Heero tried to remain indiscrete when he heard a small beeping noise coming from Duo's pocket.  Duo blinked and fished out a small cell phone, listening silently for a moment before rattling off his greeting.

"This is Duo's stomach, as his brain is on vacation.  Please leave a message after the growl."  Again, he paused for an indeterminate length.  Suddenly, he smirked.  "I almost fear what you're up to.  I want details later, man.  Duo out."

It took all of his self-control not to ask Duo right there who had been on the phone.  It had sounded like there were several people on the phone and Duo had mostly been listening in.  Heero stared hard at his computer screen.  He'd never given any thought to Duo's seemingly random calls before, but now that he thought about it, he got a lot of them like that.  He cautiously flicked his gaze towards the braided pilot, catching a glimpse of his backside as Duo carefully left the room, desperately trying to hide the fact that he was limping.

It was obvious his ankle was hurt badly.  Even if Heero hadn't noticed a constant shortage of ice in the freezer and the absence of one of the braces from their medical supplies, he couldn't miss the fact that Duo had stopped wearing his shoe as his foot was so swollen that he couldn't force the thing on.  Not that he hadn't tried, if the muffled whimpering was any indication when Duo got dressed that morning.

He waited until the footsteps disappeared down the hall before he stopped typing and ghosted out of the room after the American.  Duo wasn't hard to follow, as slowly as he was moving.  His gaze was so focused that he missed the shadow slipping behind him into his room and back out only seconds later.  A loud beeping filled the air and Heero jerked slightly, turning back towards his computer.  Arriving there, he scowled darkly.  He had a message on his computer that had just been sent in.  That wouldn't have bothered him except for the fact that it had somehow managed to crash his computer.  Still glowering, he set about fixing his system.

Deut watched him carefully before sprinting silently from the favorite Maxwell hiding place towards the kitchen, still wondering how it was so infernally easy to distract Heero.  Duo looked up as one of his many mirror images entered the room.

"Where have you been?" Duo asked softly.  "I've been going insane here."

"Sorry about that.  We agreed that whoever got out the fastest would replace you," came the slightly sheepish reply.  "Darren is just down the street with a car."

"Well, I'm off then.  Quatre and Trowa are out getting supplies.  Wufei is still hiding in his room.  Darren undid the seam of his pants and he's mortally embarrassed, so we won't be seeing him for a while.  Good luck with Heero.  He's been watching me like a hawk.  I think that Sir Grunts-a-lot is beginning to suspect."

"Damn," Deut muttered, watching as Duo waved and disappeared silently out the back door.  Taking in Duo's immaculate appearance, Deut headed for the shower, duffle bag of general supplies in hand.  It would look bad if Heero came into the kitchen and was greeted with a vision of dirt, blood and general grime of someone that had obviously been traveling and fighting very recently.

The door of the bathroom had barely clicked shut when Deut heard Heero come stomping out of his room, obviously furious that his precious laptop had suffered a massive crash.

Not that I would know anything about that, Deut smirked, stripping and stuffing the filthy black outfit into the duffle bag.  Luckily, there was a spare one in there.  A clean one.  Stepping under the scalding water, Deut finally began to relax after the stress of worrying over Duo during an already tiring mission.

A loud banging permeated the bathroom and Deut jumped slightly.

"Yes?"

"Why are you taking a shower at this time of day?" Heero demanded.

Damn, he's acting strange, even for him.  Duo's right, he's getting weird on us.  "No reason, Hee-chan.  Just felt like a shower."

There was a pause and for a moment, Deut wondered if Heero had left.  A click echoed loudly in the stillness, the door to the bathroom opening after having been expertly picked.  Deut froze in fear.

"A duffle bag and a trail of dusty footprints to the shower?" Heero asked acidly.  Deut began to calculate the risk of wrapping in the shower curtain and making a run for it.  Heero forestalled any such action by ripping back the shower curtain roughly and leveling his gun towards the figure pressed against the back of the shower in shock.  Heero froze, so stunned that he actually dropped his gun.

"Um, I can explain?" Deut tried shakily, still trying to cover up with anything in hands reach.  A towel, the shower curtain, a partially unraveled braid, anything.

Heero just stared.  Standing before him was someone who couldn't look less like Duo, starting with the uninjured ankle and raising up to slimly curved hips and rather buxom breasts.  The face was almost a mirror image of what Duo's would have been, but was somehow, indescribably, softer.  More feminine.  Deut made another grab for a towel, this time managing to get it since Heero was too stunned to stay in her way.  Wrapping in it firmly and flipping off the water, she pushed past Heero and snagged her duffle, heading unerringly for the door while he was too dumbfounded to stop her.  No such luck.

A firm hand shot out and snagged Deut's arm, pulling her up short in her escape attempt and pushing her forcibly into the wall.  She found herself staring into baffled cobalt eyes, swallowing nervously when he pushed down the top edge of her towel so as to stare more openly at what were obviously very real, very large, breasts.

Deut would have laughed at the expression on his face right then if she hadn't known that she was completely dead on several levels.  If the others didn't kill her, G or Heero would.  Knowing she was dead already, she slipped one hand into her duffle out of Heero's line of vision and pushed the emergency button on their communicator.  At the very least, the others needed to know what to expect.

She was brought out of her worrying when the hands holding her pinned shifted ever so slightly.  Apparently done staring for the moment, Heero raised his eyes to meet slightly hysterical violet.

"Who are you?" he asked slowly.

"Duo Maxwell," she answered reflexively.

"Your real name."

Deut didn't answer immediately, trying instead to gage his reaction.  He looked so lost and confused at the moment that it was almost adorable enough to make her forget that he was likely to kill her if he didn't like her answer.  She decided not to try to worm her way out of this.  It was undignified and besides, the Maxwells never lied.  That didn't mean she would tell him everything, however.  Omitting a large amount of information wasn't the same thing as lying.

"Deut Maxwell," she sighed, looking away.  When he opened his mouth to protest again at her insistence at keeping the last name, she elaborated slightly.  He would get this much out of her anyways within the next few minutes.  "I'm Duo's sister."

"Sister?" Heero repeated dumbly, still too shocked to come up with a question.  Something seemed to be eluding his mind.  Something important.

"Twin, actually," she responded.

Heero shook his head to clear it, a conversation he had overheard several days ago suddenly registering in his mind.  Several names came to mind.

"Who is Darren?"

Deut froze.  How in the hell did Heero know about Darren?  He hadn't said anything about being detected.  She shook her head.

"What about Dustin?  Or David?" he continued angrily, shaking Deut slightly when her only response was to pale slightly.  "How about Dante, Daniel or Demitri?  How many of you are pretending to be Duo?" he demanded.  Heero paused suddenly, something else worming its way into his mind.  Cobalt eyes narrowed.  "How many of you are there?  Just from the names I know, there are eight, assuming that 'Duo' isn't just a code name.  I know that I don't have all of them, either.  How many?"

Suddenly, Heero was pulled back and thrown to the floor somewhat violently.  He looked up numbly, staring at another two sets of violet eyes beside Deut.  One of the braided figures was holding up the other, who was favoring one foot heavily.  Deut scurried behind them and hastily began wrapping her chest and donning her clothes.  Refusing to be intimidated, Heero scowled darkly.

"How many of you are there?" he asked again.

"There are three of us," Duo responded.  One me, one Darren and one Deut, he added silently.  It wasn't exactly a lie, since Duo could honestly interpret the question several ways and answer whichever version he chose.  He could have also assumed that Heero was only asking how many were in the house at that particular moment.  He knew what Heero meant, but that didn't mean he couldn't purposely misinterpret the question.  Deut, fully dressed but still slightly miffed, slipped up on his other side and helped support him.

"What about the others I listed?" Heero demanded, glaring at Deut.

"We have contacts and support outside of you four," Duo answered easily, since Deut still seemed to be too shocked to answer.

"Why does every name begin with the same letter?" Heero asked suddenly.  For an answer, the third braided madman smirked at him.

"Because G thought it was funny," he responded.  "I'm Darren, by the way."

Heero stared at him strangely for a moment.  "You were the one torturing Wufei, right?" he said slowly.

"All of us torture Wufei," Duo retorted.  "It's fun."  When Heero's attention focused on him, he shrugged, seeing the question before the Japanese boy could voice it.  "And yes, I'm Duo.  We use my name since I'm the first one you met."

Heero opened his mouth to ask more questions, but Darren just winked at him and transferred Duo completely to Deut's support.  He stripped to the buff and all but ran down the hall.  Heero watched him leave with a slightly baffled expression.  Duo and Deut issued him identical smirks and Duo began counting.

"Three… two… one…"

"KISAMA!!!  MAXWELL!!!"

Two sets of footsteps thundered down the hall towards them.  Duo and Deut calmly moved out of the way, watching in amusement as Darren skipped easily in.  He was followed immediately by Wufei, who was clutching his bleeding nose in one hand and waving one fist at Darren.  The Chinese boy skidded to a halt in the doorway, eyes positively bulging as his mind registered the presence of three Duos.  Nosebleed immediately forgotten, he did the only thing that he could think of to escape from the nightmare before him.  He fainted.

"Ooh," Deut chuckled.  "Good one."

"Do you think that Quatre and Trowa will respond as nicely?" Duo asked.

"Possibly, but I have other plans for them," Darren said easily.  "Well, assuming that certain people are willing to play along."  He looked meaningfully towards Heero and Deut, who snickered.

"I'm in," she said immediately.

"Well, that's good," Darren responded, openly checking out Heero.  "Because if you weren't, I most certainly was."

Heero just stared, growing decidedly worried as Deut took him by the hand and led him towards the living room.  He glanced over his shoulder to see Duo limping back to their room while Darren, still in his birthday suit, picked up the unconscious Wufei and followed them to the living room.  Despite himself, Heero grinned weakly.  He could see where this was going and the thought of Quatre blushing to his blond roots was rather amusing.  Several scenarios played out in his mind of what Trowa would do.  The thought of the quiet boy openly gaping at them was hilarious.

Deut saw that he was finally beginning to understand their plan as she pushed him unresisting to the couch.  She glanced over to see Darren carefully situating Wufei on the armchair in a rather compromising, and unclothed, position.  She noted wryly that Wufei didn't seem to be wearing any undergarments today.  As if that would have saved him anyways, she thought with a smirk.

"If he were awake, he'd have a heart attack," she commented wryly.

Darren shrugged.  "Yeah, 'if' indeed.  But his expression would be worth it."

"But then who would you torture?"

"Hmm… good question.  Quatre, I guess.  He blushes nicely.  Blondes are great."

Heero watched them banter playfully, wondering why he had agreed to this.  When Deut started towards him again, he suddenly remembered.  After seeing the curves on her, coupled with that incredible hair, how could he not comply?

"Heads up, guys!" Duo called out loudly from his room.  "Here they come!"

Deut smirked at Heero in an almost predatory way, reaching forward to yank off his tank top with practiced ease.  She flung the garment purposefully in the direction of the door and dropped her head to lock lips with Heero, who clumsily returned the kiss.  He could feel the lips again his own twitch and knew that Deut was laughing at him.  No wonder, either, since he was as red as Quatre would soon be and painfully inexperienced besides.  It didn't help him concentrate with Deut straddling him, making it a point to grope him as much as possible for the benefit of the returning pilots.

Unable to help himself, Heero looked over to where Darren and Wufei were positioned on the armchair.  He smiled into the continuing kiss.  The braided madman had positioned them together in such a way as to appear that they had fallen asleep after somewhat invigorating exercise.  Wufei was going to kill Darren later once he found out what the madman had done.  The thought of future raving fits about 'dishonorable curs' and 'injustice' were already ringing in his ears.

"We're back," Quatre called out.  "Duo, I got some bandages for your foot.  I noticed that you were limping…"

Quatre froze, eyes impossibly wide and growing wider, his face going from crimson to maroon.  Any redder and his face was in danger of setting his hair on fire.  He was staring directly at Wufei and Darren cuddling together on the armchair, oblivious to the activity on the couch.  Deut noticed this immediately and wriggled suggestively on Heero's stomach from where she was still straddling him, running her hands gently across his exposed chest.  In response, he moaned loudly.

The poor Arabian pilot shifted his attention to where Deut was busy sucking on Heero's ear while groping him for all she was worth.  Then the impossible happened.  Quatre got redder, the blush spreading down his neck and disappearing beneath his shirt.  He was so shocked and embarrassed that it took him several seconds for his mind to register exactly what he was seeing.

"Quatre?" Trowa called, having heard his friend go silent only seconds before.  "Are you okay?"

When he received no response, he wandered into the living room after the blond, Heero's discarded green tank top in his hand.  He was staring at it as he entered the room, looking slightly confused, which was a good deal of expression on the normally unreadable pilot.  He looked up just before bumping into Quatre and froze, eyes glued to the armchair.  A grin broke out on his face.

"Duo, Wufei is going to kill you when he wakes up."

Darren grinned at being addressed by the wrong name and responded by licking the Chinese pilot's ear, almost daring the unconscious pilot to awaken.  When Trowa just shook his head and turned to leave the room again, his gaze swept across the couch and the grope-a-thon in progress between Heero and… Duo?  His gaze shot back to the armchair where the braided boy was playing with Wufei's hair and then back to the couch where a spit-swapping, tonsil-probing kiss was taking place.  He opened and closed his mouth several times before deciding that it was probably best not to ask and turning to leave the room.  He walked face-first into the doorframe and collapsed.

"That must've hurt," Duo remarked, leaning against the wall on the other end of the room.  Quatre's gaze snapped up and locked on him, his crystalline blue eyes flickering over the bandaged ankle.  Seeing a third braided figure seemed to be too much for his shocked mind to take.  Following Trowa and Wufei's examples, he fainted.

"And another one bites the dust," Darren sang.

"Excellent timing," Deut said, winking at Duo.  "He almost made it."

Heero began to open his mouth when his tank top smacked into his face.  He blinked and pulled it on, looking curiously at Darren, who had thrown it.  He tried again now that there was no more clothing for him to be assaulted with.

"Why didn't you tell us you were triplets earlier?" he queried, his gaze trailing after Deut almost sadly.  Prank or not, he had rather enjoyed that.

Darren grinned widely and closed his eyes, holding up one finger.  "Sore wa himitsu desu!"

Heero blinked at him.

"Ignore him," Deut advised.  "It's safer that way."

"G's orders," Duo supplied.  "He thinks that it's dangerous for anyone to know about us.  You see, if one of us is captured, it would turn into a rather nasty hostage situation very quickly."

Heero nodded.  It made sense.

"Doesn't matter too much anymore, I guess," Deut sighed.  "Oz already knows about us after our last raid."

Duo looked at her strangely and made a note to himself to contact the others later and ask G on that account.  She had a point.  If Oz knew about them, what did it matter if the other pilots did?  Might even be advantageous to have that many more people that could assist them in their havoc.  Darren beat him to it and disappeared from the room.  Duo saw him disappear into the room that they had been sharing with Heero, his small communicator in hand and a smirk on his face.

Oh, Lord, I know that look, Duo thought fearfully.  What is that nutcase planning this time?  Externally, he just set about helping Deut and Heero rouse the other pilots, careful to dress Wufei before the irate Chinese pilot awoke.  He cringed to think of what would happen if the raven-haired boy were to wake up naked.  He enjoyed torturing Wufei as well as the next Maxwell, but unlike Donovan, he wasn't a masochist.  Darren might do it anyways just because he was off his rocker, but the rest of them flat out knew better than to pull something that insane.

Speaking of insane, he thought, where did Darren get off to?  It doesn't take that long to make a phone call.

As if to answer his silent question, Darren came back into the room, grinning way too widely.  Seeing Duo's spooked look, he just winked and helped him pull the still unconscious Chinese boy into the kitchen where Deut and Heero had managed to drag Quatre and Trowa.  Seeing Duo struggling to help carry Wufei and walk at the same time, Darren began supporting the unconscious boy's full weight plus part of Duo's.  Once in the kitchen, Darren deposited his limp cargo in one of the chairs and took another for himself.  Heero was still looking at him curiously and he grinned unabashedly.  Darren was seriously considering rearranging Wufei's hands so that he would have a coronary when he awoke.  He only decided against it for the pure necessity of explaining things to the entire group so that they only had to say it once.  Deut began wandering around the group, handing Duo and Darren a cup of water each and keeping a third for herself.

Duo shrugged and upturned his glass on Quatre, who sputtered indignantly and nearly fell out of his chair.  Deut slowly dribbled water across Trowa's face, watching as his face screwed up slightly in irritation before he completely came to.  Darren wasn't nearly so nice, opting to fling his glass directly at Wufei's crotch.  He belatedly remembered that the Chinese pilot was wearing white pants.  After staring for a moment at the other boy as he came awake in a state of shock, he remembered that Wufei wasn't wearing any underwear.

Wufei registered that fact at the same moment that Darren did and flattened his stomach to the table to hide his now translucent pants.  Throwing him a lecherous look, Darren ducked under the table to openly stare.  Wufei squawked in protest and pulled him up by his braid, blushing madly and trying to ignore the snickers from the other two Maxwells and surprisingly Trowa.  He scowled.  It was always the quiet ones.

Quatre ignored their antics and rounded on Heero and Duo, his fair skin still glowing with an insistent blush.

"Just what is going on here?" he asked, his normally polite tone strained from his embarrassment and confusion.

"Well, it would appear that another round of embarrassing Wufei has begun," Duo offered, grinning at Darren, who was currently struggling in a headlock from a very incensed Chinese pilot.  Darren quickly escaped by playfully nipping Wufei's side, earning himself both his freedom and almost a fist across his jaw.  Luckily for him, he was able to dodge and hide behind Deut fairly successfully.

"They're triplets," Heero explained when no further information was forthcoming from the still smirking Americans.  The Maxwells just winked, grinning widely at the stunned pilots.  Quatre just stared.  Trowa smirked.

"There's a little more to it than that," Deut said distractedly.  She was attempting to keep Wufei from trampling her in his attempt to slaughter Darren.

"And what is that?" Quatre asked weakly.

Suddenly, Darren grinned and Duo tried to hide behind Heero, who was openly watching the chaos in a state of mild shock.  Darren slipped around Deut and snagged Wufei's wrist, pushing the Chinese boy's hand directly into Deut's chest.  Wufei froze, a strange look crossing his features.  For several moments, he remained perfectly still, Quatre and Trowa watching him in confusion while Heero and Duo smirked.  Darren stared at the raven-haired pilot expectedly.  Waiting.  Suddenly, Wufei moved, his hand squeezing gently once to confirm what his senses had originally told him.  Blood seeped from each nostril and he collapsed for a second time.  Deut sniffed.

"Darren, you are such a pervert," she said, managing to sound somewhat affronted even though she was grinning.

"What…" Quatre started, trailing off.  He wasn't sure he wanted to know.  He was certain he didn't want to know when Darren grinned wider.

"Deut is a girl," Heero said quickly, sparing them the shock of finding out how he and Wufei had.  Darren shot him a betrayed look and Duo settled for smirking at the expressions on Quatre and Trowa's faces.  Deut looked somewhat relieved, making Heero glad he had spoken.

Quatre's gaze flickered towards Darren and then to Duo.  "What about you two?"

"Duo's an idiot and Darren's a pervert," Deut supplied.  "But they are both guys, though in Darren's case, just barely."

"Hey!"

"Darren isn't just a pervert, he's a nymphomaniac," Duo elaborated.

"You wanna make something of it?  I won't mind if you say yes, you know," Darren said, winking at his brother.  Duo, as always, ignored him and he returned his attentions to leering at Wufei, who had yet to regain consciousness.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Trowa asked.  He raised his visible eyebrow when he was ignored by the Maxwells, who were more interested in torturing each other or the unconscious pilot.

"Keeps them out of danger if one of them is captured," Heero supplied.  Inside, he was wondering how Deut had managed to somehow get both Duo and Darren into sturdy headlocks.  It was their fault, he reflected, for attacking her for her earlier comments.

"No hostage situations," Duo croaked, still prying at the arm around his throat.  He snaked one hand behind Deut and prodded Darren, who hooked his arm around the proffered one.  As one, they stood up, causing Deut to fall into their arms with an outraged squawk.

In retaliation, Deut twisted expertly and flipped backwards gracefully to land on her feet.  The movement threw her brothers forcibly to the floor.  She grinned and hopped just out of reach when Darren lunged for her.  Duo just shook his head and reclaimed his seat at the table, having obviously learned his lesson.  Giggling, she ran out of the room, Darren hot on her heels.

"Hey guys, can you take care of Wufei while I keep those two from killing each other?" Duo asked.  He recognized their retreat for what it was.  Darren had obviously found out something or he wouldn't have bothered chasing Deut from the room.  There was no way he could have caught her and they all knew it.  He barely waited for the nods before disappearing after the retreating laughter.  Arriving in the room that they each occasionally shared with Heero, Duo closed the door behind him and waited for Darren to begin.

"Well, here's how it goes," Darren said immediately, keeping his voice just low enough that it would be all but impossible for someone to listen in on their conversation from outside the room.  "Donovan contacted G immediately when we were found out.  G told him that if Oz knows, then we might as well let the others know.  No harm in having them look out for us, you know."

"Now we just have to break it to them," Deut murmured.

"Oh, but we could have fun with that," Duo smirked.

"Not yet," Darren said immediately.  The other two just gaped at them.  "No, not yet, I say.  I want to have a bit of fun with them.  Donovan and Dustin agreed.  Right now, they're the only ones over there that know about this, and the three of us want to see just how batty we can drive them before they start to figure it out on their own."

"Ooh, sounds like fun," Deut agreed.

"What's the plan then?" Duo asked, grinning.  Trust Dustin to agree to this.

"Well, I do owe David a little something for nearly getting me killed.  He should have told me about the security systems and what he did to Heero, you know.  So here's what we do…"

To Be Continued…

I know, I know.  I'm taking forever.  Forgive the overburdened college student.  However… I may be inspired to go faster if I get commentary.  *evil smirk*