"FUCK! GODAMN FUCKING SHIT!" a normally so mild and buoyant voice exclaimed, filling the not so calm air of the hanger with profanity, then continued along that vein in five different languages (causing the paint on a nearby wall to start flaking violently) before another voice interrupted.

"What's wrong Duo?" Quatre asked, walking into the hanger where four of the five Gundams rested.

"Aww nuthing... I just fell and the part I was working with got broken." Duo said rising from the ground in front of Shinigami where he had fallen and holding the mangled piece of machinery up so the others could see. "And it was the last one in stock!"

"What piece is it, there might be a spare in the repair kits." Trowa said from where he was working in Heavyarms' cockpit.

"Nah it's not that important. I was trying to tune up the scythe." Duo said referring to the Shinigami's main weapon. "Ooooooooohhhh! Is that a double white latte, extra sugar that I'm smelling?" He said rising to his feet and running to relieve Quatre of the starbucks cups he was carrying, not to mention a small box that smelled suspiciously like cinnamon.

Trowa took this as his sign to leave Heavyarms for later and claim one of the remaining lattes, at the same time draping himself around his lover from behind. "Thank you." he whispered in Quatre's ear, and kissed the blond Arabs' cheek.

"I just got an e-mail from the doctors." Quatre said as Trowa pulled away from him. "I have a mission in Australia, and it looks like there may be missions for you too from what I read in the report they sent me."

"OK!" Duo said. "I'll go check my e-mail now and see if there's anything new."

Before he made it to the door though Wufei spoke up, surprising them all. "I hope we don't get split up."

"Why?" Trowa asked.

The Chinese boy shrugged. "We work well as a team." He explained, before leaving through the door at the other side of their hanger.

Duo was the one that broke the silence. "Well I for one agree with him, and it's not half so lonely when you're working in a group." He explained. "I'll be back in a few." he said leaving the room finally and heading to the living room of the safe house three levels up. The hanger was fifty feet underground with two exits for people walking, one to the outside and one to the house.

When Duo got to his room he went to the computer and checked his e-mail that Prof. G had set up for leaving mission info and stuff. He did indeed have a mission but he would be going solo.

"FUCK!" he said looking at the mission specs. "Why the hell would I be chosen for THIS?" He wondered out loud. It was an info gathering mission, he was supposed to steal some kind of technology from someone in Japan. The type of technology was also very strange. Holoprojector technology that actually made light seems solid? Even if it worked it would require a huge amount of energy...

"That's fucking impossible." Duo muttered, re-reading the specifications. And he was supposed to do this on his own. "Fuck."

"I'm sorry we have to separate." Quatre said, as he and Trowa loaded their bags in the car that would take them to the air port. They had a mission in Australia, and Duo couldn't be more envious of them. Quatre's mansion was in a temperate area, but Duo was going to Japan, and at this time of year it was guaranteed to be miserable.

Heero had disappeared two nights ago, and so Wufei and Duo would have the mansion to themselves and Quatre's servants for two days, then it would just be Duo. There had been no explanation as to of why Duo was getting an intelligence mission instead of blowing something up either.

"Eh, its ok, we can meet up when we're all done." Duo said with his usual attitude, while he helped Trowa put the last two bags into the trunk.

"I'll get you a post card, ok?" Quatre said. "I won't be able to mail it to you while we're on mission, but I'll get you one for later anyways."

"Thanks!" Duo said, giving his friend a quick hug and a huge smile. "Have fun while you can ok?"

"We need to go." Trowa said, and he and Quatre said their final goodbyes and got into the car. Wufei went inside when the car left the driveway, but Duo stood and watched the car disappear into the distance, then stood for a little while longer praying that he would meet his friends again in the near future.

Four days later Duo arrived at Domino cities international airport, exhausted and with an unusual amount of jet lag. All Duo wanted to do was find a hotel room and fall asleep, but that was looking like a doubtful possibility indeed because all of the customs checks and the baggage claims and lack of taxies. When Duo finally did arrive at his hotel, and after convincing the hostess he was who he claimed to be (even though he wasn't really) he did sleep all day, until mid-afternoon when he could sleep no longer. For the rest of the day, the pilot of Shinigami explored the eerily familiar city, and got to know the area that seemed so familiar and yet so strange, the place where he would be staying for the next week or so.

TBC