotid artery. A crimson puddle began to grow beneath him, but it wasn't enough to kill immediately. The assassin's hands rose to try and finish their job.

Tossing aside the broken bottle, Heero punched the man across his bloodied jaw, once, twice, but nearly missing and scraping his knuckles against the pavement was a good clue that it wasn't a good idea to continue. Getting a good grip over the man's mouth and the rest of his face, he hauled the man's head up, only to bash it mercilessly back onto the pavement. Only when the man's legs stopped twitching did Heero stop his repeated actions. His breath sounding far too loudly in his ears, though less powerfully than the pounding of his heart, he struggled to get to his feet, and fell over in the attempt. Shit, he was out of shape.

When he regained his senses, he knew he was still seeing stars from the head blow because not only did stars not twinkle in space, they definitely didn't do it against the artificial night sky of a colony. He didn't think he'd been out long. The warmth of the body next to him proved it. If it wasn't a corpse yet, it'd be one soon. Judging from the dark red pool seeping into the cracks of the pavement, there couldn't be much left in there to bleed out. And at the moment, it didn't really bother him. Morality had long since left his dreary thoughts for greener pastures, and it was especially moot when jumped in an alley by one intent upon his death.

He sat up groggily, hand going to probe tentatively at the bump on the back of his head. With a hiss, he let his fingers trail downward. The dulled edges of the handle on the old garbage can lid had cut into the flesh at the base of his skull. Probing the wound carefully, he encountered some metal embedded in his skin. Great. After all this, he was going to die of tetanus. Wonderful. Perfect. Pathetic. Gritting his teeth, he dug into the back of his neck with his fingertips and extracted the bit of foreign material.

It was obvious that it was nothing innocuous the moment his fingers started to explore it. The shape was too smooth, too regular. When he got it out, he squinted at it. It was a thin, flat wafer less than a centimeter in length. The greenish color had him thinking of the glass bottle until his brain managed to come back online with a dry snort.

So that was where it was hiding. From veiled hints his 'social worker' had dropped, among other things, he'd long suspected the military doctors of implanting a tracker on him during his stay at the hospital after the Barton uprising. Far too much of it had been spent unconscious. Chang had taught them not to leave Gundam pilots to their own devices during peacetime. He pitched it into the dumpster with a smug grunt, hoping that it was still working. Let them think his body had been carted off to be incinerated with the rest of the trash.

It was only as an afterthought that he realized that he was 'free'. The government couldn't find him anymore if he didn't want them to. Why wasn't he delighted by that idea? In fact, other than the adrenaline that was only now beginning to fade from his bloodstream, he wasn't even very excited about the fact that he had just survived an attempt on his life. Hadn't he just minutes ago been willing to accept an end to his miserable existence? It seemed his body, with its instincts and training and muscle memory, had betrayed him.

His mind, long idle, returned to that curious question of who might have sent a killer after him. Someone had wanted it to stay quiet, otherwise he could easily have been knifed in the middle of the street. Instead he had been pushed into an alley, away from the sight of others, where his body could possibly have lain for quite awhile before someone noticed it. The deed was to be performed using a knife, not a gun. Also an interesting clue, one that probably saved his life. A fake mugging?

If there was one thing he knew for certain, it was that he couldn't stay in that alley for much longer. No matter how much disdain he had for his life, getting caught up in a murder investigation would be damned annoying. Coming to his feet slowly, he straightened his clothing and brushed off some stray glass shards just as soon as he was certain that he could stand without too much swaying. He looked rumpled, but not obviously bloody. Most of the staining was confined to the collar of his shirt. It was fortunate that the tracker chip had not been planted very deeply in his dermal layer. There would be bruises later, but nothing yet. With luck, there wouldn't be anyone on the streets at this time of the evening, and if there was, he could pass as a drunk. Most well-intentioned citizens tended not to give the disreputable a second glance.

He had just poked his head out of the alley to see if there was anyone out there when he remembered the body, and the fact that someone had just tried to kill him. Was he supposed to just walk away from that sort of thing? It took him a little while to remember what the proper protocol was for this situation. His feet had him moving back towards the body of his assailant before he could even consider carelessly leaving the mess behind again. Once again, his old habits seemed still to be lingering far more than he would have suspected.

Quickly rifling through the man's clothing, he found a wallet. He tucked that automatically into his coat pocket for later examination, then stripped the man's body of his watch and boots, mixing them up with the other riffraff as he straightened up the boxes and crates he had knocked over earlier. His distaste for poorly accomplished jobs bade him to attempt at least a frail illusion of a mugging. His irony also appreciated it as he hefted the body into the dumpster, a difficult job when trying to avoid any further bloodying. There was nothing he could do about the large puddle on the ground. Hopefully no one would notice it until after the trucks came to cart away the garbage.

For once, he was somewhat glad he had been placed in the L4 cluster. While not as seedy as L2, it was not as well-policed as L1. At least, not where he was located, as far from the affluent areas the Winners might occupy as possible. Random acts of violence were known to happen on occasion here. With another careful inspection of the area, he slipped back into the street and started his walk back to his apartment with a brisk stride; sparing a few extra minutes to take a route different from his usual. It seemed kind of lame to go on with his life as if that hadn't just happened, and yet he didn't find himself filled with any sort of righteous indignation, outrage, or fear. There was only a mild curiosity. Someone wanted him innocuously dead. How interesting.

He didn't really know how else he felt about that. But lacking anything else better to do, he seized upon the few things he did know. Anyone that tried to kill him was his enemy. And he knew what to do with enemies.

*****

When Heero Yuy set out to do something, he did it. Efficiently and professionally. There hadn't been much of that lately, but only because he hadn't had any goals recently.

Details were easier to figure out when the plan was taken one step at a time. Step one: get the hell out of town.

Someone wanted him dead. That someone would find out sooner or later that he wasn't, and it was unlikely that that would be that. As soon as he got back to his apartment, he culled a few things here and there from his belongings, taking what he needed without making it obvious that he was skipping town. Fortunately, the effects of what were no longer habits still lingered, and he pulled an old gun out from beneath his bed, and another from the closet. Now where did he keep his ammo? Oh yes, there were a few clips floating around his desk, though he was fairly certain the one he used as a paperweight was empty. He found the things he would need for maintenance of his weapons in an old shoebox, along with a spare detonator and another clip. All of that went into his backpack, together with a few other personal items. He barely remembered to change out of his bloodied shirt and clean up the clotting wound on the back of his neck.

Despite himself, he took one last look at the apartment where he had spent his last few unproductive years. The government had 'helped' him choose it, just as it had 'helped' him find a job and 'helped' him stay off the grid and away from those who might want to use him. It had helped him become a person living outside of the world. It had helped him become a person that couldn't even withstand a little concussion anymore. Well, nothing like an assassination attempt to get one out of one's funk. He shut the door behind him, locked it, and resisted the temptation to throw away the key.

Eight hours later, he was setting up shop in a netcafe several colonies away on L4-X2890. His preference would have been to leave the L4 cluster altogether, but he didn't yet have a destination in mind. He would have to be unnaturally lucky for his unknown enemies to assume that their plans had been a success without a body to prove it, although perhaps he had won himself at least a couple of days while they performed a search. Afterwards, what would they expect him to do? Perhaps it was arrogant to assume that his death was worth that much effort to someone, but better to work with the worst case scenarios.

He had spent some of his time on the shuttle reviewing current affairs, and continued to follow the interesting stories now. He was painfully out of touch with today's issues. When had he stopped caring? he mused idly, flipping through the news archives. At least the world was still at peace. There were the expected flare-ups of tensions, but nothing the government wasn't able to keep under control.

Was something new starting, then? Or was this just something old, choosing now to rear its ugly head? He decided to concentrate on the former. If it was something he had already done, then there was nothing to be done about it now. If there was something yet to be stopped, then... he waited for the surge of protectiveness to rise up in him, but he gave up on it after only a brief moment. It had been far too long since he had cared about the state of the rest of the world.

He pulled the stranger's wallet out of his pocket for another look. There was a government-issued identification card, but it was a sure bet that the name on it was a fake. Assassins carried such things around only in case of emergency. If stopped by chance, nothing made the authorities more antsy than a man without any identification.

His seat of choice was with his back to a wall, where he could dig for information without fear of anyone paying attention to his queries. He performed a cursory search of a few public databases, searching for references to this Marvin Jenkins. As expected, nothing interesting came up. A birth record from the L1 cluster, an accreditation as a mechanic. No trouble with the authorities. Professionals knew when their fake IDs were hot. Heero made a mental note to have a picture taken so he could appropriate the alias. He would need one to get much further.

In the wallet, there was also enough cash to cover emergency contingencies, though once again, no amount great enough to arouse suspicions. It became fast friends with the bills in Heero's own wallet. Alas, there were no convenient notes, business cards, or other sundry to clue him in on who might have hired the man. Only a few receipts from local businesses. Gum, isopropyl alcohol, coffee, dated from two days previous. The man had been in the area for at least that long stalking Heero. It annoyed some faint, lingering instinct in him that he hadn't made that very difficult.

Returning to the news sites, he could do nothing more than read. Many of the articles he skimmed over, conscious that he might be missing out on some information, but not really caring. If something came up, he could research it more later. For now, he just needed a broader understanding of the day's social climate.

It seemed he'd missed quite a few things. Important things. And when he got to one article in particular, all his priorities shifted.

*****

Part 2

He walked into the dive with an air of complete 'leave me alone and I'll leave you alone.' that came very naturally to him. The only difference now was his look. This place was most likely watched, if not for him, and he had no intentions of broadcasting his whereabouts. Disguise had never been one of his fortes, however. Conjuring something out of nothing was the province of at least two of the others, but he did what he could. The narrow, prescriptionless glasses he had acquired would no doubt fail to work the magic for him that they did for countless superheroes and their alter egos, but it would do at least something to make him pass the first inspection. He would have preferred a pair of colored contacts, but they were more difficult to come by.

It was fortunate his listlessness had spread to encompass any care for his appearance. His bangs had long since passed the point where it liked to fall into his eyes, and he made a point of letting it do so as it pleased. Some re-coloring for his hair would also have been convenient, but distastefully persistent. Once he got out of here, he didn't want to draw attention to himself by being oddly blond. Instead, he had managed to find a battered newsboy cap in a secondhand store, and he wore it now to cover the hair not hanging in his face, fitting it backwards so the brim could hopefully hide the scabbing at the back of his neck. He'd also found some jeans that hung too loosely on his thin frame and a scruffy button shirt to drape over a regular t-shirt. He was quite certain he looked like a young delinquent, but if it kept him hidden in plain sight, then he would deal. This was hardly a reputable establishment, and straying too far from his native look would probably be a failure for him.

The government was looking for him, and with the stink that they were kicking up, his unknown foes would surely be hitching a ride on the search. His financial assets had always been under surveillance, but now it was a veritable minefield of warning flags just waiting to go off. He had missed his regularly scheduled appointment with his case worker. Circulars from the neighborhood where he had resided were asking if anyone had information on him. The puddle of blood had been spotted, but not ruled out as irrelevant even though the DNA analysis proved that it wasn't his. No mention had been made yet of a corpse found in the waste lines, but even if they had found one, they likely would have kept it under wraps. They weren't fond of nameless bodies showing up dead in the colony systems, nor even random assaults in darkened alleys.

This was his third night of playing incognito in this bar. He considered himself fortunate that the lines of his face had become sharper over the years. Combined with the scowl, a sprinkling of stubble, and the probable apathy of the bartender, he was spared having to produce identification in order to get a drink. He kept it light. He needed his wits about him.

Hard-won patience wrestled down his concerns of futility. He'd had a hell of a time tracking down his target to this one colony in the L3 cluster, and then doing more casing to find a likely place for rendezvous, but he couldn't afford to waste too much more time here. Fortunately, he found who he was looking for in tonight's initial glareover of the establishment. The former Deathscythe pilot was over by the pool tables, leaning over the felt to line up his shot beneath a flickering, yellowed light.

Heero walked to the bar and settled himself on a stool. A different seat than the one on which he had parked himself on previous occasion. His former stool was occupied tonight, and he considered it fortunate since it gave him a fine excuse to shift a few places over in the direction of the billiards. He listened to the balls cracking loudly against one another as he nursed a mug of what passed for beer in this place. Despite all the reasons in the world for it, he'd never quite acquired a taste for alcohol.

Duo must have been a regular. His bottle of imported brew was a badge of membership in a bar that didn't offer it on the menu for the walk-ins. The banter exchanged between him and his companions was too acidic for them to be unknown to each other. Insults so sharp and rowdy were only flung with time-tested familiarity.

It was not the best forum for determination of character, but it was what Heero had, so he tried. How much help would Duo be able to provide? How much would he be willing to provide? Had he slipped into a similar rut? Did he still have the same fiery, rebellious spirit? Had he started a new life here? And if none of this panned out, could he be trusted with the knowledge of Heero's whereabouts?

The impression Heero got from the table was unhelpful. Duo rarely acted the way he felt. They would need some face time before anything could be determined, and even then not for sure. When would be the best time for making contact? Tonight would be conspicuous. He didn't want to draw attention by appearing to have been waiting for this local. Perhaps he could follow Duo after he left and establish contact elsewhere?

The problem was partially solved as the game wrapped up, with Duo pocketing fifty credits of his opponents' money. After the final jabs were exchanged, Duo wandered over to the counter next to Heero's stool and signaled for another bottle. They were close enough for Heero to smell the smoke lingering on Duo's shirt, but neither of them made any move to acknowledge one another.

He remained silent as Duo spoke casually with the barkeep about his pool partners, about the progress of the Mars colony and the results of the last match in the local ring. All talk and no substance. At the bottom of the bottle, just as Heero was finishing his contemplation of contact, the issue was once again taken out of his hands.

"Wanna fuck?"

He blinked at the rim of his mug for a few seconds before realizing that the comment had been directed at his back. Slowly, he turned around and studied the man propositioning him as if he were a stranger. Or maybe they were, in fact, strangers. The ex-pilot had always been a moody, darkly humored creature, but never quite to such cynical, sensual levels. He put the question forth as if merely asking for a light. Heero answered with an inquiry pulled from within him not as an undercover response, but as a natural gut reaction, though it served well as both. "Are you in the habit of asking to fuck random men in a bar?"

Duo's grin was lopsided and edged. "Oddly, yeah. Are you in the habit of accepting offers of being fucked by random men in a bar?" After a few seconds of blankness, he shrugged. "Whatever. Seeya, Jake," he tossed at the barkeep before turning around to leave.

Heero stirred after the door swung shut with a low creak. Scanning the crowd with a sidelong glance of his eyes, he saw no one interested in the exchange. Apparently it was nothing out of the ordinary. After half a minute of thoughtfulness, he left some bills on the counter, picked up his bag, and strode after his old partner. Despite the offer's low profile, at least one knowing leer accompanied him on his way out.

His quarry was standing at the corner, just outside a puddle of light from a streetlamp, taking a ponderous moment to light a cigarette with a few well practiced flicks of his wrist to manipulate the lighter and smoke. Duo took his first puff, then sent it in a slow exhalation as a cloud to obscure the light beside him. When Heero drew even with him, he paused as if in savoring the taste in his mouth before turning to regard his new companion. Dark eyes swept over the sloppily clothed form, perhaps re-evaluating his choice for the evening before he started walking. Heero frowned at the indignity of trailing behind him, but followed his lead.

They walked a good ten blocks in silence before they reached a squat, square apartment building that seemed best described as gray in the dim lighting of the night cycle. It was probably gray in the day cycle as well. Heero wondered if he was simply special, or if Duo always treated his invitees to a stroll. Trying to weed out the physically unfit? Maybe getting them hot and panting before they even got started was a strange form of foreplay. Or maybe he typically stopped in an alley somewhere. Heero was glad they didn't. He wasn't too fond of alleys these days. Or cigarette smoke. It hadn't been long before he had stalked forth to Duo's side to avoid the puff that occasionally got him in the face.

Up two flights of stairs and they were in front of an unassuming door. A neighbor emerged while Heero waited for Duo to unlock it. He averted his face casually as the female slunk by them in a tangle of lanky hair and rumpled skirts. When he looked up again, Duo was walking into his dark lair. Heero followed.

Once he cleared the door, it shut behind him. The thick drapes over the windows were drawn shut. The light switch was never flipped. The crack beneath the door was snugly sealed. A hand materialized in the darkness, planting itself in the middle of his chest and pushing him back against a wall. The startled half-gasp, an interrupted demand, parted lips that inadvertently allowed the passage of an uninvited tongue. A rough, foreign mouth locked itself into place over his. A hard, lean body pressed against him. Another hand shuffled through the loose folds of his clothing, seeking entrance.

He forgot to resist for a few too many seconds, yielding to the wave that overtook him, but when that nagging voice in the back of his head finally gained enough volume to be heard, he wrenched his head away with an audible gulping of breath. "You were actually serious?" How wonderfully, ironically appropriate it would be for Duo to not have recognized him when making the sordid invitation.

A low chuckle crawled its way over his skin. "Aren't I always?"

He snorted at the trick question. There was no right answer to that one. Now what had he come here for? The subtle rocking against his crotch was distracting him. "Are you safe?"

"Yeah, I use protection." A sharp laugh followed.

He was freed shortly thereafter, the body against his disappearing as suddenly as it came. The movement of air signified its withdrawal in one particular direction, but the only sound that solidified the impression came from the flopping of a body down upon the cushions of a sofa, only briefly seen by the light spilling in the front door before it had enclosed him in this cave. He stayed where he was, refusing to stumble clumsily through the unknown. "Do you normally fuck around in the dark?"

"Hey, you know me. The dark's always been my favorite stomping grounds. So it wouldn't do to give away the game too early with some premature lighting."

It seemed his movements were watched after all, even if it was safe to talk. Or else Duo really was fucking with him. "So I've got, what, two, three minutes before they expect me to get booted out of here?"

The grunt was both a sound of amusement and a nod of respect. "For you? I'm sure I could go at least a few rounds with you. Heh, nice look, by the way. 'Specially that unshaven thing you've started. Makes you look older. How long that take you? Two, three weeks?"

"Not all of us can be as follicularly well-endowed as you."

He could feel a twisted smirk fill the air between them. "What brings you to my corner of space then?"

"Relena's been kidnapped." The words were chosen quite deliberately.

A moment of silence passed before Duo laughed again, filling it with a deeper, darker humor. "Oh, you have got to be shitting me. Last time I heard, the little princess was getting herself hitched to some rich kid with good connections. 'Course, maybe that sounds like kidnapping to you. You wanna go rushing off like a knight in shining armor to rescue her from the evil clutches of the man who would defile her? You gotta get over that whole thing, man."

"I don't like him."

"Oh yeah, that's a real good reason to crash her party."

The amused sarcasm rolled right off Heero's back. "I checked out his family. Something seemed shady about them. I haven't figured out what exactly yet, though."

"Um, yeah, it's probably just the fact that they're taking your precious little princess away."

The sneer met the same fate as the last comment and failed to faze the focused soldier that was coming out of retirement. "Either way, I need to talk to her."

The body on the couch shifted again. "Okay. Then what made me the first stop on your to-do list? The mere joy of déjà vu?"

"Relena's not that hard to find. She's here somewhere. On L3."

Aw, how sweet. It had been pure coincidence that led him here. "In case you haven't noticed, I'm not her. What are you doing here?"

"I don't suppose you've been keeping track of things around here."

"Nope." A careless hand was flung over the back of the sofa, perhaps. "World doesn't care about me. I don't care about the world. It's a good arrangement."

When the deal had been for the world to never know who they were, he hadn't quite imagined it this way. "World cares about me, apparently. Enough to try and kill me, anyway."

A pause, a rustle of clothing. "My, you've been a naughty boy. Did you deserve it?"

Perhaps the psychologists and the social workers had been right. The post-war era must have been improving his mentality. He had never once dwelt upon that. "...Maybe."

"They think it work? You on the run right now?" Nothing colored his voice but idle curiosity.

"I had a few days, but they're on to me now. Between them and being AWOL, it's been annoying getting around."

"Never thought of you as the troublemaker, Yuy. You were all down with doing as you were told."

He obviously wasn't thinking hard enough. Yuy had always been a troublemaker, whether he was trying to be one or not. "I didn't go looking for trouble. My tracker was removed, courtesy of a trash can lid slicing the back of my neck open when it slammed into the back of my head. I sort of found myself free of them rather suddenly."

The disembodied voice hardened. "You let them plant a tracker in you?"

"Hardly." He took off his hat to inspect the healing wound beneath, finding as he did that his glasses had been knocked askew by their earlier actions. He took a moment to straighten them. "They had plenty of opportunity to do it while I was out."

"You gonna blow 'em up as soon as you off the princess' hubby?"

The suggestion was disturbingly attractive. "Depends on them, I guess."

"What are you going to do if the princess really wants to marry the guy?"

Now there was something else he hadn't considered. "Then I hope there really is something shady about that family, or else she'll just have to forgive me for taking down her in-laws."

The being on the sofa rustled, and then it was in front of him again, crowding into his personal space just short of touching. The heat reached him, though, off skin and through fabric and in breath. The precision of distance was a pointed reminder of just who had the upper hand here. Duo had always had better night vision. "See, that's what I always liked about you, Yuy. When you see something you want, you do what you got to do to get it."

Heero stood his ground. "Hn. You in?"

A knee nudged him between the legs. "You lettin' me in?"

The words were breathed hotly into his ear, and he reflexively tilted his head away from them. A whiff of smoke-stained breath drifted forth to complement the taste left in his mouth. "You're still good for a little B&E, aren't you?"

A hand groped around for a bit and found the fly of his pants. "I'll take that as a 'yes'."

Theorizing that there was another ex-pilot in this colony cluster, he had managed to locate his erstwhile comrade by digging around the system and looking for people buried in it the exact same way he himself had been buried. The pattern of alerts that had risen from his own escape had made it easy to determine their positioning in the colony databases. He needed someone he could trust, and he automatically turned toward his old allies for the required assistance. "Do you mind, Duo? I'm trying to conduct some business here."

"So'm I."

Business before pleasure. They all knew that. Unless there was something else driving things forward. "You're a sad, sad man living an empty, empty life, Duo."

The tension rose, and the long line of heat felt down his body seemed to intensify. "Don't project."

"You can't like this life any better than I do, Duo."

"So, what? That mean I should just run off to kill a guy? Maybe that'll make me feel better? No one's tried to kill me yet. Why should I help you?"

Heero decided that the game was over. He reached out to the side and hit the light switch, leaving both of them squinting comically for a moment. When the spots stopped dancing in front of his eyes, he looked at Duo pointedly. "You got anything better to do?"

Duo stared at him for a good long while, his hand still hooked on the sagging waistband of Heero's jeans. Eventually, he snorted and averted his eyes. "Shit, can't argue with that."

"And you like blowing shit up, right?"

"Sure do."

"And I doubt you mind going AWOL."

"Sure don't." They both probably would have disappeared long ago, if they'd had somewhere to go.

"Then what's stopping you? There's nothing lofty going on here, Duo. I'm asking you to come along with me on a personal mission of vengeance and justice. After a little counter-kidnapping. How much better can it get?"

"You've changed."

No, he just knew how to market to his audience. Though perhaps there was a rather large grain of truth to Duo's statement. "So have you."

Duo's gaze went distant as he pondered the matter. "Do you remember where we left off?"

"Barely anywhere, wasn't it? They split us all up before we ever really..."

Melancholy struck for a moment, but it was swiftly erased with a lazy grin. "I woulda done you cheerfully, flyboy."

Unfazed, Heero made a disdainful sound. "Don't kid yourself, Duo. You weren't doing anybody back then."

The lazy grin went the way of the melancholy, to be replaced by a flash of irritation. "You still think you know everything, I see."

"I haven't changed entirely. And neither have you."

Duo chewed on that for a while before finally summing up his sentiments in a concise package. "Fuck you, Yuy."

"If it'll make you feel better."

He eyed Heero doubtfully until he saw something that made him laugh. "You'd really let me, wouldn't you?" When Heero shrugged carelessly, he laughed again. "You cold fuck. Literally. Glad to see I'm not the only one that doesn't give a shit anymore." Duo pushed himself back a few steps. "That being the case, though, it should be obvious that I don't give a shit about your cause, either."

Well, wasn't that something. Heero actually felt something hearing that. It slithered away quickly to hide beneath the indifference. "That means you don't give a shit enough to be perverse and get in my way, right?"

"You got it, babe." He stepped back another two steps and spread his arms out. "You walk outta here, you don't have to worry about me making trouble for you."

Heero took a step away from the wall and straightened his clothes, fit the cap back on his head. "I don't suppose you have any ammo you can spare."

"Not on me, sorry." The apology was uttered without the least bit of remorse.

"Then I guess I'll be on my way." With his hand on the doorknob, he chuckled darkly. "Your stamina sucks, Maxwell."

"You just didn't live up to expectations, Yuy."

*****

Part 3

Shit, he was getting too old for this. And he missed all his nifty gear, too.

And did he ever mention how much he disliked urban environments?

He scowled at the facade of the building. The local branch of the Jurgensen's family holdings dominated the utilitarian side of the L3 colony. It was a tall, square building with small windows and little cover, but that didn't stop him from successfully hiding in the shadows across the street from it, nor did it stop him from catching sight of at least four security guards on three different floors walking rounds that were less than complacent.

"Security's kinda high, don't you think?"

He whirled around, startled by the sudden sound by his elbow. Years ago, maybe his hands would already be dealing an equally sudden death to the intruder. Tonight, he just got surprised. And irritated. He scowled. "Thought you weren't interested."

Duo watched the windows instead. "I thought about breaking into this place before. Just for kicks, you know. Back in the day, when this sort of thing was all kicky still. Thought there had to be something interesting going on in here, what with all the guards for a civ op. Then... you know. Just sort of lost interest."

A glare decided to keep the scowl company as Heero retreated a few steps closer to Duo's position to minimize their volume. "They say anything about this place?" he asked grudgingly. It would be a foolish waste of resources not to ask, and whatever the games Duo liked to play, he was typically honest.

"The usual crap," he answered, pulling a cigarette out of his front pocket and twirling it idly between his fingers. "It's been here for a while. Started beefing up the security six, seven years ago? Lost a lot of money in the post-war market, so they say, but they kept up the security. There were some layoffs. Didn't go down so sweet."

"Did they do any of their manufacturing here, or was it just the mergers and acquisitions?"

"M&A. Pissed off the white-collars, those layoffs did. It ain't so smart to piss off the people with connections. Heard the whole company started going south."

"It's still strong," Heero updated him. "Smaller, consolidated, but influential. Like you say, they have connections. Especially to government."

"Hmpf. Figures. They have a loading bay in the back. Or if that doesn't work, there's always the vent system on the spinward side, and the fire escape stuff right next to it."

"Security, other than guards?"

"Never got that far."

Well, that was a pleasant chat. Moving on. Heero reached out and snatched the wrist attached to the hand toying with the smoke and looked at it pointedly. "How'd you get it off?"

Duo smirked. "Unlike you, I didn't have to go getting my head smashed in to do it." Fortunately, he hadn't had it implanted underneath his skin, either.

"How did you get it off?" Heero repeated flatly.

"Even gundanium bracelets have their weaknesses." He would have let that answer stand, if not for the raised intensity of Heero's glare. His own eyes narrowed at the indignity. Pissing Heero off with a mystery was one thing, but the insinuation of collaborating with the enemy would not be tolerated. "Courtesy of the Sweepers, if you must know. Those micro-fusion cutters they have these days are real gems."

"And when did you pick up one of those?" There was no appreciable decrease of suspicion in Heero's voice.

"A while back," Duo answered just as flatly, though managing to pull it off with a bit of drawl just for added insult. "They's got their ways."

"And you just decided to use it now?"

There were too many ways to answer that question, and no few of the answers incriminating in some way. He found one that suited his purposes. "You know, irony of ironies... the suits tried to place me here once, long time ago. Before the layoffs called off the deal. But I did go in for an interview."

"I won't believe that made you bitter enough to want to help out."

Though he would likely have been just as untrusting of his motives, had he been on the other side of this exchange, that didn't stop Duo from getting irritably exasperated. "I told ya, I always wanted to do this place. Just for kicks, yeah?"

"A lot of trouble, just for kicks." Even with the micro-fusion cutter, it would have taken some time and patience to break through the gundanium seals without cutting his hand off in the process. Luckily, the Sweepers had provided him with a quality device. Nothing less would do for one who was even still a legend among them.

"What else has a guy to do around here?"

They heard steps approaching from the street side, and before they could move, a flashlight pinned them to their places. "Hey, you there! What do you think you're doing?"

"Shit," Duo muttered grumpily as the security guard crossed the street to their side.

Since Duo's wrist was still trapped in his grasp, Heero took the ready excuse and snatched the cigarette with his free hand. "Just trying to convince my friend here to stop smoking."

"What? Aw, come on..." Duo's tone took on an appropriately whining tone.

"I don't like smoke," Heero responded, releasing the wrist while involuntarily recalling the taste of Duo's kisses from the previous night.

"Geez," was mumbled before a glint sparked in Duo's eye and he shrugged nonchalantly. "Fine. You want it, you got it, baby."

"Excuse me?" What was his game now?

"You don't like smoke, I don't like smoke. That's it."

"You've got to be kidding me." This didn't seem to be the first time Heero was in such a situation.

Duo turned to the security guard. "Do I sound like I'm kidding?"

The guard frowned. "You two sound like you need to get out of here."

"Hey, no worries," he said placatingly, taking a hold of Heero's elbow. "Me and the boytoy will move right on along. But I gotta point out, we're on the sidewalk. Public property, man."

Heero pulled his arm out of Duo's grasp. "Boytoy?"

"What?" Duo asked innocently.

With an annoyed quirk of his lips, he turned and started to walk away.

"Hey." The sound was a mild plea. Without another glance to the security guard, Duo went after him. "Come on, baby, don't be like that."

He threw another irritable look over his shoulder. "Baby?"

"Aw, come on," Duo sighed loudly, pulling Heero into the alley behind the Jurgensen building. He pinned the body of his slimmer companion against the wall and let out a smirk just centimeters from Heero's face. "You know you like it."

"Duo," Heero stated dryly. It had a touch of an exasperated warning to it.

"Aw, come on," he murmured again, this time against the skin of Heero's neck. "That was an adorable little lover's spat you started."

"What, did you think he'd actually believe we were a cute and fully functional pair?"

"Oh, you're not fully functional?" He slid his hand between them and palmed Heero's crotch. "That would explain why you buggered out so early last night."

Unimpressed, Heero snorted. "That was the fault of your stamina, remember, not mine."

"What do you say we make the fiction a reality, hmmm?"

"Meaning?"

Well, lips were for talking, right? Duo let his answer the question to their heart's content. It took three seconds for Heero to pull his mouth away just enough to mutter in an irritably smothered fashion. "I told you, I don't like smoke."

Duo chuckled lowly. "And I told you, I'll stop. Just gotta give it some time to clear out. A guy doesn't get minty fresh all by himself, yanno."

"And I thought--"

As much as Duo valued his opinion in theory, in practice, now really wasn't the time. His words were swallowed before they hit the air. He might have pushed Duo off, but the beam of a flashlight fell on them again.

"Hey! I told you to get out of here!"

Heero carefully noted the smug smirk he felt against his lips and saved it for later. For now, he resigned himself to the kiss, remaining somewhat unenthusiastic despite Duo's urging for more participation. He doubted the guard would be looking close enough to tell the difference. And Duo seemed to be doing enough for the both of them.

"Oh, for chrissakes...." The guard made a sound of disgust, but he turned around and left them alone, which was all that mattered.

When Heero managed to turn his mouth away again, Duo allowed it. He let his head rest against the wall as his eyes drifted upwards, studying the side of the building. The fire escape was on the side of the building off to their right. On this side, the side with no windows since it would have looked straight at the blank surface of the building behind it, there was an access ladder crawling up the flat plane of the wall. The bottom segment of it was retractable to discourage random passersby from making use of it, but an ex-Gundam pilot, even a somewhat depressed and out of practice one, was no random passerby. "I wonder if this building has rooftop access."

"Damn, you really are dysfunctional, aren't you?" Duo muttered against his jawbone. Heero's attention may have wandered, but his hadn't.

"It'd probably be too noisy to lower the ladder. It doesn't look like it's very well maintained."

"Hello? Anybody home?" His hand had long since made way its way into Heero's pants. Receiving only a minimal response, he kneaded a little more emphatically this time. Heero's flesh showed a half-hearted interest, nothing more. He shook his head sadly. "You're missing out on all the joys in life, man."

It took a moment for Heero's focus to shift. "Joy? In an alley? With security guards shining flashlights at you?"

Duo's expression took on a dark humor. "What, you had some better ideas?"

His lips parted to respond, but nothing came to mind. Maybe some time years ago, he had had a thought or two on the subject, but those days were in the distant past now. Troubled by that feeling of loss, he resorted to his only defense and changed the subject. "I'm going up. Your presence is not required. Please remove your hand from my pants."

It didn't budge without first a long, hard stare from Duo. Then with a shrug, he removed his hand, daintily did up the partially undone zipper and refastened the button, smoothed the hem of Heero's shirt back into place, and even gave the crotch a pat of farewell. When his face rose from observing the task, however, it carried an tight grin that Heero recognized, sending a tingle down his spine. It was the edged smile that had greeted a welcome challenge, and it had rarely boded well for the person on the other side. "Oh, for chrissakes, Duo," he sighed, consciously echoing the curse of the security guard.

"It's pretty easy to find little purple pills around here," Duo said, the deliberate casualness sitting atop an obviously mocking layer. "You don't even have to know where to look."

He laughed. Softly, perhaps, and maybe a little bitter, but still a laugh. His case worker had given him a prescription for anti-depressants fourteen months ago. He had ignored it. Medication was no cure for a life that had trickled away. It was gone, and it wasn't coming back. A brief pang of something he might have labeled regret tried to take a breath of freedom, but it failed.

Without another word, he pushed Duo off of him and padded over the handful of steps necessary to bring him to the base of the retracted ladder. He had lost many things, but self-confidence was not one of them. The sure knowledge of how to scale the obstacle slid its way forward without his having to dig for it. He took a position opposite the ladder, bounced on his toes briefly to get a feel for his body, then ran the few steps across, planting a foot on the wall to assist in his jump upward. He caught the bottom rung of the ladder with room to spare, but was still displeased with his performance. Steel-tipped his boots may have been, but their tread was wearing smooth. With a determined frown, he hauled himself up the ladder, daring his muscles to protest. They let out only a mild whimper before settling into an old rhythm.

He slithered over the lip of the rooftop, automatically minimizing his profile before he took the opportunity to take stock of the situation. Turbines, air conditioning units, electrical boxes, and most important of all, a door. He tried it. It was locked, of course, but the security on it didn't look too sophisticated. There was a padlock on top of some wiring leading to a small electronic device installed to the side. He frowned again. The electronic security he could deal with easily, but he cursed his lack of lockpicks. His situation had not left him many avenues for decent preparation.

A faint rustle made him snap his head around, and thus was he granted another opportunity for cursing. Though modestly hiding another smirk, Duo calmly finished pulling a set of lockpicks from his pocket and held them up. "Need these?"

Despite his claims of disinterested civilian living these days, he had obviously kept up with a few skills and habits. Heero scowled mildly at the lockpicks, grumpily contemplating their price. "Make up your mind, Duo. Do you want to help me? Or do you want to sit this one out?"

"Maybe I just wanna play with you." It could have been said suggestively, and it was, but mostly it was spoken dangerously, in a happy, sort of psychotic way.

"I don't enjoy being played with," he answered flatly.

"Not 'playing' as in 'toying' with you." The explanation was patiently magnanimous and overdramatically patronizing. "Playing with you."

"I'm not 'playing'." Duo favored him with an expectant look, as if waiting for some sort of point to be made. Heero let it hang for a while before deciding that their time could be spent more productively. "I fail to see the fun factor here. I am, after all, not letting you fuck me in a dark alley."

"You implied that I should find fun in other things. Well, here you go. Now I have."

Be careful what you ask for, the old adage ran through his mind. You might just get it. Hn. But at least there were ground rules, even in games. "And you're not going to suddenly find it 'fun' to leave me high and dry, are you?"

Duo shrugged noncommittally. "Don't give me a reason to."

"And what sort of reasons would those be?"

He shrugged again. "Maybe we'll find out. But I'm guessing you're hoping we don't."

The guess was quite correct. Knowing that he wouldn't get anything more concrete out of Duo, he took a few seconds to brood over the situation. In the end, he decided to accept Duo's 'help', at least for now. He could always ditch his unpredictable companion later. Surely nothing terrible could happen in the next hour that would flip Duo's allegiances. He grunted his reluctant acceptance. "Get the padlock. I'll rewire."

Once the simple matter of the locks was dealt with, they entered the building. An unlit staircase greeted them. There was a closed door at the bottom sealing off the stairwell from the rest of the building. "Ooh, creepy," Duo declared.

Heero threw him a dark look before pulling the roof access door to a nearly shut position. The only illumination came from the small gaps between the door and the frame. Descending almost blindly into the darkness, he almost expected Duo to take advantage of it to do something inappropriate, but the thrill seeker simply listened for sound coming from the hallway outside. Deeming it safe, he silently opened the door a crack and listened again, peering out as well. With a sound laden with satisfaction, he pushed the door open enough to slip out and beckoned Heero behind him.

"Where to now, chief?"

Though Heero was certain that the compliance masked disrespect, he disregarded it to think instead on the probable layout of the building. They currently occupied a nice hallway with several widely spaced doors. If he judged correctly based on his view of the windows from the outside, they probably led to conference rooms. "Was there an elevator?"

"Yeah. That side." Duo gestured down the hall.

Heero headed in that direction. The elevator lobby yielded a brief directory, but it was sufficient to let them know that two floors down they could find the accounting offices. It wasn't clear whether those were the offices that they were looking for, but failing any more informative labeling on the office directory, it would suffice as an initial objective.

The map of emergency exits posted in the lobby led them to the stairs down. On the third story landing, they froze when the door leading to the first floor opened. Holding their breaths in suspense, they listened as one pair of footsteps clacked against the metal stairs on its way upwards. They were gesturing out a plan of attack to each other using their old war codes when the footsteps stopped on the landing below theirs. The door to the second story opened, and the person exited.

They continued on their journey without further incident. The hall on the third floor was empty, and they quickly scanned the name plates next to the doors. The accounting department had a large office to themselves, with the center a mess of cubicles, and a few window offices lining the edges. The lights were dimmed to a standby mode, bright enough for the security guards or some late-working employee to find his way to a light switch, but dark enough to be insufficient for actual work. Scanning the contents of the cube closest to the door, Heero's eye caught sight of an employee directory pinned to the partition wall. Flipping through it and squinting, he found the name of a person whose title was public relations and local resources. That sounded like a good bet.

Matching the name to one of the name plates was easy. Getting into the office was easy, too, since the door was unlocked. Finding the information was not so easy.

As they might have expected from the man's job title, the office was filled with quite a bit of paperwork. From Heero's point of view, the best way to get to know a man through his office was from the perspective of the chair in front of the computer, so there he sat, studying the office by the ambient light through the window. "I'll take the computer and desk," he said eventually, swishing the wireless mouse around. He hurriedly reduced the brightness of the display when the monitor lit up. After a few moments, he noticed that Duo was still leaning against the wall next to the closed door, arms crossed. "Why don't you take that cabinet over there?" he asked rather pointedly. He should have known better to think that Duo might take the implied hint.

"Aren't we looking for the guy's dayplanner?"

"Yes."

"Really think he'd keep something like that in a cabinet that's nowhere near his desk?"

Grr. Good point. "Go... look for something else, then. This guy is a PR worker in a major branch of their operations. He must have something interesting lying around for you to entertain yourself with."

Duo waited motionlessly for a good handful of seconds before shrugging carelessly and moving towards the bank of drawers. No point in breaking into a place if you weren't going to snoop around. He pulled a thin pair of gloves out from his pocket and put them on before starting.

Heero noticed the odd movement. "Do you always carry gloves around with you?"

There was a bland blink in response. "Don't you?"

Again, he should have known better than to ask. The computer would be less unpredictable, so he turned his attention to that instead, making a brief check for log files before proceeding to explore the system. It had been a while since using a computer for anything much more than mind-numbing games of solitaire, but he hadn't lost his skills, and paper-pushers weren't all that creative.

Shaking off the unsettling feeling of a comfortable déjà vu, Duo started tugging on drawers, quickly dismissing the ones that were unlocked. Those wouldn't hold anything juicy. He found a locked one on the bottom, closest to the desk, and pulled his picks out again, unlocking the simple mechanism with an almost absent-minded skill.

The illumination filtering in through the window on the opposite wall was faint, but it was enough for him to make out the bold lettering on the tabs of the file folders. Names, dates, not much of it held much meaning to him, but there was one acronym that stuck out. He leaned in to take a closer look at it. "Hey, Heero."

"What?" Heero triggered a buffer dump on the printer in the office, hoping that the last page still held in memory would hold something interesting.

"Lemme climb under your desk a sec."

"Excuse me?"

He grabbed the file and crawled over to Heero's side. "Don't want the light to show," he said, holding out his cigarette lighter in explanation. The front panel of the wooden desk reached all the way to the thin carpeting. An attempt to make the office look more stately, perhaps.

Heero pushed his chair back. He'd been about to get fetch the printout, anyway. Once he was out of the way, Duo scurried under the table for cover, but Heero leaned over to speak to him with his hand outstretched. "Don't want you to set anything on fire, either." His fingers uncurled to reveal a set of keys, dangling from a keychain with an embedded LED light.

"You take all the fun out of things," Duo pouted, but he took the mini-flashlight and got to work examining his purloined documents.

Heero pulled the sheet from the printer and angled it toward the window. It appeared to be a bill of sale, nothing more. He folded it up and stuck it in his pocket for later disposal.

"Heero."

"What?"

"Man."

"What?" he repeated, this time with an edge.

"Dude, you drive a scooter?" Duo obviously found that amusing.

It took him a moment to figure out where this had come from. No doubt Duo had recognized the logo on one of his keys. "...I don't get out much."

"Yeah, I could tell."

He went back to the desk and sat down, forgetting for a moment that Duo was underneath until he heard a muttered warning. The moment came and went and soon he was back to pondering the depths of the PR agent's desk. There was an in basket with a trade magazine and a few requisition forms in it, an out box with a few bills to be mailed. He started checking the drawers for schedule books.

A chuckle floated out from underneath the desk. "Hey, Heero. You'll never guess what these people bought back in ninety-seven."

"Hm?"

"No, really, guess."

"Hn. Ten reams of paper?" He asked only because he was sorting through so much of it at the moment.

"Nope, guess again."

Heero stopped short of kicking him, but it wasn't quite a friendly nudge with a steel-toed boot, either. "Twenty ink cartridges?"

His foot was caught by the ankle by one tight grip. The hand slid upwards until it squeezed just beneath the knee. He looked down and saw Duo glaring up at him, face peeking through from between his legs for a proper viewing angle. The eyes that typically were purplishly blue looked black in the darkness.

"Don't even start with me, Yuy," Duo growled. "I don't play the boot-licking scene."

Heero opened his mouth to name another scene that might involve Duo beneath a desk somewhere, but his sleepy sense of self-preservation reminded him that perhaps now was not the best time. His position was somewhat vulnerable. And they were on a mission. Of sorts. He altered his comments appropriately. "You started it. You could just tell me what the hell they bought."

"Hey, I was just trying to make things interesting. I can see that my efforts were wasted."

'Interesting'. Is that what he called these games? Heero snorted. "Just tell me what they bought."

"No, never mind," Duo dismissed airily. "Moment's passed. Lost my interest."

"Duo."

"Nope. Missed your chance, buddy. Game over. Nothing more to see here. Move along." He pushed Heero's chair out of the way and slithered out from underneath the desk.

"Duo," Heero repeated flatly, but it wasn't long before he gave up on it. Duo was clearly occupied with putting the file back and searching through the others. "Does it have anything to do with Relena?"

A terse silence passed before Duo answered. "Nope."

Heero believed him. And if it didn't have anything to do with why they were there, then he didn't really care. He went back to sifting through the desk, his progress far slower than he would have liked. Finding nothing of any interest, he soon moved back to the computer, digging around for a schedule keeper, and studiously ignoring Duo's occasional exclamation of delight, wonder, or derision. Duo was better at getting under his skin tonight, though. He finally broke down. "What the hell is in those files, Duo?"

"Nothing to do with the little princess," Duo drawled. "You have your fun, and I'll have mine."

"Fun. Right." He opened another file and scanned it. "Here it is. I have her itinerary for tomorrow." He memorized it and began putting the computer back into its starting state.

"Of course," Duo continued lazily a couple of minutes later. "I suppose that, if you wanted to know a little something about this family your little princess is about to marry into, then maybe you could say this has something to do with her."

Heero hesitated slightly in readjusting the monitor to its former brightness, wondering how his mind was working these days. He probably should have thought about that sooner, and yet he still had the presence of mind to do such little things as clean up after himself in the computer system. His concentration was proving unreliably inconsistent these days. Most bothersome.

Maybe he should have expected that Duo would shut the drawer just as he got to it. He suppressed a sigh, having neither energy nor interest in dealing with this. "Get out of my way, Duo."

"Oh, so now he's interested. Well, there's plenty of other files here. Why don't you go look through one of them?"

Heero reached out and slid a finger underneath the collar of Duo's jacket, fingering the edge of it contemplatively while Duo smirked at him, shortly before firming his grip and pushing Duo aside into the indulgently wooden cabinetry. It lacked the necessary force to be truly threatening. "You don't get in my way, and I won't get in yours. Those are the rules of this game."

Duo was typically unconcerned by this change in positions. "You can't change the rules when we're in the middle of the game, buddy boy."

"Then let's call this a different game. I asked before if you were in on getting in here. You wanted fun; you were in. Now I'm talking about the rest of it. You want in on the next stage of the game, you don't get in my way. Don't make trouble for me, and I'll let you do as you please."

"Mmm, anything I please?" That sounded promising.

As if he would agree to that. "Don't make trouble for me, Maxwell."

"So if I wanted to blow this building sky high?"

"The resulting investigation would cause trouble for me."

"And if I wanted to fuck you through a mattress?"

Well, it was an upgrade from the alley. "I 'ask' that you cooperate with me. If you're going to be here, you might as well make yourself useful. You can ask for my cooperation all you like in return. I may or may not give it."

Hey, he didn't say 'no'. "Molesting you doesn't really require your approval."

"No. But suspicious stains on the file cabinets here would probably be a bad clue to leave behind."

"Oh, so you do know how to come, after all, eh? I was beginning to worry."

He'd actually been thinking of blood stains, but whatever. "I don't think it's really a matter of 'knowing how', Duo."

"Oh, so then you admit your body would just react to mine, eh?" Duo grinned, and leaned forward to steal a kiss. "Game's on, then."

*****

Part 4

Though her power had waned over the years, Relena Peacecraft was not a person that could travel quietly, even if she wanted to. Now that the news of her impending marriage had caused her to resurface in the media, it was as true as ever that there was a flurry of activity surrounding her.

She sighed discreetly, trying not to move too much as the seamstress adjusted the fit of her bodice. She could hear the faint buzz of a crowd outside the store. Any person reading the life and times section of the paper would know where to find her. It was nothing compared to the paparazzi present at a political event, but she still had to curse the soul that had thought it would be harmless and morale-boosting for the public to know who was designing her dress.

She could use a morale-boost of her own right about now. How far had she fallen that her worth was now measured by her marriagable status? She used to be able to buoy the spirits of people with a sweet smile and a stirring speech. Now all she could do was get married and give them a reason to party. But if that was all she could do, then that was what she would do.

On the other hand, there wasn't as much conflict in the world now as there had been five years ago. The marriage was only a bit of a pick-me-up to help the Earth Union pull through some rough economic times. It comforted her to remember that the world had been at peace since the end of the Barton conflict. A few small skirmishes and rebellions had flared up, as was to be expected, but nothing the government couldn't handle.

Those had been nerve-wracking times, sitting on the sidelines unable to help, but her advisors had been right. It was a good idea to stand back and let the new guard step forth and assume responsibility for the peace and prosperity of the new age. It was only fitting. The wars had in large part been about bearing the burden of one's own freedom. The world needed to be weaned off of its reliance upon the old symbols of past conflict.

She missed the others. It was only proper that they had been separated. All of them together created a stir that made it impossible for things to settle down. They were catalysts, even when the reaction was spent. She understood that; it was why she didn't begrudge Heero and her brother's final duel amidst the wreckage of the Libra. She didn't approve of it, but she understood the reasoning behind it.

Heero. She hoped he was happy somewhere. Surely he wouldn't be sighing and moping around in obsolete uselessness. After the war, he had been filled with such a, well, 'joyful optimism' wasn't really a term that well applied to Heero Yuy, but the impression stayed with her all the same. Maybe it was just the barest sparkle in his eyes, the faintest tilt of his lips. He had looked forward to peace, to the chance to lay down his arms and be someone new, to stop his whirlwind of a life and finally take a deep and cleansing breath.

She envied that. He and the others had been allowed to fade into obscurity, but the former Queen of the World had no such luck. She was far too recognizable, even if the government and her responsibilities had allowed her to escape the limelight. There hadn't been much of a choice. Earth and the colonies had needed a familiar, reassuring face after the Barton conflict, and she lent hers willingly.

'Gave', perhaps, rather than 'lent'. Her face, her image, her life was no longer hers to claim all her own.

Jerked back from her thoughts and into reality by the murmured instructions of the designer, she did as she was told and suppressed another sigh. If Heero were in this situation, he wouldn't be sighing, she reminded herself. With his powerful sense of duty and honor, he would bear the burden of the entire world upon his shoulders and still stand up straight. She shut her eyes briefly and held that image in her mind, vowing to find comfort and strength from it, just as she always had during the wars. Heero was so many things that she had always wanted to be, that she still wanted to be. She had far yet to travel down that path, but she would try.

When she opened her eyes again, she was confronted by the image of herself in her wedding gown. Not how she had imagined it, really. The dress itself was a lovely thing, as might be expected for a designer of this renown. It was elegant and flowing, subtle and sophisticated, and yet rich as befitting her station. If only it hadn't been commissioned for and by a man she had nothing but a passing fondness for.

At least she and Karl were the same age. They had been schoolmates for a time, so there was some common history as well. He wasn't what she would have readily termed 'handsome', but he was not unattractive. His behavior was tempered by training in gentlemanly arts, though he had yet to lose much of the arrogance that had marked his teenage years. It was no more prominent than that of the others in their generation, of their standing, herself included, so she supposed she could not fault him for that. Perhaps age and experience would work their mellowing magic on him.

See, it wouldn't be so bad. And he respected her, listened to her ideas and wanted her for more than simply being a trophy wife, so smile, she told herself firmly, testing a small one out in the mirror above the seamstress' bowed head. Heero would-- well, he probably wouldn't smile, but he wouldn't frown, either, and no one wanted a mopey princess.

How she missed him. Things would be so much easier if he were here. He would understand. He would tell her she was doing the right thing, even if he didn't always agree with her. Heero was a man of principles. He knew what it meant to put the interest of others before one's own self. Even if he didn't have to any more. She exhaled, careful not to let it turn into another sigh. No, maybe it was better to leave him out of this.

When the fitting was over, she graciously thanked the seamstress for all the hard work and detail that was going into her fabulous gown, and then she fled with dignity back to the dressing room to shed the banner of her upcoming union. When it was done, it would accentuate her elegant curves. In its primordial form, its unfitted bodice had been drafty and reminded her of her less than ample bosom. It wasn't something that had ever bothered her before, save for a passing comment she had overheard from her charming fiancé, as spoken to one of his companions the previous week. She made a note to insult his manhood some time. Subtly, of course. After all, sparkling repartee was a key factor in the communication that kept couples together longer.

Once she was finally back in her street clothes, she took an extra minute for herself in front of the mirror, trying to recompose the sweet face for the cameras. Her smile looked pained to her eyes. She frowned and turned away from the image. She'd never liked practicing in front of mirrors anyway.

Delivering the dress back to the seamstress with care, she took one peek around a screen out the front window and immediately withdrew. The swarm of cameras was still out there, patient as ever for the appearance of their star. She almost pitied the two she had left out there, but the bodyguard she had excused as a man in the middle of women's affairs, an excuse he seemed grateful to grab hold of. Her 'personal assistant' was honestly more like a public relations lady taken on at the insistence of the Jurgensen family, so it hadn't taken too much to convince the woman to stay outside and spin to the crowd. In some other circumstance, perhaps Relena would have appreciated the company of another lady, but not this time, and not this lady. Shirley reminded her of an old nanny she'd had when she was eight.

The building had a back door leading to an alley of other back doors, which reconnected to the road in front some six doors down. She decided to go that route to the car, which was parked behind the herd. From there, she could safely signal her companions that she was ready to depart, then hide inside the car until they got underway. A small, genuine smile blossomed on her lips at the thought of possibly outsmarting the vultures.

She looked carefully in both directions before emerging from the door, but saw that no rear guard had been placed to prevent her escape. No one would suspect a fine lady such as herself to be stepping delicately over puddles and around garbage bins.

She was just about to bypass one such large garbage container when she realized that there was a figure leaning against the wall beside it. He looked like a scruffy miscreant with his hands in his pockets, head bowed, eyes hidden beneath the rim of a hat. There was scant comfort to be had from the fact that he looked more like a drug dealer than a rapist or mugger. Reflexively, she took a step away towards the other wall, but remembered what she had been taught. Show no fear. Move as if you are sure of your actions. Act like you belong. It wasn't too different from what she might do at any 'social' gathering.

Head up, eyes forward, she strode confidently past him, though not without sneaking a wary peek at him out of the corner of her eye. When he looked up and met her gaze, her next step slowed before it could stumble, and she turned her head fully to further investigate, and very nearly gape at, the sudden appearance of two sharp blue eyes above a narrow nose and lips quirked at a familiar angle. "Heero?" she whispered.

"Relena," he answered calmly, as if the two of them meeting in a back alley on a colony that was neither of their homes was mere routine. Absently tossing his hair out of his face, he pushed himself off the wall.

She waited a few breathless moments to make sure he was real before she let out a soft squeal of delight and threw her arms around him. "Oh, I can't believe it's really you! What are you doing here? And... is that Duo, too?" she asked, catching sight of the other's stealthy return from scouting only when he was already close enough to hear the question.

He greeted her with only an amused glance before turning back to watch the head of the alley. They had never really gotten to know each other more than passingly during the wars. There had been a brief period of acquaintance afterwards, while things had been sorting themselves out.

Heero returned the embrace awkwardly, patting her a couple of times on the back before letting his arms hang loosely in her general direction. "I heard you were getting married."

She should have expected it, but it stole her breath for a moment anyway. Slowly, she unwrapped herself from him and took a step back. His typically inscrutable expression gave away little. It was grave as always, though, with no little twinkle in his eye to belie a light jest, so she had to assume there were no joyous congratulations to be offered. She straightened her back and squared her shoulders to answer with dignity. "I am."

"What the hell are you thinking?"

That was completely, utterly unexpected, and yet it, too, managed to steal her breath away, and for more than a moment. "I-- I... What do you mean? I have to marry him."

Heero's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Why? Is he forcing you to?"

"No," she answered immediately, taken aback. "Not-- I mean... I thought you'd understand."

He folded his arms over his chest. "Feel free to explain it to me."

"I have to. It's my duty. My people need this right now. The world needs this."

That sounded a little too much like something repeated too often. He snorted. "There are a lot of other things this world needs that I would put higher on the priority list." Just because he no longer felt driven enough to put that list into effect didn't mean that he couldn't come up with it all the same.

"But..." She nervously smoothed out wrinkles in her skirt that weren't there. Using that as a cover, she glanced down, breaking the eye contact. "But that's all I can do," she confessed. They waited for several seconds in that silence Heero carried around with him, the one that others perceived as a gentle prompt, even if it was more like an impatient demand in this particular case.

Relena exhaled audibly. "We have peace in the world, but that doesn't mean that our job is over. We're in the middle of a global recession, one that we've been sliding into for years. Some areas have never recovered from the war, others never from the Alliance years. The push forward in technology that was brought on by the conflicts has caused downsizing across the board, particularly in manufacturing. The people that have been laid off are suddenly finding that their skills are obsolete. We've started re-education programs, but that will take time, time that these people often don't have. They need to make a living now. And the money they make is often at a starting salary that is not sufficient to maintain their lifestyles.

"We have companies whose business was disrupted. Assets were destroyed. Debts went unpaid. A startling number of businesses had to declare bankruptcy. Investments fell in value. Pensions and retirement funds are threatened. Governments are too busy putting their money into rebuilding their infrastructures in order to sustain a renewal of the market that they can't devote an equal number of resources towards public assistance programs. They have to think long term." When she stopped to gather breath for another burst of rhetoric, she studied Heero's unchanged expression and deflated.

He took the opportunity of a pause to ask a simple question. "So how will you getting married change anything?"

She deflated even further. "It can't." It hurt to say that, even if she had known it all along. Heero's penchant for brutal honesty spread itself forth in a compelling aura. "It's just going to take time for everything to stabilize. In the meantime, all we can do is keep morale up. Widespread cynicism and hopelessness would only make things worse."

Heero mulled over that for a while, scratching at his elbow while he thought about it. In the end, he came up with one word to sum up his conclusion. "Bullshit."

Not even her fears and anxieties collected into nightmares could be this cruel. "Heero..."

"Who's been feeding you this crap? Is it him?"

"Him? Who? Karl? Of course not. I would never have agreed to it if I thought it was such an insane idea."

"You 'agreed to it', which means that it wasn't your idea to begin with."

For a moment that unfortunately extended into an instance of action, she understood the need to strike back, to attack rather than defend. "What hole have you been hiding in, Heero? I expected you of all people to understand what I'm doing. This isn't about me or you. It isn't about whether or not I love him, or what I ever wanted for my future. This is about everyone else. The leaders of the world have to be united right now. It reassures the people to see that the government is stable and confident."

"So you don't love him."

She stiffened, realizing that she had brought up the issue on her own. "It's not like he's some stranger, Heero. I've known him for years. Our families have known each other for years."

The sidestep of the issue was confirmation enough. "You're right. This isn't about whether you love him or not. This is about you feeling powerless and running off to do some idiotic thing to try and feel like you have some sort of control over the situation."

Her hand was flying through the air before she realized it, and it smacked against Heero's cheek with a startlingly loud sound. "What gives you the right, Heero?" she snapped while his eyes were still wide with surprise. Alleys were really turning out to be unkind to him. "What gives you the right to suddenly drop in on my life out of nowhere and tell me with your overwhelming arrogance that everything I'm doing is wrong? That our government is heading in the wrong direction? That... that..."

The fact that her anger quickly evaporated, leaving her only gasping for words, in no way kept Heero from noticing how Duo was doing only a barely decent job of muffling his snickers. When Heero turned a sour glare in his direction, Duo waved his hand in apology and turned around to take a few steps away from them, shoulders still shaking in laughter. With a silent sigh of annoyance, Heero returned his attention to the woman in front of him, the slap already excused and forgotten. He had a feeling that the proper thing to do would have been to pat her on the shoulder or something, but he wasn't so into that sort of thing. He decided he was lucky that Relena wasn't the sobbing type and decided to just keep on slogging forward. "I have the right because I've been through one of these government programs of yours, and I've got to say, it kind of sucked."

She blinked at him, trying to process his words through the turmoil in her mind. Things that she had counted on were being pulled out from beneath her, and she had a terrible sense of foreboding that things were about to change. "What do you mean, Heero?" she whispered, not wanting to hear the answer.

"I think it's great that everyone has the same goals these days, but it's as pathetic as ever that they all still can't come to an agreement on how to proceed. That's what's causing this mess, Relena. You can't get anywhere without deciding on a clear course of action and following through on it. And you have the power to help make that happen. Why don't you do that, instead of trying to pretty up the problem. There may be little you can do in the face of the obstinate foolishness of others, but it has to be better than putting on a nice white dress and smiling for the cameras and playing along with their inane plans."

"Heero..."

He had one last thing to say. "You went and granted all of us citizenship after the first war. As a citizen of Sanq, I expect more from my princess."

It wasn't often she was left speechless. Without a response at the ready, she recovered by merely seizing upon her last coherent thought. By fortunate coincidence, it felt important. "...What do you mean, it 'sucked', Heero? What have you been doing these last five years?"

He stared at her long enough to determine that she wasn't just brushing off his words, only leaving them for another time, before he answered succinctly, his usual brevity restored. "Nothing."

Not for the first time, she cursed the reasoning that had severed the connections between all of them. Despite the missing years, however, she correctly recognized that Heero was being merely concise, not uncommunicative. "But... you were going to start over. Try new things. Find yourself."

Now resigned to his unproductivity, he shrugged. "Hard to do when you're living under restrictions and guidelines."

"But those were..." For their own good? For the good of everyone else? She choked on the thoughts with a shiver. She labored beneath the same rules, and understood that things hadn't turned out as easy or as well as they had all hoped.

Things started shifting before her eyes. Heero was just sloppily dressed before, or maybe he was hiding from the media, much as she often did, but now, oh now she realized that it took time for hair to grow shaggy, that his slouch hadn't gone away once they started talking. She looked over towards Duo's back, and even though she had never known the other pilot well, she thought that he seemed even harder than he had during and immediately following the wars. That cynical look in his eye had only gotten worse. She suddenly saw something else she had missed. "Heero... why are you here? How are you here? With him? Here, in a back alley behind a dress shop?"

With a thoughtful twist to his lips, Heero shrugged again. "I needed to talk to you."

"Why?"

"I heard you were getting married."

She had thought that perhaps this had only been small talk, as all matters of marriage had been with others for the past month. She should have known better. Heero Yuy did not do 'small talk'. She glanced over to where Duo was still standing.

As if sensing the eyes on his back, he turned with a smirk over his shoulder to answer the unspoken question. "I'm just along for the ride, princess."

When he turned back to his lazy scrutiny of the entrance to the alley, she thought that maybe they weren't hiding from the media. "Are... are you supposed to be here?"

"Not really," Heero answered blandly. "Contact between any of us is discouraged, remember?"

"I heard from my brother yesterday," she said, trying to make it sound hopeful and not desperate. By virtue of their blood relation, they had managed to stay in touch. "When I first wrote him, he said he would be here before the wedding, but... life intervened, I suppose. He just let me know he wouldn't be able to make it. Oh, I so wanted him to be there. He... he said that he approved, though, and gave me his blessings, but..." It was so difficult to tell what a person was really thinking through his words alone. The phrasing had seemed a little stilted. Was there another reason he would not be attending? The brother she knew would have been there, hell or high water. It hurt to think that he could find the idea so distasteful that he could not bear to be present.

Since Heero thought that Zechs and Noin both would probably have some uncharitable thoughts about the matter, he wisely held his tongue and tried to find something else to say first. "Hm. I forget that Zechs was raised a prince. Maybe he would understand," Heero eventually offered half-heartedly. Milliardo was a prince. Zechs was just a soldier with an odd sense of honor, a sometimes annoying penchant for the grandiose, and a skewed idea of how one would go about establishing peace throughout the solar system, but just maybe Milliardo might understand.

Relena smiled weakly, knowing what Heero thought, and appreciative of the effort because of it. "And Pargan, too. He's been there for me for as long as I can remember, and now he isn't. He's already sent his regrets for being unable to attend. What a cruel world it is when even our lifelong bonds must inevitably be broken."

"He doesn't work for you anymore?"

"No, he retired to L4-Horizons two years ago."

"Not on Earth?"

"He had some trouble with his heart two years ago. Oh, I feel so terrible about it. It's my fault I didn't realize. He came with me to a summit in L1, and I just didn't think about how stressful that would have been on him. I was just so used to having him with me, and he didn't say a thing, bless his soul. But while we were there, his heart started giving him trouble, and the doctors recommended against re-entry..." She flexed her hand, probably feeling the pain of the slap more than Heero did, and was struck by the sudden fear of their connection slipping away yet again. "I'm sorry, Heero. I didn't mean to..."

He shrugged it off. "I probably deserved it."

She was unwilling to be forgiven so easily. "I just... I guess I expected you to..."

The sentence was cut off before it could be finished. Heero had recently fallen short of a number of old expectations, and it did not please him to be reminded of it. "Well, I suppose that soon, you'll be expected to look for support from your beloved husband, this Karl of yours. Who is this guy, anyway?"

Pushing rarely got anywhere with him. That much she knew. She let a short silence between them stand as another apology and a bit of a disapproving frown before she answered. "You've met him before, I think. He was a classmate at St. Gabriel's."

Heero scratched at his chin. This unshaven thing was annoying. "Jurgensen. Karl Jurgensen. Karl..." His eyes widened. "HIM!? That... that... that pansy! You're marrying him?! But he's...!"

"Psst, Yuy," Duo said, hustling back to their side with an amused look on his face. "Hate to break up the party, but the secretary lady just went into the store. It's time to get out of here."

"But he's... such a pansy!"

Duo choked on another laugh. "Um, yeah, okay. Listen, princess, it's been real, but we gotta get going." He glanced over his shoulder when he heard the buzz of the crowd out front change in tone. "Shit," he muttered, grabbing Heero's arm. "Let's move, Yuy."

Relena intercepted them and gave Heero a quick peck on the cheek before he could evade it, the very cheek that had so recently made the acquaintance of the palm of her hand. It would have to serve as one last hasty apology. She had so many more questions to ask, so many more things she wanted to say, but there was no more time. There would be serious consequences if they were found, and tying up some loose ends between them seemed insignificant in comparison. She set all of that aside and said the most important thing of all. "Take care, you two. I'm glad you came."

Heero had to let only eye contact say goodbye for him as Duo wrestled him back behind the trash bin a mere second before Relena's bodyguard appeared at the head of the alley. "Miss Relena?" he called out softly, heading their way.

With an aborted look back towards her old friends, she started walking towards the bodyguard, granting them a larger safe distance. "Schaefer," she said at the halfway point.

"Miss Relena, what are you doing here?" he scolded her not unkindly. "Are you alright?"

There was only the slightest hesitation before she donned a chagrined smile. "Yes, Schaefer, I'm fine. I'm sorry to have worried you. I'm afraid I just wanted to steal a minute for myself."

The man sighed. "In the future, please try not to do it in a dark alley. Someone dangerous could have been lurking back here..." Their voices trailed off as he shepherded her back to the car.

Duo removed his hand from Heero's mouth. It had been a somewhat unnecessary precaution, but it had amused him to do so. It had also amused him to let his other hand coincidentally find a hold on Heero's groin as he pulled them back into a sprawl under the cover of the garbage bin. His teeth had also just happened to find a playmate in the lobe of Heero's ear, which perhaps made the hand over Heero's mouth just a little more necessary.

Heero elbowed him in the gut for it all before twisting around. He would delay breaking cover completely until he was sure that Schaefer wouldn't catch a lucky glance of them down the alley as the limo pulled away. "He's a fucking pansy, Duo."

If things hadn't been so damned funny, Duo might have felt a bit put out by this little sidetrip. "Dude, who calls people 'pansies' these days?" He rolled his eyes when Heero pretended not to pout defensively. "Well, pansy or not, there you have it. The little lady is set on marrying the guy. Now can we get back to the whole, someone was trying to kill you, thing?"

Heero brooded for a few moments before shaking his head. "I want to talk to Pargan."

The story of Heero visiting each and every one of the Noventas came to mind. How the bloody hell had Trowa put up with it? Duo was tired of it after just one. "Well, fuck, are you going to go visit Zechs, too? Maybe the grave of her father? Both of them? Maybe she has a pet cat you'd like to speak with?"

"Hm. Zechs. That sounds like a good idea." He wouldn't be able to get any information out of headstones. Or cats.

Glare. "I thought you said you didn't give a shit."

With only a mild blink, Heero shrugged. "I didn't. I guess old habits are just hard to break."

"Yeah? Tactlessness counts as a habit, too, eh?"

"Shut up, Duo." He wasn't certain what habit this was all about, anyway. Protection? Completion? Survival was another habit he was just getting back into. "And why the hell are you so keen on getting me killed, anyway?"

"What, you think I signed on for my own health? I'm only here because there's someone out for your blood, and I want in on a little of the action. I'm not here so you can go chasing down your princess. Unless you want to get yourself slapped again, 'cuz yeah, that was fun."

Not the word he would have used, though he supposed he was glad that she still had that passion in her. He resisted the urge to lay his hand to the offended cheek and feel for heat, with a sudden surge of sympathy for Mariemaia. He'd heard the story. Relena really knew how to put her whole arm behind a swing. "Then don't come along. I'm going to see Pargan, with or without you."

"Goddamn, but you're one obsessed bastard." He let his head fall back against the cardboard boxes he was using as a seat and stared up into the colony sky in exasperation. "Get over the crush, man. It was years ago."

"I don't have a 'crush' on her, Maxwell."

"Yeah?" He lifted his head again to cock an eyebrow at him in challenge. "Then explain yourself."

"I just..." He had no explanations, really. Only a sudden, startling realization that he hadn't felt this interested in anything for a long time, and a sudden fear that, if he let go of it, he'd never be able to find it again. "I just care what happens to her, okay?"

"You heard the lady: she can take care of herself. And she proved it, too. She managed to sucker slap the great Heero Yuy." He chuckled. Now that had been one hell of a classic moment. "Now can we get back to trying to find someone to kill you?"

"If there's anyone after me that's worth a fight, he'll find me. I've got better things to do than wait around for this guy." He pulled himself free of Duo's entangling limbs and climbed to his feet. "Now, you in or you out?"

Though he sported a much put-upon face, Duo snorted in capitulation. "Fine, we'll do things your way. But after this much trouble, the guy that comes for you had better be good."

*****

Part 5

Heero watched silently as Duo gathered some things around his apartment into a bag. It looked like there was more clutter in this apartment than in the one he had left behind in the L4 cluster, but he wondered if it was any more 'home'. It seemed like a fortress in some ways, with the thick curtains obviously hung to prevent anyone outside from looking in. He saw that the sealing of the crack beneath the front door had been quite deliberate, most likely another measure taken to secure his place of residence. Duo had also mentioned 'protection' the other night. Jamming equipment of some sort, perhaps? He thought there might have been something cleverly hidden in the knick-knacks collecting dust in the corner.

More than one pair of footsteps thumped to a halt outside of the apartment's front door, and the pair froze. Someone cleared his throat, then knocked on the door. They stared at each other, silently tense. Expecting company?, Heero mouthed.

Never, Duo answered in kind. Evaluating their options quickly, he jerked his head in the direction of the kitchen. Heero nodded, and they crept slowly in that direction.

The knocking came again, an everyday sort of knock to go with the everyday sort of voice that called out. "Mr. Maxwell, are you in? It's Stanley."

Jilted lover? Heero asked, an amused tilt to his eyebrow.

Duo was too busy narrowing his eyes in irritation at their visitor to rise to the bait. Case worker.

Heero's reaction quickly chilled down to the level of Duo's, and they waited out the intruder without further comment. After another ten seconds, faint voices could be heard through the cheap door.

"Is this normal?" a deep voice asked.

"It's a little early for Maxwell to be slumming in a bar somewhere." It was Stanley that answered, but his tone had gone from friendly to lazily disrespectful. "But it's not unheard of. There's likely no cause for concern."

"It doesn't matter how many years have passed without any trouble out of them. They're Gundam pilots. They are trouble."

"Oh, what do you lot know, down in your big, cushy Earth offices." The disdain in Stan's voice made Duo snort softly with an equal disdain. Stan was sort of cushy, too. "You probably haven't ever laid eyes on one. Heh, these days, you might not even know it if you did. Trust me, Maxwell's far gone. He hasn't had a care for anything but himself for years."

"And who knows what he might find in his own self-interest. Maybe he'll be convinced that there is a credible threat to the both of them."

"The threat ain't credible when there ain't nothing credible to threaten. I'm telling ya, man, he's nothing. He wouldn't believe it. Why would someone threaten him? He's got sex and he's got booze, and he certainly doesn't have any dignity. He goes pretty cheap these days. Trust me, I know. Heh. And we went through a lotta trouble putting him there."

"And you sound like you enjoyed it, you sick bastard." There was a moment of silence before the deep voice spoke again. "Track him," it ordered curtly.

Footsteps shuffled outside the door; four pairs, it sounded like. After another fifteen seconds, a new voice spoke. "Got him."

The deep voice in charge ordered everyone out, and they left with a clatter. Stanley left a few more protests in his wake as well. Heero took his attention off the door to return his gaze to his companion. His visual focus shifted down to the knife Duo seemed to have taken from the dish rack on the counter beside the sink. It was held by one tight fist around the grip. Another hand ran contemplative fingers lightly down the length of the blade.

"If me an' Stan ever meet up again, I'm going to help that fat prick shed a couple'a pounds," Duo murmured.

"For what? Being right?"

The edge of the blade flashed up against his throat. It was dull in that way low quality kitchen knives often were, but it was still a threat. "I don't think you can afford to lose any weight, Heero. You're skinny enough as it is."

He didn't flinch. "I'm sorry. I thought you were following me around just for kicks. I didn't realize you had more altruistic goals in mind."

"Oh, and you do, Heero? I don't recall you running off on this wild chase of yours for any reason other than you don't want your precious little princess to get married to some 'pansy'. Is that all you got in you these days?"

A moment of thought yielded the likely answer. "Yes. I think so."

Duo snorted derisively. "No better off than me, maybe then, eh?"

"No, at least you still have a care for yourself these days."

He stared at Heero for a few seconds before laughing shortly. "Admit it, Heero. You've never had a care for yourself."

The sad truth of it was evident without him having to agree aloud. He was, after all, currently chatting without regard for the knife at his neck.

Duo sighed grumpily. "For the record, I've never touched the sleaze. He just likes to think he's gotten me to bend over for him. And you're making me a little irritable with all your insinuations that I'm somehow collaborating with the enemy. Now, I have to admit, I'm not into bloodplay, so do us both a favor and stop, eh?" With a final warning poke, he removed the blade from the vicinity of Heero's jugular and tossed it back onto the countertop before moving back towards the living room.

Heero followed at his own pace. "Where did you put it? The tracker."

"I attached it to the neighbor's cat. That crazy old thing wanders around everywhere, doesn't come back for days at a time, sometimes. Hope they shoot it on sight. Goddamn thing kept trying to hump my leg last month."

"Maybe you should learn to tone it down some, then."

Duo avoided answering by using the fact that his head was underneath his desk as he reached to the back side of it and pulled out a sheathed knife. He emerged, brushing the dust off the tail of his hair. "I've got a bag o'crap stashed at the port. Let's get out of here."

"Before they decide to swarm the port. Let's hope this cat friend of yours doesn't wander anywhere near there tonight."

*****

Heero leaned against the lockers keeping watch as Duo keyed in the passcode. Their trip to the shuttleport had been tricky, but not impossible. Public transportation was a chance they took, but people on buses tended to avoid eye contact when they could. Passenger traffic had been moderate, leaving them tense at every stop. They tried not to skulk in the back of the bus, but it was questionable how well they had succeeded. Someone could have noticed them. On the other hand, there were often people skulking at the back of the bus. Fortunately for them, in this new era of 'peace', the government could find little reason for stringent security checkpoints at the port.

"Why do you have a secret stash?" he asked, doing what little he could to contribute to their cover. If there was something he had noticed, it was that normal, inconspicuous people made idle conversation about frivolous things. It was something that had kept him from fully assimilating, but at least here, with this one person, he could find something to discuss that was worth discussing.

Duo combined the shrug for the answer with the shrug of the bag's strap over his shoulder. "Habit, I guess. You know me. I'm a packrat to the core."

"I haven't yet decided what I should or would be more impressed by. A successful integration? A successful resistance? Or hell, just success at anything, maybe."

"What would you have said last month?" Duo asked, shutting the door.

They headed towards the automated ticket counter. The hour was getting late for outbound flights, but there were still a few overnights to be found. The more annoying problem was the pedestrian traffic. It gave them a crowd in which to hide, but there was also a greater chance that someone would remember them. They kept their heads down, didn't look at any security cameras, and did their best to fit in. "Integration, I suppose. It's definitely the more difficult of the two, I imagine."

"I'd call you a few kinds of a fool, then."

"Oh?"

"It's easy to give up, give in. Do what they tell you to."

"You think it's that easy, do you? Being normal? Living life? Learning about all of those little things you never thought you'd need to know?"

"How hard could it be? Billions of idiots do it every day. B'sides, don't be so innocent as to think that even half, a quarter of those idiots are actually living their lives to the fullest. You think they know how to enjoy the simple pleasures in life? If that were true, we'd never have any wars. No, it's not hard at all to be one of them."

"Is it any better being us?"

"Yup. Better being me, anyway. I do as I please."

"Really."

Duo cast him a withering glance. "Aw, shut up. You don't know what the hell you're talking about anyway."

Their tickets were purchased using cash on hand. Duo was more than packrat enough to hoard money, and even Heero, back when he had still been in top form, had established a modest fund away from the government's prying eyes that he had maintained only through habit as time passed. It would supplement what he had claimed as spoils from the hitman's wallet.

They waited impatiently for the machine to beep its compliance with their demands. If there was anything sure to be watched carefully, it would be the ticket machines. The two of them weren't hot enough to make sneaking on board a shuttle worth the inconvenience of it.

"Hurry it up," Duo muttered, keeping an eye on a pair walking down the corridor towards them. It was just a shuttle pilot and a port security guard, engaged in easy conversation, but there was no reason to take chances.

"I can only move as fast as the machine will let me," Heero replied flatly, watching the screen blink placidly at him. The ellipses after the 'processing' text flashed oblivious to human ire. He forced himself not to tap his fingers impatiently as the computer took its sweet time, though perhaps it would not have been out of place. Travelers were often irritable. It made him glad that the government had never thought to try placing him in a career at the port.

Beside him, he could sense Duo's tension rising as the pair of port authorities neared them. The ticket kiosk finally beeped its compliance and began printing out their confirmations as the two men walked by them. The sound was apparently common enough that it did not attract the attention of the men, and they passed by without trouble.

"What the hell is tying up network traffic at this time?" Duo growled quietly as he lowered his state of alert.

"I often suspect the delay of being hardcoded in." Heero pulled their papers out and glanced at them to make sure all was in order. "Gate sixteen. Let's go."

"What kind of description do you think they have out on you?"

He was silent for a few seconds. It may have been a sad tribute to his former state and appearance. "I don't know. I'm sure they have pictures to distribute."

"Is this your normal look?"

"Only some of it." His hand automatically went to the stubble on his chin.

"Yeah, you scratch at that thing way too much for it to be a long-time thing. We should just get rid of it. It's sort of conspicuous because of its utter lameness. Especially if we're going to be going somewhere a little more upscale. We better be sure we don't need it anymore, though, 'cuz once it's gone, I get the feeling it ain't coming back for a while."

"You like picking on it, don't you?"

"I'm not picking on it. I just don't like it, period."

"Why is it any of your business? Don't like being seen with ruffians?"

"It doesn't agree with my tongue."

Heero shot him a sour look.

"Hey, you didn't like the smokes, so I stopped with the smokes. I don't like your pathetic attempt at a beard, so you shave. Deal?"

It wasn't as if he was actually trying to cultivate his facial hair. It was just a convenient obfuscation technique, no matter its questionable worth. And he hardly wanted to admit that he simply hadn't snatched a razor from his apartment on his way out, and circumstances had not allowed him to pick one up since. "I don't recall agreeing to be your bitch, Maxwell."

"I don't recall you saying 'no', either."

"So if I shave it off just because I don't like it, am I somehow admitting complicity? Will I have to keep it now just for spite?"

"'Spite's an ugly word, Yuy."

"And one that you're intimately familiar with, Maxwell. Then again, I guess you're intimately familiar with a lot of ugly--"

"Fuck off, Yuy. I don't have to be here, you know." Some buttons just weren't meant to be pushed.

"No, you don't. But I don't recall you leaving."

"You know, at this point, if I were a total idiot, I'd say something especially insulting to you right now, but as we're in the middle of a shuttleport, trying to lay low, it'd probably be a bad idea to start a fistfight. But just pretend I said it and consider yourself insulted."

"Pretend you're a total idiot? Alright, I can do that."

Duo whistled lowly. "Holy shit, Yuy. Deny it all you like, but you really are a bitch." He trailed off, but only because two men and a woman were about to cross their path. They appeared to be passengers recently disembarked.

When the coast was clear once more, Heero hummed contemplatively before laughing softly. "Heh, I really am, aren't I?" The thought amused him, comforted him, intrigued him. "But I'm not your bitch."

"Oh, we'll see about that."

Heero shot him a sharp glare, and in turning his head in that direction, caught sight of another concern. The bitchiness was immediately dropped. "Guard station on our ten. Two suits on their way there."

"Moving right along, then," Duo murmured. They kept their eyes straight forward and hustled calmly toward gate sixteen. Gate fourteen was just now coming up on their right. "So? What about the rest of you? Normal?"

"More or less." While it couldn't be said that he had a great care for his appearance, he had never been a sloppy individual.

"You could use a haircut," Duo observed casually.

There was an immediate and automatic retort to that. "So could--" He blinked in sudden realization and glanced reflexively toward his companion for confirmation, but it was hidden away. A quick skim through his memories served just as well. "You cut it."

The now unbraided tail still trailed some ten centimeters down the path of Duo's spine. Still distinctive, but not quite near its former glory. Currently hidden beneath his coat, its hindrance with every move of his head kept him keenly aware of its presence. He grunted irritably, then answered after a half minute of silence. "Yeah. It pissed me off a few years back."

Heero merely nodded sagely. "As good a reason as any."

*****

Part 6

They kept a sharp eye out at the shuttleport, though they didn't anticipate that much trouble. Who would expect two fugitives to be traveling to a retirement community? They arrived in the early morning hours, and took advantage of the thin crowds to investigate. Fortunately, the planned nature of the senior living quarters made it relatively easy for them to gain access to community schedules and directory services.

It wasn't such a bad place to retire to. Cozy, Heero decided. There was a rustic feeling to the place that just wasn't found too often anymore in the colonies. No, such personality had been largely lost in the push toward modernization. Affordable modernization, that was. The colony also stank of wealth. Only money could allow for the lush landscaping or the individual units. Relena had provided well for her longtime butler.

Modest cottage camped on prime real estate or not, its fence and hedges were no obstacle to two young, stealthy men determined upon entrance. What came next had yet to be decided. They crouched low behind a bush and muttered at each other in low voices.

"What are we waiting for, wonderboy?"

"Quiet," Heero hissed back. "I'm thinking."

"I didn't think it was so hard to figure out how to walk into a house. You do it all the time, don't you?"

"We can't just walk in, Duo."

"Well, if we were going to just knock, then I don't see why we went through the trouble of hopping the fence."

"I don't want to surprise him."

"So you're just going to wait for an invitation?"

"He's an old man, Duo. We can't just pop up in his living room and scare the shit out of him."

"Oh my god. You have some weird 'respect for elders' thing going, don't you?"

"Have you ever met Pargan? The man inspires respect."

"And how is it respectful to be skulking around in the man's backyard?

"I told you, I'm thinking."

"Is he even going to recognize you?"

"I barely recognize me."

"Is there something I can help you with?"

They both jerked their heads up with a quietly undignified yelp to see a kindly, weathered face looking down at them. He wore a floppy hat on his head, and carried a pair of gloves and gardening shears.

It took Heero a moment to recover from being startled like that, but recover he did. "Pargan?" The old man's expression didn't waver. "If you'd like to step out of the bushes, I can get you some coffee and a bit of breakfast, if you like."

"Ooh, coffee," Duo murmured eagerly, elbowing Heero in the side. Their red-eye flight had not been restful.

Heero frowned at this unexpected turn of events, but conceded that perhaps their position was a little too exposed for his taste. "If it's no trouble," he answered, blinking slightly at the politeness falling from his lips. There was indeed something about Pargan that demanded good behavior.

The slightest increase of wrinkling around the man's eyes indicated a positive response. "None at all. Do mind the gardenias."

They emerged from their hiding place and entered Pargan's humble abode through a back door. Heero returned a jab in the ribs to Duo at the threshold, demanding with a glare that he wipe his boots on the doormat before entering. Duo rolled his eyes, but complied.

The door opened directly into the kitchenette. Heero managed to sit meekly at the small dining table built for two for about four seconds before becoming uncomfortably awkward in a way he hadn't been for years. He cleared his throat. "I'm not sure if you remember me..."

"I remember you," the former butler answered placidly as he pulled a grinder and a bag of beans from a cupboard. "Miss Relena always spoke quite fondly of you."

"Uh, yes... Speaking of Miss Relena... I spoke with her recently."

"Did you? Was she well?"

"...So far as I could tell." Her right arm was certainly well. "We spoke of her impending marriage, mostly."

"Ah, to the young Jurgensen," Pargan sighed neutrally. "He hails from an upstanding family."

"You're familiar with them?"

"Yes, they have their origins in Sanq. I hope decaf is alright with you?"

"Of course," Heero answered automatically, even though he had no real preferences. He had never cared enough for the drink to develop an opinion one way or another, other than for the tangentially related topic of the utility of caffeine and other stimulants, but another surge of well-mannered behavior had driven him to not inconvenience the old man, no matter Duo's sigh of disappointment.

Pargan measured out the beans with a precise hand, his technique honed by many years of practice. Such skills also allowed him to handle the sudden appearance of two unexpected guests with perfect aplomb. "I'm afraid that the quality of coffee beans has simply declined lately, even in the blends imported from Earth."

Duo sighed again in bittersweet nostalgia, recalling the coffee he had enjoyed while with Quatre in the desert. It had taken a while for him to be convinced that it was the same stuff as the sludge he had had previously. "Ain't that the godsawful truth."

"Pardon the noise for a moment." The grinder whirred smoothly as it processed the beans.

Heero was bad at small talk. That had never changed. "She asked after you."

There was the briefest of hesitations in the retiree's movements before he emptied the grinds into a clean filter. "That is very kind of her. Should you have occasion to speak with her again, please let her know that I am living quite comfortably here."

"I'm sure she would like it better if you told her that personally."

"I'm sure she would," Pargan echoed softly. "But I am an old man. I forget things sometimes."

Judging from the way his hands moved without sign of fragility, Heero was not convinced. "But you remember the Jurgensens."

"Of course. Their family has been a noted name in Sanq's upper circles for generations."

"Have you ever met this Karl?" He said the name with more skepticism than sneer.

"I have. He is a proud bearer of the Jurgensen name."

"How good is their name really?"

Topping off the pot with freshly filtered water, Pargan took the time to glance over his shoulder and settle a weighty look at him. "Why do you ask?"

There were no secret motives here. "I just want to know what Relena's getting herself into."

A thoughtful silence passed as Pargan set the coffee machine to brewing before he answered. "The Jurgensens are not often involved directly with governance themselves, but they hold an interest in many sectors that grants them strong influence."

"What do they do with that influence?"

"They've done many things over the years. The young Karl's grandfather was a staunch supporter of Sanq values. He used his influence to strengthen Sanq herself, but his son Friedrich began using his family's influence to strengthen Sanq's position in the world. Our good king did not always approve of this use, but it could not be said that he discouraged it as strongly as he could have, either. And now Friedrich's son has continued in his ways."

"You mean... people will succumb to economic or political pressure just as easily as to military."

The crinkling around the old butler's eyes resembled the beneficent smile that a teacher might bestow upon a student, but he said nothing to confirm or deny. "His son has, perhaps, taken things one step further. It is the habit of children to progress beyond their forebears." He shuffled towards the blank white refrigerator to pull out some eggs and milk.

He had mentioned breakfast, hadn't he? Something in Heero protested. "The coffee is enough, thank you."

Duo kicked him in the calf with a bright smile. Heero stepped on his foot. But it was all quite unnecessary. The old man continued his preparations without pause. "A simple breakfast is no trouble at all, young man."

"Well, if you insist," Duo piped up before Heero could refuse once more.

"I insist. It is such a chore to finish one's loaf of bread all by one's self while it is still fresh. And you two look like you could use a decent meal. Healthy young men always do."

Suddenly conscious of how scruffy they must have appeared, Heero resisted the urge to scratch at his bestubbled chin again. He was also reminded that it was impolite to wear a hat indoors. It was something he had never had a care for before, but this morning he pulled the cap off and set it on the table in front of him. Some of his hair decided to fall into his eyes as a result, and refused to be dislodged by an irritable toss of his head. The strands were caught in the prescriptionless glasses he still wore, so he took them off as well and dropped them into the front pocket of his shirt.

To his side and sprawled quite comfortably in his chair, Duo smirked at his fussing. Heero knocked their neighboring knees together. "Sit up straight," he muttered.

Duo muffled a snicker. If it wouldn't have been so cliche, he might have said, 'Who are you, my mother?' He settled instead for a mildly pointed look with an undertone of mockery and slid another centimeter lower in his chair.

Looking to do something that was within his power, Heero turned again to their host. "Is there something we can do to help?" He would quite happily volunteer the use of Duo's services.

Pargan waved the offer off. "Quite kind of you to offer, young man, but quite unnecessary. You are my guests."

Though how that had come to pass, Heero wasn't quite certain. With a sure, deft hand, Pargan had taken control of the situation. Heero struggled to find some way to renew their conversation without making it sound like an interrogation. They had common ground. He could start there. "Do you approve of this marriage?"

"It is not my place to approve or disapprove," Pargan answered after a short silence.

Despite his status as a 'servant', however, it was clear that he had a proprietary interest in Relena. "But if it were?"

He used the whisking of the eggs to delay his eventual answer. "I watched Relena grow up into the fine young woman she is today. I wish her only the best. But I look upon her with an elder's eyes, and if I could have my way, I would hold her back in that fresh innocence of youth. It does pass so quickly."

Heero decided to interpret this as a negative. "Do you know what Zechs thinks of it?"

"Milliardo is her older brother and only living member of her immediate family. It is his duty to look after her, and he believes strongly in protecting what is his to protect."

"So he isn't for it."

"I said nothing of the sort, sir. He will certainly wish to speak with Relena at least once before taking an official position."

Of course. These aristocrats were always so cautious and formal, but perhaps that was for the best. Maybe Relena would listen to her older brother. "So he's coming to see her?"

"I'm afraid I don't know what Master Milliardo is up to at the moment. I had been expecting some contact while he is in the area, but he is a busy man. He had some business related to the terraforming project to look into, and of course the lovely Lucrezia is with child. From his communications, I could tell he dotes over her so." Bread soaked in eggy batter hit the frying pan, to the accompaniment of a cheerful sizzle.

"I bet Noin doesn't take too kindly to that," Duo murmured amusedly. She was one tough lady.

"It is a long journey from Mars, but they decided it was worth it," Pargan continued over the sounds of breakfast making. A rich buttery smell filled the air. "The effects of carrying a child to term while in such an unstable environment have not yet been studied, and they were not eager to be the first to find out. All the better that they could combine the trip with business. He will most likely be present for the wedding as well. I'm sure Miss Relena will be so pleased to have him there."

"When we spoke to Relena, she told us that she heard from him just a couple of days ago. He told her he couldn't make it to the wedding after all, but he sent his blessings."

"Is that so?" Pargan hummed thoughtfully.

"Do you know where he is now?" Heero asked. Relena had given them a different version of Zechs' opinions. The best way to find the truth would be from the man himself.

"I believe he mentioned looking into some of the latest mining and terraforming technology. In fact, the Jurgensens are quite active in the leading edge of such things. This would be an excellent opportunity for Master Milliardo to become acquainted with the family."

"Would you happen to know the location of the Jurgensen's facilities?"

"I'm afraid I do not."

Heero frowned. Damn. But it wasn't anything they couldn't find out on their own.

"Hey, Heero," Duo spoke suddenly.

"What?" he responded curtly.

"Guess what they bought back in ninety-seven."

It was impolite to strangle a man while he was waiting for his breakfast at the table of a gracious host. His growl was successfully suppressed long enough for him to realize that perhaps Duo was not being simply annoying. He never had found out just what Duo had been referring to that night. With a tight sigh, he took the bait. "A mining research facility?"

"Close."

"Somewhere they converted to a mining research facility?"

"Yup."

"Tell me where."

"Say the magic word."

"Now," he ground out. "Tell me where now." Or I will tear your little throat out was somehow implied in that statement.

"Ooh, good choice. Moon Base."

"Moon--?" Pause/blink. Incredulity. "The Moon Base? OZ's Moon Base?"

"There aren't that many bases on the moon, babe."

"Ah, yes, of course," Pargan recalled, pleased. "I remember now. The base was sold in order to make reparations after the war."

"It was a military base," Heero stated, disbelief seeping into his tone. Something in him found the idea quite offensive. "You can't just sell a military base of that magnitude to a civilian operation!"

"The Jurgensens were quite delighted with it, as I recall. Beating the swords into plowshares, if you will. And they've done rather well with it, too." He slid the french toast off the pan and started a second batch.

"Helium-3," Duo mentioned, tossing a significant glance in Heero's direction. "They found some deposits a couple years back. Nothing near what you can get from Jupiter, sure, but still enough to save them a pretty penny."

"Great," Heero muttered. "Even better. I don't suppose the mobile doll production lines were cleaned out before the purchase?"

"Now that I would not know," Pargan answered. "But I am quite certain that the Jurgensens would have made sure that the factory was taken care of in accordance with their ideals before converting the facility towards a mining purpose."

"I still don't like it."

Duo took his attention off the percolating coffee long enough to make an amused sound. "Heero, man, you haven't liked a single thing about them ever since you heard their name in connection with your precious princess."

"Whose idea was this marriage? Do you know? How long were they seeing each other?"

"Karl did pay court to Miss Relena, off and on over the years. A proposal was hinted at for quite a while, but Miss Relena had her reasons for not accepting at first, I'm sure. When she finally did, everything seemed to proceed most rapidly. Mrs. Jurgensen, Karl's mother; she is quite the master at putting together a grand social event."

"It's a political stunt, did you know that? She doesn't love him."

"I must take umbrage on her behalf for you calling it a 'stunt', young man," Pargan chided, as sternly as he would get. Especially while flipping french toast that was neatly browned on one side. "That makes it sound like an irresponsible decision made only for the sake of attention, when I am quite sure that the decision was not made lightly at all."

So he knew. "Did anyone assist her in making that decision?"

The moment of hurt pride lasted a few seconds longer before the issue was swept away into a proper dustpan and dumped with a butler's efficiency. "Miss Relena believes in listening to the words of her advisors."

Heero made a note to himself to take down some names later. "What can they hope to gain from a marriage to Relena?"

"Miss Relena is a charming young lady from an outstanding family. Anyone should be quite fortunate to snare such a catch."

'Snares' made him think of 'traps', and 'traps' made him frown. "Relena's power has diminished."

"The Peacecraft name will always be associated with strength and nobility."

"This Karl... What do you think of him?"

"I am quite certain that, with time, he will grow up to be a fine young man. His father will be proud of him."

Meaning that he was not so fine right now, and he was following in his father's nefarious footsteps. "Do you think he will treat Relena well?"

"I do not believe he will be unkind to her."

No, she was too important to mistreat. But why? Possibly the family had traded on favors merely to acquire the son's desired wife, but it did not seem likely, given the information. So either the Jurgensens were no long content with being the power behind the throne, or they were putting themselves in a position to trade in even more favors. Possibly this was a favor as well? Was there someone else that could benefit from this union?

He was pulled from his musings when Pargan set three plates and a platter of french toast on the table. Before he could really think to do anything to assist, the rest of the breakfast paraphernalia seemed to magically appear as well. If for nothing else, Pargan earned his respect by his quiet efficiency.

There was one piece left to be fetched. When Heero saw the old man heading towards a bar stool kept at the end of the counter, he looked at Duo and flicked his chin in that direction.

Why don't you get it, you ass, Duo's middle finger seemed to say, only perhaps with a bit more of a potty mouth.

It would certainly be more effective than trying to get Duo to be properly respectful to the old man, so he did. Pargan ended up in Heero's former seat, Heero perched on the stool, and for a surreal minute, the three of them sat down to the beginnings of a quite mundane and civilized home-cooked breakfast. Duo sighed happily over his coffee, Heero complimented the chef, and Pargan made sure that everyone's needs were being met.

It couldn't last long. Heero's multi-tasking mind could manage eating and speaking at the same time. "How is Sanq doing in the minds of the people these days?" He asked after the country as if inquiring after the health of a grandchild.

Pargan took his time in answering, but when he did, it was urbane and respectful. A butler of his refinement would never be caught using a gossiping tone. "Politically, her stance, of course, has not wavered. I'm afraid that her efforts have been flagging of late, however, given the occasional flare-up of insurgency," He paused for a sip of his coffee. "Sanq continues her call for disarmament, but understands that such an ideal is difficult in times of instability. Miss Relena and her governmental staff have had to broaden their work to first create a world where their ideals can be accepted and made a reality. Sometimes it is difficult to see, but there is a larger picture at work here."

Sure there was. And it was like one of those wacky post-modernist paintings. Everyone else was standing back nodding their heads in supposedly artistic admiration while he was there telling it like it was: it was damn ugly. "And the Jurgensens... They advance these goals as well?"

"They do what they see as best for Sanq's interests."

"Which might include advancing the goals of their associates," he recalled aloud. "How many of these associates aren't quite on the up and up, I wonder."

"The Jurgensens would never involve themselves in something scandalous and illegal."

No, their name needed to be clean in order to have legitimacy. Which just meant that everything was done under the table. Or perhaps in plain sight. "What do they involve themselves in? Property? Manufacturing? Research?"

"They have investments in several businesses. This colony is one of them."

Which meant that they had an established presence here on this colony. They would have to watch out. Already they could have been noticed and monitored. "Is this--"

"You ought to finish your breakfast before it gets cold," Pargan interrupted with a gently scolding voice.

Willing to make the concession, Heero cut another square of french toast off with the edge of his fork, but wanted to finish asking his question before putting it in his mouth. Pargan pre-empted him once more. "This is a very civil place to live, thank you for asking. Quiet. Safe. Folks such as we don't require much supervision. The most traffic we get through these parts is visiting friends and relatives. And perhaps the occasional sales representative. There are far too many people in this world that think a senior citizen's mind has gone, and they like to take advantage of that. Not all of them are like that, of course, but when they get a little too insistent, the management has not hesitated to send someone out to assist us in getting rid of the disturbance."

They would have to try not to be a disturbance, then. He had wanted to ask if this was a safe place for them to be, and perhaps Pargan had answered it. If there were often visitors around, it was possible their presence had not yet been remarked upon. Of all the places for the search for them to have spread, he found it unlikely that a colony such as this would have been one of the first alerted. "Did you retire here because it was a Jurgensen investment property?"

"The Jurgensens were kind enough to help me settle in here."

Kind. Right. "Relena missed you. What made you choose to retire now?"

The old man sighed. "If it were up to me, I would serve the Peacecraft line to the end of my days. Alas, I grow old, and the young ones were generous in their concern for my health. And Miss Relena will soon be transitioning into the household of her husband. They have a fully appointed staff, well trained and managed. My services... were no longer required."

He added that to his mental list of things for which to kick the pansy. "You should get in touch with Relena," he said again, suddenly suspicious of the man's 'forgetfulness'.

Pargan accepted the edged tone and heavy glance with resignation. "She is about to start a new life," he murmured sadly. "She needn't look back. So I've been told," he added in an even softer tone.

Heero suppressed a growl. "Do they... 'tell' you a lot of things?"

The former butler sipped at his coffee and carefully answered the question. "I'm delighted you came. I don't get many visitors. As I said, I thought young Milliardo had promised to drop in, but it seems he ended up occupied with other matters. I understand; our prince is an important man, especially in times like these. He sent along an apology. He always did have such impeccable manners. But I'm afraid that my communication resources here are not as advanced as they could be. I believe the transmission appears to have been damaged, and I've been unable to decipher it. Could I impose upon you to take a look at it for me? You youngsters seem to be able to do anything with technology these days."

Heero hesitated for a moment, not really being here to run tech support, but the old man insisted, and Heero relented. It was the least they could do in exchange for information and breakfast.

*****

Part 7

After the meal, Heero dragged Duo along with him to Pargan's study to inspect the message. He didn't trust Duo enough to leave him alone in the kitchen. As long as Duo was allowed to bring his coffee along, he didn't mind.

There was something odd about Pargan's computer. It took Heero a moment to pinpoint it as Pargan navigated his way to his indecipherable missive. At first it seemed merely too loud, an old computer with a dusty, buzzing fan, but then he realized that it was the sound of two fans cooling the inside of the case. By itself, not too unusual, but not what he might have expected out of a computer in these parts. A case only needed more than one fan when there was more than one processor, and since when did Pargan have need of such processing power?

"Ah, there it is," the former butler sighed cheerfully, getting out of his seat. "I do appreciate you taking the time to look into this for me. I am looking forward to hearing what Master Milliardo has to say."

Heero shrugged the gratitude off as he took the chair and clicked the message, hoping for some sort of useful error message. It was of no assistance. On his way towards the file itself, Pargan pointed his attention towards a folder on the computer's desktop. "If it's of any use, I already have some software that you may find useful in this endeavor."

He doubted it, but he dutifully opened the directory up and nearly swallowed his tongue. It took him a few long seconds to recover, and when he did, he turned towards Pargan without sufficient words to articulate his startled thoughts.

Pargan merely smiled beneficently. "I've found these to be useful to me in the past."

Useful indeed. He was getting an awful strong feeling about what was keeping the regular mail program from reading the message. Locating the file, he opened it with the sophisticated hacker's toolkit Pargan had directed him to. It was new enough that its version number had advanced past the point he had seen it last, but then again, he had been out of the loop for a few years. It was a little bit disturbing to think that Pargan had kept up with the advances in technology better than he.

The workspace opened, and over his shoulder, Duo spluttered into his coffee with choked laugh. "Holy shit," he breathed, turning to the placid senior. "You're like... Heero in his old age! But with, like, ten times the class!"

"You flatter me, young man." The skin around Pargan's eyes crinkled so much his eyes were barely visible. "I have simply had the honor of learning many things in my service to Sanq."

"Heh, what's the matter, Yuy?" Duo smirked, watching Heero study the work that had already been done on the encryption. It was taking an unusual while. "Can't keep up with him?"

"Shut up," Heero muttered, eyes flickering across the strings onscreen. He hated to admit to himself, let alone Duo, what effort it was taking to bend his mind back to these things it had renounced five years ago. The patterns slowly began to emerge, however, and his hands went to the keyboard to start prototyping a decoder script. "Zechs sent this, you said?"

"His signature was embedded within the message."

"No... that doesn't seem right. There's a layer of encryption here that looks like it's one of Sanq's militia's... Zechs was never involved with that operation. And I doubt he would have studied it after the fact."

"True," Pargan murmured thoughtfully. "I had recognized it, but even after applying the proper key, the message was not decrypting properly."

"That's not all that's here. The top layer is an OZ code, as you already identified. But the last layer... someone wanted to make sure this didn't fall into the wrong hands. I don't recognize it."

Without setting his mug down, Duo stole the keyboard from Heero and started tapping out more lines of script to complete the decryption algorithm. "It's one of Howie's. They used it on the Peacemillion."

"Ah, sweet Lucrezia, then," Pargan smiled. "She is an excellent match for Master Milliardo, don't you think? But now I do worry that something terrible may have happened to prompt this message. I hope Master Milliardo is alright."

Studying the signal degradation, Heero tugged the keyboard away from Duo and input the proper parameters for the attempt at reconstruction. Once everything was set, he started the script and leaned back in his chair. "This may take an hour or two to crunch, and then we'll see if we got this right."

"Thank you," Pargan said appreciatively. "Now I'm afraid I have another favor to ask of you."

"If this message is bad news, you want us to look into it for you."

He nodded gravely. "My resources are limited, but they are yours. I am sadly no longer in a position to be of much use to the Peacecrafts, but it seems that perhaps your paths might intersect theirs. I would be in your debt if you could assist them."

"I don't know where my path lies."

"And yet this place here is a stop on that path. Why did you come here to ask so many questions about the Jurgensens?"

What did he plan to do with the knowledge that he had acquired? There had been no definite plans. If he confirmed that the marriage was a horrible idea... perhaps it was in his mind to put a stop to it. Why? He did not know. Why not, perhaps. "I... I don't want Relena to make the wrong decision."

Pargan gave him a wise look, hinting at things that he was not yet ready to think about. "And neither do I."

Heero felt a little uncomfortable about that. "But that has nothing to do with chasing down Zechs." Never mind that he had previously informed Duo of such an intention.

"I've little doubt that what Milliardo is involved with will have an impact on Miss Relena. The coincident timing is suspect, do you not think?" Before Heero could stammer out an answer, Pargan moved on. "If it is truly in your mind to put a stop to this wedding, then I believe that thwarting whatever plans they have for Milliardo would work well alongside that."

His part done, he stood there quietly while Heero considered his wise words. Was that truly what was in his mind? Why had he left his bland life behind? He didn't want Relena to make a mistake, yes, but he'd had some vague notions of simply telling her not to, and it magically happening. What Pargan was suggesting seemed akin to throwing himself back into the limelight. He'd spent the last five years distancing himself from that, trying to forget what he had been, what he was meant to be. Was he ready to step back into center stage and take an active role in the world again? Was he ready to care that much again? It already hurt just thinking about it.

Oh yeah. There was always that whole 'someone trying to kill him' thing, too. He kept forgetting about that.

"I think I'd like to wait and see what the message says first," he said softly, buying himself some time.

"Very well, then," Pargan responded placidly. Either it was the utter tranquility of an imperturbable butler, or it was the patient wisdom of an experienced elder. "In the meantime, please make yourselves comfortable. Would you like to wash up? Shave, perhaps?"

Duo muffled a snicker behind his coffee mug.

Heero decided in favor of a resigned sigh rather than a sour glare. "I would appreciate that. Thank you."

*****

Duo squinted critically at his face. "You missed a spot."

Heero dutifully daubed the blank spot with some shaving cream before picking up the razor. A few years ago, he'd stopped caring and bought an electric razor. A person could get almost exactly the same shave with one these days, at a fraction of the effort. It was almost with a sense of bemusement that he applied the triple blades to his skin.

Over the scent of the shaving cream, he could still smell the fragrance of Duo's coffee. It was room temperature at best by now. He'd half expected Duo to guzzle the stuff down as quickly as he could, given how eager he'd been for that first cup, but instead, he'd savored it sip by sip. Alas, Heero couldn't tell the difference, except perhaps in the way its smell didn't make him wrinkle his nose in distaste, as did the sludge brewing in the company coffee machine.

It'd only been a few days, and that was a lifetime away.

His eyes flicked back to Duo's image in the mirror, returning to their first task only when the razor rasped unevenly over his skin. He hadn't expected he would ever see the other man again. When he'd tracked Duo down to that bar, he hadn't known what to expect, or really what he was going to say. He'd only known that he was about to go forth and touch the world again, and it seemed unnatural not to have at least one of the others by his side.

"You still in?" he asked as he rinsed off the borrowed razor for another pass.

From his seat on the cover of the toilet, Duo threw him an amused look. "Trying to get rid of me again, Yuy?"

"You didn't want to run off and talk to Zechs. You wanted someone to kill me instead."

'Try' and kill him, technically. It wouldn't be nearly as interesting if someone actually managed to take the Yuy down. In fact, it would be downright... strange. "Well, I got a good breakfast and some good coffee out of this deal today, so I'm willing to let the someone killing you thing slide for another day."

"Yay." He completed two more swipes with the razor. "Hey... on the off-chance that someone does actually manage to kill me, if I don't get him, do you think you could? There's just something annoying about some two-bit hitman being able to brag that he took me out."

Duo snorted. "Hn, if you manage to get taken out by some two-bit hitman, you'll deserve having your name smeared across the stars."

"Hm. I suppose." The thought of getting killed hadn't bothered him until someone actually decided to try it. It hadn't even bothered him very much right after someone decided to try it. But as the days passed, an insulted feeling grew.

Duo picked up the prescriptionless glasses Heero had laid down beside the sink and tried them on, getting close enough to Heero to stick his head into the reflective range of the bathroom mirror. "Hmm, not half bad."

"They don't suit you."

"What, I don't seem the studious type to you?"

"They aren't quite those glasses that make a person look like a badass for wearing them."

"I don't mind looking studious." He slithered closer to Heero, close enough to wrap arms around him from behind. "Maybe that's your thing? Do you have naughty schoolboy fantasies, Heero?"

"No."

"Naughty schoolgirl fantasies, then?" he whispered into Heero's ear.

"Also a no."

One of his hands slipped lower as his voice became deeper, darker. "Has it been a long time since you've had any fantasies at all?"

Yes. Fantasies. Dreams. Vision. Yes, a long time indeed. "Is there some sort of timer in your head, Maxwell? 'Oh, I haven't groped Yuy in x amount of time, I better go do that'?"

"Oh, no," Duo lamented unconvincingly. "He's caught me. Whatever shall I do? Oh, I know!" He fondled with a good deal of prejudice.

Heero finished his task with a hand that trembled once or twice -- maybe even three times -- and rinsed the razor off one last time. "Do you mind? I'm trying to shave, you know."

Duo slipped away at the sound of Pargan's approach outside the open bathroom door, but not without a final pinch of Heero's butt. "I know. But it would amuse me if Mr. Original Badass himself managed to cut himself shaving." He reached out and grasped Heero by the chin. "But no. Seems you managed a perfect shave."

Heero pulled away and bent over the sink. "I'm overwhelmed by the depth of your concern."

When he finished washing his face off, he found Pargan's image in the mirror behind him. The old man held out a small towel for him. "Ah, excellent. You're looking refreshed."

"Hm." Heero had managed to avoid really paying attention to what was in the mirror, but Pargan's words made him look reflexively after scrubbing his face dry. There were faint circles underneath his eyes, but other than that, he supposed he did seem a bit... refreshed. If he did something about his hair and clothes, he might even stop looking so scruffy. But that could wait for another time.

"Heh, if that's 'refreshed'," Duo laughed. "He's gonna keep looking 'refreshed' for another week or so."

"I don't see your cheeks bristling yet."

"'Course not. That's what razors are for."

Heero turned toward him slowly. "You've had a razor with you this entire time?"

"Well, yeah, duh."

So many things to say, so little time. He bit his tongue on all of them, though he did run a hand through his hair. It brushed over the still slightly tender bump on his head and ended up at the nape of his neck, absently inspecting the progress of the healing there.

Pargan noticed it. "My, that's a nasty looking scab."

"Yeah, someone whacked me over the head with the lid of a garbage can a few days ago." He refluffed his hair so that it covered the wound.

"Most dishonorable."

Heero snorted. No doubt Pargan and Zechs got along fabulously. "Hitmen don't usually do 'honorable'."

"Hm, someone tried to kill you, did they? Have you considered, sir, the timing of the attack?"

Half the time, he forgot he had been attacked at all. Though now that Pargan mentioned it... "Timing? Coincident enough to be suspect again?"

"Exactly. Someone does not want Master Milliardo interfering with Miss Relena's wedding. Perhaps the same goes for you as well."

Duo laughed. "Then someone completely jumped the gun on that one. This oblivious idiot didn't even know there was a wedding until after he got attacked."

One of Pargan's bushy white eyebrows rose in recrimination. "You haven't been keeping up with the news?"

"Not really." There was so much going on in the world that he couldn't affect. After a while, ignorance just hurt less. "Can't say it was really encouraged, either... Hey, Duo. That Stan of yours..."

Duo's grin fell abruptly off his face. "Not 'mine'."

Irrelevant. "He said something... something about them taking a long time to put you in your place. I have to wonder..."

Pargan coughed politely. "Miss Relena often thought about all of you, after you were separated. I took it upon myself to try and follow your lives. It was far easier on my end to track the government's tracking of you."

It was really no wonder that Relena had managed to locate him during the war. "What did you find?"

"Your files were, of course, highly classified. Such was the point behind your relocation. However, I did note that the coordinator of the program changed several years ago. After which, things changed. Innocently enough, I suppose. Funding was shifted, priorities were re-evaluated."

"Non-military pressure," Heero mused softly to himself. "Who took charge of the program?"

"I'm afraid I don't recall, although I could look it up for you. I do remember that the man did not appear to be connected to any questionable faction."

"That doesn't mean he couldn't have been within someone's sphere of influence."

The now-emptied coffee mug in Duo's hand was set down very carefully upon the sink's countertop. "That pisses me off, Yuy," he said softly. It was the dangerous sort of softness. "That really, really pisses me off."

The room seemed colder all of a sudden. "When he came for you, at your apartment... those others with him. They were after me. They implied clear knowledge of my escape. If they were troubled by my disappearance, then they were likely the ones trying to make me disappear permanently in the first place."

"Which would seem to imply that the government was trying to kill you, or that the people trying to kill you have connections within the government. Neither of which makes me happier in the slightest."

Heero got the feeling that Duo was no longer just 'along for the ride'.

*****

Part 8

"When will you update the decor in this room, Miss Relena? I've told you several times before that this is all so very nineties. That was ages ago."

"It was only two years ago," the former queen of the world answered mildly. Her fingers betrayed her somewhat, however, adjusting and re-adjusting the fine tea cup she held upon a saucer.

The sound Dorothy made was the sound it always was: a ladylike and socially acceptable laugh, yet somehow less airy than it ought to have been, and far less light. "It was a century ago, my dear! Now is the time to modernize. Out with the old, in with the new! Especially now that you're getting married. I expect that you will be doing a lot of entertaining. We simply cannot allow anyone to think that their princess is clinging to the past."

Relena sighed despite her efforts at keeping the melancholy out. It would look bad if the happy bride were to do anything counter to her image. Dorothy was a trustworthy friend, but there were always others watching her, innocuous though they may have been. On the other side of the parlor, a maid hovered, cleaning and polishing and ready to serve them as necessary. Others hovered around the estate, setting things in order for the upcoming changes. "I feel like I've nothing left to cling to, Dorothy, let alone the past. Perhaps that is the price we must pay if we are to uproot ourselves from our sorry histories and fling ourselves forward into the future."

"Small, delicate steps, Miss Relena," she was corrected meticulously. "Did you never have a teacher of etiquette? Ladies such as you and I take small, delicate steps."

"You are in no way delicate, Dorothy," she murmured. No, the tall blonde was far more likely to stalk the hallways with a purposeful glide. Even her soon-to-be husband tended to scurry out of the path of her best friend, and truthfully, she enjoyed that a little more than she should have. "And I, perhaps... am frail."

Her Grace of Catalonia took a sip of her tea, her little finger held ever so slightly out. "Is something the matter, Miss Relena?"

She shook her head slightly, gazing into the depths of her cup. Despite her hopes that something might be found there, if only a weak metaphor or tired saying, there was nothing. She turned instead to look through one of the large picture windows in the parlor. It was a scene out across the gardens behind her home that she had adored for years. Now it was spoiled with a faint drop of bittersweetness; soon she would be moving into the house of her husband. No, it was more of a loft, really. The only son of the Jurgensens had opted to purchase a flat in one of the new condos going up near the heart of the city. Instead of gardens, she would have a cement jungle. "I've just been thinking lately. That's all."

"Ladies such as you and I ought not to think, Miss Relena," Dorothy advised softly. "It's for our own good."

At last, she looked over to spare her friend a glance, meeting a pair of ice blue eyes. She was quite accustomed to Dorothy's barbs and irony, but this smacked more of advice. And good advice to follow, perhaps, given Dorothy's relative freedom. She had escaped the scrutiny to which the others had been subjected. Of all of them, perhaps she knew best how to play the game. "Call it 'reflection', then. Revisiting the past in order to better understand and appreciate the future which I am about to enter."

Dorothy's head tilted ever so slightly in approval. "An important occupation at this stage of life."

"I 'reflect' upon the... 'respectable' life I shall be expected to lead... and the dreams and indiscretions of my youth."

"Still dreaming of a white knight?"

Casting a wary glance at the maid buffing an old oaken table, she hesitated slightly before deciding to speak, if obliquely, of what was weighing on her mind. "Who needs a dream when I have one in reality now?" Relena answered with a wry smile, the thumb of her left hand rubbing against the white gold band encircling her slender finger. The engagement ring was a Jurgensen family heirloom, and the re-sizing had left it comfortably non-constrictive. It was no accident that she fiddled with it enough to turn the diamonds to the inside of her hand.

Dorothy's eyes sparkled with intrigue. A sharp mind burned still within her cool exterior, and she had teased her friend on the subject of white knights before. "Is it different from the stereotype?"

"Very." Relena's confirmation was firm and even a little exasperated. The knight of her reality had turned out to be nothing like she had ever dreamed. "But thank goodness for that. A little rough around the edges, perhaps, but not without its own unique charm."

"I see. I wonder what takes these knights so long to come and sweep us off our feet."

"I think he's been... busy." Her mood darkened, but she attempted to continue with the light tone of voice. "I think it's been difficult getting away from the evil witches and fearsome dragons and corrupt kings. They don't like it when the knights are free to save princesses as they will."

"Of course. Whomever else would the dragons keep?"

That sent a tiny shiver down her spine. She smiled through it. "I suppose a princess must be glad that the dragon simply keeps her, and doesn't gobble her up right away. Just another piece of his dragon hoard."

"Now why do I see you using that time trying to reason with the dragon?"

She had tried. And every once in a while, she feared she was fool enough to believe she had even made some progress. "Because I am nothing more than a silly princess, perhaps. In fighting against a dragon, what else does the princess have left to her?'

"Her feminine wiles," Dorothy began. "Her long, lustrous ladder of hair. Her batting eyelashes. Her daddy's ransom. Her winsome smile. And her champion, of course, her precious white knight."

"Her pride and her dignity," Relena added contemplatively. She appended a rueful laugh. "I think my knight would call me ten times a fool for trying to bat my lashes and smile at a dragon. And then I might slap him for saying such a cruel thing to me. Hm, are ladies such as you and I allowed to slap our knights?"

Dorothy laughed with delight at the image of it, making it sound hearty, yet light. "For such uncouth behavior? Surely. He is allowed only to save you, woo you, and chastise you for being caught alone with another man."

"Oh, he would definitely do that..." He already had, in his own way. "Concerned as he is for my honor, of course."

"Of course," Dorothy sighed drolly. "Knights with well-worn armor spare little thought for a lady's delicate feelings."

Was it merely his duty to protect her? Could he never offer a sympathetic shoulder? Even one clad with an uninviting epaulet? "Doesn't he understand just how scary that dragon is?" Relena huffed, suddenly indignant and cross. "A princess can't simply walk up to one with a full suit of armor and poke it in its conveniently vulnerable underside. She has skirts that get in her way -- very flammable skirts, might I add -- and maybe a sewing needle if she's lucky. Just what does he expect her to do? Dragons are dragons, after all. Far larger than she is. Unslain by many a valiant knight. Can't hear anything over the rumbling of the fire in its own belly. Has had years to find itself an impregnable lair. And has probably kept many a maiden before her. What can she possibly do against such a beast?"

"Perhaps he expects her to at least attempt an escape."

"Well, it's not so simple as all that! If she flees, the dragon will just find some other princess to kidnap. Or maybe she's the sacrifice that's the only thing keeping that dragon from ravaging the countryside."

There was a dry tilt to Dorothy's lips. "Then perhaps he expects that she might never have let things decline to the point that a sacrifice would be necessary. She has the power for such things, does she not?"

"Well, it's a little late for that now, isn't it? A princess has her pride and her dignity. She doesn't flee her lot in life. Whether she's married off to the handsome knight or the drooling dotard the next kingdom over, or even the frightening dragon, that's her duty to bear."

"Relena, my dear, that's not just last century, that's at least last millennium. Times have changed. Princesses have changed. They can become queens and rule the land in their own right. They have the power to bitch slap her knight these days, or stab that dragon with her stiletto heels. Even whip out her cell phone and call for aerial pickup. If the dragon can't keep a hold of her, that's hardly the fault of the rural peasantry. This sacrificial contract that you've conjured in your imagination ought still to hold."

Her fit of pique had not yet fled. "But dragons fly," she pouted. "They could chase down a helicopter in no time."

"Not the old, fat and lazy ones," Dorothy countered indulgently. "It's not until you steal their hoard that they get really angry."

"But--"

"Darling, please. I thought you weren't clinging to the past. Do you want to live with the dragon or don't you? Let go of these foolish notions and make yourself a worthy princess for your knight. He's expecting you to stand up and fight for what you believe in. Don't disappoint him."

*****

Part 9

Noin's message was simple. A distress signal and a location.

If their minds were blown by the way Pargan had a sophisticated computer system with cutting edge software installed, one might imagine their blinking stupor when Pargan opened a closet door, removed the floor panel, and revealed a stockpile of small arms and other resources that he readily placed at their disposal. It never hurt to be prepared, the old man said. The others were forced to agree and asked no further questions.

They made the commute from L4-X2348 to L4-X1972, and from there through the colony streets to the outbound shuttle port on X1753. Such a populated, obvious transit portal put them on alert again, but they avoided trouble through their wary, cautious actions. Maybe they were lucky, and they had not been traced definitively to the L4 cluster, but if their adversaries were worthy at all, surely they would have alerted the authorities all over the sphere.

MO-18 was a small mining asteroid in the orbit of L1. The authorities in the area seemed a little more keen, as might be expected if there were something shady going on out there, but surprisingly, or perhaps unsurprisingly, Pargan moved to smooth their path forward, somehow booking them flight time on the small privately-managed shuttle they were currently using to coast into a position on the 'underside' of the asteroid, opposite the facility built into the rock.

"Still got it," Duo announced, pleased as he guided the shuttle to a smooth halt. "Still got the touch."

Obviously unimpressed, Heero unharnessed himself from the seat and drifted toward the rear of the cockpit.

"Hn. You won't stay so high and mighty when I use that touch on you, Yuy."

"Maxwell. Can't you do anything without sexually harassing me?"

"'Sexually harassing'? Damn, what deep dark pit of a stuffy old office did they have you locked up in?"

He didn't want to think about it. "We are working right now."

"Yeah? Then when do you get off?"

He was about to answer when he noticed the double entendre, and decided that perhaps he would be safer not answering the question at all. "Step one. We get inside." He unlatched the compartment in front of him and pulled out two EV suits. "Step two. We poke around."

"Heh, you gonna put that nasty flannel of yours on over the suit?"

He shoved the EVS in the smirking man's direction. "Just suit up, Maxwell."

The flannel shirt was removed and not put back on again, but to Duo's disappointment, the donning of the suit did not require any more stripping. In fact, it seemed to involving the strapping on of even more hardware. There wasn't much room inside a suit for a heavy packer, but they would need to be prepared after they got inside.

Duo made idle conversation as they made their preparations. "So, that's it to your plan? It only goes up to step two?" Not that he was particularly surprised. Heero had always had his own special way of throwing together a plan.

"Step three will be contingent upon what we find inside. Noin wasn't very specific about the threat."

"Great. I don't suppose step seven or so involves blowing the place up?"

A corner of Heero's mouth quirked upwards ever so slightly. "Only if you're a good boy, Duo."

Duo grinned. "I'll hold you to that, Yuy."

According to what information they had been able to find, MO-18 adhered to a fairly standard design for a mining facility. It was mostly tapped out these days, though, which meant that they would be able to gain easy access through the materials transport tunnel.

Once they were ready, they stepped into the airlock, waited for decompression, and finally pushed off into free space. It had been a long time for the both of them. They took a few indulgent moments to get accustomed to the near weightlessness before orienting themselves and pushing off in the direction of the shafts. They stuck close to the lay of the land, keeping a sharp eye out for the occasional observation camera set up on the surface of the rock. Fortunately, the strategic placement of the surveillance cameras for maximal viewing angles was predictable.

Heero got Duo's attention with a wave of his hand and started towards a suspicious rock formation on the surface of the asteroid. He continued to study it until Duo bumped up right behind him, getting their helmets close enough for the secured short-range transmission. "Test site?"

The tinny voice sounded loud and sudden when he had gotten accustomed to having only the sound of his own breathing to keep him company. The intrusion sent a shiver down his spine. "Looks like. But the diameter on the hole seems unusually small for mining purposes."

"Ultra-precise beams, then? Maybe they're developing new technology?"

"The blast pattern..."

"Definitely beam-based. But we already have weaponry capable of this. Doesn't make sense that they'd be experimenting with something that already exists."

He touched the edge of the blast site, watching as some of the pulverized rock shook loose and dispersed into the vacuum of space. "Maybe they destroyed something out here..." He looked around the area. "No, nothing to suggest a disturbance."

"Maybe they killed Zechs out here." Heero shot him an annoyed look, and he pouted. "What? I'm just saying. Coulda been someone else, I guess. But, you know, like an 'accident' or something."

"Hm." He left it at that and glanced over his shoulder. "Over there. You can see where the device was placed." He shook himself free of Duo and bounded gently to the point in question.

Duo caught up and resumed his position next to his partner. "That's bigger than it'd have to be for a beam this size."

"Testing the mount, perhaps?"

"Maybe." He shrugged, but the motion went largely unnoticed within the confines of the bulky space suit. "I think we've seen all there is out here. Let's get a move-on. I don't like it out here. Too exposed."

Heero agreed, and they moved out.

They entered one of the large caverns, hollowed out by years of elements harvesting. A track set into the ground and almost obscured by dust led the way into the darkness, the path lit only dimly by lights that were powered by cheap solar panels on the surface. The silence was an oppressive thing that almost left Heero longing for more of his partner's acidic sniping. The sound of his own life processes did little to ease the sense of isolation.

He breathed a little more easily when they reached the airlock at the end. Duo kept watch while he fiddled with the panel and got the doors to open. Scans of the area had shown that this section of the facility was still powered, but was not drawing enough energy to suggest that it was populated. The upkeep had been maintained, and they slipped inside without a peep.

The air was musty, but breathable. They took off their helmets and continued towards the manned section of the facility. If someone were to be held against their will for a significant length of time, it would likely be in the residential sector of the base. The great Milliardo Peacecraft, older brother to the lovely bride-to-be, would be held in civilized quarters, not a dirty silo somewhere.

Though access was more easily gained through the mining sector, it was an unfortunate principle of design that the living quarters be placed as far from the mining sector as possible. The empty, dusty corridors eventually turned into empty, sterile corridors. After the mining sector would come the central plants, the areas that kept the facility running. On the far side of that would be the residential sector. The chances of running into someone on that side increased greatly, despite it being night cycle on the base. One could never tell when someone would be walking the halls, using the bathroom, getting a midnight snack, returning from a late night tryst.

They stashed their suits somewhere secure and proceeded through the base. To be thorough, they looked briefly over each of the areas they passed, securing it before moving on. They were passing by the communications room when they were suddenly struck by the feeling that they must have missed something. There were any number of small sounds that had gone uninvestigated. Colonies and facilities like this one often made noise as their walls settled, their pipes rattled, the temperatures changed, but the presence they felt at their back was no mere creaking of metal joints. With a sidelong glance at each other, they turned as one, diving to each side down a cross corridor and bringing their weapons up to point at the threat, only to be confronted by a familiar face.

They stared at each other for a handful of seconds before they put their weapons down. Duo broke the tense silence. "Trowa?" he hissed.

"Duo," the man in question answered calmly. He added a nod of the head. "Heero."

Glancing suspiciously up and down the hallway before emerging from cover, they trotted the short distance back through the corridor to where their former comrade stood. Trowa had grown a bit, and finally gained a little meat to pad out his lanky frame, but overall, it was still Trowa, lean and quiet and self-contained. "What the hell are you doing here, man?" Duo asked softly.

Trowa tugged at a string around his neck and withdrew a keycard from beneath his shirt. It had his name and picture on it.

Duo chuckled wryly. "Back to doing what you do best, I see. How'd you get in?"

He shrugged, letting the keycard drop against his chest. "They approached me with an offer. I took them up on it. This seemed like an interesting place to be."

"Trowa," Heero interrupted. "Do you know what's going on here?"

He paused before answering, taking a minute to unlock a door not far from them and lead them out of the corridor and into a workroom. Pieces of machinery were scattered across a tabletop. A coffee maker. A handheld drill assembly. Something involving fan blades. "I come here sometimes at night," he said by way of explanation.

Heero's eyes swept the table, looking for relevant information. There was none. "Is this still a mining facility?"

"Nominally." He sat down in the rickety folding chair at the table and gestured for them to find themselves some clear space to rest against. "This rock will be tapped out soon, though."

"Then what are they doing instead?"

"Refinement, mostly. They ship in materials from other locations to be refined here. The infrastructure is already in place. It only takes a few adjustments to go from refining ore to refining metals."

"Metals? For what?"

"They've salvaged a bit of it from mobile suit flotsam still floating around."

"The supply's runnin' low, though," Duo observed. "There's only so much suit salvage to go around, bein' that we're not doing the war thing anymore."

Trowa shrugged again. Duo knew his salvage, but it didn't matter in this case. "Officially, they're aiding in the cleanup effort, and recycling useful materials."

Heero asked the obvious question. "Unofficially?"

"They're keeping some of the refined materials for their personal use."

"Which materials?"

"Suits are made from high quality stuff. Certainly no gundanium, but still manufactured to withstand extreme conditions. Extreme temperatures, high stress, hard impacts."

"Weapons?" Heero mused, thinking about the signs they had seen outside.

"Weapons casing," Duo corrected absently. "They'd be making stuff to house the weaponry with those materials. The particles themselves... the helium-3."

Heero turned again to Trowa. "Do you know anything about their operations on the Moon Base?"

Trowa picked a screwdriver off the tabletop and started twirling it around his fingers. "I heard about the helium-3 deposits that were found there. I suppose that could easily be enhanced by pulling the exhausted helium-4 from the old suit reactors and backtracking the reaction."

"Do you know what sort of weapon they're building in particular?"

He thought about it for a few seconds. "Not in particular. There aren't any assembly lines going up around here, if that's what you're thinking. They send the refined materials off to some other facility. Maybe something's going up there."

"Hm. Maybe. But back to why we're here. Do you know anything about Zechs?"

Trowa nodded. "What about him?"

"Why is he here?"

"They brought him here. I believe he may have seen something they didn't intend for him to see."

"What about Noin?" Duo inquired.

He shook his head, slightly displacing the long bangs he still kept swept to one side. "I don't know anything about her."

That one could go both ways, Heero considered. Either she was successfully in hiding somewhere, or she had been taken to another location. She had sent the message, so likely she was still in a fully operational state. "Where is Zechs being kept?"

"Residential block. Corridor B, room three."

"Can you get us there?"

Trowa stood as an answer, gesturing them toward the door. With him clearing the security checks for them and guiding them around the guarded areas, it wasn't long before they got to the room where Zechs was being held. Heero stopped him before he swiped the final door open. "How is it that you have such security clearance?"

"I'm his keeper," Trowa answered placidly. "It's my job to watch over him."

Duo laughed grimly. "Damn, you really know how to make yourself indispensable to the bad guys, don't you?"

His head dipped in modesty. "They find my skills useful."

Heero stared at the door as if he could see right through it to the sleeping man inside. "Will it inconvenience you if we leave with him in tow?"

"Nothing that can't be worked around." He ran his card through the reader, and the scanner's light turned green.

"Will the way out be clear?"

"It will be. I should get going."

"You're staying?" A wild pilot reunion was certainly not what Heero had had in mind, and yet... it was a little surreal to have Trowa materialize out of nowhere, only to fade back into obscurity after a very brief contact. It would not have been such a bad thing to increase their number from two to three. A few more, and then the odds would be back to what they were used to, about one to several billion.

"I have a place here for at least a little while yet. It was nice seeing you again. Good-bye." He nodded and turned away.

He was four steps down the corridor already by the time Heero stopped him. "Trowa, wait..." A moment of awkward silence passed. If their contact was to evaporate again, then best to milk it for what he could right now. Pity that time was limited, and that he wasn't very proficient at it. "How... How long have you been here?"

"Six months," Trowa answered without turning.

"And... how has life been treating you? Since the wars." He wasn't certain what he wanted to hear. Was it misery looking for company? Was jealousy prepared to rear its ugly head? Was long-term isolation driving him to seek camaraderie?

He should have known better than to expect a lengthy, rambling answer from a man of so few words. "It's been treating me the same as it always has. You should open that door before the lock times out." That was the last thing he said before striding soundlessly off into distance.

"I always thought that guy was weird," Duo muttered before unlatching the door. He poked his head cautiously inside before gesturing an all-clear to his partner. Not quite certain what the proper etiquette was for walking into a man's room in the middle of the night, Duo shrugged philosophically and just hit the lights.

With a strangled yelp, a figure shifted quickly on a narrow bed, throwing a hand over his eyes to shield them from the sudden illumination. "Don't you people have any manners at all?" he grumbled in a gravelly voice as he waited for the spots in his vision to clear. When it was finally safe to move his hand, he discovered the two visitors in his room. One leaned against the wall wearing a smirk. The other stood straight, arms crossed upon his chest. He recognized that one. A sleepy blink as he levered himself slowly upright informed him that he was not dreaming. "Well. This is a surprise."

"Hello to you, too, Zechs."

"I typically go by Milliardo these days, Yuy."

As if he cared. "Do you want out?"

Zechs blinked owlishly again. No, this couldn't be a dream. If it were a dream, someone infinitely more attractive, like his lovely wife, would be saving him, not his old rival. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"We came to see you. What are you doing here?"

That wasn't quite so mundane as he made it out to be. "I was on Moon Base for some business. I went poking around when I stumbled onto something I don't think I was meant to see. They panicked, tipped their hand, took us hostage to keep us quiet. I don't think they know quite what they're going to do yet. How did you know where to find me?"

"Is Noin with you?"

Absolutely Heero Yuy in the flesh. His own mind wouldn't come up with such abruptness on its own. "No, they kept her on Moon Base. Why? Has something happened to her?"

"She's safe. Probably." Oh, yeah, that made him feel so much better. He opened his mouth to demand answers, but Yuy cut him off. "She managed to send out an encoded message to Pargan relating your situation and location."

"Damn that stubborn woman," he muttered, wincing as he pushed himself out of bed. His ribs still ached, and the healing bullet wound in his leg still burned, but something around his heart unclenched knowing that his wife was still well enough to do that. He could only hope they hadn't caught her at it. "She shouldn't be worrying about me in a time like this. You should have gone to rescue her instead."

"Gee, sorry," Maxwell drawled snidely. Zechs had never spent much time with this pilot, but he recognized him all the same as Zero-Two. "Should we leave you here while we go fetch her for you?"

"I'll fetch her myself, thank you." He took a deep breath to steel himself for the limp over to his shirt, thrown over the back of a chair.

"You don't look to be in any condition to do so," Heero observed blandly.

Just for that, he pulled the shirt on over his head defiantly, and suppressed a hiss as he did so. "I put up a bit of a resistance when they came after me. They did not take kindly to that." He reached for his jacket. "Pargan sent you? Why you? How did he get in touch with you?"

"We just happened to be passing through the neighborhood."

He took Yuy's measure as he pulled his hair out from beneath the collar of his jacket. He didn't remember the boy being so snarky. No, the boy was a man, now. A hardened man, from the looks of things. There was an air about him, even more pronounced than it had once been, warning people to stay away. They didn't want to mess with this one. Zechs would agree. A critical part of his youth's purity had been lost. That was a tragic loss for the world. And, he thought with a pang of bittersweet nostalgia, he was quite certain Treize would have mourned deeply for it.

"Why would you do as Pargan asked?" And why would Pargan trust these two? he wondered as he began the painstaking task of pulling on his boots. Though the other two looked impatient to leave, he was glad they didn't look like they even considered helping him with the task.

Duo snorted with some hidden humor. "Probably because his little princess would get pissy at him if he left her brother here to rot."

"Relena? Have you spoken to Relena?"

"You've heard about this marriage of hers," Heero stated, disapproval dripping from his tone.

"Of course. They want to use her somehow, but I'm not quite certain how, yet. They forced me to pen her a note expressing my approval of the match. If I was merely opposed to it before, I'm absolutely against it now."

"So the Jurgensens were behind your kidnapping?"

At last, one boot on. Now to the next. "More or less. They've fallen in with some new faction. I haven't been able to figure out their real agenda yet, though Victor was reciting some skewed pacifist reasoning at me." It was really rather offensive. Granted, he had strayed from the pacifist flock, but he needed no fanatic to try and convert him to some form of pacifism twisted for convenience's sake.

"Victor?"

"Victor Jurgensen. Friedrich's brother. Karl's uncle."

"This is a real family enterprise," Duo put in amusedly. "And who says families don't stick together anymore?"

Families from Sanq did, anyway. "Is Relena alright?"

"She's fine," Heero answered dismissively. "They won't hurt her."

That was one woman he loved out of harm's way. Now for the other. He tightened the strap on his boot and straightened laboriously. "We can talk later. We have to rescue Noin. They were using her as insurance against me. Who knows what they will do to her once they find me missing."

*****

Part 10

She listened with only half an ear as Karl went on about the new furniture set he had just ordered for his -- no, 'their' -- new apartments. When he had gotten to the part about the bed, she'd had to cover up a slight stumble in her thoughts. This marriage existed largely in her mind as a political move. She had managed to convince herself that she was fond of the man sitting across from her, not even touching his tea, nor the fine pastries he had brought with him, but she honestly had not thought much about the 'marriage' part of things. In this particular case, the 'consummation' side of things.

As she studied his face with an appropriately blank, rapt expression, she decided that he wasn't bad-looking. He was even handsome, if in one of those classical senses. Perhaps a neat beard in the future, like his father's, might firm up his chin and lend him a bit of dignity. He had clear skin and good teeth, at the least. And impeccably groomed blond hair. Nothing like that wild, inviting mess that sat on top of Heero's head...

She masked her small sigh as a dainty exhalation across the surface of her tea to cool it. She could entertain her notions about her white knight all she liked, but it was obvious to her that Heero was going to be one of those highly proper knights that would never even think of touching her that way. Maybe the sort that sighed over some secret dream, but never pursued it because of the duty that bound him to his lady. Oh, that was depressing, to have them both caught in an unrequited limbo. Better perhaps to release him from his obligations so they could both be free to move on.

But since when had it been she that had caught him in the first place? No, as she recalled, it was Heero that had taken up the gauntlet on his own. He had swept into her life and arbitrarily decided that he was going to protect her and her ideas. That was hardly her fault, right?

Alright, so maybe she was still a little miffed at her knight. His words had haunted her since their meeting, mocking her decisions at every turn. He had such power over her, to be able to completely uproot her values and her convictions in five easy minutes. It was like she was nothing, and she felt weak and vulnerable in the face of it. Dorothy's admonitions the next day had hardly helped.

Two against one. The odds were in their favor, not hers, and they were two people that she had always respected for having the strength of will to get things done. Perhaps it was time she resigned herself to the fact that they spoke true. How else could she ever expect to be strong enough to let Heero go? He would never leave if she continued to require saving.

Karl paused in his narrative of thai silks, surprisingly attentive enough to figure out that her attention had wandered. "Lennie, dear, what's wrong?"

She grit her teeth, and hid it with a smile. Ugh, she hated that name, and she'd told him it didn't agree with her. He had nodded sympathetically and continued to use it. It had spawned the day after their engagement had been finalized, and he pulled it out far too often, as if he could assert ownership of a sort by using a name only he had the right to use. But it was terrible, she thought. It made her sound like a used car salesman, or maybe a bail bondsman. Had he no sense of decorum? Even in private, that was not the sort of name one called a fine young lady. "Nothing, Karl. Nothing. I'm sure the texture of the silks will contrast marvelously with the upholstery."

He was like a child, and easy to please. It used to be one of his more charming traits, but now.... she was far from the child she used to be. She had changed, and he had not. This new version of herself could get tired of speaking frivolously of curtains and paintings. Once again, it would seem that her two wise advisors had been correct. She missed clashing political swords with Dorothy. She missed reading articles from the newspaper aloud to Pargan. She missed sitting in on the Senate sessions and keeping track of what was shaping the world around her. She missed being able to do something about even the small things people brought to her attention in the marketplace. But that didn't mean that it was her place to do those things anymore, or that she had the strength to do them anymore.

"Lennie, are you quite certain that nothing is the matter?"

There that wretched name was again, and it tipped a scale somewhere. "Karl, I've asked you not to call me that before," she said mildly. If she could do something about this one small thing, then maybe, just maybe she might start believing in her own power again. She was tired of being tired and helpless.

Karl blinked at her, slightly taken aback. It seemed a little startling to see no real comprehension in his eyes. "Lennie, my darling, I don't know what you mean."

"It's simple enough, Karl. I've told you that I don't like that name. I've asked you to stop calling me that. And yet you persist. Why?"

He stammered for a moment before finding his answer. "I... It's just a pet name, dear. I'm just trying to show my affection for you. Are you saying that you don't want me to show my affection for you?"

"I'm saying I might appreciate a little respect, Karl. I hope you have enough affection in you to respect my wishes."

"Well, of course I do, Le-- Relena. Don't say such ridiculous things. I love you. I want to make you happy."

It occurred to her that she had never once said or even thought such things about him. "Then stop calling me that."

"I'm afraid I really don't see what you find so offensive about it, Relena. You're imagining slights where there are none."

"Simply because you don't understand is not a sufficient justification for ignoring my wishes." She had a flashback to the war, to lecturing to a classroom full of young girls sent to her academy to learn about pacifism. She remembered Dorothy sitting at the back of the class, making each day an interesting challenge. And the conspicuous, powerful presence of Heero, and the strange paradox of Quatre Raberba Winner. Alas, the academy had dwindled away into nothing long ago. But the principles stood. "The first step to communication and understanding is acceptance of equality."

Karl puffed himself up haughtily. "There's no need to lecture me, Relena dear. I believe just as strongly in the principles of pacifism as you do."

Then he could prove it by engaging in a meaningful dialogue with her right now. "My feelings are just as valid as yours are, Karl. I dislike the name. Whatever my reasons, that alone should be enough to cause you to rethink your position. If you truly wish to exist in harmony with me, that is."

"Well, of course I do, Relena. There you go again making these silly statements."

"You think pacifism is 'silly'?"

His eyebrows furrowed in annoyance. "Of course not. Now you're just twisting around my words. What I meant was that it's obvious--"

"Yes," she cut him off smoothly, getting a strange little thrill out of it. "Everything I've said is obvious. But there is a world of difference between believing something in theory, and putting those beliefs into action. If you know that you should be respecting my opinions, then you ought to be doing so, don't you think? To fail to do so is simply blind ignorance of one's own actions."

"Relena, what's gotten into you today?" Karl huffed crossly. "It's just a silly nickname."

"I know it is, Karl." But this wasn't just about a 'silly nickname'. It was about Karl using it. It was about the name itself, and it was about the person using it. It was about being reduced to a pet name, and it was about Karl asserting his, his ownership over her at every opportunity. It made her sick to think about it, and she set her tea cup down upon her saucer with a little more force than she had intended. Oh, it smarted that Dorothy and Heero had been so right, but it smarted good. It was the pain of sweet revelation. They were right. They were absolutely right. There was no way she could live like this for the rest of her life, enduring pitiful pet names and talking about upholstery with a man that couldn't even appreciate a good cup of tea.

Between one breath and the next, she calmed and centered herself. With deliberate fingers, she straightened her tea cup so that the handle was in the right place, and with the last thing put into order, she spoke. "I don't think this will work out, Karl."

He flinched in surprise. "Wha... what do you mean, you don't think this will work out?"

"I mean I've been thinking about this. This upcoming marriage of ours. And I simply don't think it will work, on neither a personal level, nor a political level."

"But... But that can't be." He looked a little pale.

She lifted her eyebrows at him, wishing she could do only one of them at a time. She always felt properly chastised when Heero did it to her. "Presuming for the moment that we worked well together on a personal level. Politically, I think the people could benefit far more if we were to pursue other avenues. They don't need more speeches and pretty smiles right now. What they need is relief. What they need is help. They need people on the ground, supporting them, encouraging them. They need to attract investors. They need--"

"No." It started out a little weak, but it strengthened by the end. "Absolutely not! You don't know what you're talking about, Relena. The people need hope. You can give them hope. That is what you want, isn't it? Don't you think--"

"I think that there are many ways to rejuvenate the people, Karl, some of them more useful than others. I'm simply trying to propose an alternative plan."

He spluttered. "But think of the people, Relena! It would be demoralizing now. Think of what they'll think if you call this off!"

Maybe they'd be proud of her. She knew at least two people that would be. Three or four, or even five, maybe. They were a good start. "Well, I'm not saying that we would do it in any fashion fit for the tabloids. And we don't need to do it immediately. Perhaps we could simply postpone the wedding, and in the meantime, work with the people to--"

"But then why call it off at all?" he pleaded. "We can be married and you can still do all these little things you're talking about. We should do everything we can to help the people, not take little baby steps, one thing at a time. They need bold, decisive action. Please, Lennie, I--"

"No, Karl," she repeated firmly. He'd almost had her, up until he'd dragged out that ridiculous nickname again. If calling this off wasn't bold and decisive, then she didn't know what was. She was done with small, ladylike steps. It was helplessness that had made her agree to this union in the first place. "I'm afraid I no longer see how the people will be encouraged by a marriage of convenience."

He stiffened. "Convenience? Relena, darling, don't you... don't you love me?"

Oh dear. "Karl... you know I'm terribly fond of you, but..."

"Fond?" His voice rose to an unattractive level. "Relena, I love you!"

"Karl--"

"I thought I was your white knight!"

Uh-oh. Where did he...? Of course. The maid. The maid must have gossiped about her conversation with Dorothy. She'd have to have a chat with her. Some things were meant to stay between ladies.

"You can learn to love me, can't you? Won't you?"

She was a bit taken aback by the quivering desperation in his voice. She'd been aware of his little crush on her in high school, but she'd thought it had mellowed out by now. Surely he hadn't forgotten the political motivations behind the proposal. She struggled to find the proper words. "Karl... Maybe I could. But why should we--?"

"It's him, isn't it?" he snarled, only it sort of sounded like a distressed whine as well, as he pushed himself out of his seat to pace agitatedly across the floor. "It's that Yuy, isn't it?"

"Hee--?" She stopped herself from completing the name. What did he know about Heero? She recalled that the two of them had met before. That was what had inspired Heero's little outburst at the end of their conversation behind the dress shop. It wasn't surprising that Karl would remember him; Heero was, after all, a rather remarkable character. But while there had been some disdain for his uncivilized manners, she hadn't known there was such venom behind it as well.

"It is!" He stopped to gesture at her wildly. "I knew it! I just knew that little creep would cause trouble after he got away!"

Little creep? she thought, eyes wide. Not a term she would have associated with Heero Yuy. The implications of the rest of his words caught up with her. Got away? "What do you know about Heero?"

"Well, he can't have you. You're mine. You're going to be my wife, and that's the end of the matter."

"Karl. Don't be ridiculous. You can't just decide--"

"Ridiculous?" His voice cracked on the higher register again. "'Ridiculous' is him thinking he can get away with this!"

"Karl," she tried again. "This has nothing to do with Heero Yuy. This is about you and me, and you can't have a marriage if I don't agree to it."

"All I need for you to do is say 'I do' in front of a minister, and it'll be done. Is that so hard for you!? Two little words! And then everybody would be happy!"

"Karl!" This was becoming vaguely horrifying. She hoped a servant might accidentally walk in on them and somehow defuse this embarrassing situation. "Is that what you really want to do? Do you really want to force me into marrying you?"

"What would be so terrible about it? Do I disgust you that much?"

"Of course not!" Wow, the world was getting very strange all of a sudden. She'd just wanted him to stop calling her 'Lennie'. It was supposed to be a first step, not a snowballing cascade of hysteria. "I only said I didn't think this would work out. You're getting far too carried away, Karl. We can work this out. Please, just sit down, and let's talk about this reasonably."

"Yes! Let's!" He rushed back to his chair and sat in it hastily, leaning over the table towards her and nearly knocking over his tea cup in the process. "You're going to be reasonable about this? Yes? Oh, Relena, you'll see. I'll be a wonderful husband to you. I'll do everything in my power to make you happy."

She laughed nervously. "Karl, I didn't say that I was agreeing to marry you!"

He recoiled again for a moment before leaning close again, laying a possessive hand upon the arm she had resting on the table. "Just cooperate with me, Relena! Just cooperate and everything will work out fine!"

"Cooperate?" she repeated, aghast. "What do you think this is, Karl? Some sort of... of..." Lord, she didn't even know what, but she was becoming more certain with each passing second that she wanted no part in this. She winced suddenly as his grip on her arm tightened. "Karl, stop it. Let me go."

"No," he asserted feverishly. "I won't let you go. You promised to be my wife, Relena. I'm going to hold you to that."

"You can't force my cooperation in this!" This... was getting worrisome. She didn't look forward to facing Heero again. He was going to be filled up to his independently moving eyebrows with 'I told you so's.

"Can't I? You'll say 'yes' at the altar, Relena. You'll say 'I do' or... or..." His eyes widened as he stumbled upon a suitable threat. "Noin!"

She jumped in surprise. "What? Noin?"

"Yes, Noin! Your sister-in-law! We--"

The door opened suddenly, and Karl fell silent immediately, the words just drying up in his throat as he gaped. Relena turned quickly towards the open door, looking in stunned relief for her savior, only to find one of the last people she wanted to see.

"That will be enough of that, Karl," the tall man rumbled firmly.

"Father, I--" His eyes darted nervously around the room for a few moments before he realized that his hand had tightened once more on Relena's arm. He released it abruptly and stood.

"I apologize for my son's behavior," Friedrich said to her as she rubbed at her offended arm. "Could I ask you to stay here for a moment while I have a word with him?"

Uncertain of her position, she nodded hesitantly, glancing at Karl out of the corner of eye.

"Now, Karl," the Jurgensen patriarch said pointedly, and his son scurried to his side. They left the room with the door closing solidly behind them.

If she hadn't still been sitting, she would have collapsed into her chair. What had she gotten herself into now? See, this was what happened when she listened to Heero. The man was a born catalyst. Though she shuddered to think what she might have married into had she not listened to her knight. Judging from the voices outside the door, however, she wasn't out of trouble yet.

Friedrich's voice was deep, and carried through the door more as a vibration than as anything audible. The most she heard from him was the stern sound of her fiancé's name spoken in reprimand. Karl's voice rose and fell, giving her snatches of the conversation outside. "I love her! ... But she... like a child!... ruin all... Father..."

That did not sound good at all. She tried to compose herself, taking a deep breath and lifting her lukewarm tea to her lips. Her hand was trembling. She put the cup back down before she could spill.

The door opened, and only Friedrich came back inside, an apologetic smile on his face. He shut the door behind him and took the seat his son had recently occupied. "Once again, Relena, I apologize for my son's behavior. I'm afraid that, as a parent, I may have made life a little too easy for him."

Not quite in a forgiving mood, she failed to make herself dismiss the matter. Left with no other recourse, she merely nodded her head demurely in acknowledgment. The lack of acceptance failed to faze him. He simply weighed her with steel gray eyes. Unsettled by the studious look, she fell back to a hostess' role. "Would you care for some of the cake your son brought today?"

He shook his head without a glance for the table setting. "No, thank you." After a brief pause, he laughed. "You're strong, Relena. What a fine wife you will make for my son."

Relena cleared her throat nervously. "Friedrich... it seems that perhaps Karl didn't tell you what we were just discussing..."

There was no hint of doubt on his face. "You will make a fine wife for my son."

She hid a flinch, and tried stay reasonable. "Now, Friedrich, you know I've always been fond of Karl, but after some thinking--"

"Relena," he cut in quietly. "Dear, sweet Relena. You can't call off the wedding now. Think of the people around you that might be affected by such a hasty decision."

A small shiver ran down her back. There were questions floating in the air, and she wasn't sure she wanted to hear them. "It wasn't a 'hasty' decision, Friedrich. Something's... it just hasn't been quite right with me for a while now. And I'm sure the people will understand, especially if we give them something else to buoy them in these times. We can simply postpone the wedding at first, and then call it off for good after things have stabilized. In the meantime, we can continue working to start up the programs and projects that are just now getting off the ground. There's so much we can do for them."

"I wasn't really thinking about them, Relena." Friedrich leaned back comfortably in his seat, large hands cupping one knee as he crossed one leg over the other. "I was thinking about the people closer to you."

Her heart skipped a beat. "What... whatever do you mean? I know that my brother wanted to attend the wedding, even if he said he couldn't make it, but I'm sure he will understand my decision after we've had a bit to talk about it."

Friedrich's easy smile grew both edged and patronizing. "Ah, yes, Milliardo, our wayward prince. And let us not forget your erstwhile guardian, as well."

"My... who?"

"Your charming knight, the former zero-one. Where is he, Relena?"

She swallowed through a sudden constriction of her throat. "Heero? Why do you people keep bringing him up? I haven't seen him for years. Why would I know where he is?"

He knew. There was certain knowledge gleaming through in his eyes. "You met with him, Relena. You spoke to him an in alley behind the dressmaker's."

"I... I did no such thing." Stay calm, she chanted to herself. Just stay calm. And get rid of that ridiculous quiver in your voice! She didn't know what the game was, but she knew she didn't want to get caught out in some unintentional admission. "That's absurd. What would he be doing in an alley behind my dressmaker's?" Sometimes, the truth was stranger than fiction.

"There's no need to lie, my dear. Schaefer told me all about it."

"Schaefer?" She thought wildly back to the encounter in the alley, trying to see where her guard fit into the picture. Was it possible he had spied on them? But Duo had been watching over them. He wouldn't have let something slip through his guard. Would he? Maybe he was out of practice? "Schaefer met me outside and escorted me back to the car through the crowds."

"He was there," Friedrich persisted levelly. "This 'Heero Yuy'."

While Karl was familiar with him in the flesh, he and Friedrich had certainly never met. What would Friedrich know about him? Only what his son could tell him, perhaps, or what was in the files, neither of which would give him an accurate picture of the man. She took a little confidence from that thought. Overestimated or underestimated, surely Heero could take advantage of such misconception. And maybe she could talk her way out of this, too. "If Schaefer was there, and if he saw Heero, and if you want to find him, then why don't you already know where he is? Why did Schaefer let him go?"

A frown passed over Friedrich's face. "He was doing his job of protecting you, my dear. You know you shouldn't be associating with such subversive elements of society."

"Subversive?" Her laugh was a little breathy. "This 'subversive' element helped to save this world not once, but twice."

"He's a soldier," he returned flatly. "He goes against everything pacifism stands for. You're a symbol, my dear. You must take that into consideration. It's difficult, I know. You're young. You're idealistic. You're filled with bright dreams and hope for the future. You're lucky you have advisors to help guide you with their wisdom and experience."

"I have advisors," she conceded, a hint of something unyielding underneath. "And I appreciate all of the advice they have to offer. But ultimately, I am the one that must make my own decisions."

"And may you continue to make wise decisions, child, and not just for your own sake."

The ominous warning sat heavily in her gut. "I am well aware of my position, Friedrich." Which was why she was staying the course she had chosen. While she still wasn't quite sure what she had stumbled into, she already felt better blundering with her eyes wide open. If nothing else, the fear that gripped her at the thought of being drawn into such a thing unaware and being an unwitting accomplice to something would keep her resolve firm. If Heero was going to pop up out of nowhere, and with no particular provocation, then why couldn't he have popped up sooner? Her engagement had been all over the news. That had been the entire point of the engagement. What took him so long to show up and tell her what he thought? She was going to give him a good talking to, the next time they met.

"Then you should understand why you will be marrying my son."

"Friedrich, I mean you and your family no disrespect. Please understand that."

"Of course, child." She tried not to twitch. 'Child' was really no better than 'Lennie'. "And please understand that I mean you no disrespect when I say that you will be marrying my son."

She was getting past the fear and into frustration. It was like arguing with Heero, only Heero was much more pretty to look at. And at least she knew that Heero was just dense like that. Friedrich Jurgensen had never proven himself so unreasonable before. "I'm sorry, but I don't understand why you should want your son to suffer an unwilling wife."

"You will be willing, Relena. You will walk proudly down that aisle, and you will say your vows with the firm conviction for which you are known. You'll make a lovely bride."

"I won't," she rebutted immediately, immensely disliking the feeling that he knew something that she didn't. "I'll say no such thing."

"Your sister-in-law. Lucrezia Noin, right?"

This was the second time Lu's name had come up out of the blue. She didn't like it at all. Lu and Milliardo had taken off to Mars not long after the Barton uprising, but she supposed that Friedrich at least would have been familiar with her presence from Noin's tenure as head of Sanq security during the war.

"A lovely woman. And I believe she is with child. With such parents, I'm sure it will be a beautiful, healthy baby. How far along is she now? Five months? Did you know, I hear that she insists on remaining quite active for a pregnant woman. I hope she doesn't strain herself." He smiled, and it sent another chill down a back frozen in shock. "I would be delighted to have you as my daughter-in-law. I do hope you'll reconsider your decision, my dear. There are many that depend on you. I'm sure the people close to you would be hurt thinking that their princess was betraying them by not fulfilling her duties."

After he left, Relena tried to finish her tea. Her hand shook so badly that she could barely get the cup off the table.

*****

Part 11

"Hey, Heero."

He didn't take his eyes off the view out the window. He kind of missed space. Sure, he'd been living in space for the last five years, but it was different from traveling through it. He wondered if it would be the same, though, being cradled in the sea of stars. Maybe it'd just be the obstacle between point A and point B now, and maybe he was better off not trying to enjoy it. One less thing to fail at. "Yeah?"

"What you said at the end of the Barton thing..."

"Which thing?"

"I heard you said something 'bout not killin' anyone anymore."

Who was spreading that around, he wondered. There hadn't been that many people there at the time. "...I heard that, too."

"What, you denyin' it?"

"I was passing out at the time. I don't remember it very well." He wasn't even too certain how he had gotten from Wing down to the basement level of the bunker. Then again, maybe it was just the passage of time that had dulled his memory. "But I concede that I may have said that."

A nice cautious answer, Duo thought. What was he afraid of? "Did you mean it, then? If you said it?"

A light blinked somewhere out there. Not a star, of course. Another shuttle? People could be so close to each other in space some times, and barely even notice. "...I'm sure I meant it at the time. But I did just kill a man last week without even thinking about it."

"He was trying to kill you."

"I know. I'm not looking for justification. I don't regret taking him out. He was trying to take me out. But..." He shrugged uneasily. He'd meant it for a long time after first saying it, too, but all bets were off when it came to survival. "It was a nice thought, and it'd be nice if we lived in a world where I didn't ever have to answer this question. Why do you bring it up?" He turned toward the pilot as he asked.

Duo leaned toward him, just to make sure there wouldn't be any miscommunication. "I just wanna know what to expect in there. I wanna know if I'm gonna have to cover your ass in there. I wanna know if you're gonng freeze and get the both of us killed. I wanna know if you're gonna make us do things the hard way."

Fair enough. "What about you?"

"I never made any stupid promises I couldn't keep. It's the circle of life, baby. Born and raised on it. I don't believe in messing with it."

"So you'll kill in there if you have to, no second thoughts about it?"

"Don't make me sound like some cold-blooded murderer, Yuy."

"Then don't make me sound like some bleeding-heart pacifist, Maxwell. You know me. I'll do what I have to, and deal with the consequences later."

Duo stared at him measuringly before turning back to check their course. "What if they're all bleeding-heart pacifists in there?"

"Then they shouldn't be carrying guns."

"How much do you still believe in pacifism, Yuy?"

"Complete disarmament.... Hn. Guns aren't the only weapons out there."

He grunted in agreement. Not a bad answer. "Go back there and wake Sleeping Beauty up, will you? We're almost there."

Heero unharnessed himself from his seat and drifted toward the back of the small shuttle, thinking about their short-term itinerary. He hit the button to open the door and went inside. It was about five seconds later that he came back out, eyes wide and hand over his mouth. He made sure the door slid shut behind him before he moved his hand and used it to punch Duo in the shoulder.

"Hey! What?"

Heero glared at him, though the effect was somewhat ruined by the fact that he was trying very hard not to laugh. Which in itself was remarkable. "He's going to kill you."

Duo blinked innocently at him. "What? I hear it's very popular these days."

"I don't see you doing it."

"Why, would it turn you on?"

"No."

"Just wake him up already."

"He's going to kill you."

It was nice to know Heero cared, but it was not his fate to be killed by Zechs Merquise. "How do you know he won't get turned on by it?"

"That's disgusting, Maxwell."

"Hey, you never know. Wake him up. I'm sure we'll find out sooner or later."

"I'm swearing complete innocence on this one."

"Go right on ahead."

Heero woke him up, smothering another unexpected snicker, but not saying a word about the matter. It was Duo's business, not his.

Five minutes later, they were completing the docking procedure at L1-X8790. Pargan really was amazing. Not only had he called ahead and reserved them a drop off point, he'd found an old family friend to take Zechs in. That didn't make Zechs very happy, though.

"I still don't like this," he complained. He did it with dignity, though.

Hardly mattered to the others. "You don't have a choice," Duo answered, checking his instrument panels. "We aren't taking you with us. You'd just slow us down."

"I know. That doesn't mean I have to like it." Noin was his wife, after all, and he was less than pleased to leave her safety in the hands of two practically unfamiliar, if highly skilled, former enemies.

Heero was scarcely more reassuring. "We'll contact you after we extract her. Just stay put."

"Easy for you to say." He was smart enough not to endanger the mission for his pride, but human enough to be less than gracious in his inability to assist.

Duo strove for the friendly smile. "If you like, we can break your legs or something. That'd probably make it easier for you to stay put."

Heero cuffed him on the back of the head, sparing Zechs the trouble of answering.

The former Peacecraft pastry chef was waiting for them at the gate. She cooed and pinched like a grandmother long separated from her grandchild. Zechs scowled mildly at them, knowing that it wasn't their fault. "Look..."

"We'll bring her back safe," Heero said, more like a statement than a promise of any sort.

Zechs nodded, running a hand through his bangs as he tried to say what he knew he had to say. "...Thank you." Then he paused, hand tracing the anomaly of twin braids in his hair. His eyes widened.

Duo grinned and waved. "Buh-bye!"

The door slid shut so hastily it almost caught his farewell before it made it out.

*****

"Fuck," Duo muttered, trying to make himself as thin as possible. "Whose stupid idea was this again?"

Heero was too busy watching the little people beneath them to do more than answer blandly with what, sadly, was the truth. They'd just sort of done it. "I have no idea."

The I-beam creaked again. "Fuck. I know I'm not fifteen anymore, but damn..."

He would have told Duo to be quiet, if only he wasn't sure that the engineers below them couldn't hear a thing over the rumbling of the equipment. There were conveyor belts, lifts, all manner of things required to move heavy materials that liked to clang and creak. "There. What the hell do they need that much shielding for?"

Duo slithered forward another few centimeters for a better look on the support girders running the width and length of the ceiling of the hangar. Despite himself, he answered. "Weapons-grade, too. Must have been doing serious salvaging."

"And over there," Heero pointed to the other side of the hangar. "The gears, the DLP chip arrays. Looks like components ready for on-site assembly."

"If that all goes into one big thing... that's gonna be one really big beam cannon."

"What the hell would they need with something like that? There's easier ways to get firepower. Who would they use it on?"

"Who the hell cares, Yuy? It's big, it's bad, and let's hope it's not hungry, too. So we've seen what Zechs saw. Can we get out of here now? These beams are giving me the creeps."

Heero finally took a spare moment to throw him an amused glance. "I thought you were the sneaky, stealthy one. You gained a few kilos these past few years?"

"Hey, that's all height, man. Too bad you can't say the same."

He still fell a little bit behind in the height category, but his muscle mass had settled on his bones a little more gracefully. A little more padding, perhaps, but at least he didn't look so gawky anymore. While he had maintained his fitness over the unexciting years, there hadn't been any reason to push himself very often. The government got antsy if he did, besides. "Alright, we've seen enough here. Let's move out."

They turned around and backtracked their slow crawl across the rafters. The ladder down on that side was under relative cover, while the one on the far side was clearly exposed. "It's about damn time. We're here to get Noin out, remember? Whoever's weird idea that was. Not here to go poking our nose in weapons production stuff. What are you going to do after we get her, huh? You gonna come back and stop this stuff?"

Heero eased his way around a vertical connector. "I'll think about that later."

"'Later', he says," Duo grumbled, slinking along. "What the hell is up with this guy? Talk about tunnel vision."

Once they reached ground level again, they darted their way through the maze of cargo, taking liberal advantage of all the cover to be found on their way to the exit. Fortunately, they were both no stranger to the Moon Base. They headed with sure knowledge through the corridors, but unfortunately, they had to take a guess at their destination.

According to the information that Zechs had given them, their captors seemed relatively well-disposed toward their prisoners. Taking them into custody instead of talking their way out of it was a mistake that could not be unmade. With the damage done, they were forced to continue in their path, but that did not mean that they were prepared to execute their witnesses. Zechs had been kept in the residential sector of the MO-18 facility. It stood to reason that Noin could do no worse. More likely better, in fact, since she was a woman, and pregnant to boot.

Their first objective was the infirmary. She was only five months into her pregnancy, according to Zechs, but perhaps they might have chosen to stash her there. Men inexperienced with pregnant women often assumed things about them and their necessities. It didn't hurt to check since it was on the way. There were two offices on the working side of the base, and one more on the residential sector. Another possibility was that they had imprisoned her as far away as possible from the troops. Zechs hadn't thought they seemed comfortable with the notion of holding a pregnant woman, and during the short time they had been held together, Noin had played the hysterical helpless woman so well that even Zechs had been wide-eyed with worry.

Patrols wandered the corridors. It would have been impossible to bluff their way past the guards, so stealth was their best option. They expected the base to be on alert, though, no matter that it was night cycle. Less than twenty-four hours had elapsed since Zechs had disappeared from his room, but they would know that the first place their escapee would go would be where his wife was being held. It was a little galling to be doing exactly what the enemy would expect, but they had little choice. As Zechs had observed, Noin's position was now tenuous at best. With his escape, she became either an even more important hostage, or a hostage with no value left at all. Neither was a good position in which to be. They could only hope that the bad guys were expecting an injured, emotional husband to be rushing to his wife's aid, not a person once considered the most dangerous man in the world, and another that was only one of the most dangerous men in the world, but a little more crazy than the first.

Moon Base was a large facility, used to housing hundreds of men, and finding jobs for all of them, too. The facility may have been on alert, but it was nominally a civilian operation these days, and there were only so many men to go around. Except for the deceptively echoing sounds of men walking in corridors not far from where they trekked, they were alone for a good ways, up until they miscalculated the hollow reverb in one hallway and got spotted by a small, unexpected squad shuffling down the far end of a cross corridor.

At the sound of shouts, they sprinted for the next intersection and ended up turning left when they really wanted to go straight. It was too early in the game for them to be leaving behind a trail of dead bodies. Halfway down the next corridor, the flashing red lights and wailing sirens went on. Doors were heard to open, boots pounding into the hallways they had left, voices demanding a report.

Too many to fight. Run and hide it was, then. Hiding by far being the best long-term option. Close to the hangars were the cargo bays. Parts and supplies had to be kept near the equipment. The large rooms were filled with plenty of cover, but going to ground was not the best option. They dashed inside anyway, and after a brief inspection chose their roost.

They had long enough to catch their breath before shouting men were heard outside. Many of the footsteps continued further down the hall, but a small detachment of troops stayed behind. Light poured into the room through the opened door, and four soldiers entered cautiously, weapons at the ready.

In the gap between two boxes, Duo peered at them and shook his head. Amateurs. He could have taken two of them out immediately. The other two would have been thrown enough at the sudden loss of their teammates that they could have been dispatched with equal ease. Two had their weapons pointed toward the ground, and two had their weapons pointing into the air. These were not professional soldiers. Not mercenaries, not some secret army being trained up by their adversaries. And certainly not troops prepared for what they were about to run into.

He signaled their positions to Heero, crouching behind the next pallet of boxes. Three were advancing, leaving one guard standing by the door. Heero nodded, and readied himself. The stacks were a bit haphazard, the sign of a cargo bay recently and well used. The search pattern employed by the guards was sloppy to match. Holding themselves with patient stillness, they waited until the three had passed them by, then advanced their position toward the door before the trio could loop back around to search the backsides of the pallets they had missed.

The man by the door watched his squad mates nervously, glancing back and forth through the patches of darkness. He was looking the other way when a piece of shadow detached itself from its home and rushed him. The butt of a gun hit him on his temple, and another shadow hurried forth to catch him before he fell.

They dragged his inert body into the corner, propping him up against the shelving and out of the way. His weapon was appropriated for use by Heero. On their way back to the cleared door, however, the man slumped over, his head hitting the side of the metal shelf with a hollow thump. They froze, breaths coming slow and even as they waited for a response. It came, though delayed.

"Yo, Mallory? You see something?"

When it became clear that Mallory was the unfortunate soul they had neutralized, Duo improvised. "Ssshh!" he hissed loudly.

The guards that had been on their way back towards the entrance stopped where they stood, searching the room with their eyes for what had put their comrade on alert. Duo found a bolt lying on top of a box next to where he hid. He mimed his intent to Heero, who took a quick peek through the shelving on his side. When the timing was right, he signaled to Duo, who lobbed the bolt with a high curving arc across the room, above their line of sight. It knocked against the side of a box, fell and hit the metal shelving, rolled, and fell to the floor with a clatter. Damn. Too loud. It was the sort of sound that, had it really been made by an experienced infiltrator, would have been followed by immediate action. Not the sort of sound a frightened little field mouse could make and hope that no one would hear.

Amidst the agitating of the guards, Heero fell back to plan B, planting his hands against the side of the shelf next to him and applying a sharp impulse. The box he had displaced earlier on the far end teetered, and after a moment decided that it too wanted to follow gravity's urging. It fell with a convincingly loud crash, and any sound of a fast, hasty escape by a bad guy would have been covered by the loud shuffling of the guards themselves. As the trio rushed over to that quadrant of the room, the pair of intruders slipped out the door and continued their run.

They marked each door and corridor they passed, staying aware of the possible alternative routes. The three guards they had just left behind would probably be calling in their supposed find. It would become a find for certain after they found their sleeping friend Mallory, and then the patrols that had been sent out would be returning this way.

Once, they ducked into a side passage, plastering themselves against the wall as a squad ran by. A second time, they took refuge in a conference room as a CO strode past, barking out orders. There were no guards posted around the first infirmary they came to. They quickly left it behind without a search and headed toward their next objective.

"You know what I think I hate the most about times like these?" Duo muttered to Heero as they loped down the hallway. "The alarm. The fucking, incessant alarm. Couldn't they find something a little easier on the ears? Like, like, like birdsong or something?"

It was with just a little consternation that Heero found that concentrating on the sound of Duo's voice helped block out the unrelenting screech of the alarm. It was really quite impractical. The sound was enough to mask the gentle footfalls of two people stealthing through the hallways at a steady clip, but not enough to hide the thumping of a group of boot-clad men.

"Although, I dunno, birdsong can get kinda annoying after too much of it. Though that may just be when it's damn early in the morning and you've got a hangover and you're trying to sleep. Tell me, Yuy. Ever have a hangover? Bad time to ask, maybe, but I'm curious."

"Yes, Duo. It is a bad time." They turned right, reached a locked door, and stopped to bust open the panel and short it out.

"I'll take that as a, 'Yes, Duo, I have had a hangover.' Don't suppose you woke up next to someone in some stranger's bed or anything? No? You're so boring, Yuy."

If that was boring, then so be it. "How many times have you, Maxwell?"

"Nice try, Yuy." The door opened and they continued their journey. "Zippo. None. Nada. Zero. I don't wake up in other people's beds."

"I find that hard to believe."

"Can't wake up if you don't go to sleep."

Ah, yes. He'd forgotten Duo's life of the quick bang. Duo probably couldn't wake up in someone else's bed if they never made it to a bed, either. "That makes you boring, too, doesn't it?"

"Nah, I got other things that make up for it-- Fuck." The emergency doors in their path started closing. They put on a burst of speed, but they didn't make it in time. Turning around, they saw that their path in had been similarly barricaded. "When the hell did the bad guys get so smart?" Duo cursed, hustling toward one of the few doors left in their small segment of hallway. It was locked. They ran to next.

A half dozen gun barrels met them, face to face and happy to see them. The troops behind the faceful of weapons looked a lot less friendly. Behind the crowd stood an officer by the looks of him. Two of the other doors slid open, and six more guards joined them in the hall, all with weapons trained on them.

"Told you this was a bad time," Heero griped softly.

*****

"Hey, take it easy, man!" Duo complained as he was pushed unceremoniously into a cell. With his hands bound behind his back, he had trouble catching his balance and fell roughly to his knees, splaying them out awkwardly to stop himself from sprawling forward on his face.

Heero stumbled into his side and did a clumsy dance to avoid tripping altogether as the door slammed shut behind them. Once he steadied himself on his feet, he turned around, studying the confines of their cell before seating himself against the wall.

Duo wiggled his way forward and flopped himself down beside his partner in crime. "Well. This sure brings back memories."

"Hn." Heero shut his eyes and tried to relax a bit.

He made a sour face. "And that sure as hell brings back memories, too. Wufei used to do the exact same thing... Guess he just wanted to die in dignity or something."

Heero opened his eyes. He'd just wanted to untense a little after being manhandled by the guards. They hadn't been unnecessarily rough, but they'd been thorough. He was quite unaccustomed to having people pawing at him, patting him down, taking his weapons, and divesting him of most of his clothing. Well, he supposed that Duo had been groping him quite frequently of late, but, well, that was Duo, and somehow that seemed alright. But Duo wasn't pulling his shirt off. Not that he didn't want to. Well, maybe he didn't, given what he wanted. Heero was stricken with the sudden curiosity to ask. "Do you take off your clothes?"

"Huh?" That managed to throw Duo off track. He'd been studying the ceiling, trying to find a familiar pattern. "What?"

"When you fuck around with guys. Or do you just unzip your pants?"

"What. The. Hell. Yuy," he asked slowly.

"Never mind. I was just wondering."

"You're one strange cookie, Yuy." He sat up straight all of a sudden and leaned in close. "Ooh, have I finally found your secret kink? You're into bondage? This stuff turning you on?"

Heero rolled his eyes. "No. I was just wondering because--" He was just wondering if Duo was interested in stripping him? No, he really didn't need to say that aloud. "Never mind."

"Oh, so it's the power differential thing, right? Maybe you get off on being violated?"

"That's sick, Maxwell."

"Hey, I don't claim to understand it, man. Some people are into that. That's their thing. I don't judge."

"Why does everyone have to have a kink, Maxwell? Doesn't anyone have just plain old sex anymore?"

"Why? You interested?"

He made a frustrated sound. "Still a bad time, Duo."

"What? You started it." They lapsed into a heavy silence, which Duo eventually broke with a loud laugh. "Damn, I hope there are some guards surveilling us right now. Wanna have a properly lewd conversation, babe?"

"No. Not really."

"Bah. You probably think we oughta be talking about how to escape or something."

"No. Not really." If there really were people surveilling them right now, that would be an unwise decision.

"Yeah, you're right. Because there's no way outta here. Not in the cell itself, anyway."

"That's strangely pessimistic of you, Maxwell."

"What, it's not like we didn't look."

"Hm?" He turned his head to see Duo staring at the ceiling.

"They're a little bigger. But they're still there. Those cracks. They were here the last time." Duo dropped his gaze. "This is the same cell, did you notice? It's kinda weird in the light, though."

Honestly, no, he hadn't. He hadn't spent nearly as much time in here as Duo had. He hadn't almost died in here. He hadn't had a long, suffocating death during which to do nothing more than stare at the ceiling and study the cracks. No, he'd been out trying to shoot down one of their own.

"Hey, Heero... don't suppose you'd like to keep me warm tonight?"

The question was asked so half-heartedly that Heero hadn't the will to rebut. It was actually a little warm in the small cell, even without their shirts and shoes, but he supposed that Duo might just be remembering a chill from the past. He scooted a few centimeters closer and left it at that.

It was a few minutes before footsteps were heard outside. Two pairs. A set of eyes peered into the room, blocking out most of the light. Though it was likely impractical, they stayed for a while, probably for the intimidation factor. "So these are mighty Gundam pilots, eh? They did do fairly well against my guards, I suppose. I'll need to have them better trained," the floating eyes said in an aside to his companion.

"I told you that months ago," a quiet voice answered.

Duo stiffened at the sound of that voice, jumping to his feet and rushing to the door. He stuck his face up to the slot in the door and glimpsed the outside. When he saw who stood there, he kicked the solid door, remembering at the last moment that he had had his boots taken from him. He pounded it with the ball of his foot instead. "Trowa fucking Barton!" he roared. "You fucking traitor! Now I know how the bad guys got so fucking smart! Because he was a fucking good guy!" He pounded the door twice more for good measure.

"Duo," Trowa answered calmly in greeting. It inspired another good kick of the door.

"My, such manners," the other man smirked. "You're our guest here, Mr. Maxwell. Please refrain from breaking anything while you're here."

"Can we just cut the crap?" Heero called out, still sitting against the wall. "Are you going to hold us here, or are you going to kill us?"

"Kill you?" he responded with an urbanely offended tone. "We wouldn't do anything so barbaric, Mr. Yuy. We could have shot you down earlier, but we didn't."

"You did try to kill me a week ago, remember?"

"That was a week ago. Things were different then. After Mr. Barton was so kind as to tell us you were coming, we went through so much trouble to arrange these accommodations for you. Please, stay a while and relax. Take advantage of our hospitality."

"You TOLD them?!" Duo shouted through the narrow slot. That would have explained the thorough search. "I thought you were on OUR side!"

Trowa regarded him neutrally. "I never said I was on your side."

Duo kicked the door again in answer, though it was questionable whether that was for anger with Trowa, or himself. Or maybe even Heero, while he was at it. It was true; they had made the simple assumption that Trowa was doing what he did best: infiltrating. They hadn't once considered the possibility that Trowa was doing what he did best: fitting in, adapting, surviving.

Heero worked his way to his feet and pushed Duo aside for a look. "What are you doing here, Trowa?" he asked softly.

Trowa shrugged. "Just doing my job."

Duo pushed Heero out of the way. "Then why did you help us before?" he growled.

"You asked me a question. I answered it."

There was only a little satisfaction to be gained from the fact that the other man looked rather miffed by that.

Heero reclaimed his spot by the opening. "Is Noin alright?"

"Yes."

"Mr. Barton," the older man interrupted pointedly. "Perhaps you'd like to return to your duties."

"I thought you were stationed on MO-18," Heero asked further, ignoring the man.

Trowa did likewise. "I was. But when I reported your involvement, I was shipped out here. They knew you'd be coming."

"Of course we'd be coming. Even pilots are predictable sometimes."

"Unless you're a fucking chameleon," Duo muttered to the side. He voice gained in volume. "No, no, actually, I should have expected this. You always did seem to have a rather loose moral fiber."

"You're still sore at me for shooting at you on X18999."

"Of course I am, you little fucker! Whose side were you on then, hmm?"

The second man coughed loudly. "Now, Mr. Barton. Return to your post."

There was a pause before he answered. "Yes, sir." He nodded at the others before striding down the corridor.

The man waited for him to disappear around a corner before resuming talks with his prisoners. "You needn't worry for yourselves. We do not intend to treat you poorly. As long as you prove yourselves to be tractable, we will treat you accordingly."

"Quite the pacifist, aren't you?" Heero observed.

He smiled humorlessly. "Pacifist. Yes, of course."

"Are you a Jurgensen, too?" They had finally gotten confirmation that these people had tried to kill Heero. Conclusively tying them in with the family of Relena's intended would put the bow on the package. Or maybe the nail in their coffin, depending on how one chose to look at things.

The smile turned into an expression of distaste. "Please, there are more than enough Jurgensens in this world without adding another one to the stack. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have business I must attend to. Good evening, gentlemen." With a final baring of his teeth, he slid the cover of the slot closed and left them to their own devices.

*****

The whoosh of the slot opening changed the light quality in the room, waking them from their light slumber. After a moment, the slot whooshed closed again, and they heard the locks on the door disengage. A second later, the door opened, letting in even more light. Duo jerked his head off of Heero's shoulder and blocked his eyes with his hand. "Karma always bites a guy in his ass, doesn't it?"

"I beg your pardon?"

He made a sound of disgust hearing that voice and turned away to let Heero deal with him.

Making sure that Duo wasn't leaning on him anymore, Heero stood and padded towards the center of the room. "What are you doing here, Trowa?"

Trowa put two boxes down and held out a key. Heero offered his bound hands and Trowa unlocked the cuffs, then gave the key to him. It was far better than getting close enough to Duo to unlock the second set of cuffs himself. "You're letting us go?" Heero asked, releasing Duo.

"Yes."

A derisive *pbfft* sounded from Duo's side of the room. To appease him for a while, Heero fetched Duo's box and slid it in his direction before sorting through his own. He sifted past his clothing to find their weaponry also within. "I thought you were on their side."

"I never said I was on their side."

He found his shirt and pulled it on, pleased to hear a similar rustling out of Duo. A sulk would have been inconvenient. "You're being unusually... anti-mercenary, aren't you?"

"How do you mean?"

"You don't seem to have given your loyalty to anyone, at any price."

"No, I suppose not."

He pulled his socks out of the box next. "Why help us, only to turn us in, only to let us go again?"

Trowa entered the cell and closed the door behind him. Leaning against it, he answered the question with one of his own. "Why are you here?"

Yay, he found his trusty boots in the box, too. He had hoped they weren't gone for good. "We're getting Noin out."

"Why?"

His hands slowed as he tied on his boots. It was a lengthier process than he was used to since those buffoons had decided to loosen the laces. "We rescued Zechs."

"Why?"

"Because..." He got a sense of what Trowa was trying to ask, and needed a minute to think up the appropriate answer. It was slow in coming. "I'm not sure why, Trowa. There was simply a chain of events that led to it."

"So you're not... still..."

He shook his head. "No. I'm not... I'm not the person I used to be. And I'm fairly certain he isn't, either," he added, tilting his head Duo's direction. "But something's happening in this world right now, Trowa. Something that, no matter how I tried to stay out of it, dragged me in. I don't know if I... 'care' yet what's going on. I'm only here because... I just ended up here."

"Then maybe... maybe you know why I'm doing this." He didn't much sound like he knew himself.

"Because it's right in front of you?" He pulled his gun out of the box, still in its holster, and strapped it on. It was a little strange to think he was more attached to his boots than he was to that gun, even if it was a gun he had kept with him after the wars. "Because it's the path of least resistance?"

"Can that path really lead you back to saving the world?"

"Is that what I'm doing right now?"

Trowa nodded. "They're building a weapon. I don't know what kind. They haven't seen fit to tell me, and I... haven't cared to find out. Just one so far. Large. Single burst fire. Narrow beam. That much I've simply seen. But they're nominally pacifist, too. Some days I can understand their politics, and some days... I can't."

"Who are 'they'?"

"They're a consortium of sorts. They've never referred to themselves by name. Not as organized as Romafeller, but similar. Just a bunch of rich and powerful men, sharing an ideal, that got together trying to put it into action."

"And this 'ideal'? These 'politics' of theirs?"

"I think they believe that peace can only be managed by those with the power to enforce it."

"Do you believe that, too? Is that why you accepted their offer?"

"No. It was just... it was just something to do. Is that wrong, do you think?"

"They took away all the other things that we could do. We had to end up doing something."

"You've somehow ended up doing something heroic anyway. I don't think they can take that away from you, Heero."

He was a terrible role model, and wished people could see that. "I'd hardly call it 'heroic'. I'm no more than you, Trowa. I'm just a person floating around in this world without purpose, without faith, without loyalty. Someone just tried to kill me one day. I found some sleeping part of me that remembered that I don't like people that try to kill me. And here I am now. Saving the world? I don't know. I just know I'm on this path now, Trowa. I don't know where I'm going, or what I believe in yet, or if I'm on anyone's 'side', but, well, it's a hell of a lot more interesting than what I was doing before. And it's something I chose to do. What do you choose, Trowa?"

"Choose?" He rolled the word around his mind, tasting it from all angles. "I think... I've already chosen, haven't I? I'm letting you go."

Duo finally interrupted. He had finished putting himself back into order, and now he strode up to them and put himself in Trowa's face. "The last time you 'let us go', you turned around and got us caught. You gotta make up your mind, man. You in or you out?"

My, that question sounded awfully familiar.

He didn't wait for an answer. "You know what? I don't care. You turned on us once, and I'm not gonna let you do that again."

Heero coughed his way into the conversation. "Ahem. Technically, he wasn't 'turning' on us."

"Piss off, Yuy. Maybe you get his weird motivations for all of this, but I don't. Now, where's Noin?"

Trowa accepted the accusations with his usual aplomb. He hadn't expected much more. "E-block. Two thirty five."

"Thank you. I hope you come to the right decision some day. But today..." He sucker punched Trowa hard in the gut, watching with grim satisfaction as their former comrade crumpled to the ground. "Today, you're sitting this one out."

"That was uncalled for," Heero observed mildly.

"No, it wasn't."

"He wasn't going to 'turn' on us. He was letting us go."

"Yeah? And who's to say he wasn't going to be waiting for us outside Noin's quarters again with another squad of guards?"

"We could have asked if he wanted to come with us."

"Ugh, god, Heero! You're such a fucking pacifist sometimes. Fine. Say he said yes, and we believed him, and all the rest of that sweet and happy crap. I'd still punch him. Yeah, that's right," he growled at the unconscious body at his feet, resisting the urge to kick him while he was down. "That's for blowing up 'Scythe, you fucking bastard. Damn, I've wanted to do that for the longest time. Next time I see you, I might just punch you for shooting all that shit at me on X18999. And let's not forget the time you thought about leaving me behind on that same colony. Yeah, you still got payback coming to you for that one, bitch. And--"

"Duo," Heero interrupted, tugging on his sleeve. "Let's just go."

"I'm not done yet," he answered irritably, pulling away. "This bastard hit me in this very same room once!"

Heero shook his head, kneeling down to pull the keycard from around Trowa's neck. "Save it for the next time you see him, when he's conscious enough to care, okay? And he was handing you blueprints, as I recall."

"Yeah, well he didn't have to punch me so fucking hard."

"Let it go, Duo. Just let it go." He pushed Duo ahead of him toward the door.

"Fine," Duo huffed. "We'll go save Noin, then. At least she never hit me. And make sure we lock this damn door behind us, too. Wait-- What the hell are you waiting for, Yuy?"

Heero had paused for a moment, leveling a strange smile at his back. It widened fractionally when Duo turned around. "You woke up next to me."

"I..." He spluttered silently for a few nonplussed seconds before he blinked it away. No bed. No sex. Didn't count. "Hurry the fuck up. I wanna get out of here."

Listening to their receding footsteps, Trowa smiled to himself and started thinking about his choices.

*****

Part 12

E-block. The residential sector, after all. Two thirty five. One of the farthest rooms from the centers of activity. Zechs appeared to be correct in that respect. They didn't want to be reminded that they were holding a pregnant woman hostage. But perhaps they didn't realize just who that pregnant woman was: Lucrezia Noin, wife to Milliardo Peacecraft, mother of his child, second in her class (by design!) at Victoria Academy only to Zechs Merquise, senior instructor at said academy, head of the Sanq National Guard, lieutenant in the OZ Specials, special agent and senior officer in the ESUN Preventers forces, and generally just one kick-ass lady.

She paced restlessly in her room. It didn't make her feel much better, and in fact, just emphasized how much her back ached and how weak her ankles felt, but it was better than just lying down on the couch like a swooning pregnant woman. When the alarms first went on in the night, she'd woken instantly, hoping against hope that her message had been received and successfully decoded.

There were advantages to being a grumpy pregnant woman in a base full of mostly clueless men. She'd been able to browbeat them into allowing her a 'daily constitutional', a walk through various parts of the base. A glimpse here and an overheard word there helped flesh out her understanding of the situation. She'd gained access to the infirmary on several occasions for 'check-ups' with the base doctor, really a rather sympathetic bloke that was kind enough to advocate her cause and help ease the conditions of her imprisonment. A teary-eyed request or two to visit the infirmary during the off-hours for 'little things' or 'feminine matters' had given her some time alone with the equipment she had needed to record, encrypt, and transmit a message to the only person she knew was beyond suspicion that might be able to decrypt it. Unfortunately, she hadn't been certain what Pargan might be able to do, and she'd resigned herself to the worst.

The transmission had included Zechs' position, not her own. Her good sense informed her smartly that the personnel on the mining asteroid would probably be easier to penetrate. Her soft heart hoped that at least he would be able to get out. But if someone had come for her now, then maybe that was the best of both worlds. She dared not hope, but should the attempt be made to free her, or the opportunity arise for her to free herself, she held herself ready.

But then the alarms had been canceled. Mission failure? Captured? Killed? False alarm? She was worried. No one had come to see her, no gloating Spieler, no vengeful husband, no weathered old butlers, no doubled guards. For a time, during the alarm, two guards had joined her in her quarters, but they'd been told to return to their posts once the alert was called off, and she hadn't heard anything of significance since.

Unable to get much sleep, she paced. The more time that passed, the more she contemplated knocking her guards out and attempting an escape herself, only she hated to move when there were so many holes in her knowledge of the situation. If someone had been captured, she couldn't leave them behind. If someone was coming for her right now, she didn't want to be gone when they came. If someone had been killed... she might need to make a few stops on her way off the base.

She paused in her pacing. Had she imagined a noise outside? Was she a little too eager to be released? Had her rescuers just been disabled? She headed towards the chair by the small desk in the room and latched on to the top of it with a tense grip. It had already been tested and determined to be a suitable weapon in time of need.

The door slid open, and she could have used a seat in that chair. That was not whom she had been expecting. She blinked at them, aging the images in her mind until they confirmed that indeed, these were the people she thought they were. First, the amusement. Zechs was going to be so pissed that it was his old rival Heero Yuy saving his wife. Then, the fear. "Where the hell is Zechs?"

"I'm feeling unloved here, Yuy," Duo lamented as he dragged the body of the last guard into the room. They'd found some tranquilizer guns along the way. It was hard to hide bodies when there were blood smears all over the floor.

"He's safe," Heero informed her, keying the door closed. "How are you at escaping?'

"But where is he?" she insisted, though she quickly padded over to the table beside her bed and snatched up what few things of hers they had left. 'Safe' could have meant he was still in the hands of the enemy. "Is he alright?"

"There were a few injuries that made it a better idea for him to stay behind. How quickly can you move, and for how long?"

"Injuries?" A guy couldn't just say 'injuries' and leave it at that.

"Nothing major. How quickly can you move?"

If that was all she was going to get out of him, then that was all she was going to get out of him. "Do we have a minute?"

He threw a glance to Duo, then shrugged. "Preferably not."

"Trust me, we'll all be happier if we do." She hustled towards the small bathroom and shut the door behind her.

Duo snickered. "Well. At least she didn't have to do her hair or something."

"I heard that, Maxwell!"

"Don't pick on her, Maxwell," Heero admonished. "She can probably kick your ass--"

"Not until the kid is spawned," Duo retorted, then paused for a short double-take. Damn, did he just concede that Noin could kick his ass? Heero's echo of a snicker confirmed it. "Hey, she's hot. I'd let her kick my ass any day."

"That's... just... No, Maxwell."

"I heard that, too, Yuy!"

"Lt. Noin," he said crisply, returning to the business at hand. "How are you impaired by your condition?"

Pride told her to say one thing, practicality quite another. She sighed and let practicality win the day. "I won't be running any marathons, Yuy."

"Our shuttle is docked in A-ring. Morning shifts will start in fifteen minutes. Duo has amused himself by rigging a few of his favorite things to go off on our command. Does this sound doable?"

She emerged from the commode and went to her boots. "Why did the alarms go off yesterday? Did you go to ground, or were you captured?"

'Captured' was such an amateurish mistake. He breezed over that part. "We got out this morning. They'll likely notice us gone in about twenty or thirty minutes."

"If the base isn't on alert yet, it should be okay."

Duo bent down to help her with her footgear. She sat back up upright gratefully, if irritably, and maneuvered her foot into the boot being held for her. "Damn," Duo grinned. "A pregnant chick in army boots. You are so my kind of girl."

Feeling the need to speed things along, Heero knelt down to help with the other boot. Noin smiled. Two handsome, feisty young men at her feet. It made her pride preen a bit. "A girl could get used to this."

"Hey, once you spawn, I'm sure I'll be available. I'm not so into threesomes, though, so if Zechs would like to just go away somewhere, maybe you and me...?"

"Hey," Heero protested mildly.

Duo glanced incredulously in his direction. "What, now you're jealous?"

Hm. That didn't seem right. He was still musing thoughtfully when Noin stood and stretched a little. "Hand me that," she said imperiously, pointing at the sub-machine gun of one of the downed guards.

Duo cheerfully complied. "Damn, stop that, Noin. You're gonna make me cream my pants."

She took it and professionally checked the weapon over. "The other one, too," she ordered.

"Ahem," Heero interrupted, handing over a semi-automatic handgun he'd picked up earlier from another guard. "Perhaps you'd like to have this one, instead."

She glared at him. "Dammit, Yuy, I'm pregnant, I'm grumpy, my back aches, and I want my husband. Since he's not here, I'll settle for a sub-machine gun."

He picked it up and claimed it as his own. "You have one. Having a variety of weapons is more secure, don't you think?"

She made a face at him, but she took the gun, slinging the first weapon over her shoulder before checking over the new one.

Duo moved over to the door and peeked out. "All clear. Aren't babies supposed to listen to classical music or something? What kind of kid is it going to be if it grows up listening to semi-automatic gunfire?"

"It'll be mine," she growled possessively. "Alright. Let's move out."

"I'm going to tell Zechs you hit on his wife," Heero muttered to Duo on the way out the door.

Duo smirked. "That's a terrible thing to do to an injured man, Yuy. He wouldn't have a fighting chance."

*****

For a pregnant woman, Noin was surprisingly spry. Then again, she was also surprisingly armed for a pregnant woman. Add 'irritable', and the two former gundam pilots had anything but a damsel in distress on their hands.

They made it out of the residential block and slipped into a maintenance corridor, striving to avoid the growing crowds in the commons areas. This was an awkward time to be sneaking through the base, but they had to get as far as they could before anyone noticed that their prisoners had escaped. Duo blamed the poor timing on Trowa. The early morning hours were the least convenient in the residential block.

The alarms were once again sounded when they were threading their way through engineering block C. Duo swore as they picked up their pace. "Don't suppose they won't shoot at a pregnant lady?" he asked hopefully.

"Too bad we're not pregnant ladies," Heero pointed out dryly.

Noin took a few moments to mock them between breaths that were annoyingly heavy. "Babies, the lot of you. Since when you have two been afraid of a little gunfire?"

"Out of practice," Heero explained blandly. "I've gotten used to my skin being in one piece. How are you doing?" She just nodded tightly and concentrated on moving.

Duo made sure the corridor ahead of them was clear before he led them around the corner. "Hey, maybe this is just good practice for the birth thing. Like, the breathing thing? What's that called?"

"Lamaze," Heero supplied.

"I don't think this is what the doctors recommend as practice." She put her hand over the gentle swell of her belly and apologized silently to her baby for the rough ride. The doctors told her not to drink or smoke... but they never mentioned whether running for one's life would have adverse effects on a fetus. She figured that the death of the mother would be fairly negative, though. She, too, had grown fond of having her skin in one piece. Marriage had softened her.

A door opened, and four troops ran into the hallway. The trio took advantage of their surprise at actually stumbling across the escapees to take them out. As man on point, Duo had his weapon raised and took down two of them before they had the opportunity to get their hands on their own weapons. Heero got the third for their number before fire could be returned, and Duo claimed the fourth as he went for his radio to call the encounter in.

They slid to a halt by the downed men. "Save your ammo," Heero snapped, pushing Duo's arm down. He hit the still-conscious soldier over the head with the butt of his submachine gun, then salvaged the communicator from the fourth squad.

"You are so a pacifist," Duo sneered, taking his turn at scavenging for ammo.

"I gave you a good reason, didn't I?"

"A reason I'm mitigating right now."

"Like you really wanted to kill that man when he was already down." They finished up and hustled on.

"I thought you were ready to do what you had to."

"What I have to."

"Is this necessary?" Noin snapped. Life dealing with young recruits had taught her to cut this sort of harassment off early.

"Shit, you're going to be one drill sergeant of a mom," Duo muttered.

"What do you know about mothers?" Heero retorted on her behalf. Two soliders materialized behind them, and as the man watching the rear, Heero shot them down efficiently. They didn't stop to see how long it would take for them to die.

"And what the fuck do you think you know--"

"Enough," Noin commanded. This was the last thing they needed right now. "I will not have my child exposed to this sort of language."

"But gunfire's okay?" Duo demanded.

"And suddenly you're an expert in--"

"Stop it." Noin slowed long enough for Heero to catch up so she could punch him in the arm. When Duo laughed, she did the same to him. "I see you obviously haven't grown up any in the last five years. In fact, I'd say the two of you have gotten worse! What the hell have... have..." She gasped to a halt.

The others stopped and supported her. "What's wrong?" Heero demanded worriedly.

"Cramp," she panted, hand rubbing her side. "Just a cramp."

"A good cramp or a bad cramp?"

She glared at him, grateful for the concern, but impatient with the inanity. Men were so clueless sometimes. "Just need to catch my breath," she clarified. She told herself that was all it was, too. It didn't feel worrisome. No more than any stitch in her side that she had ever had. The rest was helping. But the mother in her worried over everything. She wanted out of here, and back to Zechs, who made her worrying seem like just a drop in the bucket.

Duo pushed her back along the wall a couple of meters with a muttered apology. A small squad of men headed down the cross corridor towards them. He leaned around the corner and fired, sending them scurrying back the way they had come, back to the previous corner for cover. Then he pulled a small canister out of the depths of his jacket, depressed a trigger, and tossed it down the hall. The men on the other end cursed as the air filled with gas.

Heero was still presiding over Noin. "Are you good to go?"

She moved suddenly and shot at two soldiers rounding the corner behind them before nodding. "Let's go." Heero helped her to her feet and guided her on, taking the front man position. Duo fell in to the rear guard.

At one intersection in a long line of intersections, Heero didn't think twice about asking for directions. It was better than leading them astray. Duo saved himself the trouble and took the lead, snatching the borrowed communicator from Heero as well. He could react better to the comm traffic without the middle man. "Memory failing you, Yuy?"

"I said, stop it." Noin's voice didn't have to be loud to be commanding. "If you want to be idiots, I can go on from here without you."

"And be deprived of seeing Zechs grit his teeth and thank us? No way." Duo had never known the Lightning Count from the war, but it didn't take much of that aristocratic attitude to rub him the wrong way. At least Heero was arrogant, but earthy.

"That counts, too," Noin grit out. "From here on out, business talk only."

Duo bit his tongue on a multitude of comments. Much as he could have gone on about Heero's softness and how that related to his ability to keep them safe and watch their back, he was both miffed and privately relieved that Heero had been performing up to snuff. There had been that moment of mercy, but he supposed he could excuse that. As long as the bad guys couldn't follow them, it was probably enough. Not as if they needed to make sure they weren't followed. Heero was pulling his weight there, too, shorting out a key door or two on their backtrail and buying them some time. Hell, even Noin was pulling her weight. She had more recent knowledge of the base than either of them, and it hadn't been something acquired while fleeing from the base during the war.

He heard the pounding of footsteps down a connecting passage and tossed a preemptive flash grenade from the stock they had acquired from a weapons locker on the way to Noin's apartment. He felt like real grenades would probably have been more effective, despite the shouts and curses coming from the disabled soldiers that signified his action's success. Life had taught him to be better safe than sorry. Well, he still had the detonators to a couple of strategically placed devices in his pocket. They'd have to go off soon to try and throw their trail in another direction.

He enjoyed big booms, but honestly, setting off remote explosives blindly didn't appeal to him. Never knew what could change in the blast zone between setting the explosives and pressing the button. The charges could have been found. A convoy of fuel trucks could be moving through a supply depot. A field trip of church kids could be on their way through the base. Hell, maybe Trowa was wandering around in the area. He just never knew.

That was what they got for being on a base during a raid, he frowned darkly, clearing another corridor. It was on their heads to take responsibility for their actions and the decisions that had put them in harm's way. Their responsibility to live and die by those decisions and their consequences, regardless of whether they had been foreseen or not. No regrets, right? No regrets, no tears, no looking back. Only the shitty present moment that a guy got stuck with.

He noted the signs on the wall marking their location. Almost there. And admittedly, sooner than he would have thought, considering the pregnant lady in tow. He'd already had a good dollop of respect for Noin from the first war. She'd been a staunch ally on the Peacemillion, except maybe during the time she went after Zechs. But hey, they all believed in something. She just happened to believe in Zechs, and, well, misbegotten as that faith was, he was impressed she held on to it through all the shit Zechs put her through, and glad she had made it through unfazed. His respect for her had only grown during the Barton uprising. The unofficial exile to Mars in the aftermath seemed to have served her well.

"Alpha point, go," he said, fingering the button.

"Acknowledged," Heero answered, pulling Noin to a halt.

He hit the trigger, and the charges set in a generator room went off. The explosion sounded louder than it was from the way it echoed and rumbled through the base's systems.

"We'll want to wait here for about half a minute," Heero told Noin, listening in satisfaction as that damn alarm fluctuated in tone. "Give the power some time to settle."

She nodded, and tried not to seem to o grateful for the short rest. Obviously they were holding back on her account, and she appreciated it, but she was looking forward to that final leg of the journey. "Where to after?"

"We'll get you back to Zechs as soon as possible," Heero promised. "We'll just have to see how many roadblocks we hit along the way."

"It's about damn time," Duo sighed cheerfully when the alarm finally spluttered and died with one final knell. Its failure signified the collapse of an important subgrid in their sector. It was good to know he still had the touch. Explosives were tricky things on a space base. "Let's go."

Another explosion went off thirty seconds later. "Beta?" Heero inquired sharply. They needed to save that one for falsifying the trail at the corner of resupply shed Juliet and maintenance corridor gamma two nine.

Duo shook his head. "Not me. Side effect, maybe." Annoying though it was to have miscalculated something. He refused to think that possibly it was an ally, possibly even Trowa, helping them along.

"Hn." Heero acknowledged Trowa. He also hoped Zechs hadn't gotten impatient and gone looking for them. They weren't overdue for contact yet, but their momentary capture had put them behind schedule. Explosions weren't really Zechs' style, though.

Too simple to hope that the first explosion and its aftershock could divert all personnel away from their position. A crew of engineers emerged from a room and crossed their path, discussing the ways they thought the pulse rifles they had been issued when the alarm went off could be enhanced with a different battery configuration. There were too many of them to bull their way through, so they were forced to backtrack. A few of them stood their ground in the face of cover fire and actually figured out which end of their rifle was up, getting off some shots. Duo's reflexes kicked in, pushing Noin behind him and paying for it with a mild graze along his thigh. She laid down suppressing fire, deliberately aiming high, while he got himself back to the last corner and Heero occupied himself with keeping her alive. He blew out a panel behind them and dropped the decompression shields to discourage their pursuers.

"Damn," Duo muttered as Noin poked at the wound. It would be annoying, but not a problem. "I lost first blood."

"I think we scored a few of them," Heero judged modestly.

"I mean between me and you."

Competitive as always. He snorted. "You scored first blood on me a long time ago, Maxwell."

Duo perked up in remembrance. "Oh yeah, huh. Good. Let's go."

Their little detour did not cost them too much in time. Beta point went off as planned as they went through the intersection, the smaller charge destroying a relay that caused an explosion by overload two blocks over. The disconnection there would disable the auto defenses on that entire side of the base.

They didn't know if their shuttle had remained undetected. Surely the troops manning the station had searched for their point of entry after their capture. Maybe Trowa had even pointed out the likely hiding places. Then again, he was just as likely to have secured the shuttle for them. Either way, they weren't taking that chance, They bypassed the emergency docking they had done with their rented shuttle, hoping that Pargan had done something nifty that would avert financial responsibility, and headed towards one of the maintenance bays. The path they had laid with their explosions led toward the real fleet of shuttles and transports, but they were confident that they would be able to find something flightworthy in the maintenance pool. This was not a combat fleet. Nothing would be gutted and decimated. Most were dedicated to mining purposes. They'd probably find something where the pilot's seat had a squeaky sping.

There were three crafts waiting for them. The first was obviously in the middle of an overhaul. They headed towards the second, boarding and running a quick systems diagnostics. All lights showed green, though admittedly the internal cooling light didn't show up at all. The fuel gauge was full, and they hoped the shuttle wasn't in for an inaccurate fuel gauge. All systems were good enough for them, even for Noin, who had a little less of a by-the-seat-of-her-pants method of operation.

Duo was already maneuvering the shuttle out of the docking bay when Heero drifted up next to him and took the co-pilot's seat. "Noin's secure," he informed the pilot.

"Good. I've a feeling she'll need it. Wait. Hey, Noin!"

"What?" She was tired and achy and still trying to catch her wind. She made a mental note not to be taken hostage again in the next four months. Or maybe arrange for a nice and easy pickup next time.

"Anything I need to know before I start hotdogging it out of here?'

The doctors hadn't covered this case, either. "Just use your common sense," she settled.

Heero turned in his seat to shoot her an advisory look. "You know that's not a good idea, right?"

"Sadly, I think he's right," Duo quipped.

"Just fly, Maxwell," she growled.

He flew, starting off with a bang. The auto-defenses were down, but the manual posts were still fully functioning. The three fugitives had managed to squeeze their way past the foot soldiers, but now there were computers and sensor arrays to alert the base of their escape vector.

"Dammit, Heero, what do you mean, we have no weapons?" Duo grunted, pulling them smoothly out of a relatively slow barrel roll. "The light was green!"

Heero's fingers tapped the controls on the panel in front of him. They hadn't expected any mighty fire power, but they'd expected something standard, maybe. "Hm. It seems they've been bypassed."

"And that's not enough to make the light turn red?!" Maybe it was easier to shoot at a pregnant woman when she wasn't visible. He pointed the ship down and skimmed back along the surface of the moon to try and avoid notice.

"Apparently not." If the system had been co-opted, then where was it going? Heero continued to poke around the onboard systems, calmly leaning into the turns as Duo did what he had to to get them out of there. It was unfortunate that it seemed many of the power systems had been likewise diverted. "Of all the ships, Maxwell, did we have to steal the experimental craft?"

"What? Experimental in a good way or a bad way?"

"The power conduits have been burnt out. Looks like they overloaded. I'd guess they tried hooking that beam weapon of theirs to this thing and tried it out."

"Great. Just great." He pulled them out of a lunar canyon and checked their sensors. "At least we know it doesn't work well."

"Two Tauri on our tail. Sensors say they're running at half capacity." They were probably reconstructed from the salvage the base was reportedly conducting.

"Two tori..?" He glanced over to Heero's display and looked for himself, then veered off to the left upon discovering the nature of their pursuers. "Dammit, Heero, the plural of 'Taurus' is 'Tauruses'! Don't give me this 'Tauri' crap!" One took a shot at them, but it went wide.

"Is it really?"

"Yes, it really fucking is!" He pulled them off in a climb that was really nowhere as steep as he would have liked. "What the fucking hell is a 'Tauri'? I guess I'm really glad we never really worked together during our space battles."

"Your language degrades noticeably when you're angry."

"Just shut the fuck up!" The Taurus took another shot at them, but also missed.

A choked sound from Noin's direction caught Heero's attention. She was suppressing a laugh, but she was also trying her hardest not to turn green from Duo's evasive maneuvers. Heero went back to being a good co-pilot and started scanning the space around them. "Debris field. May be our only chance to hide. If we cut power...."

Duo took a quick glance at the coordinates and ran through the calculations in his head. It looked like mining detritus, maybe the remains of their weapons tests. "Yeah... it's doable. I'll need to get these guys off our tail, though."

"On it."

Mild evasive maneuvering, no matter how skillfully performed, could not outwit their followers forever. They took a hit to one wing tip and their port thrusters, and a rattling skimming burn along the body of their craft. It didn't fly very steadily after that. "Yuy..."

"I know." He didn't have very many tools at his disposal. "Okay, I've gotten some of the original systems back online. You have secondary fire at sixty-eight percent, and a somewhat maneuverable claw."

"Yee-haw!" It wasn't much, but he'd take what he could get. He pulled them around into an offensive position. Sixty-eight percent wasn't enough for a massive explosion and instant death, but it was enough for Yuy to target their clunky engines and send them spinning for a while. The power conduits weren't pleased with that, though, and decided to choke again. But it was still enough for Duo to do a flyby, and for Heero to grab the restored mech with the shuttle's mechanical claw, crush its sensor net, and toss it in the direction of their second opponent, which in turn was enough to distract the pilot and allow Duo to get in reasonably close again. Close enough to vent plasma from the toasted power conduits at him, which cooled them just enough to spout out one piddling little burst of beam fire, which was just enough to set the plasma aflame and cause an emergency onboard the Taurus more pressing to the pilot than shooting down the shuttle.

*****

Part 13

They spit out some of the leaking fluids from their port nacelle in the direction of the Hohmann orbit to L1, hoping to throw off their pursuers before sealing up the hole and drifting into the debris field on minimal power.

Noin smiled weakly. "You're good at this, Maxwell."

He shrugged. "Wasn't the best piloting I've ever done. Sorry 'bout that. How're you doing back there?"

She couldn't seem to stop rubbing her belly with her hand, as if reassuring herself that the curve was still there, solid and smooth as ever. If there was something wrong, it wasn't anything she'd be able to do anything about until they got back to civilization. At least she wasn't leaking fluids herself. No pain, just some nausea. "I'd be better if you'd tie up that wound of yours. You're floating blood."

He looked up in surprise, fingers reaching out to catch a drop of it. "Why, so I am."

After programming the parameters of the computer's proximity alert, Heero unbuckled his harness and nudged himself free of his chair and into the freedom of zero-g. A first aid kit was standard in the rear of the cockpit. At least that hadn't been diverted to the beam weapon somehow. "Can I get you anything, Noin?"

"That's probably not the best idea right now," she answered, too weary to think about which drugs would be safe for her at the moment. "No, wait. Is there any water in there?"

Heero handed her a bottle as Duo floated to his side. "Any booze in there?"

"Isopropyl. Of course, it causes blindness, but hey, if you're desperate..."

"Yeah, well they say masturbation causes blindness, too."

"But if you're desperate?"

"Okay," Noin groaned, unbuckling herself from her seat right next to them in the rear. "I'm going to be sitting up there. You are now free to continue acting like little boys now that we're not in immediate danger." She reveled in the joy of weightlessness as she moved towards the front and settled into Duo's seat. "Ah. Pilots always get the cushiest chairs."

"We deserve it," Duo piped up, but Noin wasn't paying attention to him anymore. She closed her eyes and started to doze off.

"And she deserves that," Heero murmured. "Hang on to the wall. I'll clean."

Duo was distracted enough to do as he was told. "I hope the kid's okay. I tried..."

"You did your best."

"I know I kill 'em young, Heero, but this is ridiculoussow~!" he broke off with a gasp, remembering at the last moment to be quiet. He cuffed Heero lightly on the head for blithely scrubbing at his shallow graze wound with a povidone-iodine swab, sending the two of them rebounding slightly. Duo's grip on the handhold prevented him from going too far.

Heero just hooked a leg around Duo's ankle to use as an anchor. "You're right, Duo. That is quite ridiculous."

"You're annoying, you know that?"

"Yes."

Since Heero's eyes were on the wound, Duo allowed himself a slightest quirk of the lips. It was a strange thing, having Yuy tending him like this. A little reminiscent, too. Other than the deliberate sting of having an open wound cleansed, Heero was being gently meticulous. That was strange even without the fact that Heero Yuy was curled around his leg. His fingers twitched with the disturbing urge to lay a hand on that lowered head, to try and smooth down the floating strands of dark brown hair. He looked away and focused instead on the list of repairs they might consider doing on the shuttle during their period of enforced idleness.

"Want me to bind it?" Heero asked him.

He made the mild mistake of looking down -- falling down, really -- into a pair of blue eyes blinking calmly up at him. He averted his eyes again and thought about the answer to that question. "Sure, why not. Never know when we might need to go crawling through a sewer or something."

"Over or under?" Heero inquired further, foregoing a comment on the likelihood of encountering a sewer in orbit of the Earth.

It took a moment's thought to figure out what he was talking about. Another day, he might have requested the bandages to go under the leg of his pants, just for the joy of playing with Heero. But he just wasn't in the mood today, and predicted minimal activity. He glanced over at the sleeping Noin and used that as an excuse. "Over."

Heero pulled himself up to reach the first aid kit using Duo's shoulder as a handhold, keeping a leg between Duo's to bring his ascent to a halt. Duo stared over Heero's shoulder, wondering why he was suddenly so shy. Any other day would have had him shamelessly taking advantage of the situation. Tired, he told himself. He was just... tired. He let the fingers of his free hand ghost experimentally up the line of Heero's spine, just barely brushing it at points.

Before Heero really noticed what caused the reaction, he shivered. Closing the door on the medkit gently, bandage in hand, he turned his head to face a Duo he somehow seemed more familiar with.

They stayed suspended in that moment for several heartbeats before Duo popped a smile. "My Heero-groping timer's way overdue."

Heero blinked once before the reference registered. "Ah." Well, the timed gropes had been accepted by the establishment, right? Even though that hadn't quite qualified as a grope. He shook off the odd feeling that had overtaken him for those few seconds and slithered back down the length of Duo's body to wrap the wound. "How long should we wait, do you think?"

"Huh?" His thoughts had been somewhere else entirely.

Patting the self-adhesive end of the bandage in place, Heero let go of his hold on Duo's leg and let himself drift away a little. "The long range sensors on base used to be pretty powerful, but I wonder how much of the computer systems was removed before the base was sold. We couldn't really tell running through there. Maybe Noin will be able to tell us something when she wakes."

Oh, that 'wait'. "We left our trail on a predictable flight path. If they're smart, they should be able to figure out that we're not actually on that path pretty easily. But we could have, hmm, depending on when they figure it out, we could have diverted to any number of outer L1 colonies. Could have veered off to hide in that little cloud they have out there. They have to know how much fuel we started out with. They should be able to figure out how much we have left after that lame excuse for a dogfight we just had. We can't have altered course for re-entry. We'd never make it. If... if Trowa is still doing their thinking for them, then we probably have about thirty minutes before they come down on us. If not, I'd say maybe twenty-four hours, plus or minus."

"I don't think Trowa will be thinking for them anymore."

His expression darkened. "I don't have nearly the same faith in the guy that you do."

"You never spent much time with him."

"What quality time I did spend with him mostly consisted of him being a jerk."

"Can't you say the same about me? And Chang, for that matter? And maybe even Zechs now, too?"

Shit, Gundam pilots were really a crusty lot, weren't they? Apparently only Quatre got away with any level of polished charm. "Yeah, but he's... he's just different, okay? Like, you were just an ass, but it was okay because you were just like that. He was an ass, and you couldn't be sure if he was just like that, or if he was doing that as part of some role he was playing, or if he was just amusing himself, or what. You just can't tell with him. He's unpredictable."

"So are you."

Alright, so obviously Gundam pilots were more than only collectively crusty. "Yeah, but that's bad for my enemies, not for my allies. I don't know what you see in the guy. Yeah, he took care of you after your big boom, but you don't really seem the kind to be a slave to debt without good cause."

"No. Then I would be Zechs."

He chuckled without meaning to. "Man, I don't see what she sees in him, either," he said, jabbing his thumb in Noin's direction.

"Trowa's not any different from you and me. He's been through the same stuff that we have. I don't think he really had a strong sense of purpose to begin with. The government program probably just magnified that. And then took advantage of that. He said that they recruited him."

"I don't see you and me doing that sort of shit."

"Don't forget Wufei. He did the same thing."

"Yeah, well, Wufei's a whole other boatload of shit. He's the reason we were--"

"He was a catalyst, an excuse. I wouldn't blame it all on him."

"You're such an apologist."

"I'd rather blame the government."

"Oh. Well, okay, I guess I can do that, too."

Yeah, he'd thought so. He propelled himself slowly towards the rear hatch, intending to take a look at the systems that had been damaged during the attack.

Duo followed. "You really think you'll end up saving the world this time around?"

"I'll end up doing whatever I end up doing."

"So not an answer."

Heero drew himself to a halt on one of the wall holds, pivoting to face him. "It's not my intention, if that's what you mean. Why? You not interested in saving the world?"

He caught another of the wall holds, turning to a stop with a spacer's grace. "If it can't be avoided, then fine. But in case you haven't noticed, and you probably haven't because you're completely oblivious like that, the world kinda screwed us over."

"I'm not going out of my way not to save it. That would be ridiculous." Duo glared at him with a critical eye, and Heero responded. "I don't know what you're looking for, Duo. I don't know what to tell you. What do you want from me? You want me to say I don't give a shit about the world anymore? You're right, it did screw us over. Is that anyone's fault but ours? We agreed to this miserable existence. Maybe it was the only choice, or maybe it was just naïveté and an idiotic faith, but we agreed to it."

"Don't you think I know that?" Duo hissed, grabbing the front of his shirt. They bobbed roughly in the zero-gravity, controlled only by their two firm grips on the handholds. "I believe in swallowing the consequences just as much as you do, Yuy. Don't you think that just makes it that much worse?"

"So you're going to take that out on the world? It is what it is, Maxwell. Take it or leave it."

"So you take it?"

"I'd find it mighty inconvenient if something were to happen to it. Where would I put all my stuff?"

"Where would you--? You...?" Duo spluttered, trying to hold the edge of his anger, but it choked in the face of such a statement. "What stuff?"

"Just as an example," Heero said defensively. It was the first thing that came to mind. Now that he thought about it, he could think of a few more valid arguments.

Duo shook him a little, the action magnified in freefall. "You know... argh. Just never mind, Yuy. Just never mind."

*****

"Try it now."

Heero's voice was muffled from being inside a control panel, but since this was the fourth time he had given the command, Duo had no trouble interpreting it. He opened the computer interface and tried to reinitialize the system again. The process got through the first few seconds before failing the fourth safety check. "Nope."

"Damn." It wasn't really a statement of frustration so much as an acknowledgment of failure. Heero Yuy did not do 'frustration'. "You know, it's possible that we need to be running with more power before it reads as having sufficient charge."

"Possible." He exited out of the interface, only to have his attention caught by another indicator. "Our communications array seems to be... fuck!" He released the interface panel and flew towards the cockpit.

"You don't worry 'bout a thing, little lady. We'll have you out of there in no time at all." The short burst of transmission ended with a crackle-pop of static.

"Much obliged, sir," Noin responded briskly. "I'll be waiting."

"What the hell are you doing, Noin?" Duo demanded, checking the shuttle's main controls.

"Getting us out of here," she answered calmly, plugging the microphone back into its jack. She became a little more testy with him when it looked like he was about to retort. "What do you take me for? Some sort of stupid helpless pregnant woman? I'll have you know I've got two brains inside this body right now. I know what I'm doing."

"Shit," Duo muttered, identifying the signal of the inbound ship.

"What's the fuss?" Heero asked from the door leading to the rear.

Noin spoke to him, hoping he would be the more reasonable of the pair. "Your proximity alarm woke me. This ship was out there."

"The alarm? Hn. I expected to be able to hear it in the back. My apologies."

Duo swore again. "This is so not good."

Heero kicked off to close in and put a hand on Duo's shoulder. "What is it?"

"Sweepers," Duo answered tersely.

"Since when is that a bad thing?" Noin asked. "They thought we were junked, were thinking of salvaging of us. I told them please, go ahead. They'll pick us up along with some of the other flotsam out here, and no one will know any better. I checked the local area. We aren't the remains of the only craft out here. There's plenty of reason for them to be here and pick us up."

"Fuck," Duo said again. It would have to serve in lieu of there being enough gravity around for him to fling himself into a chair. "Why the fuck did it have to be the Sweepers?"

"Has something changed in the last five years that I should know about?" Heero knew he had been disconnected from the world for quite a while, but he could not imagine the Sweepers changing significantly.

When it became clear that Duo was in no mood to answer, Noin shrugged. "Not that I know of. I've dealt with them off and on over the years. They can sometimes find us the things we need that are difficult for us to get through other means. They've proven themselves to be good, hardworking people, even if they sometimes indulge in a loose interpretation of a rule or two. Certainly nothing to contradict what I learned from Howard and the crew of the Peacemillion."

Heero cast a glance at Duo to look for signs of disagreement or derision. There were none. Only a solid pout. "Is this personal, Duo?"

Duo didn't answer.

"Because if it is," he continued. "Get over it. This is a much better, safer, and faster plan than we had."

"We had a plan?" Noin asked.

"We were starting one. But the Sweepers can get us out of this debris field without raising suspicions. If the Moon Base people have been doing salvaging of their own, then I wouldn't be surprised if relations between them and the Sweepers are strained. I highly doubt they've come to some sort of agreement. The Sweepers were fairly territorial, last time I heard. This'll serve as a good cover for tensions later if something comes up. Then they'll probably be able to get us somewhere. Maybe even bring us back to Zechs. I don't see any problems."

"Two against one, Maxwell. You lose."

Duo didn't answer.

*****

They were treated like just another piece of space junk, complete with shocks and manhandling, until they were finally pulled into the hangar of the salvaging ship. Close enough now for in-ship secured transmissions, the comm chirped while they waited for the hangar to be repressurized.

The lady of the house picked up. "Noin here."

"Noin, eh? This here is Jean, captain of the Sparrow, at your service, ma'am." They hadn't been introduced before. The man she had spoken to earlier had served as liaison for the two since he just happened to be the one manning the comm at the time. "If you'll just wait 'bout five more minutes or so, we can get you out of there. There anything we can do for you? Food? Medical?"

"No, not immediately, thank you. I'd like the opportunity to speak face to face with you, though, if you've the time."

"We'd like to see you face to face, too. We had your credentials checked out. Seems you weren't kiddin' about knowing people. We got us someone here that can't wait to have a chat with you."

"Anyone I know?"

"He's worked with you in the past before, he says. You'll know him. Now, I'm curious to know just what you were doing a'floating in that field out there."

"Just minding my own business, Captain, and wouldn't you just know it, but my port thrusters blew out."

"Really." The man's voice dripped with more dry amusement than doubt. "And one of them old weapons round-about here. Must have accidentally discharged across your belly, eh?"

"Yes, a terrible accident."

"And more terrible luck, just managing to drift up into this here field. Why, I bet maybe no one'd be able to find you up here."

"Guess we're lucky you happened to come looking this way, then."

"Sure are. There's a bit of the unsavory sorts in this area, you know. Right nasty buggers they are. We've got a mite bit of this tendency to squish the vermin good when we find them. Now, you wouldn't happen to have seen any of them around here, would you?"

"Not recently, no."

"You sure? It can be hard to tell them apart from the good folks, sometimes. Though there is one good test, tried and true: these vermin are always lying."

"I've noticed. I assure you, there's no room for vermin in my nest, either."

"Eh? Tell me, little lady. How many of you did you say there were?"

She'd implied she was the only one earlier, but a simple scan at this range would have revealed the presence of her companions easily. Continuation of the sham would mean a messy end. "I would be the primary passenger upon this charmingly quaint shuttle. There would also be my two fine escorts on this journey with me. Old friends."

"I see. I think maybe we'd like to have a bit of a chat with these fellows as well."

"I'm sure they'd be happy to oblige."

"Says you," Duo muttered grumpily.

When it was finally safe to disembark, they were asked to open the hatch and present themselves before a mounting platform would be brought to them. Noin showed herself first, and after her identity had been confirmed by this old comrade of hers, staying out of sight at the present, the captain stepped forward with a bit of mad hand gesturing. "By the gods, woman, you should have let us know you were with child! We'd've been more gentle with your ship."

"Next time," Duo muttered behind her. "Next time I go anywhere, I'm so masquerading as a pregnant chick. You get all the perks."

"You could hide a lot of weapons inside a fake belly," Heero observed.

"Whoa, you're right. And Noin's not even that fat yet. Could you imagine--?"

"I think you two are missing the point of pregnancy," she cut in wryly.

"Noin!" A familiar voice cut through the noise of the salvage men going about their business.

She leaned out the hatch for a better look. "Howard?"

Duo swore vigorously under his breath and tried a little harder to fade into the shadows.

The bright hawaiian shirt was unmistakable, as were the sunglasses. His hair seemed a little thinner than it had five or six years ago, but other than that, it was still Howard. "Noin, what are you doing out here? And my, look at you! Blondie finally got you knocked up, huh?"

"Why wouldn't Howard be captain on this ship?" Heero whispered to his skulking companion as the greetings continued, but Duo didn't answer. Heero poked him in the side. "Duo. Is there going to be a problem?"

Duo stiffened. "No. No problem at all."

"So it's nothing at all that's got you swearing like a Sweeper?"

Already stiff, more stiffening on top of it just made it seem like a full-body flinch. "I am not a Sweeper."

Heero blinked at him. "I didn't say you were. Perhaps they didn't teach you what a simile is at Gundam Academy."

He glared back. "If you're trying to be funny, that's just pathetic. If you're not, that's still pathetic."

"Hey!" Noin's voice floated up from where she was already on the ground and by Howard's side. "Knock it off, you two!"

"Christ," Duo moaned. "She's definitely got a mother's ears."

"And come on out!"

Correctly assuming that Duo wouldn't be coming out by his own choice, Heero rolled his eyes and emerged from the interior of the shuttle. Howard was standing at the bottom of the stairs. "Well, well, well. If it ain't Heero Yuy. I shoulda known you might be in the thick of things."

Then apparently Howard knew better than he did. He used a shrug as his greeting and disembarked. Halfway down, he could tell from the suddenly frozen expression on Howard's face that Duo must have finally come out behind him.

"Well," Howard breathed. His face shifted into something harder. "The prodigal son comes home."

Duo averted his eyes uncomfortably before he settled into a cold nonchalance. "Not quite," he murmured, though just loudly enough for it to reach Howard's ears. Reaching ground level, he looked past his old friend and barely acknowledged him.

Noin broke the frigid silence. "Can we talk, Howard?"

The old man stared at Duo a few moments longer before nodding. "Yeah. Follow me."

He led them out of the hangar and down a few corridors in a silence that Heero decided to break with a question he really did want answered. "Is this your ship, Howard?"

A pained look passed briefly over the Sweeper's face. "No, I don't really have a ship of my own these days. The last ship I captained was the Peacemillion."

"Why?"

He snorted derisively. "I saw the way they gobbled up you boys. Even ol' Noin here got shipped off to Mars. Me? I'm not letting them get their hands on me."

"They don't know you're out here?"

"They know I'm out here somewhere. I just make sure I don't make the search worth the trip. I'm just an old geezer, after all, and me, well, I didn't do much during the wars compared to you guys. It was really Barton's thingamajigger that got their panties all up in a knot, and I wasn't around for that one." He slid open a door to a conference room and gestured them in.

"The Sweeps have gone all corporate, I see," Duo murmured disparagingly.

Howard ignored him as they seated themselves. "So, what terrible thing's happening in the world that brings all of you out of hiding?"

Noin started them off. "Do you come by Moon Base often?"

He shrugged. "No more or less than usual. Those crazy guys that bought that place don't take kindly to us here. Naturally we make it a point to come out here every once in a while. Damn good thing we did, too. Even if it weren't you, we'd be happy to do something to irritate those blasted hyenas. What's their name... Jurgensen? Them and the EUW and some others've been trying to pass legislation to put us out of business up here, thinking salvaging ought to be some sort of public enterprise. Bah, they just want all the salvage for themselves."

"EUW?"

"Yeah, they're some sort of special interest, business consortium thing."

"Would that 'special interest' of theirs involve weapons and arms somehow?"

He scratched at his chin. "Nothing I haven't thought of before. But damned if we can prove anything. They look like they're on the up and up. Hell, those Jurgensen people are all big and Sanq-y, up to and including marrying in to the Peacecrafts, though I s'pose that could just be for show. Yeah, you'd probably know 'em, right, Noin? On account of Blondie and all. That why you're in this sector?"

"Zechs was going to visit with them. We stopped by here, the Moon Base, to take a look at some of the things they're developing. They sounded like they might be useful investments out on Mars. While we were looking around the base, we got ourselves a little unsupervised thinking we might check out the old lines, make sure all the war stuff got cleared safely out of here. Turns out there's new war stuff going on."

"Mobile suits?"

She shook her head. "No, couldn't tell what, exactly, but not mobile suits. Nothing off the assembly line. But they're using the welders and such to piece something together, something big. Maybe... satellite sized? About the size of the observatory that's out at L1."

"Then what's this about weapons?"

"I don't know. There was a fusion reactor there, but it looked like it was still under development. It was hard to tell where it fit into this whole thing, and we didn't get the chance for a complete picture before they found us and locked us up."

"We saw a test site on the surface," Heero volunteered. "Weapons fire. Beam based. Didn't look like it was much stronger than the beam rifle on an Ares, but the beam was far more focused. The target didn't seem to have suffered much collateral damage. If you're really that interested, you can have a look at the shuttle we came in on. It seemed experimental, but it was in the maintenance bay and half its systems were fried, so I'd guess their experiment didn't go so well."

"A prototype, then. Alright. Well, that's not so bad, then. Though big enough to bring you two baddies out of retirement?" He directed the look mostly at Heero.

"No, not really," Heero answered blandly. He only continued when Howard somehow conveyed a patient glare through his sunglasses. "I decided Relena shouldn't marry this Karl of hers. I dragged him along for the ride." He tilted his head in Duo's direction.

Howard's mouth twisted into an ironic smile. "Ah, so that did the trick, did it?"

Duo refused to acknowledge the sly comment.

Noin seemed fazed by the simple answer. "That's... it?"

Yup, that was all there was to this. Heero didn't need to be reminded, so he brought the matter back to what he considered to be most important. "Noin, while you were there, did you run into a man, about one hundred eighty five centimeters tall, brown eyes, brown hair?"

It wasn't the most precise description since all he had seen was through a slot in the door, but it was sufficient. "Spieler," her mind identified immediately. Her words caught up after a moment's pause, still stumbling over Heero's confession of motive. It was unlike him to exaggerate. Not that her sister-in-law was nothing, but... that was the only reason the two of them were here? "Josef Spieler. Slimy little guy. He was the one that kept dropping in on me to 'make sure my needs were being met'."

That sounded about right. "Do you know what his connection is to this?"

Maybe he cared about this threat to world peace after all. "Sounds like a flunky of that EUW."

"I wonder if we could find some solid evidence of a connection to the Jurgensens," Heero mused. "That would bring them down."

Or maybe not.

"Aw, what the hell, Yuy?" Duo grumbled, reluctant to participate in the conversation, but drawn in nevertheless. "You want 'evidence'? You really think that's gonna work to make your princess call this thing off? Or were you just plannin' on calling the cops on the party or something?"

He was vaguely nonplussed for a few seconds before coming up with an intelligent answer. "I'll figure it out." He got a disdainful sound in return.

This, Noin understood. It was easier than trying to truly understand what motivated a Gundam pilot. She let the boys be boys and talked to the man in the room. "I'd really appreciate it if you could get me back to my husband. The kids left him on L1-X8790 after they sprang him from MO-18."

"L1, eh?" Howard squinted at the ceiling in thought. "We're bound for the L2 cluster right now, and it might seem suspicious if we altered our course now. We just came from there. D'you mind waiting?"

She'd have to, wouldn't she? "Can I make a secure transmission from here, then? I suspect these guys are already overdue for contact, and I don't want Zechs running off doing something hasty, thinking I'm still in danger."

He grinned. "But of course, madam. But if you don't mind my asking, how secure are these boys supposed to be?" He nodded in their direction. "You guys didn't get out on any day pass."

"Nope," Heero answered succinctly.

"That's interesting, then. I'm sure the government would have noticed by now."

Now there was something that hadn't occurred to him yet. "Running on what is perhaps an unsafe assumption that not all of the government is corrupt, we can say that the program governing us was run by the Jurgensens, EUW, or whoever else may have been interested in keeping us down, and that the chances are high that these are the same people that put a hit out on me. I got out because of that hit. Maybe they're trying to hide it."

"And you pried Duo loose from his niche, too. And Noin. And Zechs. Something tells me they aren't going to be happy with you."

"And Trowa, too," he added placidly. "Maybe."

"You've been a busy boy, Yuy. Guess we better make doubly sure to stay under the radar on this trip."

*****

Part 14

Time could pass so slowly sometimes. After all the excitement of the breaking in and breaking out of a base, the chase and the escape, maybe the ambling pace of the Sparrow was just too stark in contrast. As a plain old salvage vessel, however, it had no reasons to hurry, and they had no reasons to break that image and raise suspicions. Noin had gotten in contact with Zechs, Zechs had fallen all over himself with concern for her, she had gotten all moony-eyed, in an army-boots kind of way, and life was good.

For the two of them, at least. Heero and Duo were left at odds on the salvage craft. There was no one concerned for them that they had to contact, though honestly, the both of them could have wished that no one knew them at all.

Duo sat tensely in his chair, refusing to slouch like a dog with its tail between his legs. There was no way he was going to let these people cow him with shame. Beside him, Heero hunched forward over his bulb of water, wondering why he had never picked up the habit of drowning himself with alcohol.

The Sparrow wasn't a large Sweeper ship, as these things went, but there were still more people onboard than either of them would have preferred. Of all the ships scouring the skies, they had to end up with the one that was currently carrying the unofficial leader of the Sweepers. Any ship carrying him was sure to have some of his cronies onboard, and his cronies were the ones that would coincidentally be familiar with the Gundam pilots.

Duo didn't have to turn around to know that the man in the corner with the red hat was glaring at his back. Ol' Chuckles was the one that had taught him his knots, and ol' Chuckles had been there the second time Howard had tried to convince him to leave L3 behind. Oh, what a storm of an argument that had been. The only thing that had kept it from getting really ugly had been some lingering respect between them, and the knowledge that there would be observers out there somewhere. Neither side wanted to draw the government watchdogs in on the personal matter.

Chuckles wasn't the only one he knew. Marty over in the corner, yeah, they'd worked together at a point or two. Crystal, tough as nails despite her name. She'd smacked him once for getting into her tool chest and leaving a plastic cockroach inside. All of them knew the history. None of them was very happy with him at the moment.

Heero Yuy was another matter altogether. There were at least two other people that had passed through the commons area while they'd been there, recognizing the pair from the Peacemillion. Stories were whispered in the corners about their exploits, tales of strength and courage and valor.

That was the kid that saved the earth, they said.

Ever hear 'bout the Zero system?

Man, I thought for sure he was toast!

He's the guy that nearly blistered Ace's skin for readjusting the tension in his Gundam's fingers.

Him? He's shorter than I thought he'd be.

Heero tried to block them all out and concentrated on keeping his fingers from clenching around his drink and squirting liquid all over the place.

Someone stopped in front of their table. Neither looked up, but the stranger made his presence known anyway. "So you're Gundam pilots, huh?"

Another Sweeper punched the first guy's arm. "You can't just take our word for it, Jake?"

He shrugged the hand off. "Don't look much like Gundam pilots, is all I'm saying."

"It's been a few years, man. And they don't got no Gundams anymore."

"Yeah, I heard. Damn fool thing blowing up some fine pieces of work like that, you know."

"You're just pissy 'cuz you never got to lay your eyes on it."

"Know what I heard?" another voice chimed in. "Anyone that laid eyes on a Gundam had to die. Oooooooh~!" He made spooky gestures with his fingers.

Someone laughed. "Maybe they looked in a mirror!"

A man called out across the room. "Hey, lay off them! They saved all our asses."

Jake flipped a chair around at their table and straddled it, leaning in to address Heero. "I heard you were damn strong, kiddo. I heard there was some paneling on your suit one day, all bent out of shape so the joint wouldn't seal properly, and you just bent that shit right back into place. That true, kid?"

Heero didn't answer.

An elbow thumped onto the table in front of him. "How about it?"

"Oh, for chrissake," one of the others groaned. "You insane?"

"Come on," Jake encouraged. "A little arm-wrestle, you and me. Whaddya say?"

Heero raised his eyes and pinned him with a cold blue stare before getting up to leave without a word.

"Aww, you chickenin' out on me? How about you, kid?" He turned to Duo, who was staring off to the side with a bored look on his face. "You wanna give it a go? I heard all you boys were supposed to be pretty special, weren't you?"

Duo swung his eyes around lazily to meet his challenging stare. "Why? You got an interest in pretty boys?"

Jake's fist clenched at the insinuation. "I heard you were a number one asshole, too."

"Ah, so you are looking for an ass to fuck. Sorry, but I don't think I'm as young as you think anymore."

His seat scraped loudly against the floor as he pushed it back and stood angrily, both fists now clenched. Another Sweeper got between them. "Just drop it, Jake. You heard right. The little ass ain't worth it."

"Let me make this easy for you," Duo said, getting up as well. He bowed graciously before also leaving the commons.

*****

If the first day was hard, the second day was harder. News traveled fast on a ship, and it was clear that it hadn't taken long for the rumble in the commons to get around. That same night, they'd been shoved into a small room in a corner somewhere. It wasn't a part of the regular crew quarters, so its maintenance had fallen behind. The sonic shower whined. The overhead bulbs flickered. There was a blinking yellow light on the wall console that no one had bothered to investigate.

They were terrible accommodations, and yet they gladly retired early, locking themselves far away from the whispers and the looks. The crew had left them alone for the day, but only in terms of proximity. Their presence had still been felt.

Heero fell wearily into his bunk with a headache. He was not normally bothered by people talking about him behind his back, but petty gossip was one thing. Here, he got the uncanny feeling that too many of these people had known them from before, were comparing them and finding them lacking. It was one thing to think that about oneself, another thing entirely to find a whole group of people confirming it.

Duo knew it was a mistake to get on this ship, but Noin hadn't exactly given them the chance to refuse. She was a commanding woman. It was probably only thanks to her that the Sweepers had been kind enough to provide them with some fresh clothes. The two of them were, as she said, not smelling quite so fresh anymore, and the crew was ready to oblige their nice lady guest.

"Shit, when do we get off this boat?" he muttered softly to himself, prying off his boots.

"Should have just ignored them," Heero sighed. "Wouldn't have so much trouble with them that way."

As if that was working for Yuy. He had built up a fat, obvious wall between himself and the rest of the crew, and that probably attracted just as much attention as his own attitude did. There had been at least a few accusations of arrogance and 'being too good for the rest of us' scattered among the whispers. "There's trouble all over this ship."

He'd tried to mind his own business. He'd tried to find some corner of the ship where no one would bother him. Unfortunately, the Sweepers were a tough, industrious folk. They didn't sit around lazily and let parts of their vessel go to rot. Either there were Sweepers ready to make him antsy where he went, or there were memories to do the same. He'd never been on this particular ship before, but some places were familiar all the same.

"We should hit L2 tomorrow."

Great, another place just full of great memories. Hopefully, they wouldn't stay there for long. He was sure the Sweepers would be happy to help Noin get where she wanted to go. The two of them could jump ship and... go somewhere. He wasn't sure what the plan was, but as long as it didn't involve the Sweepers, Duo was just fine with it.

Feeling all sorts of nervous energy crawling over his skin, he plopped himself beside Heero's low bunk, chin resting upon the arm resting upon the bed. The hand on his other arm found a place on Heero's chest. "Tomorrow's a long way away. Wanna make the time--"

"Just take a shower already, Duo."

He frowned, trying to turn it into a pout. Fortunately for him, Heero had an arm flung across his eyes. Disgruntled, Duo rolled to his feet, shrugging with nonchalance even though there was no one to see it. He saw it, in a way, and that was what mattered at the moment. Shrugging off his jacket and tossing it onto his bunk, he claimed a corner of the desk alcove as his to unload his weapons. It was poor manners to carry a gun onboard, but the knives he'd hidden on his person had made him feel better. His shirt was stripped off next. He glanced over his shoulder at his temporary roommate, salacious leer ready to be wielded, but Heero still had his eyes covered. Feeling vulnerable all of a sudden, he snatched up the change of clothes he'd been given and locked himself in the bathroom.

Heero was still curled up on the narrow bed when Duo came out, now with a pillow clutched over his head. "Trying to smother yourself, Yuy?"

The pillow shifted a couple of centimeters before it was thrown off entirely. "Can't stand that sound."

He left his dirty clothes in a puddle on the chair. They'd have to locate the cleaner later. It felt weird to be thinking of such mundane things. "They've got regular showers, down in the rec room, if you need 'em."

A rec room full of people? Was Duo out of his mind? Instead of offering a verbal answer, Heero just fetched his own pile of stuff and took his turn in the small shower.

Hmpf, 'regular' showers, Duo thought to himself. Wasn't too long ago that the sonic showers had been 'regular', and the luxury of a water shower had been the exception. But he wasn't really a spacer anymore, he reminded himself, and definitely not a Sweeper. No, that was a bridge he napalmed long ago.

He was boxing with his own shadow, and not gaining an upper hand, when Heero emerged, running a hand through his hair. Long lost discipline was scavenged, enough to keep him from scratching at the healing scab at the back of his neck. He clutched at the long hairs covering it instead. "I should cut this off." His fingers shifted to the front, to push his bangs out of the way. "These, too. You're just going to make yourself smell again if you keep that up."

Duo wasn't getting much of a workout. He'd taken his loaned shirt off again, besides. It'd been a little tight across the shoulders. "I think Noin's just pissy we don't smell like Zechs."

"Good," Heero grunted. "He always smells like... some classy sort of aftershave."

He laughed. "And how often would you smell of aftershave?"

Heero rolled his eyes as he dumped his stack of laundry near Duo's. "Hasn't that gotten old yet?"

"Hey, Noin said we were free to act like little boys."

"Does that mean we have to?"

"Well, you don't want to act like a man with me." Jab, jab, block.

"Since when is a man's measure given by his willingness to take it up the ass? I'd think infiltrating bases and going through fire fights would be sufficient proof of manhood." He leaned against the wall, uninterested in crossing Duo's path to get back to the bed.

"We've been doing that since we were boys, Heero." Block, cross. "Try again."

"Yay. We get to have meaningless sex now that we're all grown up. I should have let that guy kill me back in that alley."

"Ah, but then where would your precious princess be?"

"Stop calling her that. She has a name, Duo."

"Ooh, puppy love. Ain't it sweet?" Another two jabs, another block. "Been doing that since you were a boy, too, Yuy. What have you graduated to now, huh? True love?"

"Don't be ridiculous, Duo. I don't love her, puppily or otherwise."

It just killed him every time he said things like 'puppily'. You could take the well-educated hero and dump him in the streets, but he'd still be a well-educated hero, through and through. Duo stopped his exercises to plant his hands on his hips. "Yeah? Then tell me why, Heero. I still don't know why we're on this little quest of yours. Why are you so set on making sure she doesn't marry this guy, huh? If you don't have a thing for her. Didja really hate him that much? You jealous of him? Jealous of her? Angry at her? Angry at the world?" He knew it wasn't a good idea to push. He did it anyway.

He got results. "Maybe I'm just that bored, Duo!" Heero parted from the wall and closed the distance between them a few upset steps, things bubbling up from inside him that had been stewing for days. "Maybe... Maybe I just don't know what else to do! Maybe I'm sick and tired of you and Trowa and whoever else coming to me, asking me as if I know the answers! I don't. I don't know what I'm doing in this world any more than you do. Maybe I'm just doing this because what else can I do? What else am I supposed to do?"

"Then stop acting like you have the goddamn answers, Yuy!" Duo's long strides ate up the space remaining between them as he got in Heero's face. "Maybe if you'd act confused or lost once in a while, we'd stop following you around."

"Then that's it? That's why you're here right now? You're just waiting for me to hand you an answer?" This was why he had accepted the deal at the end of the wars. He didn't want this for himself anymore. He'd spent the last five years trying to hide from people demanding answers and action from him, including himself. Couldn't they all just leave him alone? He'd hoped that peace would relinquish him of this responsibility. He didn't want to be the lynchpin of people's hopes and dreams anymore. Once upon a time, maybe he'd felt up to the task, but not anymore. "Well, sorry to have wasted your time."

It wasn't like Duo had really chosen to follow Heero on this chase. Heero had just showed up, and Duo had just gotten caught up in his gravitational pull. It wasn't too much to ask now that Yuy take responsibility for the lives he touched, the paths he altered. "And what about your big fancy speech to Trowa? You're on a path now, you don't know where you're going, but you're gonna keep on following it? Sound familiar?"

"Sounds right, too. It's not an answer, Duo, it's a desperate search for an answer. It's true: I really don't care that much about everything else going on in the world right now." It was a terrible thing to say, but it felt so good to say it. So good to come right on out and confess this thing that had been festering beneath his skin for so long. He'd hinted at it enough, but to say it plainly and boldly... it felt good. So good he couldn't stop, no matter how much it hurt. "This thing that Noin and Zechs stumbled on? This conspiracy that the Jurgensens are involved in? The way Earth Sphere politics are crumbling? The way this peace is failing the people? I really don't care. I know I should care. I know what I'm supposed to do. Maybe that's why I've just been going along with all these things. I can act as if I care. But it really isn't in me right now to really, truly give a damn. And I don't know where it all went."

"Then why her?" Duo demanded with a soft intensity. Heero had the answers, even if he didn't know it. He had to. "Why Relena? Why chase after her? Why break up the engagement?"

"Because she still cares," he whispered with an equal focus. "She can still do all the things that we can't. Can't you see what will happen if she marries him? She'll become just like us."

"See? Trowa was right. You are on the path to saving the world. And you chose it." Duo's voice hardened, almost in accusation. "Don't give me this bullshit about not knowing your place in the world. You're heroic to the core."

Denial seemed a pointless thing. 'Heroic' wasn't so bad, as inalienable natures went, but there was a burden attached to it that he didn't want. "I don't know what she'll do. Maybe there's nothing she can do anymore. I don't give a damn about what happens to the world if she breaks free and goes back to being who she used to be. I just don't want to see this happen to someone else."

"Still heroic. Saving even one life, if not the world's."

"Then why are you here, Duo? Looking for answers, you said? Answers to what? What our purpose is? Trying to save a life, even if it's your own?"

"Maybe I just wanted to get away from how pathetic my life was. Maybe I'm like you, going after Zechs, after Noin. Maybe I'm like Trowa, joining up with the bad guys. Maybe you just happened to come along one day, and I just decided to go with it. Maybe I'm just here to forget a little, to try and forget how this all turned out."

"That wouldn't change anything..." He was suddenly aware of how close Duo was getting to him.

"I know. But just for a little while, Yuy..." All air between them disappeared as Duo pressed their lips together. It started as a hesitant brush, but turned quickly into a hard, demanding thing, the sudden force of it pushing Heero back until he hit the wall again, and still they were kissing in some strange way.

He found himself simply caught up in it, some disconnected part of his brain pointing out that it wasn't unlike all of their paths so far, how they seemed to simply go along with whatever was happening. It was so easy to go along with it, without thought, without feeling. He didn't want this. There were so many empty things in his life already that he could do without adding one more. He pulled away as he could, and managed one word. "No..."

Only the one gasped word before he was swallowed again by the flood of Duo's determination. Hands tugged at the hem of the clean white undershirt he had put on to sleep. He found his arms rising over his head at the slightest provocation. Soon, it was skin against skin, pain against pain as the shirt was tossed aside, freeing the hands to return to the boxers he'd been given. He struggled against the shivery feeling of cold fingers dancing down a length of flesh that had long since forsaken its worldly instincts in favor of a disdainful outlook on a meaningless life.

No, not with Duo, not like this. It was so very easy, too easy, to be passive. He didn't want this to be like everything else, the result of nothing more than a nearly random and arbitrary convergence of events that came and went by purest happenstance. He didn't want to walk the path that just happened to be in front of him. He refused the choice of convenience.

"Come on, baby," Duo whispered hotly against the skin right below his ear. He could feel Heero's reluctance, thick in the air, heavy in his hand. "Just go with it."

"No."

Duo's forehead fell briefly upon his shoulder before he found himself confronted up close with eyes that seemed darker than they should have been. They were framed by a face underlined with a quiet plea. "Please, Heero. Just let go. Let go, and just forget with me. Just for a little while."

The meaningless sex with a near stranger transformed itself suddenly into release with a man with whom he once again felt familiar, no matter that they'd never been acquainted before.

It had somehow turned into a choice.

He chose.

*****

Heero may have thought himself special, but Duo held himself true to his word: he didn't wake up next to people, therefore he didn't wake up next to Heero. Especially next to Heero. He tugged the pair of coveralls on, shivering slightly as the cool material slithered over his legs. Automatically tying the sleeves around his waist, he located his boots next, finding one half underneath the bed where the sleeping figure lay -- no, wait, that was Heero's boot. His were lying askew in the middle of the room, where he'd almost tripped over them on his way to his shirt. He shoved his feet into them, not bothering with the laces before slipping out the door.

It was the change in lighting that made him scrub at his eyes with the palms of his hands, not any need for reality to reassert itself. Shit, what did he just do? It'd been days since he last thought of it, but boy could he use a smoke right about now. Pity he'd long since ditched his cigarettes. Damn that Heero Yuy, anyway.

He tugged the elastic band out of his hair and ran his hands through the tangled tail, pulling it into some semblance of order. His fingers were already halfway through a braid he hadn't worn regularly in years before he noticed. It came loose with an angry shake of his head and he settled for corralling it all untidily with the band. With a halfhearted glare at the closed door behind him, he wandered down the corridor, trying to get a sense of where he was, what he was doing. Just couldn't leave well enough alone, could he? Couldn't just settle for poking the unfazable Heero Yuy; no, he had to go poking him, too. Was he satisfied now? Had he finally managed to bring Yuy down to his own level?

His satisfied smirk died before it was ever really born. No, he hadn't. If it had started out as an attempt to wipe the self-confidence or the cool apathy from that impassive face, then it was a complete failure. He couldn't run from it; things were as Yuy said. They weren't any different, the two of them. Any of them, maybe. Just trying to figure out their place in this world.

Maybe that was what that little voice had said, the little something that had given him the thought that fucking Heero Yuy would be a good idea. That little voice needed to be dragged to the nearest airlock and spaced.

He made it to one of the observation decks before running into anyone else. They were in the thick of the night cycle. He'd expected the crew running the shift to be concentrated on the bridge, but he'd forgotten to take into account the vagaries of an old, displaced man. With no one else around, his entrance had been unmistakable. Pride made him stand his ground, along with a moodiness that just begged for more in a defiant, devil-may-care masochism. If he was going to be sour, he might as well have it all at once.

They stared at each other for a few long seconds before Howard broke the stand-off. "It's about time you got yourself out of there, kid."

Duo just snorted and turned to look out one of the small windows.

Kids these days. Well, Howard was old. He could afford to sacrifice some of the machismo for something honest. "For what it's worth... I'm glad."

"You don't get bragging rights, old man. No 'I told you so's. This had nothing to do with you." He wasn't sure what it had to do with, really. While he didn't feel bad for punching Trowa, not at all, he could, maybe, admit that maybe he could understand why Trowa did what he did. Maybe.

"I'm not looking for any credit, kid. I'm just... I'm just glad you're out of there. You were killing yourself in there."

"Who says I'm not killing myself out here, too?"

Not on this ship, he didn't. "You're just bound and determined to, to, to martyr yourself or something, aren't you?"

"That's Yuy's gig, not mine."

"Get off it already, Maxwell. Hell, you shoulda gotten off it years ago, when I first offered you an out."

"I thought the fusion cutter was a 'so long, farewell, never ever gonna bug you again' sort of present."

It hadn't been a present, really. More like a final hope that one day, the stubborn kid would see the light and come back where he belonged. It'd been an option, an alternative, a choice never made. Howard was, in a way, heartened to know the kid had kept it around, though. "Never gonna bug you again about getting out of there. But now that you're out of there, seems like you're engaged in a whole new breed of lunacy."

"Nope. Same one, I'm pretty sure." Oh yeah, he wanted a smoke. If nothing else, it had always provided a good cover. A person could stand in the most random places, staring off into space, so long as he had a cigarette dangling from between his fingers.

"I warned you, Maxwell. Too much spite, and it was all gonna stick to you." Where was the bright-eyed kid he used to know? The one so eager to learn all there was about the world?

Duo frowned darkly at him. "That's an 'I told you so.'"

The kid turned back out the window, rolling his shoulders uncomfortably as he did, and Howard noticed how the shirt was ill-fitting. It was the small things that said so much, sometimes. Howard had gotten them some clean spares. Yuy's size, he'd looked the compact fellow over and estimated a size. For Duo, he'd gone ahead and assumed the fit based on what he knew, and he'd 'known' wrong. "Yeah, and I'll continue saying 'I told you so' as long as this stays such a stupid idea. What are you even doing out here if you're not interested in stopping with your damn games, Duo?"

"This isn't a game, Howard." It was a joke, maybe. A sham, a cruel trick. But no game.

"Seems like you're playing with your own life, playing with fire, maybe. I don't even half know what the hell it is you're doing. It's like, if the government is determined to make you a low-life, you're going to one-up them and be the best damn low-life there is. Now what are you playing at, tagging along with Yuy out here?"

As if he had any idea. "You wanted me out of there, old man. I'm out. What do you care how or why? It's what you get. Deal with it."

"Now that's your 'gig', Maxwell. That's why you just settled for--"

"We've been over this before, old man. I made my bed. I sleep in it."

Yes, they'd gone over this several times before, years ago, not right from the beginning, but close to it. The pilots had agreed to their soft versions of house arrest; slowly but surely they'd had their freedoms stripped away from them, and they hadn't even noticed. The Sweepers had, the unruly and independent Sweepers, with Howard at their helm, and they had tried to save their own before it was too late. Duo would have none of it, for reasons beyond anyone's understanding, and clearly he still wasn't interested in hearing it. "And whose bed did you just roll out of? I can't believe you're walking the halls like that. You reek of sex."

He hadn't been able to tolerate another minute in that room, let alone take the time to hop into the shower again, speedy though the sonic version was. "Oh, so you know what that smells like, do you?"

"I know none of this crew would be stupid enough to fall for you..." Who would be crazy enough to... Howard's eyebrows rose in surprised realization above his sunglasses. "You tumbled Heero Yuy. Oh my god, you tumbled Heero Yuy."

He was well aware of that, thank you, and he didn't need to be reminded. "That's none of your goddamn business." Suddenly, the observation deck didn't seem half as appealing anymore. Without a word of farewell, he left through the opposite door to be alone with his thoughts.

*****

Part 15

He winced as he heard his son's off-key humming start up again across the room. Why couldn't the gods have granted him a more... 'useful' son? Granted, he was serving his purpose now, but it would have been nice if he had been able to help manage some of the complexities of the plan they were trying to execute. Marriage to the Peacecraft girl was more than just part of the plan; it was a convenient method of getting Karl out of the way.

Relena Peacecraft.. now there was a person he wouldn't have minded fathering. She was strong, in her own feminine ways. Strong enough to have a powerful image that would lend legitimacy to their cause. Her own father, well, perhaps he would not have approved of the course Friedrich had taken, but he would have understood it, eventually. He understood the sacrifices that had to be made for Sanq, for pacifism, for peace in the world, even if he hadn't made the ultimate sacrifice himself.

Giving one's life and death to the cause was easy, but the king had never given up the one thing that would really have made it work: he'd never bent. He'd never been willing to accept a compromise of his ideals and morals. He wasn't practical about things, and in order to get things done in this world, one had to be practical. But, Friedrich supposed, maybe it wasn't the job of royalty to be practical. That responsibility had fallen upon the Jurgensens.

He looked carefully over the reports he had received from his associates, assimilating the data and revising their plans. If there was one thing he had first to ask, it was, why the hell was Heero Yuy still alive?

Perhaps it was his own fault. He had ordered the hit. He'd never done such a distasteful thing before. But Kellan had provided the contact, an unreliable one, it turned out.

No, he couldn't blame Kellan. The man was responsible for making so many of the Jurgensen dreams a reality. Kellan was the one that had really opened his eyes to the way of the world. He wasn't at fault for underestimating the skills of a long dormant Gundam pilot. No, this was that case worker's fault. Who had been assigned to Zero-One? Her name was Becca, Becca something or another. Yes, this was her fault. She had assured them that Zero-One no longer had a care for the world around him, that he was immobilized in a stagnant pond of inactivity and zero potential. She had been put in that position precisely so that she could neutralize him, slowly and naturally, and she had failed. He was supposed to have been ripe for a permanent removal. Had anyone punished her for her shortcomings yet? He would have to see to that.

That wouldn't change the fact that Heero Yuy was now on the loose. This was the very reason why they had started the process of eliminating the threat those pilots represented to the peace of the union. Yes, yes, they had helped to put an end to the previous wars, but they were unpredictable, given to anarchy and an arbitrary selection of sides. Look at the Chang fellow. Zero-Five. See what trouble he had stirred up? They should be glad he went astray so quickly. It was a relief knowing they had acted early, rather than letting their poison age and spread beneath a façade of compliance and docility. Who knew what could set these discarded soldiers off? The Consortium was really doing them a favor, removing them from volatile environments. They were like time bombs, waiting for a trigger.

Or dominoes, maybe. After Zero-One got out, he'd somehow made contact with Zero-Two and convinced him to go along with whatever insane rebellion he had planned. When they'd encountered Zero-Three, their touch of madness had infected the next, and where once was a pliant, dependable worker, there was now a lost soul. In the tumult following the fiasco on Moon Base, Barton had somehow disappeared.

As had Noin and her two rescuers. There were scouts out looking for the elder Peacecraft and his lovely wife now. At least the loss of Lucrezia Noin could not affect their plans for Relena. The girl could not know that her sister-in-law was out of their hands and out of their reach. And now that she had been moved into the Jurgensen home, with her media access carefully monitored, she would continue to stay ignorant of the events swirling around her. She would only know what they wished her to know of the brilliant plan the EUW had come up with to recover from what otherwise might have been a catastrophe.

They had been worried when Yuy had escaped. Of course they'd been worried. He was dangerous. Events had proven it. But they'd turned that to their advantage. Until recently, they'd kept hidden the fact of his flight, cautious of any probes into their involvement, but he'd created far too many problems now for him to continue as he had.

Friedrich was expecting a phone call soon, a follow-up to the one from Kellan earlier that morning, informing him of the plan. Reports of Yuy's failure to report in to his keepers would be trickling through the levels of bureaucracy quite steadily, and very soon he expected it to be officially confirmed that the ex-terrorist had gone AWOL. Combined with the sudden disappearance of Maxwell and Barton, it would seem the government had a full-scale pilot revolt on their hands. How frightening.

Whatever could have set them off? he pondered, amused. Perhaps hearing about the tragic accidental death of their old comrade, Quatre Winner, the week before. That seemed a likely trigger for a psychotic post-traumatic stress-induced break. Yuy's psychological profile would support it, he was sure.

Perhaps that poor soldier boy was flashing back to the war. Perhaps he thought he had to take care of unfinished business from the war. Perhaps he was just a soldier to the core, and couldn't live without war and conflict. His profile would say, after all, how terribly he had adjusted to a post-war life. It would explain why he had burst out of the warm, supportive environment with which they had provided him, to run amok and disturb the lives of his fellow ex-terrorists, and even worse, to drag them into his delusions.

They had to stop him before he became a threat to the entire world nation. The corpse that Yuy had left behind on L3 was surely only the first of the innocent victims that would die by his dangerous, misguided hand. There could be no peace so long as there were such lunatics running around. No, that wasn't right. They needed to help Yuy, not kill him. If he resisted, of course, then he would have to be put down. Fortunately for the EUW, Yuy was sure to resist. He'd threaten them all with wild stories, and then the world government would see for themselves that pacifism did not and could not mean allowing such subversive elements of society to roam free and unchecked.

The general populace, of course, had never found out the identities of the Gundam pilots, and they wouldn't now. They couldn't afford to start a panic, or to confuse the issue with miscellaneous political disturbances that would only get in the way of their getting things done. No, the old terrorists would be transformed into new terrorists for the sake of the public, and how lovely that the unknown origin of these new terrorists would call for government action, widespread nets and precautionary raids.

In the meantime, they knew exactly whom they were seeking, if not where. When Schaefer had reported hearing voices in that alley behind the dressmaker's, it hadn't been too large a leap to assume that it was Heero Yuy. It had to be. Who else would have the utter audacity to do such a thing? Who else would have been able to inspire the Peacecraft girl to such heights of foolishness?

They'd lost his trail again after that. Schaefer was a personal guard, nothing more. He didn't know to report in immediately. They'd checked all the major ports, secured the locations of the other pilots and their old comrades, reinforced their own places of activity, but nothing. Zero-One and his rogue companion hadn't shown up anywhere until they had hit MO-18, where they should have been detected and captured, if not for that traitorous Zero-Three.

They were ready for them at Moon Base, but Zero-Three, corrupted by their wild influence, had joined their cause. That was enough of that. The hit on Zero-Four had been executed even before Zero-One's in another obvious move. The titular heir of the Winner clan had been a brilliant strategist. And Zero-Five was kept under very close wraps. He invited them to go pay their last comrade a visit. They were ready.

Yes, the trick to this was to stay ahead of the game. Already their production schedule had been pushed up. Now, just one last piece of the puzzle. "Karl," he called across the room.

His pansy of a son perked up from the inventories with which he had been struggling. "Yes, Father?"

He doled out a task that was well within the boy's reach. "Fetch your mother. I need to apologize to her."

"Oh?" Karl stood, straightening out his clothes. His mother did not approve of a rumpled look.

"Yes. I realize she's put a lot of work into this already, but I'm afraid she'll just have to change some of her plans. We're pushing up your wedding."

Karl beamed.

*****

Noin had been a little glad to be rid of the boys for a while on board the ship. She'd had the opportunity to be with understanding women again. Had a long, reassuring chat with the doctor on staff. Made a deal or two for equipment and supplies for the Mars project. Talked once more with her husband. Plotted and conspired with Howard. It'd been a nice little vacation.

And now she was stuck in a room with the two of them again, only now the tension was even worse. They'd just been immature boys before. Nothing she hadn't had to put up with at the academy, both as a student and as an instructor. Now there was another tension between them, a tangibly adult tension. It wasn't obvious, but it was there. She probably wouldn't have noticed the subtle edge to their words and actions if she hadn't seen Yuy trying not to squirm in his seat the next day. Yuy wasn't the squirming type. He hid it rather well, too, but it wasn't anything else she also hadn't seen in her Academy days. They'd gone at it fast and hard, just the once, unless she missed her mark, and maybe it had seemed like a good idea at the time, but there was no afterglow for them. They were more interested in forgetting it now.

Well, they were big boys now, and could take care of their own silly problems. She took her turn at forgetting and quite pointedly ignored them as they paced around the small office, getting up, sitting down, leaning against the wall, peeking out the shuttered window. Once stirred from their stupor, they had once again become men of impatience and action. Now, they waited on the sidelines while the Sweepers took care of their salvaged cargo. The human cargo came after that.

When the door at last opened, Noin couldn't have been more relieved. Howard came in first, followed by the person that was presumably their contact. Jean entered after, and invited Noin out to talk about her arrangements. The other two closed the door and sat down, measuring each other before Howard introduced them. "I think you guys have all already met."

Duo scratched his head, waiting for recognition to hit. When the lightbulb turned on, he chuckled darkly. "Shouldn't you, like, have a fez on or something?"

The man ran a hand self-consciously across the surface of his close-cropped black hair. "A red fez is not a common fashion accessory these days," he apologized. The rest of him had conformed as well to shirt, jacket and jeans.

"You're, um..." The image matched up, but not quite the name. "Abdul, was it?"

"Auda," the Maguanac answered, bobbing his head in a respectful bow.

"Oh. Sorry. The glasses..."

He pushed the clear lenses back up to the bridge of his nose. "Ah, understandable. He wore those little sunglasses all the time, but these are real. My eyesight is not so sharp anymore."

"You guys still... doing your thing?" Duo gestured vaguely at the air. He never did get the whole story about them from Quatre.

"We do what we can in these times."

Howard pushed things forward. "They knew when to keep their heads down, too, like the Sweepers. Keeping in touch with the Winner kid after he got folded into the program. Only he was much more cooperative with these guys than our kid was with us."

Heero ignored their sour glares at each other. "Did Quatre get out?"

A pained look passed over Auda's face. "Ah, no. He decided that that was not the best idea. We simply, er, made sure he had more freedom than was officially allowed him."

"Is Quatre here?"

There was a long hesitation before Auda answered. "Master Quatre... was involved in an accident two weeks ago."

"A suspicious accident?"

The man shrugged uncomfortably. "He was at one of his project sites when a pallet of bricks collapsed the upper floor and fell on him. If not for, er, I mean... He, um, is no longer..."

Duo rolled his eyes. "You mean, you let everyone know he died and now you've got him in hiding somewhere, right?" When Auda's eyes grew wide with astonishment, he hid his face with his hand for a moment. "Oh, please. And you people all wondered how I managed to clean you out at poker that one time. You guys are terrible liars. It's like you think that wearing black will be enough fake mourning for you or something."

Heero was forced to agree. Quatre and the Maguanacs were in real trouble if Auda was their front man. "Can we see him?"

Now that the secret was out, Auda regained a measure of confidence. "He is in hiding right now. He is not taking visitors."

"He'll see us." No demand, no arrogance. Just a statement of fact. "Does he know we're here?"

He shook his head. "No. In fact, I did not know you were here until just before walking in this door. We were only told by the Sweepers that they had someone they thought we could help."

"Since when are you guys smugglers and such?" Duo asked. He couldn't imagine them doing a very good job with it.

"They have connections," Howard explained before turning back to his local contact. "Look, these guys are trustworthy, and they need your help. Call your crew. Talk to the boss. See what they say."

Auda considered for a moment more before nodding and getting out of his chair. "Excuse me." He left the room to place a call.

"Quatre has projects?" Heero thought he should be jealous, but he wasn't.

Howard leaned back in his seat, settling in for the wait. "Yeah, sure. He was the Winner heir, after all. The official party line is engaging you boys in productive segments of society, or some sort of crap like that. Even if they seem to have completely missed the boat with you two. They kept him from gaining too much power there, and made the company restructure a bit to make sure of it, but yeah, he wasn't as disconnected as the rest of you."

Quatre wouldn't have allowed it, Heero thought. Quatre had a brilliance of the mind that had to shine. They wouldn't have been able to lock him into a stagnant position, or convince him to stay low and out of sight. He would have risen to attention, no matter where they stuck him. He would have seen the patterns behind the government's plans before it was too late to care. That was why Heero wanted to see him. Quatre had vision. Quatre had ideas. Quatre was a leader, and here were two men just waiting, needing to be led in some direction.

*****

Part 16

"Fuck!"

Quatre was not the boy they remembered. They could tell that much from the shouted expletive that made its violent, if muffled, way through the closed door in front of them. Auda knocked hesitantly on that frail barrier protecting them from the wrath on the other side. "Master Quatre? Your guests are here to see you."

"Yeah, yeah," was the grumbled reply, which the Maguanac took as a positive response. He opened the door, gestured them in, and then fled for safer environs.

"You're shorter than I remember," Duo observed foremost, without the least bit of remorse, regret, or apology following on the heels of the words.

Quatre stared at him long and hard before his cold expression cracked and he laughed loudly, though it still wasn't a particularly warm sound. "I suppose I am." He waved his hand in the direction of the sofa, signaling for them to make themselves comfortable. "Forgive me for not standing up and greeting you properly."

They watched silently as the blond struggled to maneuver himself free of the coffee table, where one of the wheels on his chair had gotten caught on the leg. Heero cleared his throat gently, but when Quatre shot him an evil glare, he stayed quiet where he was and looked around the room instead. "I get the feeling the majority of your Maguanacs are still bachelors."

Quatre snorted. "If they had their way, I'd be occupying their master bedroom and they'd be down here in this shithole. They're generally smart, useful guys, but it's hell trying to convince them how a proper hiding and laying low is supposed to work."

Duo muffled a snicker, but Quatre caught him at it just when he finally got his wheelchair unhooked from the table. He sighed in victory and parked himself in a clear spot. "I'm a terrible houseguest, I know. I've already apologized in advance for my shitty behavior, but I think they'll have to put it up with it for quite a while. Being hit by a ton of bricks doesn't leave me in a very charitable mood."

"How much damage was done to you?" Heero asked directly.

"If I hadn't gotten what little warning I had, I'd have been killed, no doubt about that. As it is, I got my legs smashed up pretty bad. Took some nerve damage, they guess. Can't really tell how much until some of the rest of it is healed up. But hey, I can still move my big toe, so it can't be that bad." He looked down at his toe, sticking out of the thick cast encircling one of his legs, and the rest of them turned their attention in that direction, too, but nothing happened. He frowned harder at it, and finally it twitched. "See?"

"How does one get hit by a ton of bricks?"

"Oh, you know. When someone goes in the night before and weakens the braces above the place where they know the target's going to be standing the next day."

"Ah. Well, someone tried to kill me, too," Heero offered in condolence.

Quatre perked up. "Yeah?"

"Mugger in an alley with a knife."

"Damn, why did you get the good one? You get a knife fight, and I get stuck with a fucking load of bricks? How embarrassing."

Duo bit the inside of his lip.

Heero ignored him as usual. "It would have been embarrassing if I'd been killed by a mugger."

"A load of bricks, Heero. I might as well have been killed by a hand puppet, or an anvil falling from the sky. Maybe they would have liked to choke me on a chicken bone."

"Well... You appear to have actually had a life, which would have given them more opportunity to be creative. If not a mugger for me, then death by stapler, or maybe a gas leak in my apartment. I've never really gotten out much. I mean, if you think about it, it's just as insulting that they thought they could take me out with a guy with a knife. At least bricks, you know, it'd be understandable for you not to be on the lookout for a freak accident."

The twist to his lips showed he was just barely mollified. "Did you kill him? This guy that jumped you?"

"Yes."

"See, you got someone to kill. That completely makes up for it. What am I supposed to do? Get a sledge hammer and start smashing stuff up?"

Duo finally erupted into a soft guffaw. "Shit, Quatre, how many of those bricks hit you on the head?"

"I got hit by a fucking ton of bricks, Duo. I have the right to be disgruntled." He stuck his tongue out at him for good measure. Duo stuck his out right back. He snorted. "And all the guys around here just like to pretend they didn't hear me acting grumpy. Anyway. What brings you two here to my little hidey hole? You guys on the run?"

"Well, someone did try to kill me..."

"See? And you get to stay mobile afterwards! And I get stuck in this damn chair."

"Um. I fell unconscious for a little while."

"Good for you. I got to stay fully conscious while I was half-buried and crushed underneath a goddamn ton of bricks!"

Duo split the air with another swallowed laugh. "I can't tell if you're doped up on painkillers, or painfully clear-headed without them."

"Without them, thank you. How about you, Duo? Has anyone tried to kill you lately?"

"Nope. I'm so desperate for action, I need to rely on him to get my jollies." He jerked his thumb in Yuy's direction, trying not to really think of being desperate and relying on Yuy to relieve that ache. It'd been a good idea at the time, but still one of those things that just left a person feeling even more empty inside afterward.

"Well, that's too bad, Duo. I guess at least someone thought that I was worth taking out. That's something, at least."

"Ouch. That's cold, Blondie." No, wait, that was what Howard called Zechs. Had to come up with another one later. "Keep that up, and I'm going to have to insist that all your faithful minions made up the story about someone weakening the supports underneath that pallet of bricks just to make you feel better. Maybe it really was just a freak accident, and God just hates you that much." God certainly hated Duo that much. Seemed only fair to share the wealth. He was so unloved.

"Are you desperate for action, too?" Heero asked Quatre. This was not what he had come here expecting to find. "How have the last few years been treating you?"

Quatre stopped to consider the answer to that question, for a moment seeming almost confused. Finally, he resorted to the all-purpose shrug. "It started out okay, I guess. I got placed on L2, away from my family, but only technically. Away from the residences, but it's not as if my family doesn't do business here. So in that respect, I suppose I was lucky. Of course, the government didn't encourage me to take a very active role in the company holdings, but that didn't bother me either. Except maybe for the fact that they presumed to order my life in such a fashion. I didn't want to, truth be told. Honestly, I think I was a little glad that they insisted. It was like an excuse, a reason not to. Something I could point at any time anyone came up to me, trying to make me fill my father's shoes. I could never do that." He laughed nervously, scratching at the back of his head with one hand. "Of course not. Did you ever see my father? His shoes were huge!"

"Well, you know what they say about a --" Duo was completely prepared to finish the statement, but Heero jabbed him in the side with his elbow, so he let it drop.

Quatre knew what the end of that sentence had been and was grateful for the interruption. He didn't want to go there. Any thought about his father inevitably made him start wondering what the towering figure of a man would have thought of him. Maybe he'd be relieved that his wayward son wasn't in charge of the business. "I guess life wasn't going so badly. At least until the brick thing. It's been, well, boring, I guess, but after saving the world, you know... it just sort of goes downhill from there. How about you?"

"Hey, what's that saying?" Duo asked. "It's something like, um, 'life's a bitch, and then you die'?"

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. That."

Well. That was succinct. He waited a moment in case there was something more, but there wasn't. "Okay. So someone tried to kill Heero, and then he got out and got you to help him find these guys?"

Heero chuckled darkly to himself. Life was much less glamorous than that. "Actually, I think we're more on the run because I'm trying to break up Relena's wedding, or something along those lines."

"Ooh, might have something to do with breaking Zechs and Noin out from their little prisons, too," Duo added. "They got themselves caught up in some political thingamajigger."

"Sounds like you've gotten yourself caught up in some political thingamajigger, too." Quatre sounded almost wistful.

"Naw, that stuff just kinda happened, fell in our path, that sort of thing. You know. Well, the Zechs thing, maybe. Noin, now, she's a nice lady, yeah? And she's pregnant, did you hear?"

"Really? By Zechs? How far along is she?"

"Erm." He poked through his head for the stat. It really wasn't the sort of thing he paid much attention to.

Heero answered for him. "Five months."

"Wow, that's great. If I'm not still dead by then, I'll be sure to send them a present."

"I suppose that will depend on whether or not you find the people that tried to kill you."

"Oh, them. Get me that laptop, would you?" He waited for Heero to hand him the computer sitting on top of a stack of magazines. "Who tried to kill you?"

"Members of the Jurgensen family, I suspect, in possible combination with some political consortium with a nominally pacifistic agenda, even though they're working on creating some sort of large weapon. I've met the son before, Relena's fiancé. He's such a pansy. We didn't get along."

"Yeah, that sounds like the same guys that were trying to off me. The consortium part, anyway. The guys have done some digging. This consortium is behind a lot of stuff, if you dig deep enough. You can study the pattern of the bills they've backed to find out what their political agenda is. Mostly, it all seems aimed towards the control of small arms, greater regulation of various industries, mostly the materials industries, looser restrictions on government do's and don'ts. Nothing really special. It gets more interesting when you really go over things and figure out which things they've unofficially supported, and which government programs have been crumbling because of their agenda. Nothing with an obvious pattern, really. A health care program here, an employment center there. Blackouts in this area, transportation strikes in that. I don't think the pattern is in which particular programs they are, so much as it is in the distribution of those programs."

He turned the laptop around to show them the data he had collected. "These programs all show a weakening of the government's position on certain things, but basically their lack of ability to provide for the people in the ways that they promised they would. The peace was supposed to help people, but it's reached its peak and is on the decline, now."

Turning the laptop around to flip through more reports, he continued. "The people's faith in the current administration is weakening. It doesn't seem like they're doing enough, and what they're doing is ineffective. Now we have the people that have been helping to make that happen, a powerful consortium of people seeking change, and building a weapon up in space. Can we say 'Romafeller'? Actually, some of the members of the EUW really were members of old Romafeller. That's probably how they got their start. Sounds like it's time for another revolution."

Heero grunted sourly. "Five years this time, hm? Better than the one year it took the last time."

"Yeah, well they don't make 'em like they used to, that's for sure," Duo sighed, throwing himself back on the sofa. "Told ya so, Yuy."

"Told me what?"

"Told you you'd end up saving the world again."

"Who said anything about saving the world?"

"What's this? You mean you're not planning on doing anything about this?"

"No one said the world needed saving. We just said there was another revolution in the works."

"Huh. You did say that it was the government that was oppressing us, right?" He scratched his armpit idly. "Why haven't we joined this revolution yet?"

"Because the revolutionaries were also in on oppressing us, remember? You didn't like that. And they tried to have me killed. I didn't like that. I can't mind my own business if people are trying to kill me. And they're trying to force Relena into a marriage. I won't stand for that."

"Back to the one-track mind, I see. Can you talk some sense into him, Blue-eyes?"

"Huh?" Heero turned to him, confused.

"Not you," he answered impatiently, gesturing at Quatre. "Him."

"Duo. It's sort of stupid to call someone 'Blue-eyes' when everyone in the room has blue eyes."

"Oh, shut up. I was going for a TE Lawrence-- Just shut up."

Heero did, if only in Duo's direction. "Quatre. I see that the five years of enforced idleness have not dulled your analytical skills any. Why are you doing this now?"

"Me? Someone tried to kill me, Heero. I don't take that personally, but I do get kinda pissy when someone tries to profit from it.'

"And that's why you've done all of this research?"

"...Maybe. I mean, geez, this is the first day I've been let out of bed. What else was I supposed to do? Count the cracks in the ceiling? I got that done in, like, five minutes, and trust me, it doesn't change nearly enough to be interesting. Do you know how boring it is being dead?"

"Yes." And there hadn't been any cracks on the ceiling of Trowa's trailer. There had, on occasion, been the roaring and trumpeting of various exotic animals. Those might have accounted for a few of the strange fever dreams he thought he had.

Quatre paused in remembrance. "Oh yeah. Never mind. Anyway. What are you trying to ask me?"

Heero exhaled carefully, keeping it from becoming a sigh as he leaned back into the sofa's cushions and considered his thoughts. Duo got bored and answered for him. "What he's wondering is, how guilty do you think he should feel for not really caring about anything you just told him?"

Unsurprisingly, Heero shot him a sour look, but afterwards he directed an expectant look at the pilot sitting across from them. Quatre looked back at him. "How much do you not care?"

He shifted uncomfortably on the sofa, reminded unpleasantly of unproductive therapy sessions with that traitorous government employee. He was glad he'd never been able to tell her much. Who knew what she could have told her bosses, otherwise. "I... I'm not sure yet. I... I don't think I really want to anymore. I don't know if I can anymore. I... don't know what I have left to give anymore."

Quatre fixed him with a piercing stare before summarizing things as he saw them. "You do care inside. But you're afraid to care, to express that care. You're afraid you'll fail. You're afraid that what you have won't be enough. And you're afraid that you'll get burned again. That sound about right?"

He sank another centimeter lower in his seat, arms crossing defensively over his chest before he could stop them. He'd been told that that was a very closed pose, but to uncross his arms now would mean an admission of guilt and defeat. "I never said that."

Duo snorted, but it didn't distract Quatre from his diagnosis as a wheelchair therapist. "What you've got going for you right now is sort of the optimal path. You get to sort of 'accidentally' save the the world while you figure yourself out, which appeases your sense of responsibility without compromising your sense of disfranchisement. You aren't sure where the world is going yet, or what your place is in that world, but you do know what you aren't going to stand by and watch things go to hell. You don't like it when things go all to hell. You've still got that supersuit on underneath your clothes, Heero. All you have to do is dust it off."

"I honestly didn't care two weeks ago," he protested.

"And that's why you jumped at the first chance to get back into the game."

"Someone tried to kill me! I can't lead a bland, boring, meaningless life if someone is out there trying to kill me. And I left the guy bleeding out in an alley. Plain old logic dictates that you don't stick around the scene of the crime."

"He was just a trigger, a catalyst, something to jump start the heroic juices in you again. Maybe you didn't care two weeks ago. But it was like dry tinder just waiting for a spark before it flamed back into life. You are who you are, Heero. Nothing will change that."

"And that's why it..." Quatre stared at him intently, and he swallowed. "That's why it... that's why it was so hard. That's why I couldn't... why I had to..." He shook his head in frustration. "What the hell, Quatre?"

The blond shrugged, the intense gaze disappearing for a moment, along with his magical, hypnotic powers. "Hey, you asked."

"No, Duo asked. Let's talk about him for a while, and why he feels the need to fuck anything that moves. Preferably in an alley somewhere." He had his private theories, but they had been formulated while tired, sore, alone, and with his boxers still tangled around one ankle. It would be nice to have an independent party confirm them.

Duo jumped in his seat, glancing nervously at Quatre and his evil knack of looking into a man's heart. "Hey, leave me out of this."

Heero barely spared the time for a smirk. "His life is miserable, he's being smothered, he drinks, he smokes--"

"Hey, I quit! When did you become my mother, all of a sudden?"

"That makes you a whole new kind of motherfucker then, doesn't it?"

Quatre gasped in gossipy delight. "You two slept together?"

"No." The instant denial came from two sides at once. They glared at each other before Heero turned back to Quatre with a vindictive light in his eyes. "But only because he doesn't literally sleep with people. He doesn't do long-term, or even one-nighters, really."

"Oh, don't be such a bitch, Yuy," Duo groaned. "You knew what you were getting into when you let me fuck you up against that wall. Don't start complaining now that you didn't get a post-fuck cuddle."

"I'm not being a bitch. I just think our friend Quatre here would have a field day picking you apart."

"You're just trying to distract us from the real issue, which is you, and how fucking depressed you are."

"Oh, so now you're a therapist, too? I'll take this bullshit from Quatre, but I won't take it from you."

"Hey!" Quatre bounced in defensively. It was a lot of fun sitting back and just watching the show, but he had his own honor to defend. "I'll have you know I get that bullshit straight from all the daytime talk shows."

Heero was suddenly horrified that he'd almost accepted what Quatre had told him. "Daytime talk shows?"

"Hey, you know how boring it is being dead."

"I never watched daytime talk!"

"Trowa doesn't have a TV in his trailer!"

Duo pounced on the opening. "Ooh, when were you in Trowa's trailer, hmm?" When Quatre's fair skin showed some sign of coloring, Duo jumped in even further. "Ooooh, were you ever actually in Trowa's 'trailer'?"

"There you go again," Heero accused. "It's always back to the crude sex jokes and innuendo."

"Okay, that's so it, Yuy! It was a one-fuck stand, that's it. See if I'm ever stupid enough to do that again. He wasn't very good anyway," he whispered in a loudly confidential tone to Quatre. "No stamina."

"Oh, like it matters when you're so quick to get off as soon as you can. At least I'm depressed. I can get away with sexual dysfunction. What's your excuse?"

"Aha! So you are depressed! See, I was right."

"Oh, gimme a break, Maxwell. Even that two-bit government shrink could tell I was depressed. I wouldn't be so proud of myself if I were you."

"Aww, check it out. The first step to curing your problem is admitting that you have a problem. What's step two?"

Quatre burst out laughing. "Meeting Duo Maxwell, I bet."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

He waved his hand, dismissing the words while trying to control his mirth. Heero may have not cared two weeks ago, but since then he'd run into someone that had lit quite a fire under his ass. Damn, having it live and in person right in front of him was way better than watching it on TV. "As amusing as it is to watch you two bicker like an old married couple, can we get back to the point? You can argue on your own time, yeah?"

Protests and denials were on the lips of both of them, but neither of them was quite prepared to reignite the dispute when Quatre provided them with such a neat solution to keeping it from getting out of hand. With final miffed glares, they turned away from each other and let Quatre get back to business.

It took a few seconds for Quatre to remember what their business was. "You said you were interested in breaking up Relena's wedding? Fine. Go break up Relena's wedding. And if that just happens to be a good thing for more than you and her, great. But if you're going to do that, you'd better hurry."

Heero sat up a little straighter in his seat. "Why?"

Quatre turned the laptop around and pointed to the announcement on the screen. "Because they just changed the date. It's the day after tomorrow."

"They've moved it up? Why?"

"It's a trap, of course. You are predictable in some ways, you know."

"What do you mean?"

Duo quietly rolled his eyes in the background while Quatre explained. "They haven't officially released it to the public yet, but those in the know in the government know a few things that are causing quite a stir."

"You keep an eye on the government?"

Quatre shrugged. "Like I said. I've been bored. Anyway. How long ago did you get out? A week or so? Seems the general population of the government didn't notice."

He had wondered why he hadn't had much of a problem getting around. "That really says a lot about my life."

"Or it says a lot about the bad guys. The government's got plenty of these 'support' and 're-training' programs going, but did you know that the EUW took control of the programs regulating our activities?"

Beside him, Duo twitched in annoyance. "So we've heard."

"They've been keeping everything quiet. I guess they thought they could handle it."

Heero snorted. "Or maybe they didn't want anyone to know that they'd messed up trying to bump me off."

"Maybe. Either way, they've just let it get out yesterday that you didn't show up to your scheduled appointment two days ago."

"How astute of them." He also hadn't shown up to the ones last week, but who was really counting? No one, obviously.

"I haven't checked in lately, but last time I checked, they were looking into the other pilots as well. I'm dead, but I'm sure Duo will pop up on the radar. I haven't looked into the others."

"We left Trowa on Moon Base. At least, Duo left Trowa on Moon Base. I suspect he'll have gone AWOL as well."

Naturally, Duo contested this assessment. "Why do you keep taking his side, man? The bitch deserved it."

"He helped us, Duo."

"Yeah, only after he turned us in."

"Only after he helped us."

Quatre cut in. "Trowa? You ran into him? What was he doing on Moon Base?"

Heero cut Duo off before he could answer with something less than complimentary. "He was just being Trowa."

Quatre thought about that for a while, weighing their words, and decided he could figure out exactly what Trowa had been doing. "You helped him?"

Duo snorted. "What, like, Heero's a one-man traveling shrink show or something?"

"He's a catalyst, Duo," he was corrected. "Always has been. That's why the government locked him up, you know."

"I'm no catalyst," Heero answered, almost absently as he stared off at some point on the far wall. "By definition, catalysts aren't consumed in the reaction."

His words sat heavily in the air between them for a while before Duo got antsy and broke the silence. "So, what, they afraid we're going to reach out and touch the world again?"

Tying up another piercing look into Heero's heart, Quatre turned his attention back to business. "I don't think they know yet, but they can come up with almost anything, and get the rest of the government to go along with it. They're pretty sure, though, that Yuy's going to crash Relena's party. That one's kind of a given."

Duo stifled a snicker. "No shit. And I bet we're going to go do it anyway, even knowing it's a trap."

Quatre smirked. "No shit."

*****

Part 17

"So... let me guess. You don't have a plan."

"I have a plan." He tightened his grip on the steering wheel. "I'm going to improvise once we get there."

"Hm. Okay. I guess that's better than nothing." Duo stuck his head in the path of the breeze coming in the window and enjoyed the lovely Mediterranean weather. It was a wonderful day for some mayhem. "Are you going to kill him?"

"Who, Karl? He hardly seems worth the effort." Especially not in front of so many witnesses. And especially not if Relena was still interested in marrying the dolt. Which he would take the time to find out after he kidnapped her.

"I'm just dying to meet this pansy."

"You're not missing much. Feel free to kick him in the nuts, if you like. I'll be busy with Relena, though."

"What if she wants to kick him in the nuts?"

That was too much to ask. They hadn't had any contact with her since that day in the alley. Who knew how she felt about things? The last time they'd spoken on the matter, she had slapped him. "I hope she's wearing some pointy heels, then."

Duo chuckled darkly. Heero was so amusing sometimes. "Cool. Sounds like fun. I'm in."

"I didn't ask if you were in."

"Shut up."

They continued zipping along the Sanq country highway toward the capital.

*****

It did not shame her to admit that when she was a little girl, she had dreamed of white frilly dresses and huge cathedral ceremonies. The scene would be lush with flowers, all of her glowing friends would be there, the love of her life would gaze adoringly at her, and every moment would be picture perfect.

Well, today was the day of her wedding. Lacking the one most important component of that dream, she refused to have the rest. It was her small rebellion against this thing that was happening to her.

Her dress was a simple, elegant gown, with soft, flowing lines. No frills, no lace, no beads, no floating down the aisle in a fluffy cloud. Just soft, white silk that swished smoothly around her as she moved. She held a small, modest bouquet of fresh flowers cut and handed to her by a gardener that was unusually kind to her this morning. The ceremony had been moved outside to better serve the media, but other guests had been limited because of the 'security concerns'.

As the maid of honor -- of sorts -- Dorothy got to keep her company. "Miss Relena, do cheer up," she said briskly, fussing over the fall of the dress. "We can't have you frowning all over the day."

"What if I start crying?" Relena asked hopefully. "Could I pass those off as tears of joy?"

"Tears of joy look different, my dear," she answered gently, her demeanor softening. She straightened and took Relena by the shoulders. They had shooed everyone else out of the room, and now it was only the two of them. "Relena. I'm sorry this is happening to you. But cheer up. Karl isn't a very sharp boy. I'm sure we'll be able to quietly poison him in his sleep or something. You won't be married long. I'm sure of it."

Relena's shoulders shook in a sob, a laugh, all sorts of things at once. "Oh, Dorothy, what am I going to do?"

"You're going to go out there. You're going to smile. You're going to cross your fingers while you say your vows. I told you you should have gotten a bigger bouquet. And then you're just going to bide your time. We'll get this sorted out."

She sniffled. "You're as bad as Heero, in your own strange way."

"We're practical, dear." Dorothy fetched Relena's veil and arranged it carefully over her face. "Now. Don't become too reliant on your veil to keep your expression hidden. It will be coming off, after all, and it's rather delicate to begin with. But if you need it for a moment, then here it is. And if you manage to smudge your makeup, Relena, we'll never be able to fix that during the ceremony, so do have a care."

She was glad for the veil. It wasn't much, but it made things a little less real. When Karl's mother came to fetch her for the beginning of the ceremony, it was as if the voice came from far away, and she was spared from having to answer the fake smiles with fake smiles of her own. She accepted congratulations with demure nods of her head, barely even hearing their words. When the music started, she could pretend it was for someone else's wedding.

The walk down the carpeted aisle was harder to block out. There she had to set a sedate pace. Using the veil as a shield against the world meant that she needed to keep her eyes down to make sure she didn't trip on anything, which meant staring at the yellow-gold carpet that Karl had gushingly told her matched the wheat-gold of her hair. Someone should have been guiding her down the aisle. It was a little lonely without a strong and supportive presence by her side. Hopefully, when the time came for a proper wedding, her brother would be there, holding her hand.

Clicks accompanied her every step. The rows and rows of seats were filled with reporters, except for the special section closest to the altar. There sat Karl's family, and some other politically important people. With the sudden change in date, there were many that had been unable to attend. Which was just as well, since Friedrich had been more than happy to cut them from the list of invitees. Although this was nominally a wedding for the people, to show unity among the upper ranks, mostly they were Jurgensen allies that filled the ranks. When she was used as yet another figurehead, and when -- if -- their cause prevailed, they would no doubt use the footage of this day to remind the people who was with them, and who was not.

She felt faint, but wrote that off as a side-effect of the veil. It was difficult to breathe under there, especially in the warmth of Sanq in June. She'd grown up to the ideal of a June wedding, and now they were corrupting her girlish notions to further justify moving the wedding up to make the last few days of the month. Was nothing sacred?

Under no circumstances could she sway or falter, she told herself quite firmly. She would have to get used to being stifled. To keep her mind off things, she distracted herself with happy thoughts instead. Happy thoughts, like stifling Karl with a pillow in his sleep. Yes, that would do nicely. The irony appealed to her. Her lips curved into an appropriately upbeat smile.

And just in time, too. She came to the end of her walk in time with the music's halt and assumed her place beside her intended. The haste with which he lifted her veil was almost unseemly. He leaned forward to kiss her on the cheek in greeting, and over his shoulder, she caught sight of Dorothy, a subtle smirk on her face as if she knew exactly what Relena had been thinking, and she approved.

They turned back to the minister, and he began to speak.

*****

"Think we'll make it in time?" Duo asked, checking his pockets over.

"Before or after the ceremony, I don't really care, so long as we take her away with us."

It was a joy working with such a simple man, sometimes. "Yeah, but then you'd be stealing away a married woman."

"So?" It would only be a marriage on paper at that point. He could live with that.

"You cad."

"I guess I'd prefer to be there before the honeymoon."

"Well, I sure hope so, because if we didn't get there before then, that would mean we got utterly lost on the way."

"No chance of that happening." Heero indicated the green sign off the highway. "We're coming up on the exit now."

*****

There were pros and cons to having a state wedding. Relena was in no particular hurry to be wed to the man by her side, but it did grow tiresome to have the old minister, a Jurgensen family friend, drone on so.

She tried to distract herself with imagining someone different by her side. Her immediate thoughts turned of course to Heero. After a dreamy second or two, they turned away abruptly, jeopardizing her pleasantly engaged smile. Life with Heero... she suppressed a shudder. She imagined herself throwing things at him, trying to get him to notice or understand something, and she could see all of those hurled objects bouncing harmlessly off his head while he continued to do his own thing. No, marriage to Heero was not a good thing.

There was that one fellow... the son of Earl Sedgwick, wasn't it? He'd shown up a time or two to sessions. Now, he was a cutie...

*****

They had to park their rental car several blocks away. Security was awfully tight for the wedding of a pacifist, but nothing compared to an OZ base in lockdown, no mattter how mighty a trap had been set. There were too many people around for the Jurgensens and company to have gotten truly carried away with elaborate tricks, and most of them they'd already gone over with Quatre and with each other in the car. They'd pretty much determined that there was no way to get this done quietly. It looked like the ceremony had already started.

If that was the case, then the first order of business was to acquire some weapons. It was too difficult to smuggle much onboard a commercial shuttle, so they did a little on-site procurement instead, knocking out a couple of guards on break and borrowing their sidearms on their way into the large memorial park.

"Do you know how easy this would be if we had a mobile suit?" Duo complained, very softly. The rustling of the leaves in the trees made decent cover for any incidental sounds they may have made.

Heero waved a hushing hand at him, listening intently for the crackle of a comm... and... There it was. Then their path lay in the other direction. They moved out.

*****

"If anyone knows of a reason why these two should not be joined together in the bonds of holy matrimony, let them speak now, or forever hold their peace."

Relena held her breath, hoping against hope that her salvation might arrive, but there was none. No white knights, no angry brothers, no ghosts of fathers returned from the grave. Nothing. She let out a quiet sigh of disappointment. Oh well. Real life didn't work that way, and she decided that she better get used to it.

She was instructed to turn towards her husband-to-be and hold hands with him. Doing as she was told, she tried to ignore the bright smile on his face. At least someone was enjoying himself up here. Did he not realize the factors behind this marriage? Or did he simply not care? Karl had been the one to bring up Noin to begin with, so it wasn't as if he could pretend full ignorance of his father's plots.

And just what were those plots, she wondered, still trying to piece the puzzle together. Friedrich had called her a symbol, so there was probably something in the works that would be strengthened by her support, or at least the image of her support. Hopefully it wasn't a war, then. There was no way anyone could feasibly believe that she would back a war.

She knew whom she had seen on the Jurgensen estate, where she had been moved almost immediately after her confrontation with Friedrich. If there was one thing to be glad for, perhaps it was that Karl had not been allowed unchaperoned in her presence during her time there. His mother had smiled charmingly and soothed his complaints with talk of propriety and tradition. Relena thought they probably just didn't want him blurting anything else out without the approval of his father.

The minister moved on to a recitation of love and its wonders. At another time, in another place, standing next to another man, she might have listened and dimpled and glowed. It was a part of her childhood dream, after all. But today, all the talk of unending love and honesty and mutual support just rolled off her. Darnit, she believed in love. She enjoyed believing in love, and she would be very upset if this sham of a marriage ruined all her romantic ideals. Not wanting to be old and bitter and disillusioned, she reminded herself that this... arrangement was temporary. She'd find some way out of it. Eventually. She had to.

Friedrich had played it safe when it came to the wedding vows for the day. Maybe he didn't trust her to cooperate past the two simple words that traditionally completed the ritual. Maybe he didn't trust Karl not to flub his lines. Whatever the reason, it was the minister that recited those vows for marriage to a head of state in Sanq. Another reminder to the gathered media just who was gaining power here today.

She grit her teeth on a grimace when she heard the old man announce that she accepted her lovely husband as an equal. That had certainly not been a part of the deal. There was a point where the minister paused to wait for her acknowledgment, but barely any time had passed before he moved on, assuming a consent she never gave. No doubt everyone else equally assumed a nod of the head, a smile, a murmur, something they could not bear witness to from their seats, placed strategically at a distance. A transcript of all that was spoken would be provided to the media after the ceremony, so as not to intrude upon the sanctity of the union and the private love of the two involved.

There was a slight buzz in the crowd. Had someone noticed the variation in the vows her own parents had once spoken, implying an extension of rights and power to her consort? Oh, what did it matter. Even if someone managed to catch wind of the shady nature of the day's events, no reporter was going to be able to save her from this mess she had gotten herself into. Dorothy was looking with subtle interest over the crowd. She could get the gossip later.

Karl was smiling goofily at her, stroking her hands with his thumbs. It made her glad she was wearing satin gloves. Satin covered shoes, too. She tried not to fidget. They were damn uncomfortable. When would this miserable thing be over?

A distant shout came from the crowd. Not a cheer. She turned, heard more shouts, noticed for the first time how much security there was at this event. Around the estate, she had overheard snippets of conversations whose contexts she didn't understand, and they had made some mention of security and plans and all sorts of things, but she didn't know enough to know what was happening. Had they been prepared for an attack? Her heart leapt in cautious optimism.

The minister paused, but Friedrich motioned impatiently for him to continue. He did, and a squeeze of Karl's hands asked her to pay attention. It was a little difficult to do so with all the security running around. Even their audience was starting to get distracted, not that that would affect the legitimacy of the ceremony.

She barely heard it when Karl said his 'I do,' but another squeeze of her hands warned her that her part in the ceremony had come.

"And do you, Relena Peacecraft, daughter of the royal line of Sanq, take this man, Karl Dieter Jurgensen, son of Friedrich and Carlotta, to be..."

More shouting. More frantic handwaving from Friedrich for the minister to hurry things along. Fortunately, the old man was squinting at the book he held in front of him and didn't notice. Karl picked up on the urgency, though, and tried to convey the message.

Relena stopped paying attention, trying to catch sight of the source of the disturbance without being completely obvious, but it seemed that the majority of activity was taking place behind her. The press corps was getting restless, but was not allowed to get out of their seats. She could see the security guards running in the opposite direction, guns drawn, and why were there such heavily armed security guards at the wedding of a Sanq official, anyway? The Jurgensens were terrible pacifists. The swords at their sides were entirely proper, small caliber handguns perhaps forgivable, but was that man toting a machine gun of some sort? Forget subtlety. She turned halfway around to catch sight of the action.

She gasped at the sound of gunfire, but Karl made an even more embarrassing noise, ducking down with a coward's instinct and pulling her down along with him. His eyes were wide as they darted around nervously. "We have to get out of here!" he whispered loudly to her, tugging on her hands.

"Stand your ground," his father commanded, halfway up the stairs to the dais where they stood.

"But--"

"Finish your vows," he snapped, signaling to a security guard. They had a quick conference before hurrying off to the sound of more gunfire.

Many of the media were huddled under the cover of their ribbon-bedecked seating, but others were struggling with the guards, trying to get out and report on the disturbance. The VIPs from the front rows were under cover, discussing or arguing among themselves, though several of the men had gone along with the elder Jurgensen.

"Finish the ceremony," Karl ordered the minister, voice wavering. He dragged Relena to her feet and grabbed her hands, trying to make things proper again.

Not failing to notice the general ruckus, the minister looked like he would rather have been somewhere else. He wiped at his forehead with the back of his sleeve and scanned his text hastily, trying to find his place. "Umm. To have, hold, cherish, love, blah, blah, 'til death do you part?"

Relena snapped back to attention when Karl shook her. "What?"

"Say it!" he hissed, still looking like he would have preferred being somewhere else as well.

"Uh..." She tried to stall for time. It was hard to think with all the shouting. "What was the question?"

"Do you, Relena Peacecraft, daughter of--"

"-- take me 'til death do we part?" Karl hurriedly interrupted him, choking a little on the 'death' part. It had never quite seemed so imminent before.

She looked quickly around, trying to find a way out of this. The shouting seemed louder, now.

Karl shook her again. "Relena...!"

"I..." Dorothy. Where was Dorothy? Had she been hurt? Her friend's disappearance reminded her that she could wait forever for her saviors to come, but that wouldn't keep the people she loved safe, would it? "I..."

He squealed in a rather undignified manner when someone pulled him roughly backwards. A fist was pulled back, ready for a punch to his gut, when its owner sighed in disgust and kneed him in the groin instead. Karl collapsed to the ground with a choked squeak.

Heero took her firmly by the arm and led her away from the gaping minister. "Let's go."

"But--" She managed not to trip over Karl's outflung arm as Heero tugged her along.

Heero pulled out a comm he had borrowed from one of the fallen guards. It beeped when he pressed the button for transmission. "Got her."

"Roger that," Duo's voice crackled across the line in response. "Let's blow this joint."

"Heero," she said a little more insistently. "Not literally--!?"

"Of course not," he answered impatiently, bringing them under the cover of the trees. "We're just getting you out of here."

"But Lu--!" Her words were muffled suddenly by Heero's hand over her mouth as he pulled her behind a thick oak. The hand shifted slightly to allow her room to breathe, but other than that, stayed exactly where it was until the small group of men ran past them. Three heartbeats later, he removed his hand and proceeded to guide her towards his rendezvous point.

Relena heard the sound of men in pursuit, going in the wrong direction. "Heero, is Duo...?"

"Creating a distraction."

She tried to pull her hand out of his iron grip, but met with no success. "Heero, stop. I can't!"

He turned to look at her over his shoulder, but didn't slow down. "Why not?"

"Lu. They said they would harm Lu if I didn't go along with their plans. And dammit, Heero, I can't run in this!" With the hand not caught up by Heero's, she had gathered up her skirt to keep it out of the way.

Giving her a funny look, he slowed down, but barely. "If you can't keep up, I'll carry you. But I warn you, it'll probably be over my shoulder. Now, what about Noin?"

There were white horses on the estate, ready to pull the happy couple away in a carriage after the ceremony. Why couldn't he have borrowed one of those for their escape? She knew he knew how to ride. "They said they would hurt her if I didn't marry Karl."

"Why would you believe that?" He pulled her behind him and fired a few shots into the woods.

"Because he, that is, Friedrich said--" She squeaked as he set off again with her in tow. "He gave me details of her life. He has his sights on her. I believe that he would hurt her. He's not--"

"Impossible." The comm crackled, with Duo's voice naming a new rendezvous point. Heero acknowledged, turned them slightly to the left, then proceeded. "Noin is safe. She should be on her way back to her husband by now."

"What?"

"She was being held on Moon Base by members of some consortium, in collaboration with the Jurgensens. Zechs was being kept on a mining asteroid. We got him out, left him with some friend, then went back and got her out just a few days ago. They can't hurt her anymore."

Her head spun. She hadn't thought that they were actually holding her sister-in-law prisoner. And Zechs, too? But they'd been freed, and all of this was happening without her having the least bit of an inkling? The very idea offended her. When Vice Foreign Minister Darlian had died, she decided she owed it to herself and both her fathers to be better informed on the world's events. She had failed miserably, it seemed.

And wait. Lu had gotten out days ago? Not just a few hours or maybe even twenty-four, but days? They'd been lying to her this entire time? Oh, the nerve of them! She hitched her skirts up a little higher and ran faster.

They emerged from the memorial park on a maintenance driveway near the outer fences. Duo was waiting for them in one of the facilities pickup trucks. Heero tucked Relena in first. "Where are we going?" he asked, getting in himself.

Duo didn't wait for him to get settled before moving off at a brisk pace. "There's a maintenance gate to the north of the park. Hopefully, they'll have forgotten about it. Or at least it won't be guarded as well."

"Distractions?"

"It's amazing what you can make with the chemicals in a maintenance shed."

"You enjoy doing that a little too much."

"Hey, it's what I'm here for."

"Um, Heero?" Relena ventured. "Where are you taking me?"

Duo glanced at her as if just noticing her. "Oh, hey, Princess. So I see he convinced you to leave the guy?"

She sniffed. "Hmpf. I didn't need any convincing. I tried to myself a few days ago. That's when this whole thing went downhill." She punched Heero lightly on the arm. "This is all your fault, you know."

Heero blinked innocently at her. "Huh?"

"You! Just dropping in out of nowhere, stirring everything up, and disappearing again. If you hadn't talked to me, I wouldn't have changed my mind and tried to get out of it, and then I wouldn't have found out how completely out of their minds the Jurgensens are."

"That's a good thing, isn't it?"

"Not when they start threatening to hurt people!" She shivered thinking about it, the action perhaps exaggerated from the excitement and adrenaline and shock.

The faint motion caught Heero's attention. "We need to get you out of that dress. We have some clothes back at our car that you can use."

"But... What about after? Heero, where are we going?"

He glanced at Duo over the top of her head. "Do you have anything in mind?"

"Nope," Duo answered cheerfully.

"What about you, Relena?"

Her eyes widened. "That's your plan?"

"What do they think we're up to? Get down."

With Heero's hand pushing down on her shoulder, she tried to scrunch down in her seat, but with only partial success. "Heero. Not so easy in this dress."

He frowned in annoyance. "We really need to get rid of that dress. Why do you women wear those things?"

She decided the question was rhetorical, and settled for trying to make herself look as small as possible. "I've no idea. Simply ruining all their plans, I imagine. They must have been expecting you for them to have that much security here. They changed all of the plans at practically the last minute. I guess they were afraid you'd come get me before the original date."

"No, it's probably because it was a trap," he informed her, deciding that she must have known nothing about the consortium's plans.

"A trap?" They had turned her wedding into a trap? Granted, it wasn't a wedding she had wanted in the first place, but that somehow added insult to injury. Nevertheless, she found herself pleased that they had come after her anyway. "They put a lot of people in danger! Oh, I hope Dorothy got out alright."

"Dorothy?" Duo echoed. "Blonde chick? Bridesmaid outfit?"

"That's her. Did you see her?"

"She told me about this exit. Told me she was a friend of yours. Mentioned Heero by name and his embarrassing habit of utter tactlessness." He'd still checked out the escape route himself, of course. Could never trust blondes showing up in random places, demanding that he do their bidding.

She sighed in relief. "I'm glad she's okay. But what is she up to? And what are you up to?"

Not having a very good answer to the question, Heero ignored it. "If we were trying to ruin all their plans, then... We should get out of Sanq. It'll take a little while for this to escalate to an incident of international proportions, so we should be okay for a little while. Why do you have to be such a recognizable public figure?"

"Excuse me?" she huffed. "Hmpf. It's not my fault you decided to kidnap me. What do you expect to do with me? They'll be looking for me. And you, too, no doubt."

"I expect to go into hiding for a little while. Cross the border, find somewhere in the country to hole up for a little while."

Duo laughed. "It'll be like a honeymoon! Only without the groom."

*****

Part 18

After getting back to their rental car, they zipped away down the back country roads in their little two-door, keeping a sharp eye on their back trail. As it was, trouble came from the path in front of them. About half an hour away from the site of the wedding, the highways had been roadblocked. Seeing little alternative, they slowed as they reached the checkpoint, readying themselves for a scuffle.

"Howdy," Duo greeted the national guardsman that came to inspect their vehicle. "What's all the fuss about today?"

The grizzled man, late thirties or thereabouts, peered in through their windows, failing to note the blanket-covered lump that was Relena huddled on the floor of the small, dark back seat with a duffle bag on top of her. "Oh, just some mess going on up near the capital. There was a bit of trouble up there today."

"Today, huh? Hey, does it have anything to do with the Princess' wedding? That was today, yeah? I wanted to go watch, but then they changed everything around and no one was allowed anymore. Dude, that sucked."

The guard turned away from the back and squinted at him. "You were interested in the wedding?"

"Aw, come on? Who isn't? It's the big thing that's supposed to change the sociopolitical landscape of our time, or something like that, isn't it? I think that's what they said on the news, anyway."

"You're not from around here. What was your business in the city?"

"Heh, honestly?" He scratched at the back of his head with an amiability that could have made Heero swallow his tongue, if only he hadn't seen it long ago, during the war. It was a little unnerving to witness it now that Duo's usual demeanor was so different from what it had been before. "See, I got this girlfriend... who's kinda got the itch, if you know what I mean. I might not be a free man for much longer. And, well, she's a chick, and chicks are all over this stuff, right? I mean, it'll be my luck that she goes and wants a wedding exactly like the Princess', yanno? So I thought it'd be handy if I got to see it firsthand. Yanno, to know what I'm talking about when I tell her she's out of her friggin' mind, or that she doesn't really need flowers shipped in from England or something." He sighed dramatically, prompting a very quiet clearing of the throat in warning from Heero. "Well, I guess that plan was a bust, yeah? I hope they televise it at least or something. Otherwise, I'm screwed."

The guard chuckled at his predicament. "Try proposing some way special. Take her on a sweet honeymoon after. The ladies, they like this stuff. And it lasts longer than just the one day. What about your friend over there?"

Duo glanced over at his buddy, tempted to make a joke that would be entirely counterproductive in this situation. He kept the story short and simple instead, spying another guard emerging from their post. "Extra set of eyes. You know, easier to worm out of things if it's someone else that's seen it for himself, too, yeah? Not that it matters anymore."

A junior guard came up to the first, handed him a printout, whispered something in his ear. The first guard glanced at the data, glanced at them, and took a step back. "I'm afraid you're going to have to step out of the vehicle, sirs."

"What seems to be the problem?" Duo asked, readying the gun he had set up. Bulletholes in the panel of his door would be a sure giveaway, but they could always steal another car later.

"We need to check your vehicle. Please exit, both of you, and keep your hands in sight."

Duo turned to his companion with a wry look. "I told you this wasn't going to be easy."

"Now, sirs," the guard repeated, his hand loosening his sidearm in its holster.

Relena couldn't take any more of it, knowing exactly who was going to win this confrontation. "Stop it," she cried softly, struggling to get the blanket off her head. When she finally shook it free, she maneuvered herself into a position visible from the outside. "Stop it. As your princess, I ask you to stop this at once and... and just let us go. Please."

The guards faltered. "Your... Your Highness?"

"Yes." She knew she didn't look it, with her hair mussed and now out of the wedding dress and into the pair of coveralls that Heero had gotten from the Sweepers. "I'm Relena Peacecraft. I understand that you're doing your jobs, but I don't want any of you getting hurt. Please. Let us go."

"You're... you want to go with them?"

"Yes. They're not in any way coercing me. They're my friends, and in fact, they've just kept me from making a terrible mistake, so please, I know I'm asking a lot, but could you please just pretend you never saw us and let us through?"

The first guard scratched at his chin, thinking the matter over while the two pilots in the car sat in tense silence, still ready to strike if things didn't go their way. The guard looked thoughtfully down the road in both directions, then towards his comrade, before shrugging. "I never did think the wedding was a great idea, truth be told. Begging yer pardon, of course, Your Highness."

The second, younger guard's eyes widened comically. "Brock--"

"Cool it, Marsden," he ordered with a mellow amusement. "Get on back to the post, if you're so worried."

Marsden hesitated before deciding quiveringly to stand his ground. "I... I didn't think you should marry him, either, Your Highness," he whispered, averting his eyes shyly.

She laughed, trying to make it a reassuring sound, though it probably came out somewhat nervous. "Then you're far wiser than I, I'm afraid."

"Who issued the orders for the roadblock?" Heero cut in.

"Them Jurgensens," the senior guard answered. "We've orders to use whatever force necessary to take the Princess back, just so's you know. Got me a bit of the feeling that they didn't much care who was harmed, even the Princess herself. And you boys, they got your pics sent out to every outpost. Are you sure you're not psychotic terrorists bent on disrupting the peace?"

Well, no, but they weren't going to admit that. "Psychotic? Is that what they're calling us?"

The guard shrugged. "You're armed and dangerous and they want you detained if possible. Mentally disturbed, maybe it was. And something about you having some sort of hold over the princess here. You sure you're not being forced?" he directed toward the back of the car.

"Quite sure," she answered, putting on a smile to cover the question of whether she might not be a little crazy herself right now.

"And you're sure they aren't crazy?"

"Absolutely." She didn't allow there to be a pause before answering.

"Because we'll stop them if they're kidnapping you."

Duo bared his teeth in a smile. "No, you won't."

"We should be going," Heero murmured before things could go any further.

"Thank you," Relena said earnestly as Duo shifted the car back into drive. "I'm sorry if you get into any trouble."

The guard waved her words away. "Nah, don't worry 'bout it, Your Highness. We can take care of ourselves. You just gave us your royal permission to let you go, and last time I checked, you still had more power in these parts than they did. You be safe now. I'd avoid Highway Thirty-three, if I were you, and maybe a bit of the Crossfield district. Office chatter says that that's where a bunch of government flunkies got their posts and such."

She thanked them again before the car sped away. Brockovich watched them go, waving amiably at their back window. She sure was a pretty young lady. No wonder Marsden had such a crush on her. Once they were a decent distance away, he stretched and headed back to his post.

Marsden trailed along behind him. "But sir... They're armed and dangerous. And unpredictable. And mentally disturbed. And a threat to Her Highness. And..."

"Didn't look like they were trying to harm her to me." A guy could never trust what came out of the mouths of bureaucrats. "Looked pretty normal, in fact."

"But... What... what should we tell our superiors?"

He settled back into his seat with a satisfied air. "What do you mean?"

"I mean... we let them go, sir."

"We were told to be on the lookout for a princess and her kidnappers, Marsden, two men that stole Her Highness away from the middle of her wedding ceremony, and I didn't see any kidnapped princesses here, did you?"

"Uh. No, sir, no kidnapped princesses here."

"Good."

*****

They checked into a small inn about an hour past the border with a sense of relief. After securing the room, Heero sat down on one of the queen-sized beds and fell over. "I'm too old for this shit."

Duo kicked Heero's boot as he walked by on the way to the bathroom. "Watch your language, bitch."

Heero rose partially to throw a retort at his back, but he caught sight of Relena hovering uncertainly by the room's table and stopped himself with an almost shamefaced look. "Just ignore us," he said by way of apology, sitting up all the way. "When this is over, you can compare notes with Noin about how annoying the two of us are when we're together. And don't stand so close to the window."

She glanced reflexively at the window before pointing out the obvious. "But the curtains are closed."

He shrugged. "Still a point of vulnerability. I'm sorry you have to room with the two of us."

She sat down tentatively next to him and offered a small smile, pulling the ends of her sleeves over her hands in an old, shy habit. It was one of the reasons she had all of her suits tailored to the proper length. "It's alright. It's better than rooming with him, 'til death do we part."

He chuckled. "That's not saying much."

"How long are we going to stay here?"

A small sigh escaped him. Like everyone else, it seemed sometimes, she was looking to him for the answers. He was almost willing to disappoint her. Almost. "...For the night, at least. We'll have to take stock of the situation, figure out where we want to go from here."

Duo came out of the bathroom, distracting the two of them for a while as he stretched. "Bastards didn't give us enough towels or anything. I'm gonna go scrounge some up."

"There was a shop or something downstairs," Heero said. "We should see about getting Relena something different to wear." The coveralls, though practical, were not what a young lady would normally wear on the streets. Especially not with white satin heels. "Some flip-flops or something, if they have them."

He glanced at the footwear Relena was self-consciously trying to hide beneath the bedskirt. Even flip-flops would be more practical than heels. "Yeah. Okay. Anything else, master?"

"Don't tempt me," Heero murmured, one eyebrow tilted up in wry humor.

"Hn. Sounds like I should get out of here before things get out of hand. I'll just leave you lovebirds alone, then. I'll be sure to knock before coming back in."

"Just get out of here."

Duo saluted him mockingly before heading out the door.

The remaining two sat in silence for a while before Relena started again.. "So... Lu's really okay?"

"Yeah," he answered. "Apparently, she's friends with the Sweepers. They were transporting her back to Zechs in the L1 cluster when we left her."

"And the baby?"

"The docs checked her out. Everything okay, so far as we know."

"And... Milliardo?"

"A few injuries resisting capture. He was okay, too, last time we saw."

"And..." She struggled to find the next question burning in her mind. Although Duo was apparently Heero's friend, she felt the need to get a personal talk with Heero out of the way while Duo was out of the room. She could get back to the politics later. She kicked off her heels and set her feet on the bed, pulling her knees up to her chest. "How are you, Heero?"

That question wasn't nearly as simple as it sounded. "...Can you be more specific?"

"We didn't get the chance to talk much before you had to rush off, last time. I... I want to know how you've been. I want to know more about what you've been doing these last five years. You said things weren't... weren't..."

"Good?" He sighed and lay back down onto the bed again. "They weren't bad. They just weren't... good."

"But... they were supposed to help you," she said with an internal wince, hearing the painful naïveté there.

"They didn't." It sounded too harsh to him, too final. He tried to explain without really going into it. "Maybe they started out with that in mind... We just found out that they planned it, though. The Jurgensens, EUW, whoever. They took over the program at some point, and then someone decided it would be better to keep us contained than to help us assimilate. They just wanted to neutralize us. And they did. They did it so well, we barely even noticed. They just... stopped us from getting anywhere."

She hugged her knees tighter to her chest, wanting in reality to be hugging him, but unsure of her reception. "Oh, Heero... But they failed, didn't they? In 'neutralizing' you. You're here, after all. You're still out and foiling their plans."

"Don't be so sure of that," he murmured. "They got me. They got me good."

"How... how can you say that, Heero? You saved me, you saved Lu, you saved Mil. How can you say that?"

"Because it's different in here," he said, tapping the side of his skull. "I didn't say my skills were gone or anything. I just..."

"You just what?" she asked softly, knowing she wasn't going to like the answer.

"I just... When you can't touch the world... the world stops touching you."

"Heero..."

"I'm sorry, Relena," he apologized, feeling as if he had failed her somehow.

"No..." It started out as a denial that such an apology was necessary. It turned into a general denial shortly thereafter. She uncurled a little as she faced him, the better to confront him with. "No, Heero. Then why are you here? Why did you come see me to begin with? Why have you helped all of these people that I care about? You can't mean all of these terrible things. You just can't."

He raised himself partially on one elbow. "Relena..."

She threw herself at him suddenly, burying her face in his shoulder and pushing him back flat against the mattress. "Why, Heero?" she asked, close to tears but not quite. It was more desperation and fear than anything else, maybe something that had been building up all day and all week and maybe even for months. She depended on Heero, needed him to be solid and unwavering. "Why do you always have to turn my world upside down? Why can't you ever just, just drop in for tea?"

Huh. What was the proper response in this situation? He patted her awkwardly on the back. "I don't really drink tea."

Her laugh came perilously close to a sob. She choked it down. "Did you know, Heero, I used to think about you. I used to think about what you'd do if you were in my position, or what you'd expect from me, and I'd try to live up to that--"

"Don't, Relena," he whispered in a pained voice. "Don't... use me as a guide. Don't look up to me. Don't respect me. And by all that's holy... don't try and be like me. I don't want you to be like me. I don't want you to end up like me."

"I don't understand, Heero." She pushed herself off of him to look down at him and try to figure him out. It didn't help much. "I don't... Why wouldn't I? You get things done. You motivate other people to be and do their best. You're strong--"

"No, Relena. I'm not. I'm really not." He let his eyes fall shut on the image of the blank ceiling and the distressed damsel, and tried to imagine a world where he was just another guy. A nobody, and not simply because there was someone out there trying to make him that way. They did it because he was important, and he didn't want to be important. Well, maybe important to just one or two people. He could manage that, maybe. But other than that... just normal.

When Duo got back to the room, Heero was still flat on his back. Relena had retreated to the other bed, arms wrapped around herself in a defensive huddle. Well, he thought to himself. This was awkward. But that wasn't his problem. He tossed a parcel onto the bed next to Relena. "There you go, Princess. It's all they had. A touristy shirt, some cheap flip-flops, probably for the pool, but no pants or anything. I think you'll just have to settle for tying the sleeves of the coveralls around your waist. It'll probably look better after you get out of the man's undershirt. And I asked for more bathroom stuff. They said they'd send someone up with some."

Relena glanced hesitantly down at the bag, then over to Heero before she picked it up and went to the bathroom to change and wash up. Once the door was closed behind her, Duo sat down next to Heero and poked him in the side. "Hey, I thought you were supposed to be all happy once you saved the princess."

Heero looked at him tiredly before grabbing the front of his shirt and pulling him down for a fast, needy kiss. Duo wasn't one to complain, going so far as to thoughtlessly participate before he pulled away with a soft gasp to stare at Heero in surprise. Heero looked back at him, the weariness picking up an edge of intensity. "I know why you do it, Maxwell."

Shirt still held in a tight grasp, Duo blinked at him from only a short distance away. "Huh?"

"I know why you do it. You said as much yourself. To forget. If just for a moment. To forget. And to feel... feel like... you're nothing."

Duo jerked himself out of Heero's hold, an immediate denial on his lips, only staring at Heero, he couldn't bring himself to speak it. There was too much understanding there for plausible deniability.

There was a knock on the door, and he jumped, turning toward the sound with a snap of his head. "I have your towels and other amenities," a voice called.

Running a hand through his bangs, Duo got up and went to the door, studiously avoiding even a single look at Yuy. He was distracted enough that he almost forgot to check out their visitor through the peephole.

After accepting the items and shutting the door behind the delivery man, the bathroom door opened a crack and Relena peered through it timidly. "It's alright for me to come out, right?"

It was a sad day when even the pampered princess was thinking better about security than he was. He waved her into the room, startled again when the TV suddenly turned on. Heero had found the remote control and located a news channel.

The picture solidified into a weepy-eyed Karl Jurgensen, just finishing up his plea to the public. "--want Relena back safe."

His father pushed him gently out of the way and took his place in front of the microphones. "Of course, we are all deeply distraught by this disturbing turn of events. It seems inconceivable to us that certain discontent segments of society would feel it necessary to engineer this kidnapping of a world leader in the middle of her highly anticipated wedding. Relena Peacecraft is a strong, popular figure that is very important to the world community, who has dedicated her life to the cause of pacifism. We don't know what these terrorists think to accomplish by taking her away from us. What could they want that they did not feel could be addressed through peaceful channels? It pains me to think that we could have failed them so badly.

"These terrorists are mistaken if they think that they will get away with this. Pacifism does not equate to passivity. We will carry out whatever steps necessary to rescue the princess from their hands. A philosophy of peace means nothing if we are not strong enough to enforce it, and absolute peace will never be achieved if we give in to terrorism and extremism."

Relena listened to his speech in horrified fascination. "It... sounds right... and yet..."

"Well, Trowa did say something about them being pacifists, didn't he?" Duo remarked to his fellow 'terrorist'.

"Hm. Maybe that explains the weapon. Maybe they're building the power necessary to enforce their pacifist agenda."

"But that's not how it works," Relena whispered. "It isn't pacifism if everyone's peaceful just because all the power is concentrated in a single entity's hands."

Duo shrugged, falling to a bouncing seat next to Heero. Not exactly the person he wanted to be next to at the moment, but less weird than being next to Relena, especially since he refused to acknowledge any weirdness at all. "At least it's straightforward. None of this behind the scenes socio-economic manipulation crap they've been doing 'til now." Heero concurred with a slight nod of his head. Weaponry, they knew how to handle.

Unsurprisingly, that didn't sit too well with Relena as she stayed riveted to the newsfeed. The Jurgensen patriarch went on to spew more pseudo-pacifist rhetoric against these terrible men that had stolen the world's beloved princess away.

Since it was on, Duo listened, too, gaining some small sense of satisfaction at their instant notoriety, even if it was for something entirely incorrect. "Hey, I get it now. Now they have the excuse to put down any of the dissident factions."

Heero grunted blandly. "Hn. Oops."

"I wonder what they plan after that. I really don't get why anyone wants to take over the world, anyway. What do you do after you have it? Then you're stuck with all the little governance things, and how boring is that?"

Relena finally picked up on what they were saying. "What dissident factions?"

"Aw, come on, Princess, don't tell me your tower was that ivory. Unrest's been growing all over the place. There were, what, protests in India? A small riot in Zaire. Rising poverty in Sydney 'burbs. Unemployment somewhere or another. A bombing, where was it, San Francisco? The malcontents are everywhere, these days, and not by coincidence either, Quatre said."

"What do you mean?" Of course she had known about the unrest throughout the sphere, and she'd wanted to do something about it, but she'd never considered the civil disobedience to be outright dissent. The people were just acting out their frustrations.

"He said the whatsamacallem, um, that consortium. EUW? It's been stirring up trouble in these places, inciting and all that. Given what's going on now," he gestured at the TV set, "sounds like they're pretty happy to get a reason for them to go in and do whatever it is they plan on doing. Then again, it's not like the current gov's been all that shy about squishing people they don't like."

"But... what could they be planning? What could they gain? If they were the ones exacerbating the problems in the first place, then they can't be wanting to fix them. The problems wouldn't even be there if they hadn't stuck their fingers into it."

Duo shrugged carelessly. "Maybe they weren't bad enough by themselves to justify fixing. Maybe they just want to rearrange the world according to how they like it. People are like that, you know. Never satisfied with the way things are. Always wanting to try running it their way. Always think they can do a better job."

"That's..." She looked back at the TV. The news conference was over now, and the reporters had moved on to a special segment detailing the 'dissidents' around the world that may have been responsible for the attack on the day's ceremony. These people were innocent of any wrongdoing. "Heero, we have to stop them."

Before she had even finished the sentence, Heero was in motion, getting off the bed in one smooth, silent line and heading out the door. He snagged the ice bucket on the way out, letting that stand as reason enough to vacate the room.

Relena blinked at his sudden departure while Duo let out a low laugh. "Damn. I leave you two kids alone for five minutes, and you can't stay out of trouble." He lay down on the bed casually, one hand behind his head. His other lay on the blankets in the spot Heero had occupied, feeling the warmth already beginning to fade.

"I..." She stared at the door for a while, as if hoping that Heero might come back, or maybe trying to figure out the motivations behind the abrupt act. When Duo shifted slightly on the bed, her attention went back to him, and thus reminded, she went to the empty bed and perched nervously on the edge, facing him. "Duo... Is it true? Heero said... he said that, when you can't touch the world anymore, the world stops touching you. Is that... true? For you, at least?"

He laughed again, not giving much of a damn about how fragile she looked. "Poetic, ain't he? I probably wouldn't have said it half as nice."

"So... it is?"

"I'm getting the feeling you don't want it to be true," he answered wryly.

"I..." She nibbled on her lower lip, a bad habit that she had mostly abolished by use of lipstick, but unfortunately for her at this moment, her time in the bathroom had been occupied by not only changing, but also scrubbing off some of her makeup. "I don't understand."

"You didn't have it so bad."

"But Heero..."

"What? He's just Heero? He's not supposed to doubt? He's not supposed to not give a damn? Well, tough luck. He does, and he doesn't." And that was a good thing and a bad thing. At least Duo had one up on her. He couldn't believe Heero's change of heart sometimes, but at least he understood it.

"But... If there was something that helped me get through the first war, it was the thought of Heero, of all of you, out there, fighting against all odds for something you believed in, no matter what anyone else said or did. What's happened to that?"

"We haven't stopped fighting for what we believe in, Princess. We just don't believe in this anymore."

"Then why? I still don't understand why you're here, then. Why you came to see me. Heero said..." She trailed off, uncertain of whether or not Duo was privy to such things. After a moment's thought, she decided it was better to move on. If he knew, then he would know what she was talking about. "...but it doesn't make any sense. It doesn't explain anything."

Duo waved his hand in a negligent gesture. He didn't know what Heero had told her, either. "So the boy's got a thing for you or something. I dunno."

"You two have come so far, done so much, learned so much. How can you just stop here?"

He sighed. It was Heero's job to deal with idealistic young females. "Look. Whatever made him go after you in the first place, he went after Zechs because someone asked him to. He went after Noin because someone asked him to. If you really want him to save this good-for-nothing world, maybe you should just try asking him, too."

"What do you think I was doing? I was asking him to--"

"No, you were 'expecting' him to. And he's through with that."

"But... you live in this world. How can you not care about what goes on in it? What happens affects you. It doesn't matter how far you have your head buried in the sand. It affects you, and the world around you. How can you not care?" She shook her head in frustration as her fingers twiddled the corner of a pillow case. "When you can't touch the world anymore... Oh, I just don't understand!" She punched the pillow once before hugging it in a sulk.

"Hn. Good thing you don't. Heero'd probably go declare himself a failure if you did." And that poor boy really didn't need anything else to depress him. Duo sighed, not knowing why he felt the need to defend Heero. Maybe because in defending Heero, he was also defending himself. "Look. Maybe Heero's pretty way of saying things is just confusing. How about my way? The world screwed us over. We put in all this effort, and in the end, nothing really got better. And now they're saying we're psychotic terrorists or something, which is even worse than just being terrorists from the last war, and the world seems to be going along with that just fine. Now you tell me why we should be interested in doing it all over again."

She had no ready answers for him.

*****

Part 19

The lighting was dim, but his eyes had long since adjusted to the darkness. He'd always had good night vision. He'd always suffered from mild insomnia, too. It had been obvious to him that he wouldn't be able to get any sleep with two other bodies sleeping in the same room as he, with one even in the same bed.

He'd been mistaken. Although he'd woken, he had been sleeping. He turned his head to the right, picking out the faint details of Heero's slumbering form beside him. The princess had, of course, gotten a bed to herself. Such was only proper, especially with Heero's frown presiding over the matter. There hadn't been any need for deliberations. But damn him if the end result didn't have him waking up next to Heero Yuy once again. And this time, in a bed. One criterion down, only one more to go, and then... then there'd be trouble.

Shit. He wanted to scrub at his eyes or punch Yuy or something, something to dispel this weird feeling brewing inside of him. He didn't know what it was, but he knew it started when Heero Yuy showed up one night at one of his hangouts. Why had Yuy succeeded where Howard had failed to pry him loose from his self-imposed punishments? He didn't know that, either, and he didn't really want to know. It would, no doubt, require him to look more deeply into his own behavior, and that never turned out very well at all.

He exhaled softly, an almost sigh. No one had asked him what he was doing here, lately, which was just as well. He knew no better than Heero did.

There was a nearly imperceptible shift in the air, and then Heero turned to face him. The quiet rhythm of his breaths told Duo that he was awake. They stared at each other's dark outlines for a minute before Heero drew in the air to say something. Before he spoke, he thought better of it, and pulling one hand out from under the blankets carefully, he lifted it clear of the bed for a better view and gestured toward the bathroom in inquiry. After a long hesitation, Duo responded by slipping out of bed with a gentle rustling of sheets. Heero followed.

They padded into the bathroom and shut the door behind them. Once safely secured inside, Heero, standing to the outside, flipped the lightswitch, leaving the two of them squinting at each other's rumpled appearances in the painful illumination before the loud bathroom fan kicked in. Not wanting to wake Relena with the noise, he hurriedly shut the light off, and with it went the buzz and rattle of the ventilation.

There was a very faint nightlight embedded in the light switch panel, but it provided only direction and orientation in the small, unlit room. Fortunately, there wasn't much in there, and their memories were keen enough to have marked their positions. They leaned together against the sink's countertop, close enough for their arms to touch, but not quite closing the gap between them.

Duo wasn't certain what they had come in here for, though it wasn't any less productive than lying in bed awake. Eventually, the awkwardness overcame him and he spoke in a hushed tone. "You've really messed her up, yanno."

"I know," Heero sighed with equal volume.

"What are you going to do?"

"I don't know."

"She's gonna mess you up, too, isn't she?"

Too late for that. "Fair's fair." He wondered if maybe that was the reason why he had started down this path. She had always had a strange effect on him. Maybe he'd come here seeking it. "Do you think Quatre was right?"

"What about?"

"About me... being afraid."

Duo didn't want to answer that one. It was sure to be self-incriminating in some way. "I've never known you to be afraid, Yuy. At least, not enough for it to stop you."

"Maybe five years are enough to wear a man down." He shut his eyes for a moment, the weariness dragging at him. He tried not to show it, maybe in the hopes that he could abolish it if he just pretended it wasn't there, but here in the darkness, he could let it out and no one would be the wiser. "I've tried, Duo. I've tried to muster up some sense of responsibility for what's going on in the world right now. But I keep coming up short. The big picture just fails to make an impact on me. I know what I would have done, five years ago. I know what I would have done four years ago, even. But now. I go through the motions. I keep looking for that spark inside of me, and I can't find it. I've never felt so... 'passive' before."

Duo let out a puff of air. "I know what I would have done five years ago. It probably would have been just going through the motions. I always was a rather screwed up little kid. Heh, I guess maybe that's why the government guys left me on my own, for the most part. They saw potential in you, and they had to squish it. Me? I guess I can take care of that myself just fine."

Heero leaned against his shoulder briefly before turning to face him, almost rolling across him, until he pressed Duo against the edge of the countertop with the weight of his body. "It's like a drug, isn't it?" he whispered, his mouth suddenly in close proximity to Duo's ear.

Uncharacteristically unsure of himself, Duo held himself very still. "What?"

Lips brushed lightly down his jawline before returning to their starting position. "Forgetting. You just do it a little bit at first, and it feels good for a while. But after the high, you crash. You feel empty inside, so you want to forget some more...."

He shivered, finding that one of his hands had risen to graze the thin cotton covering Heero's back. If he was going to do this, he should have been ravaging the hell out of Yuy, not acting like this maybe meant something.

"And soon," the murmur continued. "Soon you need it so much that it just becomes another part of your day, a part of the routine. And we're good at routines, aren't we?"

No, kissing Heero Yuy like a first-timer was not a part of his routine. Not at all. A split second before their lips would have touched, he turned away, forcing his heart to slow and his hand to glue itself back to the countertop where it belonged. "Heero..." A head came to rest against his shoulder. "What part of your routine says you rush off to save the girl?"

"My routine got broken up before that, when someone shoved me into an alley and tried to knife me." There came a grimly amused sound. "How different things would be in this world, if only that hadn't happened. Or if only he had succeeded."

Duo shivered again. "What are you going to do, Heero?"

"I don't know, Duo. I don't know." For now, he was going to stand here in the dark, leaning into his companion, and pretend that nothing outside that door existed. No doubt, when they left the confines of this little room, it would be the other way around, and they would pretend that this had never happened. But for now... he would forget.

*****

When the day dawned, Relena unfortunately found her two rescuers no more tractable than they had been the night before. Luckily for her, she'd done some thinking and dreaming that night, and in the morning, she had a plan. Dorothy was right: a princess couldn't depend on her knights to do all the work. Especially when they seemed to have gotten lost on the way back to the castle. A princess had tools at her disposal, after all, and two knights astray were no match for her.

When they asked her where she might be able to lay low for a while, it took only a moment's thought to come up with the right answer. "Dorothy has a country villa in Belgium. She doesn't spend much time there, but I've visited her there once or twice. Her staff is minimal. The groundskeeper is retired from one of her family's other estates. I know he's fiercely devoted to the Catalonias."

"Dorothy is a good friend of yours these days?" Heero asked skeptically, recalling the girls' differences of opinion from his time in Sanq. Dorothy had been dangerous, and related to their enemies by blood. She'd then taken command of a mobile doll army at Zechs' behest. Though he hadn't done much fighting against the dolls himself, it did not reflect well upon her in his mind.

"I trust her, Heero. I won't say she's changed since you last knew her, but I don't know what I would have done without her these last few years. She's been the only one to understand. I know she'll help."

"They'll be keeping an eye on her, if she's as good a friend as you say."

"And like I said, she won't be anywhere near that estate in all likelihood. But the groundskeeper knows me, and my relationship to his mistress. He'll let us in and keep quiet about it."

He frowned. "Is there no one else?"

"No one I trust so much in this area. I'm not going to space to visit the rest of them."

His sigh was nearly a growl. "Fine. We'll go to Dorothy's place."

The first baby steps of her plan had been taken. The villa wasn't so far from the world capital, and that was where she needed to be. As much as her heart ached for the innocent people caught up in this political mess, especially rough since they were already the low and dispossessed, she had recognized that her limited powers were best wielded at the source of the problem. But first, she needed to get there.

It was noon the next day when she figured out that her plans were more easily said than done. There were hotspots all over the world, but some of those spots were in her own backyard as well, so to speak. A flock of migrant workers in the orchards of Grenville were restless. Recent advances in technology, supported and subsidized by the EUW, had eliminated the need for such a large work force, leaving the pickers at a loss. Money for the season suddenly seeming scarce, they had begun to agitate and harass the landowners.

It was Relena's natural instinct to stop and talk with both sides of the disputes to try and make peace between them, but Heero voted her down, very grateful that they had rented a two door. It made it easier to keep an eye on the progressive princess. "Relena, you can't go out there."

"All they need is a mediator," she tried reasonably, taking in the fields of mechanical harvesters through the window. They changed the landscape, made it seem more impersonal.

"It takes time to mediate these things. And a more thorough understanding of the situation. And it takes just one person to report that you were here for our enemies to track us down. If it gets out that you weren't kidnapped by wicked terrorists, all of their plans will come crumbling down."

"Which is why it should get out."

"Which is why they will do everything they can to make sure it doesn't," he responded firmly. "There are far too many easy ways to counter such a story. Even if you come out on a broadcast to tell the truth, they can just say that we drugged you or brainwashed you, or maybe we're threatening you with something. It won't be foolproof, but it'll last long enough and cast enough doubt for them to move and implement a more permanent solution for themselves."

She wanted to protest further, but so long as Duo didn't stop the car, all the words in the world wouldn't make a difference. Even if she did manage to worm her way out, she had no doubt that Heero wouldn't hesitate to tie her up, gag her, and toss her in the trunk, and then she'd really be a princess kidnapped by terrorists. She settled for sulking in the back seat, weighing Heero's concerns. When she finally made it back to the central government, it would be best for her to have strategies mapped out to counter anything their adversaries might throw at her.

Far too many times during those planning sessions, she wanted to ask the other two for input, but that would have obviously tipped her hand. Following those impulses had been bursts of incomprehension, fear, sadness, and irritation. She still didn't understand what had happened to the strong, proud Gundam pilots she had known. They sat in the car with mostly silence, moving from easy and companionable to dark and brooding. Occasionally conversation would be made, and that, too, ran the gamut from casual to cutting. She felt like a white elephant stranded in their car at times, representing something that neither of them wanted to examine too closely. She did her best not to snap at them; just because she didn't understand them was no reason for her to be snippy with them. Not while they were helping her, whatever their motivations were.

The journey through the countryside was deceptively easy. For her, at least. Other than the disturbance they had encountered in Grenville, and the varying mood inside the car, she felt they could have been on a simple road trip. Then again, she was sure that they were taking precautions that she was not even aware of. They obeyed a majority of the traffic laws to make sure no authorities felt it necessary to pull them over. The car had been rented and pre-paid for a week, so the plates would not show up on any 'hot' lists. Listening to the news, she could tell the search for them was still going strong, but now that the Jurgensens, and whoever their allies were, had spun the story such that her disappearance was a necessity for them, local and state authorities were not taking every means available to locate them. They didn't want her to be found by any officials. The more devious would be any local agents they may have had in place.

She directed them to the villa in the late afternoon, hoping that her memory was accurate, never having been the one to transport herself into the countryside. It took a wrong turn or two, along with some forebearance and tolerance from her chauffeurs, but they got there in one piece, and to the best of their ability to determine, which was a considerable degree, without anyone on their tail.

Heero stayed with her in the car while Duo scouted the area to determine its suitability. Relena was almost afraid to talk to him. He was still Heero, and yet not. She wouldn't have minded getting to know him all over again, but not at this particular point in time. There were important things that had to be done, and she couldn't afford to be distracted by the way her rock had suddenly shaken loose beneath her grip.

Duo returned to report that the place seemed to be clear, and that the groundskeeper was in the gardens to the rear of the estate, tending to his craft. They decided that it was better to approach him there, out in the open, rather than through the front door. Duo poked Heero teasingly in the side through a vine-covered fence. "Try not to let him sneak up on us this time, eh?"

"I don't recall that you noticed him, either," Heero murmured in response, cupping his hands to give Relena a leg up over the fence and into Duo's waiting hands. Once she had cleared the obstacle, he vaulted it with ease himself.

The last time they had snuck through a garden, they had spent too long deliberating on the method of approach. This time, Relena had not nearly as many concerns as they did, and she walked confidently, if carefully, towards the man gardening. She cleared her throat quietly once she was near. "Pierre?"

The groundskeeper looked up calmly at the interruption, a habitual frown turning into a welcoming smile when he identified his visitor. "Miss Relena, how lovely to see you here. What brings you to my gardens today?"

Duo cast a suspicious look at Heero, who returned it in a more mild form. This conversation seemed a little too familiar to them.

Not having been privy to the first, Relena continued. "Oh, Pierre, I hope you don't mind my just dropping in like this, but I'm afraid that I need a place to stay for a little while, and I'm sure Dorothy wouldn't mind. I just haven't been able to get in contact with her."

Pierre waved his trowel at them good-naturedly, though he squinted an inspection at the two men accompanying her. "Of course, yer ladyship. No trouble at all. Please, come in, come in!" He dusted himself off hastily and led them in through the back door and into the kitchens.

"Okay, this is really weird," Duo muttered. "Doesn't anyone blink twice at people just randomly showing up in their backyards anymore?"

Heero snorted quietly. "Don't look a gift horse in the mouth."

Relena's assessment of the villa seemed to have been correct so far. It did not look lived in, nor did it look like it expected the lady of the house to visit any time soon. There were foodstuffs on the countertop, but not much perishable. Pierre shuffled through it for a bit, trying to find something appropriate quickly before settling on offering them water.

"Oh, don't trouble yourself, Pierre," Relena said, pre-empting his attempt to fetch some glasses. "We can take care of ourselves here. I promise, we won't be a problem. I just... I have to be honest with you. Have you been keeping up with the news?"

"Never you mind about that, girl," the older man responded gruffly. "I know what's going on out there. It's a damn good thing you got away from those good-for-nothings, and I know Miss Dorothy would say so, too. You were right, she'd hide you away here herself if she were here."

It was a little frustrating that everyone seemed to have seen what a bad idea the marriage was, except for her. "Then you know that they're looking for me. I don't want to bring you any trouble."

"Bah. Trouble and I are old friends."

That didn't bode well in Heero's mind. He scowled, and Relena noticed. "Let me introduce you to my two friends. That's Duo Maxwell, and this is Heero Yuy. Otherwise known as the man who can be counted on to tell me what he thinks is good for me."

Duo stifled a snort.

"I don't know what the media are saying about them, but I'm sure it isn't true. They didn't kidnap me. They--"

"Aye, I know who they are," Pierre frowned. He had, after all, worked for the Catalonias, kin to the Dermails and Khushrenadas. Gundam pilots were no natural friends of his, whether they were currently saving the world or experiencing psychotic breaks.

"Do you, now?" Duo murmured, a subtle threat hiding in his tone. "What is it with old guys that know so much these days?"

"We've been around longer," the senior grumped. "'Course we know more than you youngsters. Why, I bet I coulda given you a run for your money back in my day."

"Rather lively for a groundskeeper, weren't you?"

"Groundskeeper? Bah. I'm just retired these days. I coulda run circles around you. You never saw me and ol' Bertrand going at it. Ah, those were the days."

"Bertrand?" Relena interrupted politely. "Bertrand Pargan, you mean?"

"That's the one," Pierre crowed proudly. "Me and him, we were rivals, you know. How we led each other on merry little chases. I remember this one time we were both down in France, looking into the Ernst scandal. Damn, the fun we had."

Heero cleared his throat delicately. "Pargan? Retired? Butler?"

"Bah! He's as much a butler as I am a groundskeeper." Which really wasn't saying much, since the two ex-pilots didn't know how much or little he was a groundskeeper.

Relena explained. "Yes, Pargan. You didn't know?"

"Know? Know what?"

"Pargan was a member of my father's -- Peacecraft, that is -- he was a member of the Sanq Intelligence Corps before the country fell."

Blink blink. He got the uncomfortable feeling he should have figured that one out by now. "Oh. That might explain why he was able to help me borrow my hitman's credit card." Good ol' Marvin had been financing their expenses lately. It made him feel slightly better about Pargan knowing more about leading edge technologies than he did. He glanced over to see how Duo was taking the news, but Duo had taken Heero's diversion of the group's attention to spend his reaction, and now he was able to appear completely unfazed by the information, despite his initial surprise.

"Child's play!" Pierre huffed. "Why, I remember the time he broke the code on General Hermann's personal transmissions...."

*****

Part 20

Relena seemed enthralled by the tales the old man could tell, and it seemed to keep her from asking too many questions that Heero didn't want to answer, so he was content to let things be. Duo was also content after he noticed the coffee maker on the kitchen counter, and the coffee beans that went with it. As expected, Lady Catalonia was a woman of discriminating tastes, and purveyor of a brand even finer than Pargan's. He figured that, as their hostess, surely Dorothy wouldn't mind sharing some of her fine brew with him.

Rather than listening in on story time, Heero decided to roam the estate, making sure it was secure. It was a nice place, if classically aristocratic. An intricate rose garden outside made him think of Treize, and of the war. Thinking about the war just made him moody, so he turned his thoughts to the present.

Duo caught up with him when he was almost done. "Find anything else coffee-like?"

His lips bloomed with the briefest of smiles at the thought of looting Dorothy's estate, but the amusement quickly died. "Do you think...?"

"Hm? What?"

"I..." He shook his head sharply, trying to dislodge the strange disconnection he was feeling. "I was just thinking... contemplating... musing. Exploring the possibilities."

"Alright already. I get it. Don't take what you say seriously. Go on."

And yet it was a curiously serious matter. "What if I really am suffering from post-traumatic stress?"

It wasn't uncommon. And since its definition was sufficiently broad, Duo wouldn't be surprised if they were all suffering from a bit of it. "So?"

"So... what if..." He paused in his passage down a hallway to run his fingers through his hair, then slumped against a nearby wall. "What if... That is, wouldn't it be..."

Duo raised his eyebrows as he calmly sipped at his coffee. This was highly unusual for Yuy. "Just spit it out, man."

Easier said than done. "Wouldn't it be... 'something'... if they were right? Not just PTSD, but... it gets weird to think that it's possible I imagined being attacked in that alley."

"Whoa," he agreed placidly. "That is weird."

"What if I just had some violent PTSD reaction, and in a paranoid delusion, I imagined someone trying to kill me. What if this tracker I had implanted in the back of my neck was just another part of that delusion? That happens, right?"

Duo snorted. "To you, maybe. How do you explain the wound on the back of your neck?" He touched it almost reflexively, as if to make sure it was still there. It was almost completely healed now, giving him a moment of fright, but it still had a slightly different texture from the rest of his skin. "Maybe I fell. Maybe a cat scratched me. Maybe some neighborhood kid threw a brick at me. Maybe it really was just a mugger."

Duo leaned in close, close enough for his stage whisper to waft the gentle scent of coffee to his nose. "You're crazy."

A corner of Heero's lips lifted. "That would only confirm my hypothesis."

"Oh, I get it. You've been missing your regular dose of medication or something, haven't you?"

"Hmpf. The only thing regular about my 'medication' I've been missing is the way I faithfully flushed one pill down the toilet every day."

"Anti-depressants?"

"Sleeping pills, too."

"So, anti-depressants and depressants? How is that supposed to work?"

He shrugged. They probably would have thrown any drugs at him to pretend they were doing their job. Or maybe they just wanted him to overdose himself one day. "Anti-depressants were the ones to go. They cared more about that one."

"Unexpectedly rebellious of you, Yuy."

"Maybe just another part of my paranoid delusions."

"You're just trying to be difficult now, aren't you?"

He shrugged. "I was just musing, I said. Just... thinking about how close their fiction is to actually being a reality."

"You think about weird things, Yuy. Did you actually take the sleeping pills?"

"Not regularly. Only a few times. When things were... bad." He glanced away.

"I never took you for the depressed type."

"Doesn't mean I lie around in bed all day crying."

"I know." Wasn't as if he hadn't done his own research into the matter before. And the diagnosis was the product of a government shrink being paid to oppress his patients. Not exactly the sort of thing he was inclined to put his faith in. "You still seem sorta... normal."

"I'm out of the situation that caused it in the first place, remember? Besides... I've never been a very cheerful person to begin with."

"No, that you haven't. You don't believe all that shit, right? I mean, not that it actually did happen, but that it could?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, if you think that bull could really happen to you, then you're falling for all that shit they've been spewing at us for years. You really think you're that easy to break? You really think we deserve to be locked away from the rest of the world so we don't hurt anyone but ourselves?"

"That wasn't what I signed on for."

"Me neither."

Heero pushed himself off the wall and continued his path toward the kitchen. "Hey... I guess I haven't asked lately. You still in?"

The question surprised Duo. He got a little warm inside thinking that his opinion was actually being taken into consideration, and understood how utterly annoying it must be to Yuy that no one ever asked him. "In on what?"

"I don't know yet. But we're not going to stay here forever. It'll probably be dependent on Relena, what she wants to do."

"Guess we should go find out then, eh?"

*****

Heero wouldn't have minded going to Tibet.

Duo wouldn't have minded going to Tahiti.

Unfortunately, life was rarely that simple.

It seemed that Relena and Pierre had moved on from story-time to an actual assessment of the political situation. Comparing notes, they had compiled a a decent picture of what was going on in the world capital. When Pierre excused himself to go back to his groundskeeping, Relena immediately tugged them over to the kitchen table and reported, cautious of making Heero flee the room again.

"The wedding was a trap, you said. I'm worried about the two of you. They won't hurt me, but they'll keep going after you."

"Don't be so sure of that," Duo muttered, speaking more loudly after his words were noticed. "They can hurt you easily, Princess. All they have to say is that we killed you. We're crazy, after all."

The notion had not occurred to her. "Is that sufficient justification for my murder?"

Heero chuckled darkly. "I always did mean to kill you during the war. I just never got around to it. Maybe in my post-traumatic break, I decided to finish the job."

She didn't like to think about that. She'd always been sure that Heero wouldn't hurt her either, but some of her certainties had been unraveling lately. "Maybe. But you're their primary target, I think. They've released more 'new' information on the two of you."

"Oooh," Duo cooed. "Do we eat babies now?"

"You're getting there. Pierre tells me that your pictures have been released to all the major authorities, though we guess just not to the media because you don't really look like nasty terrorists very much."

Heero rubbed his smooth chin thoughtfully. "Guess I'm glad I shaved."

"That look was terrible for you. They're saying that you were soldiers in the last war, and that you haven't been able to live in this peace, so you're trying to start another war. And that taking me was an act of protest or some such nonsense, a terrorist act."

"Well, most of that is right."

"Heero, I'm serious! They said they were talking to your old comrades to try and figure out your next move."

"Trowa's left them." Not that it mattered. Even Trowa wouldn't be able to inform them of anything when Heero himself didn't have any clue what the next step would be.

"Not him. I overheard them when I was at the Jurgensen's. They said something about Chang, about how he's proving cooperative."

"Chang..." He wondered how Wufei was doing these days. "Do you know where they keep him?"

"It sounded like they were keeping him in the capital, somewhere not far from the Senate."

"Hm. I bet Quatre would know for sure." Or Pargan. Hell, even Pierre, probably.

Though Duo had never really had a chance to get to know the enigmatic L5 man, he knew enough of the basics. "Chang wouldn't turn on us."

"What if he believed them?" Heero countered calmly. He half believed the story himself, after all. "Then it would be for the good of the peace."

"Dammit, Yuy. Why do you have to be so believably off your rocker?"

"Don't delude yourself into believing that you're not as well."

"Hey, I might blow shit up, but it's just because I feel like it. None of this PTSD stuff."

Heero shot him a look that clearly advised him not to delude himself into thinking that as well, but he held back on the comment out of deference to the other person in their presence. "It's been almost two weeks since I got out. Either they've been talking to Chang for a long time and getting nowhere with him, or this is a recent development."

"Well, you weren't threatening them before recently."

"They threatened me first."

Duo rolled his eyes. "Oh, good excuse."

"Either way. We should go see him. See what he's up to these days."

Unused to their ways, Relena protested. "He's in a secured compound, Heero." When he blinked at her as if he didn't understand her point, she elaborated. "They see him as the first of the pilots to have gone rogue, all those years ago during the Barton uprising. They've been keeping him under a strict house arrest."

"Aha," Duo interrupted. "So he's the inspiration for this little story of theirs, is he? Okay, I guess in the light of having done it himself before, I could kinda understand if he thought you were doing it, too."

"All the more reason to see him, then," Heero decided. Chang was a vision of what could become of him if the EUW got their hands on him again. He'd already been down that road before; he was, in fact, still on that road. He had no intentions of going all the way back to the beginning again.

"Take me with you," Relena said.

"Why do you want to talk to Wufei?" A few things clicked in his head and he frowned. "We are not taking you to the capital, Relena. Stay here. You're safe here."

"But..." She nibbled on her lower lip for a moment. "But what if I'm not? What if someone comes here looking for me?"

"Then don't open the door when they knock. I'm sure Pierre will be able to take care of you."

Not unexpectedly, Duo sniped from the sidelines. "Oh, sure, you don't trust the old guy on sight, but suddenly he's an enemy intelligence officer and you're buddy-buddy with him."

"He knew Pargan." And that was apparently recommendation enough for him. Duo shrugged. It was better not to argue some things.

Relena tried again. "But surely they'll be expecting you."

Heero blinked at her in more incomprehension. "They were expecting us at your wedding, too."

And what could she say to that?

*****

Part 21

Friedrich rubbed his forehead tiredly, trying to restrain himself. His wife was on the vidphone back in Sanq, telling him about their son's disappointment. It had been four days since the botched wedding, and the boy was still recovering. In a way, he couldn't help but wonder if this engagement hadn't been the best thing for Karl. Being denied something he had wanted for so long when he was so close to having it had crushed him. Friedrich had only wanted what was best for his family and his country. Was that too much to ask?

If they couldn't kill Heero Yuy and his little sidekick, they should have just killed Relena. Then they could have blamed her death on them and gotten the international community truly outraged. As things stood now, the situation was getting far too close to becoming a comedy of errors. There was nothing to convince them that the threat was real. It looked more like the bride had left the groom at the altar.

Damn those crafty pilots for not slaughtering half their security force, too. Part of them at the wedding had been reliable veterans, and the other part had been more of an honor guard completely unprepared and unaccustomed to seeing any action. He had accepted that at least a good half dozen of them wouldn't survive the encounter.

Fortunately, this was nothing that the EUW hadn't planned for. This just called for Plan B, and Plan B was much less hit-or-miss than Plan A had been. Security was ridiculously high at Rosegard. The rogue pilots would go after their fifth and final comrade. They had to. They wouldn't be able to help themselves. Not with the clues he and his allies had dropped. And when they did, they would fall. They wouldn't last past ten meters into the compound.

He stopped making the obligatory responses to his wife when a call waiting light blinked in the corner of his monitor. Recognizing the number, he quickly cut off his wife. "I have to go, dear."

"But--"

"I'll talk to you later." He cut her off before she could protest further and transferred the call to the other line. "Good morning, Kellan."

The face on the monitor did not look like it was having a good morning at all. "Jurgensen. Come to the Senate house immediately. We have a problem."

Just what they didn't need. "Have they taken the bait already?"

"Worse. Milliardo Peacecraft and Lucrezia Noin have just shown up to the Assembly."

*****

Duo spied the expression on Heero's face and poked him in the side with his elbow. "You're enjoying this, you bastard," he whispered.

His faint smile didn't slip. "So are you."

He was. Most fun he'd had in a while, actually. The security at the manor was just enough to be an interesting challenge, and still nowhere near the highest level of security they had once faced in the halls of OZ. These pseudo-pacifists didn't have what it took, neither experience nor ruthlessness. He accepted Heero's proffered hand and climbed carefully down the side of the building, stretching out full length along the wall before glancing up at Heero. Heero nodded, and with a squeeze of his hand let go. Duo's feet landed lightly on the ledge half a meter below.

Grabbing a hold of the window trimming to steady himself, he took another careful peek inside the window to make sure the path was clear before jimmying the lock open. Once that small obstacle had been taken care of, he swung the window open slowly, careful of the noise, and hopped inside.

Once again clearing the immediate area, he stuck a hand out the window and signaled to his partner, quickly moving out of the way to allow Heero the room to drop to the sill. He reached out once Heero's boots were planted and helped him inside.

Their point of entry was the library. If they were not mistaken, it was one of two libraries in the large estate. It looked like life was treating Wufei relatively well, other than the house arrest bit. That was, until Heero caught sight of a crest of the Khushrenada family. Duo changed his mind after that. He wondered if their keepers even realized what torment it would be for their old comrade to be housed in a building belonging to his old enemy.

A distant cough sounded from the first floor of the library. With an exchanged glance, they moved off in that direction, keeping to the inside of the mezzanine as they paced its perimeter, seeking their target and any guests he may have been entertaining. Finding no one, they moved on to the first floor, creeping through the shelves until they found their old friend sitting at a table, reading a book by the light of a desk lamp in the falling dusk.

Debating how best to attract his attention, Duo whistled lowly, a short signal pattern recognizable from the war time. Heero slapped him softly on the shoulder, a mild glare tacked onto the frown, for using a simulated bird call while indoors. Duo shrugged and did it again.

Wufei heard the call, but it did not register as strange until the second time, when he realized that he was not near a window, nor was the window open. He glanced up from his reading to look around, eyes widening when he saw the two pilots huddled at the end of an aisle of books beside him. He blinked and pushed his glasses up to the bridge of his nose to make sure the focus was in the right place and he was seeing what he thought he was seeing.

With a reflexive look around, he carefully marked his page, closed his book, stood, and walked down the aisle until he was right in front of them. "...What are you two doing here?" he asked, still somewhat doubtful.

"Just dropping by to say hello," Duo whispered cheerfully. "Is this place secure?"

Wufei cast a glance towards the shelves, running a light hand over a few of the titles. "Yes. This place has proven quite the sanctuary."

They took the opportunity to uncurl from their positions. "So, Chang, how've you been?" Duo asked lazily.

"Why are you here? I don't want any trouble."

Duo tilted an eyebrow at him. The words had been firm, not fearful, but still strangely out of character. "Who said anything about trouble?"

Not all of Wufei's traits were different. He made a mildly disdainful sound. "It's you, Maxwell. Trouble is a given. Especially in combination with him."

Now why did everyone always assume the worse of him? Heero wondered. "My reason for being here is perfectly honorable and legitimate, Chang."

"You two are in violation of your agreement with the government, and you are dragging me into it. Already that is not honorable."

"They didn't live up to their side of the agreement first, which effectively nullifies it in my mind."

"How so?"

"For starters, they tried to have me killed."

"Why would they do that?"

"Have you been keeping track of what's been happening recently?"

"I do not have much interest in what goes on beyond these walls."

He had expected as much, but unlike Heero, Wufei did not seem remorseful about it at all. "Relena was getting married. Her fiancé's family and his political consortium thought I might interfere with their plans."

"She 'was'?"

"She left him at the altar," he answered blandly, ignoring Duo's snicker.

"So they were right," Wufei observed. "You did ruin their plans."

"But not without just cause."

Wufei sighed and turned as if to return to his seat. "Leave me out of your romantic squabbles, Yuy."

Duo spared enough time for another snicker before grabbing Wufei by the back of the shirt and pushing him against a nearby bookshelf. "You haven't really turned on us, now have you?"

"I don't know what you mean." He calmly adjusted his glasses.

"Word on the outside is that you're helping your keepers try and figure us out."

"I could never figure you out, Maxwell."

Duo looked him critically up and down. "Yeah, probably. How about Heero? You know anything interesting about Heero that you've been a'sharing with the baddies?"

Wufei studied him with an inscrutable look before plucking Duo's hand off his shirt and smoothing the wrinkles out. "They did ask me about Yuy earlier this week. I had nothing of interest to tell them. If that is all you wanted to know, you can leave now."

"Wow. You're still an ass. Everyone else has changed, but you're still an ass."

Heero moved a half-step forward to try being a little less confrontational. "You're happy here?"

Wufei took a moment of silence to answer. "I am content."

Hearing Duo open his mouth to say something that would no doubt be inappropriate, Heero moved quickly. "What do you do here? Do you simply read and meditate and shut out the outside world?"

"Do you remember our battle against each other, Yuy? Do you remember what you said to me? You made me think. You made me reevaluate my life, and this is the conclusion that I have come to. I should think that you of all people would understand and accept that."

"That you belong outside of this world? I recall saying something about how we are all weak." He was feeling that especially these days. Here was yet another life he had changed, for better or for worse.

"This is why I have given up my futile struggle for strength and returned to a life of contemplation."

Duo, as usual, put things succinctly. "You're on crack, man. Good crack, maybe, but crack all the same. Come on, Heero, let's get out of here. You heard Zenmaster Chang. There's nothing here worth our time."

It seemed like a failure of some sort to admit defeat so quickly. Heero tried to find something that might catch Wufei's interest. "They tried to kill Quatre as well. They might come after you." Not that they had reason to, with him looking so tame.

He shrugged slightly. "Let them come. If it is my time, then I will die."

Heero frowned. "I thought that, too, not long ago. Up until the time came to actually lie down and die."

"You were weak when the time came."

"You know I do not fear death, Chang."

"Then what changed your mind?"

"It was not my time. Not then, not there, not by that hand. What do you do here, Chang?"

Wufei pulled a volume off the shelf and paged through it slowly. "There are many books in this library yet. Treize was a fine collector."

"This was his library?"

"It belongs to Mariemaia now. She resides here as well."

Duo broke in with a snide murmur. "All shacked up with a chick, too? You sure got it good here."

Wufei gave him a withering glance. "Must you be so crude, Maxwell?"

"As crudity goes, that barely even registered on the meter, man. If I really wanted to be crude, I'd--"

He stopped when Heero elbowed him in the side. "And how is she faring in this prison?"

"She has had to adjust," Wufei answered stiffly. "She is just entering her teenage years. It is difficult for her at times."

"She knows it for what it really is. You're the one hiding from the truth. Are you really going to stay here and read books for the rest of your life?"

"What else would you have me do?"

He stumbled to a halt, his brief flame flickering uncertainly. He didn't even know what it was he was trying to do with his own life. How could he counsel anyone else, or even expect more from anyone else?

One of the double doors to the library opened and a voice called out in impatient inquiry. "Chang?"

Wufei walked out into the open while the others shrank back and started making plans. "Yes?"

"I heard voices."

With barely a blink, Wufei held up the book he was still holding open in his hands. "Poetry. Some of it was intended to be enjoyed aloud."

They heard the door squeak hesitantly before the guard grunted and shut the door. Duo gave him an arch look. "What was that all about? That little white lie sure came easy to you."

Wufei's expression turned puzzled after a few seconds of calm. "I... Hm."

Duo had an answer for him, if nothing else. "Shit, the shrinks really screwed you over, too, didn't they?"

He appeared offended by the suggestion. "I have required no professional aid. Yuy's words alone have been sufficient for me to reach my own conclusions."

"Oh, good job, Yuy."

"Shut up," Heero retorted immediately. They were getting good at developing a rhythm between them. "I think there's been a misunderstanding, Chang. I probably meant something like, we shouldn't beat ourselves up for failing to achieve the impossible. Not that we shouldn't step up and take responsibility for anything in this world. Why did you cover for us?"

He thought carefully before answering. "You are not here to do any harm. I would not turn you in."

"You're sure of that?" Duo smiled humorlessly. "Maybe we're here to kill you."

He admitted the possibility with a nod of his head. "If it is my time."

Duo grit his teeth at him. "Maybe we're here to kill Mariemaia."

As expected, the threat to someone else stirred some protective instinct in him, especially when it came to to this girl he felt had been used by her grandfather. He was not so wiling to gamble with her life, but the moment of wavering passed. "You have no reason to do that. He, at least," he tilted his head at Yuy, "is an honorable man, and would not attack without provocation."

The implied slight did not bother Duo ini the least. "What if we're provoked?"

Heero led them off in another direction. "More to the point, that means that we -- I -- wouldn't be here without cause or simply to stir up trouble. I tried keeping my head down for a long time, too, and succeeded at it until the world reached out and touched me again. No matter how much I tried to ignore the world, it was still out there. Life goes on, with or without you."

"It is only natural that the world reach out to you, Yuy. You are an important thread in destiny's loom."

"Don't say things like that." If people kept saying it, it had the terrible chance of becoming true. Maybe it already was. "I was targeted preemptively for the threat I represented, for the potential within me, and we all have that potential within us. It may strike us at any time, regardless of how we try to ignore it."

"Are you trying to say that we have a moral responsibility to wield that potential?"

In light of his recent mood and activities? "No. I only mean to say that keeping your head down and letting the government oppress us to their satisfaction is not necessarily the route you need to take to get what you want. Which, I suppose, depends on what you want. What is it you want out of life, Wufei?"

"I am content to stay here and study."

It sounded like an answer he had given many times before. "Why? What do you hope to accomplish?"

"It is not about 'accomplishing' something."

"Why? What will you do with the knowledge that you gain?"

"No knowledge by itself is ever wasted."

"But you intend to stay here and do nothing."

"Perhaps the more pertinent question to ask here would be, what do you hope to accomplish here, Yuy?" he asked with an annoyed frown. "Why are you questioning my prerogative?"

"I'm not questioning you, Chang. I only want to find out whether this is what you really want. When we're so sheltered from the world, it's easy to see and believe only what is in our own little bubbles. Did you know that the governmenet program set in charge of watching us was taken over a few years ago by a political consortium interested not in helping us at all, but simply in allowing us to stagnate?"

"Aw, come on, Heero," Duo cut in, pushing off from the bookshelf on which he had been leaning. As interesting as it was listening to Heero be assertive all of a sudden, almost as if he couldn't help himself, it was obviously a lost cause. "Like he would notice. He's fallen for their spiel hook, line, and sinker. Or maybe it's just always been his goal to stagnate from the beginning. Damn, Chang. How did you ever end up as a pilot to begin with?"

Wufei stiffened. "That is not your concern. Though if it matters, I was never crazy to begin with like you."

"There's a difference," Heero mentioned. "A difference between being what you are by your own choice or by the choice of another. We were promised choices after the war ended, and we haven't been given choices, so like I said, a breach of contract on their side."

"It's simply a matter of principle, then."

"I have very little of anything else in this world to cling to. Principles will have to do."

"Then you have your principles and I have mine."

"It was never in your principles to roll over and do as you are told. If you actually enjoy this existence of yours, then we'll leave here and not bother you again. But if you're just in denial, well, I figure I should try and let you know. It'd be the honorable thing to do."

"Your concern is unwarranted. I can look after my own interests."

Duo made an exasperated sound. "Dude, you are so missing the point." He might have continued, but there was another knock on the library door.

"What?" Wufei called out irritably, stalking back out to the central area.

"Wufei?" a young voice said as the door swung open. "They said I could find you here."

Duo made a face at Wufei's back before turning to complain silently at Heero, speaking without sound. Please tell me it's time for his medication.

Wufei's voice lost its grumpiness. "Mariemaia. What can I do for you?"

"I wanted to talk to you. I know you don't like being bothered when you're studying, but..."

"I always have time for you."

Duo made another face, this time at Heero, this time a face of comic disgust. Eww. And he accused me of being crude?

Stop that, Heero answered clearly. Chang had not sounded besotted, only respectful, perhaps like a teacher with a student.

Their little byplay distracted them enough that a young redhead had the opportunity to stick her head around the corner and spy them. "Aha! I knew you weren't reading poetry."

Wufei followed her not long after. "Mariemaia."

She ignored the warning. "I remember you." She pointed at Heero. "You shot me."

Heero blinked at her. "No. Technically, I didn't."

"And you." Her clear eyes zoomed in on his companion. "You're Zero Two. Maxwell."

"And I know you," Duo answered. "You're the crazy little lady that tried to take over the world."

"Maxwell," Wufei's voice rang out in soft reprimand.

He rolled his eyes. "Has he been like this for the last five years? Man, that'd be enough to drive anyone crazy."

She echoed his gesture. "Tell me about it."

"See, you don't like being locked up here in this stuffy old house, now do you?"

"As if. How long do they expect to keep me here?"

"Wufei's just been working his way through the library. What have you been doing all this time?"

She shrugged. "Working my way through the library. I have tutors coming in every weekday for lessons, but Wufei's much more interesting than the lot of them. Interesting, if completely frustrating."

"Yeah? Glad I'm not the only one who sees that."

Wufei snorted. "You take pride in sympathizing with a teenage girl?"

"I take pride in sympathizing with someone that sees how far your head is stuck up your ass."

"Watch your language," he snapped, made even more sharp when he heard Mariemaia giggle.

"Okay, she's going to be even more dysfunctional coming out of this place than she was going in."

"I think it's time for you to leave, Maxwell."

"Not that they expect her to ever come out of this place. You're in here for life, you know that, right? Maybe you don't care, but come on. She's, what, like thirteen? Fourteen? Something? That's a hell of a long time. She's never gonna get out and see the world. Never gonna have a best girlfriend. Never gonna have a boyfriend. Unless you're volunteering, man, and really, if I were her, I'd turn that offer down. Kissing you'd be like, well, probably like getting a punch in the gut, since that's probably what you'd do."

"Don't be disgusting, Maxwell. Not all of us are concerned with matters of the flesh."

"Yeah, says you, Zenmaster. You aren't a young lady trying to break out of her shell. And you don't know what you're missing. You ever kiss a girl, Chang?"

"That is none of your concern." If the first time he said that had been cold, this time was downright frostbitey.

"Ever kiss a boy?"

"Maxwell!" he hissed. Once again, it didn't help when Mariemaia giggled again. This was far more fun than she'd had in years.

Duo turned to her with a conspiratorial wink. "He doesn't know what he's missing. Then again, I doubt he'd be very good at it anyway."

"Are you very good at it, Maxwell?" she asked archly.

He nodded solemnly. "Very. Allow me to demonstrate."

Wufei stepped forward threateningly, and Heero reached out to slap him on his arm, but Duo was quite prepared. He snagged Heero's hand mid-air and used it to reel him in for a kiss, going so far as to add a bit of a dip to the action. He didn't press his luck, however, and released his victim after three seconds. Once Heero regained his balance, he leveled a scowl in Duo's direction.

"Maxwell!" The angry man had moved in front of Mariemaia, trying to shield her from the horror before her eyes, but she had leaned out around him to watch the show, covering her mouth to smother her laugh. "Leave. Now."

He shrugged exaggeratedly. "Bet you wish you could leave whenever you wanted. Bet she does, too. But I guess the only chance you have of getting out of here, unless you break out, is if the government rolls over. And I guess you're lucky, little lady, since you were right about history repeating itself. But yeah, it may be rolling over right now, but I'm pretty damn sure the new gov ain't interested in letting you walk out of here. They've been trying to kill us, after all."

"You broke out?" Mariemaia asked eagerly.

"Yup."

"Take me with you."

Wufei turned around to look at her. "So they can try to kill you, too?"

Duo shook his head. "You haven't been listening, man. They tried to kill us before we broke out. Breaking out just means they haven't succeeded."

"I will not die in here." Her voice took on that stubborn, decisive edge it had held during her attempted coup. "You may consider this your just penance or something, Wufei, but we are prisoners of war. They came out of the last confrontation victorious over us. Maybe we allowed it. And this has been the right of the victors, to do away their enemies as they see fit. But all we did is lose the war. Defeat is, as you have told me, a state of mind. A loss of dignity and a loss of hope. Be defeated if you wish, hiding your weaknesses behind your books and bowing your head to their yoke. I intend to fight on."

Duo whistled lowly in appreciation, a slight amusement kicking in at Wufei's poleaxed expression. "Cool. Scary, but cool."

"Will you take me with you?" she pressed.

He glanced over Heero, who shrugged slightly. "Take you with us... where?"

"Where are you going?"

He looked to Duo, who also shrugged. "We don't really have any plans yet. So I guess that would be up to you, where you want to go and what you want to do. Wait. Are you going to try and overthrow the government again?"

There was a gleam in her eye. "Are they incompetent?"

"Well, sort of, yeah, but you might want to wait until the current revolution is over and done with. You know, just as a courtesy or something."

"Maxwell." This time it was Heero with the faintly chiding tone.

"Aw, come on, Heero. We'd be helping a young girl fulfill her dreams. How much more of a noble task can there be? Or are you afraid of what your little sweetheart Relena would think?"

He sighed. "I'm not interested in overthrowing the government."

"Hm? Why not? Oh, wait, that's right. You just wanted to, you know, get away from it for a while, didn't you? Well, how about after the vacation? We could go visit a nice, mellow beach town somewhere, give her an opportunity to net some cute guy for a summer fling, and then come back all recharged and ready to kick some bureaucratic butt."

"Duo," he started, but catching Duo's bright expression, he just shook his head. He was fairly certain Duo was just talking, anyway. Fairly certain.

Wufei finally shook off his stupor. "Maxwell, you will take her nowhere."

Duo snorted. "Yeah, says you. You and what army?"

There was another loud, demanding knock on the library door, with the people on the other side not waiting before throwing the door open. "Wufei!" a man's voice barked out. It was followed by the thumps of more boots filing into the room.

Wufei was already in an unpleasant mood. This distraction did not help. "What do you want, Hawkins?" As he was walking back into the common area, he was met with the barrel of a gun.

"Shit," Duo muttered, pulling a weapon from within his jacket. He pointed the gun at the newcomer, but more footsteps came from the other end of the aisle and Heero followed his lead, whipping his own gun out and standing back to back with him.

Unlike the pacifist forces they had mostly encountered up until now, these men were professional and stood their ground, holding their guns like they not only knew how to use them, but were quite ready to use them as well. The lot of them stood staring at each other in tense, armed silence until Wufei broke it with a testy tone directed toward the man in charge of the estate's security. "What is the meaning of this, Hawkins?"

"Gee, Chang," Duo answered edgily. He was a little put out by the fact that, not only had they been distracted enough to have been caught, they had also let their enemy's trap succeed. "What do you think?"

A set of clacks entered the room and paused to survey the situation. There was a light, exasperated sound as their owner approached. "No, no, no, Hawkins. This is not what I asked for at all."

"Begging your pardon, miss," Hawkins responded, his gun unwavering. "But these men are dangerous, no matter what you say."

"They're much more dangerous when you point a gun at them."

"Duo," Heero tossed over his shoulder, not taking his eyes off the men in front of him. "Is that Dorothy Catalonia?"

"Weird chick from the wedding? Yeah."

The tall blonde laughed airily. "I'm flattered you remember me, Heero Yuy. Now please, gentlemen, will you all lower your weapons? We're here to have a chat, not take them prisoner."

"Miss Catalonia--"

"Mr. Hawkins, please. My uncle would be horrified if you got blood all over these lovely books." The man frowned, but lowered his weapon, nodding at his men to do the same. Dorothy waited three seconds before asking the same of the pilots. "Mr. Yuy, Mr. Maxwell, please. We aren't here to apprehend you."

Their guns did not drop. "So what are you here for?" Duo asked her.

"I just came to tell you what's been going on in the capital."

"What's been...," Heero started. He exhaled in annoyance. "Relena snuck out, didn't she?"

"Well, of course. You didn't expect her to stay grounded at a time like this, now did you?"

"I expected her to be smart. What part of 'laying low' does she not understand? I told Pierre to keep an eye on her."

"Pierre works for me, Heero, not you. When he told me who had landed at our front door, naturally I took steps. So as I'm sure you can imagine, some interesting things have been happening lately. I'd love to tell you all about them. Won't you please put down your weapons so we can have a little chat?"

He waited three more seconds out of principle before reholstering his gun and turning around and nudging Duo to do the same. "What has she done?"

"Honestly, she didn't do as much as you might think. But only because she arrived after Milliardo and Noin did."

Duo snorted. "Oooh, someone's in trouble now."

"Indeed." Her smile was a bit smug as she gestured toward the table behind her. "Shall we?"

She dismissed the small detachment of guards as they all settled down at the table. "I apologize for their rude greeting. Military men, you understand. You tell them a couple of Gundam pilots have probably already infiltrated an estate under their control, and they just go nuts, no matter what else you tell them about the change in power."

Duo buffed his fingernails on the cloth at his shoulder. "Hn, good. I was getting a little worried about them."

"Peace," she agreed. "It can do terrible things to a man."

"Hey, you and this little lady should hang out with each other some time. I think you'd get along great, and you're family, too."

She eyed her cousin speculatively, finding herself measured equally in return. "Yes, we should. We haven't had the opportunity to get to know each other as we ought to."

Heero was never one for small talk. "What did she do, Dorothy?"

"Well, Milliardo and Noin told their stories first, which I expect you're already familiar with. Then the EUW got amusingly self-righteous and denied or rationalized everything until the two of them produced evidence of their activities."

"Evidence?" Duo asked. "Where would they have gotten evidence? They didn't have any when we got them out of there."

"Trowa," Heero surmised. "He had plenty of opportunity."

"Trowa Barton indeed," Dorothy confirmed. "He remained an 'unnamed source' for a while until they gave in, after which all sorts of interesting things started happening. It is a matter of public record just who it was that employed him, after all, so he was quite a believably reliable source."

"Is he still around?"

"He was never seen in the Senate house, and I doubt anyone will really see him again any time soon. The evidence is condemning enough without him, and the situation only got worse for the EUW when Relena showed up with her story, in which I believe you two are also central players. To make a long and fascinating story short and to the point, it came out that the EUW is a pseudo-pacifist faction that does not believe in complete disarmament. They believe that the ruling party must be able to enforce their peace by representing a credible threat to their detractors. Of course, they can't go around killing just anyone, or else they wouldn't be pacifists, so naturally they want to develop weaponry that is very specific in its damage radius. That way they can neatly take out the subversive elements of society without bothering the rest of the peace-loving people. It's really a rather interesting take on things. If you have the opportunity, you should try and see if there's a transcript of the session."

When Mariemaia seemed excited by the prospect, Heero leaned over to whisper into Duo's ear. "Are you sure they should be hanging out with each other?"

He whispered back. "I'm not so sure anymore."

Dorothy smiled wickedly. "I am. In any case, after hours of finger-pointing, denials, and debate, the central members of the EUW fled with their tails between their legs."

Heero supposed it was too much to wish for from a pacifist government that the treasonous villains be executed. "Where have they gone?"

"Back to their respective strongholds, I imagine, trying to set their affairs in order before the world government settles on formal charges against them."

"Their weapon wasn't entirely theoretical, you know."

"Of course. Milliardo and Noin told us all about it. The government has sent people out to clear out their plants, but if these pseudo-pacifists are smart at all, most of their operations will have been cleared out by the time the forces arrive."

"You're unconcerned."

"There's nothing to be done about it. This is a pacifist bureaucracy, after all. We do what we can. Now, from all accounts that I hear, you're surprisingly concerned about the matter."

He scowled. To whom had she been talking? "...I am not."

"Really." Genteel ladies ought not to have been able to convey such drollness with their tone.

"I have a certain personal interest in this, you know. What happens now? Are you going to just let us walk out of here?"

Her expression shifted gear somehow. She wanted to. Caged pilots were no fun at all. "I'm afraid I really don't have the authority to say. I wouldn't be surprised if Hawkins is outside right now getting ready to arrest you."

He looked at Duo. "Perhaps we should be going, then."

"Oh, don't go, Heero. I know Miss Relena would love to talk to you."

"I don't think there's much more to say."

"Let her at least apologize for sneaking out."

He pushed his chair back and stood. "Tell her I accept her apology."

"Heero. Now that the EUW has been exposed, there will be someone else put in charge of your supervision."

"Gilded cages, Dorothy."

"We know you'll hold up your end of the bargain. We can make sure that the government does the same this time."

"You know as well as I do how likely that is."

She smiled. "I know. I need to be able to tell the others that I gave it a decent try, though. You should probably leave. Miss Relena will understand."

"Yippee," Duo said, also getting out of his chair. "We have Miss Relena's approval."

Unfortunately, they didn't have the approval of the men with guns. The door opened again, and Hawkins stopped them. "You aren't going anywhere."

*****

Part 22

"I knew this was a bad idea."

"Shut up, Duo."

"Hey, just because you're in a bad mood, don't be taking it out on me."

"You started it."

"Did not."

"Did, too."

"Did not."

Their last conversation while incarcerated had been of a similar level of sophistication. Tonight's cell was more opulent, but the guards outside the door had greater vigilance. Their pride had been stung by two pilots sneaking in under their watch. Heero thought they still could have escaped, if they'd wanted to put the effort into it. If they'd had the motivation. "...Do you think Quatre was right?" he asked pensively.

Duo remembered the last time Heero had asked that question. He wasn't so certain he wanted to go down that path again, but he played his part anyway. "What about?"

"Do you think we bicker like an old married couple?"

A different question, certainly, but perhaps no more reassuring a topic. "...Well, right there we were bickering like a couple of five year olds."

"You know what I mean."

He knew what he meant. He just felt better pretending, if just for those brief few seconds that Heero allowed him, that he had no idea. "...Why?"

"Just thought of it."

"Hm. Dunno. Dunno anything about married couples." And didn't want to think about it, either.

"If we had walked out of there... what do you think we would have done?"

Another question he didn't want to think about. Heero was on a roll tonight. "...Dunno. Found someone else's wedding to crash?"

"What a sad fate."

Any sadder than their fate until this point? He went for the silver lining. "But we'd be free to choose whose wedding to crash."

Heero wrinkled his nose in distaste. "We'd... be wedding crashers, Duo. Not exactly what I aspired to in my youth."

"Excuse me? You had aspirations?"

"Hn. You have a point."

Duo ignored Heero's soft sigh, and tried to ignore that soft spark of jealousy that had reared its ugly head at Heero's suggestion of hopes and dreams and thoughts of the future. He told himself to think of nothing much at all, and concentrated on studying the print on the faded wallpaper. The faint outline of paisley could be seen, if he was not mistaken. He'd half expected it to be roses.

"I wonder about Wufei," Heero mused, staring up at a corner of the four poster bed. What a glorious impracticality that canopy and those curtains were. But maybe it would be nice, he thought, to loosen the ties and let the fabric fall, to create a warm, dark little cave in which to hide. "I wonder how much of what he said, he really meant. And how accurate Mariemaia's assessment was."

"Lying to yourself is a bitch," Duo agreed. He didn't lie to himself. He just chose not to think about some things.

"I really didn't care two weeks ago. I don't think. I... I don't remember caring, anyway."

"What do you remember?"

He closed his eyes and tried to imagine where he would be right now if someone hadn't decided to jump him. A warm summer night. A weekday. A stuffy apartment. He thought he'd probably be doing the exact same thing, lying on a bed and staring blankly upwards, chasing after the elusive thoughts and feelings slipping around in his brain. Maybe he might be suffering a fit of old habit and exercising instead, still in that stuffy apartment, but trying to push himself to his limits, far enough to finally break himself. It never worked. "I remember the day I was attacked. I remember thinking that I would be glad if some danger took me in the middle of the street and put me down."

Duo laughed with a quietly morbid humor. "What made you fight back?"

"Bad habit, I guess." He could recall flashes of the fight, but nothing really concrete. Just action and reaction. "Since then... bad habits again, maybe."

"Are you lying to yourself?"

"I..." He had started far too many sentences like that recently. "Maybe Quatre's right. Maybe I am... maybe he's right. ...Maybe the same goes for you."

"Hey, don't drag me into this."

He opened his eyes and propped himself up on his elbows so he could study his companion lounging on a sofa he would have thought never belonged in a bedroom. "You're not? Maybe? Not even a little?"

A silence hung heavy in the air for a few moments before Duo was spared by a knocking on the door. They stared expectantly at the slab of wood, waiting for their visitor, then realized when another knock sounded that they were supposed to answer. Duo did the honors. "Yeah?"

Invitation enough. Relena opened the door and slipped inside with a smile. "Oh, good, I'm glad you're still here."

Heero blinked at her twice before letting himself fall back onto the bed, so once again, Duo took the responsibility of response. "Um, in case you haven't noticed, the two big armed guards standing outside the door?"

She glanced half over her shoulder at the closed door. "Oh, I know... But I don't think you'd still be here if you really wanted to leave."

Well, he was hardly going to deny such flattery. "Don't suppose you're here to spring us loose?"

She wandered into the room far enough to take a position behind a chair at a table, but manners made her not sit down until invited. "I'm afraid I can't do that. Until just a few days ago, I was powerless enough to be used as a mere figurehead, remember?" There was only the faintest hint of shame and bitterness tainting the gentle statement. "The government is busy right now trying to trace down the EUW and figure out exactly how far its plots went. It's a good excuse not to have to think about the two of you."

"Shit, if they'd just let us out, they wouldn't have to think about us at all. Otherwise, I'm sure we'd be delighted to help them track down these EUW people."

Heero snorted. "Maybe we can get expense accounts, too. I think we've borrowed enough of Marvin's funds already."

"Hey, you earned that money, fair and square."

"I've talked to them," Relena informed them. "I've told them that you're citizens of the world nation, too, and citizens of Sanq as well, and they can't just keep you hanging around here in limbo for as long as they please. They said they would have someone talk to you tomorrow to evaluate your cases."

"Ah, so we're not citizens. We're cases."

"You're both. You had an agreement with the government. You broke the terms of that agreement, no matter what the reasoning. Of course they're going to reevaluate the terms."

"They're going to reevaluate us, you mean. And they're going to find that we're an even bigger threat to the peace now than we were five years ago, thanks to all the shit this little program of theirs has been shelling out. Tell me, princess, when the EUW was still running the show, how many other people were there that went along with them? We had a little chat with that Dorothy of yours. She told us how completely your fancy Senate bought that story about us being on the lunatic fringe."

She cursed the politician's response that fell from her lips, but had no other recourse. "I can't say for certain since I wasn't there at the time..."

"This has just proved their theories right, you know. This is why they locked us up to begin with. They were afraid we'd get out and cause trouble, no matter if it's their trouble to begin with, or if we've helped them out. From what I gather, a big chunk of the government is falling apart right now, and they can easily trace it back to us. That's all that matters. They'll lock us up and throw away the key, given half a chance."

There was a truth to his words, she had to admit that, even if she didn't understand the extent of their original lockup. "Maybe they'll be able to figure out that you could be much more useful to them if you were allowed to help, rather than being shut away from everything."

"And what makes you think we'd want to help? We've been over this before."

"Then like I said before, what are you two doing here, if not helping?"

Failing a good answer, he fell back on Heero's answer from minutes prior. "Bad habit, I guess."

"Helping the world cannot just be a 'bad habit'. No matter what you've done over these last few years, you are still fundamentally the same strong, determined Gundam pilots I knew during the war of one-ninety-five. That goodness is still inside of you."

"'Goodness'? Like we've fallen to the darkside now, all of a sudden?"

"Maybe the real bad habit here is that you two don't even try anymore. The events of recent days have only proven that you have the ability within you. Maybe if you just tried, just do it whether or not you feel motivated to, maybe it would come back to you."

"You know, that's the same load of crap that our oh so kind case workers spewed at us, this notion of, oh, just try it. Maybe you'll like it. Hmpf. Yay. Let's spend another five years doing stuff I couldn't care less about just because someone else thinks that's what I should be doing. And hell, not even that. This is about fitting us into your worlds. Trying to force us into whatever little pigeonhole you think might work. I don't think so, princess."

It was good that a pilot be stubborn, but did he have to be frustrating as well? "I just want to help you, Duo. Tell me what you want, then. Tell me and I'll see what I can do."

"There's no chance of you just leaving us the hell alone."

"You are who you are, Duo. I'm sorry."

Heero shifted on the bed. "Relena."

Finally, a level-headed individual. "Yes, Heero?"

"Get out."

"Pardon?"

He sighed. "Just... good night, Relena."

At a loss, she looked at Duo, but he just shrugged and gestured toward the door.

*****

If these 'social workers' thought the two of them were uncooperative separately, they had no idea what they were getting into by putting them together. The theory was sound, perhaps. The two of them had seemed to work well together in light of their recent successes. Surely communication was a key factor in their relationship.

They were, in a way, correct, but it should have been obvious that they would not be privy to or a part of that level of communication. It had been an hour since the government employees had brought their two separate interviews into the same room, and that hour had passed most unproductively, though no more unproductively than the rest of the morning and afternoon.

The frustrated, nervous workers had called for a short break, convening on one side of the room to whisper among themselves how to try and figure out the inscrutable pilots not far from them without pissing them off. It didn't help that Duo was watching them like a wolf lazily taking measure of the sheep. It was obvious that he would need to be carefully monitored. Perhaps he was not a threat to world peace directly, but he was an unpredictable element that needed to be kept under control.

On the other hand, Heero seemed the more difficult one to interpret. He sat quietly staring out the window, watching the sun slowly turn the sky a bloody red. The entire time they had spent observing him, it seemed the more he retreated into himself. He didn't seem as if he should be a danger to the peace, and yet he had been the one that had started this chain of events. He had, without even trying, precipitated significant changes.

Heero had taken a step out of his shell for a moment to try and point out that the problems in the government had existed long before it ever trickled down to his level, but they took little heed of the sentiment. No matter who had started it and why it had happened, Heero Yuy had once again become an important man in the world.

Their hushed conferences were broken by the entrance of one of their colleagues. "You have to watch this!"

A television was located inside a cabinet embedded in the wall, and the channel was flipped to a news outlet showing a public broadcast. The picture stabilized into an image of a man they did not recognize. "--the World Nation recognizes that they have taken the wrong path to peace. It is time for a change. We hereby deliver this ultimatum to them: we demand that they yield the government to members of our consortium. If, after twenty-four hours, they fail to relinquish their power, we will use our weapon to destroy the seat of their power, the capitol building, and force a turnover of power. We strongly suggest that all personnel evacuate the building, should the government fail to do the right thing. One by one, the symbols of their power will fall until we are in control..."

One of the men on the government team wailed softly, and it seemed like a signal to the others to break out into a gentle panic. Duo snorted dryly and commented to his companion. "Told 'em there was a weapon in the works somewhere."

"Hm."

He waved his hand in front of Heero's face. "Hello? Were you even listening?"

Heero batted the hand away without looking. "I heard."

He started to harass him further on the matter, but decided against it. He didn't know what he had expected Heero to do or how he would react. Heero was different now, and the world, well, it obviously didn't strike as sensitive a bone in him as did the topic of Relena. He spoke of more innocent matters instead. "Guess the interview's over for now."

"Hn."

"Think we should jump out the window while they're distracted?"

The corner of Heero's mouth twitched in a moment of passing amusement. "We could do that any time we wanted."

"Yeah, I know." He glanced over his shoulder at their hand-wringing adjudicators. "Maybe we should think about jumping some time soon, though. History has shown that these guys can't really think about two things at once. They're likely to shove us in a box until this is all over."

"It'll only be twenty-four hours."

"One way or another. How close are we to the capitol building? Hm, guess the blast radius won't get us." He looked more carefully at his companion. "Would you even care if it did?"

Heero's eyes remained fixed on the horizon. "Don't ask questions like that."

Thirty minutes later, the guardsman standing outside the door entered the room. "Yuy, Maxwell. The commander wants to talk to you."

"This is so not our fault," Duo muttered, taking the opportunity to escape their interviewers. The interview had entirely stalled, anyway. He wasn't so certain that the next interview wouldn't be distasteful as well, though.

They were escorted to Hawkins' office. The commander glanced up at their entrance and gestured them into the two chairs in front of his desk before transferring the signal of his vidphone to the large screen on the wall. The display was split four ways. Relena was in the bottom right corner looking worried. The other three were filled with senators who probably always looked that constipated. The balding man in the top right started immediately. "Did you watch the broadcast?"

Heero indicated his positive answer with a steady look. Duo shrugged slightly. After realizing that that was all he was getting, the man spluttered, but could not find the words. Relena stepped in instead and put it simply. "Will you help?"

Duo glanced briefly at Heero, already figuring what his answer would be, before speaking. "With what, exactly?"

The face in the fourth quadrant of the screen scowled. "Don't play games with us."

"No, really. With what?"

Always the peacekeeper, Relena filled in the communication gap. "They have a weapon and are threatening the world nation unless we hand over power to them. We have to stop them."

He scratched at his cheek idly. "Okay, so we only watched a bit of the end part. What sort of weapon was it again?"

"They've built an orbital strike satellite above Earth, with plans for an entire set of them. With the basic schematics they've given us to prove their ability, we predict that they'll be able to re-orient them and re-direct the beam in the direction of the colonies as well, after they complete their work, giving them the ability to carry out surgical strikes from orbit on nearly any point in the sphere."

"They got pushed ahead of schedule then, eh?"

"We forced their hand. Nevertheless, the power they have under their control currently is definitely enough to follow through on their threats."

"And they just want control of the government?" Why anyone would, he didn't know. Just went to show what idiots the bad guys were.

"That, and to prove the strength of their policy. We cannot allow them to succeed in this. It would undermine the true cause of pacifism."

Ah, politicians. Had to love their logic. "So in order to prove that weaponry capable of carrying out precision strikes should not be used for the sake of pacifism... you want to use a pair of weapons capable of carrying out precision strikes against them?"

Her brow furrowed in concern. "You're not weapons, Duo. I understand that. But--"

"Will you do it or not?" the balding man cut in loudly.

Duo found it amusing to ignore him and continued to address Relena. "What do you need us for?"

"We're exploring all the options now. You're just one of them. We're surveying our teams in the colonies right now to see who can put together a sortie with enough firepower to take out the platform, but we aren't certain we have the resources necessary to do that. Not to mention, our satellites in the area have located the orbital platform. Four mobile suits have been sighted in the region, as well as a defense grid."

"Honestly, their pilots aren't all that."

She smiled briefly. "By your standards, perhaps. Lu told us of your piloting exploits. If we had the time, we'd get you out there."

He smiled as well, but he showed more teeth. "If I agreed."

"If you agreed. Lucrezia and Milliardo are also putting together a strike force on the ground. We're not certain yet where they're hiding, but when we do find it, we can do something. Unfortunately, that runs the risk of their carrying out the threat early."

"If they're going to push the button, they're going to do it if it's us going in for you. In fact, they're probably more likely to push the button. It's gotta be a stronghold of some sort, right? Security's probably unsurprisingly crappy, just like everything else of yours is today, but they'd probably notice us sometime before we got all the way in."

"You could try. If there's something that the two of you have taught me, it's that we must always try."

"I take it you're not interested in handing over the government."

The bald man turned an unpleasant shade of pink. "Of course not!"

"Hey, take it easy, man. You're exploring your options, aren't you? I gotta ask, though. They're asking everyone to evacuate the building first before they blow it up, right? So, just where is the credible threat to your government coming from? You really that scared of the destruction of your pretty buildings?"

"Duo," Relena chided. "From buildings, they can go anywhere. They may be morally opposed to taking unnecessary lives, but the government cannot function if it is constantly fleeing from one location to another."

"Hm. So what's in it for me?

She should have expected that and refused to ask for clarification of the question. She knew what they wanted. She couldn't give it to them. "Duo..."

"Yeah, that's what I thought."

The third man spoke up sneeringly. "Nothing but mercenaries in the end, eh? Miss Peacecraft, it seems your faith in these individuals was unfounded."

"It was not," she snapped, smoothing her expression soon thereafter. "It is only reasonable that they receive some sort of compensation for their services in return for what they can do for this world. In fact, it is more than reasonable, given what we are asking of them."

"Someone a little less concerned with his own self-interest would bargain after the crisis had been dealt with, not before."

"Surely they will have proved that they are willing to cooperate with the government, that they are not a threat to the world and deserve a little freedom."

"This attempt to extort the government only proves that they cannot be trusted."

"We are the ones that have done nothing to prove that we are worthy of their trust. What makes us worth saving?"

"I'm sorry, Miss Peacecraft. The world government does not bargain with terrorists that hold its safety for ransom just as surely as the EUW does. This interview is over." His corner of the screen flickered, then went blank.

When a second connection was terminated without further discussion, Relena turned pleadingly towards the remaining senator, who had, until this point, remained silent. "Senator Almaden..."

The man studied their two silent captives. "While I sympathize with your predicament, if you cannot do this simply as an act of moral obligation, then I cannot endorse these negotiations any further."

Relena winced, seeing Heero turn away at the words and knowing that the Senator had said exactly the wrong thing. When the two pilots said nothing, Almaden nodded once in polite farewell before taking his leave. She sighed, and imparted one last shot before leaving to rejoin her colleagues. "I'll be in contact with you two again."

They stared at the black monitor for a few long seconds before Hawkins broke the silence. "You two are despicable."

Duo laughed darkly. "I don't see you volunteering for the job."

"I don't have the skills you two do."

"They need to stop being hypocrites out here in the capital, yanno? Because there were more guys than just us with the skills we have. Only the government thought it might get its jollies trying to snuff us all out. They can't go changing their minds all of a sudden without consequence."

*****

Part 23

True to her word, Relena surfaced at the estate late that evening. She settled down on a sofa in one of the sitting rooms, kicking her heels off and rubbing her feet. These were two men that had seen her in smudged overalls and a man's undershirt. They would stand a little informality.

Beyond seeing to her own comfort, however, she was at a loss. "I tried talking some sense into them. We're really not coming to very many viable options. Mil and Lu are working very hard right now. While they've gathered the necessary men and service weapons for a decent squad, we still have nowhere to send them. We've mobilized teams to search the homes of all known EUW members. They're still going at it; so far they've found nothing. Ships were sent out to the Moon Base and the mining asteroid where Mil was being held. The facilities have been emptied. Some evidence left behind, but no clues."

From his sprawled position on another sofa across from her, Duo yawned. "Still waiting for the punchline here."

She frowned, trying to decide whether he was being obnoxious or not. "Fine. Things aren't looking very good. No matter how this turns out, pacifism is going to take a major hit, either because someone took control of the government by means of force, or because the government protected itself by means of force. Unsurprisingly, the EUW refuses to be talked down from its position. Things are going to get ugly, and maybe the only thing we can do is to minimize the casualities. You two are unfortunate enough to be a part of that plan."

"Only your plan, I would assume. The rest of those guys up there would still rather have us locked up."

"You're the only people I know that have a chance of getting in there to do what you have to and succeed at it. We've tried talking to Wufei."

Duo turned his choked laugh into a cough. "Um, excuse me. Go on."

"He refused to discuss the matter with us."

"Really."

"I've tried to win some concessions from the government on your behalf. They're willing to bend a little. You'd still be monitored, with regular appointments, but they would take a more hands-off approach."

"Gee, that's kind of them. Changed their minds, did they?"

"Some of the other senators were willing to back me, and together we were able to convince some of the hardliners. I was surprised and encouraged by the support, really, though I worry if it maybe means that they're getting more desperate."

He held his hand up. "Wait. Lightbulb. I get it now. Forget it."

"What? Why? Consider it. They need to be reassured of your good faith before--"

"Not that. Not that I believe in these concessions of yours. But other than that. It's really more than I would have given them credit for, but I guess this is how you pacifists get things done. Kudos to them."

"What are you talking about?"

"You don't really think they're suddenly so willing to believe in us, do you?"

"Well, of course. That's why there would have to be a probationary period."

"Don't be naive. They don't plan on giving us anything if they can help it. They're more willing to send us in than anyone else because we're expendable. And they know the bad guys know they don't trust us, so if we get caught in there, they can claim we just got loose and decided to go after the bad guys ourselves, so don't take that out on them. Hell, they could probably say you were acting on your own, too. I'd be surprised if you weren't considered something of a rogue agent yourself these days."

A shiver ran down her spine, but she protested anyway. "Duo, that's absurd. They wouldn't think things like that."

Despite her objections, he continued. "If we get killed in there, great. If we come back from it alive, they can always lock us up again then, if they don't just kill us outright and claim we died on the mission."

"Duo! That's terrible."

He shrugged. "Why not? It'd solve a couple of their problems, wouldn't it?"

"That sort of thing might have happened in the old days, but we have a different philosophy of governance now."

"Which you said yourself is going out the window right now. More so, the more panicked they get. Deadlines, you know. The stress will get to a guy. And it's not that far a reach from what they've been doing over the last five years anyway, right? They've always wanted a way to quietly get rid of us."

"But..." The more she thought about it, the more wickedly possible it seemed. There had been precious few of her colleagues that agreed with her on how the Gundam pilots should be managed., and even they considered them as resources to be managed more than world citizens or even human beings. She had thought that desperation might win its way past their irrational fears and allow them to see the pilots for what they were, but maybe it had only loosened their morals and driven them to extremes. And yet the world was still in danger.

"Duo," she said softly, staring down at her hands. "You may be right about that. It may be that the senators are prepared to dispose of you somehow. As you've said, it isn't too far different from what was done to you before, only more crude. Yet... that doesn't change the fact that there are people out there trying to bring about a revolution. I know the current government hasn't been kind to you, and that it may be trying to kill you off somehow now. But think about what the EUW has done, and decide for yourself whether you would really want the world under their rule. I know this is a lot to ask of you. I know it may seem irrational to care about people that obviously don't care about you. But you're the ones now that I can ask to do this. I can't promise you anything..."

"Hey, now," Duo cut in hesitantly. Good lord, were those tears hovering on the edge of her voice? "Um, you know, it's not like we ever really fought for people that gave a damn about us. And it's not like we ever really expected much in return for it." He backpedaled hastily when he saw her look up with hopeful eyes. "Not that I'm saying we'll do it or anything. I mean, just don't feel bad, princess. It's not like this shit is any different from the shit we normally get."

He glanced over at Heero, half expecting to hear him send a rebuke across the room for his language, but Heero remained in statue-like repose, leaning against the wall beside the window and surveying the grounds by moonlight.

Relena also looked in that direction, and with a murmured pardon, walked hesitantly to his side. Her hand rose to touch his arm, but stopped short of making contact. "Heero..."

He made no move to acknowledge her, leaving her in an awkward silence. Behind them, Duo got up quietly and tactfully slipped out of the room, which helped ease her apprehension a little. She took a breath, gathered her thoughts to her, and started anew. "Heero. I'm sorry." There was the slightest twitch of his head in her direction, and it encouraged her to continue. "I... I know I've been making things difficult for you. I've... been expecting things from you. Trying to fit you into a mold for which perhaps you are not suited. Not anymore."

"Not ever," he breathed, barely giving the reply any substance.

"I'm sorry." The words were wholly inadequate. "I... I never meant to make things difficult for you. I didn't even see it for the longest time. Maybe... maybe it's arrogant of me to say, but I think perhaps you... just might care for me some way, in some measure, and I think I've abused that long enough. I think you hold yourself to a very high standard of performance. I don't know if this matters, but... no matter what you do... you will never disappoint me, Heero. You've done so much already, for me and for the world, for so little in return. You deserve something, some peace, some happiness, some personal gratification."

His gaze dropped before he turned to her. "Relena..."

This time she did touch him on the shoulder. "You always look like you're hurting, Heero. Many times because I've said something that hurts you. I'm so sorry. I wish there was something I could do to make that go away."

He shook his head slightly. "It's not your fault, Relena. It's not your fault that I am who I am. And I can't stop being that, it seems, no matter how hard I try."

"It's not your fault either, Heero." She wasn't even certain how he was taking the blame upon his faltering shoulders, but he was, she was sure of it. She'd always seen him as responsible, upstanding. Now she was seeing him as too responsible for his own good. "You're only human. No, you are human, and it's no flaw to be human." She sighed, feeling all too human herself these days. "You know what I need to ask of you. I also need to tell you that I'll understand, no matter what you choose. Duo's right. You will likely get nothing in return for this, and it's unfair of us to ask it of you. It's our mess, after all. We should learn to clean it up by ourselves. And yet... I can't in good conscience not ask you. So I have to sincerely apologize for giving you this decision to make."

His head shook, more strongly this time. "I don't know if I can do it, Relena."

It hurt to hear it, but she smiled anyway. "That's okay, Heero. We'll find a way, then. We'll get through this, and hopefully be stronger for it."

I won't, he mouthed, deeming it fortunate that she could not read his lips.

*****

"What are you doing here?" he asked. "Isn't there a world crisis you should be dealing with right now?"

Dorothy smiled. "I'm just visiting my cousin."

"Isn't it way past her bedtime?"

"There's a world crisis, Mr. Maxwell, one with a ticking clock. There is no bedtime."

"Hn." He'd wanted to go stalk somewhere alone, glad that their guards had been dismissed to somewhere less conspicuous as a gesture of goodwill, not run into this jackal in the halls. He tried to step around her, but she slid over a few centimeters and blocked his way. "Shouldn't you be, I dunno, out corrupting the young again or something? Or are you just done for the night?"

"Keeping a Khushrenada apprised of the world's political situation is in no way a corruption, my dear. It's necessary for her to blossom into her true potential."

"She's already tried to take over the world. Where does a girl go from there?"

"To success, of course."

"Hn. So what's her political philosophy? What would she do if she ran the world?"

"She would certainly respect the warriors such as yourself. She has her father's aesthetic, though she never met the man. I wonder how much of that is thanks to Chang."

"Ah, the irony," he murmured. "Chang is not quite a respectable warrior these days."

"I beg your pardon, my dear, but neither are you. Nor your charming companion."

He took more offense on Heero's behalf than he did on his own. "There's nothing to be a respectable warrior about these days."

"World crises don't count?"

"It's not our crisis." It was barely even their world.

"You went after Zechs and Noin."

"That was personal."

"And you have nothing at all to gain by joining in the fight now?"

"You know, I'm getting a little tired of having this conversation over and over again. If you all are so interested in saving the world, maybe you ought to go jump into the fight yourself. Just because we saved the world once, we're gonna get stuck with the job for the rest of our lives? That's bull."

"You saved the world twice."

"Whatever. You were a bad guy, weren't you? Aren't you supposed to be interested in watching the world go up in flames?"

"You were a good guy. Don't make me state the obvious."

He was losing this argument, and losing badly. He didn't like that. "How is it that they let you run around free, huh? Shouldn't you have been locked up with the rest of us?"

"Maybe. Fortunately, I bat my eyelashes better than you do."

He made a face. "Eww. I don't wanna think about this anymore."

"I know how to play the game, Maxwell. I was a just a flighty girl, badly influenced by my grandfather's politics, dabbling in war. What harm was I?"

"You skewered Quatre, didn't you? Not to mention the mobile doll army. They know that, don't they?"

She shrugged elegantly. "Maybe. So long as I kept with my frivolous pursuits, maybe they didn't care. I know how to keep my head down and bide my time, how to feign neutralizing myself so they wouldn't have to. I'd almost say you do, too, only I'm not so sure you were feigning. I read your dossier, and now I've seen you for myself."

"My dossier, eh? What else does it say about me?"

"Personally, I find Heero Yuy's file to be far more interesting, especially in combination with the contrast of how he's been doing since getting out."

"Leave him alone."

"My, protective, aren't we?" She had barely made a move in Heero's direction, and already Duo was warning her off.

He frowned, wondering at the answer himself. He decided it was a 'there but for the grace of God' sort of thing. "Hey, the guy's got a tough time being him. Cut him some slack."

"I can barely believe Noin's account of men behaving badly when I look at him now."

Yes, things had sort of slid downhill from there, hadn't they? Maybe it had been Quatre's analysis. Maybe it had spooked him. Maybe it was the Sweepers, with their whispers. Maybe it was Relena, and her expectations, and what he no doubt considered his failings. "Don't go poking at him, Dorothy. That's not what he needs right now."

"He needs a lot of things to be put back to right. Uncle Treize would be so saddened to see him now."

Duo suppressed a growl of annoyance. No one would shed a tear if they knew how far he had fallen. No one, a little voice whispered to him, except for Howard. He shook the thought off. Howard was better off staying away from him. He wasn't worth it. "That's bullshit, too."

"Oh?"

"Yeah." He left rather than explain. Everyone was just sad because Heero wasn't who he used to be, or who they expected him to be. It seemed wildly unfair that no one was sad for Heero because the poor guy was lost as hell and close to his breaking point.

*****

Part 24

The room was dark when he returned. He slipped inside with his usual stealth and forewent turning on the lights. Taking a moment for his eyes to adjust, he figured out why he couldn't pick out as many details as he thought he ought to. The ties on the bedcurtains had been released, creating a large box of midnight in the middle of the room.

Interesting. He shrugged his jacket off, throwing it over a chair before shucking the rest of his clothes. As swanky as the room was, the establishment had not seen fit to provide them with any sweet amenities. He would have been amused by the novelty of wearing a thick bathrobe with a curly K emblazoned upon it.

The notion of sleeping in such a plush, classically styled bed had managed to outweigh the instinctive discomfort of waking up next to Yuy the previous night. Hell, he was almost getting used to it. Their cheap, lazy guards had also decided that it would be easier to keep an eye on them if they were corralled in the same area. Didn't they know that, well, under normal circumstances, anyway, having one Gundam pilot somewhere was trouble. Having more than one of them meant Trouble. It was a lesson the Ozzies had never learned, either.

He padded over to the far side of the bed, the one facing the window, and found that only the thin inner curtains had been dropped on that side. He supposed they could be considered 'summer' curtains. Rich earth folks always had separate summer and winter things. Ridiculous.

Drawing the airy fabric aside, he climbed in, and only noticed just before the curtains fell again that Yuy was huddled in the far corner, as if he was afraid the world might break through his dark little cave and find him. Uncertain of what he was supposed to do, Duo laid down as if everything was normal in the world, settling on top of the sheet they had left yesterday. The room had come with a decadent down comforter that Duo might have liked to experiment with, if only it hadn't been the thick of summer. It had been banished, but now with the curtains down keeping the heat in, even the thin blanket they had shared the previous night seemed prepared to stifle them.

Duo stared at the canopy above them, one hand tucked behind his head, the other resting casually on his belly. It would have been nice if there had been glow in the dark stars stuck up there or something. Then this cave notion might have had some merit. "You remember that time I brought you back to my apartment?" he asked, just a little something to maybe loosen up some of the tension in that little space, enough to get some sleep.

It took a few seconds, but Heero finally acknowledged the question. "Aa."

"I always did have better night vision than you did. Didja know, I was thinking about jacking off there in the dark while I was talking to you?"

The revelation startled a choked sound from him. "That's disgusting, Duo."

"Yeah? Hm. It would have been amusing, though."

"Not really."

"You need a better sense of humor, man."

"I see that."

Duo's hand stopped its slow, downward slide. "Hm. You've really been no fun lately. The repartee has really been lacking."

"You're free to leave any time."

"So are you."

"Why are you still here?"

"Why are you?"

"Are you sure it's my fault the repartee has been lacking lately?"

He sighed in satisfaction. "See, that's better. A little more life outta you. You've been real quiet these last couple of days. You were okay while we were in transit here, but you weren't much better the coupla days before that, too. And it's not that hard to see the pattern, man."

Heero loosened his stance a little, setting his head down on his knees. "I know."

"Maybe we should get out of here."

"That doesn't solve the problem." He knew well and good what the problem was without Duo telling him. That was the easy part. What he needed was a way out.

"Sounds sort of like a problem with no solution."

"There has to be one. There must."

"Yeah, once more, but this time, without the hint of desperation. It really undermines your credibility."

He shut his eyes. "I don't like this, Duo. I don't know how I've gotten to this point. I nearly flinch any time a person even looks at me. Like they're..."

"Like they're expecting the world from you?"

He nodded, the gesture evident in the dark by the soft sound it made of skin rasping against skin. "It's something I can't deliver."

"Maybe the problem's with all of them, man. Maybe they oughta stop looking at you like that. Maybe you gotta stop looking at yourself like that. That's your problem, you know. You're a self-righteous asshole, when it gets right down to it. You don't really give a damn what everyone else thinks, save maybe one or two. Your problem is what you think about yourself."

"So you're the shrink show now, huh?"

"That's your problem," Duo repeated, soft but firm. "You go around doing your thing for everyone else, but you never get anything back, yanno? You're burned out. The time off after the war was supposed to be some well-deserved R&R. It was supposed to be your chance to recharge, and you never got it. And now you got all this shit going on, and you're running on empty, getting nowhere, and damaging your engine while you're at it. You're an idiot, Yuy. You gotta stop this."

"Maybe it's just who I am."

"An idiot?"

"Yeah."

"Heh, well, you're not getting much argument from this quarter." It had been painfully ironic to watch him try to help everyone else find their way in this new world, and yet have so much difficulty blazing his own trail. It made Duo want to do something for him. Something. Anything.

With a sigh, Heero uncurled and lay down beside him. "Somewhere up in space right now, there's a very powerful beam weapon pointed at a building not that far from us. And ultimately, it won't change a thing. It's not about the weapons. It's about the people behind them."

"A thought worthy of Treize, from what I hear."

"And the people in front of them, too."

"Ah, a thought more worthy of me."

"It's a bloodless war, this notion of theirs."

"A pacifist's war." Well, he had to hand it to them. Those pacifists sure knew their irony. "Feels kinda like we've gotten nowhere, huh?"

"According to Mariemaia, we'll never get anywhere."

"I remember a time when that didn't matter."

"That time was a long time ago. I don't think it's mercenary, what we're doing. I've been a mercenary. I've worked for money before. This... this is different."

Duo thought Heero spent way too much time thinking about things. "Man, forget those idiots. They're just grasping at straws."

"I am not a straw."

He laughed, but it died quickly. It wouldn't have if Heero's words had been a defensive pout. Instead, they were a tired sigh. "Damn. You're really messed up, aren't you."

This time Heero laughed, and though it wasn't that loud or hard, it hurt. "Make it stop, Duo. Make it stop."

"Heero..."

He rolled towards Duo. "Why can't they just break me and get it over with? Why do I have to linger in this hell of impotence and inadequacy? Either I should care enough to do the things that I feel I should, or I should not care at all so I won't feel like I should do anything! Care enough to please them, or not care so I can walk away. Why do I have to get stuck in the middle?"

"I got no answers for you, man." He wished he did. Then perhaps he might have answers for himself. His problems and Heero's were not one hundred percent the same, but they stemmed from the same source.

"Why can't everyone just leave me alone?" Maybe that was all he needed, just a little time to get his feet back under him. It was an alien thought. He was used to the philosophy of, if you get injured, you walk it off. And he tried. He tried ignoring it, but it didn't go away. He tried fighting it, but it fought back. He tried reasoning with it, but it didn't listen. He tried understanding it, but that didn't stop it. He tried and tried, and it was just getting worse. Every time he failed to get somewhere with it, that knife just got pushed in a little deeper.

He didn't know he had his hands fisted in his hair until he felt Duo's hand touching his arm in warning. He loosened his grip spasmodically and tried to uncurl, but his body trembled, and that was it. He stared at his hands with a detached fascination. Who was that coward shuddering in the corner? Who was this man so abruptly close to losing it?

At another time, Duo might have been surprised. Scared, even, to see this man of all people breaking down. But it was a long time coming. It was a testament to Heero's strength that he had lasted this long. There was a reason people believed in his ability to do the impossible.

Duo didn't believe in forever, really. Didn't believe in infinite plenty or bottomless reservoirs. All things came to an end. All things, only some ends were prettier than others. This end was not to be counted among the pretty. He knew a little bit about breaking points. About pushing oneself so hard and so blindly for so long that one day something just snapped, broke, collapsed, and it could be patched, but it would never be the same.

He didn't realize that the touch he had intended as soothing had become an enticing caress until he felt Heero shiver in quite a different way, not just beneath his hand but against his body. When had they gotten so close? How long had they spent locked in eye contact, sensing some unexpected simpatico? Heero had been quite right about forgetting, about being nobody for a little while. And if any situation called for it, this was it.

Heero's eyes told him that he was thinking the exact same thing. They also said he knew this was a terrible solution, a temporary fix that would only delay the inevitable if the underlying problem was not addressed. And they said that he didn't care. He was going one day at a time here. If 'temporary' was enough to just give him a breather, or even a tiny little taste of what life without the pressure was like, then he'd worry about long-term later.

Duo's mind was telling him not to reach out and kiss Heero, but his body did it anyway. It overrode his mind's shouted reminders of 'one-fuck stand!' and 'never again!' and kissed Heero for all it was worth, putting enough effort into it that even his mind's voice was drowned out by the tide of urgency and desperation.

He came back to himself with a mewl, seeking lips that had fled out of reach. Straining upwards to find them, he realized he was on his back, pinned beneath Heero and getting nowhere in his quest. Heavy breathing filled the air between them, but those exhalations were all that tickled his skin. This was an unaccustomed position for him, and a foreboding crept in and dried out his mouth.

Heero stared down at him, a little wild around the eyes. "If this is about forgetting, Duo, why not make it last?"

The body on top of his seemed suddenly sheltering, not demanding. The hands on his wrist were firm, not commanding. It was all wrong. "No," he rasped.

Heero kissed him, and it seemed excruciatingly slow to him, but Heero refused to be hurried. He ground upward, and Heero rocked back, intent on dragging matters out. Duo didn't know where this sudden need to hurry came from. Not from between his legs, where he discovered he was no more or less hard than Heero. From his head, then, something he'd always found dissociated from these proceedings. It kicked in now, begging for a quick release and escape, and not this slow, thoughtful, painful torture.

"Heero..." It was meant to be a protest, but it sounded nothing like.

"Why, Duo?" The words were breathed against the skin over his carotid, and it was as if the major artery absorbed them and pumped the feel of them through his body.

He struggled to flip them over and assume the dominant position, but Heero held them firm. "I can't..."

Heero's intense look could be felt before it could be seen. "Forget with me, Duo. Not just for a little while."

It was one of those things that sounded good in theory, but its practice was another matter altogether. The point of forgetting was to disconnect from reality, to be nothing more than a vacant vessel, empty and mindless. Maybe it was to disgust himself so much that he fled from his cold shell. Either way, he couldn't do that with Heero grounding him, reminding him that there was someone out there that understood, sympathized, even cared in some way. How could he be reduced to a nobody under those conditions?

"Let go, Duo. Let go, and forget with me."

He resisted. He cajoled. He pleaded. He even almost succeeded at a few points. But in the end, he gave in.

*****

He had the feeling that behind him, Heero was awake, but it didn't matter. The summer curtains still separated them, keeping them each in their own little worlds. He took another shaky breath through the filter of a cigarette, reflecting on the kind hospitality of the Catalonias. He'd made himself at home among their medicine cabinets and bedside drawers while he'd been their guest.

Shit. He rubbed at his eyes again, trying to get rid of the last lingering crustiness in the corners, refusing to even contemplate what its source had been.

Life was messed up. He was messed up. He'd had the arrogance to believe that he might be immune to Heero's golden touch. He watched Relena fall to it, and he watched Trowa fall to it. Wufei fell years ago, and broke something on landing. Yet he'd thought he was slick enough to get away unscathed.

Playing with fire was a bad habit he'd always had. He had to get burned at some point. This was the kind of burn where he still shivered just thinking about it. He took another puff and tried to dispel the uncomfortable tingly feeling.

It didn't work. What the hell kind of forgetting was it when all he could do was remember things he'd thought long dead and gone? Keeping things short and simple had been his solution. Nothing had a chance to stick and sink in that way, but no, he had to go and run into Heero Yuy, whose kink, it seemed, had finally been found. He was thinking about glancing over his shoulder to shoot Heero a venomous look through the thin fabric separating them when he was preempted.

"I'm going to do it."

"Wow," he responded automatically. "I'm good."

There was a tired snort from the bed. "Don't flatter yourself." Though he had to admit that the sex had been a part of it. He had gotten what he was looking for: a little distance from all the pain. A little control over his circumstances. A moment to remember a world quite separate from his current existence. Just enough for him to fight back against the vicious circle his thoughts favored, enough for him to think coherently about the path in front of him without shying reflexively away from it. It'd been a while since he'd been able see past tomorrow.

Duo knew as well as Heero did that no one had been 'cured'. "So after all that... you're just going to give in."

"No. I'm not going to do this for them."

"Relena?"

"Me." There was a curious feeling of freedom attached to the word. "I'm going to do this for me."

"What's in it for you?"

"I'm tired of feeling this way, Duo. I can't... do this anymore."

"Most people just kill themselves at that point." Duo's thoughts had always taken a delightfully morbid turn.

"I can kill myself any time." Heero, on the other hand, was a practical soul. "Death is very permanent. If I change my mind... I'll even let you kill me, if you want."

He took another drag on his cigarette and tried to blow the smoke out in a ring. He'd never quite managed the trick. "Lemme know."

"Will do." There was release to be found. If he wasn't strong enough to finish it himself, there was someone to back him up. There was something fundamentally reassuring about having a backup plan. Heero gathered that feeling up carefully and tucked it away in his heart for a rainy day. "I want to try. There's no other way to get out of this slump. So I figured, maybe I just need to do this slowly. I'll start with being a self-righteous asshole, and see where it goes from there."

Duo chuckled bitterly. "See, I am good." If Heero had a golden touch, then what sort of touch was his? A nice rust color, perhaps? "So where does the self-righteous asshole part come in?"

"I realized... you know what it means if they win?"

"Do tell."

"Karl wins."

It took him a few seconds to figure that out, and then he laughed. "Yeah, okay. That's not a bad reason. I don't know what it is about the guy that offends you so much, but hey, whatever floats your boat, man." He knocked the ashes of his cigarette into what he hoped was a priceless antique of some sort merely masquerading as an ashtray, then contemplated the flavor of his cigarette for a good ten seconds before taking another long drag.

"I'm sorry," Heero said quietly.

He didn't really need to ask what Heero was talking about. "You're such a fucking liar, Yuy. You said you wanted to be a nobody."

"I know. I'm sorry. I thought so. Maybe... maybe I needed to be somebody instead. Me."

"I really did use to have a thing for you, you know. Way back when." Oh, the teenage years.

Heero pondered that, swishing it around in his head and tasting its complexities. "Used to?"

Duo made a humorless sound. "You wouldn't want me to have a thing for you now."

"Might be interesting."

"'Interesting' ain't always healthy."

"I haven't been in a healthy state of mind for a while now."

"Don't tempt me, Yuy." He retreated to his cigarette again. It did sound interesting, if only as an experiment to see just how damaged he really was.

"You know... I used to..."

Duo cut him off sharply. "Don't give me that crap, Yuy. Don't tell me you used to have a thing for me, too. You didn't."

Heero thought over his words carefully. "...I used to be interested in you. Just in a general sense. I wanted to get to know you better. I thought... It felt like I was going to miss out on something... something that would have enriched my life, when I didn't get that chance. That's all."

"Hmpf." That was all he could say to that, really. Yeah, he thought he'd missed the boat, too, but that was how life worked. He passed up door number one for door number two. He got screwed, and that was that. Knowing his luck, he would have been screwed on door number one, too.

The curtain was pushed aside roughly. "Duo..." Heero waited to see if Duo would turn around, but it didn't happen, so he climbed out of the huge bed and walked over to stand in front of Duo. He was perched on the arm of one of the room's sofas. "Duo."

Duo stubbornly didn't pay him any attention and kept his eyes down, and was sufficiently focused on that task before he realized the prime view that had wandered into his field of vision. That wasn't what he wanted to look at. His gaze traveled from the coarse hairs at Heero's crotch, moonlight glinting off stray lubricant, up to the mussed hair on his head that looked as amusingly out of order as it had when they'd been in zero-g. Around his cigarette, his fingers twitched with the urge to run through Heero's hair and smooth it down, same as they had when they were biding their time on that ship. His other hand let him know that it wouldn't mind playing with that other patch of hair, and maybe other things besides.

Without thinking, he let out the puff of smoke he'd been holding, and it went straight into Heero's face. Heero winced, waving his hand in front of his face to try and dispel the smell, and it reminded Duo powerfully of the day Heero had first waltzed back into his life. He had to admit, he hadn't recognized Heero at first. It had nothing to do with the disguise. It was more the posture than anything else, that slouch he had seen in many a downtrodden man. That unkempt figure next to him at the bar had been unremarkable until something, what was it? Some flick of the fingers or toss of the head, something oddly familiar had caught his attention, and then he'd turned, saw who it was there beside him, and said the first thing that came to mind.

The slouch wasn't there right now. He deliberately ground out his cigarette in his ashtray before grabbing the distracted Heero and pulling him down for a rough, thorough kiss. It was different. Hot and deep and intense, it touched something inside of him and he pulled away with a gasp.

Heero tamed his own breathlessness before licking his lips and wrinkling his nose. Duo forestalled him with a smirk. "I know, you don't like the taste." He boldly licked the side of Heero's face, provoking another frown. "Looks like I came out ahead on this one."

"Duo..." He wasn't certain what he needed to say, but there was something lurking on the edge of his consciousness, demanding his attention. He wiped at the wet swath on his face idly with one hand while he thought it over. "I... I still think you're worth knowing."

The smirk faded slowly, to be replaced by a faintly disturbed look. "Don't say things like that, Yuy. Don't tempt me."

"Maybe I want to tempt you."

He smiled frailly. "Using me again?"

Heero shook his head. "Maybe I'm inviting you to use me."

"Thought you didn't like the pressure."

"You know... I've never felt obliged to live up to all of your expectations. No offense."

He was fairly certain he could rationalize that out to a good thing, so he accepted it for now and saved the exercise for another time. One of his hands wandered across the warm, firm skin of Heero's chest, whimsically tracing his name there. The final letter circled Heero's left nipple in increasingly tighter circles. "I might be possessive."

The prospect did not seem to bother him, though there were questions to be asked. "Possessive? Or controlling?"

Duo shivered. He was tired of being controlled. Damn him if he started controlling others. "Heero, you can kill me if I ever get controlling. Though, you know, some warning might be nice, some time to try and correct. Because sometimes these things just happen...."

Heero cupped Duo's face with both hands and forced an unwavering eye contact. "Duo, do you want to control me?"

The only reason for Duo's pause before answering was the distraction of Heero's direct gaze. Once the question registered, his brain told him what had to be asked. "Heero, do you want to control me?" When he shook his head solemnly, Duo attempted to do the same. Finding his head still caught between Heero's hands, he spoke it instead, putting only a soft breath of sound behind the word. "No."

Heero let go, hands trailing across his skin on their way back down. "Then use me as you see fit."

He smiled faintly, a dark edge to it as he playfully dragged his tongue across the nipple his fingers had been playing with. "I might be possessive."

"I don't want anyone else using me... so I might like that."

*****

Part 25

The world was under a deadline. You'd think that meant that the world leaders wouldn't be sleeping. Still, it took them a while to try and communicate to the proper officials that they were willing to help out. By the time they were cooling their heels, waiting for pickup, Heero was about ready to leave without them. Duo stopped him from being so hasty. If they left without talking to the bigwigs, how would they get access to all the cool gadgets and badass weapons?

Heero conceded that he had a good point. All they had with them were the guns they'd brought in. Granted, they could probably raid Hawkins' weapons locker, but a stodgy old guy like him? Boring.

They were hustled along with a sense of bemusement until they finally ended up in the hands of Zechs and Noin. Duo got right to the point. "Where are the toys?"

Noin sighed dramatically. "Alas, this is a pacifist administration, Duo. They have not been encouraging weapons development."

He pouted, eyes getting wide and puppied. "No boomsticks?"

"Well, no new kinds of boomsticks. We still have the standard array of armaments. On the plus side, there have been other advances in technology. We have new communicators, locators--"

"But no boomsticks?"

"No boomsticks."

"Damn." When she shuffled through some files, he leaned over to whisper into Heero's ear. "This is where you're supposed to tell me about how you got plenty of boom in your stick, or something along those lines."

"That's disgusting, Duo."

He just shrugged. "Hey, I don't make this stuff up."

"Really. Then where do you get it?"

"Um. Bathroom stalls?"

Zechs cleared his throat in a gentlemanly fashion. "Do you two mind?" He'd heard the story from Noin, and had been strongly advised to cut off any bickering between the two before it truly started.

Heero focused his attention on his old rival, and the two of them stared at each other measuringly, even challengingly, before Heero smirked. "GSW still got you down?"

Duo chimed in. "Ooh, maybe it's the ribs."

The aristocrat looked down at them from his superior height. "These were injuries honorably attained. If I were in better shape, I would be going on this mission myself."

"Aren't you mostly just a pilot?" Heero meant it more as a matter of curiosity than as a slight, but apparently he was very good at the self-righteous bastard thing.

"Ooh, honorable," Duo picked up. "Maybe he should talk to Wufei. Maybe there'd be some honor between, erm, honorable guys, and Wufei'd actually do something useful."

"No, we tried talking to him, remember? Didn't work."

"Chang?" Noin cut in. "What did he say?"

Duo shrugged again. "Nothing. I think Mariemaia broke him. He was, like, totally government brainwashed, but then she busted out a freaky-cool war and revolution and defeat and somethin' speech and wow, I think his brain just broke."

"Cut him some slack, Duo," Heero chided. "The government treated us the way it did because it was worried we would rebel against their authority. Imagine how much worse it was for him since he actually did rebel against their authority."

"Meh. Sure, I'll cut him some slack. 'Bout as much as I cut Trowa."

"How was Trowa, by the way?" he asked the others.

Duo snickered. "Yeah, did Heero break him, too?" All things considered, maybe Duo had gotten off lucky. Compared to all the others Heero had touched, at least he was still standing. Or maybe he'd broken, too. Sometimes things just had to break before they could be put back together again.

"He didn't stay long," Noin told them. "Dropped off the evidence, gave a statement, and then disappeared."

"Yup, that sounds like classic Trowa to me."

"And how are you doing, Noin?" Heero asked. "Everything check out okay?"

"Everything's checked out just fine." She smiled at him. Even when he'd been his most snarky with Duo, he'd always been very solicitous of her. "But back to business. Unfortunately, advances in communications and locators also mean that encryption and other security devices have advanced as well. We're still working on tracking down where all of them have holed up."

"How many are we talking here?"

"We know for certain that there are four of them running the show with the weapon and the threat and the messages. There were other members of the EUW that have gone into hiding, but we don't think that they were important enough to merit hanging out with the bosses and managing this coup."

Zechs handed them fact sheets with attached photos. "These are the men in charge. We're still running a check on all of their assets, combined with the strategic analysis, to try and pinpoint their locations."

"What about the weapon?"

"If we had the time, we'd get you up there and you could just smash your way through, quick and easy. Unfortunately, the crews we have up there right now are insufficiently armed. There are a few pilots up there, but nobody with anything that could get them past all of the defenses."

Noin picked up the narrative. "We've tried tracing the satellite signals, but they were clever enough to route them around enough, with enough false leads, that we haven't been able to narrow down their position much at all.... Duo. You look like you have a question."

"Yeah," he answered, frowning. "Where are all the gadgets?"

They were taken to the gadgets and weapons. The room was filled with the rest of the team that Zechs and Noin had assembled, checking over their equipment while the guys got their choice of armaments. In the room were also other government officials, who hovered nervously on the fringes. Two whispered loudly to Zechs, protesting the degree of freedom that had been given the two pilots.

He stared coldly at the hand-wringing bureaucrats. "They are volunteers, not conscripts. Therefore you do not have any such authority to restrict them as you please."

"But how can you trust them with--"

"I trust them." Certainly more than he did these soft worker bees. "What are you so afraid of?"

"They're unpredictable! How do we know they won't just turn on us?"

"Maybe you shouldn't have given them a reason to turn on you."

"We absolutely must have a way to regulate them in the field."

"Yuy, Maxwell," he called out. "Take two communicators with you. I'll expect regular reports from you on your progress." Maxwell saluted him mockingly, but picked up two of them and tossed one to his partner.

The worker bee buzzed agitatedly. "Mr. Peacecraft! Surely you're joking. There's no--"

"The communicators have GPS locators in them," Zechs interrupted impatiently. There was a reason why he had renounced his role as Peacecraft's heir. No one shipped out to Mars unless they were serious about their work. "You'll be able to tell if they skip out on you."

"By then it'll be too late!"

"I ask you again, Mr. Williams. Just what do you expect them to do with their freedom? Stop in a bar on the way out?" He ignored Duo's murmur of interest at the suggestion. Didn't the boy know how not to provoke someone?

"But the people that will be in their way!"

"Will no doubt be idiotic villains. We are not letting them into a civilian population to have an old-fashioned shoot out with their enemies. We are asking them to inflitrate a base and stop the leaders of this rebellion."

"And who knows how they'll choose to carry that out."

"Mr. Williams," Zechs snapped. "If you continue on in his manner, I shall have you removed from the room."

"You can't do that. I'm representing the government in the matter. We have every right to see to it that our interests are being upheld. Ah, finally. We can put an end to this." Williams sighed in relief as one of his men walked into the room carrying a box.

The two pilots didn't pay attention to the others until they were each handed a device. "Put these on," the leader of the troop commanded.

Duo took a glance at the necklet and raised an eyebrow. "You're fucking insane."

The sound of guns being leveled in their direction backed up the commander's statement. "No, you're insane. So put them on."

Zechs stepped forward, only to be pushed back by two other members of the government team. "What are you doing? What is the meaning of this?"

Williams did not look the least bit apologetic. "I told you, we cannot simply let them walk out of here. They still have a government contract to fulfil. We have to take steps to see that they come back after they're done with the job."

"And you can't just accept their word? You have to lock them up with those prisoner's bracelets? This is entirely uncalled for! I'm going to call Emerson--"

"Go right ahead." Williams sounded a lot more confident now that he was being backed up by a roomful of gun-toting soldiers on his side. "I'm acting on his orders, so he'll tell you the exact same thing that I'm telling you. Unless you'd like to consider putting one on yourself, perhaps you would like to cooperate."

"Those sick devices are reserved for only the most dangerous of criminals."

"Which is what they are, aren't they? We need a way to make sure they stay in line. This is what we have on hand."

"You would rather hit the killswitch on them than let them do what they have to in order to save your government? You're the ones that are insane. Of course they don't trust you."

"Calm down, Zechs," Heero said, taking the necklet that was handed to him. "Did you know they planted a tracker on me after the Barton uprising? Did it while I was out." He tapped the back of his neck. "I've sometimes wondered whether there was a killswitch included as part of it. It was conveniently located near my brainstem, after all. I guess this answers that question."

"We're supposed to be making progress here," Duo complained. "Not go right back where we started."

Williams smiled, sure that he now had the upper hand. "You will put them on, or you won't leave this room. The two of you represent just as large a threat to the government as the EUW and its philosophies."

"Whatever happened to pacifism, man? You sure you guys aren't working with the enemy?"

The man turned an unsightly color. "How dare you? We are trying to protect our society; they are trying to ruin it."

"Yeah, but what with the whole selective disarmament thing..."

"Only the most disruptive elements of our society are outfitted with these devices. If they get out, they can be taken care of cleanly and simply, before they harm anyone, and without any collateral damage."

"Clean and simple? I wouldn't call having your head blown off by an explosive strapped to your neck clean and simple. But hey, that's just me. I'd also say that that's the exact same theory I heard those EUW guys spitting out. But I guess in the battle of us versus them, it's the us that always wins with the moral superiority, isn't it?"

"Just put them on," Williams gritted out, obviously displeased by the comparison. This case involved mere individuals, while the EUW was holding a whole body of people hostage. Of course it was different.

In light of all the guns being pointed at them, Heero decided to be rational. He asked Duo with a glance to please cooperate, rubbing his wrist as he did. Duo's eyes flickered in that direction before he sighed and nodded minutely. With Duo's cooperation promised, Heero shrugged philosopically and snapped the collar on. They would have the opportunities to remove them later.

*****

"Told you we should have left without them."

Duo pouted as he hefted his pack. "It's not nice to be smug, Heero. I mean, come on. Even you thought they would have cooler shit than this."

He shrugged his own bag on. "Let's go in."

"Can we blow it up just for fun?"

"Let's save what we've got for when we need it, okay?"

"Boo."

They jumped the fence into the Jurgensen estate and headed inside. Since the government had been so unhelpful, they'd struck out on their own to find their clues, and figured the Jurgensens to be prime players in this drama. Surely they would have something lying around that might interest them.

Making their way across the grounds, the estate seemed oddly empty. The family had fled, leaving behind the house like a snake leaves behind its skin. After speaking to Relena about her time there, they decided to start with Friedrich's study. She had not been allowed inside.

They rummaged through his desk, Duo releasing locks at will, but with conspicuously empty spots in some drawers where it was obvious items had once laid, it became clear that Friedrich had cleaned up behind himself. Ashes in the hearth confirmed it. On the off chance they had missed something, they searched the rest of the room as well, finding a wall safe behind a large painting. It, too, had been emptied.

A sound bounced down the hall, one that neither one of them made. They looked cautiously at each other and drew their primary weapons, heading toward the door. Two men were walking away from them, carrying boxes and holstered guns. They quite quickly picked up an extra set of shadows that followed them down the corridor and a flight of stairs.

The pair of infiltrators stopped short of following their targets all the way to their destination. When the two armed flunkies opened the door to the large study, they heard another voice float through the air.

"--all done. Was there anything I missed?"

Heero's lips curved upwards in satisfaction. "Karl," he whispered softly to his partner in crime.

"Then we're almost set here," the jilted blond continued. "I'll finish up and join you soon. Okay. Okay. Of course. Yes, I know. Alright. Good-bye, Father." He presumably shut his phone and turned to the others. "Put those with the rest."

Heero took the honor of the point position and went in first, gun at the ready. There were three other men inside the room, other than the three they had already noted. They shouted in surprise and fumbled for their sidearms. Letting muscle memory take over, Heero neutralized two of them before they were a threat. Duo got a third. The final two managed to take shots at them as they dived for cover. Heero played the age-old game of duck and shoot, laying down cover fire while Duo snuck around the furniture to approach the enemy positions from the side. One of them died with a gurgle when Duo knifed him quietly from behind. The other exposed himself when he turned to deal with the sudden threat on his right, and Heero took him out with a well placed bullet.

The only one left unaccounted for was Karl, so he must have been the one scrambling out the far door before the last man fell. They ran after him in quick pursuit, clearing corridors with brisk efficiency as they followed the sound of his shoes on the hardwood floors.

They caught up with him as he was running through a large practice room. One wall was covered with mirrors. There was a piano set off to one side, with racks of equipment off to the other, but otherwise the floor was left quite clear and free of cover. "Karl!" Heero shouted before the young man reached the other side.

Karl reflexively ducked, expecting a shot to go whizzing over his head at any moment. When he chanced a glance up, he saw that Heero had leveled his weapon at him, but was making no move to approach or fire. He slowly straightened to face his nemesis. "Heero Yuy."

"Where is your father?" Heero demanded. The elder Jurgensen would definitely be in on the coup.

Karl's chin lifted defiantly. "I won't tell you. You'll have to kill me first." His loud words echoed slightly in the large room.

The boy had obviously watched too many bad movies. "Don't tempt me," he threw back dryly. "You're nothing, Karl. No one cares if you live or die. That's why you're here, and not with the rest of them. Where is he?"

"What I'm doing here is important."

"Oh yeah, we saw the boxes."

Duo snorted. His gun was also drawn, but he hadn't put it up, not wanting to steal Heero's thunder. "Packing up your mommy's fine china?"

The boy had, apparently, sprouted some manliness during these hard times. "How ignorant of you. You wouldn't know fine china from disposable flatware."

"You eat off of both of them. What's the difference?" Karl blinked at him, unprepared to deal with Duo's brand of humor.

Heero sighed impatiently. "I can shoot you several times in various non-lethal places, Karl, and leave you bleeding to death in here as you contemplate the rest of your miserable life and I go back to that other room and go fishing through those boxes and computers you conveniently gathered in one place for me, looking for information, or we could just do this the easy way. It's up to you."

Karl considered his options, and surprisingly, or perhaps unsurprisingly, came up with a third alternative. "I challenge you to a duel!"

It took a few seconds for that to sink in. "You have got to be kidding me." Who did he think he was? Treize?

"Fencing," Karl answered. He strode over to the racks of equipment, with Heero's gun tracking his movements, and took two sheathed swords off the wall. They came from a different set than the practice foils. These were two real rapiers.

"You aristocrats are out of your minds. Must be all the inbreeding."

Karl ignored the insult in favor of others that had been dealt to him. "I challenge you to regain my lost honor."

"Honor," Heero repeated flatly.

"You stole Relena away from me on my wedding day, you dishonorable cur! Such a vile act demands retribution."

"Dishonorable cur?"

"Let us finish the duel we started six years ago."

It took a moment for Heero to remember what he was talking about. "We finished that duel. I won. You lost. Pretty badly, as I recall."

This answer did not please him. "If you win, I'll tell you what you want to know. If I win--"

"You do realize that, even if by some bizarre chance you manage to defeat me, I have a friend here that'll wipe the floor with your ass, right?" Duo waved hello.

He scowled. "Though you may choose to kill me in such a crude fashion, at least I'll have regained my honor. Now will you accept the challenge or not?"

Heero was, honestly, tempted to just shoot the boy where he stood. He seriously considered the option for a few seconds before shrugging. Bleeding from bulletholes or sword thrusts didn't much matter to him. Either way, Karl would give up the information. "Fine. Whatever."

Duo snickered. "I am so telling, golly, pretty much everyone that you accepted a challenge to a duel."

Karl sniffed disdainfully. "You wouldn't understand."

Heero rolled his eyes as he handed Duo his pack and took off his stuffed vest. It wasn't the smartest idea to walk into a swordfight with grenades and flashbombs attached to one's torso. Before he turned around again, Duo spoke softly to him. "Hey, remember what I said about being possessive?"

"Aa."

"And how that included not wanting anyone else to watch your back?"

"Aa."

"That also includes not wanting anyone else to poke holes in your skin."

Heero smiled faintly. "I appreciate your concern. But seriously, I beat this guy with a flick of my wrist the last time around. But feel free to shoot him if he cheats."

"Will do."

The last time he had fenced was probably against Karl. That was a while ago, but they weren't being judged on style and points. He would take the weapon and make it effective, even if Treize would roll over in his grave to watch him. He took the proffered sword and pulled it out of its sheath, checking its balance. He had to admit that it was an elegant sword, and not as decorative as he had first thought. Running a finger lightly across the tip, he tested it and found it sufficiently sharp.

When he looked up, Karl threw a helmet at him. He caught it deftly, but shot his opponent an incredulous look. "Armor? What kind of duel is this?"

"Just making sure you stay honorable, Yuy. Now, en garde!"

He resisted the urge to simply throw the helmet as a distraction and dutifully put it on. The moment it settled, Karl attacked. "You've improved," Heero observed after their first exchange had come up even.

"I've been practicing," the blond snarled. "I haven't forgotten our last match. I've used it as inspiration for self-improvement."

As their blades crossed yet again, Duo threw an amused jab into the ring. "See, Heero? You inspire everyone you touch, even him."

"Oh, shut up."

"We...," Karl huffed irritably, parrying a bored thrust from Heero. "Are." Feint. "In the middle." Block. "Of a duel. Do you mind?"

"Yeah, whatever. You're the one that's talking so much. Why don't you make yourself a little less of a waste of air and tell us where your daddy is?"

"Duo," Heero scolded him mildly, voice muffled by the helmet. Block, block, strike. "You're distracting him."

"So? Oh, wait, I wouldn't want to invalidate the results of the duel or something, would I? I mean, if I'm too distracting, can he call a foul or something?"

"I don't know. But we're under a deadline here, so let's not find out, shall we?" A twist of his wrist sent his opponent's saber skittering across the floor, and a spurt of dramatic irony sent the tip of his rapier through the face plate of his opponent's helmet.

Karl froze instantly, staring cross-eyed at the length of blade not three centimeters from his face. "Well," he breathed nervously. "Déjà vu."

"Hn." It was distractingly tempting to just push those last few centimeters and put an end to this nonsense.

Karl reached up and pulled his helmet off slowly, very aware of the blade's every motion. He practically threw the mask off once he was clear of it.

The saber went wide for a second, but Heero quickly flung the mask off and raised the his sword back into a threatening position. The piece of protective gear flew into the equipment rack and swords clattered to the floor. Karl backed up a step, then two, wincing at the racket, but Heero followed, pulling off his own stifling mask. "Well, Karl? You going to hold up your end of the deal?"

His lips trembled, and he got a sense of why people often did dishonorable things before their end. He had given his word as a gentleman on the outcome of this duel, but he also had a family obligation to uphold. Stumbling back another step, his feet got confused and he fell gracelessly on his butt.

Heero watched as he scuttled back another meter. "Hmpf. Fine. We'll do this the hard way." He turned back toward Duo. "Guess I'll be needing my gun."

"You could just poke him a few times."

Karl looked nervously around the room, seeking his escape, but what could he do? Maxwell could shoot him down before he got anywhere. He spied the fallen equipment on the floor next to him, close to hand, and desperation formed a plan. Snatching up the main gauche that went with his rapier, he pulled it from its sheath and sprang to his feet charging.

Heero heard the commotion behind him and turned, rapier still in hand to meet the attack, but bullets flew faster than men and swords. There was a loud bang as the shot was fired, and then it was as if Karl just tripped. He fell, and then he didn't get back up again.

Heero turned to his partner, a little disbelieving. Karl was down for the count. Maybe not dead yet, but bleeding out all over the quality hardwood flooring of the practice room. Who would have thought? And what would Relena say? "I could have gotten him."

"I know," Duo answered calmly, putting his gun away. "But remember what I said about being possessive?"

"Hm. You really meant it, didn't you?"

"Yeah. Still think I should have a thing for you now?"

"If it means you'll be watching my back? Sure."

A ringing sounded, breaking their exchange. They were both startled into action, turning quickly to scan the area before they realized it was no alarm or warning. Heero hurried over to the mess of equipment, underneath which was the place Karl had laid his jacket in preparation for the match. He fished out a cell phone from a jacket pocket and checked the number and caller ID. "His father." The ringing stopped as soon as he made the announcement.

Duo patted his pockets down, looking for a certain piece of equipment. "We can trace it."

"Only when the signal is active. Not that pocket. The one next to it."

"Thanks," he muttered, pulling out the signal scanner. "I know, but he'll probably call back, probably in a few minutes. You know, just in case Karl was indisposed or something. Which I guess he is. This father of his doesn't strike me as a patient character."

"From what I've heard, no, he's not."

"Then we'll get him," he answered cheerfully, wiggling the scanner at him.

"I'll call it in."

"Aw, come on," Duo pouted. "You're really going to play by their rules?"

"I don't want to get my head blown off quite yet. I still need it."

*****

Part 26

The good part about working with the government's official sanction was that they didn't have to sneak around trying to acquire transportation somewhere. Well aware of the deadlines they were facing, the government was more than happy to get them into the area with their own machines. Unfortunately, they couldn't be deposited exactly where they needed to go. The EUW would surely find it a bit suspicious if government choppers were landing in their backyard.

They acquired a car from the local authorities and drove into the lush woods surrounding the manor that had become the base of operations for the EUW. Duo was at the wheel while Heero continued to communicate with Zechs back at their HQ. "For the last time, we aren't waiting."

"They'll be there soon," Zechs said reasonably. They hadn't been able to take the same transport because of their numbers and their equipment. Plus, they had still been lodged at HQ, so they had a different approach vector.

"Even if they were here, we wouldn't take them in with us." He was, in fact, sort of hoping that the EUW would notice their approach and shoot them down before they ever got here.

"Heero, do you want them to hit the switch?"

"Why would they do that?"

"You're disobeying my direct order."

"For starters, we're volunteers, so we don't report to you by necessity. We cannot be in violation of orders because we do not follow your orders. Second, they would only get in our way."

"You need to learn to be a team player, Yuy."

There was something immense amusing about that statement. "You want us to infiltrate so the EUW won't have any cause to press their button. You really think we can do that successfully with a bunch of guys chosen almost strictly for availability? If you really need to make them useful, send them somewhere else to act as a decoy. We can't be bothered to babysit these guys all day."

"They were picked for other skills as well."

The communicator's channel was also open Duo's side, so he felt free to chime in. "Ooh, ooh! I know! They're supposed to shoot us if we get out of line, right?"

There was a brief silence on the other end of the line. "They would not be acting on my orders if they do."

Admission enough, Heero thought. It wasn't as if Zechs had any real authority in the government, either. He was just another one of the rogue elements that the government had tried to neutralize, only he'd had the good fortune of being exiled. "Seems sort of like overkill, don't you think? What with the collars and all."

"Oh," Duo answered. "Simple enough. Maybe they're just supposed to press the button if we get out of line, and then finish the job themselves."

"How bothersome. Zechs, what's considered 'out of line'? Sneezing?"

"Refusing the assistance of the squad we're sending in. For instance."

"Yeah, I think we got that part. What else?"

Zechs sighed lightly. "Yes, if you sneeze without their permission, they might get a little antsy. They think you're as dangerous as the EUW threat, and they're going to treat you accordingly. If they think you're out of line, they'll kill you and take their chances with the EUW. They may be a new threat, but at least they don't seem willing to kill people yet."

"You kill a bunch of people in one little war," Duo complained. "And suddenly you're a homicidal maniac. Where's the love, man?"

Heero rolled his eyes. "Who's in charge if we go with them?"

"Brooks, of course."

"Of course. Look, if they're there, we'll go in with them. But if they're late, well, we wouldn't want to endanger the world because of it. There's a deadline closing in, you know. We might have to hurry on without them."

Zechs would take what he could get. "Then I'll try to cover your asses. Zechs out."

The unit unfortunately arrived just minutes before they had been about to enter the manor, and they were forced to make nice and wait for the group as they assembled, and then proceeded to perform their own reconnaissance to determine what the two of them already knew. Heero squinted upwards. The sun was still high in the sky. The timing still seemed alright.

The scouts returned with the information that they had gathered. The estate belonged to an heir of one of the pacifist members of Romafeller. The doves' accidental death had apparently been enough to alter a personal philosophy or two, creating the tinder for the creation of a new 'pacifist' organization.

It seemed Dekim Barton was not the only person to have a military-grade bunker underneath his estate. They decided on an entry through an evacuation tunnel, whose terminus came out in the hollow of a hill on the estate. It was not the point of entry that Heero and Duo had chosen, and would likely take longer, but was necessary to accommodate the number of men on the small force. The original plan had involved some nifty acrobatics, too, which was probably beyond the abilities of these laymen.

With Heero and Duo kept carefully corralled in the center of the troop under close observation, they made their way to the tunnel. Duo twiddled his thumbs impatiently while the men fooled with the lock, figuring he could get it done in half the time, especially if he had Heero as his extra set of hands. He drifted closer to the locked door, but two men with guns interposed themselves in his path and attempted to glare at him menacingly. He rolled his eyes and let them be. It was their government that was going to get blown up, after all.

They got in. The tunnel itself wasn't as long as it might have been. After half a kilometer of walking in a downward direction, they reached another door, and again they waited while two of the men worked on unlocking it, first disabling the alerts set into the door and then focusing on the locking mechanisms themselves. Once they got it cracked, they threaded a scanner through to the other side to make sure the coast was clear. It was.

Judging from their position underground, they started their hike back towards the main complex. The lower corridors of the bunker were unoccupied, as they had expected. The guards would no doubt be kept close to the top personnel. The militant pacifist forces were not proponents of large armies. That much they kept to the disarmament ideas of pacifism. Armies were made to do war upon others. Individuals, however, had every right to protect themselves against others, and the government had the responsibility of protecting its people from largescale threats. Perhaps if everyone were similarly armed, they could count on the folly of mutually assured destruction to keep all of the powers from using their weaponry on each other.

When they got to the upper regions of the underground base, they found more signs of technology and men. Sneaking through the corridors became more than simply walking quietly. A man ran point and scanned the passageways in front of them, making sure they were clear before they proceeded. When they weren't, they had to find some side passage to duck down or some room to hide out in until the threat of detection had passed.

There was something a little wrong about having all the passages cleared out for them, Duo thought. How boring. It reduced this whole sneaking business to something more like a stroll when all he had to do was stop and go on someone else's orders. His attention wandered, but finally snapped back into place when the commander gathered them all in an empty hangar for an update.

"Ahead are the main ops facilities, just through that last door. We're going to find their command center, and then we're going to take them out. Harper, Chou, Chatsworth. Man the scans. Harry, Derning, Dellenkamp, at the fore. Bales, guard the rear." He didn't pause when Duo cleared his throat. "North, ready with the secondary fire." Duo cleared his throat more loudly, and Brooks frowned. "You two. Just stay down and don't get in our way."

"Well, if you're going to be that way about it, why don't we just stay here?"

The chief scowled even harder. "You'll stay where we can keep an eye on you. I don't trust you."

"Blah blah. What are we here for then?"

Brooks got in his face. "Look. You two are here because some nitwit in the government thought it would be a good idea to let you freaks out, but I will not let you botch this, do you hear? This is too important to leave in the hands of broken psychopaths."

"Ooh. Psychopaths." Duo glanced amusedly at Heero. "I think that's a step above psychotic. What do you think?"

"I think you shouldn't prove his point," Heero advised softly.

Brooks turned away from them with a sneer and ordered his men out. The two pilots followed obediently in their midst, though Heero nudged Duo in his side. "Stop that," he whispered, watching Duo's fingers playing with the ring of a flash bomb attached to his vest.

Duo just smirked and continued along.

The door in their path was dealt with as all the other doors were. Duo amused himself by writing up a mental critique of the two-person team's performance. They weren't bad, as these things went, but they were entirely too by the book. Caution was one thing, but unnecessarily thorough checks of things that could be determined by sight or touch was slowing them down. He glanced at his watch. They were still doing alright with time. Luckily, it was summertime. Sunset came later these days.

They entered a crossroads of sorts. Four doors exited the large commons room. The buzz of a monitor running a news broadcast on mute came from one wall. They paused to determine which doorway to take.

A door swished open behind them, and they all turned, drawing their weapons and ducking for cover, but no one shouted out an alert. No footsteps proceeded through the room. Surely the newcomer had noticed them?

Duo took a peek around the sofa he had hidden behind and saw no one there. Across the room, he saw Harper do the same, scanning the area furiously with one of his devices. After five seconds, he sent out the all-clear, and others of their force began to emerge. Heero's hand on Duo's shoulder warned caution. Doors didn't just open and close by themselves.

They inspected the room carefully as the others decided on their path, creeping around the perimeter to inspect all the places hidden from their line of sight. Ironically, what they were searching for was in the middle of the room, high up near the ceiling, where it would blend in with the metal paneling.

Heero saw it first and pulled out his gun in a smooth line of motion, shooting as soon as his target was in his sights. For the infiltration, both he and Duo had managed to wheedle silencers off of HQ's small weapons depot, but the distinctive psssftt of the weapon's fire was still loud enough to be heard by a squad of men already on high alert. Weapons were drawn again, this time at Heero, and they were halfway out with angry shouts bubbling up in throats when his target sparked, fizzled, and fell to the ground with a clatter.

He and Duo ignored the weapons pointed at them as they moved quickly to the center of the room to inspect what had just been shot down. Chou frowned and hurried over as well. "Defense droid. It will have sent out an alert. More will be on the way."

"Defense droid?" North muttered. "What the hell's that?"

"They're an auto-defense system built on mobile doll technology. Been around for a few years, but only recently has the AI gotten good enough for practical deployment. They can act as sentries and patrols, and are equipped with weapons capabilities. They know how to hunt and destroy. We need to get out of here."

Brooks ordered the obvious. "Move out. Door number two."

Half of their troop was through the specified door when Derning swore and stopped the party. "Two of them heading this way."

"Take them out," Brooks ordered, readying his weapon. Derning fired at one of them, but missed. The droid returned fire with far higher accuracy, and Derning fell.

"Shit!" Harrison cried, pushing the men back behind him as he targeted the droid. It took three shots, but he got the floating sphere. It bobbed for a few seconds as its engines failed, and then crashed to the floor.

They ducked as its comrade made retaliatory strikes, pushing them back to the commons room while they tried to take the droid out. Bales led the way back, rushing for cover with a curse. "Shit, there's three more in here!"

They were soon joined by another set of three, entering through one of the other doors. Two more pushed them out of the corridor they had been trying to traverse until the men were taking cover in various positions around the common room, trying to take out the droids without being shot in the process. North never made it back into the room.

Chou had been right; the AI system of the droids had improved quite notably over the years, allowing the defense systems to coordinate their attack, running simple patterns to lay down cover fire while one of them floated around back to take them out. Chatsworth screamed out in pain as one of them got him. Dellenkamp was soon to follow.

Angered, Harrison made a hasty decision, despite his CO's shouted orders that they all stay down, and soon he was writhing in pain on the floor. The droids deemed him no longer a threat and moved on.

Duo had taken out two very lethal mobile dolls programmed with the data of two Gundam pilots. The dinky little AI of these automated defenses were nothing. He calmly bided his time behind his sofa, waiting for the right point in their pattern when they were switching states, and then broke cover, taking out two of them with high precision aim. As the droids spent a few moments in transition to compensate for the hole in their defense grid, Heero destroyed one of them and damaged a second. Brooks, hoping the droids would be concentrating their efforts on the two pilots, managed to damage another. Also taking advantage of the aggresive assault, Bales shot out one more, though he took a shot to his side in the process. Harper was flushed from his position with a startled yelp and scrambled to another piece of furniture, barely managing to keep his skin intact.

Chou flipped through his pockets and came up with a solution. "Sir!" he called out to his CO. The auto-defense droids did not come equipped with voice recognition. "I've got a chaff grenade."

Brooks risked a peek around his table to evaluate the situation. "What effect?"

"Maybe sixty percent?"

"Good enough. Alright, twenty seconds to door number two. Go!"

Chou popped the lid and lobbed the grenade, spreading EM chaff through the area. It wasn't strong enough to completely confuse the droids, but it was sufficient to throw off their sensors and their aim as the men ran towards the door they had originally planned on. Harper took a glancing hit as he helped Bales escape, encouraging them not to linger to eliminate the remaining droids.

Brooks huffed in relief as the door closed behind them. Heero took the opportunity to make sure it wouldn't be opening any time soon by crossing some of the wires in the door's panel. "We should get out of here. Men will be here soon."

"Dammit, I know that," Brooks snapped, his attention coming away from North's body still sprawled in their path. He took another deep breath to regather his thoughts. "Chou, good job. Harper, Bales, how are you doing?"

"Mobile, sir," Bales answered, wincing. Harper had torn open an emergency binding and was tying it around his side.

"It'll have to do. Let's get moving."

They kept walking, passing into a more populated area of the base. A patrol passed them by as all six of them huddled inside a small utility closet. Harper's hand was on the knob to leave just as a door across from them opened. There was the crackle of a comm unit being activated outside.

"Terrell," a gruff voice answered.

The comm crackled again. "Sir. We have four intruders down in Commons two-east. Four droids remaining."

"Four, eh?" They held their breaths, hoping the man would conclude that no one could possibly have survived with four droids remaining active. "Inform the boss. And Spieler, too, while you're at it. There may still be intruders in the base. And dammit, try and figure out how they got in."

"Yes, sir!"

Terrell spoke to another man beside him. "We need to tighten security. Split the forces between the upstairs and B-level. Keep a backup squad in Commons two-north. If there's anyone still here, they'll go for one or the other. We need reinforcements ready to support whoever gets lucky."

"Yes, sir."

One of the men moved out while Terrell went back into the room across the hall. It seemed to be a security room of some sort. With a first cautious peek, the squad filed out of the utility closet and headed further in their intended direction before stopping for a whispered conference.

"Upstairs and B-level," Brooks murmured. "The 'boss' must be in one place. What would be in the other? Ops? Weapon control? We have," he checked his watch, "ninety minutes. When sundown hits, they'll probably want to gather in the weapons room. Their threat will be much more plausible if they hit the buttons themselves. We should attack while their forces are still separated. So let's say we've got an hour to finish this."

"Where to, sir?"Harper asked.

Brooks paused a moment to think about it. "We should hit the weapons room first, take out the threat. Dammit, it could be either way. Upstairs will be closer to the surface, so better to get their transmissions out, but B-level sounds more secure."

Heero saw an obvious solution. "You take upstairs, we'll take B-level."

"Don't even think about it."

"It's the best decision."

"You know something we don't, Yuy?" Brooks demanded, fingering the transmitter on his wristband ominously. It was obviously hooked into their collars.

Heero just looked back at him calmly. "The two of us can clear B-level. It will probably take more men to explore 'upstairs'. You might want to split us up, but I doubt anyone really wants to 'babysit' us. Besides, you're the only one with the switch and the authority to take us out, but you won't go with us and send your men off by themselves."

"We can just pick one and take our chances," he growled. "Either way, we'll put a stop to this."

"The 'boss' may have a system to trigger the weapon wherever he is. It sounds like Spieler is running their ops. He was an important man in their Moon Base operation. I'm sure he wouldn't hesitate to carry out the strike if his bosses are taken out. We can't just go with one. We have to attack them both."

"How do we know--"

"You don't. But we haven't given you any trouble so far. I don't know what you all think we're going to do if you let us out of your sight. We're not interested in helping these people or letting them win. What can we possibly do to endanger this mission?"

He was right, damn him. Not about them being trustworthy, necessarily, but about them splitting up. With four of their men down, they couldn't afford to sideline two members of their unit. Nor was he willing to sacrifice one of his men by assigning him to keep an eye on these jackals. Two of them were injured, besides. They needed to split up. There wasn't even a guarantee that the EUW would wait for sunset anymore now that they knew their security had been breached. He reflexively checked his watch again before growling once more. "Dammit, fine. Yuy, Maxwell, you head to B-level. We'll clear 'upstairs'. But don't get any funny ideas. I'll be monitoring your progress."

"Whatever," Duo muttered, earning himself a sidelong glare from both sides.

They split up. Brooks and his men hadn't been holding them down, but Duo felt considerably lighter on his feet now that they didn't have to think about their every action. As long as the signal on their locators kept moving forward in the right direction, Brooks couldn't complain.

B-level was one section of the base over. The extra security forces were being moved into the area, forcing their retreat into side passages. Watching the flow of traffic as it passed them by, the pair decided on a direction and charted a course. While waiting for three men at a corner to stop talking and get out of their way, they had a whispered conversation of their own.

"Hey, Heero," Duo started. "You think this is total bullshit?"

"What?"

"Waiting around all this time. Where are my explosions?"

"I never promised you any explosions, Duo."

He stuck out his tongue. "You suck. We should be killing these guys instead of waiting for them to finish their smoke. We're just going to have to kill them later, anyway."

"Maybe."

"Man, that self-righteous asshole thing of yours doesn't include mass mayhem, does it? You really suck."

Heero fell for the pout on his face and laid a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Maybe on the way out, okay?"

"Promise?"

"No."

Duo stuck his tongue out again. "This is boring, man!"

"I'll make it up to you."

"Promise?"

"...Depends what you're expecting." He held up a hand to forestall an answer as he listened closely to the echoes in the hall. "Okay, let's move out."

They quite boringly waltzed down the corridor once the men were gone, which made Heero feel bad, so he stopped and let Duo embed some explosives in a wall panel before they moved on. During the exploration of the next corridor, they found themselves confronted with two more patrolling auto-defense turrets. The soft whirring sound their motors made was far too easily masked by the noise of the ventilation system and the electronic hum of the lights, but after the intruders had been detected, a loud tweeting alert sounded.

Duo flattened himself against the wall as Heero jumped back to avoid a blast. One shot from Duo's weapon was enough to dispose of his droid while Heero, ducking to avoid another shot, landed with his back to the ground and fired at his enemy. When it plunked to the floor, its alarm dying with it, Duo smirked and gave Heero a hand up. "Graceful."

"Far more graceful than getting my kneecaps shot out. Let's move."

Men heard the alarm before it died, bringing them into the sector, and Duo got the excitement he wanted. Bullets were dodged and stun grenades hurled as they wove their way through the complex. Maybe Brooks would even be glad. The reinforcement unit came to their sector to defend against the intruders, drawing attention away from the upstairs level.

"Well," Duo said over the sound of gunfire. "I'm having a great time. You?"

Heero felled the last man in the detachment in front of them and answered with only a small smile and a shrug.

Double reinforced doors were a pretty good sign of something important. They worked on breaking through the security on the door lock, and when Heero managed to get the gears to open the doors only a few centimeters, Duo tossed in his last stun grenade through the crack. After the initial shouts died down, Heero completed the circuit again and allowed the door to finish its cycle.

There were men at stations around the room, busy being woozy in or near their chairs. Two of them had their weapons out, and they were taken down first. The two other men, just about falling over in their seats, were hit over their heads to ensure their docility. That left only the man in the middle of the room, standing unsteadily in front of a large computer system and a screen that filled a good deal of the wall. It displayed a set of maps, diagnostics, and targeting information.

"Spieler," Heero identified from Noin's description of the man. He leveled his gun at the man. "Step away from the console."

He did not comply. "Heero Yuy," he slurred. "I see you're doing well these days."

"Move."

Spieler's attention was riveted to a smaller screen set in the computer console. The man that had issued the ultimatum was on one part of the splitscreen display. The bald man that had complained at them when Relena called was on the other half, looking more constipated than ever at the first man's arrogant claims.

"We've stopped the weak little force you sent here, Senator. It's as we said: you do not have the strength to back up your flawed philosophy. Now hand over the government before more of your men have to die."

"You're deluded if you think your plan will work, Kellan. The people would never support you."

"The people want leadership. They want people in charge that can get things done, and you are obviously not getting anything done. I hope you gentlemen have a backup plan. Unless you yield to our demands, we will demonstrate to you that we have not been making idle threats. You have thirty minutes to make up your mind."

Heero took advantage of Spieler's distraction to push him away from the computers and into the center of the room. The man struggled, but he was no match for Heero and went reeling with a punch to the jaw to land face first on the computer consoles. Something beeped as Heero dragged him off the interface and dropped him on the floor.

"That better not be the arming sequence," Duo observed mildly.

He glanced up at the dialog boxes that popped up on the large display, thankful to find them merely error messages. He closed them out and inspected the rest of the displayed data. "Looks like Spieler was down here to press the button."

Duo looked up as if he could see through the ceiling. "Guess Brooks either hasn't made it upstairs yet, or this Kellan guy's bluffing." The communication between him and the senator had been cut, leaving the screen blank.

"At least they're still waiting until sundown." He poked around the interface a little. "Looks like they have a button upstairs, too. This reads as accepting a network signal from up there."

"Can you cut it off?"

"Well, I'm no Pargan," he answered dryly, taking a seat. "But I'm sure I'll be able to manage something."

Duo heard a small groan from Spieler and took the time to kick him in the gut. The movement subsided. "So. I guess our heads are intact after all. So far. Feeling good yet?"

"Hm?" He dragged his head out of the bitstream long enough to consider the question. "Some. Maybe. I don't know. Ask me again in a few hours."

"Yeah, maybe the adrenaline will have faded by then." Hell, it was already fading. He'd never gotten the big boom he wanted. He went to stand behind Heero, draping his arms loosely over Heero's shoulders while he studied the data on the screen. The capitol building was clearly targeted. There were several other coordinates entered into the queue as well, with text labeling them as government installations as well. "Wonder if this would have worked."

"And... done." The indicator beside the signal monitor turned red, showing the input was now cut off. "Depends on how much they can target with their weapon right now, I suppose. It'll probably take them time to complete the full array that they had planned." He poked around the system again, finding information on their weapons capabilities.

Duo fingered the collar around his neck. "I told you before, Heero, I'm not so into the whole master-slave scene. We gotta find a way to get this off."

Heero touched the hand near his neck. "I've noticed you're not into a lot of things, Duo. You're not the bad boy you like to think you are."

His brow furrowed. "I am, too. A guy doesn't have to, to, to like fucking corpses or something for him to be a bad boy."

Heero winced. "Necrophilia does not a bad boy make. Yes, I would agree. But I would stop right there, please, otherwise I might mention something about how you doth protest too much, and I'm sure things would just go downhill from there."

"Hmpf. Fine. But you still owe me. You said you'd let me blow something up."

"I didn't give you a timeframe."

"Does your self-righteous asshole-ism have to extend to me, too?"

"It's part of my charm, though, isn't it? Hmm, look at this. Maybe it would have worked. A lot of the infrastructure is there to complete the grid. They just haven't finished hooking it up yet. Although I'd guess that a lot of this was done in the last twenty-four hours. Sloppy work."

"Hmm... waaaait a sec." Duo leaned over to expand on some data he saw fly by. "Hey, babe..."

This sounded like it had the potential to cause a lot of trouble. "What?"

"How would you feel about doing some quick work to clean this system up?"

"Why?"

"Well, you did promise me explosions..."

*****

Kellan glanced out his window, wishing the sun would hurry things along. They had managed to intercept the other half of the government team on their way to completing their mission, but he knew that there were still others out there. Eight was the standard squad size, and eight had been accounted for. Was there another eight running loose in the compound below? He hadn't received a report in a while, but the upstairs computer, connected to the main weapons controls below, still showed all systems green. The network still showed activity, in fact, proving that the men down there were still hard at work completing the system. He would have to remember to reward them for staying on task despite the raid. It was also a good idea to keep the systems programmers happy and loyal. That, or dead. They were usually the first to create or find vulnerabilities in the systems they had a hand in crafting.

The sun was kissing the horizon. He drummed his fingers impatiently while three of his colleagues behind him discussed the possibilities that their enterprise was opening. When the phone call came, he smoothed his expression into an appropriately smug one and completed the connection. That annoying Senator Reynolds came up on screen.

"You're making a terrible mistake, Kellan," the man warned without preamble.

"I get the feeling that you're the one about to make a terrible mistake, Reynolds," he answered calmly, rubbing the activation button. "Admit it. You're impotent."

"You're insane."

"I see you just won't understand our point of view until we demonstrate its superiority to you. You have about five more minutes to resign all power. Will you do what's right for the people?"

"Not so long as there is a chance you may be able to persuade you otherwise."

"You mean Captain Brooks and the others?" He shook his head. The good captain and the surviving members of his team were being kept under guard in a nearby room. They certainly would be causing no further trouble. He decided not to let the senator know that there were still others possibly available to foil their plans. "You always were such a sore loser. Give it up, Reynolds."

"Blowing up the capitol building won't change anything!"

Kellan frowned slightly, noticing his display telling him that the weapon had been charging, but then he shrugged mentally. Spieler was probably warming it up in preparation for the strike. It was good having employees that could anticipate one's wishes. "It's only a show of our power, Reynolds. We aren't complete barbarians, you know, ready to take the most drastic course of action without first giving you a chance to change your minds. After sunset, if you're still unwilling to hand over the government, we'll discuss the new terms of your surrender. I promise you, the price you pay will continue to rise until we are no longer interested in doing this the proper way."

"Proper way? You call these threats 'proper'?!"

"We are being considerate enough to allow you the opportunity to settle your affairs and then step aside neatly. That would be what is best for the people, after all. A smooth transition in government ensures that there will be little disruption in their lives and the programs that support them. We are, however, prepared to simply seize control from you, if that is what it takes to rid this world of your ineffectual methods. Sometimes, drastic measures have to be taken to excise the cancer from a body. We opted for the non-invasive approach first, but you've decided to make this difficult."

He frowned again, noticing the flashing message on his display. His weapon had just fired? Impossible. What was Spieler thinking? Then he noticed that the intended target of the capitol building was still intact. The target had been modified to a set of coordinates that he did not recognize. A test run, perhaps? He was going to have to have some severe words with Spieler about following the proper communication channels once his speech to the senators was over and done with. At least the capitol's coordinates had moved back to their proper place at the top of the queue, and he watched as the system realigned itself to its initial target.

An aide pulled Reynolds aside and delivered a message. "What?" he squawked, turning back to Kellan. "What is the meaning of this?"

"Of what?"

"Why have you destroyed our communications facilities?"

Good question. He made up a good answer. "To prove to you that we have now expanded our effective range. We have more power than you think, Senator. This is your last warning."

"We will never give into the threat of terrorists!"

"Very well. I hope your people heeded the evacuation call, Reynolds. We don't want any unnecessary loss of life." He smiled, then keyed in the command to fire.

Nothing happened. He grit his teeth, trying not to let his dismay show as he turned his attention to the targeting computer and confirmed his command. Again, nothing happened. What had that fool Spieler done? Checking the data quickly, it looked like the weapon was still recharging, the time far surpassing what the technical reports had said it would. Oh, the outrage!

Before Reynolds had the opportunity to question his sense of timing, there was a commotion outside the door. Shouts, gunfire, and then the door burst open. The two guards in the room with them were mowed down by Brooks and his men. Curses! How had they gotten free? He scowled and tried desperately to make their weapon fire again, but it still seemed as if it was refusing his commands.

Brooks appeared beside him, pointing a gun. "I'm going to have to ask you to stop that and step away."

Left with no other choice, he was forced to do as he was told. Taking advantage of the connection, Brooks communicated to his superiors their mission success.

"What about them?" the senator demanded.

The commander frowned. "We were forced to split up. They were sent downstairs to take care of the weapons array."

"What were you thinking, Brooks?"

He stiffened, confident in his decision. "Sir, they did not show any signs of trouble or rebellion during the time that they were working with us."

"It doesn't matter now," the senator interrupted, searching his desk for a small box. "They won't be a problem anymore."

Across the room and observing the proceedings, Relena's voice rang out. "Senator Reynolds!"

"Restrain her," he ordered the guards, and they did, holding back Zechs and Noin as well. They also had been nearby, monitoring the situation. Unfortunately, as mission control, they had not been armed. "This 'incident' has only proven how dangerous they are to our society. We cannot allow their threat to continue."

"They've helped you! They didn't betray our trust at all!"

"You were the only one that ever trusted them, Peacecraft." He flipped the cover on the small box and pressed the button inside.

"No!" Relena cried, struggling against her guards.

"Holy shit!" an assistant shouted across the room.

Reynolds turned irritably in her direction. "What is it, Luca?"

"The capitol building, sir. It's... been destroyed!"

*****

Deep within the bowels of an underground bunker, Duo was straddling Heero's lap, intent on exploring every last surface of his partner's mouth with his tongue. When at last he felt the job sufficiently completed, he pulled away with a happy sigh. "You're too good to me, baby."

Heero shrugged. "I did promise you explosions."

He laughed merrily as he leaned back, closing his eyes and imagining the mayhem. They'd found a surveillance camera that had been set up near the capitol building, ready to record the results of the EUW's power, so they'd gotten a live feed on that. There had been more dust than fireball, really. Heero had taken offense at the inaccurate targeting system and rewritten it for a higher degree of precision. The demolition of the building had been no less effective, though. Just cleaner. More explosive was surely the disaster of an orbital strike platform up in space, however. After they had used the weapon to take out the relay devices that were responsible for forwarding the signals from the government offices to the collars they were wearing, they'd reprogrammed the beam weapon to overload on next fire. The explosions probably ignited the mine field that had been deployed around the platform as well. It would have been very pretty. Maybe they could find footage of it somewhere.

Heero slid a hand behind his head and pulled him back. "We should probably get out of here before Brooks comes down looking for Spieler."

"Oh, fine." He kissed Heero's nose before climbing out of his lap. "So... wanna go find a nice beach somewhere, have a sweet summer fling?"

"Maybe," Heero answered, stretching. "Though I was thinking we might go back to space for a little while."

"Oh? Leave something up there?"

"I hope you haven't completely alienated yourself from Howard."

That took a bit of the joyous haze away. "Why?"

Heero touched the collar around his neck. "Because he's probably got what we need to get these off."

Duo pouted, but was in too fine a mood at the moment to get truly upset over the suggestion. "Oh, fine. Be right, why don't you. But we're finding a good beach town right after!"

He smiled. "We'll see."

They stepped over a guard's groaning body and left the control center. Duo slung an arm over Heero's shoulder. "So... feeling better yet?"

"I feel..." He gave the matter some serious thought before finally coming up with a soul-deep smile. "I feel like I have some control over my life, Duo. I feel like... I feel like I just might be able to do this."

Duo grinned in response. "See, I was right all this time. Blowing shit up helps."

"Oh, shut up, you."

OWARI

author's notes:
special thanks to the plaidest of all dragons, against whom ideas were mercilessly thrown. a flood of text, as well, as the final hours wound down.
this story shamelessly drew inspiration from the incredibles, gundam seed destiny, escape from LA, the rock, boondock saints, chronicles of riddick, and most likely countless other sources that i have since forgotten. the author considers the finished product to be something of a dark comedy, so please excuse any oddities in the tale.

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