Disclaimer: Gundam Wing is not mine. Duh.

Fangs of the Wolf

Chapter 25

Numb

He'd had to put the battle from his mind, to concentrate on the next step. The last enemy was on his way over, and Quatre, with whatever abilities he had, could follow the man's movements better than he could with the limited information he could find.

He had to go through Romefeller's files, its background, and its building. He needed everything, not just the information he'd pulled up at Khushrenada's insistence. His eyes were gazing down a three-dimensional graphic of the weapons Romefeller had illegally imported.

Their plans, he could see through just the tidbits he'd scanned, were simple. Start a war, then have all the weapons at their disposal. Nothing says money like war, and nothing sold faster than weapons. They'd already spread rumors through channels that another country, one on bad terms with their own, had illegal weapons. Duo had deleted some of those messages, but he just couldn't keep up with them all while taking care of everything else.

The bad thing was, from the looks of things, Romefeller seemed to want to gain control over the industrial world while egging on this war of theirs. Hell, it almost looked like they wanted to take over the entire country.

But that, Duo thought with a grimace, was an idea for crackheads. Take over a country by manipulation? The confusion of war would help, but could people really do such a thing just by selling people what they wanted and lying to them about the whole thing?

Okay, never mind. It very well could happen.

Suddenly a message popped up on his computer, and he stopped going through the files. He became immediately aware of the popping sounds of the guns over the link, and the echo of them echoed through the house. He closed his eyes for a split second and struggled for control. He needed to keep his emotions in check; if he was having trouble now, he would be fucked when the actual battle began.

He read the message quickly and frowned.

Save the information and get away from the computer.

He traced the message back, even as he put all of the information into his three hard drives. Then, on a sudden thought, he sent it through his computer's data drive, recomputing it, and saved the file as 'Curse' and tossed it on his main screen. Then, to hide it, he threw up five other random files, each labeled something equally innocuous.

His fingers flew over the computer, typing quickly, locking each with a password. He hesitated on the Curse file's password; any other files opened would lead to the destruction of the computer, and a mess-up when attempting to access the right file would lead to the same thing. The password had to be one Heero could guess, but a name would be too obvious, and anything else might be too vague.

Just then, the information slid across his screen, telling him the message had been posted on a library computer, one taken under the name of Chang Wufei.

Duo pulled his lips back in a snarl. It had to be Treize Khushrenada.

And that meant danger.

Acting on instinct, Duo called up a hint box and typed in: my answer. And before he could stop himself, he entered his password and closed up the windows, until only the satellite feed was left. He couldn't see anything coming, but that wasn't surprising. Treize would know to keep his men hidden. He would know just how skilled Duo was – after all, he'd been beaten by Duo once before.

He pulled away from the computer and moved to the back of the house, struggling to copy the moves he'd seen Heero use. Since Heero and the others were battling up front, that could only mean the enemy would come from the back, avoiding them and coming straight for him.

Was it revenge? Did Treize want Duo to pay for tricking him? But that didn't make sense. Treize had gone through a ridiculous amount of trouble to get all of them together, and though they'd left the police, in the end they'd done as he desired. Duo had hated the idea of it, but it was better than dealing with the cops, and they had the freedom of being in charge of themselves.

So what was the man up to? Did he only want to meet with Duo? But then why tell Duo to save his findings?

Duo stood before the back window now, his eyes carefully scanning the area the way he'd seen Heero do it. The kitchen counter pressed sharply into his side as he leaned against it. He couldn't see anything, and the place was wide open save for the fountain in the middle of the garden. The plants looked absolutely trampled; it must have been from the fighting earlier. The body of one of their attackers still lay crumpled on the ground.

On second thought, he considered, it might be best to stay inside. He could hear the others in his ear, each shouting to one another. The gunshots still pocked the air. They were still in battle. He couldn't distract them. He'd just have to take care of this one himself.

He grinned ferally. That wouldn't be a problem.

He stepped away from the window and the counter, his decision made. And a creak came from the dining room.

My computer!

Duo raced back the way he came, passing the kitchen's door frame and stopping cold. The hall stretched before him, his computer at its end, near the entrance of the house, left where it had been originally placed by the man still lying beside it. His computer was lying on the floor still, wholly unscathed. It hadn't been touched. Yet.

Beyond the kitchen was the dining room, where he'd heard the floor creak. His instincts told him it was not the sound of a house settling. It was man-made. He had to stop the intruder, however they'd gotten in, from getting near his computer. If they did, everything he'd found, everything he'd worked for - Hilde's very life - would be for nothing. He inched forward, quieter now that he knew his computer wasn't smashed to bits, and finally jumped out, going for the surprise attack. Without a weapon and with the enemy knowing he was in the house, anything else would be useless.

And there before him, both lurking in the shadows of the dining room, were two men dressed like normal pedestrians, yet muscled well enough to look like bouncers. Both had narrow eyes, but one had full, almost nastily thick lips. They looked as if they'd been waiting for him to return, as if they hadn't been after his computer at all; as one they pounced on him as soon as he crossed the threshold.

Duo was hugging the floor before they knew he was moving; like a spider he splayed against the ground, then used his hands to launch his feet at an enemy. Heero's china closet was a victim to the man's flailing body, but the thing didn't fall over, so most was spared.

The other came at him as he twisted back to his feet, pushing him to the ground. He bit back his grunt and kneed the man in the groin, then punched him square in the jaw. He lost a precious second getting the lug off of him, then another pulling himself back to his feet. The other man took the chance to grab Duo's wrists and yank him forward. His balance gone, he stumbled straight into his enemy's attack and doubled over as the man kneed him in the gut. His throat closed on his gasp; his lungs worked for nothing. Duo twisted his wrists free and stumbled away, his mouth working desperately for air.

The attacker reached forward to grab him again, but Duo managed a tight swerve onto the china closet. Broken shards of glass stabbed at his back.

His lungs finally grabbed at air, and as silently as he could he gulped it in and swerved away from his enemy's punch. Still turning, he backfisted the man in the cheek and followed it up with a quick round kick from his left foot. The man fell into the closet, too, and finally the thing fell, trapping the man underneath. Duo winced at the sound of breaking glass, but no one on the link spoke of it, and he sighed in relief. No one had been distracted.

If Treize had thought he would be that easy to defeat, the man was an absolute fool.

Which Duo knew he was not.

Duo bent down over the men's bodies and shuffled through their pockets. He needed information, and as much as possible. If he knew what he was up against, he might be able to stop it.

One man's wallet was in his back pocket. The fool must have kept it in, confident in his abilities. The other had either stashed his somewhere or hadn't brought it on his mission at all. Smarter. Duo opened the wallet and read the ID, then scanned the cards and pictures. The man and a woman sat posed together, the woman's hair short and dark, her dress a bright blue.

Duo's eyes caught on the man's business card. His eyes widened, but he managed to keep the shocked gasp in his chest.

More. There were more of Romefeller's men here.

He had to warn Heero and the others, before they were attacked, too. There were more bullets flying, Duo thought, than there had been before. Was that because the reinforcements had already arrived? He had to get back to his computer-

A jolt of lightning shot through his nerves, a sharp thread of agony that laced from below his shoulder blades. With a short scream of pain, he fell to the ground, the wallet falling limply from his hands.

Wufei's grunt of pain was what pushed Heero's hand on the trigger again, even as his mind blanked and whirred and screamed.

Then Wufei's gun was firing, and through the gunfire Heero could hear his partner shouting out Duo's name, over and over, almost like a mantra. Hoarsely Heero joined him.

"Duo!"

"Down! Enemy down!" Wufei shouted, and Heero didn't wait for anything more. He rushed down the porch and threw open the door to the house. His eyes immediately sought Duo's computer, but no one was there. Panic seized his chest. He already knew, deep inside, that the house was empty, but still Heero ran around, checking every single room, ignoring, at first, t two downed men on the dining room floor. He retraced his steps when he was done and found Wufei already crouching on his toes, leaning over the bodies.

"They're unconscious, but alive, Wufei murmured quietly. His fingers shook.

"What happened?!" Heero snapped, the terror in his chest gripping his senses. He raked a hand through his hair. "Duo?! Answer me!"

"He can't," Wufei whispered. Silently the man handed him Duo's communication piece.

Heero felt the air in his chest like a writhing thing. His fingers clenched cruelly around the machine. "Have you found anything? Any information?"

"No. There's nothing."

"Romefeller? Khushrenada? J's men? Who? Who did this?"

"He's gone," Quatre murmured over the link, and Heero listened in. "I felt it – I can't believe I didn't feel the enemies' emotions. I should have – if I'd been focusing more on the entire area and less on that one man-"

"Quatre, you did enough. We'll find him."

"His back. He was injured on his back. That's what snapped me out of it; I felt such pain it shook my entire body."

Heero couldn't hear anymore. He ripped off his own piece. "Wufei, what happened? You knew something. Tell me."

"It's what Treize told me." Wufei stood again and backed away from the bodies. On his face was shame. "He warned me that he'd led one of us into a trap. He said the battlefield couldn't change, that you and I had something we needed to do. I should have known – our greatest weakness is Maxwell. Both of us – he's our weakness."

His fault. His fault again? Duo was being used to get to him?

"What are we supposed to do?" he asked, his voice laced with desperation and weariness. Unconsciously he locked the safety and holstered his gun. "Fight Romefeller? Without Duo's help? I thought we were all supposed to work together?"

Trowa and Quatre entered the room then, both looking down at the two men. Quatre's face morphed from pain to determination. "The first thing we need to do," the blond said, "is get these two to talk. Trowa and I will take care of that much."

"And what are we to do?" Heero demanded.

"For now? Get pissed. We'll use you two to get their mouths moving."

He was already pissed. He was angry and scared and losing his control. They should have gotten Duo a gun. They'd been stupid not to, thinking they could protect him, that he'd be away from the danger. If he'd been properly equipped, would he have been taken out so quickly?

Well, he'd at least fought, and fought well. Heero didn't spare a glance for the broken china, only noting the sort of battle that must have taken place. Duo had at least taken down two of his enemies before the rest had pulled him away. Because of that, they had a means to finding a lead.

"Duo had said that police were on their way, about twenty minutes. That was, what? Fifteen minutes ago? We need to leave."

Heero looked over at Trowa, a frown on his face. "And go where?"

"Doesn't matter," Wufei said. "We need to get Maxwell's computer and these two to a car, and we need to do it fast."

"I'll take the computer," Heero said, somehow possessive of that one thing that was integrally Duo.

"Then we'll divvy up the men between ourselves," Trowa said, pointing to Wufei to be his cohort. "Quatre?"

"We won't divide them. Heero, you'll drive alone with Duo's computer. Wufei, would you mind taking the two unconscious men? It may be better if they wake up to you than to us." Quatre didn't have to say why; they all knew that Wufei's reaction to their existence would only fuel the fire of his anger and guilt. He'd be itching to jump them if they woke up. "Trowa and I will follow. For now, we'll head over to my townhouse. It's closest to Romefeller's headquarters. From there, we'll plan our next strategy and get ready to attack Romefeller."

"And whoever took Maxwell."

"If they're different," Quatre said.

Heero nodded, his thoughts cluttering together. His body seemed to understand what needed to be done, though, and they all moved out, each moving quickly. Heero had to move around Frank's prone form in order to grab Duo's equipment, and the sight made his chest ache. He could only hope that Duo was in better shape, but somehow he doubted it. That knowledge made his gut clench so tight he could hardly breathe.

It was a hard-knock life, all right, and he knew better than anyone just what kind of sacrifices had to be made to ensure the greater good.

He wasn't thrilled about it. He wasn't happy that Wufei was pointing a gun at him, nor that he was on the outskirts of the "good guys," the one that no one could trust, the one that lived squarely in the gray.

Still, he had responsibilities to attend to, and he couldn't afford to ignore them.

It had been tricky, speaking to his uncle about his five men. The two of them never really got along, always playing the farce of loving family whenever others were around, but always steely in their hate. Nonetheless, he'd managed. With the right amount of praise and the slightest hint of greed, he'd managed to make his uncle think that he wanted to enter Romefeller. It had bit at his pride, but it would be worth it.

To be allowed in, he only needed to give them something they didn't have. Well, of course he had some information on the man who had stolen information from their systems. Oh? They'd attacked the man's friend as a warning? That wouldn't do; there were more after Romefeller than just him, after all. Who was to say those others would stop, too?

He'd carefully wormed his own plan into his uncle's mind, until it was as simple as saying, "they work as a team, each hinged on the other," and then a short, "but he's the only one who can access your files." And voilà. His uncle had demanded Duo Maxwell's capture for use as bait to lure the rest in. And then the fool had smiled at Treize and welcomed him into the group, his arms wide as if ready to hug. Neither touched the other.

And so Duo Maxwell had been led straight into a trap. He'd warned his uncle that they should be certain they get the right man, so they had to wait until he once again accessed their files. The four men were sent as a diversion, the explosion meant as nothing more than an attention-getter.

And it had worked. His uncle's back-up plan to simply destroy Maxwell's machine had failed. He'd sent a message to Duo Maxwell to save his information, and though he couldn't say the man had, he was almost certain that he would. It was in Maxwell's style to be in control, to not lose his place or his progress. He'd given the man just enough time to spare his machine before the hidden agents, there long before the explosion occurred, had jumped into the house and dragged the unconscious man out the back door.

So far, no one in Romefeller suspected a thing.

The battlefield, now, was the same. Now the attack could go off without a hitch, and at least two operatives had more than enough reason to make sure they got through to his uncle, who no doubt would place himself and his friend Tubarov near Duo Maxwell. And the two would be taken out, and Treize's job could finally, finally be over.

He just wished he didn't have to face the look of hurt and betrayal on Wufei's face. But it was a price of living in the gray, and it was one he was willing to pay if it meant stopping his uncle once and for all.