A/N: Song for this chapter is Blood by Editors.

Chapter Eleven

This Wicked City

It's an old cliché that things are meant to seem better in the morning but fuck, usually I found things became clearer in the morning and that made it worse. A lot worse.

We were sat at what the Brit's call a greasy spoon – a cafe or something – and Wufei was refusing to eat anything due to the amount of artery clogging food around or the slightly unsanitary conditions as I ate my full English breakfast, looking up at him when he wrinkled his nose in disgust. Hey, try not eating in god knows how long, though I had done that before, and any food is good. Though least I was eating rather than looking like some stuck up tourist type like the dude opposite me.

I always preferred to be somewhere like this – an authentic place rather than some chain bullshit. I'd done enough travelling around the earth and colonies to know you don't go to some familiar ass named fast food chain – you go to eat where the locals did – even if that meant Wufei only risked eating toast off my plate and I grinned at his pickiness. Or his desire to be healthy. Whatever – I had learnt a long time ago not to be picky and after yesterday's shit storm I would eat what I wanted. Medical advice be damned. A little bacon sure as hell was not as dangerous as a guy who wanted me dead for being involved in killing his daughter, right?

"You think this meet and greet with Zechs is me off the case?"

Wufei took another sip of his tea and looked over the rim of the cup. "I don't know. It would be the logical move."

I know I should agree – there was logic to the move and if I was in charge maybe I'd do the same but then I didn't think personal motivating factors were a damn problem. I'd fought two wars on anger and a need to avenge the dead. I'd avenged the church in a mobile suit that looked like a reaper but Solo, hell, that was all Roth's doing and I wanted my shot at slipping my fingers 'round his throat and squeezing until he didn't breathe no more.

I looked past Wufei as I had no real answer and he was doing his old x-ray eyes shit as though trying to see through me. Maybe he knew what I was thinking – that they could fire me for insubordination or whatever as I didn't actually care about anything but this case. I felt like I owed Preventer nothing. I know I could say they gave me a job when I had nothing but I bled for my undercover job – not only did I bleed, I nearly damn well died and had seen shit that still gave me nightmares – and hell, as they had done that to me, when after all my life was hardly candy and roses anyway, I felt that I had a right to be uncaring about pissing off the organisation.

As I looked through the glass of the cafe, smudged and unwashed, my eyes narrowed as I saw a row of stores and people walking past but I saw one guy leaning, casually reading a newspaper. That in itself seemed kinda retro – most people were reading on tablets or whatever – but as I looked, people walked by him, he remained static. And he fit in – nothing remarkable about his clothing – but I knew. Damn it.

"Has your boyfriend got a tail on us?" I asked bluntly, leaning across the greasy table.

His glare in response was kinda harsh. "No. I'm here to make sure you don't do something stupid, Maxwell," he said sharply.

"Good - because otherwise I woulda hated to say your boyfriend's got trust issues."

His brow furrowed as I grabbed for a ten pound note in my pocket – barely bothering to look at it as I slid it onto the table and stood to leave.

"Drink your damn tea. I wanna know who the fuck's watching us."

He turned then and it took him no more than two seconds to clock our lurker. I'd already made my approach to the middle aged lady behind the counter, preparing to give her my most charming smile and persuade her to let us use the back exit to the building but Wufei was quicker, bringing out his Preventer ID like some cliché from a cop show.

"We need to use another exit."

I sighed audibly and mumbled under my breath as she showed us out back. "Always gotta be so fucking official."

Wufei glanced back, indicating he'd heard and I scowled, tempted, oh hell was I tempted, to stick my tongue out but I refrained. Actions befitting the uniform and shit.

She led us out through the kitchens and maybe 'Fei had been right to be a little cautious of the food but when you've eaten what I have in my life and I'd yet to be killed by anything, I figured a little amount of germs or whatever was seriously not gonna harm me. I just hoped I didn't see a cockroach. Huh. Though I think I did.

The back exit took us to an alleyway that had the backs of houses looking down on us. I finally gave the woman my charming smile and a "thanks" but all I got back was a vague look of annoyance. And I'd over tipped. Totally not used to the ol' Maxwell charm not working.

As we walked down the alleyway and round to the front of the storefronts, I felt for my gun, checking for it under my Preventer jacket in some show of nervousness that I didn't exactly feel. I wasn't nervous really, just felt like shit was gonna go down, that unsettled feeling in my stomach and my mind clearly thought back to the dead kid with my tattoo.

Maybe when we saw Mr. Shiny-Ass-Blond-Hair, he'd clue me in about the kid and I'd understand a little more – know why that kid had died for some kinda twisted message to me and why we were being followed and what this all meant – but right now I focused as we walked onto the busy street.

People in London early in the morning are busy. Hell, go to any city and you'll see this. You'll see people walking around, their heads looking at cells and tablets, listening to music, being in their own damn worlds as they rushed to work and that made it difficult to spot our man at first but I saw him, leaning so casually, trying to look like he fit in.

I saw he was older. Huh. Roth had used kids on L2 but then that was because of circumstance. Street kids were willing to do shit for shelter and some kinda security and would do anything for him but then different places, different rules. His eyes looked towards the café front, looking through the red peeling letters and the smudged glass and I guess he'd not seen us move, me thankful that the badly cleaned window had done us a favour.

I smirked as I glanced at Wufei. I thought for a second about cuffs – hey, in a totally non-kinky way though I admit, totally could think of them in a kinky way – and realised that I didn't have any. Basically Preventer had given me a nice snazzy jacket, ID badge and a gun. It wasn't the best law enforcement package. But I was about to turn to Wufei to ask if he had cuffs – and also make some kinda comment about whether he had kinky sex with Merquise as I was feeling inappropriate – when our man ran.

And don't get me started on runners. As damn, you may be fast, but I'm sure as hell faster.

He realised he'd been made, the newspaper falling and I saw it in slow motion, my heart starting to beat fast in anticipation and our eyes met. It was a brief thing – that connection of eyes, that thing that said "yeah, I know this game" – and I saw he wasn't just older than the kids Roth had used on L2. He was a killer. Don't ask me how I knew. I guess for some reason, some people just get so dead-eyed and I knew how I'd been after… after Dallas. After L2 as shit, people deserved to die, you know, but I had become something that I shouldn't have fucking become. And I saw in that guy what I saw in the mirror after a particularly bad night of haunted dreams. It still crossed Heero's face at times. You don't just become a normal person after you've done some of the shit I've done.

The guy had that few seconds on me as he turned, running down the other side of the street across from us. I didn't give Wufei a warning. I mean, 'Fei was a shit hot agent and damn good at every fucking thing but he didn't read people like I did. He hadn't needed to. His entire survival for most of his life had not been dependent on whether you saw the way someone's eyes looked at you so, fuck, I was better at this shit and was running before Wufei even registered.

I heard "Maxwell" shouted at me. I ignored it. Damn, I was getting used to it again – my name being said in that particular way that told me in two syllables that he was pissy. It was like old times.

The streets were busy and shit, people did not look where they were going. I was at the other side of the road as he ran, pushing his way past and I did the same, a few mumbled "sorry's." I didn't know how identifiable the Preventer jacket was in London – as like all major cities, most crime was dealt with by the local police force. It was specific cases, the dangerous to the entire ESUN crimes that Preventer dealt with and fuck if the average Joe on the street knew what my black and tan jacket meant and all. I thought about bringing out my gun as I ran and then remembered that Une would probably flay me alive. Being that usually bringing out a gun and pointing it at random civilians to get the fuck out of your way was the action of a person who was not quite all there, you know. And I was figuring if I started waving a gun around then I was likely to cause panic. And get my ass reamed by our Commander.

I felt my heart pumping fast as I followed and I wanted to cross the road to get to his side but the traffic was damn heavy until I saw my moment. A bicycle had pulled out into the middle of the road, car horns blazing and I took my opportunity, seeing a black cab and taking a running jump, sliding my ass over the hood. Was it necessary? Totally not. Did I look damn cool doing it? Fuck if I knew but I was landing without a beat lost and was now on his side of the street, seeing his grey coat swish and him knock over some lady not watching where she was going. I felt sorry for the chick, wanted to help her out as this was London, and hey, no community spirit in a place like this, but instead I was running past her.

My heart felt a little heavy. Okay, I try to forget about the pacemaker but the beats seemed a little rapid as adrenaline coursed through my veins. Ba dum. Fuck. But I didn't stop, didn't take a breath, didn't let Wufei catch up to me as I saw him ahead, me not that far behind him now, and he was slowing down, that much I could tell. He turned a corner and I thought maybe, maybe, if I just increased my pace a little, another block and I could have him but as I rounded it as I saw he'd disappeared. It took a second before my eyes glanced towards the sign above my head – the red circle with that blue writing: "Underground" – and I realised, fuck, that's where I'd go.

Yeah, underground, that's where the rats scuttle back to and all. It seemed oddly appropriate. The station was busy, as the rest of London was during fucking commuter hour, and as I ran into the station I saw him doing the damn decent thing, swiping his card over the damn sensor and the gate opening for him. Fuck that. What's a little unpaid fare?

I pushed past people, hearing the a few "excuse me's!" and a few "assholes" and a few worse things. Hell, I'd been called most offensive names by people who actually kinda liked me so I ignored the looks from strangers, eyeing the staff before I made my move, approaching the barriers to the platform and vaulting it, my hands on the cold metal as I swung my body over.

It was a small crime and I heard a few "stops" shouted but my world had narrowed. There's a thing about being in the thick of action, whether behind the controls of a mobile suit, being behind the barrel of a gun, wielding a blade or just this – running to catch some bad guy – there's a focus that comes over me and I only feel my own body, the thudding of my own heart, and the world around me becomes a blur. Maybe it's protecting myself. I don't fucking know.

The platform had escalators leading down to it like most of the "newer" ones did – relative term, newer still meant a couple 'a hundred years old and I saw him on it. He glanced up at me with a sneer as there were too many damn people in between us and I paused for a second as I looked back. It was then I realised that my little hop over the barriers had gotten attention and now there were security after me and I swore under my breath. Maybe I shoulda just paid my damn fare. I saw Wufei arrive at the station and I woulda cracked a joke about someone losing their edge and his lap times as damn, he musta been slow to be that far behind me but then I realised I was pretty much gonna lose this guy unless I did something.

And then I did something stupid and reckless.

Okay, I remembered that I had promised Heero I was not gonna do anything crazy, anything that put my life at risk but I figured if Heero was in my situation, what would he do? I mean, for fucks sake – he blew himself up. So I got out my weapon, fired a shot into the ceiling, hearing the screams of panic around me. Damn if I didn't see a phone camera on me as I did it but I had little time to think of the consequences of my actions – Une could do that as she fired my ass – and instead I looked at the gulf between the up and down escalators. It was a steep slide, metal, railings at either side but then a path down the middle and there I was, sliding down it on my ass.

The dude panicked then as I thought he would, pushing past other people on the escalator and making his way to the bottom as quickly as he could. Hell, not as quick as me as I slid down, my gun in my hand, attempting to slow down my acceleration with my feet a little as I approached the bottom so this super cool slick and stupid action did not end up with a face plant. Which would lose any badass points I'd accumulated from shooting my gun at the ceiling, attracting the local authorities and probably giving Wufei cardiac arrest. Fuck. Maybe I shouldn't make heart attack jokes as I felt my heart rate was still a little too fast, the beating a little too loud in my ears but I managed to complete the slide, feet on the ground and see him bundling towards a tunnel that led to the platforms.

I could hear the trains, the sound they made as they screeched into the station and then the sound they made as they whooshed off – the noise of air through tunnels.

"Outta the way! Preventer!" I shouted at a few people but then I narrowed my eyes at him – his dark hair, his grey coat – and those people all became blurs as they seemed to get the idea to move to the sides, hugging the walls as I ran to the platform.

He was not that far ahead, not that far ahead, a few more strides and I could reach him and I could get my hands on his throat, push him against a wall and choke him a little, find out if it was Roth, look into those cold dead eyes and confirm it. Yet just then I felt a pull from behind. The fact was I'd been so focused on him in front of me that I failed to notice that now I had like six members of British Transport Police on my tail. Fuck knew where this dude came from as he grabbed for my fucking braid, whipping my head back and that ain't a pleasant feeling and it stopped me in my tracks as I was tackled to the ground, my gun sliding away, just as I reached the platform to see a train already at the station, the doors opening and the dude walking in as casual as he damn liked.

I admit, you don't fucking pin me down unless I'm an 100% willing participant as I hate being vulnerable. Lemme tell you, Heero had dealt with some of my shit regarding that but I kicked out at the officer holding me as I saw the guy turn towards me, nod his head and smirk as the doors shut. Our eyes made contact and I saw the train pull away slowly, my hands balling into fists as I watched him go.

"Fuck!" I growled and then turned my attention to my capturers. "He's getting away, assholes!"

This was probably one of those times when I should've listened to Une and acted "appropriately" as I guess being called assholes, kicked and then having to deal with me struggling against them all amounted to my arms roughly dragged behind my back and my head hitting the station's hard concrete surface with enough force to make me feel the blood trickle.

They cuffed me, tight, and I was grabbed and pulled to my feet by an overly handsy jerk. "I'm a Preventer," I said, trying to keep the anger out of my voice. "I was chasing a perp and he's gone because of you."

I realised that this defence wasn't going to work as I saw Wufei in conversation with someone in a fancier uniform and a ridiculous hat and 'Fei was shaking his head and arguing with the man. Maybe I should've feel gratitude towards him but I felt nothing but a little bit of a sore head that did not come from the pleasure of alcohol and the chafing of handcuffs not being used for fun times.

"You are under arrest…"

I heard the damn speech – hell, I'd heard the damn speech in different ways and different places but this time it was for possession of a firearm and fuck knew what else. I didn't listen, only looked towards Wufei who sighed, his hands outstretched, a look of defeat on his face.

Civilians were watching as I was marched away, my head hung in defeat. I'd learnt in my life that there were times to fight and times to just let shit slide. And I was letting shit slide as I was led to a service elevator to the surface. Wufei caught up before I got to it and got close enough to speak to me.

"Don't say anything," he hissed under his breath.

I didn't appreciate that advice so I glared back. "He got away goddamn it."

He couldn't follow then, the doors opening, and I was pushed into the elevator with enough force to stumble. I turned to see him standing there, his eyes pensive, his face unreadable.

"One day you'll learn that if you followed the damn rules then we might have got him."

All I can say it was a good thing I was in cuffs, that the door closed, that I was surrounded by police as in that instant, if I hadn't been, my fist would've been in Wufei's face and damn, it would probably have felt good to wipe that look off his face.