Disclaimer: I don't own the GW characters – am just borrowing to torment for my amusement

Warnings: Swearing, yaoi, violence, general angst, possible OOCness (ages since I've written fanfiction so may be a little bit rusty)

Pairings: 1x2 , 3x4 a hint of one sided 5+2 (unreciprocated)

A/N: Wow, really thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far. I am a little overwhelmed at the response having been out of the fandom for so long! Thanks! This fic is mainly finished and will be approx. 15 – 20 chapters, I've been working on it for some time before getting up the nerve to post the first chapter so am now mainly editing and revising as I go!

Chapter is inspired by Enter Shikari's No Sleep Tonight. Also this chapter is longer… I really wanted it to be two but just couldn't work out where to split it. Ah well… here we go...

Chapter Three

No Sleep Tonight

I grunted as I was pushed hard against cop car face first. My hands were in front of me as a hand ran down my legs checking for weapons and chubby fingers made quite the fuss over getting the flick knife out of my jeans pocket.

"You'll have to pay if you want more than that, motherfucker."

The cop pushed my face into the car. Hard.

"Shut up, punk."

He grabbed my arms harshly behind my back and put cuffs on tight before turning me round. I could feel a little bit of blood trailing from my nose from the impact but knew it wasn't broken. The cop was looking quite satisfied at his silencing me, knowing the bracelets were digging into my skin and the blood running down my face was his fault. He was short and middle aged. Probably had no idea who the fuck he was dealing with.

I spat at him.

In hindsight, it wasn't the smartest thing as I got the full force of the back of his hand against my face and then a hand round my throat – forcing me back against the car. I could've fought the guy but as I looked around the whole block around the warehouse building was surrounded by cops and my former gang mates were being rounded up. I'd seen one of the kids get shot as he'd attempted an escape. I wasn't that stupid.

"You know what they do to guys like you in prison… pretty boy." The guy's eyes bulged and he'd gone a kinda weird shade of purple as he spat out the words in my face. The words pretty boy he'd particularly enjoyed. "Now get in the fucking car."

And get in the fucking car I did, my hands painfully behind my back as we drove to local precinct. The city was like anywhere else I'd worked over the past three years. There was a good part then there was a bad part. I never saw the good part. Go figure. I looked out of the window as we drove deciding to keep my mouth closed for the time being as I wasn't quite sure whether I'd seen any Preventer agents. It worried me. All these busts had local police involved but they also had Preventer supervision. I'd not seen any familiar jackets as the cops broke in the warehouse at dawn and started picking up the crew – and found some surprising evidence. That room. I shuddered slightly thinking about it.

"Cold sweetheart?"

"Don't call me sweetheart, dickwad," I answered back.

"They'll all be calling you sweetheart in prison. Don't you worry."

I felt like sticking my tongue out but decided it was a little childish even for me. These cops thought I was a gang banger so prison would be the next step but damn, if only they knew. It was me who did the recordings. It was me who hacked into the records. It was me that found this bunch of street punks had been bankrolled by important men and big organisations. And it was me who was in the back of a cop car. Fuck. It would nice to be a hero again for a change.

But this was the nature of undercover work. I was booked, photographed, finger prints taken and shoved in a cell on my own in the row of holding cells that were being filled by the assholes I'd been working with. The cuffs had been released but there was a small amount of blood where they'd dug in. Motherfuckers.

It was a few hours before I knew anything else. I was dragged into an interrogation room, my hands cuffed again this time in front of me and left with two detectives.

The first one threw a file on the desk in front of me. I looked at the guy. Mid to late thirties. Wedding ring. Sandy blond hair. Tanned. Probably had kids. In my mind, he was good cop. Then I looked at the other. Shorter. Bald. Beer gut. No wedding ring. Bad cop.

I looked at the file and then back at the two men.

"What's that?"

"Your file Zack."

I raised my eyebrows. It was thick and had my current undercover name in big capital letters on the front. I'd kinda like this one – Zack Wilde felt like it could suit me, at least temporarily. And I didn't forget it which was always a bonus. The file had a full history of criminal activities dreamed up my handler and his team. The good cop started leafing through it.

"Breaking and entering… arson… grand theft auto… aggravated assault… it's quite the criminal career for someone who's only nineteen."

I shrugged my shoulders. "Call it my vocation."

"Call it whatever, Zack, no more juvie – you're a big boy now. This time there's no avoiding prison this time."

I suppose if this had been my real life this would be the point when I would look scared – being as I was, far, far too pretty for prison but I just looked back cockily.

"Maybe I get a good lawyer."

"How would scum like you get a good lawyer?" asked bad cop.

"You know the business we were in… I got a shit load of dirt on a shit load of people. Blackmail can be a real bitch."

"If you know something Zack, you should tell us now, it could save you prison time," said good cop trying to be, you know, nice and helpful and shit. He sounded kinda genuine but I was sick of the whole charade. Just get me outta here.

"Why should I? It ain't gonna stop me going to prison."

"It could reduce your time."

"Fuck it, I ain't talking to you until I get a phone call."

"Why do you need a phone call? All your friends are in custody."

Yeah, I thought, why the fuck would I want them, idiot? I wanted to call Wufei and find out where the hell he was. I was sat here playing and he was god knows where.

They threw me back in the cell as I stopped co-operating and I glared darkly and decided to give up on the Preventers. Fuck I was fried after this last undercover. I'd barely slept in four months – I'd slept on the floor of a warehouse with thieves and whores and liars. I felt like I'd slept with one eye open and I was exhausted. Sat on the bunk in the cell was actually the most comfortable I'd felt in all that time. I was alone and it wasn't like I was going to be knifed or rushed or whatever. It had been a pretty awful place. And it had been big. I closed my eyes and leaned my head back against the cold wall. My mind drifted to the little rooms in the warehouse. All those kids. All those goddamn eyes.

Fuck. I knew what had happened to them. Fuck, I'd helped as I collected my evidence. They'd looked at me the same way as the other assholes. Only Jamie had known I wasn't like the others. And Jamie got sent away.

The level of collusion went to corrupt politicians and big companies. Rich old men making money outta poor kids who thought they were getting fed and looked after. Not a life of drug trafficking or worse. I thought of those I'd seen – kids from the colonies shoved onto shuttles, kids from poor cities on buses and brought to the warehouse. They always kinda looked the same. Scared, yeah, but wide eyed and dirty. Fuck. They'd just seen me as one of the guards, one of the "enforcers" as we'd been called, a gun in my hands and shouting at them. Jamie didn't – the kid was sharp. He'd noticed I wasn't as harsh as the other guys and didn't ask for any favours. Shit. Poor kid.

My dark thoughts were spinning round my head and I tried to close my eyes. This had been the worse. Of all of the undercover ops, this one had been the pinnacle of shitty. And now I was in a prison cell wondering if the Preventers were ever going to come and extract me. Maybe it would be prison before they got me. I suppose I'd have ended up there if I'd never been a Gundam pilot. Heh, probably did worse shit in one day than all the inmates in a prison.

I started to drift off as I heard the sound of raised voices down the corridor.

"This is not Preventer jurisdiction! The kid stays with us…"

The voice sounded like good cop. I opened my eyes, unfurled my limbs from underneath me and approached the bars trying to see if I could see anything. Nope, nothing but I could hear the familiar voice responding.

"He is on the Preventer watch list. We are taking custody of him."

"You can't! He's got information pertinent to the case."

"Then the Preventers will provide you that pertinent information. Would you like to speak to Commander Une?"

I chuckled. Nobody fucking wanted to talk to Une. Good cop seemed to get it – you didn't need to know Une from her crazy days to know that the very head of the Preventers was not someone you wanted to cross.

"No, go ahead Agent-"

"Chang," he replied sternly.

The conversation seemingly over and the battle won, he appeared outside the cell, flanked by two Preventer agents I'd never seen. I gave them the once over – the girl looked young, blonde and pretty and the guy was at least mid-twenties. Both walked just behind him as though used giving deference to the boss. I often wondered what his team thought of him. I often imagined him the type to throw staplers at people.

He didn't say anything as he glared at me through the bars. His eyes drifted over my face to the bruises and blood that said everything about my little altercation with the cops. I could see he was appraising me, trying to work out my mental state from my stance and he raised one eyebrow at me as the good cop appeared to let me out.

I knew what he wanted me to do. Time for the one man show, ladies and gentleman.

"What the fuck is going on?"

"This is Agent Chang – you're off with the Preventers."

"No fucking way. I'm staying here. You said less prison time," I looked pleadingly at the cop as he came into the cell to put on another set of handcuffs.

I didn't let him handcuff me. Instead, I lashed out and punched good cop, sending him flying and allowing Wufei to "apprehend me". The punch had been pretty hard as good cop landed on the floor and rubbed the back of his hand over his bleeding mouth. I felt bad for the guy. He was only doing his job but if I was on the Preventer wanted list I at least had to look a bit of a badass.

Wufei came into the cell, pushed me hard against the wall and grabbed my arms getting them behind my back. I smirked.

"You know, Agent Chang, you could've just asked if you're into bondage."

He made a noise of disapproval in his throat that was almost growl like as he snapped the cuffs on me though less tight than the previous assholes. I couldn't tell if I thought I was playing my role too well or he was playing his too well. Whichever, he was kinda pissed. And his mouth was just at my ear.

"Careful, Maxwell."

He grabbed my cuffed hands tightly as the good cop rose to his feet.

"You can see, detective, why the Preventers need to take him to custody," Wufei said smoothly.

"You can have the little shit," the cop spat, his mouth bloody.

Wufei pushed me forward, his hands were vice like on my left arm and I bowed my head a little as we passed the other cells of my former gang mates. They all looked at I was led away by Preventer agents, maybe wondering why I was getting the special treatment. I didn't look back, keeping my eye line on my boots and trying to look like this was the worst possible outcome for me. We didn't say anything as he signed transfer of prisoner custody papers and when he pushed me into the back seat of a large black Land Rover with a little more force than was necessary. The guy agent got in beside me as Wufei climbed into the driving seat and the chick into the passenger side. In fact, we didn't speak at all until he started the car and drove away from the police station.

"You look like shit," he said.

"Thanks, 'Fei."

"That's fresh blood."

"I got a little fresh with my arresting officers."

"Duo," he said sternly

I hated it when he said my name in that way. I kinda always accepted him getting pissy at me and calling me Maxwell but the way he could say Duo sometimes was as though he was disappointed in me. It seemed he'd hoped I'd been a good boy and co-operated. He knew I was not good with authority especially not cops who were getting some kind of perverted pleasure out of beating a street punk.

"You didn't see the asshole. He was feeling me up."

"You were undercover in a sex and drug trafficking business, he might have thought you were goods."

I kicked the seat knowing it wasn't sensible as he was driving and he slammed the breaks on the car.

"Fuck you," I said with as much venom as I could manage.

He turned round in the seat so that his face was nearly level with mine, his black eyes staring straight into mine.

"Yes, you have fucked me, Duo. You don't have to do the paperwork. You were being violent and reckless for no reason. You just had to wait for extraction and you can't even do that."

He turned back in his seat as a car starting beeping behind us and his lecture was over. The car started moving.

"Whatever… at least get me outta the cuffs. I'm sick of being a criminal."

"Murphy."

It seemed the guy agent was Murphy as he gestured for me to turn a little and he undid the cuffs. Wufei's cuffing had been more gentle but there was still some blood. I rubbed it on the black t shirt as I sat back on the seat and did my seatbelt up like a good boy. Yeah, I knew why he was pissed. He would have to explain the actions of Asset 02 and justify them. Discretion, my ass. Yeah, I had discretion to break as many laws as I liked during missions but it came with a price tag. Reports, debriefings, psychological testing and men in white coats. I'd come to hate that part.

It was always a series of guys with beards and notebooks asking me how I felt. How did I feel about my missions? I felt wiped out by them. They'd steadily got worse over the three year period and I'd seen and done too much to sleep properly. One psychologist gave me pills. I threw them down the toilet. One suggested therapy. I snapped at the poor guy.

"How the fuck can I go to a therapist? I'm either invisible or someone else."

"How do you feel about being invisible or someone else?" he responded.

I rolled my eyes at him and managed to not walk out on the rest of the session. Mainly because I thought of Wufei's blood pressure. I'm sure after every extraction, I caused trouble for the guy and I knew that he was very forgiving for any erratic behaviour. He also knew where he was sending me and knew what I saw and what I had to do.

Wufei did the debriefs usually with another superior Preventer. I never knew the names of the series of people. It was never anyone I was familiar with and the Preventer agents all seemed to blend into one homogenous mass of people who wrote quickly on notebooks as I spoke. Wufei was always kinda… gentle on me at these times. After an extraction I was usually pretty raw and didn't want to be hounded – he led me through it with encouragement and small smiles. I'd come to really respect the guy but sometimes thought, well, I could never tell if it was my imagination or not, that he perhaps had a little look in his eye that suggested more. It wasn't at first, it just kinda happened. A hand on my arm for too long. He looked at me for a little too long when we sat talking. He laughed at a joke during the debriefs. I shook my head. It was a bad time to think about it as the car stopped outside a hotel in the nice part of town.

It was then that I noticed it was a beautiful day. I rarely saw days in my line of work – gang work was always at night and I'd been arrested so early in the morning that I hadn't known that the sun was shining and it was a crisp but warm fall day. Wufei looked at me and the wounds on my face and the tell-tale sign of handcuffs round my wrists and threw over his Preventer jacket.

"Wear it until we get into the hotel," he said to me. "Murphy, Alex – go park the car away from the hotel in case the cops are suspicious."

"Yes, Agent Chang."

They almost said it in fucking unison. I tried to decide whether they were well trained agents or just scared of the boss. I bet they were scared of the boss.

I hopped out of the car and put the jacket over my t shirt. I followed him through the lobby and noticed the whole place was fancy. It was the sort of place I didn't like when I was being plain old Duo never mind the months I'd spent as a street thug. Damn, Wufei was getting important if the Preventers were paying for this. We got into the elevator and for the first time in months I relaxed fully.

"Thanks 'Fei," I said quietly.

He looked at me, a small smile on his face. "It's my job."

The elevator pinged and 'Fei walked along the plush corridor until he pulled out a card and we entered a pretty fancy looking suite. I think my eyes popped out a little. I'd not seen a place like this for so fucking long. It reminded me of Quatre's places – all beautiful furnishings and comfortable beds. I walked in as Wufei seemed to do some kind of check and then dead bolted the door behind us.

"Welcome back to civilisation," Wufei said. "There are clean clothes, new identity papers and a new laptop in the bag."

"If there's hot water that's all I need right now. I haven't had a hot shower in months."

"Go ahead."

I grabbed the duffle bag and walked over to the bathroom as Wufei flipped open his phone and walked over to the balcony, opening the full length glass doors and stepping out. I watched him for a second as he dialled and then I entered the bathroom and turned on the hot water, letting the steam fill the room as I opened the go bag.

There was enough. I felt bad for a second as I threw off the outfit I'd been wearing to put on a clean grey t-shirt, dark jeans and a hooded sweatshirt. I quickly looked at myself in the mirror. I looked like hell. I wiped away the remains of the blood and then looked further in the bag for a knife I hoped he would've brought me as I felt for the slight bit of raised flesh at the back of my neck. No knife. Fuck it. I knew I could get away unnoticed by 'Fei and he'd at least try to catch me up but if I still had the embedded tracking chip, then I was only going to get so far. I supposed I could just go to a store and buy some razor blades but I had no time. I had – what five minutes maybe less if he'd got straight through to Une rather than one of her lackeys. I made a decision.

The hotel had glasses by the sink and I smashed it hoping that the sound of the shower and the distance between us would be enough for 'Fei not to hear. As he didn't appear, I got a sharp bit, pulled my braid outta the way, and gouged at where I felt the chip was. It hurt. Like a motherfucker. And I thought I was stupid for one second as the blood poured pretty quickly and got into the hood of the new sweatshirt I'd put on. Not so smart Duo. Not so fucking smart.

The cut was enough that I could feel the small device attached to my skin with synthetic skin. I should've waited to go in – I should've waited for a nice Preventer doctor in a white coat to take it out but all I wanted to do was run. I knew I was being unprofessional and I was risking Wufei's job but damn, I just needed to be away and on my own. I needed a bar. And a good lay. Or something else that wasn't going to be talking about the mission and the kids and whether I was finally cracking after all the jobs and all the shitty missions. I was done. Une could shove it up her ass.

I knew I was being reckless as I pulled the device out with a nice quantity of blood and fake skin attached. Ugh. Not good. I put it in the sink then picked it up again and threw it in the toilet. I flushed it hoping that it wasn't too obvious and hoped that 'Fei was too much of a prude to check me in here. I hoped Une was chewing him out about being unable to control me. I hoped that I wouldn't pass out from blood loss.

I grabbed the bag again and saw a nice quantity of cash among the envelopes with ID docs. I pocketed the cash, decided to take off the blood soaked hoodie as I noticed one item in the bag. My leather jacket. The one I'd worn for years. It was the only possession I gave a shit about and he'd brought it.

I felt bad. I was going to bail on the only person who still cared. I knew he cared. He was the only person from my past who knew I was alive but shit, I still had a little part of me that thought Heero would come back and I was quite happy with flings until I gave up on him totally. Call me romantic. I wouldn't. I'd say it's deranged.

I grabbed a towel and stemmed the blood a little before putting the jacket on and left the laptop on the floor knowing it would be traceable. There would be a tracking chip at least.

I opened the door to see Wufei was still on the balcony, the door only open a little and he was looking away to the city. I breathed deeply and thought for a second the shit he was going to be in. And then I heard his raised voice. Whoever was on the other side of the phone was getting a full Wufei Chang rant. And then I heard my name. And then something else.

"He's not ready for L2, he's just been extracted from a very intense undercover… I could send Yuy."

My heart stopped. He could send Yuy. Then he turned and saw me stood in the doorway ready to leave and he stopped dead, mid rant, and looked at me. I think he went pale. He dropped the phone, it clattering to the floor at his feet, unbroken. I could hear the female voice on the line shouting "hello" in a small tinny way.

"Duo…"

"Heero? You work with Heero as well?"

"I couldn't tell you. It was to protect both of you."

"Since when?"

"That's confidential."

I'd dropped the bag and my hands were balled into fists, my fingers clenched so tight that I could feel my finger nails pushing in and blood started to flow. It was probably the last thing I needed in the shittiest day from hell, but damn, I knew it would make me feel better if I just punched him. I didn't. He was technically my boss, you know, I do have some sense.

"Since when?" I repeated.

"Since after the war."

"So when I was…" I wanted to finish the sentence and say "being an asshole" but I didn't.

He nodded.

"You knew that I'd never find him because he was undercover."

"Yes."

"And he never knew I was trying to find him."

"He was deep in a military terrorist cell who were trying to reconstruct a mobile suit army for the first year."

The first year… the months when I'd try to find him. He didn't even fucking know I was trying. Shit. He approached me as my eyes looked to the floor and I backed away.

"Don't touch me, 'Fei. Don't try."

I looked into his eyes and he stepped back a little. I'm guessing I looked full Shinigami at the moment – that's his problem, shouldn't have employed me when I was already kinda crazy and then let me see the worst of humanity for all this time.

"It wasn't my decision to keep you apart."

"What? So it was Une's and the Preventer brass?"

"It was decided you acted too recklessly around each other. It was in your reports."

"So it was in the fucking reports? That makes it so much better!"

He stopped realising his very reasonable arguments were not going to work in the state of mind I was in.

"Does Heero know?" I asked very quietly.

"No. He thinks you're dead."

I felt winded. He might as well have punched me in the gut. He thought I was dead. And shit, the Preventers had erased every trace of my life electronically and physically. It was impossible to find a photograph of me, it was impossible to find a trace of my name, my known alias' or the slightest bit of information that suggested I'd ever been alive. Even Heero couldn't hack the Preventers. So he thought I was dead... that stung.

"Then I quit. Fuck the Preventers."

"Duo… don't do anything-"

"Stupid? Because if that's what you're going to say, please don't finish your sentence. I kinda feel like doing something stupid. Drinking my own body weight in whisky kinda sounds like a good idea right now."

I picked up the bag, though, a part of me felt really childish and felt I should throw it in his face but instead I walked away. Something I'm good at. I knew he'd find me – he was Preventers after all, but at that moment, I couldn't be in the same room as him. I needed to be on my own. I needed to sleep.

"I hope you don't sleep tonight," I said quietly as I slipped out of door.

I really hoped he didn't.

XXXXXXXX

A/N: Gold stars to anyone who worked out Heero was already undercover when Duo was trying to find him… and I hated making Wufei into the bad guy in situation but let's blame Une and him doing what he thinks is right, 'kay?