Disclaimer: See 'Watching'

A/N: I just couldn't keep this from spilling from my fingers and even if it woul dmean another slow-coming story I'm prepared to face your anger, even more so because I need to know if you enjoy this beginning.

It is my first try at GW fiction and I'm not very secure it is a good one. :)

Unbetaed. Beware of bad grammar.

That said - On with the fic!

Chapter 1

I woke up feeling the familiar sour taste in my mouth and to the pounding of my head that signified another hangover. What the fuck did I drink last night? Groaning I slipped, more like stumbled, out of bed and made a beeline for the bathroom. Do you know how good a cool shower feels when you feel like your brain is trying to escape your head by bashing its way out of your scull? I sighed and let the water cascade down my skin making me feel like something more than a zombie that was running on the last of its batteries and return some feeling to my numb skin. Alcohol does that when consumed in large quantities – it numbs you, but before that its one hell of a mood-maker especially when consumed in a good company.

"Duo?" I've always liked the way Heero doesn't shout trough the door on mornings like this. Instead he talks loudly but that's ok with me – it doesn't make my head ring like a shout would.

"Yeah?" Urgh! My voice sounds like…well I couldn't say. It's has that unique croaking, abused quality that is common to all loud drunks around the world and the colonies.

"Hurry up. Une just called. We've got a fire"

I groaned and let my head hit the wall then stumbled back. Fuck! That was a mistake. Groaning again and holding my head, hoping it won't fall of my shoulders, I turned the water off and using the walls for support I stepped out of the shower. Keeping a precocious balance I made my way to the cabinet on the other side of the thankfully rather small bathroom.

Aspirin! I think I even managed to grin a little but I didn't wipe off the mirror unwilling to see myself in it. Sweet, sweet salvation! How many could I take before poisoning myself again? Nevermind. I uncapped the bottle and shook a few into my palm then gulped them down without water.

I don't know exactly how I managed to get to the kitchen without stumbling but I was rather proud of myself. Heero didn't even glance my way as he handed me a cup of coffee. The smell of freedom someone had once said and I wholeheartedly agree.

"Thanks" my voice was still rough but it was getting better.

I sipped the black beverage of life and sighed as I dropped into one of the high chairs that were on the kitchen bar. It made my stomach turn a little but I suppressed it. I watched as Heero finished cooking breakfast – eggs and toast – but my stomach rebelled at the mere thought of food.

Predicting my lack of appetite Heero had cooked breakfast only for him so he took it off the stove and into a dish then sat down next to me. Feeling nauseated by the smell I slowly stood up and went to fill my cup for the second time. Heero had once said in a moment of wisdom that I am a coffee addict. Truer words hadn't been spoken, let me tell you. I needed at least two cups in the morning to feel human again, well as human as I could anyway.

When I turned Heero was watching me with an amused half-smile and I realized I had a stupid grin on my face. I tried to scowl at him but my damned head hurt too much. I'll get back on him later when my mind was rid of the fuzz. Instead I remembered he'd said something about a fire.

"You said something about a fire?" I sipped my coffee against the counter.

He nodded.

"We've got to be at HQ in an hour for briefing" the bastard still had that evil smile on. If he wasn't twice my strength and if I wasn't with a Gundam-sized hangover I would have wiped it off painfully.

Then my mind caught on with what he'd said. An hour?

"Fuck!" I cursed out loud as I gulped the last of my coffee squashing down the urge to gag as I put the cup in the sink before running to my room. I was putting on my shoulder holster when I heard Heero in front of my door.

"And Duo?"

"What?" I grumbled checking my Colt's mag. Fully loaded. Good, I was looking forward to emptying it in something alive.

"Do get some clothes on" he said and walked away to his room

I paused and looked down to see I was still in my bath towel. Cursing I glared at the door and went to my wardrobe to get my Preventer uniform out.

Ohhhh! I'll get you Yuy! You just wait you smug bastard!

We walked into Preventers HQ with me in the lead, scowling and snarling at the poor guards who tried to make me show my identification. Admittedly this was usually Heero's job but this morning I couldn't care less. So he walked after me, his usual expressionless face on and made sure the guards I had dismissed didn't raise an alarm. But I could see his amusement. Yeah, so what if I played the Bastard for once? Well to be honest his real nick-name at work was 'Ice Prince' but I couldn't be bothered by details at this point.

A few other, lower ranking agents stepped out of my way as I stormed down the corridors of HQ. Why did people have to choose the morning I was having one of my worst hangovers to launch a rebellion? I was going to kill the bastards slowly and with great pleasure.

I burst into the briefing room with Heero not a second behind me.

"Can you be a little louder Maxwell?"

"Shut it Wuffers! I'm not in the mood"

Wufei's eyebrows lifted and he looked me up and down. I gave him the finger and plopped down in one of the chairs. I swear my brain should enter the circus with Trowa judging from the somersaults it was doing.

I saw Wufei look at Heero who gave him a steady look but didn't say anything before looking away.

"What's wrong with you Maxwell?" he said frowning at me

"None of your business Wuffers" I really wasn't that snappy normally. What had I drunk last night again?

He frowned some more then looked closely at me.

"Are you…hung-over?" for a man who drank only tea Wufei was strangely perceptive about these things.

I threw him a glare and sniffed refusing to answer. Really, what was there to answer?

"I can't believe you Maxwell!" he finally said glaring at me.

Feeling a rant coming on I decided to kill it before it had the time to grow into one of his famous tirades.

"Yeah I'm hung over. Now shut up Fei! My head is in enough pain as it is!"

"You deserve it you…"

"He'll be able to do his duty Chang" Heero cut in calmly but firmly.

Wufei paused and looked to Heero then back to me, huffed and sat back in his chair. How did he manage to keep that uptight image even when he went off like some girl? An image of Relena flashed trough my mind and I cringed. Ok maybe not the pink wearing, stalking kind of girl then.

I sometimes wonder what made Heero not shoot the menace back in the war. I swear if she'd been stalking me, she'd have long ago been fish-food.

"Are you…Ok Maxwell?" Wufei was looking at me like I was a five-year old kid holding a bloody knife. Now where did that comparison come from? I swear my mind works in mysterious ways.

I snorted at the thought and saw Wuffers look a bit alarmed. Not that another would have noticed but fighting a war with him and the others taught me to read them quite well.

He was still looking at me and I looked back.

"Duo stop grinning like a lunatic" I turned to look at Heero and frowned. What?

"You were grinning like you'd just seen a fleet of OZ suits"

Oh, OH! I smiled sheepishly at him then at Wufei. Heh, I guess Heero knew me too well.

"Good morning agents"

And here comes Lady Psychotic Bitch herself. And he called me a lunatic! I swear the only thing creepier than Une in one of her moods is Heero in a pink tutu. I strangled the laughter that bubbled at the thought but I still got looks from Wufei and Heero. One suspicious and the other amused. Now that I knew Heero had an imagination, and what a fucking weird thing that was, I knew he could probably get the way my mind worked better than anyone.

I grumbled a belated good morning but the Lady didn't pause as she gave us out disks with the mission info.

"The Gulf fractions have joined forces and attacked the Preventers' office in Ankara. They've taken over the building and are holding civilians hostage. All the information you need is on the disk. You leave in thirty minutes from deck five. Good luck"

She didn't need to say more before she exited the room and left us to prepare. I popped the disk in and looked at the screen.

So far there were five dead Preventers and two dead civilians, a code red then. I tried to keep the grin off my face. Ah the fun we'll have!

I secretly looked up and saw Heero looking at his screen in concentration. His long bangs fell into his eyes and shadowed them but I could see the glow of the monitor reflect off them in the dim room making them look like two chips of ice. I knew my buddy was as eager as me. I only hope Wuffers didn't give us any problems. He had that strange habit of trying to get them alive, so what if orders were to bring them back for questioning? We could do that and a recording was good enough. He hadn't worked with me and Hee-man since we'd become a team so I didn't know what to expect.

I think Commander Une sends him just because of the hostages. Heero wasn't in the habit of taking into account such small nuisances as a hundred innocent if they were between him and his mission and neither was I. If they lived – they lived, if they got blown or shot – acceptable losses to keep the peace.

I blinked at the screen then growled at it making Wufei look up at me strangely. What? The damned soon to be trash thing was too bright and my eyes hurt all the way to the back of my head.

Without looking up Heero knew just the kind of vengeful expression that promised it a very short existence from that moment on that I was giving the screen because he said just one word.

"Taipan?"

I growled again but this time at Heero. What was he? A damned psychic? I had just remembered what I drank last night.

"Taipan." he stated and I felt like hitting something, preferably him. Wufei, who was looking from me to him with a strange expression wouldn't know but that was Heero's way of saying I told you so. I repeat myself – smug bastard.

"Fuck you too Heero"

I swear Wufei's eyebrows were the most mobile I've ever seen. Was it possible for them to climb all the way to his hairline? He looked at Heero like he was expecting him to calmly reach over and strangle me but in stead he got the shock of his life seeing Heero's smirk.

"Whatever you say Duo" and his voice was still that calm all-Heero one. One of these days, Heero, one of these days…you're going to make a mistake and Shinigami shall dance on your shameful defeat. Ok, maybe I'll just laugh in his face and tease him a little, not like he'd care anyway. Guessing what gave me a hangover was some kind of amusement to him but he could live without it. So why did he torture me? Sadist.

Wufei turned to Heero and I looked out of the corner of my eye.

"Do I...even want to know?"

Heero didn't pause but shrugged. Good boy I swear if he tells Wufei I'm going to have to kill him after I gut Fei for laughing.

"What is Taipan?" asked Wufei deciding to press on. Now Heero, be a good boy…

"A cocktail" …and be very careful what you say from here on…

"Ah" Wufei seemed interested.

"It's the reason for Duo's hangover" Hee-babe? Why don't you go self-destruct before I do it for you? I reeealy wanted to tackle Wufei as he snorted a laugh.

"And what is it?"

"Three parts vodka, one part blackberry juice and a drop of Taipan venom"

Wufei's smile chilled and he looked at me like I was alien. So what if I liked living my live dangerously?

"What?" I was feeling a bit defensive. It's my favorite drink!" It's a small drop!"

"You are aware that the Taipan is one of the deadliest snakes, aren't you Maxwell?"

"Yeah, so what?"

"And you willingly drink its poison…" he seemed at a lost for words. Now that he put it that way…what the hell was wrong with one itsy bitsy drink?

"Uh, yeah…"

"Has anyone ever told you you're insane Maxwell?"

I grinned, I couldn't resist.

"Oh yeah, Heero says it at least ten times a day" I said nodding convincingly and giving him the wide innocent eyes

He looked at me a little more then at Heero who was seemingly paying us no attention, shook his head and went back to his screen.

Just stick around Wuffers, you ain't seen nothing yet.

How much blood was there in a body? Gah, stupid pig ruining my uniform. I kicked the body again for a good measure. Can't even die like a normal person! Nooo! He just had to stumble like a headless chicken well he was headless but not a chicken, and spray blood everywhere.

I stepped over what had once been a soldier of the rebellion and unhooked the wire from the door, idiotic really but rather effective. People don't expect to be decapitated when they rush in a room. Take that Heero!

I pressed my ear piece and exited the room already having put the wire away.

"That's ten for me Hee-koi" it was a secure line of course. Wuffers wouldn't be able to hear us. We always set one up when we had to work with others 'cause it ruined the fun if they interfered in our game. It was private.

There was silence then

"Eleven" was all he said and I felt my grin broaden. C'mon Shinigami, time to really hit 'em.

I slipped out of the room on the first floor and started on the stairs with my back against the wall. Come to Shinigami sweeties!

A movement in the corner ahead and I ducked, my itching trigger finger already tightening. I eased up again and neared the fallen body. Two wounds in the chest. Unsheathing my knife I slashed his neck then suppressed my laughter. Do you know how funny it is the sound they make when they die? It's when the blood runs into the airways and it makes that gurgling sound – hilarious. And it also made Shinigami feel…just feel. It was far better than the opposite.

Eleven equal.

I noticed movement in one of the doors further down the hall. You should know that grinning too widely can make your cheeks ache. Mine still do after all those years - you'd think they'd get used to Shinigami's grins.

Wufei was scowling so fiercely and cursing so colorfully in mandarin that the hostages that were huddled together around the room had edged away from him. But he did have a right to let his temper run. If the poor excuse of a soldier that had sprang from where he'd hidden while Wufei took care if his comrades hadn't by pure blind luck hit his com he would probably be already out of the building. His eyes darted to the sniffing woman that had her face buried in some man's chest while said man looked like a kicked puppy and decided that that soldier had deserved his death.

He looked the station over again and opened the back panel. He'd already cleared the floor and only had to contact Heero and Duo to make sure the exit route was safe before getting the civilians out. He concentrated on the wiring of the com. The bullet had luckily only cut trough some wires but not trough the delicate piece that was essentially the heart of the gadget. His eyes flickered to the sniffing woman again.

"Madam I need your hairpins" he said briskly

The woman barely looked up and nodded quickly removing them from her bun and gave them to him with a trembling hand. Snatching them out of her stretched hand he nodded, not caring she won't see, and went back to the entrance where he was far enough for them not to overhear and was at also a strategic point from where he could defend them in the unlikely event that enemies appeared.

Using two of the pins he managed to somehow connect the cut wires and used the third to try and get the frequency of Preventers. There was some static and he moved the pin. For a minute he couldn't find anything then a crackle told him he'd caught a channel. Concentrating he slowly moved the pin so he wouldn't miss it.

"…strikes again! Eighteen to fifteen Hee-koi! I've got your ass whooped!"

Wufei physically reeled back as he heard the long-haired agent's voice. He looked at the radio and wondered if he hadn't imagined the cheerful but sharp as a knife voice and the chilling laugh that accompanied it. Perhaps he was having flashbacks from the war that were making him hear Duo's voice the way it had sounded back in the wars when the annoying pilot had fell on OZ suits like Death itself?

"Seventeen"

He frowned as he clearly heard Heero's voice say a single word and shaking his head removed the shock from his system. Seventeen what? He moved the pin and pressed the piece behind his ear.

"Agent Yuy, agent Maxwell this is agent Chang do you copy?"

He moved the pin again and waited for a response. His body was tense and his nerves on edge. He'd have preferred to have these people to safety already and this strange exchange between his fellow agents didn't help him feel at ease. The com crackled and he heard Duo's voice again, it sounded a bit breathless but as Quatre had once described it while they were still Gundam pilots – bloodthirstily cheerful.

"Twenty-two down and the floor is clear! Ha! Beat that Perfect soldier!" he didn't know why but Wufei imagined Duo dancing a small jig. He shook his head savagely to get he image of a blood-soaked Shinigami dancing on a pile of dead bodies.

It seemed that they were counting enemies captured.

"Nineteen…" Wufei could only look at the innocent com in his hands as he heard Heero's voice accompanied by two shots" Twenty…" a shout and a thump then machinegun fire, another three shots" Twenty-one…"

"Hee-koi… You fucking bastard! You always…"

There was the sound of more machinegun fire and five more shots" Twenty…" Duo cut in" Three, yeah I know. You do that to annoy me, don't you?"

"Yes" was the simple answer but it wasn't in the calm tone that Heero used so far. It was tinted with satisfaction.

"You know I'm going to make you pay for this as soon as we're alone, don't you Heero?" Duo's voice had a definite leer and a strong promise.

Wufei blinked twice when he heard Heero laugh, actually laugh on the other side of the com.

"I'm looking forward to it Duo"

Ripping his earpiece off he quickly put away the ruined com and stood.

"The route is secure. We are going to exit the building now" he said loudly catching the hostages' attention" I want you to move in a single line in pairs and follow me" he finished turning on his heel and exiting the room, stepping over the body of the soldier who'd shot his com. The hostages slowly followed taking care to pass as further away from the body as possible.

Damned Heero! But then again I had beaten him last time so…damn! I sometimes wonder if I shouldn't change my name and let him keep Shinigami himself, the Perfect Soldier seems to be dealing death as well as me. But …I won't. My connection to death is so much more intimate. She's my mother, my sister and my lover; always there to whisper in my ear, giving me ghost touches but unwilling embrace me. You could say I am attached to her and her to me.

I walked down the corridor and down the stairs. I had taken second floor while Heero had taken the third while the hostages had been held on the fourth. Scratching an itch on my cheek I decided that that was why Heero got more. When we sneaked in we cleaned the first floor together making the rats scatter and climb on the higher floors so it's logical Heero would get more. I nodded to myself as I exited the building from the front door.

I just had to smirk.

About sixty men had been lined outside and had been trying to break inside for the last ten hours when we got there. We had the men divert the terrorists' attention, I had to laugh at that – terrorists indeed, while us three top Preventer agents infiltrated the facility and in twenty minutes cleaned it out.

Thinking about how three of us took care of a fire that had been burning for ten hours before that made me remember the third of our party. Wuffes hadn't contacted us after one point in the mission but I wasn't too worried. I just wanted to be sure.

"Duo" I looked up from my musings to see an expressionless Heero. I felt my eyebrow quirk as I saw his state.

His Preventer jacket was missing as he was in his green tank-top and jeans which he'd made Une allow him to wear for field work just as I had made her let me wear my black. It wasn't this familiar way of dressing though that caught my attention. No, it was the fact that his top was ripped across the middle and that he had an unconscious man thrown over his shoulder.

"Ok, I knew you were desperate for a date but this isn't the way Soldier boy"

I saw him scowl briefly at me them his face was set in his usual blank state. I liked it when he did that - it made the fact that he showed more of himself in private to me all the more valued. I grinned at him then turned to the side as I felt someone approach us.

I stared at the scared lieutenant whose eyes were flying over me and Heero to the unconscious man.

"Ah, Agents Yuy, Maxwell" he started nervously and I grinned at him though that seemed to put him more on edge" I am to retrieve the captured suspects…" he finished lamely.

I don't know why but I feel this intense sense of satisfaction when men who are older and larger than me cower at my sight. Ouch! Hee-man you've got a very sharp elbow that doesn't feel good in my ribs!

"Is…" the man's eyes were on Heero trying to ignore me as I rubbed my side and scowled at Heero murmuring the ways I was going to remove the elbow and the attached arm" Is this man a…"

"He's our date for the night!" I said cheerfully evading Heero's hand as it reached out to deliver a punch and blew him a raspberry making the lieutenant look at me with almost the same look Fei had this morning, only his was scared.

Before I could continue to play with the man Heero unceremoniously dumped the man on the ground making me snicker and the lieutenant jump back as the man's face hit the dirt where he'd stood a second ago.

"Amar Ramadi" he said and I understood why the man was captured and not dead and also the reason for the tear in the tank-top.

Amar Ramadi was number eight in the Preventers' 'Wanted' list. He was the leader of the main Gulf fraction and one slippery weasel. We've tried to get him for two years and he always managed to escape. He was also very adept in using knifes.

I sighed dramatically and leaned on Heero.

"Oh well we'll have to do with each other then since our date turned out to be a wanted terrorist, won't we Hee-babe?"

The lieutenant looked ready to bolt but he had to take the prisoner so he quickly waved two of the soldiers, sorry peace-keepers, over and had them get the man while I was backing off of a scowling Heero. I was turning to bolt when I noticed the presence behind me and barely managed to avoid a head-on tackle as I hit who I saw was Wuffers' side making us both loose balance but we managed not to fall.

"Watch where you're going Maxwell"

"Sorry Fei but I've got eeep!" I felt Heero's steel grip on my neck and tried to get away but it was as always futile. Damn him and his superhuman powers. I stiffened a laugh as I imagined the Perfect Soldier in a Superman costume. If he wasn't holding my neck I'd have laughed myself silly. I really should cut down on those pre-colony shows.

I focused on Fei again and caught a strange look that was so brief I though I'd imagined it.

"Did you manage to capture them?" he asked Heero completely at ease with my suffocating situation. Scowling briefly I turned my head to the side and bit Heero's hand, hard. I didn't completely let me go but it eased for the second I needed to slip away.

"We got Amar Ramadi" I said grinning. Wuffers looked at me and I saw his eyes narrow just a fraction" Well actually Heero got him" I amended.

"Good. What about other members of the group"

I turned to look at Heero but his face hadn't changed. How had I known he was going to ask this? Oh yeah, that was Wufei. My grin widened a little as my Perfect buddy answered for both of us.

"They resisted arrest"

Wufei looked at us hard then nodded and walked away without saying more. I was honestly surprised. This was so…so un-Wufei like.

I lifted a brow at Heero who was looking after Wufei but as expected I didn't get any verbal answer.

We walked to where the command centre was to make sure everything was in order. Oh I hate that part! Why couldn't we just go home? I had a score to settle with one blue-eyed ex-terrorist and these people were keeping me from it.

I looked up and grinned at Heero then my attention was diverted when I saw a few peace-keepers scatter with apprehensive faces making a wide path for the two of us. I also noticed they were looking at my face.

"Hey Heero? Do I have something on my nose?" I asked rubbing it. My hand came out smudged with a red substance.

"You've got blood all over yourself baka"

"Oh damn!" I said as I grinned wider and waved a little at a peace-keeper that looked fresh out of the academy and enjoyed when he paled further.

I'd completely forgotten about that little episode with the wire and sure enough as I glanced down at my Preventer jacket which was as far as uniform went for me, I looked like I'd had a blood bath.

Was it possible to kill a man twice? I wish it was. Urgh, my bill at the dry-cleaning was going to be unbearable if I kept this up. I should do like Heero and leave the jacket behind.

A/N: So? Did you like it? Either way - Review! Thanks :)