Chapter 3

Thankfully, as they made their way back out of the flat and building, the rain had stopped, leaving the air feeling fresh. They walked casually in a group, laughing and joking as normal so as not to attract attention. They went into the main square and stopped at the corner. The science building was behind them, and soon, Trowa, Heero and Wufei said their "good-byes" and sauntered off into the alley. Duo gave Trowa a meaningful look and prayed to the God he had rejected that Heero would be ok and that what they feared was wrong. Heero's behaviour had already proved him wrong, he knew that, but was still determined. Finally, he and Quatre made their way over to the other side of the science building and slipped into the alleyway beside it. They walked along the side until they saw a side door. Duo flung an arm out and pulled Quatre into the shadows.

"Guard?"

"Camera."

"Where?"

"Over the door."

"How are we going to get in?"

"Let me think…" Duo frowned as he thought, and then peeped round the corner again, just to make sure. Then he turned back to Quatre. "Right," he said. "I'm going to move the camera's angle so that you can get into the door. Once you're inside, I'll slip in, too."

"Be careful!" Quatre whispered, and Duo grinned at the blonde boy before taking something out of his pockets. There were four of them in the bag, and he tipped them out into his hands, pocketing the bag again. He walked up to the wall so that he was just out of the camera's range. He stripped off the back, which was a piece of thin paper and then flicked a switch. The thing started whirring, but so quietly he could hardly hear it. He stuck it on his boot and stuck his boot to the wall. It stuck fast. He sat on the floor, and did the other one, sticking his boot to the wall. He took the other two, which had finger holes and threaded them on to his two middle fingers. He flicked the switches on both of them, and then pushed off with his feet. His hands landed straight above them and he felt the suction take his weight. He waited for a few seconds to get his bearings and then started crawling. He was hunched up like a spider because the suction pads were on the bottom of his feet and he crawled expertly over to above the camera. He had been watching it the whole time and took one hand out of the suction pad, leaving it on the wall. The camera started moving to the other side and his hand guided it there, and then suddenly held it. Quatre darted out from the wall and sped into the door. Before the camera could spin back round, Duo had picked up the left suction pad and flipped inside with just enough time for the door to slam.

He quickly turned the pads off and pocketed them all. Quatre gave him the thumbs up and then they started creeping along the tunnel. It was pristine white and lit by lamps in the floor, giving them a scary kind of look. Duo leered at Quatre; a scary face on and Quatre grinned before letting him lead. They then came to a T-junction. Duo looked at Quatre, who shrugged, and then took the right turn, further into the building. They went along the corridor for about two minutes before they came to a wider bit with some stairs. They heard voices and footsteps coming from above them. Duo swore in a whisper and grabbed Quatre by the collar. He sprinted over to under the stairs and they crouched there, holding their breath.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Trowa, Wufei and Heero crouched in the alcove. The guard wasn't really paying that much attention, but he was standing right in front of where they wanted to go.

"Is there a camera?" Trowa asked. Heero looked round and shook his head. Trowa nodded, Heero had become a lot better since they had actually been on a job. "Right." He said, and raised his eyes at Wufei. The Chinese boy dug around in his pockets and came out with something that looked like a tiny sweet. He turned and threw it over near the entrance to the alley. As it hit the floor it burst and made a noise like a small handgun. They watched as the guard jumped and then ran over to see what was wrong. The three sprinted out from the alcove, almost silently, and Wufei threw another as all three of them piled into the entrance, making sure the door was closed quickly and quietly.

They waited, holding their breath as they listened to the guard walk back to the door, but he did nothing. They were in. Trowa beckoned to the other two and started leading the way, but soon found Heero overtaking him. He didn't mind; this place gave him the creeps. They sped through the corridors and passed junctions. Heero would hesitate for a few seconds but at a nod he would carry on. They had just passed a T-junction when he stopped. Trowa nearly bumped into him.

"What?" he whispered. Heero just pointed at the wall. Trowa couldn't see anything to begin with, but then he saw the tiniest outlines of a door. How Heero had seen that at the pace they had been going he wasn't sure, but this was their biggest lead.

"So how do we get in?" Wufei asked. Heero went to go forward, but Trowa pushed him aside. He took out a tiny knife he had in his boot, and then proceeded to trace the outline. About halfway down the left-hand side, he came to a blockage. He took out another identical knife, and prodded around that area. With a click, a flap of the door came away as a flap, showing a keyhole. With that hand, not taking the other away, he performed the simple task of picking a lock, and the door swung open to reveal another corridor. They crept inside, shutting the door behind them, and crept slowly down the passage.

The passage was the same as all the others and sloped gently downwards. Trowa began to feel more and more claustrophobic as he followed Heero down and down. If they were found out, it was a hell of a long way to run. They began to hear noises and saw a door in front of them. When they got to it, they heard voices coming towards them. Trowa nodded to the others, and they all swiped out some pads and then leapt onto the wall. Hanging from the ceiling, they watched as two guards came out of the door, arguing about something, they didn't know what. As the door closed, Wufei, who was closest, took out a piece of wire and stuck it on the closing door. As it closed, it was jarred, and the door stayed open.

Heero flipped down almost silently onto the ground as the two guards disappeared up the tunnel. Wufei crept up closer to the door, and slowly prised it open a bit so that Heero could peek through it. He nodded, taking off his pads and pocketing them. Trowa and Wufei flipped down as well, and then Trowa put a hand on Wufei's arm. He pulled a long, thin black piece of plastic from a tiny sphere in his ear.

"This is 03 to 02. Do you read me?" he whispered. There was a slight crackle.

"This is 02, read you loud and clear." Came Duo's voice into his and the others' ears.

"Everything alright?" Trowa asked.

"Great."

"Found anything?"

"No. You?"

"We're in a hidden passage, but that's all we have." Trowa answered.

"Great. You're all alive?" Duo asked.

"Of course."

"Cool. Heero?" Duo asked. Heero pulled his microphone down.

"Maxwell?"

"Don't call me that! Anyway, no blowing anything up, you hear?" Duo said, and they could tell there was a wide grin on his face. Trowa noticed the sudden and subtle light in Heero's now pale face.

"Never even thought about it." He answered, and then folded it up.

"See you in ten." Trowa said.

"Right. Over and out." Duo replied, and then Trowa put his microphone up.

"Better turn it to silent." He said, and he and the others flicked a tiny switch, the light in Heero's face gone again.

"Ready?" Wufei asked, and Heero and Trowa nodded.

"We wont' be seen?" Trowa asked Heero.

"Just another corridor." Heero said and he nodded.

"Let's go." He said, and they opened the door, Wufei grabbing his wire before they closed it silently behind them.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Duo and Quatre crept out from under the stairs as they finished the conversation with Trowa and the others. Thank fully, the men who had been coming down had left already, otherwise they would have heard the small beeping of their COM units. Duo beckoned to Quatre and then crept up the stairs, checking up as he knew Quatre was checking down. They crept up the curve and then up to another corridor with a few doors in it. There were some more voices, and Duo spun round. People were now coming along the corridor and all the doors had lights in them, except for one. He grabbed Quatre again and they ran into this one, closing the door behind them and flattening themselves against the wall either side of it.

Duo's stomach disappeared as the door opened and the two men came in. They walked in, flicking a switch on one of the tables. Duo snatched at the door as it went past him and Quatre and he slipped out before it closed, hoping the men didn't notice it taking longer to close than it usually did.

They turned right; back the way they had come when they had been downstairs and dashed past all of the doors as they were all lit. With a sickening pit of horror suddenly appearing in his stomach, Duo saw the door right in front of them open and somebody come out. He and Quatre dashed to behind the door, and flattened themselves against the wall again. Thankfully, and extremely luckily for them, the woman turned the other way, and the door closed as she disappeared round a corner.

Slowly, his heart beating like a drum, Duo got up, and held out a hand to Quatre. Quatre's baby blue eyes were wide in fear and Duo gave him an encouraging grin and rolling of eyes before they carried on. He kept Quatre's hand in his, feeling the boy trembling, until they rounded the corner. Here, there was another door, a wooden one, but no light was coming from underneath it. Duo raised his eyebrows at Quatre, who nodded, and he slowly pushed it open. It was almost pitch black in there, and he dashed into the darkness, pulling Quatre with him and closing the door before anybody saw them.

He felt about by the door and soon found a switch. He flicked it, and the room was illuminated.

"Jackpot." He whispered and grinned at Quatre, who smiled weakly back.

They were in a room that was only a little bigger than a broom cupboard. Every part of the four small walls was covered in computer equipment. There were seas of flashing red and green lights, and a loud humming of electrical equipment at work. The floor was a rough red carpet and in the middle of the room was a small desk with a monitor on it. A swivel chair faced it and the computer screen showed a desktop.

"I have never seen this much up-to-date technical equipment anywhere." Quatre breathed beside him. Duo smiled at him.

"Well, get going. We don't have that long." Duo told him, and they walked over to the desk. Quatre sat in the chair.

"How much information do we want?" he said, taking a floppy disk out of his pocket and inserting it into the slot.

"As much as we can." Duo replied, leaning over him. Quatre clicked a few buttons and an error message came up. "Damn, we need a password." Duo cursed.

"Let's see if I can hack it. I'm not as good as Heero but I'm not bad." Quatre said. Duo waited impatiently as he tried to figure out the password and then try to bypass the system. He had no patience with computers. They always went wrong and took up too much time. He also had a problem with staying still for so long and started pacing. Heero could stay on his computer for hours. Duo's mind was thrown back to the subject. What was wrong with him? Duo hated to admit it, but he was a little hurt. He knew he shouldn't be because this was about Heero's issues, not him but it still hurt when he shut off like this. "Ah! Got it!" Quatre whispered and Duo came back to the screen. It came up with lists and lists of folders. Quatre typed a few buttons and the folders suddenly decreased in size. "Right, I've sort of shrunk them so they should fit on easier now."

"What do we have to do?"

"Oh, just put them five at a time or which ever ones we want, the disk won't take the strain of all of them." Quatre said,

"Well, I can do that. Why don't you have a look at all this stuff? It's probably going to be the only time you get to see it?" Duo offered. Quatre looked up at him, beaming, and Duo pushed him off the seat and started copying the folders. "Remember to listen out as well." He said, and Quatre nodded.

Duo started to get bored and fidgety after the first twenty lots of five he had to put in. Then something caught his eye. It was a folder, but it was the name that brought warning lights flashing around his eyes. It was called "043". It was a familiar number, if only he could…Heero. His eyes widened as he realised the impossible coincidence. Heero had this number tattooed on the small of his back. He quickly downloaded it and then carried on, but his mind was a blur. He may be able to find out what had happened, why Heero was so out of it. He may be able to find a way to comfort him, and that was all he wanted to do right now.

He had just copied the last twenty, having just talked to the others and taken the disk out, when there was a knock on the door. He and Quatre looked at each other, the fear plain on their faces.

"Anyone in there?" came a female voice, and Duo's stomach froze as he realised what an impossible situation they were in.

"Yes." He replied, in the deepest voice he could. "I am working on the computer, it has some faults. Please do not disturb me."

"Who is that?" the voice came again after a silence.

"Tha maintenance man, who else?" Duo asked, praying but quietly laughing as well. This was fun, if very tense.

"I was not informed on anybody coming or any faults." The woman said again, and the door started opening. Quick as a flash, Duo had shot up, and the woman had a massive boot in her face and a hand in her neck before she knew what was happening. She slumped to the floor, unconscious.

"We have to go." Duo said as Quatre took the disk out.

"02 to 03, do you read me?" he asked into his microphone. There was a beep. "Shit! He's on silent!" he cried, and tried again. "02 to 05, do you read me?" Again there was a beep. "02 to 01 can you…"

"What?" came a whisper.

"Get out!" Duo whispered, "We had to knock a lady unconscious, they'll find us."

"Ok." Came the reply, and then he cut off.

"Oh, always the one for idle chit chat." Duo said, sarcastically, grinning at Quatre and then he looked round before sprinting out of the door, dragging the boy after him.