Author's Note: Since July 1, my poll has been officially closed. Not much of a response but I'll take what I can get. Be ready for a revised and remade version of "The Deathdealer" in the coming future. It may not show up this month or the next but it will come out better than ever. As for this chapter, it's been ready for quite a bit but things came up and some procrastination needed to be doing but that is all in the past. Enjoy.

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing

Warning: language, shounen ai

Name of the Game

Under the cover of the cacophony of the cafeteria, three conspirators plotted.

"So what's the plan?" Dorothy asked eagerly.

"Blackmail," Wufei answered calmly and readily.

"Blackmail?" Heero questioned, disappointed.

"That's only the beginning of the plan," Wufei elaborated, hearing the disappointment in his friend's voice. "I did a little research on our dear Solomon—"

"Who's Solomon?" Dorothy interrupted. "I want Solo!"

"Solomon is the full name of Solo," Wufei explained, not at all miffed at being interrupted. "A simple pet name, that's all. Now, back to business, I checked out Solomon's old school records and such and found out that he isn't the golden boy that many people at this school believe him to be. His grades are terrible, he's been nearly expelled on a series of occasions, and that's only the beginning."

"There's more?" Heero asked.

"He has a bit of a criminal record," Wufei said. "It seems like Honest Abe isn't as honest as we all thought."

"So what does that all have to do with anything?" Dorothy demanded.

"From a reliable source, I've managed to get my hands onto a bit of evidence that could put Solomon away behind bars for quite sometime," Wufei replied. "Now, this is where the blackmail comes in. We threaten to turn in the evidence to law enforcement back at his old home unless he breaks up with Maxwell and agrees to get together with you Dorothy. Then to add injury to insult, Heero, you get to have your way with Maxwell one more time. All I ask is that you make sure he doesn't walk again, okay?"

"Understood," Heero smirked as he cracked his knuckles.

"I must say, it's ingenious," Dorothy commented. "I'm in."

"That's perfect," Wufei continued. "We'll wait until tomorrow to approach our subjects of interests. Make them think they're in the clear. The blow will be much harder and it will give us some time to iron out the details and get rid of the bugs. As long as we have the evidence, there is nothing they will do against us. Absolutely nothing."

"This is going to be fun," Heero said sadistically before frowning. "What about Walker?"

"All in due time, Heero," Wufei answered. "He's not going anywhere and besides, Maxwell and Solo are more of our pressing concerns."

"Amen to that," Dorothy added.

--

What had once been a long day had become unbelievably longer by the time they came to their History class. Apparently, Ms. Noin had had a date the previous night and it hadn't ended favorably.

Meaning, she was taking out her frustrations on the poor students that made up her classes.

So after getting out of that nightmare of a period, they endured the last period fairly well before the final bell released them from their incarceration. And then the day got even longer as once again, Solo's friends approached them at the school's gates.

To say that Duo was losing his patience today was not far from the truth. In fact, to tell the truth, he blocked out the whole confrontation and just spent it all leaning against Solo, using the blond as a vertical pillow.

It certainly was his luck, wasn't it? Just as soon as things were calming down and a new routine was being set, something just had to come along and upset the balance once again. That had been happening a lot lately, ever since Solo came here. Still, he wouldn't trade that for anything; Solo was just that important to him.

However, as they were in the midst of an escalating argument, Duo was surprised to see Howard pull up in front of the school, his sunglasses lowered so that his eyes were clearly looking straight at the four strange teenagers curiously. Howard's dark eyes soon caught his and he called out to him, gesturing for the braided one to come over.

"What's Howard doing here?" Solo asked, puzzled, as he looked down at the now attentive brunet.

"Don't know," Duo answered, just as confused as the taller blond was. "Better go over and see what he wants. You gonna be okay?"

"I'll be just fine," Solo replied as he tilted Duo's head up so that he could plant a light kiss on his forehead. "Go see what Howard wants."

Duo nodded and reluctantly left the blond's side as he made his way over to the old-age lawyer. "What's up, Howard?" Duo greeted, his world now focused solely on the old man.

"Up for a drive?" Howard asked. "Got something I need to talk with you about."

"Just as long as you drop me off at the Winner's when we're done," Duo agreed as he slid into the passenger seat and closed the door behind him.

--

Solo's concerned green eyes watched the braided one like a hawk as Duo got into the car and left. He could only hope that this wasn't going to be bad news, especially now of all times.

His friends' eyes were all turned back on him expectantly and he sighed.

This was certainly far from over.

--

"So what d'you need to talk about?" Duo asked after some distance had been put between them and the high school.

"Ah straight to the point as always," Howard commented, eyes focused solely on the road. "Lets wait until we get to my apartment to talk."

"Not your office?" Duo asked.

"You should know better," Howard chided. "That place has been bugged so many times that I don't care to clean it out. That's why I'm always coming up to the school to talk with you. It's harder to listen in at a public facility, especially one owned by the government. So, you're getting closer to that Solo guy, huh?"

It was obvious that the old man was purposely changing the subject but Duo didn't call him on it. Instead, he chose to go along with it since it was going to take a while before they got to the apartment.

"Yeah, sure am," he answered, allowing himself to reminisce.

"You sure that guy isn't playing you?" Howard asked.

"Positive. Besides, he wouldn't dare," Duo replied readily. "He'd be hit from so many sides by so many people, not to mention me beating the crap out of him. To tell the truth, I really do like him."

"Enough to exchange public affection?" Howard inquired, his tone teasing.

"Oh yeah," Duo sighed dreamily. "I can't help but let him get away with it. I think I really am falling for him too."

"From the looks of it, you already have and badly," Howard pointed out, letting a small smile out. "Still, make sure you have all your bases checked. The last thing I want to see is you ending up how Helen did."

"Be assured, I won't let that happen," Duo stated firmly. "Even though this thing feels right, I'm making sure I have something to fall back on, just in case. I don't like doing something like that behind Solo's back but I just can't let myself be duped, you know?"

"Crystal clear," Howard said. "I wish Helen had that kind of foresight. Perhaps we may not have to be where we are today."

"I hear that," Duo agreed, settling into the car seat.

A few minutes later, Howard pulled up into a public storage facility. This was the apartment that the old man meant. He wasn't stupid enough to believe that just because his office was bugged that his own home was left alone. No, it was in this storage unit that Howard rented that he spoke of anything that was incredible important and sensitive. And there was also the fact that he stored some of his excess crap here, don't get him wrong.

Entering into the storage unit, the sliding door was lower just enough so that they could have some privacy yet be able to get out when they were done. Taking a seat on a dilapidated couch that had definitely seen better days, Duo gave the old man the sign to get down to business.

"I know you've been wondering why I needed to talk to you," Howard began, "and I'm just going to be blunt. Do you happen to know anything that might be going on with your father? I haven't heard hide nor hair from him or his lawyers and it's making me a little edgy. I've called them trying to make court appointments and everything but it seems like he won't be able to do much of anything until next year at this rate."

"Isn't that a good thing?" Duo asked.

"It might be but your father is usually nosey. For him to be this quiet for this amount of time, something is up and it's big. I'm just wondering if you might be able to help me out and maybe point me in the right direction."

Duo's face was scrunched up in concentration. He had more than idea about what was up; to be honest, he was trying to figure out if it would be okay to tell Howard about what exactly was going on. Taking a single look at the old lawyer and life-long friend, Duo quickly made up his mind.

"I might know but I want you to swear that you'll breathe not a word of this to a single soul, okay?" Duo told him.

"I swear on your mother's grave I will not mention anything to another person," Howard swore.

"Alright," Duo confirmed before lowering his voice slightly. "You know what my father does for a living, right?"

"Of course."

"Well, let's say that his boss sent this proposal over to their one and only rival, WEI. They want to form an international trust and make billions in the process."

"Oh dear Lord," Howard swore.

"That's just only the beginning," Duo continued. "This whole deal is big and it's going to change the face of the global corporate world. The two largest firms untied will control practically all the consumer goods that we use everyday, a large chunk of every country's economy, and dominate every financial institution for the next hundred years."

"There would be nobody to stop them," Howard whispered. "They would control the world."

"That is true and don't think Mr. Winner isn't considering it. I will say this, though, he's real hesitant and Romafellor is going to do everything in its power to make sure that it goes through."

"Jesus, no wonder he won't answer my calls or even call back," Howard spoke aloud.

"He's not calling you back?" Duo repeated, dumbfounded.

"Yeah, he isn't, but now I know why," Howard answered. "You know, it would certainly be a shame if Daddy lost his job because of this deal not going through…"

Duo immediately caught on to that train of thought. "You know, you have a point," he acknowledged. "It would serve him right to be stuck in the same spot he put me in."

"Too bad we can't get to him directly," Howard lamented. "Still, I'll do what I can by calling him up at all hours of the night or something; put him on edge you know? He's more liable to make some mistakes if he's tired."

"Probably only get him demoted," Duo pointed out. "Anything is better than nothing, I guess."

"I hear ya," Howard agreed. "Well, that's all I really wanted to know. Now, that we have that out of the way, let's get down to the real reason I brought you out here."

"Real reason?" Duo repeated, confused. If that wasn't the real reason why Howard brought him here, then what was it?

"You see those nightstands over there?"

"Yeah. What about them?"

"Got a friend who's interested in them and I need some muscle getting them out."

"You gotta be kiddin' me."

--

Once again, they hadn't left off on good terms. Mueller was pissier than usual, Alex was quiet, though he was always quiet, Sylvia was more sarcastic and mean, and as for Hilde, well, her mind was preoccupied.

Yeah, yeah, she was using her head for something other than trying to make people happy. So what? She wasn't some stupid blonde airhead who just talked like babies and didn't have to pay for drinks at her favorite club. She was capable of higher thinking despite some of the bonehead crap she said or did in front of other people. She was fairly intelligent, something most people didn't know because A) they thought she was stupid and single-minded and B) they judged her long before they got to know her.

It was their loss, not hers.

Seeing how fierce Solo was getting whenever they met after school was really worrying her. She couldn't lie and say that she hadn't a crush on him. I mean, c'mon! Who wouldn't like to wake up to a mug like that every morning for the rest of their lives? But, sigh, he was spoken for by the only other person she had ever liked.

What was it with her and being attracted to gay guys anyway?

Conveniently, she chose to ignore the talk about an orgy that the blond had supposedly been apart of and had supposedly done it with both of the sexes.

However, just because both males were taken, and with each other no less, didn't mean that she didn't care about them. In fact, she purposely made it her priority to stay out of the arguments and remain a spectator. Perhaps it was because of this that she was able to see what she had seen.

They didn't stick out too much and they weren't doing anything out of the ordinary. No, what made those two guys and a girl catch her attention was the way they were watching Solo.

The blonde girl with weird eyebrows had a hungry look, as if she was about to pounce on the guy and just eat him up. The guy with the crutches was smirking, as if enjoying what was going on at the time. Then there was that other guy, the China guy. He looked smug or something, as if he knew something and was about to hold it over somebody's head.

It gave her the willies, big time.

So like a protective older sister and devoted yaoi fangirl, she was going to do whatever it took to make sure that her boys were not about to be harmed or maimed in any way, shape, form, or fashion and especially if it came from a girl with weird eyebrows and two hunky-looking guys.

However, bringing up the subject that someone or some guys were plotting against Solo to her friends who happened to be nearly estranged from the guy was not an easy task. It was out of the question that she wouldn't broach the subject to Mueller since the guy was pissed off more than usual. She'd go to Sylvia but that girl was emitting some sort of unholy aura so she was out. That left only Alex who wasn't acting anymore different than he usually was.

Eh, it was better than nothing.

Upon telling him about what she had caught a glimpse of, Alex had immediately brought up the possibility that maybe she was just looking too much into nothing. She had countered by saying that she had gotten a bad feeling about them and her feelings were rarely wrong, that is when she actually paid attention to them.

Ultimately, she convinced Alex to keep a lookout for anything.

Hopefully, it would all be a waste of time.