Heero Yuy, L6, and the Second Suit Wars | ELLE

Thank you to all of you who are already following this story! *blushes* I quite appreciate the vote of confidence.

And to SnowDragonCT: Let's not talk about my productivity. Just read. I am embarrassed to admit how many words a month I can churn out at this point in my life for fear that I will come off just as I am, a terrible anti-social hermit. ;-P But I am at least glad my lameness can brighten your day, haha! Enjoy!

PART ONE | Memoirs of a Former Life

1.2 The Email

I never thought the inside of my office would look so appealing.

Okay, that's a lie. I often thought the inside of my office looked like a practical paradise when compared with the mad social enigma that was the land of cubicles and break rooms. The few times I ventured away from my office and the labs into that maze of human melodrama I found myself bending over backwards to escape back to the closed-door safety of my personal space. Luckily many people didn't know me, at least in the divisions such as marketing or sales. Unluckily, many of those people were outgoing, friendly types who wanted to get to know 'the new guy' – never mind my extension has been on the phone list for three years now.

But that wasn't why I was enjoying my office at this moment. No, it was a reminder that my stint in New York was over. I was home. No more lectures. No more questions. No more strange men.

I pulled the card from my pocket. I retained it under the pretense that I saved all business cards acquired at any event and cataloged them in case I ever needed specific specialties Nexxus couldn't acquire for me. I don't know what I would need with a Freelance Consultant that appeared to have no specialty, but I had less useful cards saved so I could hardly make an exception based on my likelihood of using said contact.

I studied it for a moment as it sat on my desk while I logged into my PC. Realizing it was going to be too distracting, I opened a drawer and set it there. But even while I pulled up my email, the feel of it still burned my fingers and I remembered that hug, so tight and honest and... Whoever he thought I was, he must've cared for them greatly.

A sigh escaped my lips as I looked at the excessive number of emails I'd procured over the past few days. Quickly I began scrolling through them, marking them on a 1 to 3 scale on level of importance and deleting anything that wasn't applicable to me. And then I reached it. The email that would change my life in ways I couldn't even begin to fathom.

The email from myself.

When I first saw the sender I assumed it was just Yun down the hall playing a trick on me. He was a fabulous hacker, world class, and a bit of a prankster, much to my frequent irritation. We were the two youngest guys in the R&D Tech department so I guess we were supposed to be friends. And I guess I was his friend, in that I was friendlier with him than most of people in the company, but then I was friendlier with anyone in my department of 150 than I was with any of the other 250,000 or so people employed by Nexxus International Group.

But the subject nagged at me and, I'll be honest, scared me a little. So much so that I hesitated to open it.

So you met him.

The statement was bold and presumptuous and could only be referencing one person. How could Yun or anyone else in my department have known about this man? None of them were at this conference. Even then, no one at the conference saw our meeting. It had to be someone else, someone who could hack into Nexxus' very well secured servers and email system and fake an email from myself. I worked on that encryption myself and I was on the team that updated it every other week. While any security is flawed, I had previously thought it was unhackable, even by internal means as no one had access to the full code. Quickly I scanned through the email header for any clues but for all intents and purposes I sent this email to myself last night.

Except I didn't.

I pulled open my desk drawer and snatched up the card. Did he do this? Was he capable of this kind of thing?

"...don't go redesigning the ZERO system..."

The words floated through my mind and I considered them. What was the ZERO system? Did he design it? Was he some kind of specialized hacker? Is that why his card was so vague? This was leaving me with more questions than I could possibly answer so I took a breath and let my eyes fall down to the body of the message.

What did you think?

The first line immediately made my blood boil. Who did this jackass think he was? What kind of vanity did someone have to possess to send this kind of email to someone of my caliber after a single meeting?

I've spent a lot of time wondering what you'd think. It's the only thing that kept me going. Although I doubt your first meeting involved the same amount of fanfare, I hope you still find him as intoxicating as I did, even from the first moment I saw him.

Well, that strange paragraph either absolved Duo of his guilt or placed him firmly in the category of psychopath.

You have to call him. He can help you. He can help you find something about yourself you're missing. I can try to help you find it, but without him, it will mean nothing. And he won't reject you, he never could. So don't worry about it. Put up with his eccentricities for a while. Talk to him. Learn about him. But call him. He has something he needs to give you.

The email wasn't signed and it ended there. I slumped back in my seat, feeling confused and upset. And scared. I didn't want to call Duo but I don't see what choice I had. If he had any information about this I had to know. And god forbid if he did this I would –

What?

I was just a research tech, I wasn't exactly equipped to make threats. But this anger inside me sat like a brick in my stomach and I felt like I had to do... something.

Quickly I pulled up my phone app, checking that my office door was shut so I wouldn't be disturbed, and dialed the number on the card impatiently. I didn't know exactly what I was going to say to him, but he was the one who knew me, I reasoned as the phone rang, so maybe he would do most of the talking.

Suddenly his cheerful face appeared on the screen from his cell phone – I could tell by the quality – but even over the pixilated distance his bright eyes made my heart beat faster.

"Heero!" he greeted me enthusiastically, his smile genuine. "You called!"

I found the statement obvious and tried to retain my grip on my anger and not be derailed by his obvious handsomeness.

"Jack," I corrected and he shrugged, closing his eyes for a moment, just looking so pleased that I'd called.

It was weird for me. No one had ever looked at me like that before. It gave me a peculiar feeling in my chest and I rubbed the space between my pectorals for a moment self-consciously, bidding it to go away so I could focus.

"What's up buddy? Can't get me out of your head, huh?" he sighed with dreamy smile and half-lidded eyes and finally I was shocked out of my stupidity. Who was he to talk to me in a ridiculous, romantic way like that?

"Hardly," I bit back and he chuckled. My eyes narrowed at him. "Did you hack into my email last night?"

He laughed. "Oh, come on. I'm good, but I'm not that good. I couldn't hack anything of yours."

I couldn't help feeling a little self-satisfied by that statement. Even if he wasn't really referring to me, I guess.

"Look, I have something for you, I just didn't bring it to the conference because I didn't think I'd run into you there," he explained, seeming embarrassed as he rubbed at the back of his neck. "Didn't think I'd run into you anywhere, to be honest."

"What is it?" I asked, suppressing my surprise at the way he mimicked the email, immediately doubting his innocence once more.

"Look, man, you're the one that gave it to me, so either you can come get it, or not, no skin off my back."

He seemed angry then. I wasn't sure what to say. But I didn't exactly see what choice I had – if I was going to figure out anything about this situation then I was going to have to play along. I spent most of my day alone. If someone wanted to kidnap me for some nefarious purpose they could do it at any moment in my secluded life. Traveling to Sanc to see this man wouldn't be any more dangerous than going home tonight, I told myself.

"Okay," I agreed reluctantly. "I'll come."

His face twisted with several emotions unreadable to me and he finally settled on a smile. "Great!" But his enthusiasm seemed forced now. "Saturday? We'll do lunch?"

I hesitated again. Saturday I usually spent holed up in the lab, blissfully alone and embroiled in my work, and the idea of being in a busy restaurant with a man I didn't know who seemed to know plenty about me made me feel a bit squeamish. But once again, what choice did I have?

"Okay. I can take the early train into Sanc and be there around 11," I suggested.

"Perfect. I'll meet ya at the train station. And I'm picking the place – hope Jack has a more varied palate than Heero did," he teased and I wasn't sure whether I did or not so I didn't say anything. He sighed, not amused by my silence. "Don't worry, I won't go for anything too exotic. Or Italian. Dontcha still hate Italian?"

How could he possibly know something like that about me if he didn't actually know me?

"You can change your name, 'Ro, but you can't change who you are," he said darkly, his eyes shining with something that made a shiver run down my spine. And then he was all smiles again. "Can't wait ta see ya, buddy." He winked and the call disconnected.

I sat there fore a while, staring at the black screen. I still felt uncomfortable with this whole situation, but I didn't know what else to do.

Then I pulled up a search engine and typed in his name. I didn't really understand why he thought I was named Heero Yuy. Who would name their child after a dead politician? I couldn't really search that name because all that would come up would be information related to him. So this was second best.

I was floored when images of Duo with Quatre Raberba Winner came up, one arm slung casually over his shoulder, Mister Winner's arm wrapped around his waist, both of them with huge smiles. It appeared as though some magazine ran an article a while back on Mister Winner trying to make him appear more relatable and they did interviews with some of his friends. Apparently Duo was close enough to be considered for and featured in a published article as his friend.

After that surprising revelation, I dug into some documents about him. He was featured in a ridiculously wide variety of documents and organizations. I found him on a Preventer's consultant list and then a government list of known Sweeper affiliates. He donated quite a bit of money to different charitable organizations on L2 and actively volunteered at an orphanage in Sanc. There were pictures of him with other notables such as Relena Darlian Peacecraft as well as her brother and sister-in-law and various politicians at different political parties and functions. Despite his apparent connections, he lived in a relatively bad area of Sanc in a low-priced apartment and the only vehicles registered to his name were two old motorcycles. And he had a lot of guns registered in his name, too. And not collectables.

Unfortunately, this just added a layer of complication to this entire situation. How did he know me? Where would we have ever met? He didn't appear to be active in any way with the scientific community at large and I didn't know anyone in what appeared to be his inner circle.

I realized I was developing a headache and I closed my browser, leaning back in my seat and staring out the window, across the parking lot, at the towering skyline beyond the office building. Puzzling this out in my head was becoming difficult. There were too many questions and not enough answers. There were very few problems I was incapable of solving, but right there, at that moment, I was stumped.

I just had to wait until Saturday to get some answers.

I never was very good at waiting.