Forging Destiny

by Agent Hitokiri

AC 198. Preventer is the strong arm of ESUN in their efforts to to de-militarize the solar system. When a routine mission goes arwy, Heero Yuy and Duo Maxwell find themselves thrust into a desperate battle not just for their lives, but their very souls.

2. In Chains Unleashed

Title: In Chains Unleashed
Authors: James
Pairings: 1+2
Rating: Mature only
Warnings: Angst, Romance, Violence, Language

Disclaimer: I do not own or in anyway claim to have rights to anything involving Gundam Wing in any regards.

In Chains Unleashed

Jackson Steele sat at his desk at Preventer headquarters and wished once more that something at least remotely exciting would happen. As soon as he said it he regretted it and willed whatever gods there might be to keep his life as dull as possible. Excitement in the life of Jackson Steele usually meant there was someone that needed to die, and he had killed too many people. Even now he could see their faces. Closing his eyes and trying to stifle the images, Jackson groaned as he saw an e-mail come in. It had been more than nine months since his last mission and he had hoped, with the end of the Mariemaia War and Relena Darlian pushing the Earth Sphere United Nations towards completing its major stages of military disarmament that his talents would finally be allowed to die off. It seemed that someone had decided otherwise.

Opening the e-mail Jackson frowned in confusion as it contained only a phone number, and not one that he recognized. He attempted to trace the e-mail, but it had been routed so many times through so many different servers and countries that it was impossible to trace or identify. Finally deciding that given his ultra-secret status within Preventer, Jackson had to assume that someone with the right access had sent it, he picked up his cellphone and dialed the number.

There was a noise of connection and then silence.
"Hello?" Jackson asked. "Who is this?'

"They took him," a voice said, raspy and hard to understand, and yet it seemed familiar.

"Who too him?" Jackson demanded, now even more confused. "Who is this?"

"They took him," the voice repeated, sounding more lost than Jackson could ever remember hearing someone sound.

Then he remembered the voice.

"Heero?"

"I need your help."

Heero sat on Duo's bed, staring straight ahead at the wall, only blinking when his body forced him to, and waited. Waiting for what, he didn't know, but he knew he'd know it when it happened. It had been two hours since he had found Duo missing and only five minutes since he had managed to send the e-mail to the only person at Preventer he thought might be able to help him.

He had thought about contacting Trowa, Quatre and Wufei, asking them for their help, but they were out in the colonies or on assignment and too far away to help in the time he had left. Heero felt a sinking feeling inside as he was forced to rely on someone he didn't know of, but everything he had managed to locate on the Preventer network seemed to indicate that Jackson Steele, codename Agent Steel, was a covert operative of the highest order, but Heero couldn't locate any reference to any missions he had completed in the last year. Something didn't seem right but Heero didn't care. He had no choice and right now he didn't feel remotely capable of rescuing his friend alone.

His head suddenly felt too heavy to hold upright and Heero let it drop into his hands and tried to breathe as his chest suddenly felt too tight, crushing the life out of him.

Hyperventilating for a few minutes, Heero couldn't just sit still any more and bolted for the kitchenette and started grabbing the small liquor bottles out of the minibar. He downed then all as fast as he could unscrew the tops but it wasn't nearly enough to stop his brain from repeating the same damn thing over and over again.

Duo is gone.

Finally the booze seemed to be hitting him after draining more than a dozen of the small drinks and exhausting the supply in the room. But there was more in his own room.

Heero made his way down the hallway, weaving slightly but still focused on the one thing he knew of that could take the feelings running through him away. He barely swiped his card before throwing the door open and making for the minibar. Empty bottles shattered on the floor as he finished them, not even wasting the time to set them aside as he reached for more. Some part of Heero knew what he was doing was selfish and meaningless, but that part was quickly drowned in alcohol. As he quickly became aware that he was out of booze, Heero managed to make it to the phone and order up a proper bottle of vodka to be left outside his door. As he waited Heero looked about his empty hotel room and realized that they could be watching him even as he was standing there; that just because they only kidnapped Duo they still could have bugged his room. Staggering to his bedroom, Heero dug the sweeper out of his suitcase and somehow managed to switch it on. He made the most half-assed sweep of his room imaginable, something that ordinarily would have been unthinkable, but Heero was no longer thinking coherently. Suddenly he realized that he was unarmed and dropped the sweeper in the middle of the living room floor and rushed back to his room, and pulled the suitcase from under his bed. It took several attempts to unlock it and get into the weapons compartment, but Heero managed to find a weapon he liked. With his silenced 10mm in hand, Heero made his way back to the living room and checked the door to see if his liquor had arrived. It had and it was moments later when he was tilting it back, staring out the living room windows at the sun as it started to slowly descend towards the horizon.

He knew what he needed to do. It wasn't exactly difficult to do what the terrorists wanted; he'd give them whatever they wanted if they would return his friend but he also knew that the chances that they would still kill Duo just as a warning to the ESUN and Preventer. Heero felt his hand clenching on the butt of the pistol and almost wished for them to cross that line. He might not have the Wing Zero any more, but there was more to Heero Yuy than his piloting of a warmachine. When his mind finally managed to extricate itself from the dark path it was heading down, the sun was far lower and there was a knock at the door. Heero took yet another slug from the half-empty bottle and did not hear it, did not hear the electronic lock being overridden but he did hear the door make a slight creak as it opened. In his drunken haze Heero assumed that the New Horizon had come back for him after all, spun and raised his weapon, stalking towards the door and flicked the safety off. Let them come. They would not live to regret their mistake.

Jackson had taken the hypersonic diplomatic courier on reserve for Preventer using some rather ingenious forged orders he only used when the situation warranted, and the situation certainly seemed to warrant it this time. Modern air travel was a godsend to one such as Jackson Steele, someone who needed to make the occasional high-speed getaway when a mission was cut a little closer than he would have liked. The courier was capable of the fastest speeds yet attained by man, and its diplomatic status ensured that it received priority landing status and no customs inspections. Useful when one was traveling with an arsenal in his suitcase. It had only taken three hours from when he had hung up with Agent Wing to when the courier touched down in New York. Eight hours left on the ultimatum and there were so many variables to consider. Taking a limousine from the airport to the hotel he had triangulated Heero's cellphone at, Jackson had to wonder at what Heero had told him.

"You need my help?" he'd said, incredulous that the notoriously independent and secretive Heero Yuy, Agent Wing, would be asking for help from someone he didn't know. "Tell me what's going on right now or I'm hanging up."
"They took Duo."

That brought Jackson up short. He knew of both Heero Yuy and Duo Maxwell, having met the latter briefly once at Preventer headquarters, knew more than either of them probably suspected he could know. For all the secrecy surrounding the Gundams and Operation Meteor it didn't take much for someone like Jackson Steele to hack both the old Alliance's and OZ's databases and compile the information into profiles for each pilot. A little background digging through colony records and he soon had all there was to know about the Gundam pilots, just in case it was necessary to remind them of who they were supposed to be fighting for. In the end he hadn't needed his information and had shelved it alongside all the rest of the target data he had collected over the years. Thinking of the ex-pilots as possible kindred spirits, Jackson had considered seeking them out, especially once Wufei, Heero and Duo signed up with Preventer, but that would invite a lot of questions about his own past, and that was something Jackson didn't reveal lightly. But with that one chance meeting, only a few moments in a hallway seven or eight months back, Jackson had learned more about Duo Maxwell than possibly his own friends knew. The youth was honest with others but not himself, considered himself destined to spend his life alone lest he lose more people he cared about, and he had a true zest for life, not wanting to lose his easily or without an equal tradeoff when the time came. In those few seconds, Jackson had decided that he liked the loud American, so to hear that someone had kidnapped him was truly upsetting.

"Who took Duo?"

"New Horizon. We…we were to infiltrate them, gather data to prove or disprove terrorist activities. Somehow they knew who we were and they set a trap for us. We managed to escape but they tracked us to our hotel, something that should have been impossible, and they took him. I don't know why they took Duo over myself, or why not both of us, but I will not let this stand."
There seemed to be more to the story than Heero was letting on, but Jackson felt that there was enough to justify a little private mission. He had arranged with Lady Une, the head of Preventer, that he would work with her but not for her. Understanding the difference, she had agreed, giving him the highest security clearance they had to better, facilitate, his activities both for Preventer and solo.

"Have they issued any demands?" he'd asked, already gathering the few things from his office that he would need for the trip.

"They want the data we stole back or they'll kill him."

"Do it then," Jackson retorted, halting preparations. "If all they want is that information in exchange for his life, give it to them."

"They won't give him back."
Knowing Heero's history and experiences, Jackson left his office as Heero continued.
"They knew we were coming, and they knew where we were staying. The only people that could possibly have given them that information are at Preventer, so I know that something larger is going on. They won't return Duo so I need to take him back, but I can't do it alone."
"Why did you call me?" Jackson asked, as he took an elevator down to the underground parking garage. "For all you know I'm a part of whatever conspiracy may or may not exist."

"Duo mentioned you to me once, said you seemed nice but that there was something about you that made him think you weren't all that different from us. I don't have a lot of time or choices so I made a decision. Was it the right one?"

Jackson climbed into his car and considered that for a moment.

"We're talking about a rescue mission right? Insertion with severe prejudice and minimal enemy survival preferred?"

"Yes."
"Then you called the right guy. I can be with you in about three hours."

Heero hung up without telling him where to go but Jackson had already triangulated the signal so he didn't let it bother him.

Lugging his large duffel and suitcase, Jackson reached Heero's door and knocked, waiting for an answer that wasn't forthcoming. Trying again several times Jackson grew concerned, wondering if New Horizon had somehow intercepted the call and come for Heero. Dropping the duffel he pulled two large knives from their forearm sheaths beneath his suit jacket, slipping one beneath the electronic door lock and popping the panel free before cutting several wires with a flick of the wrist. The door released and Jackson pushed his way in, only to find a completely lost Heero staring at him in a drunken rage with a loaded weapon. Pushing forward Jackson heard the firing pin click and the 10mm round thudded into his shoulder, pain exploding through the entire arm. Another click and another bullet shot past his left ear, but Jackson had already halved the distance to the gunman. Reversing one of the knives and throwing it in a single deft move, Jackson managed to strike the gun and sent its next shot wide and giving him the time he needed to grab Heero's wrist with his now empty left hand and reverse the knife in his right had before slamming the pommel into the other agent's temple. Normally it would have dropped Heero, but he was too drunk and too unstable for a single attack to bring him down. The bottle of vodka in Heero's other hand came around with surprising speed and strength, but Jackson smashed it with a swift forearm blow and then with his left hand hit Heero's pressure points and forced the gun to drop to the ground. Heero lashed out with his right fist, but Jackson was too fast and tossed his knife into his left hand and caught the punch, swinging under the blow and wrenching the limb up and behind Heero's back, before had slammed the pommel of the knife into Heero's temple again. At last the incredibly strong youth collapsed in Jackson's arms and he hefted him off the floor and took him into the bedroom and left him on the bed. Deciding that Heero would be out for a rather lengthy period of time, he had struck the youth rather hard after all, Jackson retrieved his bags and left them in the living room before heading for Duo's room. Examining the locking mechanism, it was clear to Jackson that it had been tampered with, even before Heero had kicked it in. It was a precision job, that much was certain, so Jackson let himself in, ready to call upon his spring-loaded knives should it be necessary. There were no signs of a struggle or of any foul play, so there was at least that. The odds were that Duo was taken alive, at least so far as the circumstantial evidence indicated. Jackson easily spotted the button cameras that had been placed throughout the suite, but they seemed to be Preventer issue and their expert placement did hint that they were placed by Duo. There was no computer that Jackson could see that would be receiving the camera data, but it would probably be hidden somewhere close. Not even bothering to search for fingerprints or footprints in the carpeting, as if the abductors were even half as good as they probably were there would be no such traces, Jackson headed to the bedroom. It was the same as before with no signs of a struggle or obvious evidence of how many infiltrators there had been, but Jackson knew from his own experience that it would have been two, possibly three, the easier to smuggle the ex-pilot from the hotel.

Spotting the knife in the back of the door along with the note as it still hung pinned, Jackson gave it a looking over, seeing if he could spot anything on the note itself or if he could recognize the knife from a particular faction or individual. Everything was pretty standard, nothing to indicate anyone that Jackson knew of. Quickly collecting up Duo's belongings and putting his suitcase and briefcase in the living room, Jackson set about locating the computer holding the camera footage. Checking all the places that he would have hidden a laptop or palmtop, he located it hidden within the middle couch cushion. Activating it, Jackson had to work himself through a large number of security layers in order to access the memory. There were a few close calls with some of the security measures that Duo had put in place, but Jackson was one of the finest hackers alive, perhaps even better than the legendary Heero Yuy. Pulling up the cam footage, Jackson scrolled through the footage until he located what he wanted, and watched as two men broke into the suite at 4:52am and promptly moved to the bedroom where an obviously drunken Duo Maxwell lay nearly-comatose on his bed. One of the men, both clad in non-descript black clothes, shoved an injector gun into Duo's neck and obviously shot him full of a tranquilizer. After that, they smuggled the unconscious agent out and disappeared. Playing through the videos several times, Jackson found that there was nothing extra to be gleaned from wasting any more time. Collecting all the button cams lest any evidence of Preventer activity remain behind, he took all of the equipment and returned to Heero's room, just in time for the unconscious agent to groan and open his eyes once more.

Heero woke and felt as though his head would explode, and he wasn't certain if it was because of the amount of alcohol he had consumed or the devastating blows that the man he could only assume was Agent Steel had landed. Either way, he felt a sense of regret for attempting the kill the man who had come to help him save…Duo. There were other words that came to mind, but Heero decided that it was best to keep this as professional as possible. He had already failed his friend when he had succumbed to his own emotions, but now it was time to fix those mistakes. Trying to rise, Heero felt himself too dizzy and collapsed again, turning his head to see Jackson returning to his room.
"I cleared out Duo's room," Jackson informed him, setting the suitcase and briefcase aside. "There shouldn't be anything left that would indicate a Preventer operation. I also checked the button cam footage but there wasn't anything useful there. Two men took him, beyond that we know where to look for them."
Jackson came over and set the carbonized combat knife on the nightstand next to Heero.

"I thought you might want this."

Heero managed to roll over and took the blade in hand, feeling its weight and wanting nothing more than to sink it into whoever had orchestrated this betrayal.

"I have been considering our plans," Jackson said, breaking into Heero's thoughts.

"I'm not surprised," Heero replied, taking a deep breath and sitting up slowly. "How do you plan to get into the building without alerting them before I locate Duo?"

"The roof. I will drop onto the roof exactly two minutes after you enter the building and fight my way down to you. I'll have you with a small radtracer so even after I jam all transmissions within the building, I'll be able to find you. I will endeavor to remain in the shadows, but I do not leave enemies behind me. Anyone that sees me will die."
Heero actually felt himself shiver at the calm way that his new partner spoke of how he planned to enact his part. Heero had killed many times, had killed so many hundreds if not thousands of people, but he had never considered himself that cold in doing what needed to be done. He had missions to accomplish and did what he needed to do, but he still tried to avoid civilian casualties, even disobeying orders to continue to battle no matter the cost. The way that Jackson spoke, Heero found himself wondering just what he did for Preventer, and what he may have been doing during the wars. Those were questions he needed answered before they decided on anything.

"I need to know what your role at Preventer is," Heero said suddenly, interrupting Jackson's recitation of his plan. "And what you did during the wars, if anything."
This seemed to catch the agent off guard, and Heero kept his hand on the combat knife, in case the man before him turned out not to be a friend after all.

"My past is something that I prefer not to talk about, as is my role at Preventer. Only Lady Une knows more than what is in the general files, and even she knows only the smallest details."

"If we are in this together, I will know as much as I can before I must trust my life, trust Duo's life, to a man I don't know."

"Hardly a man, given that I'm only two years older than you are, or at least as old as everyone assumes you to be. Is it true that you don't know your true age?"

Now it was Heero's turn to be caught off guard, but found himself answering anyway.

"Yes, it is true. How do you know even that much about me?"
"I may not have piloted a mobile suit, but I fought in the war even longer than you. I have my connections and my own database about all those I found myself considering potential threats."

"If you didn't pilot a mobile suit just what did you do?" Heero pressed, not only curious now but suspicious. He had no longer made it a point to hide his past from most people he knew, nor did any of the Gundam pilots despite the carnage they had wrought and the lives they had taken. It seemed impossible that one man without a mobile suit could have had as great an impact on the wars, and so Jackson's reluctance was a cause for mistrust.

"Please," the other replied, a look of pain crossing his face, a look so sincere that Heero set aside the knife. "I live with it everyday, and I would like at least one person that someday might consider me a friend not to look at me like the monster I see in the mirror."

Heero felt a kinship at that moment that surprised him with its strength, for that was how he saw himself far too often, save perhaps when he was with Duo and saw what the other saw in him.

"I ask not to torture you, but if we are to risk our lives together, and if I am to place my closet friend's life in your hands, I need to know what kind of man you are," Heero told him, doing his best to convey the truth of his words. "You cannot possibly be more a monster than I, and I have killed thousands and they haunt my dreams."
"Yes, but can you see each and every face as though they were still standing before you?" Jackson asked, meeting Heero's eyes. "You killed from a distance, mobile suit to mobile suit. I killed fewer people yes, of that I have no doubt, but I killed up close and more often than not ended up covered in the blood of my enemies. I worked for no one beyond my own twisted notions of good and evil, but I see the world today and I do feel that perhaps I did contribute something besides giving the undertaker more work."

Heero remained silent, letting his fellow agent speak and present himself as openly as he could to someone he had only read about and studied from after action reports.
"My parents were supporters of the United Earth Sphere Alliance," Jackson began. "They were like General Noventa, trying to reduce the Alliance's domination based on military strength and control and return it to the peaceful governing body it had always meant to be. They were highly placed in the Alliance's political structure, but when OZ began to make their plans for the Alliance's downfall a number of the most peace-oriented people on both sides started to disappear. My parents were murdered in their own home, as I watched cowering in a closet. I would have been next but I had my father's assault rifle from his military days and there were only two men in the room. They came for the closet and I killed them both even as I cried. I was ten years old and I had just killed two men in cold blood. After that I ran, trying to escape my parent's murderers. I lived on the streets for several years, until I was forced to kill again in order to feed myself. This time I didn't cry."

Heero couldn't believe what he was hearing and yet he did not doubt a single word. There was no deception in Jackson's voice, and his eyes held nothing but the pain and stigma he felt at being what he was.
"I had always been good with computers and managed to get myself into a school nearby. For two more years I trained myself, body and mind, excelling in academics as easily as I did in athletics. I was stronger and faster than everyone, and soon I found myself unable to partake in any of the more physical games for fear that I would hurt someone. It was then that I started to train myself with knives, the only thing I could truly master in the secrecy of my boarding room without anyone being the wiser. I read book after book, read every site I could find on the internet that talked about or showed any blade techniques, and when I was satisfied that I was ready, I hunted for the people that had ordered my parent's deaths. The first one I killed when he was coming home from a meeting, in his arrogance there was only him and his driver. I took the driver's head from his shoulders as he tried to protect his passenger, who managed to scream once before I took his head as well. The others I hunted down over the next two years, and all five of them are now dead, along with anyone that got in my way. I can still remember the faces of the one hundred seventeen people I killed to enact my revenge, I even still have my first sword that I killed my first victims with. After that, I decided that it was over, but the blood on my hands wouldn't wash off, and the memories wouldn't stop haunting me, so I was never able to keep a stable job until I got an internship at a hospital with my falsified credentials. Until OZ and Romefeller made their move, I spent every moment I could tending to the sick and I found a peace and a mission that helped quiet the souls of those I had murdered. At least, for a while."

Heero watched as Jackson seemed to grow stronger for a moment as he talked about helping others to repent for what he had done, but any strength fled as he recounted his actions during the wars.

"I located any OZ soldiers or Romefeller Foundation members I could, and I killed them," Jackson continued. "I didn't have the weapons you pilots did, so I couldn't go to the colonies and fight, or even fight on the front lines on Earth, so I did what I could. I infiltrated any OZ base I could find and slaughtered the officers, leaving the soldiers without leadership or direction. Sometimes I was discovered and I was forced to fight my way clear and more people died, but thankfully that did not happen often. By the time the war ended I had killed another four hundred eighty nine people, my contribution to peace."
At that Jackson laughed for a moment, and Heero removed his hand from the knife completely. This man was the same as he was, haunted by the past and uncertain if he had any place in the peaceful world taking shape all around him. All too often Heero had found himself wondering if it wouldn't be better to finish what all his enemies had started and terminate himself. What harm would it be to the world to have one less monster in it?

"At least, that's how I justified it," Jackson finished. "Now, I'm not so sure, but there it is. I hope it was worth it."
"From what I've seen so far, I think it will be," Heero answered. "The world is already a better place for not having the Gundams in it, let alone all mobile suits. We most likely won't see the world become the peaceful place we fought for in our life times, but I am already glad to see the beginnings of it. Maybe all the people who died during the wars didn't die for nothing."

"That's why I keep doing what makes me a monster. If I do what killing is still necessary, then no one else will have to and perhaps that will save someone else from going down the path I'm on."
Jackson met Heero's eyes again, and Heero knew something he wouldn't like was coming.

"I've been honest with you, so now I expect you to be honest with me," Jackson stated, in a tone that brooked no argument. "There is more going on here than I expected so tell me, just what is Duo to you?"

Jackson watched as Heero started and could practically hear his heart beating harder, unsure if he could even answer that question let alone if he wanted to. One moment Heero seemed to know the answer and the next he didn't, and then the next he wasn't sure he wanted to know at all. It was all too confusing and painful when the person he was obviously thinking about was in danger.

"I…I don't know," Heero tried. "So much has been changing and I don't know entirely what to make of it all. All I know is that he had been my closest friend, and at times my only friend, regardless of whatever has happened around us. We've fought together more times than I can count, bled together and nearly died together."
"What would you do to get him back?"

"Whatever I have to."
"What would you do if he dies before we can rescue him?"
"Kill everyone I can find until I fall, by their hand or mine."

"Do you love him?"

The question was probably over the line but Jackson didn't really care. Heero had pushed him for all the painful truth of his own past, so a little quid pro quo wouldn't kill him. Besides, that one question would tell him just how far Heero would go in the battle ahead.

"I…I…"

"It's not a hard question," Jackson pressed. "When you think about all the times that you've been the happiest, is he there? When you wake up in the morning, what are you most thankful for; that you're alive to enjoy another day or that he's alive to enjoy it with you? When he smiles at you do all the people you've killed and that drain your soul suddenly seem to vanish?"

Heero seemed to be shaking, his eyes wider than Jackson could have imagined but all the talk seemed to be pushing him towards a decision he knew that he needed to make but was fearful of at the same time. With one word his world would forever change, and that was daunting to anyone let alone someone so broken as Heero. Jackson waited and watched, until at last Heero seemed to calm and make the decision that he wanted to make.

"I don't know what loving someone means because I've never had that before, to either give or receive it," Heero tried again, fumbling over his words in such an unfamiliar topic. "Attaching a word to something as, difficult, to grasp as emotions makes no sense. What I feel, or Duo feels, it is something that I don't think can be so easily explained."
"That was the longest 'yes' I've ever heard," Jackson quipped, smiling at his new friend's discomfort. "If you're concerned about how I might label you, don't be. I don't have the right to judge anyone for anything, given what I have spent most of my life doing. Besides, I envy you."

"Envy me?" Heero asked, confused.

"You have two things that I will never have," Jackson explained. "A chance at a future and to not have to do it alone." Standing, Jackson turned to leave. "Rest a bit more and I'll get you some water. I think you'll need it. I'll spend the time preparing for tonight."

Locating the minibar and grabbing a bottle of water, Jackson smiled as he thought of Heero's answer to his question and truly did envy his new partner in his chance for a future beyond killing. Jackson knew at the same time that that he would never have such a chance and that he truly didn't deserve one. There were too many ghosts surrounding him and they were all that filled his soul and always would. Returning to the bedroom, Jackson saw that Heero was asleep, truly asleep this time, and left the water on the nightstand next to the knife. Returning to the living room, Jackson set about with his preparations for the coming mission.

His head aching more than any time that he could remember, Duo awoke in darkness, his body still fighting off the last vestiges of the sedative that his kidnappers had injected him with. Fortunately it seemed that they had done their homework and whatever concoction they had used hadn't played any nasty tricks on his enhanced metabolism or nervous system. Opening his eyes, Duo tried to sit up but still found himself mostly paralyzed. Knowing that he was probably under surveillance with infrared cameras in his cell, Duo tried to keep any movements he made as minimal as possible as he tried to work himself through his paralysis. The fact that he wasn't uncomfortably cold told him that he wasn't naked, something that relieved him to no end. The idea of some stranger stripping him down was repulsive, and Duo felt his skin crawl at the thought. So he wasn't naked, restrained in any way, but from the feel of the floor his cell would be solid steel.

Heero.

Duo nearly bolted upright, but his condition made that impossible. Did they get Heero too? Was he in the same complex or held elsewhere? Who the hell were 'they'?
Trying to speak, Duo heard his voice in his own ears and it sounded weak and hoarse but he would not simply lay still and silent.

"Who…are you…people?" he demanded, hoping that someone was actually monitoring him. "What do…you want with me?"

"You are awake at last. I am most disappointed in how long you have been asleep. I would have expected one such as you to be able to recover faster."

"I don't give a damn what you expect," Duo snapped, feeling his voice and body growing stronger and stronger. "Who the hell are you?"
"You can call me Janus, and you had better start caring about what I expect. The life of your friend depends on it."

"Heero…"
"Indeed. Consider your actions when we come for you."
"Come for me? What do you expect me to do for you?"

"Oh, you'll do many things for me, not least of which is beg for mercy."

A laugh came over the intercom before the connection was cut off, and Duo had a feeling he would not like what was to come.

Heero woke once more and this time did not feel as though his entire body had been run through a meat grinder. A bottle of water was beside him just as promised and he drank it down in one long go, thankful for it in a way he could never have imagined. Not exactly being a heavy-weight drinker Heero had only been drunk a handful of times before, and never to this reckless extent and now he knew why it was something to be avoided. With the water finished Heero sat up and decided on a shower given how dirty he felt from the previous day's exertions. Once the shower had warmed up he stepped in and felt some of the tension melt away as the searing hot water massaged his body. For nearly half an hour Heero just stood facing the shower head, the water cascading over his face and soaking his hair before rolling down the rest of his body. He so seldomly spent time doing things he considered to be a waste of time, but now he could see why Duo could spend so long in the bathroom, beyond trying to brush the absurdity that was his hair. Finally Heero decided he had allowed himself enough relaxation and finished his shower quickly, dressing in casual clothes before meeting Jackson out in the living room. There were weapons and equipment everywhere, far more than anything that Duo or Heero had brought, even combined between the two of them, and none of it seemed to be Preventer issue.

"Nice equipment," Heero commented, reaching down and picking up a sheathed sword from the coffee table where it lay next to another identical sword. Pulling it partly from the scabbard, Heero admired the quality of the katana, a sword he knew to originate in feudal Japan, and ironically a place he knew from his limited history to be a part of his heritage. "Wufei would appreciate this sword."

"I can set him up with some when this is over," Jackson offered, methodically loading rounds into a magazine. "I have contacts that can get whatever I need, though swords are usually made to order to ensure the best quality. I've had those two since I started to live this life I've chosen."
"I suppose this is where you get your operative name from then," Heero observed, setting down the sword not out of revulsion for how many it had undoubtedly killed, but out of respect for its owner. "Agent Steel."

"Well, partly. I had wanted Agent Hitokiri, but it just didn't sound right, and since I do tend towards blade work, Agent Steel was as good as any."

"Hitokiri?"
"It is an old Japanese word. It means, roughly, manslayer. I've always felt it appropriate, and I use it as my contact name with my suppliers or informers. With you however, Jackson will be acceptable, or Agent Steel if you insist."

"Jackson it is," Heero answered, picking up this time a large assault rifle and examining it. "This seems an odd weapon for someone like you, given your preferences."
"There are times when a blade is the wrong tool for the job, and few things will strike down my enemies as well as that weapon. 15mm armor piercing rounds, cyclic rate of 2000 rounds per minute, and accurate on full-automatic out to half a kilometer, it's the finest gun I have ever owned. It's rather large though, so for full stealth missions it isn't much of an option, but for tonight well, I'm thinking about all the angles."

"Don't do anything stupid or any more dangerous than what we are already considering," Heero warned, ejecting the large cylindrical magazine and eyeing the large caliber rounds before slapping it home again and working the slide. "I may not know you well, but I don't want to see the person who came all this way to help me die saving Duo."
"Don't worry," Jackson assured him. "I plan to live for a long time yet. I have too many sins to atone for before I can die and too many ghosts demanding my service before I can sleep."

"Hn."
Knowing that the conversation was painful for his friend, Heero set the assault rifle down again and decided to grab something to eat from the minibar to fuel him for the day to come. Checking his watch even as he munched on a jar of nuts and a bag of chips, food he would normally avoid, Heero saw that it was nearly eight in the evening, seven hours since he had found Duo missing. How could so much time have simply disappeared on him when there was so much still to do?

"I'm guessing that since you let me sleep that you've already decided on a plan that you think will get us through this in as few pieces as possible?" Heero asked, downing another bottle of water to wash down all the junk he was trying to fill up on.

"Some of the details I won't know until I get on site, so you'll just have to trust me on that," Jackson replied, setting down the magazine he had finished with and picking up the last empty one in front of him. A number of piles of different caliber clips lay in neat piles before him. "The basic plan is simple, which I think to our advantage. You will take the data to them in a laptop I brought with me. It contains a timed surge device built into it. If they attempt to download the information before the timer expires, it will instantly flash the harddrive clean. You will take it into the building through the front door in a briefcase, one with no hidden compartments or weapons, as they will be looking for those. Save for this one."
Jackson held up the briefcase and showed Heero what he was talking about and the ex-pilot nodded his satisfaction with that stage of the plan. It seemed to carry a certain poetic justice to the youth and it strengthened his resolve all the more.

"I will be essentially unarmed, but there is little way to avoid that," Heero interjected. "They will obviously scan me thoroughly for any equipment at all, so the radtracer should probably be in my shoe. It is undetectable by normal means, is it not?"
"Correct. Unless they have very specialized equipment with them, like I will, it will be impossible to detect. You will enter the building at five minutes to midnight, to minimize the chances of this being witnessed by too many people. It will take you several minutes to be checked and to reach whoever will be overseeing this within their offices. At two minutes to midnight I will breach the roof entrance and make my way towards you. You will know my signal to move, so do nothing until then unless you absolutely must. At the signal make your escape and I will rendezvous with you. I will have with me a lifesign detector, and given that Duo is probably as genetically altered as you, his lifesigns will be just different enough from normal that we will be able to pinpoint him anywhere in the building. After that, you two escape while I cover you."
"Simple," Heero admitted, seeing few problems apart from trying to time it all so closely. "I would like to have more time to plan this, to try and work out timing issues, but there is no way to do so in this case. We will just have to trust each other and in their paranoia."
"If you were inviting a Gundam pilot into your midst, you'd be a little paranoid wouldn't you?"
"No, because I'd have shot me on sight."
"Good point. Okay, I'm going to go and get the preparations underway. I will be back in a few hours so don't worry. We'll have plenty of time to get this done right. We'll bring Duo home."

With that Jackson left, and Heero was thankful for the privacy as he found his hands shaking again. What if things were not so simple after all? It should have been a simple mission the night before and look at how that had turned out. What would he do if the worst should happen?
Heero eyed the katana again, and knew that there was only one choice if everything fell apart. Duo might call himself the God of Death, but if New Horizon killed him, Heero would show them all just what death was.

Jackson had a mental checklist of what he planned to get done in the little time he had. Still dressed in his suit he was lost amongst the still teeming streets. It was hard to believe that the streets could still be so bustling, but Jackson supposed that was because it was a Friday night. That could offer some problems, but those sorts of problems were easy to rectify. He had the blueprints for the area and quickly found a manhole that would give him the access he sought. Half a block from the New Horizons building it was given limited cover by several newspaper boxes. Poorly lit and with few people paying any attention, Jackson knelt down and with a small pry bar he pried the cover up enough to get a hand under it. He may not have been as strong as Heero, but Jackson was still far stronger than the average person his age and with some effort heaved the cover aside and climbed down before pulling it closed again. Descending into the bowels of the city's power and sewer distribution network, Jackson read the labels on the overhead power conduits and quickly found his way, working his way back towards New Horizon. It wasn't very difficult to locate what he wanted and to do what he needed to. Continuing along the same bearing before heading left, Jackson proceeded to let himself out several blocks over and found himself right next to the car dealership he had located on his brief flight into the city. It was an upscale place, with what should have amounted to formidable security, but to someone like Agent Steel, it was the same as if it was unlocked. It took three minutes to boost the car he wanted and park it legally within half a minute walk or a ten second sprint from the target. That taken care of and deciding to take a walk and see the lay of the land in person rather than taking an aerial satellite photograph at its word so to speak, Jackson located the perfect place to make his assault from. As much as he wanted to go above street level and see all that he wanted to, there was simply too much at risk to be discovered before they were ready. There were still more than three hours until the terrorist ultimatum so Jackson took the opportunity to pick up a decent meal at a vegetarian restaurant on the way back to the hotel. He knocked on Heero's door and waited for the faint sound of footsteps on the other side of the door.
"Hitokiri," Jackson said, keeping his voice just high enough that only Heero could hear him.

The faint click of a gun hammer being cocked reached his ears, but he knew that Heero was only being careful. The door opened and Jackson walked confidently through, Heero closing the door behind him and bolting it, flicking the safety on again.

"You're back sooner than I expected," Heero said, tucking the weapon into the back of his pants.

"It wasn't hard to get things ready," Jackson told him, setting the food down on the kitchen counter. "Everything seems to be set now. I thought we should eat something decent before all this goes down. A little salad with a nice vinaigrette, some roasted vegetables in a mild garlic sauce, and some Greek rice. Nothing too fancy but better than nuts and chips."
"Good idea."
"Grab a plate and help yourself."

Taking moderate portions of all three, Jackson returned to the living room to continue his preparations, but found that all the weapons had already been cleaned and prepped, everything organized except for his katanas, an omission that brought a slight smile to his face. Sitting down and eating for a few minutes in silence, Jackson reached for a polishing cloth and took one of his swords and drew it clear before working the blade slowly and methodically, polishing the already gleaming blade to a mirror shine.

"Why are you cleaning those?" Heero asked, between mouthfuls of his own meal.

"It is something of a ritual," Jackson replied, not looking up from his duties. "If I am to use these to take lives, they will be as pure before as they will be after. It is also a show of respect to those I kill, that they are slain by a perfect blade."
"I felt the same of my Gundam's," Heero replied. "I may not have always been able to have them repaired as I would have liked, but I always tried to make sure that when I had to kill that it was a clean kill. Causing suffering because of poor aim or faulty weapons shows a lack of pride and honor, at least in my mind."
Jackson nodded, losing himself in the task even as Heero watched him and continued to eat in silence, something that his new friend appreciated. The preparation before battle was at least as important as the battle itself, and so Jackson only used magazines that he had loaded himself, and polished his swords even though they were always cleaned after they had been put to their unfortunate use. It was cathartic in many ways, and gave him some semblance of normality in a world where his only reason to exist was because there were people that needed to die and if he didn't kill them then someone else would be force to.

"You don't have to keep doing this," Heero said, jolting Jackson out of his thoughts. "You don't need to live this life anymore, not when the world has changed so much."

"Has it really changed so much?" he countered, looking up at Heero. "Look at what has happened just today. Look even farther back at what your mission here was in the first place. Infiltrate a possible terrorist organization and gather evidence of any illegal activities. There may not be mobile suits engaging in grand battles for the fate of the world, but there is still much more to accomplish if we are to elevate ourselves above the past, above our base natures. I can't rise above my nature, and so I have given into it until the day my existence is rendered meaningless. When that happens the bullets I've been dodging will catch up to me."

"I thought that way once," Heero replied. "I thought I had to fight because if I didn't, no one else would. I thought that my only reason for being was to fight, to battle against those who would threaten the innocent for their own gains. A noble goal perhaps, but arrogant too. It took me a long time to realize that there is more to life than fighting and dying, and that there is a lot more to fight for than just peace. Peace is just a word, an ideal, but someone you care about, that is something tangible that you can touch. That person can make all the pain and blood and suffering in the world worth enduring. In the end I destroyed the Wing Zero without a thought, knowing that its purpose had been fulfilled and for its companionship I was grateful, but no matter the risk there was always one person that I never gave up on, and who somehow never gave up on me."

"Duo," Jackson said, knowing without a doubt who Heero meant, but curious as to what he was trying to get at. "The difference between us Heero, is that I don't have any friends or someone like Duo in my life that I can turn to and use as a foundation for a new life. My family is gone, and my soul is drowning in the blood of the lives I've taken. I'm sorry but what you have done just doesn't compare to the blood I've waded through in my revenge or arrogant missions."

"One of my first training missions in the colonies involved the bombing of an OZ military base. I infiltrated the base and set the charges before I blew it to hell. I watched it burn, and I watched as a Leo exploded and sent another mobile suit into an apartment building nearby. After the smoke cleared I saw that I had leveled most of a city block and killed countless innocent people, including the girl and her dog that I had seen only hours before. I killed them just as if I had wrapped my hands around her neck and squeezed. In a way that would have been better, better to take only one life instead of hundreds."

"All life has value, but I no longer consider myself alive," Jackson said, standing up, sword in hand. "I've given up all claim on my humanity, just as you would have if you hadn't changed Operation Meteor, or if you hadn't opposed Dekim Barton and Mariemaia, or if you hadn't let Duo in and given yourself a chance. I never had a chance, and it's much too late to worry about this any more. We have too much to do and I will need a clear head for tonight."
"Agreed, but I will say this," Heero conceded. "After the Mariemaia War I swore that I wouldn't kill again, but you know what changed my mind? Not that I love battle, or that I enjoy taking lives, but that because I recognized that at least for now there would still be occasions when there would arise an enemy that couldn't be defeated by words. I fight still, kill still when I have to, so that someone else doesn't have to learn how to fight and kill. It's the greatest gift I can give to everyone around me, and it's the best way to ensure that when the time is right, the future will be safe for me and…"
"Duo."
"Without Zero I can no longer see my future…but for every nightmare that invades my dreams with blood and horror I have a dream about where we are safe and happy and enjoying life as it should be enjoyed, as if our lives hadn't been stolen from us and been programmed only to kill."

Jackson had to admit that there was something to what Heero said, but he just didn't know if it would apply to him. They were two different warriors, each fighting for a different reason, but each wanting the same end result, peace without the clouds of war darkening the skies. But each time he thought about leaving his life of death behind, Jackson saw the faces of his victims flash before his eyes, no matter how tightly he closed his eyes against their dead staring eyes. Without even realizing it, he had squeezed his eyes shut against the faces, but opened them again when Heero placed a hand on his shoulder.

"You have at least one friend now," the youth told him, eyes locked with his own. "What else could I consider someone who would do this for someone he didn't know?"

With that Heero left and returned to his room, leaving Jackson in turmoil. Looking down at his sword, Jackson realized that he was gripping it so tightly that his knuckles had gone white. Letting out the breath he had been holding for some reason, Jackson sheathed the sword quickly and set it down, taking a step back from his tools of death and tried to imagine a time when he had been innocent and happy, looking forward to a future filled with promise. To his heart-rending dismay he realized that he couldn't see any farther into his past than the day his parents had been killed, everything before that being a haze he could not penetrate no matter how desperate he was. Collapsing on the couch Jackson looked down at his shaking hands and all he saw was blood dripping from them and wondered if there would ever be a way to get them clean again.

Duo woke again and groaned in agony from the treatment his captors had subjected him to. The bastards had gased him with something, but it hadn't worked as well as they'd hoped, so when the two men had come for him Duo was ready. Obviously thinking their prey unconscious and blind in the darkness, they wore nightvision visors, but Duo was accustomed to fighting in space, picking out distant targets with little more than faint starlight to see by. He'd been on the first man before they'd realized he was awake, scything his legs out from under him before tackling him and snapping his neck with a quick twist from his hands. The other man was unarmed as was the dead one, obviously no one was taking a chance that Duo would get his hands on a weapon, but each of the Gundam pilots was a living weapon and even if he wasn't up to Heero's level, Duo was no slouch. The second man tried to make a break for the still open cell door, but Duo landed a devastating flying kick in the small of his back, driving him into the doorframe so hard that he was rendered unconscious. Noting the darkness beyond the door, Duo bent to retrieve the visor the guard wore but lights blazed on in his cell and the corridor, lights so bright that Duo thought he might never see again. Stumbling backwards in agony, he shielded his eyes as best he could but still took a punch to the gut that nearly doubled him over. Purely on instinct he managed to grab the foot coming in towards him and pulled, dropping a hand onto the guard's knee and snapping his leg upwards. With a terrible scream the man crumpled, and Duo found that he could make out faint shapes in the whiteness. A fist took him in the temple but he was too angry now, too lost in being Shinigami once again. He heard a pistol clear a holster and moved towards the guard too fast for the man to take a bead. Grabbing the guard's wrist and ducking under the outstretched arm and behind him, Duo broke his wrist and took the gun, shoving the man into another of his comrades. Turning the weapon on another guard Duo fired, but instead of the crack of a solid round weapon as he had hoped for, it released a surge of electrical energy and sent the man writhing in agony to the floor of the cell. Finally Duo's sight cleared even as half a dozen guards leveled their stunners at him and he felt himself lose all motor control even as his nervous system screamed in pain. After that it had been fifteen minutes of being beaten over and over, every possible part of his body bruised and battered, one eye swollen closed now, and the other perpetually bathed in the searing white light that now filled his cell every minute of every hour. Duo had no way of knowing that it had been only been thirteen hours since he had been kidnapped and barely nine hours since he had first regained consciousness in his cell. As he laid bleeding and gasping for breath through at least two broken ribs, he could only wonder what they were doing to Heero.

"I see you have decided to resist."
"You didn't actually expect me to just lie down and die, did you?" Duo rasped, laughing for emphasis. "I've piloted mobile suits in both wars, and I'm still here. If you think threatening my friend will get me to cooperate with whatever you're planning, think again. Heero would be the first person to tell you where to shove your threats, so don't waste your time. Actually I'm surprised he hasn't killed you yet. He must be just waiting for the right moment. Don't worry though, he'll get you when you least expect it and I'll be right there with him."
"You certainly don't lack confidence, but your bravado is wasted. You may have been a Gundam pilot once, the scourge of OZ and Romefeller, but now you're just a man. You will bend to my will, or I will break you."
"Janus, I'll tell you this just once, so listen closely, okay? I'm going to kill you, with or without Heero's help, and I'm going to enjoy sending you to hell cuz there's lots of guys down there that I've sent in the past, and they'd love to make your acquaintance."

"Let's see if you can keep your humor through the trials ahead. Your screams will certainly entertain me."

Duo would have replied, but the cell door opened and a large group of men came in and roughly manhandled his battered body onto a stretcher and strapped him down. The straps bit sharply into his wrists, ankles and chest, but Duo was already in so much pain that he barely noticed. They took him through a maze of hallways before at last coming to a stop. Suddenly Duo found himself flying but his amazement was shortlived when he realized that the stretcher he had been strapped to had simply been lifted from the ground by a large armature that then held him in the center of the room at a nearly ninety-degree angle to the floor. All around him he could see surgical equipment and readouts, chemical equipment and at least half a dozen men in white lab coats and full face masks that hid their identities.

"Welcome to your new home for the next few days," Janus's voice informed him, as two of the men began cutting Duo's clothes away and attaching all manner of medical sensors to his body. "You can begin screaming any time now."

Even as he said it, Duo felt a pain of such monumental intensity burrow itself into his brain that he screamed louder than he could ever remember doing in his entire life, and did not stop until his throat was hoarse and the pain had receded to a merely mind-numbing intensity.

As the pain surged again, the last thing Duo heard before passing out was Janus's laughter echoing through the room and the blank faces of the doctors watching him.

Heero decided to wear his suit again though he couldn't figure out why. Rather than fixate on why he'd chosen those clothes to wear on what could easily be his last mission, Heero focused on what he would do and how he would act. And on Duo's face as it kept running through his mind. Duo smiling in the club, Duo with a look of mock indignation on his face from the hundred times Heero had slipped an insult into their conversation, just to enjoy his response. Duo looking at him as though he was the only thing his friend could see.

No, those thoughts would distract him with all that lay ahead, and Heero tried to banish them by furiously rubbing his temples and squeezing his eyes closed against his friend's visage.

Think only of weapons and death, on punishing those who took him, Heero thought desperately. Forget the naïve non-killing shit after the Mariemaia war, focus on the promise you made yourself with your heart, not your head. Fight and kill anyone who would try to return the world to its war-torn past for their own gain so that no one else will need to. New Horizon won't see another dawn.

With that declaration, Heero headed for the living room where Jackson was packing up his gear into his duffel and returning any extra equipment to his suitcase.
"I take it you will take all our gear back to the courier before we begin," Heero assumed, only then realizing that he had a case of weapons under his bed and that it would be dangerous to simply abandon it.

"It will only take me about an hour round trip," Jackson replied, zipping the duffel and locking the suitcase. "Its only 10:30 now, so there is plenty of time to drop this stuff off and still get back in time. I didn't think it would be a good idea to just leave these weapons lying around for the cleaning staff."
"Is there anything else I can do?" Heero asked, desperate for something to focus his attention on that didn't involve his lost friend.

"Download the data into the laptop and test out the little surprise I told you about earlier. Other than that, just be ready. I…I'm better now than I have been in a long time, but when the blood starts to spray, I become different. Just…be ready for that. Remember, be there five minutes before midnight, and don't forget to put the radtracer into your shoe."

Heero saw the last of the equipment that Jackson had left and watched as the other went and gathered Heero's suitcase before lugging all three and the duffel out the door and disappeared. Now all that was left was the waiting. God how Heero hated waiting having long ago decided that it was possibly the worst torture a warrior could endure. He sat on the couch and pulled the single briefcase that Jackson had left and opened it, then opened the laptop contained inside. There was no password so it took Heero only a few minutes to gain access to the Preventer satellite and start the download of the data. Watching the timer countdown occupied him for a few minutes until he blurted out an animal bellow in frustration and stood, pacing aimlessly around the room. That managed to kill another fifteen minutes during which the download completed and left Heero completely at loose ends. Shutting down the laptop, Heero tried out the surprise built into the briefcase and smiled a grim smile as it worked to perfection. At least he had a chance for revenge, no matter the outcome.

Unbidden Duo's face appeared in his mind again, forcing Heero to start reciting his role in the battle ahead out loud to try and drive away the smiling face. But no matter how hard he tried all Heero could do was wonder just what hell Duo was going through at that moment. If they had hurt Duo, he'd make them pay for it in blood, all their blood as he watched the light leave their eyes. No, he couldn't lose himself like that again either, as he had lost himself in drink only hours before. He wasn't a murderer any more, but anyone who stood in his way this night would die, of that Heero knew and welcomed it. Welcomed a means to vent the rage inside him, the sadness, the loneliness. All the other pilots had termed him the Perfect Soldier given his lack of outward emotions, but they had all grown to know him better than that, and even though the term had stuck, they meant it now as a compliment for they saw in him the noblest qualities that a warrior could possess and still be a warrior. He may not be as outgoing and outwardly emotional as Duo, or even Quatre and Wufei, but he was also not the almost complete emotional blank that Trowa seemed to be. Beneath the façade he had constructed to let himself focus on battle, Heero felt his emotions churning as they desired to be free. They had gotten a taste of freedom in the NightSky only half a day earlier and when he had started drinking to quiet his sense of loss, and now they wanted more than ever before but Heero could not let them loose again. If he did, he would make even Jackson blanch at the atrocities he would rain down upon New Horizon, here and throughout the solar system. Oh god no, Heero thought. Don't let me become like the monster I've always feared. Not when I've finally found peace and someone to share it with. Haven't I suffered enough, bled enough, killed enough?

He dropped onto the couch and cradled his head in his hands, trying to make peace with himself and not sure if he truly wanted to, and that was how Jackson found him when he returned.

"You ready?" Jackson asked, a greatcoat wrapped around him and cinched tight.

"Yes," Heero replied, standing and picking up the briefcase and realizing that he truly was. No matter what happened he was ready to do everything he could to save his friend. "Go first. I will leave in three minutes."

Extending his free hand, Heero waited until Jackson took it before he spoke again.
"No matter what happens, thank you."
"Thank you, Heero. No matter what happens, I'm glad I came. The ghosts aren't quite as loud as they once were. Maybe tonight will quiet them forever."

With that cryptic remark, Jackson left, and Heero went back to waiting. Deciding to hell with it he headed for the elevator and took it down to the lobby before marching confidently out the hotel's front doors. He almost hoped New Horizon had people watching him, almost hoped they could sense his emotions at that moment. They would have run for the hills. The streets were nearly empty now so it was a simple matter to gauge his walking speed so as to arrive at the proper time, and he did so barely fifteen seconds early. The doors to the building opened as he approached, six armed men visible inside, weapons held ready but not aimed. They waited for the doors to close and electronically lock behind Heero before one of them slung his weapon and produced a scanner and started running it over Heero, obviously looking for any hidden weapons or communications devices or other surprises the spy might had prepared for them. The guard also scanned the briefcase thoroughly but seemed satisfied and soon they were escorting Heero to the elevator and sent him up alone, obviously remaining at ground level to prevent any escape attempt. When the elevator came to a stop and the door opened, Heero found himself facing another six armed men and was herded into the elevator to the New Horizon offices and sent up three levels to the mainframe floor. Four guards met him there and moved to circle him and marched him around the central area to the rear of the floor, armed men at every office. Finally they stopped at a door leading to what was labeled a janitorial closet, but after it opened Heero realized that it was a large office luxuriously appointed, obviously the place from which the terrorist cell was led from. A man in a well-tailored suit sat behind the expansive wood desk and watched with his hands clasped on the desk as Heero was ushered in and then the door closed behind him, two large guards standing only a foot behind him to provide security.

"Heero Yuy, I presume," the man said, not moving as he spoke. "Your reputation is somewhat of a legend, especially to those who will soon become your enemies."
"My reputation has nothing to do with this," Heero replied, not moving but his eyes were locked onto the man behind the desk. "I have your data and you have a Preventer agent. We will trade as your demand said and part ways, all bets off for our next meeting."
"The bets are off now," the man laughed. "Did you think that you could just walk in here and get your friend back so easily? You killed a number of our men and stole top-secret information of our group, and you think that we would be so generous to return your friend without seeking any reprisals? I must admit, I'm rather disappointed in you Mr. Yuy."
"I don't care if you're disappointed in me or not," Heero snapped, his calm veneer fading fast. "Either return Duo to me now or I destroy your data and you lose all that you have been working for."
"Finally, some signs of life. Bring the laptop to me so that I can verify the information and so that I can check certain subroutines embedded in the code to determine if you have made additional copies of it."
With the guards close behind, Heero moved slowly but unerringly to the desk and set the briefcase atop it, imputing the code and popping the catches. It took only a few seconds to bring the laptop out of standby and to spin it around so that the man could see the data scrolling down and fading in and out on the screen. After several minutes of watching, the man smiled and nodded.

"Excellent. It appears that you have abided by our demands. Unfortunately your friend will not be returned to you until we are fully satisfied that the data is whole and uncorrupted and that Preventer has not received any copies."
"That wasn't the deal. You have what you want now return Duo or suffer the consequences."
Another smirk cross the man's face and Heero truly accepted that they had never intended to return Duo alive.

"Take him somewhere and shoot him," the man ordered. "Make sure to dump the body somewhere Preventer can't find it until we're away from here."

Even as the guards closed in on Heero the lights all went out and he knew that the time had come. Having never let go of the briefcase, Heero entered the secret code into the left locking mechanism and a knife shot out from the lid, the same knife that the kidnappers had left behind. Heero grabbed the hilt and spun, slashing both guards across the throat in a single lightning-fast motion, feeling in the dark as their arterial blood sprayed over his face and hands, heard them collapse gurgling to the ground. Emergency lights came on a few seconds later and the man had risen from behind his desk, gun in hand but found himself aiming at nothing. Even before he could try to flee, having seen his dead guards lying in a widening pool of their blood, a blade slipped around his throat and tightened, drawing a rivulet of blood.

"Drop the weapon," Heero breathed, his voice low and dangerous, his hand tensing and desiring to drag the blade through the man's flesh.

The gun clattered to the ground.

"I won't tell you anything," the man said, confident that his other guards would be coming for him in seconds. "You kill me and you're dead, and I promise it won't be quick. Let me go, and I'll make sure you meet a swift end."
"Where is Duo?" Heero asked, ignoring the man's suggestion. "Is he in this building or another of your bases?"

"I hope you were a better mobile suit pilot than you are at threatening people," the man continued conversationally. "Even if you kill me and escape here, we will find you. You have no idea how far our reach is. We aren't like the Barton Foundation of Romefeller. We're shadows and you can't kill shadows. We will always be there when the light fades."
The man smiled as he felt the knife being withdrawn from his throat, thinking he had won, but Heero had simply decided that a quick death for him was too generous. All the man could do was let out a strangled wheeze as the knife slid through his back and into his right lung before Heero twisted it sharply and let the man collapse, passed out from the shock. Not even bothering to stop and pick up the dropped gun, Heero left the man gasping to death behind him only to have a shadow appear before him.

"Heero."

"Did you find Duo?" Heero asked, taking the assault rifle and a belt of spare magazines that Jackson offered him.

There was a pause that told Heero all that he needed.
"He's not anywhere in the building."
Jackson nodded, confirming what Heero had feared for all along, but that didn't do anything to soften the blow.

A metallic click behind Heero had him spinning around, assault rifle bucking terribly as the huge rounds caught the man as he tried to aim his pistol. The hypersonic rounds lifted the man up and exploded him through the window behind him before shredding him into indistinct chunks that rained down on the street below. Normally Heero might have felt some remorse at having obliterated someone in such a manner, but there was no room for remorse now.

"We should go," Jackson said, turning and leading the way with his silenced pistols, though the element of surprise was clearly lost.

Heero hefted the rifle and realized that he was glad that they would be facing a prepared enemy at last. It would be all the more satisfying to kill them all.

Not fifteen minutes earlier Jackson was sitting atop his chosen building, unpacking his equipment. Already his suit was gone and only his stealth armor remained, and he was slotting his various knives and guns into the sheaths and holsters built into the armor. His katana's were over his shoulders, the huge-bore assault rifle slung between then with a belt of magazines for it around his stomach above another belt of clips for his pistols and compartments holding other tools of his trade. It took only a few minutes for the duffel bag to hold only the discarded suit, leaving Jackson moving swiftly to the roof edge, slipping the nightmag visor over his head and activating it and the jammer built into it, turning the darkness into daylight. Staying low at the edge of the building, Jackson could see the guards patrolling the roof of the New Horizons building amidst the ventilation stacks and air-conditioner intakes. The nightmag visor he wore let Jackson see as though it was broad daylight and he could easily see the four men patrolling the rooftop, what looked like silence rifles in their hands. Frowning, Jackson looked for any sign that they knew the specifics of his plan, but the almost random way they were moving made him confident that they were merely doing what they had done every night since even before the Preventer infiltration. Clad completely in his stealth armor and loaded down with his weapons, Jackson readied the grapple launcher, its laser targeting equipment linked to his visor for perfect aiming. He triggered the anchoring grapple and it buried itself in the concrete stairwell access several meters behind him, and aimed the other grapple at the two-storey shorter building across the way. He waited until the guards were as far as possible from his travel path and fired, waiting the few seconds until the grapple struck the other stairwell enclosure and bit deep, the monofilament cable retracting tightly to prevent sagging. Before the guards would start to circle back, Jackson leapt off the edge of the roof, holding tightly to the grapple launcher and slid silently towards his destination. It was a long ride as it crossed the six-lane street below, but the angle made the trip last only seconds. Thinking he was clear, Jackson let himself take a calming breath to stem the rising flow of adrenaline rushing through his system, only to watch as one of the guards started back towards where his grapple was anchored sooner than he had anticipated. Reaching back over his right shoulder to the hilt of the sword there, Jackson waited until he was certain of the timing before he pulled the sword free of its scabbard. His momentum and the strength of his swing took the guard's head clean from his neck in a gout of blood before the body collapsed to the rooftop. Absorbing the impact on the stairwell enclosure with his legs, Jackson dropped silently to the roof, alert to any attention his dispatching of the guard might have drawn. His visor told him that the other guards were still patrolling, and out of eyesight of each other as well in the gloom. Poor training, or else laxity in their routines, but either way Jackson would exploit it to his best advantage. Choosing the farthest target, a guard well out of sight of the others and standing with his back to the killer in their midst, Jackson moved. His rubber shoes kept him silent as he made his way across the roof, leaping over or ducking under anything in his way. The guard still had no idea he was dead until he felt a hand on his shoulder and then it was too late. Before the man could turn, or even react, Jackson had leveled his sword at the guard's neck and slipped it through his 3rd and 4th cervical vertebrae with a powerful horizontal thrust. Angling the blade so that the guard slid soundlessly from it to the rooftop, Jackson moved to the next and found the guard turning towards him. A single strike removed the man's hands and the weapon he held, and another took his throat out before he could scream, a wet noise emerging from his mouth as he fell down and died. There was a scuffing noise to the left and Jackson let fly with a throwing knife that caught the last guard in the chest and knocked him to the ground, weapon lying out of reach of his spasming fingers. Finishing him quickly as a small mercy, Jackson moved to the access door and waited. Checking his watch for a moment and seeing it change over to midnight; Jackson pulled the remote detonator from a pouch on his belt, flipped up the thumb-cover and depressed the button hidden underneath it. The charges that he had placed on the power conduits hours before exploded, severing the conduits and plunging the entire city block into total darkness, and in that darkness Jackson easily pried open the now powerless security door and entered New Horizons. Thankful that his visor made it seem as though the lights were still functioning, but as the corridors were so narrow Jackson quickly wiped and sheathed his sword before drawing a pair of silenced 10mms. Activating a small control on the side of the visor, Jackson loaded up a small scanner suite built into the visor that was clearly showing Heero's position within the building, as well as the fact that there was no other augmented lifesigns anywhere within the scanner's range. Knowing that the elevator was the only way between levels, the assassin slipped down the darkened corridors, waiting for the emergency lights to come on and spoil his advantage. Several guards were milling about in confusion, trying to communicate with the rest of their forces but the jammer in the visor was keeping the separated, and Jackson gunned them down easily. Time was of the essence so he moved quickly, snapping off killing shots whenever he needed to, before coming to the elevator doors. It would undoubtedly be locked down on the third level where Heero was, so Jackson jammed one of his blades into the tiny gap between the doors and forced them open before wedging himself in and opening them enough to see the car down below him. With a single cable running down that connected the elevator to its power source, there weren't a lot of options for a quick descent. Leaning out and grasping the cable, Jackson let himself slide down and dropped through the emergency hatch. The elevator was dark and empty, but it took only a few moments to pry the doors open and emerge out into the offices again. At last the emergency lights came on and Jackson was no longer an invisible shadow in the darkness. Several guards next to the elevator saw him and tried to draw a bead but were shot down mercilessly as Jackson headed as quickly as he could for Heero's signal, knowing that save for the hidden knife that his friend was unarmed and at the mercy of the terrorists. But even with the best intentions it seemed that every office held another guard, all of them firing now having seen him and forcing Jackson to abandon half-measures and go deep into the person he loathed. Diving and rolling, he squeezed the triggers until three more men were dead, then ducked into a small coffee room and ejected the spent mags, loading the fresh ones with practiced ease. Holstering the weapons, he used a small fibreoptic camera to peer around the corner and locate the guards waiting for him, automatic weapons raised and ready. Fixing their positions firmly in his mind, Jackson drew more knives and darted across the hallway into an office, hands snapping out and launching the weapons with deadly accuracy, felling all four men even as they tried in vain to target him. Widening his lifesigns detection threshold, Jackson could make out the faint signals of the guards as they rushed towards where their fellows had just fallen, and so he circled around behind them and slipped his swords free. The corridors were narrow so it required some unorthodox maneuvers to ensure the blades didn't get stuck in anything, but Jackson was a professional and a perfectionist and he carved up the last three guards that were between himself and Heero, running the first through even as he spun and slashed down at another and took him from shoulder to hip, then disemboweled the last, leaving him in agony on the floor as he tried to keep his entrails in. Heero's signal was still strong but it was moving now, so Jackson made haste to a door that was labeled for janitorial supplies, obviously a false name plate to hide the office behind it. The signal approached the door and Jackson waited until Heero opened it.

After he had given the assault rifle to Heero, who then promptly demolished a man in a very nice suit, who seemed to be having trouble breathing, made worse when he was blown apart and shot out a window. Heero seemed intent on taking the lead, and Jackson was willing to let him, as his friend seemed to have something to prove, or perhaps something to vent. With the assault rifle thundering and cutting down everything in its path with high-caliber armor piercing rounds, Jackson found himself gratefully useless, the blood of twenty-two more people stained his hands but this time the ghosts of his past did not rear their heads. Perhaps, for the first time, he was fighting and killing for the right reasons. Dismissing such idle speculation, Jackson ripped a blade through a guard who had popped out from an office after Heero had already blazed his way past. Shell casings littered the floor and Jackson had to watch his step lest he slip on them, a dangerous proposition when holding swords. A spent magazine clattered to the ground, the second one Heero had expended and the offices could testify to the intensity of his fire, as could the half-dozen mutilated bodies that were intermingled with the spent shells.

"Elevator," Jackson said, opening the doors and waiting for Heero to enter before letting them close again.

Heero pushed the rifle up through the emergency hatch and then jumped up and pulled himself through, Jackson doing the same. Using the maintenance ladder rather than pulling themselves up the cable, the two continued their battle towards the roof where Jackson's escape route waited for them. Though he had mostly cleared the fifth level on his way down, Jackson found himself gun in hand once more as the survivors had somehow guessed that any escape would be made from the roof. A desk had been hauled out and tipped over on its side and three guards were clustered behind it, pinning Heero and Jackson in the elevator shaft. Holding the door open by jamming a knife in the track, Jackson bellowed to Heero.

"Shoot through the desk!"
Heero didn't respond, but shifted his aim from trying to pick off the guards themselves to simply firing his devastating rounds right through their meager protection. Jackson watched as the desk disintegrated beneath Heero's unrelenting salvo and even as it was reduced to wood chips the men behind it were already dead, fist-sized holes punched clean through them. Heero led the way again, reloading his weapon almost by instinct as he hardly seemed to be affected by anything that was going on around him. Concerned about where Heero was going, Jackson got close and whispered in his ear, weapons ready in case more guards arrived.

"Heero, don't give in now," he told the youth before him. "We'll get him back, but if you lose yourself now, you'll hate yourself forever."
"I'm going to kill them all," Heero replied, turning and Jackson saw in his eyes exactly what he had seen not all that long ago in his own, the look of complete lack of concern for his own life in the face of his revenge.
"You think you're ready for this?" Jackson hissed, angry at Heero for giving in when Duo could easily still be alive and a prisoner. "Fine, I'll show you what it means to be a true killer."

Tearing his visor clear and holstering his guns, Jackson drew a pair of long knives and moved ahead, the poor emergency lighting making him seem otherworldly as he approached two guards coming down the corridor to check on their comrades. Bolting forward at nearly inhuman speed, Jackson veered right to throw off their aim, then dodged left, leaping up and kicking off the wall to change his trajectory. He tackled one of the guards and buried both knives in his chest, then pulled them out, turned and stabbed upward in a single motion. The blades caught the guard in the stomach and with his legs working like pistons Jackson lifted the guard up as he rose, slamming him into the wall and pinning him there ever so momentarily with the tips of the knives protruding from his back. Already unconscious and dying, the guard didn't notice when Jackson drove a third knife with all his strength through the man's heart. Half turning and bending over backwards to land with his left hand, Jackson triggered the spring-loaded blade under his right forearm and it took the last guard clean through the throat. Even as he staggered gasping through his blood filled throat, the guard was still alive long enough to realize that Jackson had placed both swords across his throat and simply took his head and hands clean of with a quick scissor move. Blood covered the floor and sprayed up the walls, dripped from the katana blades and ran down Jackson's face and armor, even as he breathed as though he had run a marathon. Turning slowly to face Heero, Jackson showed him the horror that he had only been moments from reveling in.

"Decide now if you are so ready for this," Jackson growled. "More will come. But if you would rather keep your soul so that your friend can be rescued by the one he cares for instead of a monster like me, then follow me."
Flicking his blades angrily and sheathing them, Jackson led the way up onto the roof and knew that Heero was following from the sticky footsteps through the blood. Out in the night air Jackson let the killing rage drain from him, and he closed his eyes and took a deep cleansing breath.

"Where do we go now?" Heero asked, ejecting a mostly spent clip and slapping another home, racking the slide.

"Right over here."
Jackson grabbed the grapple launcher and hit the power retract button, and gestured for Heero to move closer.

"I'd suggest holding on tightly," Jackson advised, as they walked to the edge of the roof, the launcher high over his head with the safety loop secure around his wrist. "It's a long way down."
For a moment Heero seemed to grin, and Jackson could imagine why; nothing like a few hundred foot drop, for the second time, to clear your head. Heero slung the rifle within easy reach and wrapped his arms and legs tightly around Jackson, who then took them out over the city street below and when they were clear, hit the rapid descent control. It was nearly as breathtaking as freefall, and Jackson couldn't help but grin. With fortune on their side at last, they made the descent without further blood shed and managed to get to the car that Jackson had prepared even as the sirens started to get closer. With Jackson driving they made it to the airport in good time and were aboard the courier back to Brussels less than an hour after the deal had gone sour. Though Jackson was still optimistic about their chances of recovering Duo, he could tell from the dejected way that Heero sat in his seat that he was already imagining his friend lost. For once, Jackson didn't know what to do so they made the return trip in silence, each wondering in their own way as to the fate of Duo Maxwell.

Duo tried to move and found himself once more unable to, for it seemed like his entire nervous system had been fried. He didn't know how long they'd kept him strapped to the examination table as they performed whatever illegal and immoral experiments on his battered body, which still seemed to be healing despite the agonizing pain that still raced through him.

In such a state he was obviously no threat, and so the lights in his cell had been reduced to a normal level so at least when Duo found himself prone on the floor and staring up at the ceiling it wasn't like staring into the sun. For the first time he saw the small toilet in a far corner; at least they didn't plan for him to make a mess of his nice clean cell. Clean now after the bodies and wounded had been removed from the earlier fight. Duo managed to clench a fist as he remembered how good it had felt to fight back, to kill an honest enemy again.

"Feeling better yet?"

"Come in here so I can strangle you and I'll be great," Duo replied, imagining how Janus would just laugh at the threat, given that he could see how helpless Duo was. "Or just kill yourself, whatever is easier for you."

"Good, your strength is returning if you are able to joke once more. You weren't capable of that when we were testing you. But the screams, oh the screams, you brought a smile to my face."

"Well I'm so glad for that. After I remove your arms and legs and you're screaming as you bleed to death, I'll probably be smiling too."
"Excellent."
"What the hell are you talking about now?"
"Oh, you shall find out soon enough Duo Maxwell. You are more important to us than you can know."

"If you think that torturing me will get me to tell you what you want, you've got another thing coming pal," Duo bit back. "I've been tortured and beaten by the best. You guys are just amateurs playing at a game you can't understand let alone win."

"You truly don't understand what is going on here," Janus laughed. "Torture? Well I guess that it would seem like that from your perspective, but you are so far off the mark. You were a weapon once, and we will make you an even greater one now. It's time for your next session."

Duo tried frantically to move but couldn't and the cell door opened and the stretcher came for him once again.

As they took him back to the room of his torment once again, Duo railed against them with all the fury he could muster, all the while wondering where Heero truly was and why he hadn't come to save him.

Heero sat in his home and nursed his drink, unable to determine what his next step should be. He'd only been home for three days, but already he found it an empty place that just didn't seem like the home he remembered. It was still organized and clean in an overly compulsive way, something that Duo had teased him mercilessly about, but there was none of the energy that had been there whenever Duo had invited himself over, and that had been often. Taking a drink, Heero tried to steer his mind towards more practical things, like how he would locate New Horizon and force them to reveal Duo's location, or his fate, to him. Jackson had already returned to Preventer and would be speaking privately to Lady Une to present a report on what had happened, but Heero didn't really care about that right now. The most important thing they needed to tell Une was that Preventer had been infiltrated by New Horizon and that she needed to begin an investigation. Heero knew that it would take too long to make a difference to his plans to find Duo, but at the same time it might just bear fruit and give him a direction to direct his rage and frustration. Draining his glass Heero turned on the stereo and the last music disc that Duo had left in the player blared to life and set Heero to reminiscing once more and this time he did nothing to stop it. As the music thumped he could practically see his friend before him, lost in the beat and more often than not lost in the vodka as well, but always smiling and eyes that lit up whenever the music started to play. Actually, they seemed to light up whenever Heero entered a room or came over unexpectedly. Leaning back on his couch and letting his head loll back and stare at the ceiling, Heero tried not to believe how stupid and blind he'd been. All the signs had been there but he had been too afraid, something he never would have considered a possibility in the past where every battle could have been his last, but with the ESUN in charge and disarmament well underway, there had been no excuse for letting something so important slip away. And now look at where he was, alone again after one evening of feeling the most human, the happiest he'd ever felt in his entire miserable life. If he had only done what he should have done two years previously, he could have enjoyed what he had enjoyed only a day before, and closing his eyes Heero could only imagine where that would have led him and Duo. A relationship? Something more? One thing he was certain of, he would have left Preventer and taken Duo with him; it was just too much like their old lives and too much risk when there were others now to take up the torch and defend the cause. With his computer skills Heero saw himself doing freelance security and network jobs for companies, or even just seeing if Quatre needed anyone at Winner Enterprises. Duo, well that was a more difficult future to see with the erratic youth prone to starting but not finishing things, but music and dance were passions he had never relinquished. He also wasn't too bad with a computer; perhaps the two of them could get a business started, throw their famous names out there and see if people still remembered those people who had fought for peace. Heero didn't know how long he had sat there letting his mind run away with him, but when his cellphone rang it startled him, causing him to crush the glass in his hand and giving himself several small cuts in the process.

"Damn it," Heero muttered, fishing out his phone even as he moved to the kitchen to dispose of the broken glass. "Hello?"

"Agent Wing, Agent Steel. Scramble channel."

Heero hit a few keys on the phone and activated the pre-arranged encryption he and Jackson had decided upon, reluctant to use Preventer codes any more.

"Scrambled," Heero said, dropping the glass into the garbage and pulling a few slivers of glass from his hand. "What did Une say?"

"In regards to the mission she was surprised when I told her that it had failed, and given your reputation I'm not surprised as to why, but when I explained the situation she seemed far more concerned and angry. The idea that someone could infiltrate Preventer so deeply as to compromise the top-secret missions you are normally assigned has her more worried than she wants to admit."

Heero could well imagine the consternation that Lady Une would be experiencing given that Preventer was her mandate from the ESUN and Vice Foreign Minister Darlian, and she was ultimately responsible for everything done under is auspices. Now the real questions were just how badly was Preventer compromised and how many spies were in their midst.

"Did you tell her that we managed to copy the data after all?" Heero asked, concerned that his trump card was now revealed but knowing that Jackson would keep the secret.

"No, she doesn't need to know given that they would want to take it from us, and we can't afford it to get tied up in bureaucratic red tape or share it with anyone. Have you gone through it yet?"
Heero wanted to lie, just to assure Jackson that he wasn't completely useless without his partner, but every time he tried to go over the data he just lost himself in his misery and couldn't focus.

"No, I haven't," Heero admitted, getting the first aid kit out from under the sink and spraying disinfectant over his wounded hand.

"Stop worrying and get to it. We need to know if there is anything we can use. I'll call again if my contacts turn up anything, or if anything happens at Preventer."

"I'll start on the data and likewise call if anything points to someone or someplace."

Hanging up, Heero got a new glass and emptied what was left of his last bottle of vodka into it, then debated simply throwing it all out. It was barely noon and he was already drinking, but for the moment it helped keep the worst of the emotional turmoil from overwhelming him. Knowing that he would have to deal with it at some point, Heero took another belt and headed for the living room, dialing down the volume on the stereo and bringing the laptop out of standby. Calling up the data he had stolen from New Horizon Heero started to read through the endless pages of text but found nothing but scientific research for something called Project Janus, some sort of process to implant hypnotic suggestions in an agent so that he could operate in the midst of the most secure places and under intense scrutiny and only reveal his true nature when a certain trigger activated the hidden commands. It was hardly new research from Heero's own experience, but there did seem to be several advancements and breakthroughs mentioned, though the data was so convoluted that Heero couldn't make heads or tails out of it. There were no names or dates or places mentioned or even hinted at in the hundreds of pages of results and bland reports of test failures or needs for additional resources. What the data did reveal was that New Horizon was a much larger and more well-funded organization than Heero would have imagined. Though if they had infiltrated Preventer, they would have had to be both, for the security measures faced every day, and the checks and interviews before being brought into the ranks of agents was extremely thorough. His glass empty again, Heero checked the time and saw that it was nearly 3pm and his stomach was telling him that he needed more than just vodka to keep himself going. Making a call to a vegetarian restaurant for a delivery order given he was in no mood to cook, Heero decided to check his mail and saw that he had finally received a message from Quatre in response to his own message from several days earlier.

Heero,

I'm glad to hear that things are progressing well for Relena and ESUN, and that you and Duo are still fighting the good fight. Don't worry, it won't be much longer that any fighting will need to take place at all.

Things in the colonies are going well with the disarmament of Earth. Rebuilding and creating a more independent colony government is proceeding well, and hopefully within another year, maybe less, we'll be able to open negotiations for an alliance with ESUN on more equal footing.

WEI is doing well again, though my sisters have been doing much of the work, knowing that I'm not exactly at my best yet, even after so much time. Trowa stops by whenever he can and the circus and Catherine seem to be doing well. Wufei I seldom hear from as he always seems to be undercover for Preventer, but his last message stated that everything was satisfactory and that he was holding true to his integrity. Sometimes he hurts my head.

Anyway Heero, stay in touch more and tell Duo that I miss both of you and hopefully we can all get together sometime soon.

Quatre

Heero heaved a breath and felt ashamed for having kept Duo's situation secret from their closest friends, but with Duo's life in the balance Heero hadn't been willing to risk sending out messages that could be intercepted and compromise his attempt to track the terrorists. Setting up a complex internet search to locate any mentions of New Horizon of Project Janus, Heero decided that he could trust Quatre to remember his war training and properly decode a heavily encrypted message. In as orderly a manner as possible Heero laid out just what had happened, completely leaving out the personal interchange between himself and Duo, and keeping Jackson's involvement to a minimum to hide his true involvement. In the end he apologized for keeping such a secret but that he didn't know if he could trust the channels of communication, and asked that if Quatre or any of the others heard anything that they let him know immediately.

The message sent, Heero started working through the search results with a fanatical focus, barely hearing thirty minutes later when there was a knock at the door. The alcohol did nothing to slow Heero's reaction time and he had a silenced 10mm in hand procured from under a pillow before the echo from the knock had completely faded away. Flicking the safety off, Heero approached the door with his finger on the trigger and used the built-in monitor next to the door to use the security cameras outside to determine that it was just the delivery man. Still loathe to take chances, Heero switched the gun to his left hand and opened the door with his right, using the doorframe to keep the weapon hidden.

"Good afternoon, sir," the young man said, smiling. "I have your order here. That comes to 19.78 all together."

Making as if to check himself for cash, Heero deftly tucked the weapon into the back of his pants and handed the man twenty five as he took the food, returning the wide grin at the huge tip with a small smile, partly not to be suspicious or creepy, and partly because it felt good to make someone smile, even if it wasn't Duo.

With his food now Heero really dove into his work, and the hours fled as he finished the entire order though he had ordered enough for several days so that he wouldn't have to go out for groceries, but Heero just hadn't realized how hungry he was. The stress and anxiety had taken their toll on him, and since he had no Duo with which to cook a gourmet meal, he took the next best thing. The sun had completely set by then and even though he had searched through hundreds of websites and gone through thousands of individual articles and message boards, none of it mentioned New Horizon or Project Janus in anything other than partial words or random phrases referring to something else entirely. Frustrated Heero cranked up the music again, and then noticed that his e-mail was indicating that he had a message.

Blinking in surprise that Quatre had managed to get back to him so soon, Heero opened it.

Heero,

I have ordered all of my hackers to begin a net wide search for anything to do with this New Horizon and I have already sent out my agents and spoke with my contacts throughout the colonies. If these bastards have any connections out here we'll find them that I promise you.

I sent word to Trowa and he has asked me to relay to you his willingness to help. Say the word and he can be on Earth or wherever you need him in a matter of hours and the same goes for me. We may be separated by a few million kilometers but we aren't about to let this go, not without a fight. I have not heard from Wufei, but I don't expect to any more than usual, given his duties.

I don't know who this Jackson Steel is that is helping you, but if you trust him then I trust him, and give him my regards. We'll find Duo, and we'll punish everyone involved in his kidnapping. No Preventer, no ESUN, just us, Gundam pilots unleashed. Stay strong and I'll be in touch.

Quatre.

The message was far more than anything Heero could have asked for, and indeed he hadn't asked for so great an effort on the part of his old comrades, but it seemed that they considered an assault on one of their own to be an assault against themselves. Heero wondered what he would have done if it had been Trowa, Quatre, or even Wufei who had been taken, and all he could see was himself and Duo storming an enemy base, weapons blazing. Yes, he may have to keep secrets from his fellow ex-pilots, save Duo, but they were truly the only friends, the only family, he had ever had and could remember and he would fight to protect that family. Sending a brief note to thank Quatre for his help, Heero decided that he should check out Duo's house to see if anything looked untoward, perhaps indicating an enemy doing recon on a target. Throwing a jacket on to hide his gun, Heero secured his home and went next door, letting himself in without incident and beginning his search. The security system logs showed no alarms or attempts to circumvent the system, and the last time the system had been activated had been when he and Duo had left for their mission. Everything in Duo's home, albeit messy, was where it was expected to be, namely on the floor or in a corner. Absently as he swept the place, Heero started to tidy up. He re-shelved books and music discs, put dishes in the dishwasher, and picked up who knew how many sets of clothes and dumped them into the laundry room in a heap to be sorted out later. The main floor done, Heero headed upstairs and couldn't believe that Duo could stand to live in such a travesty. It didn't take him long to put things right, but it did take him nearly an hour to clean and unclog both the toilet and shower in Duo's ensuite.

"Baka," Heero growled, as he dug out a gigantic clog of hair from the shower drain and threw it away.

There was absolutely no reason for Heero's actions at attempting to beautify the toxic waste dump that was Duo's home, but as he worked and cleaned and straightened up, Heero felt some of the gut-clenching terror he'd been fighting back with alcohol and that had crept up on him again abate, as he focused on giving Duo a surprise when he came home. A clean home yes that would be a surprise for the braided youth, Heero decided. When everything was attended to, Heero returned home and spent another three hours fruitlessly searching through web page after article after vague reference and to his disgust came up with nothing. Finally he initiated a remote access link to the Preventer network and hacked his way into the classified surveillance and financial tracking department databases and started a search there as well as throughout the entire network. As it ran, Heero quickly popped back to Duo's and grabbed the three bottles of vodka he could find from his friend's freezer and brought them home, cracking open one and refilling his glass, enjoying the icy feel of the glass and the burning in his stomach. The search still had nothing on Project Janus and on that count Heero wasn't surprised, but there were a few interesting financial connections between the Hew Horizons investment firm and a number of medical research and development facilities both on Earth and the colonies. At first it looked as though everything was above board and legal, and though Heero was hardly a law or financial expert, he could see that some of those connections seemed to run a bit deeper. New Horizons would invest heavily and then suddenly the R&D facility would announce a new breakthrough of some sort and their stock would rise and New Horizons would rake in a huge profit. It was no wonder they were so well funded, Heero decided. If you could so expertly manipulate the system, you could make untold riches, something that Heero knew he could do if he so wanted to but his morals and Duo's unhappy face had always been enough to stem such thoughts. One particular facility in the L4 colony cluster, on colony VC-454, seemed to have made several such breakthroughs that had generated such huge profits, and yet Heero couldn't see any sign that the medical products described had ever reached the market.

"Perhaps Quatre will know more about them," Heero muttered, sending another message and asking Quatre to look deeper into Rising Sun Medical Research.

Finding the gun still digging into his back, Heero set it aside and finished his drink, noting that it was nearly midnight and that he was exhausted from the last few days of hectic planning and plans gone wrong.

Making sure everything was saved, secured and locked, Heero quickly found himself laying on his back in bed and no matter what he did he could not sleep, barely even could he close his eyes for more than fifteen minutes at a time. It wasn't that he wasn't tired, he was so bone weary as to be utterly ridiculous, but something just wouldn't let him go quietly. Then as if a lightning bolt had struck, Heero knew what he wanted, what he needed, and somehow managed to make his way to Duo's home before collapsing onto his friend's bed and as he clutched a pillow tight against him and breathed in the scent of Duo's favorite shampoo Heero felt himself slip into a deep sleep.

Duo lay curled up in a corner of his cell, trying to block his eyes from the light and somehow get some sleep. His most recent session in the torture chamber as he thought of it had lasted for hours and every nerve ending was ablaze with fiery pain, but Duo found himself finally able to block some of it from his mind and no longer was he paralyzed. The meager food that had been provided was barely enough to give him enough energy to think, and that was something Duo knew was hardly an accident. A weak and sleep-deprived prisoner was easier to manipulate and control than a rested and vital one. At least this time they weren't pumping the atmosphere out of the cell as had happened to him during a previous incarceration.

Somehow finding a position in which his body was able to relax and that kept the worst of the light from lighting up his closed eyelids, Duo finally fell asleep as his body decided that it had had enough. His last thought before he essentially went unconscious was of Heero and hoping that he was being spared this misery.

Heero woke before dawn and at first found himself completely disoriented as to where he was, but as his vision cleared he remembered and felt embarrassed at his emotional fragility. The scent of Duo in the sheets and pillows however soon resumed their hold over him and he no longer cared about why he was sleeping in his friend's bed merely that it felt better than he could remember any previous night's sleep he'd ever had. Rising and returning home, Heero started the coffee maker and pulled his cellphone from his pocket and called Jackson.

"Agent Wing?"
"Scramble channel."
There was a beep as Jackson did so, and then came back on the line.

"I know where we should look first," Heero said. "How long until you can be ready to leave with the documents we need to go to colony VC-454 with as little notice as possible?"
"Two hours," Jackson replied, almost no hesitation in his voice. "We can commandeer a diplomatic shuttle and with high-level diplomatic passports we can be through security in minutes and our cases won't be scanned."
"Perfect. Pick me up at my place and I'll be ready."
"See you in two hours."
The line went dead and Heero looked out as the sun just started to crest the horizon, and smiled. Today he would take the first step to finding his friend and bringing New Horizon to justice. Whether it was legal justice or vigilante justice would depend entirely on what state he found Duo, and part of Heero almost wanted the terrorists to give him a reason to hunt them all down. The scent of Duo's shampoo was still in Heero's mind and he smiled and any desire for revenge was gone. All that he cared about was getting his friend back, alive and well.

"Duo," Heero said, and watched the sun rise.