Hello everyone, here we go again!

Thank you again to all of you who have offered your support.

For fair warning: This is a mature story, set in and Alternate Universe, which will make reference to sex, hold strong language and talk about some serious topics, such as trans-gendered people, homosexuals, sex reassignment surgery, murder and many other things. If any of this isn't your cup of tea, or you are not open-minded enough to handle it, then please, do not waste your time or mine. Thank you and please enjoy.

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing or its charries.

Chapter Three

It had taken Heero two weeks to get clearance to look into Dr. Sally Poe's patient information, and even then there was very little he could legally dig into. Under most circumstances, he considered patient-confidentiality to be a good thing, but at this moment, it was starting to piss him off. Dr. Poe had been a strategic victim, because not only was she a M2F transgendered individual, but she specialized in the treatment of transgendered people and hormones. There was a good chance that in killing her, or perhaps in the process of doing so, Pontius Pilate had a whole new list of names to work with. The killings were likely to become much more frequent now, and the police force was at a serious disadvantage if they didn't have the same information. It was important to try and discover who was most likely to be next and take preventative action.

Going down the stack of patient profiles, Heero took note of any transgendered patients and then used their age and biological gender for cross referencing with the previous victims. It was obvious that Dr. Poe felt a great deal of personal affection for her patients; despite the list being easily a hundred and fifty people long, they were all organized by first name and had hand written notes, personal things, even, like the birth dates of children, written in the margins. The last page made him pause, eyes widening a bit.

Name: Wufei Chang

Born: Meiran Long

Gender: Female to Male, Transgendered (prefers male pronouns)

Age: 25, D.O.B, December 12th, 1985

Height: 5'4''*

Weight: 117 lbs*

Blood Type: B...

As Heero continued to look down at the page and the information there, he knew that he had a potential problem on his hands. If Duo saw this, all hell was sure to break loose. Heero let out a soft, uncharacteristic curse, but his mind was already formulating solutions. Looking down at the bottom of the page for Wufei's contact information, Heero picked up the phone on his desk and dialed.

~!~!~

Wufei ran a towel through his hair quickly to catch as much of the water droplets as he could from running down his body before answering his ringing house phone. "Chang."

"Wufei Chang. This is Heero Yuy."

Wufei's lips thinned into a straight line as he frowned. He had expected Heero to contact him sometime after their meeting in the restaurant, but after two weeks he had begun to believe it wouldn't happen. "Yuy."

"…. We were friends once." Heero's voice was soft and Wufei felt a bit of guilt. Heero was not the sort of man who made friends easily, and he knew that he had damaged the trust between them by leaving without a word and now, denying the closeness they had once had by referring to him by his last name.

"I appologize, Heero. After Duo... After everything, I had thought it would be too much to continue correspondence with you." He had left a brief message on Heero's phone that he was pursuing a new life and that had been it, Wufei's intent being a clean break from everything he associated with his life with Duo Maxwell. It was too painful to consider keeping a constant reminder. It was bad enough that he had kept one of Duo's black shirts, accidentally thrown in with his as he hastily packed, now hanging in the back of his closet, hidden from view, but never forgotten. "Please.. Feel free to call me Wufei."

"I understand," Heero said, his voice more resolute than it had been. "But this is not a social call."

"… Is it about Sally?"

"Yes, in a way," Heero affirmed, making Wufei's heart thud in his chest, making him feel like a weak, adolescent girl again rather than the strong man he had become. "We have reason to believe-" There was a sound in the background, a door? And then Wufei could just barely hear a 'hey, Hee-chan', and a soft acknowledging grunt from Heero. Wufei's chest hurt. Dammit, he was over that bastard!

"It would be best if we could talk in person," Heero's voice came over the phone again, a bit softer than before.

"Alright. The usual place?"

"Hn. Soon as possible."

Wufei checked his watch, "I can be there in about an hour and a half."

"Alright. I'll see you then."

~!~!~

"So, who was that?" Duo asked, starting up his computer. Something about Heero's tone had been different for a moment there. They liked to forget that he could be just as observant as the rest of them, but he did tend to pick up on things like this. He was good at reading people, almost as good as Quatre, and had the reflexes to act on it, unlike his blonde friend. But then, Quat had the Tro-man to do all that. Ugh, gay, he didn't want to think about that conversation right now.

"A patient of Dr. Poe's."

"Huh?" Duo asked, having forgotten his question as he went back to thinking about that stupid conversation. He just wasn't gay! If he'd ever thought about it, it was Meiran's fault!

"On the phone. I'm going to go meet with them soon."

"Oh... yeah, good idea. Need any help?" Heero seemed to consider this for a moment, then carefully arranged the papers on his desk, setting half aside.

"We need to speak to all of the potential victims, make sure they know what to look out for, advise them to leave the city for a while, if they feel it necessary. You can contact this half." He handed the papers over.

"You got it, Buddy." Anything to get his mind off of this "gay" crap.

~!~!~

Wufei was earlier than he had expected, but he didn't mind. The bar he and Heero had once frequented was nearly empty as he walked in, making it a quiet and relaxed atmosphere. Zechs Marquise, an ex-cop and the owner of the place was behind the bar pouring a drink for a pretty young woman and her male companion. In another corner, a small group of slightly shady looking young men seemed to be having a tense conversation over several beer glasses and-

"Woah!" Wufei just barely caught the man that ran into him, having just turned back to face the door at the sound of someone tumbling in. A bright Hawaiian shirt nearly blinded him and Wufei gave a mental curse. Howard. The older man grinned, clearly already intoxicated, and patted Wufei on the back, "Thanksh, man, I thought I washh aboot ta meet the floor!"

Wufei laughed softly, more out of relief at once again not being recognized than at Howard's statement. Howard owned a scrap business and a mechanic shop where Duo had been working when he and "Meiran" had met. Even after Duo had secured a full-time position on the force, the brunette had remained close with his previous employer and Howard had been a frequent guest at parties and to watch football with them.

"Heeeey Zechsyy, get my reshcuer a drink!" Howard was yelling, throwing an arm around Wufei's shoulders and dragging him towards the bar. Wufei went, though the contact and Howard's loud, slurring voice made him tense and uncomfortable.

"Really, that's not necessary," Wufei said, "And 'rescuer' is a bit too strong..."

"Nonshense!" Howard said, shaking him a bit, "I''sh the least I cen do!" Zechs- Smiling slightly, damn him- was already pouring the beer, knowing as well as Wufei did that Howard wasn't about to let this go. Wufei was still praying that Howard would let him go soon, but it wasn't looking likely without a distraction. The door opened and Wufei looked, hoping that it was Heero, but no such luck was to be his as a tall, dark-haired man with a thin mustache and a receding hairline entered and took down the bar from them. Damn that Yuy, too punctual to even show up a bit early.

"Thank you," Wufei said, taking the glass and giving up fighting against this strong-willed man.

"A toast!" Howard said, raising his own glass, provided at just that moment, then looked at it for a moment, a little frown crossing his face. "This glass isn't mine, Zechs!"

Zechs smiled in that infuriating way of his, "My apologies, I thought you would want your 'savior' to have it." Wufei noticed then the graving on his beer glass, clearly a custom design and well done at that.

"Hell no!" He looked at Wufei, "No offense, kid, but it's bad juju to let shomeone elshe drink frem yer lucky glass!" Wufei smiled indulgently and allowed the older man to switch glasses with him. As Howard leaned on his stool, however, he fell over and this time Wufei was dragged down with him.

Howard gave a little moan of pain as Wufei rubbed his own head. "Are you both alright?" The dark haired man asked, having gotten up from his stool. He offered Wufei his hand and the Chinese man took it with muttered thanks as Zechs came around the bar to help Howard up as well. The stranger waved his thanks away and sat back down.

"Ahhh, shorrry," Howard said once he was righted and back on his stool again. And now, for our toast!" He grinned in a way oddly reminiscent of Duo and chugged his beer back. Wufei couldn't stop his own smile as he took a drink of his own.

What happened next was a bit of a blur. Suddenly, the world was tilting its axis and Wufei was seeing multiple Howards and he didn't feel so good...

"—fei! Wufei!" A steadying hand landed on his shoulder.

~!~!~

*In the official series, Wufei is 5'1'' and 101lbs! So, I feel justified in making him a bit taller at 25, even though he's still fairly short 117 is still freakishly skinny. But this is Wufei we're talking about. Wufei is like Chuck Norris... times 10. He can do the impossible and you can;t stop him even if you try. The rest of the stats are legitimate, I believe.