Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing, or the characters within it.

Note: Wow. That took a while. School's been crazy, work's been crazy, and I have several loved ones seriously ill. Writing was not a top priority.

I am sorry for the lack of breaks between scenes. is a bastard with this stuff.

TO MY REVIEWERS: I can't believe how many people have supported this story. I would give shout outs, but I know I would miss someone. I would like to extend my apologies to the several people I promised a chapter to "soon" and failed to deliver. I never meant to lie to you. I'd be writing well, and BAM! I just couldn't write more. I kept losing my plot.

Thanks, everyone. If I haven't lost my touch, and you like this installment, I'll continue. I think I found my plot again – and this time I wrote myself notes so I don't forget.

The Perfection of 02

By: Maxwell-Yuy

Scared, Noin approached Duo with caution. Loosely holding out her knife in a non-aggressive manner, she said "02, we don't need to--"

Swiftly, Duo moved in and sliced the back of Noin's hand. Recoiling, the Oz officer grabbed at her hand and held it to her chest, shooting her assailant a shocked and painful look. "I don't have your information! This is useless!"

The longhaired pilot glared at the woman in front of him. "Killing you will catch Zechs' attention. Perhaps he will seek me out."

Clutching her knife with a strong right-handed grip, Noin stepped forward and slashed at Duo, who leaned back and easily evaded the move. Quickly, Noin used her full body strength and leapt at her opponent with a forceful stab. Shifting to his side, Duo grabbed her wrist and forearm. The two struggled for dominance. Timing himself, he let go of Noin, and the woman fell forward and away from the younger pilot, her left arm flailing out and then reaching forward to break her fall. Grace appeared to abandon her as she stumbled towards the street.

Cursing her skirt, but thankful that its free flow allowed her swift movement, Noin caught her balance, stood, and rushed him.

Seeing the knife flash towards his head, Duo once again grabbed Noin's arm, and then deftly took hold of the other, forcing the hand with the knife towards her neck and her other arm toward himself. If Duo could overpower her, he could either turn his enemy's knife on the Lieutenant, or send her falling towards himself and into her own blade.

Using all her strength, Noin broke Duo's arm lock and slashed the braided pilot across the shoulder. Not a second later, his knife descended upon her, cutting into her cheek. The unexpected pain sent her stumbling backwards again, clutching the side of her face. Glancing upward, she saw Duo duck behind a column.

His shoulder was pounding in time with his pulse. The Lieutenant had cut deeply, but hadn't severed any important veins. Blood loss would be a hindrance, though, if not treated, so Duo had to finish this battle as soon as he could manage. He had not planned for Noin's competency in knife fighting, and was enjoying every minute of the battle. Every slash across the Oz Officer's body would be a little bit of fun.

Eastern Europe always made Zechs weary. He'd always found it difficult to remember names and directions when there were few vowels in a language. Unconsciously, he smoothed out a few wrinkles in his trousers. Colonel Une would be expecting him shortly, and years of noble upbringing had instilled in him unbreakable habits of poise and etiquette. It was uncommon for the Lady to request his physical presence for a debriefing, and he assumed the news she would deliver to him would have something to do with the gundam pilots in captivity or the pilot on the loose.

Staring out the window of his private charter car, he sadly noted that the train was taking him further from Noin with each passing second. The evening had not gone as planned. No sooner did he tell her of his reluctance to take their relationship further at their current pace, then the Colonel called him to report to Prague immediately. He never had the chance to see her reaction, nor the chance to fully explain himself – if she had asked him for an explanation. Sighing, he leaned back and closed his eyes, determined to rid his mind of thoughts of Noin, and clear his thoughts so that he might focus on more pressing matters.

Approaching the column with caution, Noin stared warily towards where her target remained hidden. Every cell in her body urged her to take hold of the moment and run while Duo was hidden. She knew it would be the last chance during this battle for her to retreat and she knew it was her motherly instincts kicking in. She couldn't say she wanted to save her baby – she didn't have one yet. But for a woman who never thought she would get a chance to bring life into the world instead of taking it, preserving that chance was her universe. Rationality made her approach the column instead of running away. If the pilot 02 had tracked her down already, he could easily do it again. Though scared presently, there was something in the back of her mind reminding her that if she left, she would never know when the next strike would come. Dying when she least expected it would be far more terrifying than putting up a fight. Slipping out of her heels, she continued forward and paused a few feet before her target. She spread her feet apart in a fighting stance, and waited for her enemy to make the first move.

Behind the column, Duo wasn't tending to his wound, but contemplating the quickest way to end the battle and get the information he needed. His instincts as a soldier were so ingrained in his personality that planning the fight to come occurred as a flash in his mind – incomplete images and thoughts that would make no sense to anyone other than Duo himself. Not even Heero could make sense of them.

He stopped that train of thought before it derailed.

Calmly stepping out of his hiding place, Duo saw the knife coming at him in mid air, and let it pierce into his arm. He pulled the handle, which was flush against his skin, and removed the knife. He looked up at Noin through his bangs. "You need to learn to throw better. Your release is off." The other clearly couldn't believe what had happened. It occurred to Duo that the Lieutenant had expected to hit her target, and now the woman was weaponless. "Are you, or are you not going to tell me where Zechs is located?"

Noin felt her heart beating on her ribcage. She didn't kill the pilot, and now she was cornered. She had to live. "He left to Copenhagen -"

"WRONG!"

Anger flared up inside of the Oz officer. "What is it that you want from me?" she shouted, "I told you I don't know where he's gone!"

A low, deadly voice answered, "I want to find the other gundam pilots. I can't win this war on my own." Duo chuckled, and continued, "well, I could, but it would be far too messy."

For a split second, Noin's brain shut down. Pilot 02 thought he could win the war alone? Almost wishing she'd run when she had the chance, she whispered, "please. Please, I don't have your information. Let me go."

"You're a soldier!" The sternness of Duo's reply sent a shock through Noin's system. "Soldiers do not ASK to be released from their duty! It is your job to fight me and you knew what you were getting into when you entered the forces. Your weakness is unforgivable, and will not be forgotten. You don't even deserve to wear the stripes of Oz. No enemy of mine should be so meek."

Noin tensed as the long-haired pilot raised a hand, and tensed as a knife was thrown to her feet. To her feet! She had another chance!

"Fight me like a worthy Oz soldier should fight."

Adrenaline pumping, Noin crouched down, took her knife, and lunged at her opponent. A slash came to her face, and she backed away from it, pushed forward, and using one arm to hold Duo away, stabbed her knife into the pilot's thy and pulled out her blade. Using the full force of her body, she shoved him into the column he had previously been hidden behind, and went for the kill.

With some of the wind knocked out of him, Duo saw her advancement and reached out to stop the other's knife. They struggled together, Noin desperately trying to push her knife into him, while he held her at bay and looked for an opening. She found one first, and punched Duo across the face with her free hand. No sooner did her fist meet flesh than he kicked her behind the knees and sent her stumbling. Noin jumped up and sprang forward. She pushed the gundam pilot away, causing Duo to fall back against another column.

Regaining his footing, Duo shook off his slight lightheadedness and brought himself to stand on his feet. Noin would die tonight.

The medical tents were flooded with patients. A bomb, reports said, had triggered prematurely and devastated a commercial zone just blocks from a government facility downtown. Sally and her crew had been working frantically to save as many lives as they could, and the patient inflow was just now simmering down. Pulling off her latex gloves, she tossed them in a bin and walked away from a six-year-old patient. Her mother was dead, and her father was being treated for burns. They'd been at a travel agency looking for an escape from the war.

Vigorously rubbing her face, she stepped out of a tent and into the sunlight. This wasn't even her job. She was supposed to be working with soldiers, not civilians. But as a doctor, she couldn't turn her back on those in need. And though she knew in her heart she was making a difference caring for civilian casualties, her gut told her that she would be a greater help to the war effort on the front lines.

Lost in thought and berating herself for how the war and working exclusively for soldiers caused her to casually dismiss the lives of civilians, she nearly jumped at the sudden vibration at her side. Instinctively she reached for her pager, but realized the source of the disturbance was in fact her cell phone. Only a handful of people had her number…

Instantly she grabbed it and answered, "Po here."

"Hiya, doc. It's Howard." His voice was off, as usual. Something was always amiss when he called her. Usually it involved heavy casualties – something she was not mentally prepared for at the moment.

"What's going on? You never call unless there's an emergency."

"Well, there is something…" Howard trailed off for a moment, and Sally began to wonder what he could be getting at before he continued with what seemed like a change of subject. "Have you seen the Kid lately?"

"You mean Duo?" She hated Howard's nickname for the most rambunctious of the pilots. She understood that Duo was the grandson Howard should have had, if he'd had children, but to call him Kid was trivializing his part in the war – or at least she thought so. Duo didn't seem to mind. "Yes. I saw him a few days ago. Why?"

She could hear a light tapping as Howard began to drum his fingers on something nearby. She'd seen the old man do it in person when he was on the phone and uncomfortable with the way a conversation was heading.

"I saw the Kid, too. He seemed... different. Was he like that with you?"

Sally wanted to say 'yes' but she was hesitant. She needed to know exactly what Howard meant, or the man would take her answer face value. She knew from experience that he would do this even when they might be thinking of entirely different subjects. "What do you mean by 'different,' Howard?"

"Cold. Distant, I guess. Like he-" he stopped. "Like… like he wasn't himself. Like he was changing for the worse. The life in his eyes – it was gone."

"He's just driven to find his friends, Howard." Even as she said it, her words seemed forced and ludicrous to her ears.

A prolonged silence made Sally as uncomfortable as the man on the other end tapped rapidly on what was likely his desk. Finally, Howard spoke. "It's drive, yes. A lame excuse but I'll give you that. But it wasn't just the usual Duo being driven to get something done." He'd used his real name; what came next couldn't be good. "When I went to see him in his quarters, he wasn't right. Yeah, he was social but tired on deck with the boys, but in his room? He was snapping at me. And it didn't have his usual playfulness. He pulled his gun on me and never apologized. He always apologizes."

Sally processed Howard's words. Not saying you're sorry for a reflex action was not a sign of some problem extending further than stress or rudeness, but it was odd for a boy who was always nice – to certain people. A need to mention Duo's attack on her nurse, or the boy's complete lack of emotion during his six hours awake in surgery without anesthesia was immediately squashed by her habitual need to stay on topic. There would be another time to discuss disturbing behaviors other than pulling guns on allies. "He did the same to me. Pulled his gun on me and demanded his leave. He said something to the effect of his friends needing him."

"But that's just it!" He was rushing now, "He didn't say 'friends' with me. He's always referred to the others as his friends. At least, he did before anyone else. He called them 'comrades' and was so… confused. Confused, but also heartless – like he didn't care. Like they were just pawns he needed to win the war."

"Howard," she began in protest. He interrupted her.

"Doc, I have to tell you about Death."

Sally was thoroughly confused. "What? What does that--" He interrupted her again.

"Did you know Duo calls himself Death?"

This was getting aggravating. "No, I didn't!" Sally snapped leaning on a table packed with medical supplies, "but many soldiers have an alter--"

"This is different."

Sally wanted to scream.

"Doc," he continued, "it's just different." His voice became soft. "I'm worried."

Something in his tone caused Sally to calm down. If Howard said it was serious, then he had to have a good reason. She definitely wasn't looking forward to the conversation to come. She looked down, surprised to see she was tapping her fingers on the supply table.

That's it for now. Like I always say, if not for reviews, I'd have quit this story a long time ago. Sorry it's a short chapter, but if I didn't put something out, I think you would all have my head on a platter.

And I'm getting a brand new laptop. That should help speed things up.