Pairings: Duo/Heero, Quatre/Trowa

Warnings: possibilities of later violence? supernatural stuff, kinky moments, not sure what all's gonna be in here yet

Author's comment: Much action in this one.

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Operation Blank Conspiracy 09

He had to be careful of his own traps during their escape. So far, using the stairs on the other side of the building, they'd managed to make it to the fourth floor. Not once did they come across any hidden enemies or the man with the hat who'd smiled so sadistically into the camera. He wondered if it was really OZ that was after them. He'd never seen anyone dressed as him before. But those guys from earlier had been part of OZ. Why was this one different?

He'd tried getting into contact with Trowa to tell him the situation but something interfered with his link to the other male. His earpiece was useless and so was his phone that continued to show no signal to him. They were slowly being trapped, isolated from the other in their group.

They were making it down to the third floor when the whole building rumbled causing them to stumble off balance for a moment. The shuttle was taking off and when the two of them rushed to the nearest window, they saw it hovering up in the air getting higher and higher. Heero glanced at Duo watching the male's facial expression. He seemed content with it, especially to see they were getting away from the danger chasing after them. OZ, after all, wasn't after the people on the shuttle from Maxwell Church. It was Duo Maxwell, the man that had escaped from OZ with whatever secrets he'd taken with him that they wanted.

Heero tapped the other's shoulder and waited until Duo looked at him to gesture with his head for the male to follow him. Duo nodded his consent and the two of them continued making their way down the steps. They made it down to the first floor before exiting out of the stairwell and heading towards the side exit at the end of the hallway. Urgency rushed him, not so much for himself but for his need to get Duo to safety. He shouldn't have agreed to this plan but unless he said yes to it he knew Duo wouldn't have come along with them.

"That's far enough," a voice said from behind them and he didn't have the ability to turn around in time to aim his weapon. His hand was hovered over the exit door at the time, so close yet so far from his goal. He was still holding his gun in his free hand and he tightened his grip debating how best to go about this. He hadn't even heard the man walk up much like how he'd never heard Duo's footfalls once since being with the male. Maybe it had to do with some special training at OZ.

"I know what you're contemplating," the male said confidently. He could almost hear the smirk on his lips. "Now put down your weapon and turn around slowly. Both of you."

"…." Slowly Heero lowered the weapon to the ground before he turned himself to face their assailant. The man from the video feed stared back at them, except his white hat continued to cover his eyes. He was smirking, just as Heero thought. He held his gun pointed at Heero, though his focus seemed to change to Duo. It was hard to tell when one couldn't see where the eyes were gazing.

Duo himself stood there, gaze focused on the male before him. He seemed to be trying to read the man though his countenance betrayed nothing of what he was feeling at that moment. At this point, both males were trapped. Sure, either one of them could make a run for it but Heero doubted they'd both make it out alive. He did have a spare gun tucked into the back part of his pants. When he had the opportunity, he was going to use it. The mysterious agent wouldn't be able to keep an eye on both of them.

"Subject 02," the male said giving a slight bow of his head. "It's been a long time."

Heero blinked and glanced sideways at Duo. He saw Duo's eyes narrow dangerously as he stared at the male in front of them.

"Who are you?" Duo asked.

The man didn't answer him, instead using his gun to gesture for Duo to walk forward. "Please come stand within seven feet of me. Any closer or any less and I will shoot."

Duo frowned at first before he lips lifted into a smirk and he chuckled staring at the man. It wasn't a light hearted chuckle either. He sounded like he wanted to kill the guy…and it was enough to make even Heero shiver from the sound. "You must not have done your research at OZ then…unless you're not from OZ at all." A sadist smirk took over Duo's lips. "Guns don't hurt me. A lot of things can't hurt me."

"Then we're the same, aren't we?" The same? What did he mean by that? The gun shifted pointing at Heero and making the Preventer grunt. Duo frowned at the words, his eyes taking in where the gun was pointing before his eyes seemed to darken even more. "The same can't be said for him, can it? He's important to you isn't he?"

"You realize you're playing with fire, don't you?" Duo took a step, walking toward the man slowly. "If you hurt an innocent person, I won't take into account what I might do to you."

"Then maybe I'm a pyromaniac," the male said and pulled the trigger. A shot rang out flying past Duo and moving past Heero, grazing his shoulder before it hit the door. He winced out at the sharp pain feeling like he'd just be cut by a sharp knife and grabbed his arm quickly. Looking down, he saw the blood on his fingers before he looked up at the sharp dressed male. "I didn't say you could move," the male said, now focused on Heero.

Heero just stared at him, staring at him with a wonder he'd only been reserving for Duo. This man knew what he was going to do. Heero was planning to grab his gun while the guy was distracted with Duo and use it to their advantage. It would have been risky, but he was going to try to send a shot off and hopefully dislodge the gun from the man's hand if nothing else. But the male beat him to it, beat him before he'd even really registered to go through with his plan. How…? How had he known what he was thinking?

"Zero!" Duo turned away from the man and Heero couldn't seem to warn him fast enough when he saw the man run towards him.

"Duo, look out!" Too late. By the time Duo turned around, the man was already on him pressing the gun to his chest and firing. The smirk stayed on the man's lips even after Duo crumpled to the floor in front of him. "Duo!"

Heero pulled his gun out and crouched down grabbing the other one as well as he pointed them both at the man and fired away with no remorse. The shots rang out one after the other until the ringing sounds of empty clicks reached his ear. He swallowed, still crouched down on the ground staring at the male, glaring at him. Duo hadn't moved yet which bothered him more than it should have.

The man in the white hat lifted his head then, looking at Heero with clear red eyes unlike anything he'd seen before. The shine to them resembled the way Duo's own eyes seemed to glow unnaturally. They were also just as unsettling and Heero had to force himself not to look away.

The tall male was still smirking as he stood lowering his gun. The bullets Heero shot at him fell to the ground sounding like ringing bells in his ears. There wasn't a mark on the man, not a single hit at all or even a drop of blood. How was that possible? Was he even human? What the hell were they up against?

He stepped over Duo's body and Heero frowned dropping both his weapons in favor of the knife he kept hidden on him. The male was on his way towards him and Heero slowly pushed to his feet preparing himself and hoping the man didn't just opt out to shoot him.

Then he stopped. Not because of fear or pity, but because Duo had grabbed his leg to keep him from moving. He didn't turn around though, staring ahead even though the two of them stayed still like motionless statues. Only when Duo used both his hands to reinforce his grip on his leg did he fully acknowledge his presence.

"So you're already awake after that," the man said making to kick him, but Duo kept holding on till the male turned around and lifted his foot balancing on one leg and staring Duo in the eye.

"I thought your voice sounded familiar," Duo said and he seemed to grin at him and wrapped both his legs around the suspended leg seeming to weigh nothing at all by how the male still stood on his one foot. "I should have known you wouldn't be dead…01."

…01? Did he really just call him 01? Heero stared at the two males. There was a sort of endearing sound to the words 01 when Duo said them. But he couldn't tell by the look in his violet eyes. So if this was 01…Heero could safely assume he was part of OZ's experiment as well. How many experiments did OZ have?

"As much as I'd like to catch up on old times," 01 said as he lifted his foot to eye level. "OZ wants me to bring you back alive…." He lowered his leg swiftly slamming Duo's back into the floor roughly causing the braided one to cough harshly and loosen his grip. It was hard enough that the ground had actually caved in where Duo was slammed. "Not that I expect you to die so easily anyway."

Heero gripped the knife tightly and started to rush towards him but 01 anticipated it, pointing the gun and firing again, the bullet whizzing past Heero's head to crash into the wall behind him. It froze him where he was and gave him time to realize he'd been given a warning shot. If this man wanted to, he could kill him. He was well aware of that.

"I'd appreciate it if you stopped trying to interfere," he said slamming his foot into Duo's chest hard before he looked over at Heero with danger glaring in his eyes. "I'm trying to have a conversation with my friend here."

"You'll need to do it on someone else's watch then," and Heero looked down just as he saw two smoke bombs roll to 01's feet. As soon as they went off he was running. He ran as quick as he'd ever done before, grabbing 02 up the best he could before he was moving again further down the hall to the other side exit. An explosion sounded behind him shaking the building roughly and it took everything not to lose his balance. He looked back, seeing the black smoke from the explosion and no sign of their pursuer before he went out the side exit. As soon as he was out, Trowa was coming around the side of the building to help him carry Duo towards the bikes. Duo's head lolled as he was dragged along knocked out but with no obvious injuries though Heero was still careful.

Once they'd gotten far enough away from the building, Heero held up his cellphone punching in a few keys before the whole building exploded collapsing in on itself. Well at least his phone worked again.

They were little more than halfway to the bikes before Duo seemed to awaken and pulling himself from their grip. His eyes were wild for a moment but as he stared at them he slowly started to calm himself. He'd passed out during the chest stomp by 01 though the way he was moving around right now, you wouldn't think he'd just had his body literally stomped by a tall man like that. Hell, he'd been shot but there wasn't any blood on him at all.

Heero swallowed, both he and Trowa standing across from Duo. Trowa had probably seen it too cause he stood watching cautiously even though his body stayed in a casual pose. Duo was…what was he? He didn't seem human, but he didn't look like a monster. When he should have been dead or seriously injured at least, he was standing in front of them as alive and lively as ever. The man back there was the same way, uninjured even after being shot at with two guns. Heero wouldn't even be surprised if the man was still alive after having the whole control tower fall on him.

Heero opened his mouth to speak but Duo beat them both to it.

"It's part of the experiment OZ performed on us," Duo said looking them both dead in the eyes. "Super humans…or humans that can survive almost anything. Apparently, this one guy started the whole idea and tried it on a few simple rats and…well it's a pretty long story so…"

Heero nodded. "We'll save it for when we get to the next safe house." Trowa looked as if he didn't agree with it but he only gave a simple nod before going over to his own bike. Heero moved to his own bike, climbing onto it before he looked back at Duo and gestured to the back. "Get on."

Duo stood there, frowning slightly and staring at him. "You sure? I'm mighty dangerous. I might kill you." He smirked at that, making a joke out of it, one that Heero didn't laugh at.

"If you had wanted to kill me, you would have done so by now." Heero grabbed the cracked helmet tossing it to Duo who caught it easily. "Get on."

"…" Duo frowned down at the thing, twisting it in his hands before he looked up at him again. "I really don't need-"

"Just shut up and follow orders," Heero said glaring until the braided male finally relented and slipped the helmet on. He waited until he felt Duo pressed up behind him, arms around his waist, before he looked over at Trowa. "We'll meet you at the spot. Make sure you're not being trailed before you get there." Trowa nodded at that and revved up his engine pulling off first. Heero wasn't long behind him, the two following alongside each other before Heero veered off taking another route. As long as he was on the move, he'd be able to throw the enemy off if they were being followed. Behind him, Duo stayed a silent presence, but Heero didn't dare to check on him while they rode, content to spending the rest of that day and most of that night riding in silence. Besides, his mind had a lot of things to process, and a lot of things to try and figure out such as, 'who and what was Duo Maxwell?'

TBC….

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And here's hoping everyone enjoyed this one.