Thank you to ally127, the one person who reviewed. I was planning on keeping you all in suspense for a while, but let's face it, I'm too nice for my own good. Here it be, the second chapter, and poor Garen seems to be developing Lyme disease.
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Chapter 2: Lunch and a Mission

Halfway through lunch, the vid-phone rang. As usual, Duo and Quatre both dived for it while the other three boys kept eating. Duo fought Quatre away from the phone and answered it.

"Winner residence, Duo Maxwell speaking."

Sally Po's face appeared on the screen. She looked worried. "Duo?" she said. "We've got a bit of a problem on L2. Could you, Heero, and Wufei come to headquarters sometime before two? Come ready with any special equipment."

Heero shrugged and Wufei nodded.

"Yeah, I think we can swing it." Duo said.

"Good. I'll see you later then." The screen went blank.

"Oh joy. A mission." Duo said, then dug into his half-finished noodles. Heero shrugged.

"You are entirely too enthusiastic about this, Maxwell." Wufei said. The Chinese boy had already finished his meal, having not been interrupted by the phone. "You seem to forget that being Preventers is a serious business, and that missions are work, not time for you to fool around."

"Yeah, yeah, I know." Duo replied, waving his hand in dismissal. "It's just that there's nothing much for me to do here, and I'm glad that we get to do something useful."

"Baka."

"Goody-two-shoes."

"Long-haired freak."

"Hard-ass."

"Goof-off."

"Stick-in-the-mud."

"Weak fool."

"Annoying-person-who-doesn't-realize-that-I-could-probably-go-on-like-this- all-day-without-repeating-myself-because-where-I-come-from-being-rude-is- considered-an-art."

"Let me guess, you consider yourself to be an expert in this art?"

Duo grinned, his expression one of pure spite. "Of course."

"On that one thing, I'm forced to agree with you, Maxwell."

"If you two are done arguing, do you think you could help clear the table?" Quatre said timidly.

"Sure." Duo replied, and started stacking plates. Wufei muttered something about women's work and stomped off. Duo stuck his tongue out at the Chinese boy's retreating back.

"Can't you two even try to get along?" Quatre moaned.

"Hey, I'm trying, it's not my fault that he's got no sense of humor."

"Well, maybe you should try not to get on his nerves. I think that seems to be the biggest problem."

"If I didn't get on his nerves, I wouldn't be Duo Maxwell. Sometimes I think I annoy him just by breathing."

Quatre giggled. "True."

"Maxwell! Hurry up and get ready to leave!" Wufei shouted from the other room.

"Here, you need to go." the blond boy said, taking the plates. Duo nodded and went to load his braid and his pockets.

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Sitting on the floor in his room, the braided boy went over his arsenal. "Lockpicks, knives, smoke bombs, cherry bombs... I feel like I'm forgetting something." He stood up and poked around the room, trying to remember what the other thing was.

"MAXWELL GET YOUR LAZY ASS DOWN HERE NOW!!" Duo groaned, stuffed the last of his knives into his braid, and went downstairs. If he had forgotten something, it was just too bad.

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