Note : as always, many thanks to KS for amazing editing. This one is for Snow, in anticipation of a happy event. No pressure…

Chapter 86/95 - Prevention:

'Duo!'

Heero's voice, with an edge of irritation to it like a serrated blade. Similar expression on his face, actually. And Zechs and Wufei were wearing identical smirks of annoying smugness.

'Uh, what?'

I dropped the piece of toast crust I'd been playing with under the table and heard Honey gulp it down.

'We're trying to make a plan here,' Heero grumbled, 'and you're daydreaming.'

That wasn't remotely true. My mind had been perfectly well-occupied, in between admiring the absolute perfection that was his ass, as he moved around his kitchen; sneaking food to Honey, and calculating in my head how soon it would be before Trowa made it to L4.

It was a few minutes after seven o'clock, leaving almost five hours to the ESUN deadline. If everything went according to plan, Trowa should get there about an hour before midday, L4 time, and do – whatever. Stop Barton somehow.

'A plan for what?'

Zechs burst out laughing and Heero rolled his eyes at me. 'Oh, I don't know. Possibly for how the four of us are going to break into one of the most closely guarded Preventers facilities on Earth, and disable their top weapons system. Or did you think we were just going to stroll in and ask them politely?'

'Well, yeah, actually. Why not? We've been walking in and out for the last couple of days. And come on, their security systems sucks big time.'

He looked pained at that. 'No one was actually expecting two master criminals like you and Trowa to turn up.'

'Well. Their bad,' I announced brightly, reaching across the table to snag another piece of toast from the rack. I smeared it with butter and took a thoughtful nibble, struck by a sudden thought.

OK, the official security system maybe didn't suck all that much, but….Heero's did. He'd left me alone with his laptop on two separate occasions the previous day. We'd never really discussed it, but he'd been perfectly aware I'd hacked into his files when he'd been a Preventer, keeping tabs on me; he was the one who'd taught me most of my hacking skills in the first place. He had to have known I'd try to find as much intel on his computer as possible.

And yeah, he'd gone through the motions of yelling at me, afterwards, but I knew what he was like when he got really mad about something, and he hadn't even come close.

He'd damn enabled me.

'Duo?' He shifted a little uneasily in his seat, watching me. 'What is it?'

'Nothing at all, dear,' I said, honey-sweet and bland as butter. 'I just thought of something. We'll talk about it later.'

Wufei choked back a laugh; Zechs didn't even bother to hold his in. 'You're frighteningly upbeat this morning, Maxwell. Get laid this morning? Again?'

Heero actually did choke at that and then looked kind of pissed; I leaned over to smack Zechs on the arm, not sure how Heero would cope with that sort of teasing.

'Shut it, you,' I said quickly. 'I'm in a good mood because it's a lovely day and I'm quite sure that my brilliant partner has an equally brilliant plan to save the universe.'

My brilliant partner smiled over at me. Brilliant, beautiful, sexy, amazing in bed – yep, I had got laid first thing this morning, just for the record. And some serious smooching in the shower after.

I was ready to bet that part of Zechsy's problem was jealousy; I doubted he and Wufei had got up to much in the narrow single bed in Heero's guest room.

'Duo!' This time it came from all three of them.

'My god, Yuy,' Zechs groaned. 'He's practically drooling. What in the world have you done to him?'

Heero gave me a sudden, anguished glance and I helpfully aimed a kick at one long, princely leg under the table, which nicely shut him up.

'Now, plans, right?' I hurried on, before either of them could decide most of their previous interactions had been based on pretty senseless duels. 'Seriously, Heero, can't we just walk in? You and Zechs should be able to persuade Noin not to fire on L4, right? I mean, she's probably not all that keen on blowing up a satellite full of innocent people either.'

Heero sighed. 'Probably not, but she has very explicit orders to follow.'

'Well, she probably had all sorts of orders during the War, and she must've broken dozens of them.'

'That was different, Duo,' Zechs said quietly. 'She was a cadet at Victoria from the time she was very young. She's grown up following orders.'

'It's out of her hands at this stage, anyway,' Heero contributed. 'The launch commands were entered an hour ago by a group of ESUN officials, all in different locations around Earth. The only one to retract them is for each to enter a special sequence of passwords and that's only going to happen if L4 officially withdraws its bid for secession.'

'Fuck,' I stared at him. 'What are we going to do?'

'That's why we need a plan. Now,' he delved under the table and dumped a pile of computer print-outs on the kitchen table, in among the breakfast leftovers. 'These are blueprints of the building.' He spread out one A3 sheet flat and jabbed a finger in the centre of it. 'This is the control room. It's password-protected' – he made that sound negligible – 'and it will be guarded. We may have to fight our way in.'

I swallowed. 'We being all of us?'

'We being Wufei and I.'

Not that much of a surprise; they'd partnered each other in Preventers for nearly a year. They'd always been superb together. And it probably wasn't the best idea to send him off with Zechs, in case one of them made an unwise comment and they decided to forget the mission in favour of turning on each other.

It just – kind of stung that he hadn't selected me to partner him.

'You really think you can stop this missile launch?' My heart pretty much stopped when he shook his head.

'No one can do that. But I can jam the frequency for a couple of hours. That will have to be enough time. If L4 makes contact to say that they want to surrender, the strike can be called off.'

'So, you in the control room doing your hacker thing,' I summed up. 'Wufei stopping anyone from getting in and stopping you. What about me and Zechsy?'

'Zechs, I need you to go to Noin. Wufei won't be able to guard the door by himself if she decides to send in a task force to stop us. You have to convince her not to. And the whole facility needs to be put into lockdown. There's an ESUN barracks not far from HQ; once they realise what we're trying to do, they'll send in the military. You're the only person I can imagine Noin listening to at this stage.'

'Yeah, but he can do that himself,' I put in quickly. 'I can help with guarding the door. Guarding you. There's, like, dozens of agents there, right? 'Fei's gonna need back up? Or were you planning to bring me alone purely for ornamental value?'

'Well, you are extremely decorative,' Zechs mused, and neatly side-swiped the elbow I jabbed at him, at the same time as he exchanged grins with Heero. Oh, wonderful; I'd found the only thing worse than the two of them turning on each other. Them ganging up on me.

'Actually, no,' Heero turned back to look at me. 'It's possible that Noin may refuse to listen to you, to consider what we're planning. In that case, you are going to have to take other measures to keep her from trying to stop us by force, to persuade her to close off the building.'

Other measures. Shit. I took a deep breath, holding it 'til my lungs hurt, wondering exactly what meant. I lifted my eyes to meet Heero's, a question in them, and he nodded slightly.

I gave them both a good glare, neatly hiding the fact that I was quite pathetically pleased that Heero was prepared to let me play a part in all of this, instead of just giving me some safe little let-Duo-feel-he's-involved token task. I knew suddenly why I was being sent with Zechs.

'What are these other measures that I'm supposed to take, exactly? If Noin won't play nicely with us?'

'Whatever is necessary.' He'd used that tone with me once or twice during the war. I knew what it meant.

I nodded, holding his gaze, and he dropped his eyes, first, looking down at the map of the building, very carefully not looking in Zechs' direction. He hadn't said anything at all and I didn't particularly want to see his expression; how he felt about Heero possibly unleashing me on one of his closest friends.

The next couple of hours were spent honing the plan's details. Not that much detail, to be honest; it wasn't exactly the world's most subtle plan.

'So,' Wufei said finally. 'Primary mission objective: Heero stays in the control room for as long as it takes. We do whatever's necessary to ensure that, for as long as it takes.'

'We all get out,' Heero added, glancing around the table. 'Right. It's nearly time. Fifteen minutes. Duo, can I talk to you?'

The guys took Honey out to the garden and it was just the two of us, cleaning up the breakfast stuff.

'Look, about Zechs. I'm sorry if he made you uncomfortable, what he said. He was just joking around. I'll talk to him about toning it down a bit.'

'I didn't mind all that much,' he said surprising me. 'It was just unexpected.'

'Better get used to it.'

'I plan to.' He leaned across the counter top he was wiping down, brushed his lips across mine, and put one hand on my arm. 'Be careful today. Please.'

'I can take care of myself,' I retorted, stung that he didn't think so.

'Love, it's…not you I'm worried about. I do realise, under the circumstances, this is probably a foolish request, but please try not to kill anyone. I know these agents. Some of them are friends.'

I nodded. Of course. He knew these people; he'd maybe trained some of them, socialised with them sometimes.

'I'll try,' I offered quietly, the best I could do. Oh. Damn. 'I'll try to control it. Shinigami. I swear.'

He sighed. 'Duo. They're not the enemy. They may be working for Une, but so am I. They don't deserve to be punished for that.'

'She tried to kill me,' I muttered.

He put down the platter he'd been rinsing off. 'Zechs spent most of the war trying to kill me. And you tried it yourself the first time we met.'

'That was different. He wanted to duel with you; it was fair. She wanted to execute me publicly. And I didn't try to kill you. I'm a better shot than that and you know it. And, Heero. Quat said Barton's turned some Preventer agents. I'll defend myself if necessary, you know that. Me and Zechs.'

'I know.'

'Right. Now, tell me one thing. I know you want 'Fei with you 'cause you two've been partners, but it's gonna chew him up, not being able to keep an eye on Zechs. And vice versa. I get the whole Noin thing. but 'Fei doesn't know her that well. He'd do whatever's necessary.'

'It's regulations. You know that. People who are…romantically involved, are not allowed to work together.'

'Seriously, Yuy? We're about to break into their damn HQ, and you're worried about following rules?'

He shook his head. 'It's a good rule, and it exists for a reason. Can you truly tell me that Wufei or Zechs wouldn't abandon this mission in a heartbeat if it in any way threatened the other's safety? I know I'd put you as a priority.'

'Yeah, OK, I get it. Me too.' I grinned suddenly. 'So, is that how you'd describe us? Romantically involved?'

'Very much so, yes.'

'I like that. D'you think…we have a chance?'

He hesitated, fingers lacing into mine. 'I think a great deal depends on what is currently happening on L4. Even if everything goes smoothly,' he hesitated, putting down the plate he'd been drying, and I walked into his arms, 'even if our plan works, I won't be able to do more than delay the launch by a couple of hours.'

'Yeah. They'll come through, Quat and Tro. You know that.'

'They have to, Duo.' He looked at the timer on his microwave. 'And we have to go.'

'Showtime, right?' I kissed him. 'Love you. Whatever happens. I really, totally do.'

He nodded, said the words back, but I knew his mind was somewhere else, off on calculating mission parameters. Fair enough. I'd had him all night. I'd have him when it was all over. I could afford for the mission to borrow him for a while.

We ran over the plan – such as it was – on the drive to HQ, with Heero quizzing us on the layout of the building, distances between rooms, timings. Then, we were mostly just quiet, watching the streets go by.

As I'd expected, no one challenged us as we walked in to the building, but security was definitely tighter: twice the usual number of agents at the door, and we were scanned for weapons, even Heero, although he did get his gun back.

'So.' I stepped closer to Zechs, watched the other two turn a corner, heading for the basement. 'This is us. '

He nodded absently, eyes still tracking Wufei.

'He'll be OK. He's damn good at taking care of himself, and they were an amazing team, the two of them.'

'I know,' he said shortly. 'Duo, I hate this. I hate seeing him like this. He shouldn't have to.'

'Yeah, but ….

'I should be with him,' he snapped. 'God. This is the second time in three days that I've had to watch him walk away from me. He stopped being a Preventer years ago; he has a new life now.'

'Yeah. I know.'

'This isn't who we are anymore, any of us.' He shook his head. 'Come on.'

He said it in a voice I didn't recognise. I hadn't known him during the War, had never met the Lightning Count. I was seeing him now. I gave one last look at the corridor Heero and 'Fei had turned down, silently wished them luck, and fell into step beside Zechs.

'So,' I said conversationally as we headed toward Noin's office. 'You ever speak to 'Fei like that in bed? Bet he doesn't know whether to pull a gun on you, or lie down and kiss your feet!'

I said it partly to make him laugh, which he did. God, I'd seen him furious and depressed and love-sick and brooding. I thought I'd seen all his moods, but never this…coldness. I knew all about putting on masks to fight. I'd just never seen his. I needed to know Zechs, my Zechs, was still there.

I did it partly…to stop myself wanting to roll over and lick his toes or something. Fancy that. Duo Maxwell, street rat, no respecter of authority figures whatsoever, having sudden flashbacks to the pictures of Zechs Merquise in his uniform and those long, gleaming boots. Commanding battalions with that bloody posh voice.

Shit.

Zechs gave me a little sideways grin. 'Well. He's never pulled a gun on me. Not yet anyway.'

He used The Voice to get past a pair of guards on the top floor, and Noin's secretary. OK, they all knew who he was, so no one made that much effort to stop us, but their half-assed little objections just withered and died. Handy little knack to have, really. Made me wonder, just a bit, what Treize had been like.

Lu looked up from her laptop as we walked in. God, she looked like shit, like she hadn't slept in days, but she managed a smile for both of us.

'Zechs, how did you get in here? I'm sorry; I really don't have time to talk. What do you want?'

He put his hands on her desk, leaned forward. 'I think you know. All of this, it's wrong.'

'I do realise that. But it's not my decision. There are protocols in place; I couldn't stop any of this however hard I tried. And I have; I was up all night, trying to make them see sense. Relena's still at the ESUN, trying to convince them to stop. It's too late now for any of us to do anything.'

He nodded, like he hadn't really expected any other answer. 'I'm sorry, Noin. But we are going to stop this.'

She ran one hand through her already messy hair. 'Let me guess. Or, no, I don't need to. Heero's trying to disable the control panel. It won't work. Yes, he can probably do it, but that will only activate the back-up controls. All he's going to achieve is delaying the launch for as an hour or so. It won't solve anything.'

'All we need is time, though,' I chipped in. 'Long enough for Trowa and Quat to do whatever they're going to do.'

'Oh, God. Duo, you don't even know if Trowa will make it to L4, or when. For all you know, he could have been shot down already. And from all the information we've received so far, Quatre Winner is actively supporting the rebels.'

'He's not. Even if he is, you really think firing missiles at a peaceful colony that had the bad luck to get taken over by some maniac is going to help anything?'

'No!' She snapped. 'Of course not. Haven't you been listening to me? I've tried, Duo. No one wants this, but no one wants another war either, and everyone at the ESUN is terrified that if one colony secedes, it'll start a domino effect, here and in space. It might lead to another war.'

'He wouldn't want any of this, you know,' Zechs said softly and it actually took a moment for me to work out who he was.

'He's dead,' Noin said, something broken in her voice. 'Dead by his own choice. He left us, Zechs. So he doesn't exactly get a say in this.'

Zechs didn't move a hair. 'He didn't choose to die so his legacy would be the destruction of a colony.'

Shit. I shifted uncomfortably, a pace or two behind Zechs. I'd never met Treize Khushrenada, hadn't known Zechs Merquise as he'd been back then; hadn't known Lucrezia Noin. Hadn't known any of them in their fancy, showy-off uniforms.

I didn't get all of the relationships, and this was way too personal for a stranger to listen to. I took a few quiet steps backwards, and then swivelled and made for the door, leaving it ajar and leaning against the frame.

I was suddenly very glad that I was here, not Wufei. 'Fei didn't need to hear any of this. 'Fei, shit. I checked my watch; we'd been in the building all of four minutes. No explosions or alarms as yet, but Heero had said he'd maybe be able to get into the control room using some excuse. It was just keeping him there that might be the problem, keeping him safe.

I looked at the time again; if something didn't happen damn soon I'd have to go back in and do….something extreme to someone I sort of liked, not that I knew her very well, but she was friendly with Zechs and Relena, and I knew Heero and she were close.

It occurred to me, rather belatedly, that a token little job for Duo might not have been the worst thing here.

Then there was a burst of static over my head, and the intercom jerked into life. Lucrezia Noin's voice, declaring a state of emergency, putting the facility into full lockdown until further notice.

That easy, really? I pulled in a deep breath, thanked God or Zechs or whoever, and went back into her office. She was standing at the window, looking out, Zechs was still in front of her desk.

'Everything OK? Zechs?'

He gave me a crisp little nod. 'Here. A little gift from Preventers. Just in case. Catch.'

It was a shiny Glock, fully loaded. Nice.

'Bit early for Christmas, but thanks, man.' I jerked my head at Noin, who still hadn't turned around. 'All good?'

'I think so. We should probably go and check on Wufei, don't you think?'

I started to agree, had already moved toward the door, when there was a polite tap on it, and it opened. Noin jerked back from the window as they walked in. Two of them; two guys in shiny, crisp uniforms.

'Bailey? Cumbo? What are…?'

That was as far as she got; I took down the one on the left, before he'd even got a chance to draw fully; Zechs got his partner. An executioner's shot from each of us. I took a deep breath, fighting that sudden zing of adrenalin, of survival. Noin, behind us, had her gun drawn but she hadn't fired. She hadn't needed to. I glanced at Zechs and saw his expression mirrored mine, after what had been a beautifully co-ordinated move, no words even necessary. Zechs and I had been practising at the target range at the back of our house for years; we could pretty much anticipate each other's moves.

It felt – weird, doing it in actual battle. I watched Zechs stoop and pick up both of their weapons, handing me one. I'd maybe feel bad later, that I'd killed people Heero probably knew, but they'd come in with guns drawn. Not like they'd given us much space for negotiations.

'Right. Come on. Time to check on the guys.'

'I can send back up,' Noin offered. 'There are agents I trust…'

I looked at her. 'You trusted these guys? Seriously?'

'Duo,' Zechs said, quietly. 'Noin, order your agents to stand down, to stay out of our way. Now, come on.'

We got down three stairwells without incident, just Noin's voice on the intercom overhead ordering everyone to stay out of the corridors, made it down the corridor leading to where the guys were where before the shooting started.

Shit.

Shit shit shit.

At the first burst of gunfire, I hesitated, just for a second, trying to work out distances and directions, but Zechs took off like a light.

'Fuck!' I flung myself after him, swearing every step of the way, and hauled him back by the hair. 'Merquise, you lunatic! What the hell are you doing, running blind into a fire-fight?'

'That was Wufei.' He tried to jerk free, but I had one hand well-buried in his hair.

'Wufei's well able to look after himself! And he won't thank you for getting yourself shot again. Or me. Now, pull yourself together, all right? Didn't your friends in OZ ever teach you anything about strategy?'

Probably not, come to think of it. He'd spent most of the war running around looking for Heero so they could fight. Not very productive, really.

'Now, listen. We are going to Wufei and Heero, but we aren't going to get our asses blown off while we're doing it. Follow me, now. And quiet, OK?'

He nodded grudgingly.

'Fine.' I closed my eyes, trying to visualise the blue-prints Heero had shown us. We were one floor up from where the guys were, and there was a stairwell to the south. 'Come on.'

There was another burst of gunfire as we cautiously made our way down; two single bullets and then automatic fire. And then someone cried out – Wufei, fuck – and all hell broke loose.

Zechs shoved past me, practically clearing the staircase in one bound, and it took me a few seconds to catch up with him. Hell. I knew he was a crack shot, knew also that he was holding an unfamiliar weapon; knew he came from the sort of background where duels were fought according to strict rules. And not thinking about anything beyond getting to 'Fei.

Shit.

Shit shit shit.

There was an agent crumpled at the bottom of the stairs, blood spurting from a head wound, but I didn't spare him more than the briefest glance. Not when Zechs was lying a few feet away.

'Oh, fuck, Zechsy.' I tore my jacket off, pressed it into the wound in his chest. Not an artery, but flowing fast. 'Come on, man,' I muttered. 'Stay with me here, OK? Zechs!'

He muttered something, nothing coherent, but his eyes flickered open, and he smiled faintly. Thank God.

'I love you, you fool.' I squeezed his hand, applying enough pressure to hurt. Anything to keep him awake.

'Don't..' he faltered, low enough that I had to strain to hear, 'don't let Wufei hear you say that.'

'I think maybe he knows, you dumb blond.' I fumbled for my phone with my free hand; if I could get through to Noin, I could get her to send back-up, to come herself, to send a doctor.

'Love ….you too,' he managed and I could practically feel the effort he had to put into it. Oh, God. I was the wrong person to be hearing this. The wrong person entirely to be here.

''Fei?'

'He's OK,' I fired off a text to Noin, not wanting to make any more noise, and then reached down to squeeze his hand. God, I hoped it was true.

'Duo.' He somehow managed to jerk his chin toward the empty corridor. 'Go. Please.'

'Not leaving you. No way.' Not injured like this, and with God knows how many rogue Preventers probably heading our way, after the shots.

'Please.'

'I can't,' I whispered, feeling like I was being dragged apart by some kind of mediaeval torture device. Couldn't leave Zechs; sure as hell couldn't leave Heero and 'Fei without trying to help them.

'Duo.' It must have cost everything he had, but he pressed my fingers, hard. 'Just...go.'

I looked at him, looked at the phone I'd put on the floor beside me, and then bent down to brush a quick kiss against his lips. 'I'll be back. Noin should be here first.'

Then there were more shots – different direction this time – and Noin's voice over the comms, issuing orders I didn't bother to listen to, and then a god almighty explosion.