Chapter 4

Trowa watched as Heero turned his COM unit off.

"We have to go." He whispered, "They had to attack someone."

Trowa and Wufei nodded and they slipped back from the corner they were peeking behind. That had found a few people but no solid places or evidence that anything was going on. They only hoped that Duo and Quatre had had more success. They slipped back through the maze of tunnels that they had come through since they had gone through the door. After about ten minutes of following Heero this way and that, Trowa wondering how the hell he had remembered it all, they got back to the red door. Well, almost.

Heero had peeped round the corner and then shot back, placing a finger on his lips. "Guard" he mouthed. Trowa rolled his eyes. "How?" he mouthed. Heero looked like he was thinking, but then he shook his head. Trowa and Wufei stared at him. What was he doing? He closed his eyes and looked like he was meditating for a minute. Then, he grabbed Trowa's arm and started pulling him in the other direction.

"What the hell are you on, Yuy?" Wufei hissed from behind him.

"There has to be two entrances for safety. Logically, and we are dealing with scientists, there will be one at exactly the same place the other side. That's where we're going."

"How can you know where it is?" Trowa hissed.

"I have good bearings." Heero replied. Trowa shrugged at Wufei and then concentrated on keeping up with Heero. He was devilishly fast. They went this way and that, Heero's face always pointing forward like he was some sort of gun dog. Finally, he slammed his arm out and Trowa and Wufei had to skid to a halt to stop running into him. He put a finger to his lip and bent round the corner. He beckoned to them and they ran out and through an identical red door in the wall. Again there was the long passage up. They immediately started sprinting as fast as they could towards the top. If anybody opened either door, they would see them immediately, even if they were hanging from the ceiling.

Trowa's stomach jolted as the door almost in their grasp started opening. Quick as a flash, they whipped out the pads and leapt up. Trowa's leg hung in the air for a minute too long, and the man came through. Trowa tried not to scream with fear as the man dropped something. His foot was almost touching the guy's ear. He couldn't even twitch or the man would see him. The man picked the thing up and moved forward before standing up straight leaving the door to almost close thanks to Wufei's wire. They waited until he had gone all the way down before they moved, and Trowa sighed a huge sight of relief.

"That was too close." He whispered as they took off the pads, dropping to the floor as Wufei opened the door carefully. They sped through the corridors, Trowa knowing they had to be going in the opposite ways they had done to get into it because they were in the opposite side of the building, but Heero's bearings really were too good. Finally, they turned down a small corridor and saw the door. There was a small window in the top, and Trowa stopped at the same time as Heero did. There was a camera out there.

"How do we do this?" Wufei asked, aiming at Heero with a smug grin on his face. Heero glared at him before stopping a second. Then, he pressed the little black circle in his ear and the microphone came out.

"01 to 02, do you read?" he asked. There was a pause where the three could hear crackling in their ears.

"This is 02. What can I do you for, Superman?" Duo answered. Trowa noticed the softness in Heero's eyes before they became dead again and once again wondered what the hell was going on.

"Where are you?" Heero asked.

"Outside?"

"Are you still near the building?"

"Yes."

"Which door?"

"The one we came out of."

"That doesn't help me."

"The one with the camera."

"Can you divert it? We're just inside and can't get out."

"What about the other one?"

"Too risky going all the way through the building again, and anyway, there's a guard there that we've already disturbed."

"Got that. Ok. When I give the word you will have about seven seconds to get the hell out and get into the alcove where Quatre is. He'll signal you. Got that?"

"Got it. Give us the word."

"Will do."

Heero turned to Wufei and gave him a blank look. Wufei shrugged and they all stood by the door, tense and ready to spring.

"You guys ready?" the voice of Duo rang in their ears, and Trowa tensed even more. "Go!"

Heero flung the door open and the three dashed out. They saw Quatre waving frantically and dashed over there. They were easily there in seven seconds and waited in the alcove for Duo. As Trowa watched, he saw him clambering over the wall like a spider, well sort of. He put a hand on Heero's shoulder as the boy stiffened. One of Duo's hands was held protectively up to his chest, and it was the one Heero had accidentally damaged a few hours before.

"He tripped down the stairs." Quatre explained, "It was just jarred, but it's very painful for him, even though he won't admit it."

The tone of voice made the others either deflate or swear quietly. What Quatre was trying to get across was that Duo had to rest it, which meant no more missions for him for a few days.

"Hey guys. Find anything?" Duo asked, grinning as he came over, the arms now by his side, but not swinging like usual. He took one look at Heero's face and rounded on Quatre. "What did you say?" he asked, his eyebrow raised.

"That you're not going on any missions for a few days." Quatre said, firmly. Duo opened his mouth to retaliate, but then seemed to stop and think about something.

"Ok." He said, casually, and then led the way out. Trowa frowned. That was not like Duo. He was always up for missions, even if he was more seriously injured than this and was only stopped after massive arguments. This was just a jarred wrist and he was easily being contained. He shook his head as he followed Heero out and they walked back to the flat.

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

Duo winced a little as Quatre safety-pinned the bandage on his wrist together.

"Sorry, Duo. It's a little stiff."

"No problem." Duo replied with a grin. Quatre stood up from kneeling on the floor and sat back down on the sofa. It was night, and they had just gone to get food and eaten it, there was nothing edible in the kitchen. Heero was once again staring at the floor, and Duo looked worriedly at him.

"So," Trowa started. "I hop you two were more successful than us."

"We got the disk with all the folders we could find." Quatre told him.

"Great! Were any maps of the place?"

"Not that I could see." Duo said, "I mean, most of them just looked like experiments and documents about the running of the business."

"Well, we're not getting anywhere until we have a map of the place so we can at least know where we are."

"Well, why don't we all go out and go to the council, hack them off there. There have to be maps of a building there, it's the law." Duo suggested.

"You cannot hack off the capitals board!" Quatre said, aghast.

"I may not be able to, but I bet he could." Duo answered, nodding at Heero, who looked up.

"I've done it before." He said, darkly.

"Don't tell us, man." Duo said immediately and Trowa smiled.

"Great. So Heero can hack in while we can try and find the documents in the library. There may be some creeping around to do, though."

"Oh, well, we…"

"No. Not you." Quatre said. Duo shrugged.

"Oh yeah. Fine. "You" can deal with that, can't you?"

"Why are you being so complacent?" Wufei asked, suspiciously. Duo put his innocent face on.

"What do you mean?" he asked praying he could get off the conversation. He didn't want to believe Heero could read minds but it felt like it sometimes, and he was also disgusted at being so reluctant to go behind his back. But that folder with "043" on the label kept popping up in his mind and he was almost bursting to try and find out what it was about now.

"Well, you're always struggling and having a tantrum when we try to keep you behind usually. Now you're all fine about it."

"Maybe I've grown more mature." Duo said, and grinned at the laughs. "Ok, so maybe I'm not. No, I just don't mind really. It's not a job I'm particularly interested in, and anyway, someone's got to go through those folders."

There, he'd said it. Now was the time that Heero would start to suspect something, if what Duo thought was right, which it was almost certain it was. All was silent for a minute as this information processed and Duo tried to stop his heart beating so fast. He knew Heero was looking at him and panicked a little. If he deliberately looked away then Heero would suspect something, but looking straight at him would imply that Duo was trying to get some sort of point across. He settled for looking over at him and trying to look surprised at being watched. Heero gave him a searching look, and Duo put up all the barriers he could whilst shaking inside. He absolutely hated this, it was like Heero was a stranger; an enemy and he didn't want that. He wanted Heero to talk to him again. Despite the constant company of the other pilots he was beginning to feel very lonely.

After a few shrugs, the other seemed to agree. Then, Quatre yawned sweetly, and Trowa smiled, putting his arms around him.

"I think we should all get to bed." He said. "It's been a long day."

"Yeah, well don't make it any longer. For you two or the rest of us." Duo said, giving the two a pointed look. Quatre cried out in indignation and threw a cushion at him. Duo laughed at them, deflecting it and wincing as he did it with the wrong hand. "I have got to stop doing that." He said, rubbing it a bit. He saw a tanned hand take it from him, as gentle as a breeze but as firm as a rock. "Oh no." Duo said, taking it away from him. "No more re-setting, I've had enough pain for one day."

Heero's eyes suddenly flared and Duo gasped before they went dead again. Then, Heero glared at him and got up.

"What was that all about?" Trowa asked him, but Duo couldn't reply. Heero had looked so betrayed by him. Duo assumed it must have been the fact that Duo didn't trust his touch anymore.

"He must be tired, as I am. I'll see you guys tomorrow." Duo said, frowning and getting up. He went into the bedroom and his stomach jolted a little as he saw a flash of Heero's smooth back before his loose T-shirt covered it. "Heero?" he said, coming towards him. Heero started but carried on getting into the double bed. "Heero." Duo repeated and put a hand on the boys' shoulder. He stopped. "I'm sorry. It's just…"

"You don't trust me?" Heero asked.

"Well, you did kind of take me by surprise that time. But I didn't mean it in a bad way."

"Goodnight, Duo."

"No! Heero, what's wrong with you?" Duo cried as the boy slipped between the sheets.

"Leave me alone."

Duo just stood there, his mouth open from speaking, his chest hurting. Heero turned onto his side and Duo stared at the shock of dark brown hair. He was hurt. He hated to admit it, but he was actually hurt. His chest stung and he could feel his eyes widening. Heero had never done that before, ever. Called him a baka, whatever that was, hit him on occasion, but never just dismissed him like he was nothing.

"Bastard." He whispered under his breath, putting all his emotion into that one word so that he calm when he entered the bathroom. Confused, but calm. He was too busy being bewildered to notice Heero flinching massively as he heard it.

Duo brushed his teeth, changed into black sweat pants and redid his hair. He didn't have time to do it in the mornings so he kept it up at night. He then walked back into the bedroom and walked around to the other side of the bed, trying to ignore Heero turning back over so that he didn't have to see him. He clambered in between the heavy damp sheets and closed his eyes. He was never going to get to sleep, he knew that. He was fidgety and he just wanted to hit Heero so much he nearly did, but he valued his life more than that. The thing was that he didn't trust Heero's body. When he was that gentle, it started something inside Duo that made him suddenly want to get away from him. Not because he was scared of what Heero would do to him anyway but what he would ask Heero to do to him, what he would let Heero do. That is if Heero would and he doubted that. He just wanted…his stomach ached for the touch and relative warmth from the Wing pilot. What the hell had he done to him? Duo had never cared this much about what anybody thought of him. Strangely enough, before long, he had drifted off into an uncomfortable sleep.

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

He was woken by a yell from beside him. He opened his eyes blearily and felt something hit him in the stomach. He was awake instantly and looked over to see Heero thrashing around, fear on his sleeping face, his hands clutching at the bedclothes. He was…Duo knew it couldn't be right, but he was whimpering. He was pleading with someone, saying "no" over and over again. It was so wrong, so unexpected of Heero that for a moment Duo didn't know what to do. Then he seemed to come back to life. Half his mind told him to leave it, but the other half, and he told himself that it was the sleepy half wanting peace, told him otherwise.

He tentatively turned over and placed his left hand, the good one, on Heero's chest. The boy jumped, but then was still, stiff as a board. Duo slipped it round his body and was surprised to find the Wing pilot suddenly coming closer and curling up into his chest. Duo, startled for a minute, suddenly realised what was happening and instantly forgot it in case he did anything stupid. He placed his arms totally around the now peaceful boy and laid his head on the shock of dark chocolate hair. He closed his eyes, suddenly calm and totally contented, sleeping with Heero in his arms. Once again he instantly forgot the thought. He was scared about how good that made him feel.