Usual Disclaimer: I'm an engineer, not an anime producer. Hence, I don't own 'em. I'm just playing nicely with them for a little bit.


Warnings: None for this section


Pairings: none in this section, eventual 1+4/1x4


Author's note: More than 7 months after I originally started writing this chapter, I finally knuckled down and finished it. Huge thanks to everyone who has bugged me about continuing this fic over time, especially Caer, Jessie, Anne, and Quwinntessa, who have all offered input at different points. I promise to get chapters out much quicker after this one.


Additional notes are at the end of the chapter.


Dedication: To Caer, for her constant nagging and support. I wouldn't be the 1x4 fan I am today without you ^_^



Chapter 4



"So," Duo Maxwell drawled, favoring his friend and sometime-partner with a crafty smile, "Who gets to go first?"


Heero regarded his friend steadily a moment before answering. "You are the person with more freedom to speak, so logically you should go first." He smirked slightly at the small pout turning Duo's lips.


"All right," Maxwell conceded, deftly snagging a cucumber roll from the array of sushi in front of him. "I guess I can see your point. Is there anyone in particular that you want me to start with?" He put his chopsticks down and dug around in his backpack, pulling out a thick file folder and small data disk, which he placed on the table in front of him. Yuy dropped his chopsticks and made a motion to grab them, but Duo threw his arm in front of them, blocking his reach. "Uh-uh," he shook his head. "Not until you give me the dirt that goes with it." He saw the question forming on Heero's lips and intercepted it. "I mean, not until you tell me what's going on. If it means you have to ask Une to add me to the case then so be it."


Heero was taken aback by Duo's vehemence. Typically Duo tried to stay far away from Heero's caseload, content to work in the background away from the action. "Why are you so interested in this case?" he asked cautiously.


Maxwell absently fingered the edges of the printouts in the folder. "Something to do with what I found. Look, I'll just get on with it. I'm sure you'll figure it out when I get to it." Heero stared at him curiously, unnoticed by Duo, who stared down at the folder in his hands. "So," he continued, still without looking up, "who do you want to talk about first?"


"Maeda."


Duo rolled his eyes. "Sure, pick the boring one to start off with, all right. Let's see..." He closed his eyes as he rattled off the statistics. "Forty-six years old, married with two children, aged 9 and 12. Current president of Isomer Industrial - has held the position for the past three years... ummm, does a lot of community service - those big guys always have to do that kinda stuff," he clarified.


"What's his background in?"


Duo tilted his head as he recalled the information. "Bachelors degree in Mechanical Engineering, and Masters in Business. Anything else?"


"Did you find anything unusual about him?"


Duo shrugged his shoulders. "Naw, he's a pretty normal guy." He sipped his tea, observing Heero over the rim of his teacup. "So who's next?" he asked with practiced casualness.


"Glenn Okazaki."


Duo gulped down a tuna roll before starting. Heero pointedly took his time eating each piece of sushi. "The Manufacturing Production Manager, right?" Heero nodded. "Okay. Thirty-seven years old, single. Previously worked as a supervisor on a Leo production line during the first war," he quirked his lips slightly, "and before that worked as an operator in a chemical plant."


"I know."


Duo threw up his hands. "Hey, who's running this thing here? You didn't exactly tell me what you knew ahead of time, so you're getting everything now." Heero had the decency to look a little contrite. Duo sighed. "Can I continue now?"


"Yes," Heero replied evenly. He had forgotten what a short fuse his friend had, particularly when interrupted.


"Good. Okay, so I guess I can skip his work background then. There wasn't much to pick up on his personal background. He lives alone in a condo that he owns, and his mother moved about a year ago to live three miles away from him."


Heero committed the details to memory for the moment. He expected that Duo had recorded most of them on the data disk he would be given by the end of the night. "Anything else?"


Duo frowned, caught up in recall once again. Idly he flipped open the folder in front of him to the section devoted to Okazaki. He glanced down, skimming his typewritten notes to jog his memory. "Shit," his eyes widened, "I forgot about that."


"What?" Heero leaned over the table, trying to catch a glance of the printout. Maxwell snapped the binder shut in his face.


"Uh-uh," he smiled, wagging a finger. "What did I tell you earlier?"


Heero frowned, chastised, and leaned away. Duo accepted his silence as an answer, and continued, more somberly. "I saw that he used to supervise a Leo production line, so I got curious and dug around a little," he explained. He shook his head. "Man, you wouldn't believe the kind of background checks they did on these guys! Education, criminal background, lineage..." He rolled his eyes. "Yeah, that's OZ for you right there."


Heero stared at him coolly. "Duo, get to the point."


"All right! I was getting there!" He ruffled through the folder again, causing the top three sheets to scatter on the one part of the table not occupied by food. Heero contemplated making a grab for the pages, but decided that keeping Maxwell on-task was more important.


"Found it!" Duo waved the document in Heero's face tauntingly. Heero stared at him impassively, pointedly ignoring the paper in front of him. Duo shrugged, gesturing down at the sheet. "I guess this was what surprised me the most. These are his Beckman-Garcowski scores. Very high," he paused significantly, meeting Heero's attentive stare. "High enough to classify him as a Type IV Newtype."


Whatever kind of reaction Duo was expecting at the revelation, confusion was evidently it. Heero leaned forward and looked over the paper once, before addressing his former partner, a note of annoyance creeping into his voice. "Duo, that's the second time I've heard that word today. What's a Newtype?"


Duo's eyebrows constricted together. "You've never heard of Newtypes?" Heero shook his head, puzzlement plain on his face.


Duo leaned back from the table, folding his hands together as he composed his thoughts. "'Newtype' is a generic term for humans with psionic abilities - what some people call 'psychics.'" Heero nodded at him to continue. "Each Type is characterized by a different ability. Glenn's scores classify him as a Type IV Newtype - clairvoyant. Type II Newtypes are telekinetics, Type IIIs claim precognition..." Duo spoke faster as he warmed up to the subject. "Type V Newtypes are telepathic, and Type VIs are empaths. They sense other peoples' emotions - you know, kinda like Quat-"


He stopped mid-sentence, ruing his words the moment they left his lips.


Heero threw his palms flat on the table, leaning forward to catch Duo's gaze before he could think to avert it. "What do you mean, 'kinda like Quatre'?" he asked, his voice deadly calm.


"I..." Duo stammered and bit his lip, lost for words. Heero continued to glare at him from across the table, silently urging him to hurry with his elucidation.


Realizing he was not going to get out of an explanation, Duo tried a different approach. "Do - do you remember when he used to talk about the Soul of Outer Space? He called it his Spaceheart," he added quickly.


Heero nodded slowly, as he began to understand the direction Duo was heading in with his line of thought. Duo continued, "He told me once, right after we met, that through his Spaceheart he was able to experience the emotions of others. I didn't think much of it until later, when I went to tell him I'd seen Trowa -"


"Wait," Heero interrupted. "You found Trowa?"


Duo frowned. "You didn't know?"


Heero shook his head. He had ceased to loom over the table, and sat now in his seat, with his hands folded in his lap. "I was never told. And I never thought to ask. It was not important at the time."


Duo sighed. "Yeah, we all had more important things to worry about back then." He fumbled with his chopsticks distractedly, trying unsuccessfully to pick up a piece of unagi. The eel slipped from his grasp twice before he gave up and speared it with one chopstick, eliciting a small cringe from his dinner companion. "Anyhow," he began again, waving his left hand dismissively, "as I was saying, I'd learned from the news that he was back with his family and paid him a surprise visit. Somewhere in the course of our conversation I ended up telling him about how I'd seen Trowa at the circus."


Heero leaned forward in his seat. "And?" he prompted.


"He was so shocked he dropped his teacup. I thought he was going to faint, at first, and I moved to his side; but he shrugged me away and immediately went about cleaning up the spill." Duo snorted. "Well, two can play at that game. I refused to tell him anything more about the circus until he explained his reaction. And that was when he brought up his Spaceheart again.


"His reaction, he claimed, was not so much due to the news that Trowa was alive - but rather, because his Spaceheart had already sensed as much. I had only served to confirm it."


Duo paused for breath, giving Heero time to absorb his words and formulate questions. Heero's brow furrowed as he digested the information. Something in what Duo said did not add up. "Wait a moment," he entreated, as he recognized what bothered him. "What does this have to do with empathy?"


Duo's face fell. He played with end of his braid, refusing to look at Heero. "It's his Spaceheart," he mumbled, barely audible. "His Spaceheart always told him how others felt. Heero," his voice rose as he looked up to regard the man sitting across from him, "his Spaceheart is empathy. Or at least a manifestation of it." He fell silent, looking at his plate, his braid, the wall - anything but Heero.


"Duo?" This conversation is bothering Duo, he realized. He had never given much thought to how Quatre's disappearance had affected the other pilots. Wufei had borne it stoically and moved on. Trowa simply isolated himself even more than before. But Duo... he had never considered Duo's feelings.


He leaned over the table and grasped Duo's shoulder, squeezing it gently in a rare gesture of comfort. "I'm sorry," he whispered. I'm sorry for forgetting about you, my friend.


"'I'm sorry' won't bring him back! What the hell was he thinking?" Duo's head jerked up, violet eyes blazing. "Didn't he realize that some of us actually cared about him? That we worry? That," he pinned his gaze on Heero, "some of us would spend all of their free time looking for him?"


"Duo..." Heero began. "Duo, I - "


"No, don't make excuses, Heero. And don't apologize." He sighed deeply. "I'm sorry I brought it up. I didn't expect to go off like this." He waved his right hand in the air, laughing self-deprecatingly. "I think I've been repressing all of this. It was probably time I let it out." The fire in his eyes subsided. "I didn't mean to lash out at you. You of all people - you've actually been trying to do something about it."


Papers fluttered to the floor as Duo pushed his plate aside, his appetite gone. His lips twisted into a bare smile as he picked up his teacup. "Wish I'd ordered the sake after all," he muttered wryly before downing the contents of the cup. The smile dropped from his lips, and with a serious mien, he regarded his former partner. "Anyhow, you didn't come here to watch me have an emotional breakdown. You came here for information about this case. So I guess I should get on with it, right?"


Heero nodded dumbly, accepting the change in topic even as he desired further discussion. Now would not be the time to ask about Jason. He would try to draw Duo out later, after he had time to calm down. "What do you have on Maureen Robinson?"


"Chief Automation Engineer. Thirty years of age, widowed, with one child, age five - Maria Clark."


"Widowed?" Heero surprised himself by asking.


"Yeah, widowed. Casualty of war." He swallowed, as if he had difficulty speaking. Heero remained silent, waiting for him to continue. Duo tilted his head back and closed his eyes. "His name was Trant Clark. He was an OZ officer, stationed at the Lunar Base - right around the time we were stuck there, come to think of it..." Duo trailed off, thoughtful.


Heero's eyes widened.


Duo continued speaking, oblivious to Heero's reaction. "I've got a file on him, if you're interested. I didn't look at it much myself, seeing as how he can't exactly be a suspect." His lips turned up into a sardonic smile before he turned his attention from Heero to the folder perched precariously on the edge of the table. He grabbed it and pulled it back in front of him, ignoring the papers strewn on the floor from earlier. Absently, he leafed through the documents, his eyes scanning the pages as though he were trying to remind himself of something.


Heero frowned. Duo's memory was excellent - far better than an average human's - but he had already had two memory lapses this evening.


Was something wrong with Duo? Could stress somehow be affecting his recall?


Or, perhaps more disturbing - was Duo trying to keep something from him?


He shook his head to dismiss those thoughts, berating himself for not keeping in better contact with his former comrade. He returned his attention to Maxwell, who watched him curiously, waiting for his attention before speaking.


Duo's fingers continued to flip through the pages aimlessly as he resumed his discourse where he left off earlier. "Anyhow, in case you're curious, it looks like Maureen didn't change her name when they married because she was working toward her Professional Engineer certification at the time. At least, that's my guess, seeing as how she passed it only two months after her wedding."


Heero nodded in agreement. "And after that?" he prompted.


"After getting her P.E., she went to work as a mechanical design engineer at Wilson Engineering, the aerospace firm that had most of the OZ aircraft contracts. She was there for almost two years, until she went on maternity leave to have Maria. She was back to work only two months when the war started. She left her job so that she could move closer to the base her husband was stationed on."


"I thought you said her husband was on the lunar base?" Heero interrupted.


"Not at first. He was stationed in Siberia until shortly after Operation Daybreak. She moved to L2 right around the time he was transferred to the lunar base. Benefits of being in OZ, I guess," he smirked.


"When did she start working at Isomer Industrial?"


"Around April 196. She answered a job req for an Automation Engineer with two years' design experience. About six months ago she received a promotion to the position of Senior Automation Engineer."


"Hmm," Heero replied noncommittally. He was surprised that Maureen had gone back to work so soon, less than a year after her husband's death. Then again, he mused, she may not have had a choice - supporting a child on an OZ pension alone would have been nearly impossible. Though in some ways it seemed as though it could have only helped her - he never would have guessed that the bubbly, cheerful woman he had met yesterday was a war widow. "Do you have any more information on her?"


"No." Heero wondered at the relief in Duo's voice. "I guess that means there's only one person left..."


"Jason Yoest," Heero confirmed quietly.


Duo sighed dramatically. "Well, this one is easy," he muttered, frowning. He threw down the folder he was still holding in front of Heero. "Nothing."


"Nothing?"


Duo turned the folder around so that it faced Heero and opened it to dog-eared page near the back. "About as good as nothing. I couldn't even get a picture of the guy."


Heero was intrigued. "What did you find, then?"


"Absolutely nothing pre-dating his employment at Isomer. There's no record of this guy's past. It's like he came out of nowhere - which makes me suspect he isn't whomever he claims himself to be." He frowned and chewed his lower lip. Heero looked at him expectantly.


"I think he did it."


"What?!" Heero leaned forward in his seat dangerously.


"Come on, you can't possibly tell me he isn't a suspect!" Duo gaped at him, wide-eyed in disbelief. Heero looked down, steadily avoiding his gaze. "He isn't, is he? You really think this guy isn't the least bit suspicious?"


Heero continued to stare at the file open in front of him.


Duo's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "What do you know?" he asked slowly, voice thick with insinuation. When that failed to get a response, he leaned forward and slapped his palm flat over the page, obscuring the notes.


Heero finally looked up at him. His left eye twitched.


"You know something, right?" Duo tried again, gentler. "What is it?"


"Jason Yoest is not responsible for the accident."


"How can you be so certain of that?"


Heero bit back his response, caught off-guard by Duo's retort.


How could he be certain? It was not as if he had not already had his own doubts, earlier, when speaking with Maureen.


But... this was Quatre. Quatre would never do something like that. At least, not intentionally...


Looking at it from Duo's perspective, though - of course it made sense. After all, given what clues he had so far, were he not so certain that Jason was Quatre, what would he be led to think? Jason made a very reasonable suspect - especially when given his clouded past and predilection for privacy.


No, he reminded himself sharply. There was still one factor he was neglecting to consider.


"Assuming he was behind the accident, as you purport," he supposed, "then why would he risk drawing attention to himself by going back inside of a burning building, to rescue the only witnesses to his crime?"


"Whoa, wait a second," Duo held up his right hand to forestall any further questions. "He's the one who saved the workers?"


"Yes."


Duo remained silent for a long moment while he digested the information.


With a resigned sigh, he fixed his gaze on Heero. "Well, that just about blows my theory. Damn." He blinked, shaking his head as if to clear it. "This case is a lot more complicated than I initially thought."


You don't know the half of it.


"Still..." Duo's gaze lingered on the folder he had bequeathed to Yuy. "I think I want to be assigned to this case."


Fighting down a surge of irrational possessiveness, Heero forced his voice to reply evenly. "Why?"


"Why not? It's obvious that you could use some help with the investigation. And I'm already up on the people involved, if not the events. I'm sure that if you asked Une nicely enough she'd have no problem adding me as well. It's not like she isn't already paying me to be on this case in the first place." Duo rested his elbows on the table as he finished speaking, casting an expectant look in Yuy's direction.


Heero regarded him coolly from across the table, unconvinced. After a minute of silence, Duo's patience gave out. "Well?"


"No." Heero raised his right hand, cutting off Duo's forthcoming objection. "Not yet. I need some time to pursue some leads of my own, first." Again he cut off Duo with a gesture. "Alone."


Maxwell looked ready to voice an objection, but when he opened his mouth, no words came out. He clamped it shut immediately and frowned, furrowing his brows in thought. "All right, Heero," he spoke after a moment's contemplation, "I can wait. But don't expect to keep whatever your big secret is hidden away from me too long. I've got resources, too," he added, smirking.


Heero shook his head, allowing a slight smile to slip as he stood up from the table. Taking the hint, Duo rose from his seat as well, automatically thrusting his right hand forward. Yuy gripped it with his own, feeling his arm pulled as Duo shook his hand with typical enthusiasm.


Duo released his hand a moment later, a fond, genuine smile gracing his lips. "It's been a while, Yuy. We should do this more often."


"Industrial sabotage investigations? If you like it so much, Maxwell, you really should consider taking a full-time position with the Preventers."


Duo gaped dumbly at him for half a second, before bursting into laughter. "Damnit, Yuy, I will never get used to you joking," he managed, holding his stomach as tears streamed down his face.


Heero maintained his deadpan expression as he gathered the scattered sheets of notes from the floor into the already-thick file folder. Satisfied that he had found them all, he moved to leave the table when he remembered something. "Duo, where is that disk you promised me?"


Duo grinned as he handed a paper-wrapped object to Heero. "There you go. That should be everything, right?" Heero nodded, noting that the object in his hand was shaped like the disk Duo had shown him earlier. "All right, then, I guess this is where we part ways. Give me a call when you're ready to take me on as well!" With a wink and a jaunty wave, Maxwell made his abrupt exit from the restaurant.


Heero shrugged. He was accustomed enough to Duo's odd behaviors that the quick departure did not strike him as anything out of the ordinary. He looked down and carefully unwrapped the object Duo had handed him. It was, as he expected, the data disk. He hoped that it would yield additional clues when he studied its contents.


He carefully placed it in the front right pocket of his Preventers jacket. He was about to crumble up the paper as well, when the writing on it caught his eye. He unfolded it and skimmed it, grateful at once that he had not given into the impulse to throw it away.


Duo had left him with the check.



tbc...



Notes:


Newtype: Just to clarify here, this most definitely does /not/ refer to 'Newtypes' from the Universal Century Gundam Universe. I'm using the word 'newtype' here generically, in the same sense that much of gundam wing fandom has adopted it.


Professional Engineer (P.E.): Many engineering firms require particular types of engineers (usually civil, mechanical, and automation) to pass the Professional Engineer certification. From what I've heard (please feel free to correct me if you've gone through it yourself), it involves rigorous testing that covers all fields of engineering, not just what discipline your degree is in. Usually the testing is done within a year of graduation. Government and consulting firms especially prefer engineers with their P.E.s - even the ChemEs who went to work for consulting firms after graduation had to get theirs.



Next Time - getting back to Heero and Quatre.