Disclaimer: I don't own a thing (as sad as that realization is), except for the words I've written.

Warnings: Rated for adult language (Duo's got quite a surly mouth and mind), some violence, and mild adult themes.

A/N: Thank you for keeping up with this story thus far, it's been fun! As always reviews are so appreciated and help me know how this story is coming along and if people are liking it or not. So with that, enjoy this next installment.

Maxwell

Chapter 6: You Got No Fear Of The Underdog

Underdog - Spoon

"Slowly come to a stop, turn and face me." By now they had all made eye contact with the suspicious vehicle, though Duo was the one to voice the command, his words more serious than usual.

The three stopped and turned creating a loose circle as if they were making causal conversation. Duo made sure that Trowa's tall figure was between himself and the watching car. "That Crown Vic has been following us. I noticed it earlier when we left the hotel."

"Any ideas? Maybe our mysterious photographer?" Wufei turned to the other men. No one gave a response.

After a moment Duo gave a wicked smile. "Well then, I think it's time to find out."

Duo, having "offered" to drive in a demanding sort of way, found himself triumphantly sitting behind the sedan's wheel, Wufei next to him. "Don't hurt the car, Maxwell, or else Preventer will hurt you...and probably me too."

"Have a little faith in my skills, 'Fei."

"That's what I'm afraid of. Your 'skills.'"

Duo ignored him and revved the engine, easing away from the curb, checking his mirrors to make sure no one was coming.

He spun the wheel while simultaneously slamming on the gas to perform a screeching U-turn. He hit the gas again and accelerated thirty yards, slammed on the brakes just in time for Trowa to jump skillfully from the back seat, several feet in front of the Crown Vic. The car lurched forward and then Duo hit the breaks again to pull up next to the driver's side door.

Trowa, ceramic knuckles on, smashed the passenger side window and chased the startled man out the other door and right into Duo's waiting arms. Held in place, Heero hit the man once in the stomach and once across the face, knocking him out easily, his body slumping to the ground. Duo fought a cringe, remembering how fucking powerful Heero's punches could be.

Wufei stared down at the blood seeping out of the man's broken nose. He rolled the body over with his foot so that the blood would pool on the pavement rather than in his throat and then he saw it. There was a Glock 23 in a shoulder holster and a pouch for a spare magazine on the man's belt. Wufei's fingers found his own holster, his eyes not leaving the unconscious body.

The gun, the holster, the pouch. They were all Preventer issue, identical to his own.

Fuck.

"Dammit," Wufei snarled. "We just took down a Preventer."

Duo's brows raised. "Shit, you sure 'Fei? Wouldn't you recognize him-"

"I don't know every fucking Preventer on the force, Maxwell!" His voice was louder than normal; an angry, almost paranoid, edge to it. Duo put his hands up in mock surrender.

"Why would a Preventer be tailing us?" Trowa asked.

"We'll figure that out later. Far from here," Heero said, his teeth clenched.

Wufei knelt down and pulled out the man's badge. "Sean Davis. According to this he's way out of his jurisdiction."

"Is that good or bad?" Duo wondered softly.

"I don't know yet."

Duo and Heero lifted the man's body into the backseat of his car, leaving him in a recovery position. It was the least they could fucking do for the Preventer. Though he should know better than to tail former Gundam pilots.

They turned back to their sedan, all four doors still wide open, the engine running. But lucky for Duo, not a scratch on it. Shit, very lucky for him since Wufei would have had a meltdown with even the tiniest bit of damage.

The men piled in, this time back to their original seats from that morning.

"Looks like we need a new car," Duo said from the back seat.

"I don't think Preventer will be too obliging," Wufei answered.

Heero turned slightly. "I have a vehicle or else we can take cabs in order to break the link."

Duo wondered if they'd be splitting the fare and the image of them attempting to do so in an orderly fashion made him smirk. "Probably should find a new place to call home, too," he added.

The three other men nodded silently. Fuck, how could this investigation get anymore complicated than it already was?

The four men sat in a restaurant on the outskirts of the Sanc Kingdom, an establishment picked this time by their Preventer comrade, rather than a greasy spoon that the braided man might have preferred.

Duo looked around at his upscale surroundings, down at his faded, white undershirt and ripped, dark jeans, and then back up at his three companions. This wasn't his fucking scene and he hoped that it wasn't Heero or Trowa's either, but they didn't seem to be paying any mind to it.

The prices were higher than he was used to and it wasn't that he couldn't afford it, he just hated to waste money on food he could get anywhere. He felt that inkling feeling again that Wufei was definitely making it. Probably the other men too.

A waitress with a crystal water pitcher came and refilled their glasses. Duo leaned forward after she'd left. "Have you still been calling him?" He looked straight at Wufei.

The Chinese man nodded. "Yes. Straight to voicemail, but the phone is still on, obviously. So that's a good sign." He said it in a way that left the "good" part open for interpretation.

"Tell me again what Iria said to you?" Trowa asked.

Wufei gave Duo a nod to signify that it was his turn to tell the story. Duo sighed. "She said she didn't know where he was, though she didn't think he was missing. But, shit, now I think that sentiment is a little too hopeful for my liking." He received three powerful glares for that comment, but ignored them. "Rashid said Quatre was sent a photograph of himself on a recent business trip, which now we know is true since 'Fei found the envelope it came in. Who knows how many other pictures he might have been sent with it."

Trowa nodded once and folded his arms in pensive thought. It might not have been obvious to the others, but Duo saw the look of unease on his features. He'd had that same look not too long ago, before Heero showed up at their front door. Hell, in fact he still felt that unease regarding the recently proclaimed dead man, but for different reasons now.

While the others sat quietly, mulling over recent events, Wufei obviously still angry due to their mistaken identity of the now unconscious and bleeding Preventer, Duo gazed out the corner of his eye at Heero. He was still as formidable as ever, but there was a new softness about him that Duo couldn't quite put his finger on. And shit he'd love to, love to run his fingers all over that body like he had so many years ago, but he had an ill feeling that that was not on the agenda for him anymore.

Duo sighed and when their food came they ate, making quiet and pointless small talk as if they were just four friends catching up. Which they were in a way. Fuck, it was good to see everyone, but again the circumstances were becoming increasingly shitty.

When it came to an after meal treat, Duo waved the menu away but took coffee like the others. He watched as Wufei poured a packet of artificial sweetener into his, while the others sipped it black. "So when are we going to talk business?"

Heero looked up at the braided man. "Business?"

"Yeah, like how the fuck you're alive and what the meaning of all those names you've been keeping track of is?"

The other two men turned their attention from Duo to Heero, waiting, agreeing with the question but not vocalizing it.

The brunette man did not answer, only looked Duo straight in the eyes, almost challenging. Fuck, he wanted to take another swing at him, but Wufei would probably be pissed at him for 'making a public scene.'

Duo sneered. "Look Heero. I know you were investigating something. Fuck, those flash drives seem pretty damn important to you. Don't think I didn't hear your little convo with 'Fei in the car earlier." It was somewhat a bluffing statement, he wasn't lying, but he also hadn't heard the entire conversation, only enough to pique his curiosity in a fucking frustrating sort of way.

Heero's gaze never left his. Those steely eyes caused a damn shiver to run over the braided man's partially shaven head. He reached into the inside pocket of the brown, leather bomber jacket he wore over muscular shoulders and pulled out a white flash drive that was the identical twin to the other two now residing in Wufei's brief case.

Duo's eyes narrowed as he placed the device atop the table in the center of the four men. They all stared at it in silence for a moment.

"This holds the most up to date list. We've all received some sort of photographs, but mine had a calling card attached. The initials M.R., hence the list of names, all from within the ESUN, anyone with probable cause to be following us, documenting us for all these years." Heero spoke in a calculating way, keeping his voice low so only their ears could hear the words. "As for my apparent death, that's news to me. I've been undercover investigating a terrorist threat against the Vice Foreign Minister."

"But how? That body had your fingerprints," Duo said. "Did Doctor J fuckin' clone you during the war without telling you?" It was meant to be a joke, but no one was laughing. Tough fucking crowd.

"A Preventer agent was following us. One in the same?" Wufei directed the question at Heero, straying slightly away from Duo's topic of choice, but still within the realm of the issues at hand.

Heero shrugged. "Probably just a piece of the puzzle. Not M.R., that would be too simple. A pawn doing someone else's dirty work, maybe the messenger, but not the photographer if I had to guess."

"Can we get a background on the man?" Trowa wondered. "Sean Davis, was it?"

Wufei nodded. "I already sent the name to Une. If he's out of his jurisdiction she'd like to know."

"But we also left him fucking bleeding in the backseat of his car," Duo laughed out crudely. He took a sip of coffee and smiled at Heero's sharp glare.

"I'll take the fall if it comes to that," Heero said through grit teeth. "I'm the one who did the dirty work."

Duo raised his brows. "Technically we all did the dirty work."

"We also broke into Winner's safe-house," Wufei interjected with a frown. "If we're going to get technical."

"Have you told Une about Heero's liveliness?"

Wufei shot Duo a dark look. "Not yet." Maybe fucking Preventer protocol was starting to go out the window.

They sat in silence again. Something Duo was begrudgingly getting used to.

"I assume you've got leads then?" Trowa finally broke their contemplative thoughts as their coffee grew cold. He looked at Heero expectantly.

"If you could call them that."

Duo eyed the flash drive. "Who the fuck is trying to mess with ex-Gundam pilots? Do they have a damn death wish, or what?"

Heero grunted. "They have a motive, I'm sure."

"Yeah, but shit, a lot of people would have a reason to want us dead, even in this 'time of peace.'" Duo held his fingers up to form air quotes.

"Trying to provoke us with those photographs," Wufei said quietly, almost to himself as he thought, staring down at his coffee mug. "Could Yuy's death have been a set up?"

"Like bait?" Trowa responded. "To get us back together."

"Hn." Heero picked up the flash drive and put it back in his pocket. "Could be."

"Fuck," Duo whispered, realizing that it wasn't such a far fetched idea. In fact, if that was the intention it seemed to be working like a charm. Four of them were back together, just one more needed to make a complete set.

"If that's true," Duo raised his voice now to his companions. "Then it wouldn't make sense for Quatre to be...well you know." He didn't want to say 'dead' because saying it out loud might make it true. Shit, he didn't want that to be true.

Trowa gave him a sharp look, but instead of chastising him he seemed to agree with him, nodding his head silently. Hell, it truly did make sense the more and more Duo thought about it and he felt a small weight being lifted off of his shoulders. He wondered if, even though they had an apparent stalker with an apparent unknown motive, death might not be the objective. Yet at least.

Wufei picked up the tab and the others, save for Duo, argued against the unnecessary generosity. The Chinese man just smiled and flashed them his Preventer credit card. Fuckin' Preventer perks to the rescue yet again.

They walked outside towards a new car, this time dark blue. Duo wondered if it actually belonged to Heero or if he'd rented or stolen it. He had a hard time thinking about Heero fucking Yuy signing papers in a car dealership and making sure he had up to date insurance cards in the glove compartment.

All four men watched their surroundings carefully, more carefully than ever now with the possibility of more tails, especially Preventer ones. It made Wufei's stomach clench in uncertainty and Duo noticed the obvious agitation.

It never seemed clear with the man, but Duo hoped that his allegiance would be to the pilots over anyone else, like Preventer, if it came down to that.

Duo grabbed the backseat door handle, watching Trowa do the same thing across the car's roof, but then the tall man's eyes drifted forward and Duo followed his gaze. They both smiled.

Grabbing Wufei's elbow on the way, Duo stepped forward, following Trowa, Heero getting the hint and trailing behind with narrowed eyes. It only took a moment for the others to understand where Trowa was taking them.

"This is kind of biblical, people keep coming back to fucking life," Duo whispered in Wufei's ear with a grin.

"Biblical?" the man muttered, slightly amused by the irony. "Our assumptions were luckily off, that's all."

They reached a black town car a block from their own. In the backseat, through a barely see-through window sat a small figure; blond, blue eyes with a pair of horn-rimmed, circular reading glasses sitting atop his petite nose. He hadn't changed, still wearing the crisp, white shirts he was known for. It reminded Duo of his feelings of inadequacy; the bottom of the totem pole out of the, now five, pilots.

Quatre Raberba Winner rolled down his window as they approached, a knowing smile gracing his lips, though it didn't quite reach his eyes. He was obviously troubled, but shit, that didn't really surprise any of them, you know, all things considered.

"You should be more careful. We just beat up a guy who was tailing us. Left him bleeding and unconscious thanks to Heero's handy work." Duo gave him a toothy smile.

"Who tries to tail ex-pilots?" Quatre wondered with a cynical smirk, removing his reading glasses.

"My sentiments exactly."

Damn. Now that they were all back together, things were about to really get interesting.