Duo had a few hours before he'd be expected to make his statement, so he wandered New York's streets. He should contemplate lunch or something, but Shini still danced too close to the surface to even think about eating. He had just killed a few days ago—Shinigami should be sated, at least for a while. Yet hearing about Rogers attacking his teammate made him reach for Shini on autopilot.

Even thinking about it made that primal pulse pound under his skin. It was time to admit to himself that something had changed. Those months of riding Shinigami for hours or even days without break had changed something. It had been easy to overlook with Jesus. Even though he hadn't killed often at Jesus's side, there'd been plenty of reason for Shini to be close to the surface. The past six weeks had been different. There wasn't a good reason for Shini to be this close, this aware.

Rogers had been an asshole, no doubt about that. Duo didn't understand why Stark was willing to bring the man back into his home. He didn't need to understand though. Stark was a big boy. If he wasn't as paranoid or unforgiving as Duo could be, that wasn't exactly a bad thing. Duo understood fighting to hurt each other, but Rogers's obliviousness was dangerous. Duo wouldn't trust the man at his back, Captain America or no. But really, as much as what he'd done pissed Duo off and made him distrust the man, the damage was done, and he had no place to hold a grudge where Stark wasn't.

Well, Stark hadn't wholly forgiven Rogers. They still had a weird tension going on between them that said they were trying, but those wounds hadn't healed. But protecting wounds wasn't the same as holding a grudge.

He tried to think of something that could split the pilots as deeply as the Accords had split the Avengers. The closest they'd come was Wufei joining Mariemaia, but he'd been young and hurt and hadn't let the other pilots in then the way he had since. They might all be different people, and they might have different ideas, but he honestly believed they'd be able to find some middle ground without things coming apart so badly they were trying to kill each other. He didn't want to imagine a scenario that would have him on the other side of such a deep divide. He would have thought the sort of battles the Avengers went through together would forge the same kind of bonds that the Eve Wars had forged for the Gundam pilots, but maybe not. There had been good portions of the war where it had been the five of them against the world, hanging on to their beliefs in the face of overwhelming opposition and betrayal.

Maybe their age played a role too. If they had been adults, grounded in who they were, not still growing and changing, would they have come together the way they had? Would they have built the bonds they had?

This was exactly the kind of headspace that he'd love a good fuck to get out of. Nothing silenced Shini like sex. He threw himself onto a park bench and leaned his head back, staring at the sky.

"This seat taken?" a voice asked.

Duo sighed. "I wondered when you were going to stop lurking," he said, turning to look at the man next to him as Sam Wilson sat down.

"I do not lurk, man," he informed.

"I wouldn't call what you do tailing, because you suck at it," he said, not joking. He wanted to believe that being tailed had made Shini restless, but Wilson was so bad at it, even Shini wouldn't have been bothered. "Why you?"

Wilson looked surprised. "What do you mean?"

"I'm assuming someone decided I shouldn't be wandering alone, but why are you my shadow? You're like… Rogers's girlfriend."

"Excuse you," Wilson said, offended. "Steve and I are not like that."

The emphatic denial tickled Duo's sense of humor, and it was a relief to use it to quiet Shini. "You know I married a dude, right? Would be super hypocritical for me to judge."

Wilson looked so intensely uncomfortable, Duo couldn't contain his grin. Wilson gave him a mock dirty glare. "So glad I could amuse you," he said, irritated.

"I know," Duo admitted, letting him off the hook. "But you seem pretty buddy-buddy."

"Steve's the reason I'm an Avenger," Wilson said as if it explained everything. Maybe it did.

"And Stark and Rogers aren't exactly great terms right now, so why are you , Team Rogers, tailing me, ostensibly Team Stark?"

"We're all trying to be Team Avengers right now, so what's Stark's is all of ours," Wilson said, and Duo appreciated the candor. "I'm pretty much the least recognizable out of all of us, so you got me if we're trying not to draw attention to you."

"So you were voluntold."

"Yeah, pretty much."

"This may surprise you, but I do, in fact, know how to get around without drawing attention."

"Yeah, well, you may find that harder once who you are gets out."

"Don't remind me," Duo groused, leaning his head back again.

He could feel Wilson studying him but ignored it. "You don't really know much about the Avengers, do you?" he asked.

"Broad strokes, mostly. Battle of New York, Hulk, uh, I guess there was the Mandarin thing? Obviously we felt the Triskelion and SHIELD falling, so I kind of know more about that shit. I mean, of course I know who Stark and Banner are. I hate to tell you, but the Avengers and what they're doing are not the center of everyone's worlds."

"I'd think we're of interest to Preventers."

"Yeah, but I've been mostly incommunicado for over two years. Whatever arrangements you've been making with Une since SHIELD went down don't involve me." He frowned. "Well, they didn't involve me." Except Sokovia, but he wasn't sharing that. Given the way it looked like Avengers would end up coordinating with Preventers, they probably would have run into each other sooner or later, and honestly, Duo preferred to make his own opinions of people. Besides, he was a Gundam pilot. Superheroes were kind of cool in theory, but call him biased—he thought the pilots were the original superheroes. The difference was, they didn't need to be recognized for what they did.

"You know, there are plenty of people who idolize us, and there are plenty who just hate us. I don't run into indifference much."

Duo snorted. "You do some insane shit, even by my standards," he admitted. "But unless and until I need to get involved, honestly, I kind of think about it like another law enforcement branch. You do your stuff, I do mine." He slid his eyes over. "Of course, your collateral tends to be… concerning. And this is coming from someone who fought on the same side as the Gundams, for the record."

"I seem to remember the Gundams taking out two whole colonies," Wilson said pointedly.

Technically, it was one, since L5 self-destructed, but that wasn't common knowledge and he had no good excuse for knowing it. "Sokovia would have been as bad if the Gundams hadn't been there," he said, because it was true and they hadn't even been fighting a war, but something they'd inadvertently created. "But comparing fuck-ups doesn't make anyone's better or worse. They're all bad," he conceded.

Wilson had been cowed somewhat by the mention of Sokovia, but Duo seemed to have said too much because his gaze sharpened. "Did you know the Gundam pilots?" he asked.

Duo gave him his best sheepish, shy look. "You really think someone like me got to know the Gundam pilots?" He aimed for that quietly awed tone he'd heard some colonists use when speaking of them. From the look on Wilson's face, he nailed it. "They didn't mingle with the rank and file much, and didn't usually stop anywhere longer than it was necessary to resupply."

"Damn. I know that Stark has been dying to find out who they are," Wilson said, getting more comfortable.

"Really?" Duo asked, surprised.

"Yeah. I think he wanted to thank them for their help in Sokovia."

"Huh." Duo didn't know what to do with that information, except that it made him nervous that Stark was actively trying to figure out who they were. "Sorry I'm not much help." Not very sorry, but Wilson did seem bothered.

"They're not Preventers?" Wilson wondered.

Every now and then, dealing with smart people was really a pain. "If they are, no one's telling," he said. There really weren't a lot of Preventers who knew the pilots had anything to do with Preventers who didn't also know the pilots personally.

"So, did you have any plans?" Wilson asked. "You know, before you stormed out of the Tower hours early?"

"Way to make me sound like I'm five."

"From where I'm sitting, you might as well be."

"It's not the years, kid—it's the miles," Duo quipped.

"You did not just call me a kid."

"Really? Because I'm pretty sure that if we get attacked, it's gonna be me saving your ass, not the other way around."

"You really think so? Didn't you just get shot?"

Duo shrugged. "I was also sparring with one of your supersoldiers this morning, so again, tell me who is gonna save who?"

"That makes you crazy," Wilson said, and he sounded serious.

Duo laughed. "Aren't we all?" he asked.

Wilson smiled and shook his head. "Guess we are." He looked at Duo oddly, then said, "I feel like we were never formally introduced. I'm Sam Wilson, the Falcon." He held out his hand.

The offer seemed sincere, so Duo took his hand. "Duo Reyes-Maxwell, call sign Darkside."

Wilson's brows rose as he sat back. "Darkside? You?"

"Books and covers, Wilson," Duo warned.

"Sam."

Duo met his eyes and smiled. "Sam."

"You're not seriously coming with me for this, are you?" Duo asked Sam as they paused outside the precinct.

"You are aware that paranoia is virtually a requirement for Avengers, right?"

Duo rolled his eyes. "I'm going to be in a literal police station. If I need your help there, we have other problems."

"I dunno…"

"Go the hell home or wherever you want. There's no reason for you to hang around here for hours."

"Maybe not, but if something happens to you, Stark is going to kill me."

"If something comes for me, I can handle it. The whole reason I'm here today is because I killed three Hydra agents, remember. The only thing you would do is get in my way."

"You did get shot."

"As everyone is so fond of reminding me. Not the first time I've been shot or hurt and had to defend myself."

Sam gave him a hard, suspicious look. "Give me your phone."

Duo didn't move to comply. "Why?"

"Because I'm going to put my number in it and you are going to call me so you're not coming back to the Tower by yourself."

He rolled his eyes again, but unlocked the phone and handed it over. He heard Sam's phone buzz a minute later as he texted himself.

"Happy now?" Duo asked.

"For now. You will call so you're not coming back to the Tower alone."

"It's probably going to be late," Duo warned.

"That's fine. Plenty of insomniacs to go around."

Duo sighed. "If I say yes, will you go?"

"Yes."

"Then, yes."

"See, that wasn't so hard," Sam teased.

"Get out of here, Wilson," Duo said, having no intention of calling him. He waited until Sam had walked away then made his way into the station. He went straight to the desk and asked for Averson, though he was surprised to see one of his ex-partners, Reynard, come to get him.

"Darkside," Reynard greeted, cold but polite. He hadn't been a bad partner, but they hadn't exactly parted on the best terms either.

"Reynard," Duo acknowledged. "Didn't know you'd transferred to the New York office."

"After my leave of absence, I needed a change of scenery."

Duo nodded. "Let's get this over with," he said, following Reynard deeper into the station. They ended up in Averson's office. Duo recognized Nick Fury in the corner behind Averson and did his best not to sigh or roll his eyes. "Well, this seems a bit overkill." It didn't escape his attention that everyone was standing and showed no signs of sitting.

"This is a statement, not an interrogation," Reynard said, motioning to a chair. It had its back to the door, so he really didn't want to sit in it, rather straddling the arm.

"Sure it is," Duo had to quip, just because he couldn't resist pulling Reynard's chain.

Reynard glanced up at him. "I know why you were taken out of the field, Darkside. Don't get snarky with me."

"I seriously doubt that," Duo said. "But ask your questions. I'm sure the officers here have more about another issue once you're done with me."

"What exactly did you do to the Hydra agent you spared?" Fury asked without introducing himself.

"Mind if I ask who you are and why you're here?" Duo countered. Just because he knew didn't mean they should assume he did.

"Nick Fury."

"Former head of SHIELD?" Duo asked, playing dumb just to see what he would do.

"Yes," Fury said, the word clipped. So SHIELD was still a button for him. Not surprising, really.

"Thought I heard you died."

"A necessary deception," he said in that kind of tone that said he was trying to be patient.

Duo smirked. "I really thought you'd say 'rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated.'"

Fury didn't look amused. "We need to understand what happened with the Hydra agents."

"You didn't explain why you were here, ex-director," Duo said, giving him a sweet smile.

Fury rolled his visible eye. "You are definitely Stark's son."

"Still not an answer," Duo said. Reynard didn't startle, so he must have been told.

"Mr. Fury was invited due to his familiarity with Hydra," Reynard said, to his credit, he sounded annoyed with them both.

If he got to pull Reynard's chain this much, maybe this wouldn't be unbearable. He wasn't a bad agent, but he was uptight in that way that Duo could never resist messing with. And getting under Fury's skin seemed like it'd be fun too.

Fury slapped his hands on Averson's desk, but if he expected Duo to jump, he was disappointed. Duo could have counted down to that tactic. "I need to know what you did to the Hydra agent you didn't kill."

"Aside from removing his suicide tooth, I didn't do anything to him," Duo insisted, and it was true.

"Then why is it for every two questions he answers—and answers very thoroughly, mind you—he checks to make sure you won't come back?" Fury demanded. "And how did you even manage to cut out part of the man's jaw ?"

There was no way in hell he was telling Nick Fury that the man had seen Shinigami and freaked out. "With a very sharp knife," he said as if Fury were particularly dense.

"Do you think this is a joke?" Fury asked. "You killed four men—"

"Three, actually," Duo interrupted. "The fourth one suicided, which is why I removed the suicide tooth from the survivor, or you'd have five dead mean and no answers."

"Does it bother you at all that you killed three men?" Fury asked, leaning into his space.

"Reynard." Duo held Fury's gaze but shot the question over his shoulder. "Do you think killing three men who were trying to kill me keeps me up at night?" he asked. Shini stirred but he hushed it. There was no threat here. Fury was grandstanding.

Reynard—whose last mission with him had seen over a dozen terrorists dead at his Duo's hand—snorted. "They weren't trying to kill you," he said rather than answering the question, and Duo was surprised enough to look away from Fury and at Reynard. "They were trying to kidnap you until you killed the first two."

"Oh," Duo said, because, well, he just assumed they were out to kill him. "So they don't know a damn thing about me, huh?"

"They know you were a Preventer, and they know you're Tony Stark's son," Reynard confirmed.

"Wow, that was a rude wake up then."

"Quite," Reynard agreed.

"What did you do to that Hydra agent?" Fury asked again.

"You are like a starving dog with his bone, has anyone ever told you that?" Duo asked, turning his attention back to him.

"Not in those exact words, but close enough. Now answer the damn question."

"I don't have a good answer for you. He saw me, freaked the hell out, tripped, hit his head on the counter and knocked himself out cold. I dealt with the other three, and the fourth, when he saw me coming, suicided. Once I saw that, I went back to the first one and found the suicide tooth, then removed it, including part of the jaw." He explained. "He didn't even wake up while I did it." Which was less surprising if you knew Duo was using a supersharp gundanium blade that slid through bone like a hot knife through butter. "I tied him up and put the tooth in a plastic bag. He woke up a minute or two later and started panicking immediately. I was trying to get him to stop blubbering when Stark showed up."

Fury leaned back against Averson's desk, looking skeptical. "See, I have some problems with that story." He folded his arms across his chest, and if he meant to be intimidating, he was definitely overestimating his innate menace. Or maybe Duo's bar for scary people was just way above average. "See that Hydra agent, he's not just any expendable flunky. He's an experienced, hardened veteran. From where I'm sitting, I just don't see anything that scary about you."

Duo shrugged, because, really, what did Fury expect him to say? He had never explained Shini to even the other pilots. They were aware of it from seeing it in action, but he'd never even fully explained it to Heero. He sure as hell wasn't going to try to explain it to Fury, though, with Fury's exposure to the supernatural, he might be more open than most to believing him.

Wasn't worth the risk though.

He took a different tact. "Reynard, am I scary?" he asked, looking over Fury's shoulder, and Shini liked the shadow of fear that raced through Reynard's eyes. Reynard has seen Shinigami in all its fury in that mission. He'd been frightened and rightly so. Not many people saw Shini like that and survived to testify to it.

Reynard sighed like he was irritated, and it would have been a good show if Duo hadn't seen that specter in his eyes.

"This line of questioning is obviously a dead end, Mr. Fury," Reynard said. Fury's head whipped around to stare at him. "Let's just say that just because Darkside looks small and harmless right now doesn't mean that I don't understand why the agent is scared."

"It's more than being scared," Fury countered, as if he couldn't believe Reynard was backing Duo. "That man is absolutely terrified. He is broken, Agent Reynard. Forgive me if I am having trouble wrapping my head around the fact that this young man did nothing more than look at him to do that." He gave Duo a hard glare, and Duo just raised an eyebrow. "Where's the knife? The one you cut out the tooth with? Because I don't know of any kitchen knives that cut through bone that cleanly."

"It's one of my personal knives, and before you ask, you're not getting it. It's irreplaceable, and I'll never get it back. I'll tell you what I told the detective—you can have it when you pry it from my cold dead body."

Fury stood up and his coat flared dramatically as he spun on his heel. Duo wasn't impressed, but he was very aware that Fury had no real power here. Maybe someone less informed would be nervous about Fury's presence, but Duo knew that with SHIELD gone, he was effectively neutered. Duo had also killed a lot of people with his knives and never had them confiscated. They weren't guns; it wasn't how this worked.

"Give it up, Mr. Fury," Reynard said, and this time, he did sound tired. "He's not someone you can bully like you're used to. We don't confiscate knives like we do with guns."

"Maybe we should," Fury snapped.

"Maybe, but we don't and most agents and cops don't use them. You can't single him out for preferring them," Reynard sounded long-suffering, but he was just repeating the arguments that someone else had given him.

The comment caught Fury's attention though, and he studied Duo. "You prefer killing with a knife?" he asked.

Duo knew a trap when he heard it. He had a good answer to this question—a true one even—but he stayed silent, curious as to where Fury would go with it.

"Guns too distant? Too impersonal? You like being up close and personal? Watching the light leave their eyes?"

He did , but not for the reasons Fury thought. "Any idiot who points a gun in the wrong direction can kill someone," he said. "Taking a life means something. It is personal. If you can't kill someone with a knife, you have no business shooting them with a gun."

Fury leaned back, considering. He sighed. "The world would be a much safer place if everyone thought that," he said, sounding weary. He settled against the desk, and Duo settled in.