"I thought you said you were willing to share," Heero said, looking over at Trowa.
Trowa shifted from his position against the wall and slipped his Preventers jacket from his shoulders, tossing it onto the empty chair. "I am. Unfortunately, I don't know much. At least, not much more than you already know. Dorothy worked alone. And she was working on something big involving the Black Ties."
The Black Ties were an underground gang of gun-runners and crime mongers. They were basically the new-age mob and they were a tough crowd.
"Why don't we start with the fact that Dorothy was obviously heavily tied in with the Black Ties and she had no partner," Quatre said, arms crossed over his chest.
"It is a much less sinister reason that you suspect, Quatre," Trowa explained. "Neither Dorothy nor I have a partner simply because there is no one good enough to partner either of us."
"What about each other?" Heero asked.
"We're short handed. We couldn't afford to pair up. You see, when Dorothy joined, she brought with her a whole load of monetary ties and criminal leads that she had dug up. Money and crime go hand in hand, it seems. Anyway, with all the new loose ends to be tied up, all the others were dispatched on the most difficult missions. When I joined the Preventers two years after Dorothy, they were desperate. I got sent on a solitary assignment right away and Dorothy had already been through three partners."
"So what's with the Black Ties?" Quatre asked.
"The group has been giving us our fair share of problems as of late, but I can't tell you what exactly Dorothy knows of it. Nor do I have any clue as to what part of what she's involved in. And I don't know who tried to kill her."
"So what part of it are you in?"
"I'm not working Black Ties right now. I just got back from Colony X157. I've been trying to track down Justin Pino."
"Pino," Heero repeated. "The Russian? I thought he was dead."
"So does the rest of the world," Trowa said with an ironic grin. "I may have just found the clue that proves that he isn't. If he's alive, the Black Ties aren't the only problem we have."
"Black Ties, The Russian," Quatre murmured. "This is all sounding like stuff I don't want to know about."
"No one wants to know about it, Quatre," Heero said, shaking his head. "But that doesn't make it any less real."
"I learned that long ago. So, I'm guessing Une is slowly filtering in protection until we figure out what Dorothy got herself into."
"The best kind. More than half her squad is already on the premises," Trowa said, nodding to the three of them in the room. He turned his head to glance out of the window for a moment. "And the rest are just getting here."
Quatre and Heero already figured who the rest were. As if on cue the door opened and Duo Maxwell stood in the doorway, grinning. Duo had changed little physically. He still had roughish, boyish features and a ready, sardonic smile. His violet eyes missed nothing. Despite Duo's seemingly careless air, there was actually very little he missed. His hair was still done up in the characteristic chestnut braid. He was built lean and agile.
"Heero Yuy," he said, staring at him. "How the hell are you?" And with that he threw his arms around the other man and hugged him tightly for a moment.
Heero grinned and patted Duo's back. "Good to be back."
"Great to have you back. It's good to finally see you cave," Duo said, his hand resting on Heero's shoulder for another moment before he turned his attention to the waiting blond. "Quatre! Jesus, you are one beautiful man."
As Quatre accepted his old friend's bear hug, Heero turned to the other person who had filtered into the room. He smiled down at the petite brunette. She had a short, pixie cut that framed her refined, angular features gorgeous. Her black hair stood out against her creamy, pale skin and her blue eyes glowed warmly as she glanced at the three ex-soldiers in the room. Although the other ex-Gundams, especially Quatre, knew Hilde only a little, she had always had a very easy, warm air to her and it wasn't hard to be comfortable around her. In fact, of all the other acquaintances the pilot's had, she was the easiest to talk to. It felt natural with Hilde in the room.
"Hilde," Heero said, holding a hand out to Duo's partner. "Pleasure to see you again."
"Duo," Quatre said, watching as his friend crossed to the other corner to attack the last boy in the room. "I was beginning to fear I wouldn't see you."
"Me? I wouldn't miss this for the world. You and Heero finally on board? It'll be good to be together as a unit again."
"Quatre," Hilde said with genuine pleasure. She reached up to hug him warmly. Quatre returned the quick embrace.
Duo walked to stand next to Quatre, between the blond and the bed, looking down at Dorothy's pale, sedate face. He reached forwards and brushed her hair back from her forehead gently. He'd been the only one brave enough to touch her as of yet and it occurred to Quatre that Duo was the only one who could've gotten away with that. From any of the others, the almost intimate gesture would've been odd and alarming, but from Duo it was comforting. He was almost cutting through the tension by laying his fingers upon her. He shook his head and breathed in deeply.
"It just sucks that this reunion was brought about because of something so terrible," he said softly.
Hilde idly reached forward and took her partner's arm, pulling him back gently to stand beside her against the wall. Duo fell into place, still looking at Dorothy. Heero shifted, laying his hand on the door.
"I'm going to get something from the cafeteria," he announced. "Want to come, Quatre?"
He knew the answer even before Quatre shook his head. He just nodded.
"I'll go. I'm dying for some coffee," Hilde said, stepping forward to stand beside him.
Heero nodded once again and opened the door, allowing her to step through first. She waited for him in the hall and they walked together towards the elevator. From the left they could just hear Noin's voice, but they didn't pause. They didn't speak until they got to the hospital cafeteria and they were walking through the buffet line of items.
"Quatre's really worried, isn't he?" Hilde said, grabbing a little plastic box containing a turkey sandwich. "He seems a little… mad."
Heero glanced at Hilde from the corner of his eye. The girl was good, he'd give her that. He nodded. "He and Dorothy have a… complicated relationship."
Hilde looked up at Heero, interest plainly visible in her blue eyes. "How so?"
"When one is pushing, the other is pulling." After a moment of silence, Heero realized that this answer was less than lucid and he thought for a moment. "During the Great War, Quatre and Dorothy fought one of the major, tide-turning battles against one another. They're very alike, you see. One of them, however, is afraid to admit that. It causes tension. Quatre ends up frustrated almost all the time."
Hilde nodded, liking that explanation much more. They reached the self-serve coffee stand and Hilde grabbed two cups. Heero grabbed three, and something to carry them all in, and began pouring. After another moment of silence, he spoke again.
"More than anything, Quatre doesn't understand what is happening. Quatre doesn't like not understanding things. And the fact that Dorothy was working on this alone makes him all the angrier. He thinks she takes too many stupid risks as it is."
Hilde placed caps on the five coffee cups and grabbed one of the two cup holder trays. Heero paid for the meals, refusing to let Hilde hand over her money, and they headed back up to the ICU ward.
As they were waiting for the elevator, Hilde spoke without looking at the dark boy beside her. "You're more giving than they give you credit for."
Heero looked at her just as the bell dinged and the doors opened. He followed her into the elevator. She met his gaze and gave a brilliant, heartwarming smile.
"I understand why Duo thinks as highly as he does of you now."