Chapter 50: Mateo Part 2

Duo stared at the doors to HQ from a block away, briefly watching people come and go. Back when he was officially a Preventers agent working out of that office he noticed his colleagues tended to find ways to ditch out early on Fridays, and he hoped that was still true. What he wanted, what he needed, was to move in and out as quickly and quietly as possible.

There was no way to avoid Ravi at the front desk, but he might be able to avoid scrutiny once he got past his initial security check. Une refused to issue him a new ID, so at check in he would be Mateo. Afterwards he could be anyone. To change how he was perceived he forfeited his usual baseball cap and jacket, opting instead for a more dramatic look. If anyone was on watch for him they'd be looking for a courier, but also potentially for the long hair that got exposed for the first time that night.

Before leaving home he brushed out his hair and tied it into two long braids. Looking in the mirror at those low and braided pigtails he could hear in his head how Heero would tease him if he ever saw how it looked. Personally he hated the style on himself. And then, knowing how much more feminine it would appear, he pined his bangs back flat and carefully wrapped each braid up and around his head, fastening them in place until they made a swirling wreath of hair packed tightly against his skull. This, he thought, was not his style at all.

He immediately missed the weight of his braid on his back. He felt naked seeing his long locks appearing to mostly vanish. It was unnerving.

But he wasn't done. He fit a wig cap over the whole thing, and in a few moments had an entirely new look. It was fascinating, but he didn't want to see himself in the mirror too long. It felt wholly wrong.

He couldn't stand how he didn't even recognize himself. Who was this person staring at him through the mirror? At least when he hid his hair as Mateo his bangs were still visible, and the weight of his braid was still against his back. As Mateo his overall color and vibe was still Duo.

This was... not.

To complete the outward appearance of his new persona he grabbed a taxi to HQ and left his bike at home. Many people arrived via taxi so no one would think twice to see one pull up out front. But people would recognize his bike. After all the work he did to customize it there was nothing similar in the city.

On top of that, his new look wasn't particularly motorcycle friendly, from the clothes and hair down to the shoes.

Ravi was watching the tail end of the Preventers usual Friday afternoon exodus when a man walked through the doors wearing a well tailored suit. His tie, jacket, and pants were all the same deep charcoal color while his shirt was bright white. A pocket square was perfectly folded to leave a rectangular bar of silver showing on one side of his chest, almost like a second welt. His black shoes appeared freshly shined. She was struck by how handsome he looked. He had short black hair and, as he got closer, piercing violet eyes.

Violet eyes.

She stared openly. She didn't know this man, but she knew those eyes. Slowly it dawned on her that she knew his face as well.

He slipped her his ID badge and said softly in a familiar and smooth voice, "Please don't make a scene. How's it goin, Ravi?"

She froze in place, eyes wide, his badge in hand. That was Mateo's voice. She finally broke eye contact and checked the ID she was holding. Mateo McCormack. The one and only.

Her heart was beating rapidly against her chest. She was caught completely off guard and didn't know what to say. But she was a trained professional. He said not to make a scene, and she would comply. Whoever he really was, he must be high enough in ranks to merit following his orders.

For weeks she imagined what would happen when she finally saw Mateo again. She played out what to say in her head. She made a list of questions to ask him and fantasized about how they'd chat like old times while he spilled his secrets. What she didn't expect was short black hair and a suit that shouted I'm a very put together man, and you're wasting my time.

He smiled but it didn't reach his eyes. "You gonna run my ID, or...?"

The question broke her out of her thoughts. She blushed, knowing how long she sat there looking like an idiot, staring at him and his card. Technically, because he looked so different from his ID, she was within her rights to call a third party to verify him. But she knew those eyes, his face, and that voice. There was no mistaking him, and calling in a third party was the opposite of not making a scene.

"Who are you really?" She asked as she ran his id through the system.

He paused for a second before answering. "Who are any of us? I'm the same person I always was."

She was having none of his coyness. "Don't fuck with me! What's your real name? What do you actually do for Une?"

The sharp and angry tone in her voice clearly made an impact, and she immediately felt terrible for snapping at him. The expression on his face was identical to the one he wore when he told her months ago that some people were meant to be alone. She wanted to take it back and apologize, but she held true to her words. Backing down would likely guarantee her no answers, and she needed answers. She was desperate for them.

The Incident, as she and her husband called it, nearly broke them. For days they struggled beyond the trauma itself, unable to stand the other's presence, neither knowing what to say. He was consumed with guilt, and she didn't know how close he was to his terrorist neighbors and if their entire relationship was part of a plan to gain access to Preventers through her. Once they were removed from the building they didn't even know how to start communicating. It wasn't until Une debriefed them in the days after to let them know nothing was their fault that they reconnected.

Discovering they were both victims of a months long plot in which bad actors chose her, probably at random, as their way into headquarters was a relief. In the aftermath of everything Une's team found evidence that the terrorists put her under surveillance and decided the easiest way to threaten her was through her fiancé. That was how they came to follow him into HQ, guns drawn when he came to pick her up for a late dinner after her shift.

He never told them where she worked. He did not compromise her position. They were stalked and victimized. He never betrayed her.

They reconciled and eloped by the end of the week.

And now she was staring down a man she considered her friend. A man who at one point she couldn't wait to show her engagement ring to, who brightened her day for years, who she wanted to celebrate her marriage with, and who saved her and her husband's lives, but whose name she apparently didn't even know. She held onto his ID card without extending her hand to give it back, and repeated herself. "What's your real name, and what do you actually do for Une?"

Matching her stare, he replied in a low voice "Mateo is as real a name as I've ever had. That's not a joke, and I'm not trying to hide anything from you specifically. The truth is I don't have a given name. Not outside of the one I gave myself. And what I do for Une is classified so it seems I can't give you any satisfactory answers." She frowned, and he continued. "I'm the same person I always was. And I need to see Une and slip out like I was never here. But people have been talking about a courier, and a guy with a braid. So I can't be either of them right now."

Her resolve began to waver. "I heard you saved all our lives. That they were gonna blow the whole building when Agents Chang and Yuy showed up."

He swallowed, and nodded. She noticed how tired he looked, but not physically tired. It was one of the few times he ever looked physically rested. Instead he appeared emotionally exhausted. It made her wonder why he'd be so uncomfortable when someone brought up what he did that night. As far as she was concerned, he was a hero. Ravi found herself feeling sorry for him. She handed him his ID badge.

"Thank you for saving my life.

She saw a flash of something in his eyes, but he hid it quickly. Quietly he whispered "You're welcome. And congrats." She gave him a funny look and he gestured to her hand. "On the wedding." He winked and took his leave.

Ravi couldn't help smiling. Of course he noticed the second ring.

He wasn't lying.

He was the same Mateo she knew before.

Une's tone was dominated by amusement when she asked "Care to explain yourself?" upon seeing Duo enter her office. She knew to expect him when her assistant announced Mr Santiago Jackson was there to see her. Duo made enough of a fuss over how much he disliked that alias when it was given to him that the name was almost a point of pride for her.

He sauntered to the seat in front of her desk and sat in a dignified way, posture perfectly straight and shoulders squared. She mentally gave him credit for keeping up appearances even behind closed doors.

"There was no reason to attract undue attention."

She smiled, and gave him a quick once-over. "You think looking like this won't attract attention?"

"You know as well as I do that sometimes the perfect misdirection relies on drawing the eye towards you."

There was no way to argue that, so Une skipped directly to the subject of their meeting. "You said you met—"

She abruptly stopped speaking when Duo held up a hand and asked her "was Silvia here today?"

Silvia was what Duo called the woman who swept the offices for bugs. He knew her real name, but decided years ago that using a code name was the best defense if they were being listened to.

"You just missed her."

"Good."

She cleared her throat. "So… Chevalier. How did this happen?"

Duo lifted a hand to smooth out the dark black hair from his wig. It struck her how dapper he looked, almost like a celebrity or highly sought after CEO working his charm to his benefit. The black hair brought out the brightness of his eyes. She briefly wondered what he'd look like if he really did cut his hair short, but shook the thought as quickly as it formed and focused on their conversation.

"He came to me. I may have…" he paused, then looked her directly in the eyes. "ignored him a while?" When her gaze intensified he continued "apparently he's been texting me for a few months."

That got Une's full attention. "Why did you keep this a secret? And how did he get your number?"

He looked very serious when he answered. "I told you as soon as I found out. And I don't know."

"What do you mean you just found out?"

He sighed. "It's not like he signed his texts like letters. From my point of view I was getting vaguely threatening texts until they suddenly became actually threatening. There's a lotta people in positions to wanna vaguely threaten me."

"What did he want from you?"

Duo braced himself, knowing there was no way Une would take the next part well. Technically he should have reported to her that he was getting repeated texts. It was a security risk. But if he reported every time he got a message from an unknown number he'd be changing his own number every month.

"He's trying to get me to help him finish the hit on Quatre."

Her eyes went wide. He was sure if she was a cat her fur would be standing on end. Her voice was commanding and scolding. "You ignored texts attempting to recruit you to murder someone? What is wrong with you? Do you hate Winner that much?"

He flinched and reacted without thinking. "Of fucking course I don't! If I hated him that much I'd have let him die in December instead of nearly giving my life for that son of a bitch! Don't you fucking dare accuse me of wanting him harmed! The texts were suspicious but they didn't directly imply murder. If I thought he was in danger I'd have fucking warned him!"

Duo was seething, tired of having the worst assumed of him. He'd just started to move past assuming the worst in himself, he didn't need others taking up the mantle and doing it for him.

For her part, Une immediately backed down. She knew she crossed a line. It was her job to question but it wasn't her job to make a friend who dutifully stood by her side feel like shit. Duo was right that he proved, without a doubt, he would not let anyone harm Quatre. Without him they never would have pinpointed their suspect, and now his contributions to the case were putting him in a dangerous situation.

"You're right. Of course." She waited for him to lose some of the tension in his frame before she asked "May I see the texts?"

He reached into his pocked, unlocked his phone, and pulled up the thread before handing her the device, watching closely as she read. In her eyes he saw the recognition he was looking for. "See why I asked after Silvia?"

"My god. He knows about your personal lives!"

"Yep."

"This line here about you not being treated well?"

"Coincides with a group trip."

"Who would know about this?"

He frowned, not wanting to say aloud what he knew to be true. Quietly he replied "That's the most direct correlation to any event in his texts. Which narrows it to just the guys, Relena, and probably Sally."

Their eyes met for a long while. Both were worried, and neither wanted to accept the obvious. Finally it was Une who broke their silence. "So your cover is blown. He knows you're Duo Maxwell and not Mateo."

He frowned. "Yeah. Took me about half an hour to realize that one, he really caught me off guard. If he knows what happened in private, he knows my name. Why he called me Mateo when we met, I'm not sure yet. Maybe just to throw me off. Maybe it's part of some plan."

Fire erupted in Une's eyes. "You need to be extremely careful. If he knows all of this then one of them might be a mole."

Just the sound of the word mole sent a jolt through Duo. An empty pit in his stomach opened to swallow him whole. He felt as alone as he did when he ran from the hospital all those months ago. Back then he was ready to burn every bridge, even the one with Une. But this time things were different.

This time he had her on his side. And, presumably, he had Quatre.

It was unlikely Quatre was the source of his own information leak. Being CEO of Winner Enterprises came with security systems already in place. Duo knew that Preventers checked him out months ago and were satisfied with the members of Quatre's team and the precautions they took. That really did mean the most likely source was one of the other guys, or maybe tangentially Relena or Sally.

He hated the shadow this cast over his friends, one of whom might knowingly or inadvertently be supplying information to a dangerous enemy. He hated having to stay alert and quietly spy on the people closest to him, keeping secrets until he could track down the source of the leak. He hated what this would do to his dynamic with Heero, right as he was beginning to think that opening up was a good idea.

But most of all, he hated knowing the only person in his friend circle he could discuss this with was Quatre.