Disclaimer: No relation to Gundam Wing. No own Gundam Wing. No relation to anything Gundam. No own anything Gundam. No making profit from this. All of the above is very obvious, otherwise why would I be writing this? Disclaimers are a pain to write.

Pairings: 1x2, 3x4, 5xS, past 5xM (she's dead)

Summary: Gangs rule the Outlands, and shoot any OZ soldiers that enter their turf. The solution? Use ex-gangers, now OZ prisoners, to infiltrate them. What OZ doesn't know is that these five prisoners have something else in mind...

Fighting Fire with Fire

Chapter Two: Clash of Wills

There was a knock on the door, and Treize and Zechs' head swivelled around to look at it. A voice floated into the conference room. "It's Une, sir. With the juveniles."

"Ah, good. Come in."

The door opened, and five boys quickly filed in, Une the last to enter, closing the door behind her. The boys spread out in a line on the other side of the long table where Treize sat. Une took her seat on one side of Treize, the other side taken by Zechs, and the adults turned to face the boys. There was a moment where they all stared at each other.

Then Treize coughed. "How rude of me. I am Treize Kushrenada, the Commander of OZ. You already know Captain Une, and this is Captain Zechs. Pleased to meet you."

"Pleased to meet you," Zechs agreed.

Duo's grin widened. "I'll bet you are, eh? Since we're your best hope of salvation and all."

Treize and Zechs blinked. Une was unmoved; she was already somewhat used to Duo Maxwell.

The Commander recovered quickly. "Something like that. Ah, Une has sent your information to us beforehand, so we already know your names and personal data. Oh, where are my manners? Please, sit."

The boys pulled out a chair each and sat in one fluid motion, like they had co-ordinated it beforehand. It was almost eerie, and Treize knew it for the united front it was. Just how well did they know each other? The warden had said that he hadn't noticed any extra interaction between any of them, other than the normal unavoidable contact. Only Yuy and Maxwell, perhaps, but they didn't go out of their way to acknowledge each other, either, simply providing back up that one time to one another when Maxwell was being hassled. It was only to be expected after that shared escape attempt, after all.

From the time they accepted the mission until now, there had been only one chance for them to talk – when they showered and changed from their jumpsuits to the standard loose track pants and t-shirt of OZ. So maybe in the Centre, they had talked during showers as well? Ah, this wasn't getting him anywhere.

"Alright. Let's get this meeting started, shall we? Une, please take notes. We are here to draw up a contract between OZ and you five. The basic offer is, you infiltrate the Outlands and help us find a way to get rid of the gangs. You either personally eliminate them, or find a way for us to do so – it's up to you. The maximum time you have to do this is thirty-two months, the remaining eight months in this year and two more years after that. Preferably, though, by the end of next year. Then we want you to quietly integrate yourselves into society, and not cause any trouble. If you do, we have the right to dole out the harshest punishments to you."

Duo grinned. "We'll integrate, yeah, but maybe not so quietly, eh? What if we wanna become hotshots or something? Movie stars?"

Treize looked vaguely amused. "Alright, integrate yourselves into society and lead law-abiding lives."

"That's fine. Okay, so let's talk about life after we complete this mission. You said you'd give us ten thousand each?" When Treize nodded, he continued, "We'll take that, but we also want you to provide a house for us, for until we can 'integrate ourselves into society'."

"Excuse me?" Zechs couldn't help saying incredulously.

"You're excused," Duo winked. "As I was saying, we want a house, big enough for five of us, and somewhere quiet but with easy access to the city. Won't it be easier to keep track of us if we live together? You don't have to post guards on five different houses. And it's better if you give us the house now, so we can use it as a base for planning. We can't exactly live in the Outlands and perform to our full capacity."

"And why is that?"

"We won't be able to sleep well, of course."

Treize stalled Zechs' protest with a raised hand. "Alright. We will find you a house to use during your mission and put it in Mr Yuy's name."

"And the house won't come out from the ten thousand."

"Agreed."

"And as we told the lady before, we also need full co-operation from you – when we need backup, you have to respond immediately. Otherwise you mustn't do anything unless we ask you to. Got that?"

"In exchange for this level of trust we need full and regular updates on your plans."

Duo glanced at the others. Quatre nodded to him and turned to face Treize. "We cannot fully reveal everything lest there is a leak, but we will give you as much information as possible that will not endanger us and the mission. If we manage it, sometimes we might personally visit either one of you three for a full briefing, so we need you to acknowledge us if we ask for you."

Treize nodded. "I will inform my secretary."

Quatre smiled at Duo and sat back again, and the American continued. "A few of your soldiers know about this mission, as do the rest of the juvvies and the warden. We assume you can keep it under wraps?"

"The soldiers were all White Fang, and like the warden have been warned. The juvvies have no way to spread the information," Une reassured them.

"Good. Keep it that way. From now on, all details pertaining to the mission is to be kept only to you three. The gangs are a tough crowd to work with, so we don't want any stupid mistakes."

"Understood."

"Good, now comes the more immediate part. Do you still have our old stuff?"

Zechs nodded. "I checked. What few personal belongings you have are in the vaults with the rest of the prisoners' stuff. The guns are gone, for obvious reasons, but the knives remain, on the basis that you can get a knife anywhere so it doesn't make a difference if we take the knives away or not."

"Clothes?"

"No, those are gone."

Duo made a face. "Just as we thought. Okay, first, we'll need custom-made clothes. I can draw the designs and give you the measurements within a few hours, and we'll need them at least a few days before the mission."

Une frowned. "Custom-made clothes? The unique designs some of you wore? That would make you recognizable."

"That's the point, lady," Duo grinned. "All of us are well known. Actually, we were kinda like legends, and still are. The clothes identify us, and that gives us an extra edge."

"What if they know that you were arrested?"

Duo shrugged with a smirk. "Arrested? Who, us? Any concrete proof of that? Why, we just lay low and let the OZ sods think they got us, and we joined forces while in hiding. Now we're coming out again as a group."

The adults smiled at this. "Very good, Mr. Maxwell," Treize said appreciatively. "We will give you the clothes."

"Unfortunately, our trademarks are only additions to normal outfits. We'll need to buy other clothes."

"I suppose you want us to give you an allowance to buy your clothes which doesn't come out of the ten thousand either?"

"You catch on fast."

Treize raised an eyebrow. "You're demanding an awful lot, Mr. Maxwell, you and your colleagues. Why, some people might even think you're more trouble than you're worth."

Duo grinned. It was not a nice grin. It was more of a baring of teeth than a grin. "Oh, we know what we're worth to you, Mr. Commander, sir. And the trouble we give you is nothing compared to the benefits we bring."

The older man swept a measured gaze over the five and saw the challenge. He chose to surrender gracefully. "Alright. Is five hundred for each of you enough?"

"Should be. What we can't buy, we'll ask you to make. We'll give you the change when we're done."

Treize was surprised at that, but then he smiled. "Agreed. I'll tell our seamstresses to cater to your every whim."

Duo was about to retort to the slight sarcasm when they were startled by a knock on the door. "Commander Treize? I have the belongings you asked me to bring up."

"Good, good, come in." The man entered the room, and put the bags in his hands on the table as Treize instructed him to, before saluting his superiors and hurrying out again.

Duo laughed. "Just in time, too! I was just about to talk equipment, like the lady so nicely put it before."

They stood and each went over to the end of the table to take the bags with their names labeled on them. Each had various knives, daggers, and sheaths. Besides that, Heero had a compact laptop, Duo had some odd-looking contraptions, Trowa had some kind of coiled wire and throwing knives, Quatre had a pair of short swords, and Wufei had a katana.

"All the explosives stuff gone, too," Duo observed. "We'll need those replaced. I'll make a list of what we need. Oh, and we'd like some of our blades to be replaced with Gundanium."

"Are you mad? Do you know how expensive that is?"

"That's why we said some of our blades, not all."

Treize laid a restraining hand on Une's arm. "As long as the amount of Gundanium you demand is within limits."

Duo nodded seriously. "Of course."

"Alright. Anything else?"

"We need something inconspicuous that nevertheless can allow us to easily communicate with each other on the field. Oh, and bug scanners, that sort of thing."

"We can do that. Our technology is the most advanced in this area."

Duo flashed a grin at Une. "That's good. We'll also need a new laptop for Heero. The latest, mind. And as small as possible."

"Why? The gangs don't exactly have anything you'll need to hack into."

"Ah, that's where you're wrong. Even on the streets each gang still had to have techies, people who used technology and computers to, oh, perhaps seal off the entrances to hideouts, or tweak cars into top-notch escape vehicles, or even steal money straight from banks. Needless to say, in the Outlands where gangs have free rein, they'll use even more tech to protect themselves. You're not the only ones who know how to use it, yanno."

Une's lips thinned as she pressed them together at the new information, but Treize nodded calmly. "A laptop. Fine."

Heero spoke for the first time. "I want to choose it myself. If necessary I will build it from scratch."

They blinked at him. "You can do that?" Zechs asked, surprised and a little warily.

"Hn."

"Yeah, Hee-chan can do it. Give him a few hours to catch up with all the advancements he missed in the past year and he'll be set!" Duo laughed, punching Heero in the shoulder. "Though I think he mainly wants to know about computers to talk shop. He tries to hide it, but it's common knowledge that he only knows how to build them, he can't do nothing more except the basics – email, typing, some small code-breaking on the side, yadda yadda. He just wants the latest so that it's more efficient. Ain't that right?"

The adults looked slightly relieved as Heero scowled. "Don't call me Hee-chan."

"Anything else?" Zechs interrupted testily.

"Oh, yes, guns and ammo, of course. Give us your best and we'll choose. Maybe we'll stick to our old gun models, maybe not. We'll see. We'll need to arrange a time to check out your armory."

Treize shook his head and smiled thinly. "You are certainly very demanding, Mr. Maxwell."

"Of course. We need nothing but the best in this mission. While we might be confident we can do it, it's only if we have the right equipment. One wrong move, one faulty weapon, we fail. Simple as that."

"Fine. Is that all?"

Duo considered. "Yeah... oh, wait." He grinned outright. "We need a set of wheels. One that can go fast, take a lot of hits without shitting itself, and can make sharp turns."

Treize shot a stern look at his indignant Captains who were about to protest, yet again. "All our OZ cars fit that criteria. We'll let you choose one of them."

"Then we're all set. Give us some paper and pens and we'll list down all the stuff we need, right here, right now. The three of you can go to your office and draw up an agreement while we wait." Duo flashed them another grin. "Don't worry, we're not going anywhere."

Treize nodded. "We'll post a soldier outside the conference room door. If you need us, tell him and he'll come and fetch one of us."

Duo nodded. "We'll probably ask for one of you to bring us to the armory after we've done the lists, and maybe if we still have time we'll go see the cars."

"Fair enough. Zechs will come down when you ask. We'll meet up later in the evening to go over the contract and your list, make any corrections necessary. The paper and stationery are all in that cupboard over there. Oh, and I'll have dinner sent up at the same time."

"Dinner!" Duo cheered. "I hope it's going to be better than the ones at the Centre."

"The food here isn't half bad," Une assured him as she and the two men stood up, ready to leave. Treize paused as a thought occurred to him.

"You held a discussion in the showers, didn't you?"

Seven pairs of eyes blinked at him in surprise. Then the boys looked at each other and shrugged. "Yes," Quatre said simply.

"Just out of curiosity, did you know each other well before this?"

Duo shook his head. "We were mostly left alone for the most part, except in the beginning when some of the others thought they'd try and teach us 'our place'." Wufei snorted at that, while the rest of them smirked. "They gave that up pretty quickly, and avoided us after that. We did the same. Heero helped me once fighting off some really big guys, but that was it for us."

"But I could have sworn you knew each other!" Une blurted out, uncharacteristically. "Even though you were scattered throughout the crowd, you used 'we' instead of 'I' and you were so sure of how good you all were, and you seemed comfortable with each other..." she trailed off at the bemused looks the boys were giving her and snapped her mouth shut. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Treize's raised eyebrow and Zech's surprised look.

"Er, I don't know about them, but like I said, we're legends. And if you're legend on the streets, it's usually because you're one of the best. The most deadly. So I kinda researched them," he said rather sheepishly, looking at the interested. "Gathered what info I could, went to the places they fought, checked out their opponents, stuff like that. I had lots of free time. Used all that to build up a pretty accurate, if I do say so myself, profile for each of them – fighting styles, motives and all that. We lived in different districts, but I managed to catch sight of all of them at least once, so I've seen them in their trademark clothes, too."

He paused, then flashed a grin at Heero. "Even saw you in action once, Hee-chan. Man, that was too cool. It was what led me to look for you and plan the most daring escape plan I'd ever done. Almost got out, too, if not for the cheating bastards." He scowled at the memory.

"Using tear gas and tranquillisers is hardly cheating when you're dealing with armed and dangerous opponents, Mr Maxwell," Une said amusedly.

"Armed? We only had some branches that Heero wrenched off a tree!" Duo exclaimed, looking put-out.

"Anything in your hands can be considered dangerous," Zechs said dryly. "Don't forget you killed two men. Did you know they had to call in my team, and we had to use an ungodly amount of tranquillisers to affect you? You must have a huge resistance to drugs."

Duo winked at him while Heero shrugged, and the adults finally left the room. Immediately five heads turned and scanned the room. Duo grinned absent-mindedly as his eyes roved and said, "Sorry, guys, about that whole research thing. It was just a survival tactic at the time, but then I got really interested in you and started getting into the whole 'figuring out your psyches' part."

Finding no video recording devices, or anywhere such things could be hidden, they looked at each other and nodded, splitting up and beginning a survey of the room, checking every space for bugs listening in.

"Man, it feels good to finally get a chance to walk around and stretch a bit," Duo added as an afterthought. Heero gave him a quick smirk at that, his subtle way of telling Duo he understood why the braided boy had said that. It was an alibi as to why they would be moving around the room, in case there were listening bugs around that would record their voices growing loud and soft in turns as they moved. Duo winked back.

Quatre laughed softly as they moved. "I did that too, actually, researched on all five of you. I got to know your styles quite well." He paused and waved a hand, pointing to the corner of the room he stood in front of. The others nodded and resumed their search.

Wufei picked up the thread of conversation next. "It was the same for me, though I did not quite anticipate the level of brainless noise you could actually be capable of, Maxwell."

"Hey!"

Trowa slid out from under the table and caught the others' attention, and pointed. "Ignore him," he said quietly as he moved a few steps away from the table. They acknowledged his find and turned back to their own searches.

"Yes, but some of us don't have the privilege of having a room far, far away from the menace, Barton. I'm a few doors down, and it's hard to ignore someone when you hear them all the time."

"I'm right next door."

Wufei nodded solemnly at Heero as the boys reconvened, Quatre with five pencils and paper in hand. "I feel for you, Yuy."

"I'm beginning to feel insulted, here," Duo huffed as the boys sat, Heero and Duo on one side of the table, at the end furthest from the bugged corner of the room, with Wufei, Trowa and Quatre on the other side.

"What, only now?"

"You'd better watch out, Wuffie ..." The paper was distributed, as were the pencils.

"It's Wufei!" the Chinese boy growled as he wrote in neat, controlled writing, They'll give us scanners programmed to skip their own bugs.

"You just have to learn to tune him out," Heero advised, smirking. "After a while you can tell when he's being serious and when he's just spouting rubbish." The others leaned in to see his reply in almost printed, regular writing, I can re-programme it.

"Ooh, be glad I like you, Hee-chan." Duo stuck his tongue out at Heero. No bugged clothes, but the car and house most likely will be, was his comment in scrawled writing. "As it is, I think I shall go and sit with Quatre instead." Heero yanked his braid as he tried to stand, causing him to yelp and fall backwards into Heero's lap. Wufei sighed, Quatre muffled a laughed, and Trowa's face managed to convey 'slightly amused'.

Duo squirmed around for a little bit before Heero's grip around his waist tightened and effectively trapped him. "Fine, keep me trapped," he huffed. Then he grinned. "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em!" He laid his head down on Heero's chest, snuggling into him, and grinned up at the slightly startled look on the Japanese boy's face. "You're comfy."

Quatre giggled and quickly began writing, as Trowa looked down at the blond with a minute smile, rare for him. Wufei groaned. "Did it occur to you that we just had our second real conversation with each other? Isn't that a bit fast to pull a move on someone?" Pay attention, Maxwell! the Chinese wrote and held the paper up with a small glare so that Duo could see it.

"Ever heard of love at first sight, Wuffers?" Duo shot back blithely. But then he relented, seeing the incredulous look on the Chinese teen's face. "Of course we're not in love. Yeah, I'm attracted to Hee-chan, but... I'm sure it'll grow into something more when we've had a chance to get to know each other better. Now, it's just..." he grinned at Heero and licked his lips with a suggestive raised eyebrow. "Friends with benefits. Like the golden couple over there."

"Duo..." Heero said warningly, as Wufei growled, "Don't even go there, Maxwell. Not in public."

"Aw, are you jealous?" Duo winked. Quatre then held up the paper he'd been writing on. In flowing, neat script, it said, Pretending to be together would give us a reason to be a group, if some of the sceptics in the gangs ask why we, previously loners, decided to work together. It would also serve to deter others from attacking one of us, if we made it openly clear that they would have to deal with all five. It also lends more credit to the claim that we can work well together, if we were more intimate, and will ease people's minds – to normal people, our level of understanding without spending time with each other is unheard of.

"I'm straight, Maxwell. Someone has to be," Wufei sighed as he read the note, keeping up the sidetracking banter, and began his reply. Duo and Quatre laughed at his quip, while Trowa and Heero looked amused.

"Alright, let's begin writing down what we'll need, individually, and then we'll work on the rest together," Heero said crisply. "Let's not waste time."

"Yes, master, right away," Duo pretended to simper. They got to work, and a while later Wufei pushed his note to the centre for all to read.

Yuy and Maxwell can be a couple, as can you and Barton. I know you two pairs already feel something for each other. To the gangs, we can say we owe life debts. As for me, I can be blood brothers with Yuy and Barton. That will cover all of us. Winner's right, we can't let them know we're abnormally close. They'll question us and yes, feel uneasy. We should arouse as little suspicion and curiosity as possible. They nodded when they read finished reading, and turned back to their work.

Duo's note was quickly scrawled and passed around. We'll fake deeper affection for each other, and our teasing will include Wufei for good measure. If Treize, Zechs or Une asks, we were afraid to show our relationships in public before but we trust their intentions enough to be more open now. Let them think we let our guards down. They probably imagine, after listening to us from the bugs, that we were uncomfortable with being public and only relaxed when we were alone. Did you see their faces when they left the room? They were unsettled by knowing we didn't really talk much to each other after all.

Before passing the note on, Quatre added, I could sense their unease and suspicion. Perhaps if they think we're hiding our preferences, they'll ease up on us. Make sure not to mention my sense, as well.

Hide the extent of our skills, was Trowa's short input before he gave the note to Wufei.

Of course, the Chinese wrote, showing the note to Trowa. We are not fools. Not even Maxwell, since he had enough sense to lie about Yuy's computer abilities.

Upon seeing that, Duo snatched the paper and scribbled, Hey! I run and hide but never lie – and I didn't! I just said it was common knowledge – and it was, in juvvie. He let them think he was a computer idiot.

Wufei raised an eyebrow at that, but Heero took the note, and when he had finished reading, he wrote over the words. Enough. We'll discuss it later. This will do for now, get to work.

So they did.

How's that for a second chapter? re-reads and winces Maybe not so good. I feel it's too technical, but I had to get their contract out first. It's a great show of the boys' unity, as well, and their highly trained minds, with which they can easily separate their minds into two different parts to carry on two different conversations at the same time. The boys' feelings will be developed later on, too, as will the more exciting stuff. And the ending! shudders The ending is terribly abrupt and, I feel, unsatisfying. Oh well, best I could do.

For those who aren't clear, the boys were carrying on a normal conversation while searching the rooms for bugs and video recording devices. They found audio bugs, but not visual, so they wrote to get their real discussion across while keeping up the banter. Cool, ne? grins

And if you think the 'pretending to be boyfriends' bit is cliché, like I did at first, remember that they already feel something for each other and acknowledge it, so it's just a way of beginning their relationship – and it's also for shows of protectiveness! sighs dreamily I love it when one of them gets all protective of the other.

Please review! I was really happy with the reviews Chap One got, since quite a few of them were long and very much encouraging. bows Thanks to all of you who reviewed!

Next chap: The boys settle into their new home with a new car and new clothes and new weapons. Life is good, as they take one day to relax... okay, as much time as they have before Heero decides to stop wasting time.

Important Question: do you want me to write about the boys slowly getting together and their feelings growing, or their feelings already there and strong and it's just a matter of showing/realizing/confirming it?

-Ashen Skies-
-Damn right I'm good in bed... I can sleep all day.-