Title: Arcanum
Author: Retep
Pairings: 3x2
Rating: R...but not now...later. I'll warn you
Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing, and I probably wouldn't know what to do with it if I did. No money is made on my part...wow that is depressing...yet true.
Feedback: If you have the time to write it, I have the time to read it.
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Wufei's driving wasn't as bad as Trowa had warned it would be; it was much worse. Good thing that I have faced death before, otherwise I think this experience would be worth a heart attack, Duo thought. Just as he finished this thought a car cut right in front of theirs, causing Duo to grab the handlebar on the door and braced himself for a high speed crash. Amazingly it never came, Wufei managed to swerve into the next lane at the very last second.
"Crazy drivers," Wufei cursed before shooting a look at Duo. "What's this Maxwell? Have you lost your nerve or something?"
Duo through Wufei a look meant to kill, "No…this is like a walk in the fucking park for me."
"Then why are you grabbing onto that handlebar like it is a lifeline?" Trowa asked from the back seat.
"You two are killing me, seriously." Duo responded, "I might have been better off dealing with the Organization." Duo forced himself to release the handlebar, and relax a little.
"Look at that Wufei, your earning his trust." Trowa commented.
"I should hope so. By the way, why were you late meeting me Barton? I thought something might have gone wrong, considering how punctual you usually are."
Trowa was about to answer, but Duo beat him to it, "Well Wufei, Trowa pulled me into a closet and tried to have his way with me. I did my best, but it took me a while to fight him off seeing as he was completely possessed by lust. Not that I can blame him, I mean it's not the first time that I've been found irresistible." Trowa immediately spit out the water he was drinking in shock.
Wufei looked at Trowa by using the rearview mirror, "Barton? What the hell!? You think we have time to seduce informants!?"
"Christ Wufei, can't you tell when he's joking?" Trowa snapped, recovering from his shock. Duo, for his part, was busy exploding into a fit of laughter.
"You sure can give it, but not take it huh Trowa?" Duo said as soon as he managed to contain his laughter.
"I'll get you yet Duo."
"I'm trembling in anticipation."
"All right that's enough of that for now. Let us get back to the topic of the Organization, which is the reason I am putting up with you two in the first place," Wufei said, his tone calm again. "Maxwell, I'm sure you'd like to know why it is Barton and I both got dragged into this case, and exactly what part we are hoping that you'll play in it."
Duo nodded, and Wufei began, "I'd been working for the Preventers for about three years before I had my first encounter with the Organization. My section was deployed after we received a tip about a shipment of weapons being smuggled into L-1. We set up a raid and did everything by the book; unfortunately, it seems as thought the Organization knew the routine as well as we did. The warehouse that my section raided was empty, it was a trap. They had us surrounded and outnumbered; the result was forty-five Preventers went in, and seven made it out with absolutely nothing to show for it.
Needless to say I have devoted myself to bringing down the Organization since then. Those men had been like family to me, and I swore that I would not let their deaths be in vain. The L-1 government commissioned me to head up a new department that would be completely dedicated to eliminating the Organization. The more scraps that I pieced together about the Organization, the more I realized that I was going to need as much help as I could get. So I decided to recruit the people I trusted the most, which of course included my comrades during the colony wars."
"So you got Trowa to join you?" Duo interrupted.
"Actually, the first person that I recruited was Quatre Winner."
"Quatre? He's here too!?"
"Yeah, he is back at the base. I damn near had to tie him down to keep him from coming with me to meet you two." Wufei snorted in amusement, "He actually became what I might call 'angry.' It was only after I told him that if anything happened to me I needed someone I could trust to continue on with my work. That seemed to calm him down a bit."
"But why would Quatre join up? I thought he would have his hands full managing the Winner fortune."
"Quatre has always had a strong sense of justice. He knows that if the Organization was left to flourish, they would eventually branch out past L-1 and hit the rest of the colonies, and then Earth as well. The weapons that they are smuggling in are devastating, when they chose to act, innocent people will inevitably get killed. Winner could not bring himself to ignore this fact."
"Red light Wufei!" Trowa shouted out.
"I see it!" Wufei snapped defensively, as he slammed on the brakes yet again.
"Next time I'm driving," Trowa said as he massaged his temples.
"All right so after Quatre, you recruited Trowa?" Duo prompted.
"Actually, I bumped into Heero Yuy first; he is still doing bodyguard work for Releena. I explained the situation to him, but he didn't seem too interested in it. He said something to the effect of, 'I'll worry about it when it poses a direct threat to Releena.' It would seem that Yuy is temporarily insane over a woman, I've seen it before, never fails to make me sad seeing a good soldier his sense of justice for feelings of affection."
"Don't you think your being a little unfair to Heero," Trowa interrupted, sensing another of Wufei's rants coming on. "I mean after all, he's just doing his job. And for the love of God watch the road."
"Anyway Duo," Wufei began again, making a point of ignoring Trowa's comment, "I still needed someone that I could trust to infiltrate the Organization, so remembering spying is Trowa's expertise, I made a trip to the circus. It extremely easy getting Trowa to come with me, it seems that he didn't have a lot going on."
"What about Catherine?" Duo asked, turning to face Trowa.
"She's getting married to an acrobat that joined up with the circus. I was starting to feel like a third wheel so I was ready to find something else. She and I still keep in touch though."
Wufei continued, "Needless to say, our infiltration of the Organization did not go as well as we planned. So imagine my good fortune to find out that you had actually joined up with them, and managed to get out alive as well. Can I ask you what the hell made you decide to join up with them anyway Duo?"
"I had my reasons…" Duo trailed off, "I'm leaving it at that for now though."
"Fair enough," Trowa said. "Its not like we have really given you anything concrete yet, hopefully you'll feel more inclined to share with us as we work together."
"We'll see, but what is the plan for now?" Duo asked, changing the subject as fast as he could.
"Using your information, the four of us are going to try to come up with a strategy to destroy the Organization."
"I already knew that! Damn't, we are already going in circles. How many men do you have working in your department anyway Wufei?"
"About three hundred."
"Well let me tell you there are a shit load more members than that in the Organization. We'd better come up with one phenomenal plan." That said, Duo allowed himself get lost in his thoughts. He was thankful at the moment that the others were immersed in an argument over Wufei's lack of driving skills, he needed sometime to sort things out.
Duo did feel better now that he knew Wufei and Quatre were going to be working on this case as well. 'So,' he thought, 'Wufei the leader, Quatre the strategist, Trowa the field agent, and Duo the informant. Wait…isn't the informant the one who always gets killed? Well, I guess I'll just have to play a more active roll. Trowa said he didn't want me to get involved, but I'll be damned if I am going to let them have all the fun.'
His thoughts turned to Heero on their own accord. Duo knew that Heero had planned to become Releena's bodyguard. He had actually confessed his feelings to him the day that he was supposed to leave to join her. He could swear that his ears were still ringing from the way that Heero shot him down. He had been so cold, and so detached as he had rejected Duo. He's very calmly explained to him that he couldn't feel that way about another man, it wasn't natural for him. Duo had expected the rejection; it still hurt like a bitch though. Duo knew that he couldn't change the fact that he was attracted to men; he had been that way for as long as he could remember. But, he had managed to resolve himself to the fact that he probably wouldn't find a partner, with his past he was sure he could never be open with anyone. He believed that no on could receive trust, if they weren't willing to trust others. After Heero, Duo didn't feel like trusting anyone again with his feelings. 'But what about Trowa,' he thought back to the incident in the closet, 'Hell, he was probably just kidding around. I'm not going to screw it up with him the way I did with Heero.'
"We're here." Wufei's violently parked the car, dragging Duo out of his thoughts.
"Well, I live to see another day. Really Wufei, your going to be the death of me," Trowa added.
"Uh guys…this is an apartment complex." Duo stated, bewildered.
"Oh yeah, our infamous 'base' is a dilapidated apartment building. Didn't Trowa tell you? Well, I can see why he wouldn't. Come on already," Wufei said as they got out of the car, "Winner's probably half-crazed with worry."
"Hold up," Duo said, "I was expecting a heavily guarded government office. If this is 'base' where the hell are the other three hundred members of your department?"
"Its nine o' clock at night, they are probably at their homes. This apartment building belongs to my department, but the other members go home after business hours. Almost all of the rooms have been converted into offices, except the one that we live in."
"You're telling me the four of us are going to live in one apartment?"
"It will be easier to keep an eye on you." Wufei stated, "Now are you coming or what? Oh and we have to use the stairs, elevators are out of order."
"What floor are we on?"
"The 19th."
"I should have stayed on the run." Duo grumbled as he followed Wufei and Trowa up the stairs.
All right, another Chapter is done. Thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far. -Retep