Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing or any other affiliations to do with the franchise.

Author's Notes: This is a rewrite of the story previously known as "Going Nowhere" I changed the ending, but in doing so, I have had to rewrite most of the beginning. The story will be a lot darker now, as chapter's progress.

Overall Warning: T for now, but may change to M for the later chapters, you will be given warning when something unsavoury pops up. Contains Yaoi, 1x2x1, 3x4x3 5xSx5, violence, stalking and angst.

Watching You

Chapter 1: A glamorous life

By butterflyshurricane

It was the beginning of September and the weather had already turned cooler. The summer had been one of the coolest in decades, giving way to what would be a cold winter. Leaves were yet to start turning brown and red, and the frost had not set in, but the air was nippy in the early morning sun. The traffic that travelled along the road was already congested and heavy, making people late and grumpy, blaring horns and some were even shouting out of the window. None of this bothered Duo Maxwell as he walked a steady pace down the street toward Preventer HQ.

He could see the compound coming up, just before the industrial sector rose above the commercial buildings. He scanned his security badge and walked straight through the employee gates, nodding at the security guards. He continued walking along the path, leading towards the main office block in the centre of the compound. His walk took him past the open training grounds, the two of the five, three storey archive building which housed all the files below ground and employee parking spaces before reaching the building. It was seventeen storeys high and acted as main headquarters which all other branches, both on and off world reported to.

Duo casually strolled into the entrance, swiping his security guard and winking at the guard on duty before getting on the elevator. He rode to the fifteenth floor , with various people getting on and off of the lift before he reached his destination. Stepping out, he continued, whistling to himself a half forgotten nursery rhyme down quite a few corridors before he reached his shared office. The door was open, and only ever closed when the occupants were discussing things of a private matter, or out. He came to a stop at the door frame and leant against it, hands jammed in his pocket, watching his partner, hunched over his computer, already busy at work. The strong jaw was set firm, deep deadly blue eyes narrowed in concentration. His skin was bronzed, from the few field assignments they had been on recently. He looked stern, sharp features with a hint of the orient in them. His body, even under the cloths, spoke of powers and muscle, hard and taut beneath soft skin. His upper body was that of a god, with thin waist leading down to strong legs and the best calves this side of the Earthsphere. He would have looked like the business, if he had not had his tongue stuck out between his teeth. Duo smiled at that. All he needed was floppy dog-ears sticking out of the rough, thick brown hair and he'd be adorable. Duo took this minute to openly stare at his partner, almost drooling as he took in the perfect specimen for masculinity. He shifted slightly, causing the other man to look up from his computer with an open expression, he looked at Duo for a long moment, before turning back to his computer.

"Why are you standing around for? Looking pretty?" Heero asked in a clipped tone. Duo smiled and heaved himself off of the door frame, going to sit at his own desk, opposite Heero's. The office was fairly large, blue carpeted and white walls, a window that spanned the wall opposite the door. There were two filing cabinets, one black leather sofa, a potted plant and a picture of something neither of them had been able to tell, but always had fun describing what it could be, from a comment on societies depiction of grass to an explanation of how someone could become rich by painting what their sick had been like. Other than these, there was little else in the room, except the desks with all that was needed for their computers.

"That's why Treize had Zechs hang around." Duo commented, getting a smirk from the other man. Neither said anything for a moment, Heero wrapped up on what was his computer.

"How's the solitaire game?" Duo piped up. Heero glanced up, then back.

"Twelve in a row." Duo whistled in amazement.

"And they say the senior agents never do any work. Cant blame you though, this week has gone a bit slow. I know I said I wanted a rest, but this is ridiculous. Did any new assignments come in last night?" Duo asked, as his computer was booted up.

"Nothing that requires senior agents." Heero replied. Trust him to know what's going on, Duo mused, staring out of the window to his right.

"That means we'll be back on our specialist areas soon." Duo huffed, trying to sound dejected, but could not help smiling. He could see the garage hangers from his office. Heero looked over to see the almost dreamy look the blue eyed man was giving the garages. He shook his head and continued.

"It will be today. Une will call shortly. She has a meeting at nine, so we'll get the call at eight twenty." Heero informed him. Duo looked over from his longing gaze.

"How do you know?" He asked, cocking his head to one side.

"She always has a meeting at nine. Wufei and Sally were put on their specialist assignments last night." Heero reeled off, this time keeping his eyes on the screen.

"Really?"

"Ah. Wufei has security detail at the politician banquet the news has been covering." Heero informed his friend.

"Really? Man, He'll be thrilled at that. We all know how he loves heading them." Duo rolled his eyes, determined to tease Wufei about it later. He was about to speak again, when the phone rang. Heero answered it with a curt "Yuy" before sounding and affirmative then putting the phone down and standing.

"That was-,"

"Une?" Duo finished, standing and following Heero out of the room. They walked in amiable silence, playing their little game of scaring as many none-agents staff if they passed them. They used to do it with everyone, but there had been a few too many stand offs with the other agents, before they moved onto secretaries and maintenance engineers. Heero took to his glare, while Duo grinned manically, occasionally winking at the cute ones.

Unes office was two floors up. It was spacious, with the biggest windows, made of the toughest glass manufactured on the colonies. Her desk was large and imposing, but still looked cluttered, despite the space amid all the papers and files. She was seated in her chair, looking at some papers when Heero and Duo walked in. They stood at the end of the desk until she acknowledged them. She had a habit of doing this, Duo thought it was so that she looked like she was doing work between all the meeting she had chaired during the day. He could not blame her, she needed to keep up appearances to the other agents, setting an example, but to keep them waiting, was a different story. After half a minute, she looked up and motioned for them to sit. Both took a seat, Duo relaxing, while Heero sat, perfect posture.

"Morning Gentlemen. How are you today?" She began, with a sincere voice. Even though she was their boss, and meant business, she was still easy to talk openly to.

"Bored." That was Heero.

"I've caught up with all my paperwork." Duo said, smiling. Une laughed a very quite, feminine laugh. "How are you ma'am?" He asked as an afterthought. If there was one thing he had remembered growing up, it was his manners. She smiled serenely, causing Duo to wonder is she was naturally calm nowadays, or if she was pumped full of sedatives. That was something he had to tell Heero later.

"I am fine. I have a meeting with Foreign Minister Darlin later, shall I send her your regards?" She asked looking from one to the other.

"Oh, yes. Would you really?" Duo mocked in a posh accent, gaining a smirk from Heero.

"Well, would I be right in thinking that you know why you are here?" Une asked, turning to business.

"You need to keep your best and brightest busy, right? Just tell us the word and I'll be in that garage like a shot." Duo answered. It was always like this with them. Heero was only ever talkative to close friends and when he needed information, the rest of the time, he only spoke when necessary, fostering the image of being a man of few words. It was effective at stopping people talking to him, they usually talk to him via Duo, knowing Duo would carry a conversation easily.

"Very well, you are to be put on standby. Mr Yuy, you're in Computer Defence. There have been a few separate databases hacked recently, that have been tied to the same source, you are to help investigate. Mr. Maxwell, you're to work in hanger two." At the mention of hanger two, a smile bigger than anything else spread across his face.

"What has been hacked?" Heero asked.

"A number of civilian facilities, as well as old Alliance databases on the L2 cluster, as well as old Oz and Alliance archives on Earth. It is up to you to see if these are connected in any way and who can be behind these attacks."

"Is there anything else?" Duo asked, wanting to get to work right away. Use smiled at the enthusiasm.

"No. You may leave." Both got up, saluting and walked out. Duo waited until he was in the corridor before letting out a cry of 'Yes'. Heero could not bring himself to smile, he had wanted to be assigned to the new database system, not a stupid chase around old servers. He sighed, a sound that went unheard by Duo, who was practically flying.

"What's in hanger two?" Heero asked as they waited for the lift. Duo turned around, with an incredulous look on his face.

"Hanger two is where the new vehicle prototypes are built. I've heard that they're working on an all terrain vehicle that can drive through four feet of water and not totally die. I had a sneak at the schematics, it's amazing what they're gonna put in it. Sat Nav from anywhere in the world to within five metres, armour that the buster rifle couldn't smash though and enough horse power to move a Leo! Man, in two years we'll be using it for real. They're still building the basic components, but it's already a beast!" Duo reeled off in one breath. They stepped into the lift as soon as it had arrived, Duo still talking.

"They're gonna paint it either black, or desert camouflage for the test run. Man, I hope they don't paint her pink, or Relena may want one." He laughed.

"Relena isn't a child anymore, she's matured and become quite discerning." Heero said, in a flat tone. Duo turned to look at the man, noting that he seemed to be in the worst mood he'd been in in ages.

"C'mon, I was only joking. What's gotten into you?"

"Bartle."

"Bartle?" Duo mimicked and then it clicked. "He's in C.D. Man, I'm sorry. Hand me your gun. As much as I want you to, I can't let you shoot him, it'll make a mess on the carpets and Une'll take that out of our bonus." That managed to get a turn up of the corner of his mouth.

"I'll just have to remember to shoot him on laminate then." He muttered deadpan, getting a snicker from the other. The doors to the lift opened and they continued to their office.

"Yuy, Maxwell!" A voice called from behind. They turned to see Wufei behind them, dressed in a pristine uniform. Anytime Duo saw Wufei, his uniform looked like it had been freshly put on. Maybe he had five ready uniforms in his office, Duo thought, or that he really was domesticated. He could just imagine the Chinese man lamenting about there not being enough starch in the collars, or in a pink apron, ironing his shirts to within an inch of their lives. The pink apron made Duo laugh.

"Isn't it early to be taking happy pills? Have you guy's seen Une yet?" He asked as he joined them walking to their office.

"Yup. Heero's got C.D and I have the Fire Cat!" Duo told him eagerly.

"The prototype? That's not surprising. They're having problems with the engine, or so I've heard." Wufei told him, causing Duo to grin in anticipation.

"I hear you are on security at the conference on Friday." Heero asked, before Duo could say anymore on the engine.

"Yes." Was all Wufei said as his jaw clenched and his expression darkened.

"Man, who did you piss off?" Duo said as he whistled. Wufei chose to bite back any comment he had.

"What did you get Yuy?"

"I'm to investigate some low level hacking jobs in Computer Defence." Heero replied with efficiency.

"Isn't that were-,"

"Yup." Duo cut Wufei off before he even said the name. All three went silent as Duo stopped at the coffee machine.

"I hate that guy. I'm so glad it's not me. No offence." Duo said to Heero as he fished around for money. Heero merely shrugged. Duo inserted the money, but it fell straight through. The damn machines on the upper flaws never worked properly, and the percolator in the staff room was a no go.

"I think the feeling is mutual." Wufei said, smirking and looking up and down the corridor, looking like the two oriental men were keeping lookout.

"Sometimes I wanna punch him in the face. He doesn't have to say anything, and I wanna hit him!" Duo replied as the machine swallowed his money. "Goddamn it, I'm going in." He said as he produced a lock pick from somewhere.

"Do you always carry that around?" Heero asked, looking as Duo deftly unlocked the front of the machine.

"Of course." Duo replied as if it was an obviously stupid question. "I may not have been let in the scouts, but I'm always prepared." He started hotwiring the coffee machine.

"I know Bartle is a pain, but to actually want to punch him in the face for no reason…" Wufei mused, wanting to know if there was a reason, or if Duo would actually punch him as they passed in a corridor.

"I have reasons!" Duo answered as the machine sprang to life and started pouring a cup of coffee.

"He's still smarting about the other week in the staff room." Heero informed Wufei, who looked between them and smiled.

"You're still pissed at that? I thought you would have been over that by now." Wufei said, incredulity across his pointed features.

"He called me a rice queen. How am I a rice queen? Anyway, I don't know why you two are so ok with it, you're my Asian bitches." Duo muttered as he began stalking down the hall. They came to a corridor were they would part ways with Wufei.

"I'll see you later, I have to go talk with Sally." He said a small smile dancing across his lips before he turned away. They watched him go before they continued onwards.

"Looks like I've lost one of my bitches to another queen." Duo said. That made Heero laugh out loud.

----------------

It was early evening when Duo had finally decided to call it a day. He had arrived at the garages at nine-thirty and from there he did not notice the time go past. All day they had been running tests on the engine, trying to get as much power out of the machine as was physically possible. They had succeeded in pushing it to the edge of its capability, but had cracked one of the turbines in the process. It had take four hours to replace it, running into seven o'clock before he had finished. Everyone else apart from two others who were working on the outer shell had gone, and he had refused to go until the work was done, seeing as it had been him pushing the tests.

In the locker room he was bent over one of the large sinks washing the dirty and oil off his arms. He knew there was no point trying to get his hands pristine, they'd just get dirty again the next day, and with him working on his bike back home at the same time. His hands always looked like a proper mechanics hand, grime that would not be washed away from between the grooves of the joints and under the nails. He loved working with machines, taking them apart, building them back up. Before he joined the Preventers two years ago, he had already build a car in his spare time and managed to sell it for a lot more than what all the parts had cost. He did not want to sell it, it had been his baby and labour of love but he had no choice when he moved to Earth at Twenty.

He felt the hot water run over his hands as he used the first bottle of detergent his hand came to. As he was rinsing off, he heard a sound like a spanner being dropped on the concrete floor. He turned around, straining to listen closely, but could not hear anything. He turned back to washing his hands. Then he was at his locker, changing back into his uniform, that he tried to wear casually but there was only so much you could change the uniform before it was deemed unacceptable. He never wore a white shirt and tie, option for either t-shirt in summer or black turtle neck in winter, and always the same horrid slacks. He had requested leather, but then said that no one would be able to do there work if his arse was covered in leather. Heero had looked at him like he had grown another head when he told him that.

The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end as a shiver ran down his spine. He turned around again as he look around for anyone. There had been no noise this time, but a strange feeling, like he was being watched, stared at intensely, was niggling the back of his mind, and those feelings had served him well during the war. He walked down the rows of lockers, not wanting to call out in case he sounded like an idiot. He took a quick look around, in each of the shower cubicles and even back into the hanger, to make sure no one had gone back into the garage to work. Nothing. He turned and went back to getting dressed. He had been walking around in only his uniform pants.

He pulled his jumper on and pulled up the sleeves to his elbows as he went to retie his boots. He shot his head back up again as the feeling came back. He turned around on the spot and strained to hear anything. He looked up to the ceiling, making sure there was no one up there, unlike the Oz officers in the war. Those guys never remembered to look up when searching for people, Duo remembered as all he could see was a security camera and an air vent that was screwed tight. He continued to look at the vent, waiting for any signs of movement, not noticing someone else's actual presence behind him.

"Duo." Duo quickly turned around, yelping and getting into a defensive position, reaching for a gun that was still in his locker.

"Heero?" Duo asked, straightening up.

"What are you looking at?" He asked coming to stand next to Duo and looking at the vent.

"I thought I heard something earlier, was that you?" Duo asked as Heero looked back down to the man standing next to him.

"No, I have just finished myself and saw that you hadn't signed out." Heero answered, going over to Duo's locker and handing him his holster.

"Then I guess it wasn't you watching me then." Duo laughed mirthlessly as he fastened the leather straps around him. Heero looked at him, simply and straight in the eyes, unease in his face.

"What do you mean?" Duo felt awkward telling Heero about the feeling of being watched, like he was making something out of nothing, but Heero understood. After all, he had been a Gundam pilot as well, he knew the paranoia of thinking people were watching and waiting, ready to spring a trap, that's how they had lived a year of their lives.

"I'll go check to see if there is anyone around." Heero said, turning to carry out his mission.

"I've already checked, there's no one there. I must be getting paranoid in my old age." Duo joked, slamming the locker door shut and starting toward the door. Heero took another look around, his eyes resting on the security camera. Duo noticed this and stopped. The way Heero was stood, as still as a statue, guarding any hint of expression on his face, made him look taller, more powerful. His stance was not taut, but looked like he could spring into action at any time.

"Anything wrong buddy?" Duo asked, looking over to Heero. The other simply turned, an indecipherable look on his face.

"Nothing at all."

End of Part One

A.N: This was to set up how everybody is settling into the new future. The majority of the pilots are 22, in case you were wondering. May be a month to the next update.