Lying For A Friend

Mark Twain: A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.

Sophocles: Truly to tell lies is not honorable; but when the truth entails tremendous ruin, to speak dishonorably is pardonable.

Hilde Schbeiker was crammed into the tiny musty room she called an office going through paperwork and bills for the first half of the month. Her shoulders, neck and back were sore from all the leaning over in the dim light to read the words and figures on the paper. She would have rather been out in the scrap yard doing manual labor instead of being stuck in a stuffy office for the entire day. Hilde knew she had to stay on top of the papers or her pride and joy; her scrap yard might be shut down.

She was open nearly all year round, her only vacation taken a week after the Dekim Barton uprising had been put down so that she could help the Preventers interrogate the enemy soldiers. She was good at interrogation, good at getting into people's heads and confusing them a bit. OZ had taught her well, she knew almost all the buttons to push to get someone to crack and spill their guts, without the use of torture either. There were very few people that Hilde could not read and that was only because they had been trained to withstand people like her. Although over time she would observe things about them that might help her.

For example, she knew that Trowa Barton could not be broken. He had been a soldier for too long, he knew all the tricks and he could block all emotion that he felt. Having him reveal any information would be near to impossible. People like Trowa never gave up any ground and they never lost any either, making them frustrating subjects to question.

Quatre Raberba Winner on the other hand was polite and diplomatic. He was a dangerous person to interrogate because he appeared to be the easiest person to crack and read. He might even start to feel sorry for his interrogator but any information he gives would never be useful and the interrogator ran the risk of believing that he had actually told them something helpful. By the time it was discovered to be useless chatter Quatre would have been released. Failing this he would begin to make the interrogator doubt that he was even dangerous or he would turn into Trowa and give nothing.

Chang Wufei was another person who was a nightmare to interrogate. He was quick to make the interrogator feel inferior and guilty, as though they were on the wrong side and he was in the right. He would answer questions but only in terms of justice, or he managed to confuse the hell out of whoever was interrogating him. His mind was too quick, too logical and philosophical.

The polar opposite had to be Heero Yuy. He was dangerous to be in the same room with the interrogator. He intimidated his interrogators and ended up breaking them instead of the other way around. The interrogator was afraid of Heero after one session.

And Duo Maxwell, the self proclaimed Shinigami, would only make jokes and harass his interrogator. He exasperated and annoyed people until they wanted nothing to do with him. Duo was better than any interrogator known to man; he could make anyone feel anything he wanted them to feel given enough time.

Perhaps that made him the most dangerous Gundam Pilot. Hilde had gotten close to knowing him a few times but every time she got close Duo shut her out fast.

The office phone rang with a loud beep causing her to yelp in surprise and come crashing out of her thoughts. Expectantly she reached for the phone thinking it would be Duo until she remembered at the last minute that he had told her he was staying on Earth for a few months.

"Hilde Schbeiker," She answered automatically.

"Hello Ms. Schbeiker," Wufei's face appeared on the vid-screen a moment later. "This is Preventer Chang Wufei."

"What can I do for you Preventer Chang?" Hilde asked her brow furrowing. "And please call me Hilde; Ms. Schbeiker makes me feel old."

"Very well, Hilde," Wufei made an effort not to say onna. "This is more of a personal call. Have you heard from Duo in the past two weeks? Anything at all, a letter or phone call?"

"No I haven't," She frowned, her eyes narrowing. "Why? Is something wrong, is he ok?"

"We don't know where he is," Wufei sighed. "He disappeared about a week ago. Heero also disappeared the same day but several hours earlier. We think that possibly Duo went to track Heero down but no one knows for sure. If you hear anything can you contact me? You have my numbers still, correct?"

"Yeah, I've got your numbers," Hilde nodded. "I'll be sure to call you if I hear anything from Duo."

"Thank you," Wufei bowed his head slightly.

"You do realize that if Duo doesn't want to be found he won't be," Hilde informed him. "He had more connections than Relena Peacecraft. There's no records or anything to track him with, nothing."

"You mean he'd be harder to find than Heero?" Wufei frowned.

"Yep that's about the size of it," Hilde shook her head. "Heero can't blend in very well with people but Duo can blend in with anyone. College people, old people, army people, art people, anyone. Heero will slip up sometimes but he'll know it and move on. With Duo, he won't ever slip up unless it's intentional and my guess is that would be to keep people like you guessing what he's up to and what he's doing. Another thing is that people instinctively want to protect Duo even though he doesn't need it and they trust him. It would be easier to search for Noah's Ark than Duo Maxwell."

"That's almost exactly what Quatre said to me this morning," Wufei told her. "Just contact me right away if you hear anything, ok?"

"I will but I think you're wasting your time," Hilde warned the Chinese youth.

They said goodbye and Hilde disconnected the link.

She felt like she should be worried but she just could not bring herself to be. She had thought that Duo might pull something like this, go away without telling anyone. Hilde knew that he was tired, knew that he was fed up with all the pomp and glory of being a Gundam Pilot. Truthfully she felt that he deserved his new found freedom, if that is what he had.

Mechanically she resumed going through the bills. She finished just before lunch, something that surprised her since she usually was never finished until the mid-afternoon. Doing the bills always made her frustrated and gave her a shorter temper than normal. She hated math even though she was pretty good at it. Math involving money she really hated because usually money was being lost somewhere, a fact which annoyed her to no end. Duo had always been better at doing the paperwork than she had.

A knock came at the door and Jons quickly pushed it open.

Jons was a big huge man of twenty-eight. He was six foot three and weighed two hundred and forty pounds. Hilde had hired him about a month back to replace Duo when he had sold his half of the business to her three months ago. He was both the foreman and the security guard. Jons loved the yard so much that he lived in the two bedroom trailer inside the scrap yard to watch over it at night. She honestly did not know what she would do without him.

"What is it Jons?" She asked with a smile.

"There's a visitor to see you," He said. "Some guy by the name of Marks. He says that he knows you from before."

"Bring him up," Hilde smiled, covering her nervousness and confusion. "I'll see him."

Jons nodded and disappeared out the door. A few minutes later he opened the door again and ushered Mr. Marks in, before leaving and closing the door behind him. Mr. Marks removed his hat and sunglasses. Hilde saw the large shining violet eyes and the braid cascading down his back, a smile on the young man's lips. She quickly regained her composure knowing that if Duo was using an alias there was probably a need for it.

"It's nice to see you again Mr. Marks," Hilde stepped out from behind her to desk to give him a hug which he returned. "Wufei called this morning and said that no one knew where you've been. I'll call him back right now and tell him the good news."

"No!" Duo placed his hand possessively over the vid-phone to stop her from calling. "No," He repeated again, less firmly. "I can't let you do that Hilde. And it's Shinigami now, not Duo or Mr. Marks. You can't tell Wufei or anyone else about this little visit. My job isn't over Hilde, not by a long shot."

Hilde gave him a perplexed look clearly confused by his confession.

"I live in the Shadows now Hil," Duo explained gently. "I've been on L2 for a little over a week now and during that time I've been Shinigami, the one everyone's talking about all over L2."

"You're the Shinigami?" Hilde sank down into her chair, a hand brushing her hair behind her ear in a nervous gesture. "Why?"

"Someone needs to watch the peace," He shrugged confidently making her bristle at his arrogance. "And a few people we might need to bring back again should things start going to hell again. I'm tied to the Underworld and they're tied to me. This is how I chose to live my life for now, Hilde. I won't let another Dekim slip past me if I can help it."

"What about your friends?" She asked with a frown.

"I'll be checking up on all of you from time to time," Duo said with a grin but it did little to reassure her. "But that depends on the risk and if the person is in 'hiding'."

"Some of us don't care about the risk to ourselves," Hilde folded her arms in annoyance at his assumption. "We know how to handle the risk."

"I'm not talking about risk to you," Duo sighed shaking his head. "I'm talking about risk to myself and my operations. There are certain people and things I'll be working on that aren't legal but that need to be done. I'm not prepared to risk the peace. There's this guy named Jenkins that you should look into hiring to do your bills and stuff for you Hilde. He's really good with figures."

"How good is he?" She looked up at him knowing that Duo would refuse to argue with her.

"He was my accountant during the war and this past year," Duo smiled. "He's damn good. And if you casually advertise that the Viper is on your pay roll the thieves will steer clear of this yard. He's staying at the Hanson Motel a few blocks from here if you want to look him up. He's in number five and then I'll be able to pass messages to you easily."

"What do I tell Wufei?" She asked. "It can't be the truth but is there some cover story you want me to use?"

"Lying is easy Hilde," He slipped a hand into a pocket. "I just don't like to do it. Never think that means I can't, cause I'm damn good at it. Just lie to Wuffie and failing that tell him I called you but deleted the call log and have a jammer on my frequency. He'll buy that."

Duo spun around and tucked his braid back into his leather coat. He slipped the glasses back on and perched the hat on his head at a jaunty angle. He gave her one last smile before walking to the door.

"Stay safe," She said as his hand hovered above the door handle.

"You know me," Duo grinned back over his shoulder at her. "I go over all my options. Take care."

And then he was gone again. She knew it was pointless to get up and look out the doorway.

Sometimes she really almost hated him. She hated how he controlled everything that he showed to the world, how he never really said what you wanted to know but left you thinking he had. She hated his mask that he always wore and how he took everything onto himself. Most of all she hated how he could leave and still be so calm about the fact that he might never come back.

Hilde understood that he was a soldier though, she was too. Duo was almost always in control. He was a young man who carried the hopes of most of the people on his shoulders and he did it with a smile. That was something she would not have the strength for.

She still felt love for him, though loving him was not easy. She could have loved him if he had wanted her to but he did not. Every attempt she made at trying he killed. Every time she tried to say the words he walked away.

'Damn you Duo Maxwell!' She screamed mentally. 'You always have to take the hard role, take on more than you're share.'

Hilde stormed outside to her own personal space in the yard. A barn she had converted into an art studio where she made sculptures out of the left over scrap metal that was not sold or used in some other project. She began working and she worked long until the artificial nightfall on the colony. When she was finished she had a near completed outline of a Leo mobile suit.

Feeling somewhat pleased with herself she opened the gate and closed it, locking it carefully behind her before making her way across the street to her house. She took a quick shower promising herself she would call Wufei first thing in the morning and promptly fell asleep ignoring all the stresses that had built up in her life since meeting a certain Duo Maxwell.