Everything went well after that until the tabloids exploded with the expose on Dorothy's Pleasure Emporium. Dorothy was nothing if not a proud woman, and such a blow to her image could only be dealt with in one way. Extermination. A few weeks later the senator was impeached on embezzling allegations and was never heard from in the political world again. The two slaves were out a job and without pension either.
Duo and Quatre also felt Dorothy's wrath. Word had got out on the street that she would not tolerate anyone who did business with them, and Dorothy by herself was scary enough without her connections to Oz to scare off most potential clients. The weeks crept by and Duo and Quatre watched as their bank account slowly dwindled into nothingness, no matter how tightly they budgeted. Hilde's shop wasn't big enough to hire them on, but she helped as much as she could.
So when they got an e-mail with a request for assassination, they didn't immediately delete it as per usual. All the e-mail contained was a location, a name and a price. Quatre refused to take it until he knew more about the target, though Duo argued that that would only get in the way of the job.
"Getting to know him will make us not want to kill him. Quat, I'm all for equal life, but we're gonna be starvin' soon."
"I know there's probably a good reason for him to die," the blonde replied coolly, "otherwise someone wouldn't want to kill him. I just want to know if this will bring vengeful relatives down on our heads."
They wrote back saying they'd consider it on more info. Another e-mail came, telling them of a man who dealt in extortion and threats for a wannabe mafia that had slipped in under Oz's nose.
With this info, Quatre capitulated and the planning commenced. A night of hacking got Quatre into the city's building licensing. From there he found floor plans for the target's building. Then there was the week's servalliance to learn the target's schedule.
Quatre was a little surprised to learn the target was around their age, Asian by the look of it. Duo shrugged the age off; he'd seen more of the streets than Quatre had and knew how fast people had to grow up there. Though by the size of the Asian-styled house, the target had done pretty well for himself.
Because the budget was so tight, Quatre and Duo had to use the only weapons they had, their pistols, which meant breaking and entering and close range. They waited until the target had gone to bed, then another half hour to give him time to fall asleep. A silenced bullet to the head, and they'd be done.
Still Quatre hesitated as they started in.
"Duo, I have a bad feeling about this."
"Quat, now is not the time to start getting cold feet."
"He doesn't feel like someone who needs to be shot," Quatre insisted.
"Well we've already accepted payment. You wanna give it back and go back to one meal of ramen a day?" Duo asked, his temper flaring.
Quatre sighed and shook his head. Duo gave him a final look and they started in, Duo quickly dismantling the alarm system and getting them in through the back door. They crept through the wooden hallways towards the room they'd determined to be the target's bedroom.
They turned a corner and froze, face to face with their target, apparently on his way back from the bathroom.
"Fuck!" Duo snarled and pulled his gun up to fire. The target dove across the hallway into a room and Duo and Quatre gave chase. They ended up in what looked like a study, filled with books. The target wasn't in sight. They crept forward cautiously, but neither of them was prepared when the target body checked Duo, wresting the gun from him. The two grappled while Quatre watched, gun at the ready, not daring to shoot in case he hit Duo. Finally Duo managed to get the target in a kind of headlock.
"Shoot him!" he shouted at Quatre and Quatre raised his gun, ready to do just that.
"By Heaven you'll regret attacking a Chang this way!" the captive yelled, struggling against Duo's hold. Quatre froze.
"C-chang?" Quatre stuttered, his pistol wavering.
"Fuck!" Duo cried, partly in response to the new revelation, and partly due to the fact that his captive's head had bashed harshly into his cheek.
"What do we do?" Quatre asked, looking worriedly at his lover. "The client didn't say anything about him being a Chang!"
"I'm gonna fucking kill that slimy bastard!" Duo growled.
"Are you going to shoot or not, coward!" the Chang snarled, finally breaking free of Duo and smacking the gun out of Quatre's hand before tackling the blonde to the ground. With a sharp yelp, Quatre managed to flip the Chinese youth over him, but landed on the ground too sharply and lost his breath. Chang was on his feet again in an instant, his movements like a panther, smooth and fluid. In his hand was a deadly looking, yet simple knife; Duo had no idea where the man had gotten it, only that it was now headed for his blonde lover on the floor.
"No!" Duo shouted, charging forward to intercept Chang, the knife going deep into his shoulder as he knocked the other man away. Chang let go of the knife, freeing his hands to keep himself from falling too hard. Duo swore and raised his hand to the knife, but didn't pull it out. He still needed his blood inside him, thank you very much.
"Duo!" Quatre gasped, struggling to sit up and look at the brunette.
"I'm fine, what about you?"
"I'll live," Quatre replied, watching the Chinese man warily. Chang was just standing there watching them with intense black eyes. He'd grabbed a traditional Chinese sword off the mantel and now held it defensively in front of him.
"Who are you two?" he demanded.
Duo smirked up at him, ignoring the sharp pain in his shoulder as Quatre gently touched his arm. "Just a couple of street rats tryin' not ta die."
Chang sniffed, his lip curling in a sneer. "Two spineless urchins with no honor, only a love for money."
"That's not true!" Quatre yelled, glaring at the man, seeming to have forgotten the cold steel he held in his hand.
"Quat!" Duo hissed in warning, but the blonde didn't listen.
"You think we wanted to do this!? We've never killed needlessly, and we've never charged more than someone could afford. And we never, ever have done anything that we couldn't justify."
The sword moved then, to rest under Quatre's chin, pressing lightly against his throat. Duo breathed in sharply, swearing that if that blade moved any further, wound or no wound, he'd take the bastard down.
"Justify? What would an urchin like you know of justice? What justified it? The money lining your pockets? The knowledge that they were still willing to pay the price for your service? How did you justify yourself," he said quietly, a low, simmering anger in his voice.
"By knowing that even if we took money for our deeds, we were helping someone improve their life, by saving friends, family or businesses they needed to survive," Quatre responded evenly, not looking away from Chang's black gaze for one instant. The sword pressed a little closer, drawing a thin trickle of blood. Duo snarled, but Quatre held out his hand, motioning his partner still.
"And what about me? How do you justify killing me?"
"Our client lied to us. If we had known you were a Chang…I'm very sorry about all this…"
Chang hesitated before sneering again. "Why should I believe you?"
"Because," Duo said, standing up slowly. "We may run, we may steal, but we never lie."
Violet eyes locked with black, and the sword lowered to the floor, freeing Quatre. "Feh…you don't lie…admirable. But now what am I to do with you? You still tried to kill me, it'd be foolish to just let you go."
Duo shrugged, then cursed as his shoulder rippled with pain. "Well, Changs don't kill needlessly, you think we need to die?"
"...No…however, I do need some bodyguards. If one assassination was attempted, there will be more."
Quatre blinked and stood up warily. "You seemed to do fine on your own…"
"If you hadn't hesitated, I'd be dead. The next assassin will not hesitate."
"Wait, you're saying you want to hire us? We just tried to kill you!" Duo protested, staring at the black-haired youth.
An eyebrow raised, making him look older somehow. "Would you rather live from job to job instead of a secure home and paycheck?"
Duo looked at Quatre, who gazed back. "…it'd be nice to have a constant source of income…"
"…we wouldn't have to worry about inadvertently encroaching on the Chang territory," Duo murmured thoughtfully.
"I'll leave you two to decide while I call the family physician to deal with that. " He nodded at the knife still embedded in Duo's shoulder before striding into an adjacent hallway where they could hear him calling someone on a phone.
"Well Quat, what do you want to do?" Duo asked quietly.
"You're asking me?"
"This affects you just as much as me."
Quatre looked down at the floor for a little while, then back up. "I…I think we should do it. "
"Keep in mind we don't know anything about this guy," Duo said.
Quatre shook his head. "He doesn't feel bad, like I said before…and he's a Chang, they're upholders of justice right?"
"Yeah, their justice."
"Duo…"
Duo sighed. "I know, and you're right of course. I mean, this should be better than sabotaging drug deals, right?"
Quatre smiled at him, making him feel lighter. He'd do just about anything to keep a smile on his lover's face.
"Right."
Chang came back and looked them over patiently. "Do you have an answer?"
Quatre nodded. "We accept your offer, Mr. Chang."
Chang nodded brusquely. "Good, I'm glad. And you may call me Wufei. We're going to be close from now on after all."