Heero stalked through the halls of Preventer's Headquarters. Within his mind, thoughts whirled and spun in their own paths, going ignored for the most part. It was an old trick that he had learned long ago. Most of what he thought, heard, or saw filtered through as white noise, keeping part of his mind occupied while the rest could focus on whatever he had concerning him. Settling down behind his neglected desk, his eyes climbed the mountain of paperwork that had been left to rest there. A sigh worked free of him as he resisted the urge to merely sweep it all off and into the garbage chute. Duo and Wufei might have actually done work while he was taking a break on L4, but damn if they didn't just dump all of the paperwork here.
It was with little surprise that he noticed a pair of excruciatingly happy violet eyes peeking at him over the highest pile. "Heero! Welcome back! Ummm... you know how terrible I am with the hunt and peck method of typing, and Wuffie says that it's unjust able or something for a man to do a woman's job of typing, so..."
The blank eyes staring back at him gave Duo Maxwell the impression that everything he was saying was going unheard or that he wasn't going to be able to talk the former pilot of 01 into doing all of his paperwork. Working the stack of papers and folders over to sit himself on the edge of the desk, Duo folded his arms, waiting for his presence to be acknowledged.
"Get all of this off of my desk. Now. You and Wufei are perfectly capable of typing up reports."
Duo's shoulder's drooped as a pair of puppy dogged eyes tried to talk Heero into being a good sport and doing it all instead. Raising a brow, Heero settled back for what looked to be a long staring contest. Being around Quatre all this time and seeing that exact same look whenever the blonde put his stubborn mind to something have given him more than enough resistance to it all coming from the braided baka before him. At least he had patience over the other.
A growl was all the hint Duo gave that he had been beaten as he started gathering up the boxes and folders. Eyeing the ever so unhelpful Heero as he began moving them, his chatter picked up once more, something that any of them were used to. "So how was L4? Any sandstorms or harem raids? Did you see Trowa while you were there?"
All that Duo felt was a quick sense of dread and a whisper of air across his back as he found Heero standing next to him. The deep wells of Prussian blue staring at him. There was something there that he didn't like, that same deadly intensity that he had seen too often when the other was about to set off on a mission or was considering self-destruction. Taking a step back from the other boy, he swallowed nervously. "Ummm... Heero?"
Heero leaned back against the doorway in a manner that would have seemed casual if Duo hadn't seen his eyes already. A hand wound out to shut his office door as that gaze once more captured the other pilot within it. "Why would I have seen Trowa on L4?"
The confusion that clouded over Duo's face was enough to set some of Heero's inner turmoil at ease. The other was clueless about what he was saying, no reason for hiding anything. Berating himself mentally for even thinking that he couldn't trust Duo of all people, Heero's fingertips rubbed against his temple, trying for a more reasonable tone. "Things have been going on, Duo. A part of Quatre and my's home was blown up this morning and another bomb was found on his car, one that we almost stepped right into..."
Heero's words slowed to a pause, not knowing how to continue. Asking for others for help or explaining his motives on anything had never been and would never be his style, especially with his inner suspicions that Trowa might be bound up on it. How does one justify an accusation based on instinct and dreams? "I think Trowa might have had something to do with it. I wasn't aware he was on L4 and neither was Quatre."
Duo sat down heavily on the chair opposite Heero's desk, the paperwork slipping through numb fingers. Someone try to hurt Quatre of all people? That thought was like a barb of ice being shoved into his heart. It was funny in a morbid manner that after so long he could easily accept someone trying to kill himself or the others, but Quatre? "He said that he was with the circus again. I assumed when he was telling us about being on L4 for the past couple of weeks that he had been there with them. Trowa told me and Wufei that he hadn't left Catherine's side while he was on vacation."
That hardness returned to the Japanese pilot's face, as he remained expressionless. Behind that mask, the mind of the boy who had become OZ's worst enemy had churned into gear. "The circus wasn't on L4, Duo. I checked. They've been traveling around, but they're not scheduled to be on L4 until the week after next. Did he tell you that he was specifically on L4? What his purpose was while there? Why didn't he contact Quatre?"
The other boy winced inwardly at Heero's deadpan tone. Rapid-fire questions were launched at him, an old interrogation tactic. Rising up from the papers drifted about his feet, he laid his hands on Heero's shoulders, staring him in the eyes. When no tugging away or glaring began, Duo had a faint sense of relief as well as a thanks sent to whatever god sent Quatre to Heero. If he had tried this before the blonde had entered the Perfect Soldier's life, he probably would have found himself staring down the barrel of a gun or knocked backwards and away. "I'm your friend, Heero. I used to be your lover. If, and I do mean 'if', Trowa is behind this, then I will do anything I can to help you. Wufei too. Quatre is very dear to me as well, and I won't let him be hurt anymore than you will. Don't treat me like the enemy, Heero. Ask me, and I will help, but don't demand and shut me out. Tell me the whole story."
A bitter hint of a smile touched on Heero's lips. "Gomen nasai, Duo-chan. I... fall back into my habits. I've been dreaming about Trowa lately and had to get Quatre off of L4. It was... like one of those traps that OZ would set, and we knew we were being set up. I had to go, and I talked him into going."
It took more strength than Heero would ever know for Duo not to roll his eyes at that one. Anyone who had seen Heero and Quatre knew that the Arabian had his koibito wrapped tightly around his little finger. Even Duo knew it was more that the Japanese boy probably asked him and the other agreed than how it was sounding of Heero dragging the other off the colony. "And then the bombs?"
Heero nodded silently, his mind working on the information given so far. "Now you tell me that Trowa admits to being there and saying he was with the circus, yet I know and the records will show that the circus wasn't there."
A frown took over Duo's usually smiling lips as he pushed open Heero's door, moving out of it and into the mainroom. His voice pitched to a low whisper as he tugged the other boy to follow him. "Which means he may have lied to us as well. Let's go ask him."
A tight nod answered Duo as the two of them wove between the others working steadily. Heero had missed this, a sense of doing something other than watching his lover work while he sat around toying with old logs and reviewing cases that he had no hand in solving or completing. Following in Duo's wake, he slipped into Wufei's office, staying near the door with his face still a mask.
Wufei rose with a catlike grace to greet Heero, a silent conversation held between him and Duo, one that sprang from time around each other rather than telepathy or any psychic power. They could just read each other's eyes. Worry and the beginnings of anger held tightly restrained were dwelling in the purple fields of Duo's while a stoic concern overtook the pools of ebony that were Wufei's. A silent asking of what was wrong met with andI'll tell you later' look.
Emerald joined in as Trowa glanced up from what he and Wufei had been looking over, focusing first on Duo with a nod to freeze on Heero's. The temperature in the room felt as if it had grown colder, tension starting to creep through the air as the tall form rose, hands folded before him. "Konnichiwa, Duo... Heero."
The self-proclaimed god of death tried for a smile as he dropped into a chair that he dragged over to maximum cuddling of his partner. Wufei's eyes narrowed as he grumbled, referring to Duo in an undertone with something to do with an 'onna' and other insults even as he let his arm be latched onto. Heero remained standing, not returning or even acknowledging the greeting. Shaking his head, it was Duo that broke the silence, wishing like Hell that Quatre were here. He had always been the peacemaker, not any of them. "Tro-man? What were you doing on L4 since the circus wasn't there?"
Heero would have cheerily tossed the braided baka out the window if he could have gotten away with it. Wufei merely blinked, his surprise hidden under a mask of neutrality. Trowa's eyes narrowed to catlike slits as they turned onto Heero, knowing full well where this was coming from. The Japanese pilot merely stared back at him blankly, waiting for an answer. "I don't believe that I said that the circus wasn't there, Duo," he began quietly.
"Quatre was nearly killed this morning when a bomb went off under his bed. The job was almost finished when we got ready to load him into a car that had another under it," Heero cut his off quietly, his voice dead and as calm as if he were discussing the weather instead of an attempted assassination of his lover.
The shock in Trowa's eyes couldn't have been faked. All the colour ran out of his face, leaving behind the translucent visage of a man about to faint. Getting to his feet, his entire body swayed as if he were about to pass out, Wufei's arm seizing one of Trowa's arms to steady him and try to get him to sit back down. Green eyes kept blinking as if he were still trying to make those words reality to him, that Quatre's life had nearly been ended by an explosion. Grasping the edge of Wufei's desk, he finally snarled at Heero. "Quatre nearly dies, and you stand here telling us it as if it were just another day? Where the fuck is he, Heero? Why aren't you taking care of him? How bad is he? Is he conscious? What the fuck happened and why weren't you watching over him?"
Duo's jaw dropped. Trowa had never been the sort to either talk much or curse, and he had just done both. Heero had to be wrong. "He's all right, Tro-man. Heero exaggerated a little..." The American's voice trailed off as not only Trowa, but also Wufei shot him twin glares.
The Japanese boy leaning against the door never changed expression as he crossed one ankle over the other. "You haven't answered my question. What were you doing on L4 when you told Duo that you were with Catherine?"
The arm beneath Wufei's hand was there and then gone the next instant. Trowa had already seized Heero and slammed him into the wall, Heero's hands digging into the other's shoulders as if to snap the collarbones if he was pressed further. Trowa's angered visage drew closer to the Japanese's face, his visage twisting into a creature of fury that none of them had ever encountered before. "I -said- I was with Catherine the entire time, not the circus. Catherine is suffering from a lung disease. She's dying. The doctors thought that the arid climate of L4 might be better for her than here. I took her there myself and never contacted anyone because she didn't want anyone to know and pity her. You're the stupidest bastard in the world if you think I would ever hurt Quatre, Heero Yuy."
Releasing Heero, Trowa's eyes flicked over the other two before he stepped out, head lowered as his arms wrapped about himself, leaving hurt and them behind.
"Trowa... cursed." Duo was still in shock.
It was Wufei that finally came to glance over Heero even though the boy was dusting himself off and staring at the retreating Trowa's back. "Are you all right, Heero?"
A nod answered him as well as the usual deadpan tones. "He's lying, Wufei. I don't know about what, but he's lying."
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A Vidphone turned on as a rat like man peered at the caller and grinned, displaying a set of blackened and rotting teeth. "Boss! What's wrong? You look kinda pissed."
Without explaining, long fingers wrapped about what looked to be a black cylinder with a button atop it, held just out of sight of the person being displayed on the screen. "What happened with the Winner bombing? You were supposed to have gotten the Japanese male. Intelligence said that he slept in during the mornings and dressed later than the other."
The ratty man shrugged. "Dunno, Boss. It went off when it was supposed to. The first one to kill whoever was still in bed and blow the bed frame out to keep the door from being opened, then the second blew up and out to destroy that entire room with debris and fire. Something happened that got 'dem outta bed early."
"I see."
"So do you want us ta try again, Boss?"
"I don't believe that will be necessary. I'll be taking matters into my own hands."
"So what do you want me to do then?"
The button atop the detonator was pressed, the link via the screen cut off as the entire building from which the rodent like servant had been calling destroyed in a blaze of fire. The hand still gripping the detonator rose prop up a chin. "If you want something done right, do it yourself."
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(TBC)
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It was with little surprise that he noticed a pair of excruciatingly happy violet eyes peeking at him over the highest pile. "Heero! Welcome back! Ummm... you know how terrible I am with the hunt and peck method of typing, and Wuffie says that it's unjust able or something for a man to do a woman's job of typing, so..."
The blank eyes staring back at him gave Duo Maxwell the impression that everything he was saying was going unheard or that he wasn't going to be able to talk the former pilot of 01 into doing all of his paperwork. Working the stack of papers and folders over to sit himself on the edge of the desk, Duo folded his arms, waiting for his presence to be acknowledged.
"Get all of this off of my desk. Now. You and Wufei are perfectly capable of typing up reports."
Duo's shoulder's drooped as a pair of puppy dogged eyes tried to talk Heero into being a good sport and doing it all instead. Raising a brow, Heero settled back for what looked to be a long staring contest. Being around Quatre all this time and seeing that exact same look whenever the blonde put his stubborn mind to something have given him more than enough resistance to it all coming from the braided baka before him. At least he had patience over the other.
A growl was all the hint Duo gave that he had been beaten as he started gathering up the boxes and folders. Eyeing the ever so unhelpful Heero as he began moving them, his chatter picked up once more, something that any of them were used to. "So how was L4? Any sandstorms or harem raids? Did you see Trowa while you were there?"
All that Duo felt was a quick sense of dread and a whisper of air across his back as he found Heero standing next to him. The deep wells of Prussian blue staring at him. There was something there that he didn't like, that same deadly intensity that he had seen too often when the other was about to set off on a mission or was considering self-destruction. Taking a step back from the other boy, he swallowed nervously. "Ummm... Heero?"
Heero leaned back against the doorway in a manner that would have seemed casual if Duo hadn't seen his eyes already. A hand wound out to shut his office door as that gaze once more captured the other pilot within it. "Why would I have seen Trowa on L4?"
The confusion that clouded over Duo's face was enough to set some of Heero's inner turmoil at ease. The other was clueless about what he was saying, no reason for hiding anything. Berating himself mentally for even thinking that he couldn't trust Duo of all people, Heero's fingertips rubbed against his temple, trying for a more reasonable tone. "Things have been going on, Duo. A part of Quatre and my's home was blown up this morning and another bomb was found on his car, one that we almost stepped right into..."
Heero's words slowed to a pause, not knowing how to continue. Asking for others for help or explaining his motives on anything had never been and would never be his style, especially with his inner suspicions that Trowa might be bound up on it. How does one justify an accusation based on instinct and dreams? "I think Trowa might have had something to do with it. I wasn't aware he was on L4 and neither was Quatre."
Duo sat down heavily on the chair opposite Heero's desk, the paperwork slipping through numb fingers. Someone try to hurt Quatre of all people? That thought was like a barb of ice being shoved into his heart. It was funny in a morbid manner that after so long he could easily accept someone trying to kill himself or the others, but Quatre? "He said that he was with the circus again. I assumed when he was telling us about being on L4 for the past couple of weeks that he had been there with them. Trowa told me and Wufei that he hadn't left Catherine's side while he was on vacation."
That hardness returned to the Japanese pilot's face, as he remained expressionless. Behind that mask, the mind of the boy who had become OZ's worst enemy had churned into gear. "The circus wasn't on L4, Duo. I checked. They've been traveling around, but they're not scheduled to be on L4 until the week after next. Did he tell you that he was specifically on L4? What his purpose was while there? Why didn't he contact Quatre?"
The other boy winced inwardly at Heero's deadpan tone. Rapid-fire questions were launched at him, an old interrogation tactic. Rising up from the papers drifted about his feet, he laid his hands on Heero's shoulders, staring him in the eyes. When no tugging away or glaring began, Duo had a faint sense of relief as well as a thanks sent to whatever god sent Quatre to Heero. If he had tried this before the blonde had entered the Perfect Soldier's life, he probably would have found himself staring down the barrel of a gun or knocked backwards and away. "I'm your friend, Heero. I used to be your lover. If, and I do mean 'if', Trowa is behind this, then I will do anything I can to help you. Wufei too. Quatre is very dear to me as well, and I won't let him be hurt anymore than you will. Don't treat me like the enemy, Heero. Ask me, and I will help, but don't demand and shut me out. Tell me the whole story."
A bitter hint of a smile touched on Heero's lips. "Gomen nasai, Duo-chan. I... fall back into my habits. I've been dreaming about Trowa lately and had to get Quatre off of L4. It was... like one of those traps that OZ would set, and we knew we were being set up. I had to go, and I talked him into going."
It took more strength than Heero would ever know for Duo not to roll his eyes at that one. Anyone who had seen Heero and Quatre knew that the Arabian had his koibito wrapped tightly around his little finger. Even Duo knew it was more that the Japanese boy probably asked him and the other agreed than how it was sounding of Heero dragging the other off the colony. "And then the bombs?"
Heero nodded silently, his mind working on the information given so far. "Now you tell me that Trowa admits to being there and saying he was with the circus, yet I know and the records will show that the circus wasn't there."
A frown took over Duo's usually smiling lips as he pushed open Heero's door, moving out of it and into the mainroom. His voice pitched to a low whisper as he tugged the other boy to follow him. "Which means he may have lied to us as well. Let's go ask him."
A tight nod answered Duo as the two of them wove between the others working steadily. Heero had missed this, a sense of doing something other than watching his lover work while he sat around toying with old logs and reviewing cases that he had no hand in solving or completing. Following in Duo's wake, he slipped into Wufei's office, staying near the door with his face still a mask.
Wufei rose with a catlike grace to greet Heero, a silent conversation held between him and Duo, one that sprang from time around each other rather than telepathy or any psychic power. They could just read each other's eyes. Worry and the beginnings of anger held tightly restrained were dwelling in the purple fields of Duo's while a stoic concern overtook the pools of ebony that were Wufei's. A silent asking of what was wrong met with andI'll tell you later' look.
Emerald joined in as Trowa glanced up from what he and Wufei had been looking over, focusing first on Duo with a nod to freeze on Heero's. The temperature in the room felt as if it had grown colder, tension starting to creep through the air as the tall form rose, hands folded before him. "Konnichiwa, Duo... Heero."
The self-proclaimed god of death tried for a smile as he dropped into a chair that he dragged over to maximum cuddling of his partner. Wufei's eyes narrowed as he grumbled, referring to Duo in an undertone with something to do with an 'onna' and other insults even as he let his arm be latched onto. Heero remained standing, not returning or even acknowledging the greeting. Shaking his head, it was Duo that broke the silence, wishing like Hell that Quatre were here. He had always been the peacemaker, not any of them. "Tro-man? What were you doing on L4 since the circus wasn't there?"
Heero would have cheerily tossed the braided baka out the window if he could have gotten away with it. Wufei merely blinked, his surprise hidden under a mask of neutrality. Trowa's eyes narrowed to catlike slits as they turned onto Heero, knowing full well where this was coming from. The Japanese pilot merely stared back at him blankly, waiting for an answer. "I don't believe that I said that the circus wasn't there, Duo," he began quietly.
"Quatre was nearly killed this morning when a bomb went off under his bed. The job was almost finished when we got ready to load him into a car that had another under it," Heero cut his off quietly, his voice dead and as calm as if he were discussing the weather instead of an attempted assassination of his lover.
The shock in Trowa's eyes couldn't have been faked. All the colour ran out of his face, leaving behind the translucent visage of a man about to faint. Getting to his feet, his entire body swayed as if he were about to pass out, Wufei's arm seizing one of Trowa's arms to steady him and try to get him to sit back down. Green eyes kept blinking as if he were still trying to make those words reality to him, that Quatre's life had nearly been ended by an explosion. Grasping the edge of Wufei's desk, he finally snarled at Heero. "Quatre nearly dies, and you stand here telling us it as if it were just another day? Where the fuck is he, Heero? Why aren't you taking care of him? How bad is he? Is he conscious? What the fuck happened and why weren't you watching over him?"
Duo's jaw dropped. Trowa had never been the sort to either talk much or curse, and he had just done both. Heero had to be wrong. "He's all right, Tro-man. Heero exaggerated a little..." The American's voice trailed off as not only Trowa, but also Wufei shot him twin glares.
The Japanese boy leaning against the door never changed expression as he crossed one ankle over the other. "You haven't answered my question. What were you doing on L4 when you told Duo that you were with Catherine?"
The arm beneath Wufei's hand was there and then gone the next instant. Trowa had already seized Heero and slammed him into the wall, Heero's hands digging into the other's shoulders as if to snap the collarbones if he was pressed further. Trowa's angered visage drew closer to the Japanese's face, his visage twisting into a creature of fury that none of them had ever encountered before. "I -said- I was with Catherine the entire time, not the circus. Catherine is suffering from a lung disease. She's dying. The doctors thought that the arid climate of L4 might be better for her than here. I took her there myself and never contacted anyone because she didn't want anyone to know and pity her. You're the stupidest bastard in the world if you think I would ever hurt Quatre, Heero Yuy."
Releasing Heero, Trowa's eyes flicked over the other two before he stepped out, head lowered as his arms wrapped about himself, leaving hurt and them behind.
"Trowa... cursed." Duo was still in shock.
It was Wufei that finally came to glance over Heero even though the boy was dusting himself off and staring at the retreating Trowa's back. "Are you all right, Heero?"
A nod answered him as well as the usual deadpan tones. "He's lying, Wufei. I don't know about what, but he's lying."
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A Vidphone turned on as a rat like man peered at the caller and grinned, displaying a set of blackened and rotting teeth. "Boss! What's wrong? You look kinda pissed."
Without explaining, long fingers wrapped about what looked to be a black cylinder with a button atop it, held just out of sight of the person being displayed on the screen. "What happened with the Winner bombing? You were supposed to have gotten the Japanese male. Intelligence said that he slept in during the mornings and dressed later than the other."
The ratty man shrugged. "Dunno, Boss. It went off when it was supposed to. The first one to kill whoever was still in bed and blow the bed frame out to keep the door from being opened, then the second blew up and out to destroy that entire room with debris and fire. Something happened that got 'dem outta bed early."
"I see."
"So do you want us ta try again, Boss?"
"I don't believe that will be necessary. I'll be taking matters into my own hands."
"So what do you want me to do then?"
The button atop the detonator was pressed, the link via the screen cut off as the entire building from which the rodent like servant had been calling destroyed in a blaze of fire. The hand still gripping the detonator rose prop up a chin. "If you want something done right, do it yourself."
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(TBC)
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