Chapter Two: Scene One

"Wake up, sleepy head! I thought you were an early riser, Heero!" Duo shouted from across the room as he ran in circles and stretched. Heero groggily sat up, rocking to the unstable bed's movement. Rubbing his eyes, he muttered, "What happened. . .I usually wake up at daybreak. . ."

"Well, you're awake now, and we have work to do! So hop out of bed and get dressed, it's off to the mall we go!" Duo cheerfully said as he jogged in place.

"The. . .what! Mall! I thought this was a mission, not a shopping trip!" Heero exclaimed as he wobbled out of the bed. He caught his foot on the edge of the bed frame and went tumbling to the floor, sprawling out in front of his suitcase like a clumsy 2-year-old. Duo let out a loud hoot as he stopped and fell to the floor with laughter at his friend's awkward climb out of bed. Heero stood straight up and shouted, "SHUT UP!"

"Okay, okay, what's your problem! You can't blame me for finding that amusing. . .cause it was! BUWAHAHAHA!" He rolled around a little more and finally composed himself and stifled a chuckle as he got to his feet. Heero glared at him and said as he rubbed his hip in pain, "I've never been so clumsy in my life. . ." He groaned and walked into the bathroom, not even closing the door as he climbed into the bathtub. Duo's eyebrow went up as he said, "Um, people usually take off their clothes when they take a bath! . . .Heero?" He slowly walked over to the bathroom as the sound of the bath echoed into the room.

"Heero. . .?" Duo called again but got no response. Suddenly, he heard a thud in the bathroom and he ran to find Heero laying unconscious in the tub, face down. With a gasp, Duo leapt over and pulled Heero out of the water and onto the tile floor.

"Heero! Wake up, man! Heero!" a small puddle of blood appeared beside Heero's head and Duo's eyes widened. Heero had hit his head on the rim of the wineglass tub as he fell and created a rather painful-looking gash on his head.

"Heero. . ."

Scene Two

"Uugh. . .what happened. . ." Heero tried to sit up but a sharp pain throbbed in his head and he stopped moving, reaching to touch the gash. He felt a hand stop him and he opened his eyes to see Duo at his side, looking a bit worried.

"Don't, I had to stitch up a huge gash on your head and that's what's throbbing." Duo said quietly, putting an ice pack on Heero's forehead. Heero frowned and said, "Wha. . .what's that for?"

"You have a fever, that's why you felt so ill this morning and stumbled out of bed."

"Fever?"

"I'm guessing you didn't favor too well on the long flight over here, and staying up so late didn't help any."

"But I never get jetlag. . ."

"Even the best soldiers get sick, don't worry, I'm sure your fever will break soon and you can handle it!"

"My head feels like it's on fire. . ." Heero moaned as he reached to touch his head again. Duo swatted his hand away again and said, "Don't move, just rest and get better! I'll run downstairs and get you some soup from the dining hall! Be right back." He ran to the door and as he opened it, Heero said, "Duo, you don't have to-"

"Hey, you need all you can get to get back on your feet so we can finish this mission as soon as possible! I can't do anything without you, so I might as well help you any way I can. Later!" He dashed out of the room before Heero could protest anymore and left him to lay in painful confusion.

Why does Duo care about me? It's not just so he can get back to the mission. . .is it? If it was that simple that'd be great but I get a strange feeling it's not. Heero thought to himself. He was about to continue musing about it but his head throbbed again from the deep thinking and he decided it wasn't a wise thing to do. As he silently waited for Duo to return, he heard a knock on the door and a quiet creak as it opened. Careful, confident footsteps entered the room and Heero took a guess as to who it was.

"Trowa, how'd you know that we were staying here?" Heero moaned, not even bothering to look to see if he was right.

"I see your hearing's good as ever. I just happened to be in the neighborhood and decided to drop by. Nice room, by the way. . ." Trowa said with a hint of amusement. He paused as he saw the condition Heero was in and said in his pitiless voice, "You look worse than you did that time you self-detonated your Gundam and blew yourself to heck."

"Thanks." Heero responded dryly. Trowa knelt next to the bed and felt Heero's cheek with the back of his hand, startling him into opening his eyes and looking at him.

"You have a high fever." Trowa said, sounding surprised.

"No, I stuck my head under the hot water faucet just for fun."

"You should be in a hospital, you've probably got a temperature of 104."

"That's nice. . .but I'm too busy to be in a hospital. Besides. . .Duo's taking care of me."

"Duo? You trust him that much?"

"Hey, he's not that incompetent." Heero said, then wondered why he was defending him like this.

"Okay, take it easy. Where is the braided fool, anyway?" Trowa wryly commented, looking toward the still open door.

"He's. . .busy. You should probably not be here when he gets back." Heero said, hoping Trowa wouldn't see his "nurse" cheerfully returning with soup.

"Yeah. Since we're on the same mission, keep me updated on what you find. I'll be in contact." At that, he disappeared out the door and closed it behind himself.

On the same mission? It was only addressed to me and Duo. . .Heero pondered, but didn't get a chance to finish the thought when Duo entered the room and said, "Lunchtime! Think you're up to some food?" Heero slowly sat up and leaned against the headboard, taking the soup from Duo and sitting it in his lap. As Duo sat on the edge of the bed, he said, "Hey, is something wrong? You're awfully quiet."

"I don't feel well. . .I think I'll just sleep." He gave the soup back to Duo and turned away, curling up under the covers and holding the ice pack to his head. Duo frowned in slight sadness as he sat the soup on the dresser and started on his own.

"Duo?"

"Hmm?" Duo looked back at Heero as he swallowed his mouthful.

"Thanks anyway." Duo smiled and continued to eat.

Scene Three

"ARGH, stupid computer. . ." Heero woke to find Duo cursing under his breath and whacking the laptop they had brought along for the mission. He sat up and said, "If that technique actually worked, I'd use it on you a bit more often."

Well, Heero's back to his normal, sardonic self again. . .Duo thought to himself as he tried to ignore the snide comment.

"I was trying to access a file on here about our mission but it claims it doesn't exist. I was looking at it just this morning while you were asleep, why won't it work now!" Duo said in aggravation as he hit buttons out of frustration. Heero thought for a minute and said, "Was this before or after you got the soup?"

"Before. . .why, what happened?" Duo said, sensing a hidden occurrence, "Is that why you weren't hungry, do you know what happened?"

"Well, I have a suspicion about it. . .but that's not why I wasn't hungry."

"Why weren't you?"

"Nevermind. Were we the only people assigned to this mission or didn't the message specify?"

"Um, I think we are. . .why?"

"Well, I don't know if you noticed or not but an old friend was at the party last night. . ."

"I know, you mentioned him. Who was it?"

"Trowa."

"Really. . .I wonder why he was there."

"He said he was after an 'objective', same as us."

"Can't be our objective. . ." Duo said, reclining a bit and slowly stroking his chin with his fingers in thought.

"Why not?"

"Nevermind. Hey, what does he have to do with my missing file?"

"Well. . .he kind of stopped by while you were gone. . .I'm not quite sure if he did anything while he was here or not. . ."

"What do you mean he stopped by! Why didn't you tell me before!" Duo said, closing the laptop and standing up, running into the bathroom as Heero frowned in confusion.

"What difference does it make, why does it matter?"

"Cause, our objective is Triton Bloom!"

"So?"

"His codename is Trowa Barton."

"What! Why didn't you tell me!"

"I. . .wasn't suppose to. . ."

"What." Heero got up and in Duo's face in less time Duo could take a breath in.

"Hey, it wasn't my idea!" Duo stuttered, backing up as he was cornered in the bathroom. He tripped and fell back against the sink, leaning back farther as Heero's face followed his the whole time.

"You're gonna tell me everything you weren't suppose to, right now." Heero growled, his eyes in tight, aggravated slits. Duo gulped and nervously said, "Alright, okay! Can you give me a little space here!" By now Heero was straddling Duo against the sink and a little too close for comfort. Heero moved away and stood in the doorway, arms crossed and eyes sharply set on Duo, awaiting a lengthy explanation of the entire mission. Duo rubbed the back of his now very sweaty neck and said, "What exactly do you wanna know in particular?"

"Everything."

"But. . .we have an assignment today!"

"Too bad."

"It's really important!"

"So. . .hurry it up then." Duo grit his teeth then suddenly, as if cued, a knock echoed on the front door.

"Well, we have a caller! Let's not keep him waiting!" Duo bolted past Heero and grabbed the doorknob, flinging the door open with a huge greeting grin on as he said, "Yes, may I hel-heeelloooo. . ." his jaw dropped and he blinked as if he thought he was dreaming. Heero sighed and said as he walked over to the door, "What, who's at the door. . ." He stopped dead in his tracks behind Duo as his eyes widened and he said, "Uh. . ." A beautiful blonde stood at the door in a rather short red dress and high heels, a sly smile on her crimson lips as she said, "Hello there, I'm looking for a handsome man. . .seems I found two for the price of one."

"Hummina hummina hummina. . ." Duo stuttered as he just about passed out. Heero composed himself and pushed Duo aside, responding, "Well, who are you looking for in particular? Do you know his name?"

"A Mr. Yuy, I was sent to. . .entertain him." She responded with a grin, her green eyes staring deep into Heero's ever widening Prussian blue eyes. She stepped into the room and Heero quickly backed up as he said over his shoulder, "Duo, what did you do!"

"I didn't do anything!" Duo shouted from the bathroom where he was hiding in case Heero decided to kill him just for fun. Heero kept backing up all the way to the bed, that he preceded to trip over and onto. The woman closed the door and crawled onto the bed, inching closer and closer to Heero who clumsily and desperately crawled to the back of the bed, until he was trapped. He flattened against the headboard and his eyes went wider than Duo had thought possible as the woman grinned and reached into the top of her dress.

"ACK!" Duo exclaimed as he covered his eyes, and left room between his fingers to watch. Heero stared at her hand as she pulled out a disc and handed it to Heero.

"Huh?" Heero said, a little frazzled as he took the disc and looked at it.

"What is that, a CD of kinky music?" Duo asked in an innocent voice. Heero glared at him and Duo disappeared behind the door. The woman laughed and Heero recognized the chuckle, which scared him as to who it reminded him of.

"What. . .the. . .HECK are you doing in a DRESS!" Heero said, pushing the still laughing person away from him. Duo peeked out of the bathroom and said, "Huh? Do you know her?"

"Him." Heero said as he crawled out of the bed and picked up the laptop to see what was on the disc.

"WHAT! No way, guys just don't look that good in a dress like that!" Duo exclaimed as he stormed out of the bathroom. The grinning intruder was sprawled out on the bed, looking at Duo in an almost expectant manner. Duo paused suddenly as he looked closely at the eyes, the blonde hair. . .the light complexion. . .

"Q-QUATRE!" Duo exclaimed again. With another laugh, he said, "Is it that shocking that I'd look good in a dress? I thought you used to tease me about my feminine good looks all the time. . ."

"Yeah, but that's just wrong!" Duo indignantly said. Quatre laughed again as he rolled onto his stomach and propped his chin on the heel of his palms, smiling up at Duo and swinging his legs around in the air. Shuttering, Duo walked over to the computer and looked at the screen over Heero's shoulder as he loaded the files off the disc to view them. With a twitch of his eye, Heero growled, "Do you want something!"

"Huh? No. . ." Duo responded naively. Quatre cleared his throat and pointed to the vain popping out of Heero's forehead, growing larger by the second. Duo jumped back and gulped, seconds away from a beating for breathing down Heero's neck. With one final aggravated sigh, Heero opened the file on the disc given to him. As he read the information, his eyes widened and he said, "So this is what I wasn't informed of?"

"Every last forgotten detail. The mission's gotten complicated, so I was sent to assist however my help is needed." Quatre said as he climbed gracefully off the bed and stood at Heero's side. Duo muttered about how Quatre was too good at this undercover stuff as he coughed to muffle his comment. Quatre ignored it as he said, "It'll take you at least an hour to fully read over that 'lost' information, if you need me to cover for you today while you catch up. . ."

"No, this won't take me long. Duo, get ready for our next assignment."

"Right!" He rushed about grabbing things as Heero kept his eyes glued to the computer screen, rapidly taking in the shed light that he was kept in the dark from since the beginning. Suddenly, Quatre was startled by a pile of clothes whacking him in the face.

"What the-" Quatre exclaimed.

"Put those on; seeing you in that dress in making me uncomfortable!" Duo said as he knelt next to his bag to rummage for something. Quatre shrugged as he walked into the bathroom with perfect balance on his heels. Duo watched him a little until the sight made a chill run up his spine.

Boy, we need to talk later. . .Duo thought to himself about Quatre as he shook his head and continued his search.

Scene Four

"Alright, now let's see, where's the best spot. . ." Duo said as the three boys walked into the local mall, weaving their way through the crowds of people. Dressed as a normal, non-queenish boy, Quatre followed the two boys as they searched for a safe place to make base for the day's assignment.

"Will you hurry it up, Duo, we don't have too much time to fool around. . ." Heero commented, slightly annoyed still from earlier.

"Patience is a virtue. . ." Duo mockingly sung as he grinned and said, "There! Perfect, if I do say so myself!"

"Men's Footlocker?" Quatre said, a bit confused.

"It's close to our objective for the afternoon and a very manly place to hang out as a cover." Duo said with a wink. Quatre sighed and said, "You'll never let it die, will you?"

"Not as long as I have breath to give me voice!" Duo grinned as he opened the emergency exit door by the store and walked down the long hallway, heading for the bathroom. Heero walked toward the footlocker to do his part of the assignment.

"Heero?" Heero turned around and looked at Quatre, noticing a concerned look on his face.

"What?"

"Are you sure you're up to this?" Heero blankly stared at Quatre for a second before turning and continuing on. With a sigh, Quatre thought to himself, I hope you know what you're doing. . .

As Heero entered the store, he saw two girls standing by the register giggling and looking at him, a third with them but not paying attention as she paid for something. Heero ignored them until he heard one of them call out to him.

"Hey there, lookin' for a helmet?" He looked at the girls again and said, "Excuse me?" The girl that made the comment grinned and said, "You're a bike rider, right? You're wearing the shorts for it. . ." He looked down at his spandex shorts and thought with a groan, Oh, they're just making fun of me. . .dumb blondes. . .

"Oh, would you leave him alone? Come on!" Heero looked up and noticed the third girl pushing the others out of the store. He blinked as she said, "Sorry, just ignore them! It's not their faults they have broccoli for brains!" The girls protested and Heero wryly grinned, turning back around to continue his journey.

I guess I am a big conspicuous with these on. . .maybe I should have worn something else. He turned a corner and stopped dead in his tracks. Up ahead of him was, of all people, Trowa. He was looking a pair of sneakers over until he noticed Heero staring at him from the end of the aisle. He smiled and said, "Better already?"

"Um, yeah." Heero said, slowly walking toward Trowa, "What are you doing here?"

"Needed some new shoes. And you?"

"Bike helmet." He said, thinking to himself, Idiot, stop talking to him and get going.

"Oh, that would be two more aisles down." Trowa said quietly, pointing in the general direction.

"Yeah, thanks." Heero turned to go when he heard Trowa say, "How was the soup?" He stopped and said quietly without turning back, "I didn't have any soup."

"Sorry. . .my mistake. Take care." Heero walked around the corner of the aisle and headed for the bike aisle, thinking, He's been watching us. . .but why? Who's his secret objective? Could it be one of us? I never should have trusted him, he was most likely the one who stole that data out of our laptop. That's not good, he knows about our mission now. . .I need to get to Duo, he might be in danger. He headed for the back of the store and slipped into the stockroom, crouching in a dark corner and pulling a communicator out of his pocket, whispering, "Duo, do you read me, over?"

Yeah, what's shakin'? Duo responded.

"Trowa's here."

What? Where?

"In the store; I think he's on to us."

Alright, we have to abort then. If he has our mission files it's all over.

"He does, he stole them from the laptop while I was sick."

Head for the exit, I'll find Quatre and catch up with you later. Skip our next two assignments and go to plan B.

"10-4, over and out." He put the device back in he pocket and stood up. . .then sat back down. The room started to spin as he felt like throwing up, wobbling back and forth as he stared into space, suddenly breaking into a cold sweat.

What's. . .wrong with me! I. . .I can't move. . . He collapsed to the floor and stared blankly at the wall, slowly and desperately reaching for the communicator.

I. . .have to get to. . .Duo. He pressed the transmit button and started sending an SOS to Duo, hoping that for once the baka would pay attention.

"Huh? What's that sound?" Duo said to himself, looking down at his pocket and listening as he pulled out his communicator, "Sounds like. . .Morris code. . .S. . .O. . . . .S? gasp! Heero!" He responded in code back to Heero, in case he was in a position that a voice confirmation would compromise his safety.

Where. . .are. . .you. Heero mentally read the code and slowly responded.

"Stockroom?" Duo thought for a second and ran for the door, heading straight for the footlocker. He slowed down as he entered the store and calmly walked to the back, being cautious in case Trowa was still there.

Call Duo, we need to have a little one on one talk.

"What?" Duo stopped and silently listened to the transmission.

I don't know what. . .you're talking. . .ab. .out, Trowa. . .

I knew I shouldn't have let him come. . .but why does Trowa want to talk to me? Duo thought.

Just get him over here.

Why. . .should I do. .anyth. . .thing for you.

Because if you don't. . .I'll kill you.

Heero! I have to do something! Duo thought as his heart began to race, trying to think of something to do to stop Trowa from hurting his friend. He looked up and saw a bike lock and chain hanging over his head.

Scene Five

"Even if. . .Duo was here, he wouldn't be. . .dumb enough to. .come after me. That's. . .what spy work. . .is. . .all about." Heero gasped as he tried to stay conscious.

"Well, knowing Duo, he won't be smart enough to leave you behind. He sure seems attached to you lately, being your little nurse for the week. . .too bad there's nothing he can do for you."

"What do you mean?"

"Your illness, he doesn't realize the severity of it. . .yet."

"How do you know-"

"I couldn't let you get in the way of my mission, Heero. No hard feelings, of course. . ."

"What did you. . .do to. . .me?"

"Not much. . .just gave you a small case of-GAK!" Heero heard struggling sounds as Trowa was, as he assumed, attacked by someone. He couldn't move to see what happened but he figured he'd soon find out as he heard a thud of a body hitting the floor, who's it was he wasn't really sure. Chain rattling echoed into his ears and then the voice of an angel.

"Heero, are you okay! What happened?" Duo said as he pulled Heero up and looked into his eyes. He looked shocked by the glassy look of Heero's eyes as Heero barely said, "Hos. . .pital. . ."

"Right, I'll get Quatre to come get Trowa. We'll go out the back way." He picked Heero up and slung his arm over his shoulder, helping him out of the stockroom through a back door, leading into the exit hallway and out into the open. As he picked up speed and headed straight for their vehicle, Quatre ran up to them and said, "What in the world-"

"Go back to the footlocker, Trowa's unconscious in the stockroom, get him and tie him up in our hotel room!" Duo ordered. Quatre nodded, briefly looking worried at Heero's weak condition before running back to the mall. Duo carefully eased Heero into the car and jumped in himself, roaring the engine to life and tearing out of the parking lot and down the road to the nearest hospital.